Design Wall Monday--Oct 11, 2010

There is no piecing happening at my house but there is still quilting to do.  On my Design Door today is the Bowtie Quilt for my brother's 50th birthday.  I now have less than two weeks to finish up this project and have reached the quilting stage.  While I plan to do some simple crosshatching in the top and bottom pieced borders and the four patches, and probably stitch in the ditch around the bowties, the empty spaces between seem to call for a motif. 

My mind is a blank. 

Maybe I'll just crosshatch the whole thing and call it done!

This is the backing--a line from Moda called Tom and Huck, with just a few lines from Huckleberry Finn.  Being a WORDS kind of girl, it struck my fancy and had the right colors.

While not exactly Fall colored, Mini does have some orange on her and fits into the tableau on the lawyer's bookcase.  Plus she likes it up there.   Go to Judy's blog to see the other Design Walls this Monday.

P.S.  Yes, that's a Darth Vader Mr. Potatohead. 

Second Chance

I spent part of this afternoon crawling around the floor with my mom at their house, pinning my brother's bowtie quilt.  It is always amazing how heavy the quilt sandwich is once all the layers are pinned.  Some of that is pin weight, some of that is the excess fabric, but I love the heft!  Speaking of my mom, last week she called to let me know that the Tuesday Morning shop had some fabric and sewing items, including fat quarters and "that thing that looks like a pinwheel out of  fabric".  It took me a minute to realize she meant a jelly roll.  So I took myself over to the shop after work and perused the merchandise.  Some of it was name brand--mostly the tools and accessories, but the jelly roll was labeled as "Stripz".

You can't really read it in the photo but it said the fabric was made in Pakistan.  Though not a true jelly roll, there were 48 strips of  5or 6 different bug print fabrics totaling about 3.5 yards, for $14.99.

The 12 pack of solid color fat quarters was labeled as "a product of China, USA, Pakistan, Korea or India".  Apparently this is well traveled stuff.  It was $7.99 (or 67 cents each).  The quality of the fat quarter stack was a bit better than the jelly roll.  I also bought three packages of sewing machine needles by the EZ brand for $.99.  Yes, that is 12 needles for .99.  Lastly, an Easy Square Jr. ruler for $1.99.  Thanks for the hint, Mom!

* The Second Chance refers to hitting the 10/10/10 10:10 mark.  I outsmarted myself to prepost at the exact time!

10-10-10

Another once in a century date!  I plan to spend most of it working on my brother's quilt--his birthday is in two weeks and I have to have his bowties ready.  Otherwise, I've been playing with Halloween fabrics and I finally finished the backing to Erica's quilt--pics to follow of the latter when I have my quilt hanger back in town. 

Finished mug mat.

A tall skinny house, Mansard roof, full yellow moon...

I'm making a haunted house!  Stay tuned for ghostly progress...

(I was trying to get this posted at 10:10 but missed, dangit.)

Fall Decorating

Fall is my favorite season to decorate for--all the warm colors I just love.  I took just a few photos to share today. 

The quilt in my header is hanging front and center over the antique lawyer's bookcase as you enter the house.

This primitive style suited my applique skills--those stars weren't supposed to have sharp points, thankfully!

I love a pieced backing--even on my wall hangings.  I folded a large square into a triangle and inserted into the corners for hanging purposes before sewing on the binding.  The dowel I've got is a bit thick--I have used old knitting needles as hangers on small wall hangings at times--thin, straight, and very strong.

My mother-in-law gave me this beautiful footed punch bowl and a set of punch cups many years ago.  I believe she got them as a shower gift before she got married.  The base of the bowl and the cup handles are green.  I never took it out of the box until a few years ago when I decided to set it on my sideboard and fill it with Christmas balls for the holidays.  Now I never put it way and have fun changing the decorations in it all year.  Here it is on the piano with pumpkin candles and some fall color added to the potpourri.

I was thrilled to add these shelves when we redid our kitchen several years back.  Green pottery is my favorite and I have many pieces.  My sister calls the bottom piece of pottery "ugly green" but I love those olive tones.  It is getting hard to find at the thrift and junk shops and more expensive so I haven't added for a while.  The leaf shaped frame is modern but the other pieces are probably from the 40s-50s.

On the front porch, this metal kitty found long ago at a thrift store has swallowed some mums.  That poor old three legged stool I bought at a yard sale probably 20 years ago.  It used to have a sunflower painted on the top.  Even peeling and askew, I like it!

A patient of ours brought in this green and white squash--no, it is not a melon.   I have no idea what it is called.  Anyone? 

