Happy Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving 2014

May everyone who reads this today, have a blessed and joyous day with family and friends.  I wish this was a scene from our backyard but it is actually a beautiful fabric I found for the back of a special quilt.

Design Wall Monday

Been busy this week...The goal is to complete (4) quilts by Christmas.  I have all but one quilt top completed.  This afternoon, I did the machine quilting on the purple quilt and it is now ready for the binding.
I did not feel confident enough to free motion quilt, so I used the walking foot.  I only broke 3 quilting needles.  They were all size 75 and could not make it through the thickness at the block intersections.  Thankfully, I found all the pieces each time I broke one, so I could proceed.  After breaking the 3rd needle, I decided to change to a Schmetz Microtex Needle, Size 90/14.  Since this quilt used many different purple fabrics, I didn't have enough of any one purple fabric to use as the binding, so I have chosen a black binding.
I plan to sew on the binding, entirely by machine.  The lower right hand corner is folded over, so you can see what the back looks like.  I still had plenty of the back fabric left over but it looked too busy for the rest of the quilt.

Purple Quilt from Scrappy Challenge in April 2014

Check out what others are doing over at Patchworktimes.com

Design Wall Monday

This morning, the sky has been spitting a few tiny flakes of snow.  Since I have retired and do not have to drive anywhere, we have had little to no snow.  I still feel sorry for those who must deal with snow on their way to work and back.  Been there, done that and "it's no fun".

I have been busy working on surprise gifts.  Here's what I have on the Design Wall.  I have blocked out the name on the shirt.  I still need to applique around all the pieces and then decide on the actual quilt design.
The plan is to have simple blocks and let the fabrics speak for themselves, since the fabrics are all baseball related. 

Check out Judy's Blog at Patchwork Times.com to what others are creating this week....

Batter Up

Does anyone else save the selvages?

This afternoon, I discovered a great reason to save the selvages.  I wanted more fabric to match the fabric I used in the corner blocks of the quilt I've been working on for the past couple of weeks.  It's a Robert Kaufman fabric called Fusions but there were several different shades and I couldn't tell which one matched with what I have.  So, I decided to check my Selvage bin and down near the bottom, I found what I needed.  "Fusions"  #5573.

What a delightful blessing!  So, this afternoon, I ordered 5 yds. from Hancocks of Paducah and while I was about it, I also ordered a neat fabric for the back of the quilt. 

Design Wall Monday

This past Saturday (Nov. 8th) our guild had their annual Quilting Stuff Auction.  All our members bring in their fabric, partially completed projects, patterns, magazines, quilting supplies and yarns, etc.  We stack it up in piles over all the tables (I should have taken a picture).  We buy tickets for 10 cents each and then place a ticket in the paper bag taped next to the pile you wish you could win.  I tried to be selective in where I placed my tickets.  I won the following:

(1) stack of magazines (Quilt Mania, which is printed in France but written in English)
(1) stack of magazines (Fabric Trends, which showcases fabric and quilt patterns)
A bag of scraps, strips, and completed blocks
A good stack of children's fabrics, which will be great for Project Linus quilts
and Hooray, Hooray -- 30 yards of flannel--another great for Project Linus quilts..

30 yards of Flannel

Be sure to hop over to Judy's Blog at Patchwork Times.com to see what others are doing this week

Design Wall Monday

I am in the middle of designing a new quilt for someone special. I found a neat picture on-line, which gave me a design idea for the quilt with a size of 60" x 70".  Even with the landscapes pre-printed on the fabrics, it is still difficult to choose how to arrange them.  I had wanted to make an attic window with a realistic view, however the pictures on the fabric were not going to line up correctly when viewing out the window.  I finally determined that the attic window quilt would not work for a bed sized quilt, because the panel pictures are too small.

Here is what I have so far......  Hopefully, next Monday, there will be more to see.

Be sure to see what others are creating at Patchwork Times.com this week. 
















This afternoon was so pretty and warm, my DH and I took our dog to the Dog Park.  She did very well.
She enjoyed running after a tennis ball and bringing it back.  She socialized with a couple of dogs with only a few low growls, which we were not too excited about since we didn't want any dog fights.

Crunch Time

It's November 1st and "Crunch Time" has arrived.  All the things I wanted to get done during the year and now I want it accomplished before Christmas, especially since some items are Christmas gifts.  Why do I always wait until the last minute?  Waiting until the last minute keeps me focused on each project to get them done in time.  Of course, some items need to be mailed across the country, which means I cannot allow myself to wait until the week before Christmas to complete them.

Last night, "Halloween" was icy cold with a brisk wind.  We always go out to eat and then to WalMart to purchase our gifts for Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse.  It has become an annual event for DH and I.  We escape the Trick or Treaters.  Last night was not a good night for anyone to be venturing out since it was so cold.

Today, I made a couple of fleece hats for the shoebox gifts.  The hats are so easy to make and fun to create. 

Fleece Hats for Operation Christmas Child