Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!

Today I seem to be super motivated to use up the leftovers from this quilt.

I named it Jack-o-Lantern Glow and I finished it last spring.

I have been kicking around ideas for the loads of leftovers I have from it. Seriously like 1/2 a yard of each and 2 yards of the black backing. This morning I started making tumbler blocks with it. I know its dumb to start a Halloween quilt on Halloween, but I just couldn't stop myself!

This year we are going to take the monster, I mean baby elephant, out trick or treating. Probably just to a couple of houses though. I think he will have fun!

Change Purse

I really love the way this quilt turned out. The coin stacks are the leftovers from the Old Red Barn Co quilt along. Its long and narrow, but perfect for lounging in the recliner. Its going to stay here and live with us.

Off to the long arm

A girl could get used to piecing huge quilts and shipping them off for someone else to quilt them. Seriously. So this pile is off to The Finishing Touch. She did such an awesome job on the Paisley Path quilt that I didn't think twice about sending this one off too.

My quilt flow is feeling great right now. Other than the strips of fabric for the wonky log cabin blocks, I don't have anything else in limbo. I have a few piles of fabric ready to go when I am, but nothing is stressing me out or making me feel rushed. It feels great!

Doggie Days of Summer

We took a trip to Amarillo, Texas today to get a few things. I finished up the binding on the zig-zag in the car. I am so happy to have another project finished. I have one last small quilt to finish the binding on. Maybe by the middle of next week it will be finished up too. It feels fantastic to be geting these off my list. WAHOOOO

Can you believe I used black for the binding?! I love it. I still have a lot of this fabric and a pattern in mind. Maybe next summer I will bang it out. Maybe.....

Bullseye

Today I finished this quilt.

It is my 20th quilt! That feels like a milestone. I'm happy.

Soon it will be a top

I made fast work of the ironing. Hopefully by next week this will be a top.

There will be IRONING

I love this kid!!

Paisley Path

Finally! Paisley Path is finished! It really didn't take me very long, its just that I have been so anxious about how it would turn out. If you remember the first post about this quilt it was just a pile of fabric that made me nervous. For my sisters' quilts I chose designs and fabrics that aren't really my style.

I like the quilt alot. And if feels good to have broadened my horizons a bit. I think she will like it alot. Hopefully.....

It sure is huge enough! Really HUGE! The long arm quilting is fantastic!

another non quilting craftiness post

Another Christmas gift finished up. Well, actually he still needs a spritz of gloss. I probably won't add it until I finish the Nutcracker I am working on.

I cannot believe how much of a little man he is. Everyday he seems more grown up.

I've had this idea bumping around in my brain for a couple of months. They turned out just they way they looked in my head.

Non quilting craftiness

I start working on Christmas stuff early! A couple weekends ago I started my 50 something Christmas Cards. Its very exciting for me since this is the last year of my stash of cards. Before we moved to Misawa I stocked up on four years worth of Christmas cards because they were super cheap and I wasn't sure what the base would have. So my stockpile actually lasted for 5 years. But this year at the after Christmas clearance I can buy enough for next year. I can hardly wait. I love buying Christmas cards, and it has been really tough to keep myself from buying them while I used up this stash.

My husband's family doesn't really exchange gifts. I cannot fathom this really. After 8 years I still cannot understand, his siblings don't exchange any gifts. Heck, some of them don't even bother with Christmas cards.(or birthday cards, or birthday phone calls??!!) What love eh? I definitely don't feel like breaking the bank to gift fancy stuff. But I think something small and inexpensive can still be a nice gesture. Like..."Its the thought that counts." Anyhow, I bought a couple of these figurines to paint as family gifts. Definitely not breaking the bank, and it fills a hobby spot in my life. BONUS!!

So I painted one of them yesterday. The little monster was totally mesmerized. He climbed up on my chair and stood behind me looking over my shoulder while I painted for nearly an hour. I couldn't believe it! A lot of my paints were all gunky and old. Maybe I will go buy a couple of new paints before I start the next one. I need to go to the HOLO today anyways for a sealer.