I like it with my succulents and weathered front porch decor. 

That same patient also brought in a number of these large, heavy pumpkins.  He told us he grows them for cooking and not decoration.  They are so fantastically rustic that they look fake!  One of the girls made a fresh pumpkin pie out of hers and it was delicious.  She said she got many pounds of pumpkin flesh cooked, pureed and frozen so she can make another yummy fresh pie later in the season. 

My Golden Rain tree has finished blooming and even the seed pods have turned a lovely rust color for the season.  Soon all the leaves will be gone and we will need to get it trimmed.  My poor neighbor has most of the leaves falling on his driveway.  Soon I will need to divide my daylilies and clean up the frontyard flower beds.  I plan to put a bucket of them on the sidewalk with a free sign as I can't possibly replant them all!   

Tuesday's Orts--Oct 5, 2010

Tuesday this week is about 35 degrees cooler than last week, thankyouverymuch!

• I continue to learn about measurements, far, far from my school days...Recently I read that an acre is about the size of a football field.  Now I can actually picture that in my head.  However, that brings up a confession:  I have never been to a football game.  Lots of soccer, baseball, softball and basketball games, but no football.  It's loud and people get hurt far too often.  I can't watch! 
• Another measurement I learned is the size of your stomach, which only holds about 16 ounces.  Check THAT out--not a lot of area!  Makes it a lot easier to picture how little food a person actually can eat before being full, literally.
• My mom and dad stayed the night in Paducah, Kentucky on their way back from Ohio.  They brought me a book from the National Quilt Museum that they toured and were very impressed by, as well as the city itself.  Lots to do there arts-wise.  I'd like to go there someday too!
• Grant and I were supposed to have a getaway last weekend but our plans never solidified.  Erica came home on her lunch break from work on Saturday to find us still home and said, "You guys are dumb".  Thanks, darling, for your support.  We did go out to dinner at least!
• And we also went out to breakfast the following morning.  We didn't wake Erica to come with us as she got home verrryyyyy late and we were at the restaurant when she called her dad to complain.  He offered to order her something and bring it home but she said she would just have "a bowl of cereal flavored with tears".  When we got home much later, after some errands, I asked her how her cereal was and she said "Like a bowl of misery". That girl is too funny.
• It is October and I am happy to note that although this time last year there had been Christmas trees up in the home improvement stores for over a month, I think the rebound of complaints finally hit home and there were none to be seen at our Lowe's store when we went looking at flooring. 
• Traffic rant of the week:  Yes, it's true, you must actually come to a full stop at a stop sign before you make a turn into my lane from the side street.  If you did actually stop then I, the only car on the road, could actually pass by without having to brake, you selfish moron.
• My estimate of what I spent at the quilt show last week was off.  I said $80 but when I added up my purchases, it was under $60.  I guess I was including the entrance fee and lunch!  Here are my goodies:

The fabric in plastic was clearance priced one yard cuts for $5.  The others were half yard cuts for $5.50.  And some Precensia perle cotton I wanted to try, $16.  These were all from different vendors.

I thought the one yard cuts would play nicely with some others I had at home, and they do.  I'm thinking they would look great for the Cocoa Baskets from the Sept/Oct 2010 McCall's Quilting.

At the freebies table, I picked up some hexagons.  They were labeled Addicting and Contagious.

Pretty fabrics were included.  I haven't touched them yet so haven't been infected as yet!

Design Wall Monday--Oct 4, 2010

Halloween was on my mind this weekend after I did some fall decorating.  I'll bring out the Halloween stuff in another week or two--but definitely want to finish my witches. 

I have lots and lots of strips precut at 1 1/2" that the original pattern called for but I didn't like, so I believe I would have enough to do a piano key border. 

But I also like them set brick style.  Opinions, anyone?

I played with some charm pack leftovers last night too.  I love this line called Scaredy Cat, and made a small tumbler quilt from it last year, see pics here.  It is a Minnick & Simpson design from a few years ago and  their newest line has the same colors and fun designs. 

The square patchwork pieces will be mug mats and the rectangle some sort of small table decoration with the addition of borders and backing.  There are only tiny scraps left of this charm pack now!  Go to Judy's blog to see all the other Design Walls.

A boy and his quilt

My sister in law gave me permission to post this picture of her youngest child and the quilt I made him for his first birthday.  I have not seen the little guy since last Christmas but will again in just a few weeks when we head down to their house for his dad's 50th birthday. 

Isn't he a cutie! I can't wait to see little John in person and visit with his two brothers and three sisters too.