MERRY CHRISTMAS TO MY DEAR QUILTING FRIENDS!

 Before I get too busy to even stop and wish my friends a Merry Little Christmas, I thought I would go ahead and do it.  So, Merry Christmas to all of you!  Whoever you are, I hope you will leave a comment!  I know I have been bad at responding to comments lately, partly because I don't get notified any more when one is made and partly because I have been so busy.

Lately, I have been making some kitty presents!  I got the idea and pattern from Katie at katiemaytoo.blogspot.com.  She made one of these super cute fishes for all of her known cat owners. And she sent me the pattern!  (Not the first time she has sent me a pattern).  Thanks, Katie!

I only have 3 cats in my extended family (My sister has 2 and DS#1 has 1), so the 3 smaller fish are for them.  I made a larger fish just to see how it would look.  The large one is 12 1/2' long.  They were a lot of fun to make and the sewing student that I have decided to make one for her cat (I had given her 3 options).  It was fun picking out fabrics to use.  The fish have some catnip in them.

I had mentioned that I was a vendor in various craft shows and that is done for the year now.  Yea!!  Actually, this is the best year that I have had so far.  Here are a few pictures from the last show.  It was held at the Yamhill Valley Heritage Center Museum which is not far from my home.

At times, the booth was filled with people looking at the items for sale!  

There was a band playing and singing Christmas songs which was very festive!  Behind the bench there is a room set up like a time in the 1800s.

I will wish you a very Happy and Healthy New Year too!!!  We are thankful that we have been healthy these last couple years.  However, our youngest son and grandson have Covid now.  Our grandson is 11 and has a very mild case.  Our son is sicker, but not having any problem breathing, so please keep him in your prayers.

IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!

 I have been very bad lately, but good in other ways because I have been sewing and have had a bunch of craft shows.  The last one is this weekend!  

I just finished a quilt that I had started before we left on our trip in June.  I originally was looking for an easy quilt that would use up fabrics and that I could then donate.  We went to Kansas to visit one of our sons and then on to Florida to visit another one.  My granddaughter saw me working on it as I had taken my featherweight machine along and I had taught her to make a few things.  She was 12 and will turn 13 right after Christmas.  Anyway, with her help, all the blocks were finished in Florida and when we put them down on the floor to admire, she said she would like to have the quilt when it's finished, so she will be getting it for Christmas.  Here are a few pictures of it.

It measures 70" x 90".  I took pictures of it in the house and couldn't get a good shot with the whole quilt, but you can see how it turned out.

I quilted it with fans and you can see the quilting pretty good in this picture of the backing.

I participated in a Quilt-a-Long with Lori of humblequilts.blogspot.com.  It is a small quilt based on a larger one.

I've been so busy making things to sell that I haven't done as much sewing that I want to do.  But after Christmas I plan to finish a quilt that has been in the works for quite a while.  

I now belong to two quilt guilds as a new one started up in Dayton, Oregon led by a local quilt teacher and designer, Peggy Gelbrich.  I have been a member of another guild for about 3 years and will be serving as the secretary next year.  This guild has suffered a lot during Covid and many members have dropped out.  We tried meeting via Zoom, but that didn't work out very well.  Then when weather permitted, we met in a park, but not many people came.  We hope that now that we are meeting inside, people will start returning.

The next couple weeks will be consumed with some Christmas activities, gift wrapping, cookie baking, etc.  My sister will be coming here for a week and I need to plan meals for the coming holiday.  I'm sure you all will be doing the same, so I will wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS now and hope you get all your gifts finished on time!!

FALLING LEAVES AND HALLOWEEN

 Before I get to the falling leaves and Halloween, I want you to know that I have been quilting.  In my June 30 blog of this year, I had a picture of some quilt blocks laying out on the floor.  We were in Florida at the time and my DGD (12 yo) helped me sew these blocks together.  I finally got around to adding borders and am now in the process of getting it quilted.  It will be going back to Florida for either her Christmas gift or birthday gift (Dec. 27) as she said she wanted it.  The quilt was originally a project made to use up some fabric, with large and easy blocks and would probably be a donation quilt.  I am quilting baptist fans on it and had to make a trip to the LQS to get a new pedal for my sewing machine and a marking pencil for tracing the pattern.  The pen that I had just wasn't working well enough.

Here is a picture of the quilt under the needle and I'm about half way done with the quilting.  While I was at the LQS, I planned to get more of a certain fabric for the binding, but they didn't have any.  I went back today to double check because maybe someone shelved it in a different location, but I had to get something else.

The leaves are falling fast, but the beauty speaks of God's wonderful creation.  Our next door neighbor has a large maple tree, so the we have been blessed with lots of beautiful red leaves.  I think I know what I will be doing today as there are a lot more that have fallen.

Now to the Halloween part:  Our neighbor across the street has this hanging on his garage!

Isn't this a beauty?

Our decor for the season is much less spectacular:

The  weather promises to be pleasant this weekend, so we may have a lot of trick or treaters at the door tomorrow night.  Have a good weekend!

MASKS AND QUILT-A-LONG

It's been a while again.  I have been very busy and it won't be slowing down until the end of the year.  I have several craft shows scheduled from now until a couple weeks before Christmas so a lot of my time gets used up preparing for those.  

This week I noticed that my grandson keeps wearing the same mask that I made him several months ago and when I asked him about it, it said he had lost a few.  So I decided I better make him a few more.  While I was at it, I made some other ones for DH, myself (although I don't really need more) and friends.   I noticed some plaids in the closet and thought that would be good for men.

Top one is the more dressy one and there
was also a red plaid one that he took.

