How Did it Get to be November Already?

 I'm trying to think about what I have been doing for the last month!  The usual, I guess - sewing a lot and making thing to sell.  I just participated in one craft show and have 2 more in December.

First I want to show you my finished challenge that I told you about October 7.  I am pretty happy with how it turned out.  I've never been good at "challenges" before, but this time I knew right off the bat what I wanted to do and here it is.

I picked 4 of my favorite animals from Beatrix Potter's books.  I love some of the names she used, like "Mr. Tittlemouse" and "Jemima Puddleduck."  

Now, I'm working on some cat potholders.  I got the pattern when one of the quilt guilds that I belong to had a sale where people brought things they weren't going to use.  I saw the cat pattern and bought it because I have a few family members that love cats.  I am making 8 of them and will give them to people for Christmas (if you read this and are one to these family members, please forget that I mentioned this).  I have the faces almost finished.  

I also got this 9-patch quilt top pieced and basted.  These 3" blocks were from a block exchange that "funwithbarb.blogspot.com" had a few years ago.  I just love this quilt and will not sell it or give it away!  The border is from the same sale as the cat pattern.

My main job this week and next week is getting ready for our youngest son and his family to come here for Thanksgiving.  I will mainly be doing some baking and cleaning!  Birthdays will be celebrated also - 5 of them in November and early December and they will all be here.  What fun!!  Of course, I can't believe how old my sons are getting to be - my baby will be 50!!

I do have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season.  We all need to take time to be thankful for all our blessings.

QUILT SHOW IN HILLSBORO, OR

Recently I went to a quilt show in Hillsboro, OR, which is about a one hour drive from my house.  This is my second quilt show since COVID.  Things are gradually getting back to normal!  Here are the pictures that I took.

This one is really cute!

Wow!  Lots of work here!

My Favorite!

I really thought the description would have been about seeing sea turtles while  on a trip to Hawaii, or something like that.  But I'm sure it makes a super nice cover.

I'm proud of myself for adding another post so soon!  I plan to add another one in a few days! It's always fun to go to quilt shows and see what other quilters are making.  

Thanks for visiting!!

Challenge!

 In January, the new president of the local quilt guild, Gone To Pieces, gave us a challenge to make some kind of quilt depicting something that we enjoy, like a movie, a book, another hobby, etc.  I knew right away what would be my focus.  One of my favorite movies (or the favorite one) is Miss Potter.  Do you know this movie and have you seen it?  

It is about the life of Beatrix Potter, who wrote the "Peter Rabbit" books!  The movie is so good that I put it on my Christmas list and got it several years ago.  It is such a good movie about her life.  I think you would enjoy it.

I am almost finished with my wall hanging and here is a picture of it so far.

 I picked four animals to feature:  Peter Rabbit (of course), Mr. Brown (the owl), Jemima Puddle Duck, and Mr. Tittlemouse and 4 different fabrics.  I used iron on appliqué and just used a straight stitch to hold it on.  I decided to use a pen to draw the eyes, glasses,  and whiskers.  I just need to sew the rectangles onto the background and then add the "Miss Potter" letters, then layer, baste and quilt.  I plan to take it to the next meeting which is October 17.  I think I like Mr. Tittlemouse best!

I have actually gotten kind of excited about this challenge.  Most of the time I haven't participated in challenges, so this is kind of a big thing for me.  I will show you the finished product when it is done.

Craft show season is on us now and this weekend we will be at the Yamhill County Fair Grounds (in our town) for a Craft and Flea market.

Thanks for visiting!  I am sorry that I haven't posted much (or visited blogs) lately.  I can't promise that it will get better.  I have several quilt in progress that I need to finish - 3 things are basted another lap quilt is ready to bind.

TRYING TO GET ORGANIZED

 I have been a really bad slacker again!  However, I have been busy.  Saturday, I decided to make a list and set some priorities.  I won't bore you with the list, but just let you know there are a lot of items on it.  Things that I need to get finished, some of which go back a long way.  I'm not going to set an impossible goal, like getting this all done before the end of the year or anything.  I just wanted to be aware of them.  I also need to organize my fabric stash so I can find things easier.

Here are some of the things I have been working on.  This cat quilt is basted and just needs to be quilted and bound.  I have made several of this quilt and have sold them.

This Christmas quilt was a BOM at my guild.  I made 2 of some of them in order to have enough for a larger quilt.  It's not large enough for a bed, more like a couch lap quilt.  I need to add a border.

I just realized that I have this red/gold fabric (that I got at a garage sale a couple weeks ago) and I think I'll use it for the border.

This last one will be a donation quilt to a  place that takes in battered women and their children.  My guild makes mostly twin size quilts because everyone that comes in there gets a quilt for their bed and gets to keep it when they leave.  I need to get a backing for it and get it finished.  I have 2 more donation tops that I'm working on - all scrappy.

The weather is changing!  Yea!!  No more 90º temperatures!  DH is making progress slowly from his mini stroke and we are starting to think about plans for the holidays.  Happy fall everyone!

A Mystery Quilt

 I have been a slacker for too long!  My last post was about summer finally arriving and now we are getting close to summer being over.  It has been a very busy time for me.

On July 27 DH had a TIA (transient ischemic attach)  aka mini stroke.  His symptoms were loss of balance, weakness on the right side and I heard him fall in the bathroom at about 5:00 AM.  I got up and he was on the floor and told me he had fallen 3 times prior to this.  I knew we had to go to the ER immediately.  We got there about 5:20 AM and after tests and CT scan they told us of the diagnosis.  He stayed in the hospital over night for observation and is now using a walker to get around.  Hopefully, he will be able to gain his strength back  on his right side.  The veins in his head were constricted but not blocked and no bleeding or blood clots.

