Weather Report

As expected we got our first snow of the season this afternoon. It seems to be melting off as quickly as it fell but of course we are not done yet. LOL

Finished!

I mentioned in my last post that I had finished a UFO that had been hanging around for a year. I had made the center of this bag last Oct when I taught at a overnighter with my quilt group. I had already made a pot holder out of the example so I knew I didn't want another one LOL I happened to run upon a darling tote bag while surfing around the net and knew I had some Halloween type fabrics stored away from past few years I could use. That's when I discovered the witch stored away with the fabric and knew I could make the bag quickly enough to mail off to my Grson who is in VA for a few months while his Daddy does some work at the Army hospital at Ft Belvoir. I love the stripes and used the fabric on the back as well. The handle is the bright green you see on the side with a lining of a print that I have had for a while. My DD got the box and she mentioned that she loves it! Not sure if grson A will be able to get it away from her! LOL

Here is the wall quilt finally finished for grd C. I used this as a teaching sample for my night group and I love how it turned out with all the pinks and blacks...so different from the original Debbie Mumm pattern here. You might notice that I did substitute a few blocks so that it would be girly for C but most of the blocks are the same as Debbie's. I still need to make a label for it explaining all the blocks and how they represent my wishes for her through the years. When I showed it to her she said she loved it and was so excited to see the pink and black polka dots that matched her bedroom decor.
I still have one more version to finish for my home but I am STILL waiting for the perfect border fabric since I don't have enough of the ones I worked with...it will happen! LOL
I have finished one more project but it will have to remain a secret until after Christmas...I need to make sure I take a picture before I wrap it up.

I Got Sick this Weekend

Wish I had my Mommy to take care of me!
Nothing much got done around here for the whole weekend although I did start a project...to remain a secret for a bit longer, on Friday. There it sat half done on my sewing machine table all the rest of the time.
I am still achey all over and have a sinus headache too. I thought to maybe attend my step class this morning but if I do anything it will be a short walk. LOL

Hopefully this evening will be better.

Storytime and Burger King

I signed grson I up for the Mom and Me storytime at the library this year and I took a couple of pictures last week. They have the groups divided and there are supposed to be 2-3 year olds in this group but I think some are a bit younger and some are older...mabye 4? Anyway I enjoyed the songs and stories and getting to act out the story of what used to be called Little Black Sambo (in non politically correct times) but now has a different title but it's the same story?
They acted out the tiger chase that created the brown and gold butter for the pancakes at the end of the story. Amazingly enough the story was still just as funny as I remembered it from almost 50 years ago.

After storytime if the weather is nice we head outside to the park right next to the library for some outside play and then to one of the fastfood eateries that have a kids play area for lunch. This was our first trip to Burger King and they so kindly gave I a crown to wear. It loved it for a bit and was willing to pose for a picture to show his Mommy and Daddy later.
Wed. are great days for us!

Birthday Balloons

Grson I's Mommy had a birthday the other day and since he was staying with us for the day we took him shopping for a present for his Mommy. I loved the balloon bouquet that he helped create by picking the colors with Mr Creative his Pappa. My DIL loves candles so I picked two Salt City Candles and then let I pick which "smell" to give his Mommy. We put the candle in a bag for him to take home to her and she was so surprised by the pretty balloons!

Pink and Black Birthday

My bonus grd turned 10 last week and here she is with her favorite present a new bike! AS you can see she is very happy with it too.
These are the little doo-dad holders I made for her room with little mini buckets from Target and all kinds of odds and ends from my scrapbook stash along with vinyl cuts with my Cricut. I learned that some fonts are pretty but not so easy to get straight on the little sloped sides of the buckets LOL
We also gave her a lovely fake fur rug for her floor in pink and the quilt which I need to pick up from the quilter...hopefully today and get it bound.

An Echo in the Bone update

Just thought I would let you know I have finished the book and it really was an incredible ride once more. This book focuses on several battles of the Revolutionary War mostly in NY and what times were like for the Armies of both sides.
Now I have to wait at least two more years for the next book...OH, someone really needs to find a great series like this for me to sink my teeth into! LOL

Not Quite a Ton of Triangles

But plenty to work with.
See, I am keeping up with my From the Center out project. I next need to turn those quarter square triangles into hour-glass blocks for the next border. You can see peeking in from the left edge, the yellow border I added after the first border.

Finally for my Scrapping friends

I can't believe it has taken me this long to get my blog candy up!

Anyway, just to say "thanks" for visiting my blog when you can I am offering this little bit of candy for you.
It's easy to win...just leave a comment on this post and also, if you would, a link to a favorite blog/website that you think I would enjoy!
I will let this go until next Sunday and then random choose a winner. (is that correct grammar? LOL)

Never fear my quilty friends I have one for you too and I will post it tomorrow.

