A BIRTHDAY PARTY AND SEWING IN A CONDO

Yesterday we celebrated our granddaughter's 9th birthday with a party at the "Sky Zone."  Abby had 4 guests there along with parents, grandparents (us) and my sister (great aunt).

Making a wish.

Cute, but tired, friends!

I have done some more sewing since we arrived in Pensacola.  First, I finished the table runner and place mats for my DIL in Kansas.

The table runner has 4 sections and on each end there is a part that will hang down on either end of the table with 3 smaller sections.

I made 6 place mats - with no batting in them - that's the way she wanted them.

Then, in my spare time (mostly early in the morning) I continued working on some projects that I had brought with me.

I had decided I wanted to make a table runner with some log cabin blocks that measure 5 1/4", so I started on those.

I also made some more of these 13 1/2" sawtooth star blocks out of scrappy pieces and 5" charm pack left-overs.

Have you ever had a picture taken with a pelican?  I did today! 

Happy New Year everyone!  I probably won't post again until 2018 and then I will try to have a list of my 12 scrappy projects that I will do to try to use up at least some of my scraps.  See confessions of a fabric addict.

SEWING FRUSTRATIONS

We spent some time with DS#3 and family (who doesn't want pictures published of them) and we had a wonderful visit.  I had time to do some sewing and after finding this fabric at a thrift store, my DIL desided to purchase it.  I started to make a table runner and some placemats for her, but my Featherweight bobbin tension was off - way too loose.  I couldn't tighten the tiny screws in the bobbin case, so I decided to try my DIL's sewing machine (which is in the sewing cabinet that my Featherweight is sitting on).  She has never used it, but had it serviced a few years ago. 


Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work right either so I had to put the sewing project away.

This is the fabric we found at the thrift store - about 6 yards of 56" wide fabric for $10!!

These are some other fabrics I got there for a very low price.

 The good news is that I get to keep the antique partial quilt top.  Below is a picture of the whole piece. 

While visiting, we saw another historic site in Kansas City, MO.

This is DH and I at a restaurant.

We have now moved on to visit another son - this time in Pensacola, FL.  The above 2 photos were taken from the balcony of the condo that we are staying in.  You might be able to see the gulf between the buildings - we are very close!

Christmas is rapidly approaching and we are looking forward to this visit here in Florida.  Are you travelling for Christmas?

FORT LEAVENWORTH AND AN ANTIQUE QUILT TOP

We went to the Frontier Tribute Trail Museum at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas a couple days ago and it was very interesting. This is where the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails began.  It has been an active fort since 1827.

I love this flag and didn't know for sure if the stars had ever really been arranged that way, but, yes, they had!

The displays were very life like.  The one on the right is really alive - my DH!

This is the Command and General Staff College.

Behind the stone marker below is the pathway that the wagon trains followed as they came across the Missouri River (behind me).  Can you see the indentation?

There are many military graves from various wars

When my DIL and I were getting the Christmas tree out, there was a tree left by the former owners of the house.  It is in good shape and is about 10' tall, so she decided to put it up.  I saw a box inside the tree box and when I picked it up a partial quilt top fell out.  I think they may have used it around the bottom of the tree and it is very old.  It's not finished and is an odd shape, but it's hand pieced and the fabrics look very old.  She's going to call the realtor (who is the daughter of the owners) to see if they want it.  If not, it will be mine.

Any ideas about the fabrics?

GIFTING QUILTS

Two grandsons will be receiving quilts for Christmas - both of them are from Bonnie Hunter's design or free pattern and are made mostly with men's shirts;  Virginia Bound and Majestic Mountains.  They are ready to go!

 I put each quilt in a Christmas pillowcase.

Here's a peek inside the pillowcases.  You can see pictures of the quilt on the left here.  Pictures of the quilt on the right (top) are here.

Since I have finished some quilts recently, I thought I would start a scrap quilt and start using up some left-over fabric.  The first one is this sawtooth star pattern that uses 5" charm pack pieces.  I had a lot of those left over from other projects and cut some more from scraps.  I used the pattern from Moda that I found here.  Each block measures 13 1/2' square.  So far I have 11 blocks finished and several more ready to sew.

I also wanted to try another scrap quilt pattern that I found here.  The corner block is 3 1/2" square and I am using left-overs from the Majestic Mountain quilt backing.  The blocks measure 6 1/2" square.

Here's a couple Christmas decorations that I put up.  This was a block of the month (BOM) from several years ago designed by Gail Pan and I finished it in 2012.

I made this cross stitch ornament many years ago and it has been hanging up in the hall since last year!  It's one of my favorite projects.

This tree next door has been hanging on to it's leaves, but they are now starting to fall,  So gorgeous!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

MAJESTIC MOUNTAINS FINISHED

Last year, when my 7 year old granddaughter was here for Christmas, she liked my moose that I use for decoration during the Christmas season.  So, when I saw the exact same panel at a garage sale for 

$1.00 I had to get it!  Here she is all finished.  I know she is a girl moose with a dress on and it isn't my fault that she has antlers (when only boy moose are supposed to have them) as they were printed on the panel, I do love her anyway.  

Here's a side view.

Here is the finished Majestic Mountains quilt that I made for my youngest grandson.  He and his brother will both receive a quilt this Christmas.

I got the backing fabric at an estate sale and it was the perfect amount for this quilt.  I really didn't know if I would like the quilt once it was finished, but I do!  I still have a bin full of men's shirts though.  It seems like I didn't use any at all.

Here are 2 of the Block 36 for the Mode Block Heads block of the week.  I still haven't made the second one of Block 35.  I'm afraid I'm petering out somewhat.  

Stay warm this weekend!  Good time to keep on quilting.

VINTAGE TIN HANGING IN MY LOCAL QUILT SHOP!

As many of you know, my local quilt shop is Boersmas!  It's about a mile from my home and it's the best shop in the Willamette Valley, IMHO.  Recently they had a quilt hanging that was made by one of their customers and I asked them if they would be interested in hanging my Vintage Tin quilt there, since they have the pattern for sale.  They said yes and I took it over last week.  I asked if I could take pictures of the other quilts that they have hanging and was given approval.  

My quilt - given to my DH.

The have lots of quilts hanging inside and lots more in their window display.

You can get many ideas from the quilts that they hang.

Look at the antique sewing machines on display!!

Halloween fabrics are on sale.

 These are lovely quilts!  We are so lucky to have this shop!  They even have a bargain basement with lots of bolts in it.  I get lots of my fabrics down there.

One interesting fact is that the owner's parents started in business in Chicago during the 1930s - at the same time that my Dad had a grocery store in Chicago.