Still Busy

Life is busy these days. I've managed to get a customer quilt finished on the weekend, photo later this week. I've now got 3 tops and 2 finished quilts for BASICS, so I'll meet my self imposed quota of quilting 5 pieces.  Thanks to the piecers who sent me tops.  Wednesday night seems to be my quilting night so I'll get another one on the machine and ready to go.

I'm poking away at my BTCT, one stitch at a time.  I've got a few pieces appliqued on my current block.  Every so often I recount the blocks and regroup on my red and cream scrappy top.  After measuring and deciding I'm keeping this one for me, I now need 110 blocks.  I've got 83 in some stage of completion, so I've stacked up 27 block centers and will get them into the mix.  Once they are started, I'm on the home stretch of getting all the blocks done.

Shorter days, longer evenings......I love this time of year!

Blog Break

Life seems to be busy for me so I'm taking a short break from posting.  Everything is great, just not enough time.  I've got customer quilts, my pears have all fallen on the ground instead of getting picked, apples are hanging in there. I need time with my friends, they are my lifeline, I had lunch with my Dad on Sunday, and I won't see him until Christmas.  I'm on a roll with walking my dog 2 -3 miles every evening, I taught Hand Quilting on Sat at Fabric Etc in Bellingham.  The class was full, the next one is full, and there's a wait list for a third session, which will be scheduled in the new year.  I just looked at the calendar and realized there are only 3 Saturday evenings between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve! Yikes. All this and I want to work on my own projects!

Life is good!

Sharon

Local Guild Quilt Show

I found my camera, under the front seat on the back floor. Geez!
Just a few shots from the show.

I love these types of pieces.

Fabulous piece below.  I think it won viewers choice.  Lots of thread on this baby.

This was the second place viewers choice.  Appliqued by Jan B.

Machine quilted by Jo Baner.  She rocks with her quilting!

This last photo I might have already shown. It's a Jo Baner piece.  She is really an amazing artist.

That's all I got for you today, thanks for stopping by.
Sharon

Fall Gardening

Things are winding down in my yard. I'm tired of deadheading and having only 3 daisy blooms on a huge plant, so I start cutting things back. I have no idea if this is the right time to do this, but if I keep at it a little at a time, by Nov my yard it cleaned up!

However, some things are just coming into their own right now.
Purple Asters.

Now this Aster has had an interesting season. I started out by planting roots for 2 pink Cone Flowers. I was excited to see them pop through the soil and continued to watch them through the summer. Not being an avid gardener, I've asked my neighbor a few times to tell me what are weeds. Well, she pointed to my two plants. No,I planted something there and since 2 plants were growing and I planted two roots, I stuck to my story. Then she came home from golf a few weeks ago and informed me that my "plant" was growing wild in the ditch at the course. I could see it was ready to burst into bloom, so I hung on. At this point, I'm positive it's not a pink Cone flower as I've gone to the greenhouse to see what they look like. Then on Labor day I popped into the grocery store and there were tables of this flowering plants, all with a stick naming them Purple Asters. Whew! I didn't nurse along some weed that would bloom and spread and take over my whole flower bed.

Dahlia's are in bloom.

I must have liked this style, since I bought it 3 times. I anxiously waited to see what color blooms they would have and all three were the same!

This hangs over my back fence, courtesy of my neighbor. It's the only color I have along there so it's a welcome sight.

Do you think my Kiwi's are going to ripen? I doubt it, although the tree is loaded with fruit this year.

The zucchini has been bountiful, my Black Eyed Susan daisy was prolific and my amber dahlia is starting to produce beautiful blooms.

With all this going on, not much has been happening in the sewing room. I'm dipping into this and that, I'm still working on some past projects, I'm prepping a few BTCT blocks and I volunteered at The Applique Society table at the local quilt show yesterday. You know I'll be showing you some pictures of the show.
Sharon

It's Been Said Before

but I'll say it again.  THANK YOU to all the fabulous bloggers/quilters who sent me pink fabric for the Ribbon quilt.  I'm happy to say I took the last stitches on the label last night.  We've started selling opportunities for the quilt, and my amazing co workers came to the plate again. They bought 7 books of tickets to help fund the fight.