What is Distracting Me Now

Many of you might not know that I am a reader. I used to resort to reading cereal boxes when I didn't have anything new to read. LOL
Anyway I am now halfway through a long awaited book by Diana Gabaldon An Echo in the Bone, which was released on my birthday, that makes it a great birthday present! LOL
This is the seventh in a series and these are NOT wimpy little books but pages and pages of several story lines that weave in and out like a good Celtic knot design.
I can sit for hours devouring the book but alas I do have some sort of a real life now and then. I have made a card for my DIL , which I will post soon, and I am also cutting and stitching on the next round on the Mariner's Compass medallion I started last month. I need to make tons of quarter square triangles that then form half a ton of hourglass blocks which form the next border.
So....I also guess I need to do some work around the house LOL
Anyway just wanted to check in for now.

Caught Up Finally

As I mentioned before I let myself get behind for three months in our Civil War Love Letter quilt group and I have been putting off catching up. For some reason 6 blocks when it is one at a time for a month doesn't seem so awfull but when I have 18 blocks to do it just seemed like Mt Everest!
But through a whole bunch of time at the timeshare and a bit beforehand I got a big chunk of them done and just finishe the last this afternoon.

Yeah I know that the bottom left and the bottom right blocks have problems...I am not sure what happened when I cut the triangles for the corners of the left block but I am not sure if I have the fabric to make two more...wish me luck in replacing them. The bottom rights's problem is the darn Lincoln print ended up off center...sigh...I didn't really notice until I had gotten the whole section finished and by that time I was not gonna pick it out! So...my story is that the woman who pieced the block was too vane to wear her glasses and thus it seemed OK to her when she pieced it! LOL Hey, it's MY quilt and I love to make up stories for the fictional women who worked on the project once upon a time. Be that as it may I still think the Lincoln block is my favorite of this group. (Bye the way do you see the "bird feeder block?" A joke between my friends!)

This group wasn't too bad but the bottom right is quite a jumble when I put all those fabrics together. They looked good as I chose them but I think too much going on in the end. My favorite is probably the upper middle...I think it kind of looks like a Native American design maybe.

Last group are some of my favorites. I really enjoyed the fabrics in these blocks and they all have a bit of a special place in my heart.
The wind was gusting as I took this picture and my favorite on the bottom right kind of looks funny. I just love the contrast of the black and olive toned green here. My friend's hubby said the black print has olives on toothpicks from a martini in it! LOL I agree it does.

Next week we will get another group of 6 blocks and because Nov, is my month to hostess I will have to also have my 6 ready to show at the first of Nov so I will be doing 12 again...but on the other hand I might just do a few of Oct's and catch up in Nov. since my blocks will already be done...maybe? LOL

Melody Crust

The lunch lecture we attended during Quilt Fest was by Melody Crust.

I was unfamiliar with her and did a little research to find her specialty is embellishment and fabric dying. She did a fun lecture about her journey into this aspect of quiltmaking and has a sort of dry sense of humor. She poked fun a bit at herself and the quilting world in general.
She told a bit about her slightly off-beat creativeness and her first experience at making a wonky sort of checkerboard border and the quilter's dislike of trying to quilt such a crazy biased sort of edging. LOL
She is now doing much smaller pieces and really loves the threadplay of quilting and embellishment.
I loved the color mix of the greens and orange and purples on this piece

These are the most recent projects. She is in the process or has just finished (can't remember which) these tiny quilts. She said it allows her to use all her favorite things, threads, ribbons, buttons an various other embellishments without a huge quilt commitment LOL

At the Timeshare

This year instead of staying at the hotel during the Utah Quilt Guild Quilt Festival a few friends and I stayed at our timeshare in Ogden Canyon which was about a 45 min drive away. Thus we only did one day at the Festival but did manage to boost the local Ogden area economy by eating out a few times and shopping! LOL
The rest of the time we spend sewing away to catch up on projects or in P's case doing some creating of new quilts. She, her DD C and I did a whole lot of sewing....covering the floor with snippets of foundation pieced fabric and threads....but getting much accomplished. P had several smaller quilt tops that she pieced ready to quilt when she arrived home. C worked on her Dear Jane doing many outside triangles of her quilt. As for me...I spent the time catching up on my Civil War Love Letter blocks...I had gotten behind for 3 months and tat 6 blocks a month that was a whole bunch of little, often fiddly blocks with a bunch of pieces. I had prepared by choosing fabrics before I left home but it still took me the whole sewing time to get all but 3 finished. I will post them later today.

While at the office one afternoon I saw people taking pictures outside and I couldn't figure out what was going on so I peered out the window and saw a "dog"...but maybe not...it was a fox! This darling guy (?) had wandered into the condo area as a pup and now was quite at home with people. As you can see he posed quite nicely for pictures and when I walked by he wanted a handout but I told him that I didn't have anything with me LOL What a lovely creature he is and I am sure he could be a wonderful wild sort of pet but not for me.

This is a view down the road beside our unit. You can kind of see the lovely turning of colors on the distant mountain but as we drove home the colors were just starting and I suspect that in another week or so they will be spectacular.