Lining for the men's masks

Ladies and Girls sizes (not all finished)

Lining for the ladies/girls masks

I also got  Lori's quilt-a-long instructions for this week.  So far, I am keeping up with it.  I'm not sure how long it will continue.  Here's what I have so far.

I hope it's not too scrappy!  It's hard to know what arrangement to do when you don't know what it is going to look like when it's finished.

Now, I will be working on a quilt that my granddaughter helped me with when we visited in Florida.  She said she wants it, so I will be sending it to her for her birthday.  I'm getting ready to put the borders on and will post it soon.

Happy Fall!!

 

Some Projects Finished

I promised my grandson that I would make a "jacket" for their dog, Olaf, so here it is.

Luckily, it fits and he doesn't seem to mind having it on.

Lori, from humblequilts.blogspot.com is having a quilt-a-long with a theme of "Land that I love" and I decided to join in!  It has been a few years since I have done it I think.  The assignment for the first week was to make 24 HSTs.

This week, I just need to cut 36 2" squares - I think I can manage that! 

I decided to make another cat lap quilt and the top is basted.   

I also got the scrappy strip quilt finished - I showed you the top in my August 4 post.  This will be a donation quilt.  I had to hang it sideways or it would drag on the ground.

Thanks to all that commented on my last post.   I was having trouble with my email and nothing was coming in.  I thought I had sent some replies, but they didn't show up in "Sent" so I doubt they actually went out.   Luckily, DH figured out how to fix it and I didn't have to call Apple.

Thanks for visiting!

It's Been Almost a Whole Month!!

 I'm so sorry that I haven't posted for so long!  I truly don't know where the time goes.  A couple days ago I got caught up on some of my favorite blogs and I need to do that more often.

Some of the things that have been happening:

We went to Newport, Oregon to celebrate our 59th anniversary!  We just spent one night, but had time on 2 days to see some of the sights.  We've driven through this town several times and I even went to a quilt show there several years ago, but had never really looked around.  Here are a few highlights.

Watching the waves come in at Nye Beach

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

We found a great restaurant to eat where we had a perfect view of the Pacific Ocean!  Of course, a quilt shop had to be visited too.  Plus we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

Another event was an outdoor craft sale at the Yamhill County Heritage Museum, which is about 10 minutes from our house.  It was a perfect day and the main event there was "Harvest Fest" where they harvest the old fashioned way with horses.

Since I'm looking forward to fall arriving soon, I actually decorated our front porch a little.  An old chair, with a silly looking doll hanging on it and an orange and black quilt hanging on the chair.  The doll even has a matching skirt!

All I have to do after Thanksgiving is turn the quilt around and it will be ready for Christmas!  By that time, I will make a skirt for the doll that will match the Christmas quilt.

Right now, I am in the process of making a table runner - Double Dutch Stars.  It is ready to be basted.  Designed by Kim Diehl.

This pumpkin wall hanging just needs the border put on and then I can baste and quilt it.  It is in the book "Alphabet Soup" that I have had for years and I have wanted to make this for quite some time.  

                                                                                                   

This year my marigolds have done very well (the ones that weren't eaten by slugs, that is).  The good thing is the deer don't like them so no nibbling by them.  

I think I figured out how to keep the slugs away, so maybe next year I will have a longer row of them.

Thanks for visiting!

A VERY OLD UFO FINISHED AND A NEW FINISH

 This was hanging in my closet for years and I finally finished the cross stitching on it!  I started this at least 11 years ago and due to the thickness of the area where the cross stitching was done, it was not fun to work on, so it went in the closet.  But NOW it is DONE!!  What is it?  It's a denim shirt with an eagle on the back. 

Another finish is this quilt named "Betsy" that I made for a customer in Indiana.  I returned the book to her and didn't write down the name of the designer.  All the fabrics were found in the civil war reproduction section of the quilt shop and that's why I asked the question about how to determine if the fabric is actually a reproduction.  However, some of the fabrics just worked with the pattern and I don't really know if they are repros.

This close up shows some of the fabrics better.

The backing color didn't turn out very well and the sunlight makes it look weird, but it is a Jo Morton fabric and is a darker brown .

Other news is that I entered a couple quilts in the Yamhill County Fair and won 2 ribbons.

2nd place

Pineapple Nine Patch - Blue Ribbon

That's about all the news I have today.  It has been very hot this week and got above 100º a couple days.

ONE TOP FINISHED AND MY SHOPPING TRIP

 In my June 2 post, I talked about making strip blocks and told you about my LQS's special 25% off for quilter's birthday week.  I finished the strip block top and it is now ready to baste.

This will be a twin size donation quilt that I will keep until it is needed.  The border is 4" wide.

On Monday I went to my LQS, Boersma's, for my birthday shopping trip.  Here are some pictures of the fabric that I bought.

The first three on the left above will be for the quilt I'm making with 18" blocks that I worked on in Florida.  It was pictured a few blogs ago.

The fabric on the left above will be used in a queen sized quilt.

Some of the fabrics I bought are needed to finish quilt tops.  I also purchased 3 yards of white and some white grunge, which you can see in one of the pictures.  I got some good advice from one of the workers at the shop.  She is excellent for helping me pick out fabrics to go with other fabrics.  I love the colorful leaves and will be making some zippered pouches with them.  

Right now, I need to get busy and do some basting.  Besides the strip quilt I have a BOM lap quilt to baste and another lap size quilt.  

I have a question about civil war reproduction fabric.  This is my favorite type of fabric and most quilt shops have a section set aside just for this category.  How do we know that the fabrics in that section are actually a reproduction of some civil war era fabric (or any other year repro)  when it doesn't say anything on the fabric?  Is there a way to find out for sure? 

Tomorrow, I will be going to the Yamhill County Fair to see if my quilt entries have won anything and to see all the other quilts that were entered.

Thanks for visiting!