Today is day 2 of the 60 mile walk for the girls, so I know they got up this a.m. with some sore muscles.  Hopefully no blisters as those will sit you out! It's drizzling here but I'm 100+ miles north of the walk location, so I'm hoping for a dry, overcast day for them.
Imagine........if this quilt funds the cure. It could happen, and that's why I continue to Fund the Fight.

Thanks for stopping by today
Sharon

Trick or Treat

This was a fun quilt to quilt. I love getting these where I can do different borders and backgrounds and aside from outlining all the applique using rulers (this is getting hard on my shoulder!), I use a little chalk and freehand the designs.  All photos enlarge when clicked.
Spider web in metallic thread.

Another web in the top corner and a neon lime green one growing in the bottom corner.  A few words, eek is through the moon, tricks and treats, boo.

I loved this block, I did a maze design on the border and kept the background subtle.  Gotta love neon green thread for these types of quilts.

M wanted a separate border motif and I just didn't think feathers or leaves for this.  Since this is for the grandchildren, I thought something with a lot of motion. I really like how this turned out, as it's the first time I stitched this design.

Thank goodness for all those knuckle raps in elementary school, I've got nice hand writing.  Don't know about this generation, I don't even think they can use spell check by the looks of the job applications I get at work  Yes, I double and triple check the spelling of every word, no matter how simple!  It will live forever in a quilt.

This one is a bit tough to see, the border says Happy Halloween, Ghosts, and on the bottom, Wicked Witch

Fall is in the air, my favorite time of year!

Ahead of the Season

On Labor Day weekend, I took advantage of a full day of sewing and got a good start on this project.

I had everything cut out for the 4 block quilt that it was supposed to be. Once I pulled it all out, I looked at it and thought "why do I want to make 4 blocks exactly the same?" Well, I didn't. The background got converted to a runner shape, I laid out the baskets on either end,

filled them with flowers and leaves and then used up the remaining pieces to fill in the center.  Using the blanket stitch, I did the applique and the quilting all at one time.  It means a lot of threads need to be pulled through to the back and buried, but that's easy tv work.

Using the stripe in the fabric, I'm going to do some big stitch quilting in the background. I'm using Presencia No8 and it's going to stitch up quickly. As usual, click the photo to get a close up.

For once I'll be enjoying a holiday piece during the holiday instead of working on it during the holiday!
Sharon

Quiet Reflection

People older than me remember where they were when President Kennedy was shot. I remember the exact moment my phone ran that September Tuesday morning. I had been traveling with my guy and I'd flown home from  Florida the day before. As I was getting ready for work he  called and told me to turn on the TV.  After a few minutes on the phone with him,  I called my Mom and Dad and told them I loved them, and I told my Dad "our world has just changed forever". Then I hung up, cried and got ready for work.

Today is a day to reflect...
to remember.....
to pay tribute.....
to take a minute to realize how blessed we are.....
It's going to be a quiet day.
Sharon

Had to Share

I'm working on customer quilts this weekend and I had so share some CUTE hallow'een blocks on this quilt.

Now I must return to my regular schedule and get back at the machine.  My break is over!
Sharon

Scrap Winner

Using a very scientific method tupperware container and pulling a name by hand, I have a winner.  Susis Quilts will be getting a box of my scraps.

She lives across the world so hopefully some of the pieces in the box will be treasures to her.   Susi does amazing hand work, a quilter after my own heart.  Pop over and see what she's got on the go right now.  Susi, please send me your mailing address and I'll get this in the mail to you early next week.
I'm going to do lots of machine quilting this weekend, I have 2 custom quilts waiting to be done.
Enjoy your weekend!
Sharon

Basics

BASICS quilt drive is well underway. See the link on my sidebar for more info or click here. Many bloggers are participating in ways that fit their budget, both of time and money. I just recieved this top and binding. I pledged to quilt for people who would like to donate the top/binding and I'll provide the batting and back, along with the quilting.

THANK YOU TO:
Ms. K from Springfield, Virginia
I shall give an update once I get it quilted, this is so fresh and fun, and I just love the fabrics.