Now, on to some quilting news.  I went to a quilting retreat this past weekend which was just during the days - not overnight.  It took place in the activity room of the fire department in a nearby town and was organized by one of the members of my quilt guild.  We had a mystery quilt to make and were told to bring fabrics of certain sizes and amounts, but not having any idea of what the quilt would be like it was just a guess.  At the last minute I threw a FQ bundle in that I had gotten at the quilt show in Corvalis (2 posts back).  It was cheap and was fabrics that I normally wouldn't buy.  But, those fabrics turned out to be perfect for this project!  Here is a picture of the wall hanging that I made - not quilted yet.

It measures about 24" x 16" and is not something that I would normally make, but I really like it!  Of course everyone's was different and they all turned out really nice.  We also had a lot of time to work on some of our own projects, which I did but not finishing anything.  I will do another post about those.  A good time was had by all and that included delicious food!

There were prizes and I won this bundle of 30s fat eights!!  I love it!

I hope to make something with these soon.  Any suggestions?

Last Thursday I was running some errands and while trying to enter a shopping center that was very busy with cars and trucks coming and going, I turned too soon and my car ended up on top of a large bolder with the right tires in the air!  It was very bizarre!  I called AAA and fortunately they arrived in about 15 minutes and I had them take the car to the Buick dealership so they could see if there was any damage to the car other than the body damage on the passenger side.  We only have one car & DH couldn't drive anyway, so I called my next door neighbor who informed DH about what happened and then picked me up.  Just what I needed right now!  The next day I got the car back with the good news that it is not damaged in any mechanical way, so I got it back in time to drive to the retreat!  We will figure out what to do about the minimal damage to the side of the car later.

I'm sorry for being a slacker about posting!  I'll try to be better.  I promise that I have been sewing a lot - mostly some extra orders for Etsy customers.  Next weekend there is an outdoor sale event nearby.

Thanks for visiting!

Summer Finally Arrived in Oregon, sort of!

 We had a very cool spring and up until now, we have only had a few days where the temperature reached 80º or above.  And then, it didn't stay at the high point very long.  This is fine with me as I don't like hot weather.  My garden is doing pretty good.  I have one tomato plant (I hadn't planned to have even one, but when I saw how big it was at the store, I bought one.  It was still too cold to plant it outside so I kept it inside for quite a while.  I also have a rhubarb plant and a very small blue berry bush that has the most berries on it since planting.  Enough for some muffins, maybe!

This is my calla lili, which I had planted when we first moved here 8 years ago.  It lasted for 2 years and then didn't appear again until this year!!!  I couldn't believe it when it came up!  I hope it doesn't hibernate for 5-6 years again.  The iris behind it hasn't bloomed yet.  A friend gave it to me and it is supposed to bloom twice a year, so I hope it does, but maybe not this year.

Some of the flower seeds that I planted have actually sprouted!  I didn't inherit my Dad's green thumb, but I do try.  

I have been keeping busy getting ready for the display at the Cultural Center in Lincoln City that I told you about in my June 10 post.  I have added a few more items.  Here's one of them.  I call it "Windows."

Somehow I was inspired to make it when I got some purple fabrics from a store in Illinois as well as from Two Thimbles in Washington.  Every month I receive a selection of new 1800s reproduction fabrics from two thimbles.com and I have been enjoying them so much.  I use them to make items that I sell at craft shows or on Etsy.  Here's part of one item that I used the purple fabrics on and it sold quickly.

I also make these with a lot of different colors - here's one.  They usually measure about 9 1/2 x 27" but sometimes someone wants longer ones and I make them.

These have been pretty popular.  I love them and have some I use on different places around the house, but I was surprised when I started selling them on etsy and I have sold quite a few.  They look much better in person.

Tomorrow I will be vending at an outdoor event even though I prefer indoors.  The temperature high is supposed to be 79º so it won't be too hot.

Things are changing here as our 26 year old grandson has left to drive to South Bend, Indiana where he will be attending Notre Dame to study architecture.  We will miss having him over for Sunday dinner and for playing games.  He will be visiting friends and family on his way.  

Hoping you are all enjoying your summer and find some time to quilt!

MY FIRST QUILT SHOW SINCE COVID!!

 Saturday I went to Corvallis, Oregon (50 miles from my home) to the quilt show "Quilts in the Garden."  It was at 5 different gardens in a neighborhood.  Between the beautiful gardens and the beautiful quilts, it was a delight!

The pictures will tell it all:

One of the first quilts that I saw - very apropos to have in a garden.

The pictures so far were taken in the first garden and it was amazing!! 

This one is for Love - it's made of vintage linens.

Another one made out of vintage linens.

It was a beautiful, cool day and it didn't start raining until I was on the way home.  I got a new Country Register there and see some other quilt shows coming up!!

Have you been to a quilt show lately?

Some Quilts for the Cultural Center

 My quilt guild, Gone to Pieces, has been invited to present a display of our quilts at the Cultural Center in Lincoln City, Oregon beginning in late August through October, so I have been trying to get some quilts ready for this.  Here are a couple table runners that I just made to hang there.  These measure at 12" x 57" and the falling leaves measures at 12" x 44".

I will also submit these 2 larger quilts:

Spider quilt

Pineapple 9-patch

Just finished quilting and binding the string quilt that I showed in the last post.  The colors don't show up very well in the first picture, but you can see them better in the close up picture.  I quilted it with swirls using grey thread.

Thanks for visiting!  We are having more rain this weekend.  Again.  But I'm happy it isn't real hot and I don't have to water my seeds!!  I also planted a tomato plant.  Unfortunately, I don't take after my Dad and his green thumb, so we'll see if I get any tomatoes and flowers from the seeds.