I have really been enjoying Fall. The cool evenings are wonderful. Last night I made Pumpkin Spice Cookies from the Fall Taste of Home Comfort Foods which I picked up a few days ago and has lots of great recipes! A couple of nights ago I made a crockpot Potato and Sausage Supper.(You know the recipe was from TOH) It was super yummy and perfect for a fall dinner.

giddiness, and shreiking, and jumping up and down

I know its a bit much to celebrate a charm pack purchase. BUT.. I went 33 whole days without buying any fabric! THIRTY THREE DAYS! Yesterday I ended my fabric fast with a 1/2 yard of grey solid for the binding of the Change Purse quilt, and two yards of plain white for another project. BORING. But it felt good to be in a fabric store again. Today I ordered the charm packs I need for my niece's Christmas gift. My little boy got her name when we picked for our gift exchange. She has two older sister, so she doesn't need any toys. I thought a nice little quilt would be a better gift. At Christmas she will be eleven months, won't the Love U be so cute for a little girl? I am going to use this pattern. I can hardly wait!

I LOVED the Long Weekend

I had a really nice long weekend. Since my Hubby works for the gov't he got Monday off, and he took Thursday and Friday off so we could go to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. We cut the camping trip short, it was freezing, and the balloons weren't flying. SO we headed home and enjoyed a relaxing weekend.

This is a pic of our abbreviated camping trip....The first real spin in the pop-up.

The Hubbs helped me baste 3 quilts on Saturday afternoon. He's a peach eh? I got the Change Purse quilted. I adore this little quilt. The backing(see the top pic) makes me all giddy inside.

I was also able to bang out the Lilac Luna quilt.

I stippled the center purple square and it doesn't look like crap! Isn't it wonderful?! I changed the pic above so you could see the stippling better.

I ended up quilting it in gray and I like it. GO ME!!

Quilt Festival

I don't have a really gorgeous quilt to show off. But I do have this quilt that I am super proud of. Its a stacked coins quilt. I got the inspiration from this quilt. I wanted to make something for my son's room. It was fun gathering fun fabric worthy of a little boy's room. I found fantastic Micheal Miller fabric for the backing and got to work. Its a nice large twin (I love plenty of overhang).

This is the first time I used my walking foot. It was a big AH HA moment for me.

I made a second toddler sized quilt for the bed that my little boy current sleeps on.(Both the crib and the twin bed are in his room)

The First Chimney Sweep Block

I skipped ahead of the triangle monotony and made a whole block. Its very exciting!

There are alot of seams on this block!

I have alot of projects waiting.

This fabric makes me so happy. Its the backing for the Change Purse quilt...I want to get it sandwiched and quilted.

Blooper

At first I liked this quilt's top. Then the more I looked at it the more it look like a tacky Christmas tree. And everyone kinda loves a tacky tree right? Well, there was an incident with some sharp scissors, and a splotch on the backing fabric(which really doesn't fit the top in the first place). So this quilt was named Crackpot Christmas. We will use it, it will live a good quilt life, but its a big blooper.

I have learned a few things with this blooper. But I do like the backing!

Boy Oh Boy

This is the progress of 2 night of cutting this quilt.

42 rectangles

84 squares

and on my way to reaching a count of..... 672 triangles

yep, I've been muttering things...

haven't even touched any of the colored fabrics yet..... just the creams......yep

Chimney Sweep Quilt Fabrics

They are gonna get cut! I bought these three weeks and one day ago.... it has been that long since my last fabric shopping hit. I am starting to feel a little jittery and anxious, but i am determined to go 4 weeks before I buy more. Thankfully, I have this fabric which I washed up today and I am planning to start hacking it up tonight while I watch The Office. Its another Christmas gift. (I have 5 on my list)

The photo at the top is of my sashing fabrics, the pic right up there^ is of the fabrics for the blocks, and the photo below is a close up of the cream fabrics, I L-O-V-E the one on the right....