Do you have a top/binding you'd like to donate?  I have room for two more quilts. 
Sharon

New Old Projects

Over the Labor day weekend I did get some sewing done. This project is quilted, bound, labeled and ready to deliver. I started this a few years ago, I pieced the back 3 times to use up every bit of fabric so it would be done and out of my studio.....and then yesterday I opened up a drawer and found a few more yards. Do you think fabric left in drawers behaves like rabbits? :-)

Here is a peek at my current project. It's been languishing in a box for several years, and once I got the above piece finished, I gave myself permission to open another UFO WIP bag.  This was a 4 block quilt that I had started, but I've switched gears on the pattern.  A few years ago I fused and cut out all the pieces and then packed up all the coordinating fabrics along with my idea notes and pattern and there it sat; staring  down at me from the window sill in my sewing room. I got it all fused and spray basted togehter, ready to take with me to my Sat sewing day. I'm machine appliqueing and quilting at the same time with a blanket stitch and then I'll quilt the background with a big stitch using perl cotton.

At our weekend retreat I was able to put up my 14 completed blocks of  BTCT.  Still no prepping on the next few blocks, that's on my agenda for this week.

My hydrangea had 2 blooms on it this year and they were buried under all the leaves, so I cut them and brought them inside to enjoy.

It's a short work week and the weekend will be here in no time!
Sharon

I Can Breathe!

I should have taken a "before" picture, but my gal pal was up and moving stuff out of the garage before I even got my coffee poured!

When L arrived, her first words were "What job do you have around here?" and I was prepared. The Garage! What I needed was shelving and sorting and getting boxes off the floor. Living by yourself has it's challenges, like trying to get a box of shelving out of your car when it weighs a ton! Or when you need someone to hold the brackets in the middle while the second person hammers them together from the top.

After a trip to Home Depot, we were prepared to tackle the job. There wasn't any purging, just reorganizing. Now I can breathe, and walk through my garage without zig zagging along.

If you're still with me and would like a box of scraps, let me know. I came across this box that I know is filled with scraps, and I know there is some flannel outdoorsy type prints in here. It just needs an address, can I put yours on it?

Leave me a comment and I'll get it out to someone!
Sharon

Whole Lotta Sewin'

Someone once told me, "It you quilt, you will have friends no matter where you go". This is so true. I took a class in May and met a great lady Merrie. She has invited me to two of their mini retreats that are about an hour away. Yesterday I hit the road at 8:30 and didn't get home until 6:30. Next time, I think Miss Annie will go to the Puppy Parlor for a sleep over and I'll grab a room and stay for 2 days of sewing.
Check out this space!

The ladies in Mt Vernon use the space next door to the quilt shop, Calico Creations.  It's great to take a break and wander next door for some retail therapy or inspiration.

There were 15 of us and TONS of room.  I think there were 5 - 6 ironing stations, lots of cutting table space,

And of course plenty of room for our snack table.  Whoever brought the macaroons needs to please bring the recipe next time!  Yummmm.
I think these are Carolyn's pieces, Crazy 8 Pattern.  Very graphic and she's ready for Christmas with this table topper.

This cutie was made in the morning, and Carolyn was getting to the pot holders in the afternoon. She is gifting this out to a lucky friend.

Merrie has been working on the BOM that will be offered this fall from Calico County. The applique on this is beautiful, I should have taken some close ups! Love how the background is patched a bit, each block a little different. There is a border going on this, but I'm not sure if it's appliqued or pieced, I didn't ask!

Carol was my neighbor and she spent the morning making this Cash and Carry bag. She has a purpose for it, all her knitting tools, stitch markers etc.
Anyone who has made these little projects know how much work goes into them. I told Carol I'd rather pay someone cash and carry my purchase away. She did a beautiful job on this, she has more patience than I.

Here is Mary's show and tell project. She has the most amazing sense of color, she is far braver than I am. This piece is amazing, it's a Judy Niemeyer pattern and I just love the colors. I've seen paper piecing with all these spikes and slivers and they can be bulky, but Mary has this mastered. Her piece laid flat and smooth. Now to get it quilted and bound. I'm hoping to see this in a show in the future.

Merrie was also working on a Judy Neimeyer pattern in the afternoon. A few days of steady sewing, where you can leave everything out it the best time for paper piecing something like this. On a scale of 1-, I'm about a 2 in this technique. I can't wait to see this one when it's finished.

There were other pieces for show and tell, but I didn't have my camera out.  Thanks ladies, my day was great and I hope to see you all again at the next sew in!
Sharon