reveal time

Today is Pat's FAB Par-tay celebration day. Birthday girl got to open all the packages we have been sending her this month. We will sew in a bit---some of the girls are still cutting strips and such. Pat's choice: Minnesota Hot Dish from Atkinson Designs though I am doing Faux Log Cabin instead.

Here is what I made her though there were a few other goodies in the box. The initial pattern called "Autumn Blessings" is from Kaaren Johnston at Painted Quilt. It is one of her First Friday Freebies. It contains all the elements of quilting that I enjoy---applique, foundation piecing and stitchery. But I made some changes---first of all, not working in wool since I don't own any of it!

Ignore the string on the pumpkin block. I have another picture but this one was more closer in so you could see the blocks better. I elected to substitute some flying geese blocks for more shoo fly blocks and made maple leaf blocks rather than the pinwheels the pattern showed. I also did one of the applique blocks pumpkin cart as a stitchery block---the pumpkin cart.

Most of the applique is fused though I had the bias press bars out for the little scarecrow block. Anything round shaped like the sunflower centers, parts of the pumpkin applique, the sun in the scarecrow block and the lady bug are all turned shapes like you make yo-yo's (templar and starch). I turned the candy corn block over freezer paper. Almost all of the applique elements were button hole appliqued. No glutton for punishment, I left the sunflowers, pumpkin stems and the scarecrow's felt hat alone! I would not have had to do this but all that checkerboard stuff is foundation pieced-----it finishes at one inch and I do not work well with 1.5 cut inch stuff.

I had a wonderful time making this for my pal and I hope she will enjoy it for years to come. Give her blog a peek in a few days to see if she posted her other fun gifts. FABS are the best!
Our pal Norma is next up on the birthday list and all too soon I will have another Top Secret Project (TSP) in the works. HMMMM what will my choice be?

Football games and game 3 of the World Series will be taking up part of the day and lots and lots of strips chaining thru the machine. And sew it goes----------

Checking in

Well, I got all my Prairie Stroll blocks done on Thursday (last post), pressed them on Friday morning and there they sit waiting for me, LOL. Sidetracked again.

Pat is the next FAB to have a bday. I knew what I wanted to make and set about doing some of the prep work to get started on it. From here on out it will be "top secret project" (TSP) till her PAR-TAY rolls around next month. Suffice it to say, it contains several elements that I enjoy doing. Big hint there, Pat? That could be ANY quilty thing under the sun.


Anyway, there is a bit of embroidery on TSP so that is what I chose to do this weekend. That's me, chasing after the new, bright and shiny project, LOL. I make no apology for ever doing that as it is what keeps things interesting for me after days of "pedal to the medal" on donation quilts recently. The top will get done, just not this weekend.

Norma and I were chatting on Saturday morning about our quilty plans for the 3 day holiday weekend. I told her we should have thought ahead and picked a pattern and had our own little sew-in as we have done on many occasions, "something fun" that we both were dying to try. LOL, turns out she was itching to start on a Terry Atkinson "Fire Escape" and she had just the stack of fabrics in her stash to pull from. ( I think she was leaning that way after seeing Lois' top on the pinning table on one of my recent posts.) My "duty" was to work on my own bright and shiny TSP and cheer her on as she cut and stitched. She just told me that she has all 10 of her vertical rows done---woohoo! With the extra day off this weekend, she will have that finished to flimsy in no time.

The temps are down in the low 70's and there is plenty of cloud cover today as Tropical Storm Lee spins around down near LA. We are getting some rain, nothing measurable so far. The forecast for the next several days sounds like we are in for far more. I just hope that there are is no tornadic activity along with it. August was extremely dry for us.

Each summer for the last 3 years we have had wave after wave of ants in the house. This year DJ has been dutifully treating the mounds outside. For whatever reason, the ants just did not appear. Not complaining! They tend to dig and make mounds after it rains, and we haven't had any rain. All summer long, we have watched and waited for the other shoe to drop----and all the sudden there they were. A couple days ago I spotted a few by my bathroom sink---teeny tiny, grease ant looking ones. A few in the kitchen sink---a few hours later DJ spotted a pile of something on his bathroom floor near the stool and shower. Ants building a mound of what looks like wood shavings on the vinyl tile floor. I took a picture of it but UGH! Beyond ugh really. I was just sure I would see a pile in mine since we share a plumbing wall but so far no. DJ even went so far as to go down in the crawl space to look yesterday. No sign of them or an entrance point. Man, I hope those things are gone. When I think of how much food we have lost due to ants and the time they zapped out the a/c unit-----I am sick and tired of ants. Stay outside where you belong!

Shown, Skyler is a bit of a mellow mood. I had replenished the catnip in his mouse (DJ named it Mr. Rat) and that has really piqued his interest in playing with it again. His fav play spot is the living room and specifically, on the couch. I have found his toy in all kinds of places in the past few days: in my bathroom, clear up the hallway, at the foot of the bed. I should have "re-nipped" it sooner.

I hope you all have a safe holiday weekend enjoying whatever it is that you chose to do. Till next time------