Generally, this is one of my favorite holidays.  Bill and I have dressed up in fun costumes and “trick or treated” to all of our friends houses.  It gives us a chance to say “hi” to those we don’t see very often and they get a kick out of our good time.  This year we are just tired and decided to stay home, build a nice fire and watch the World Series.  In a way, I feel sad that we aren’t out and about; on the other hand, it feels good to be home in my comfy clothes.

I did prepare a Halloween Haiku…

witches, goblins, ghosts

things that go bump in the night

leaves cover the ground

I have been doing some quilting!  Yeah, finally some quilt content.  I have been working on the Halloween wallhanging for Wendy.  Obviously, it won’t be ready this year but I think she will get it for Christmas.  The top is completed and I started the quilting last night.  Here’s a sneak peek…

My retirement has been interesting, to say the least.  I have spent more than 40 hours a week since the first of the month working at the new Lowes.  Consequently, I’m tired.  Yesterday was the opening day so my schedule should slow down a little.  I was off around noon the last couple of days and I like that. On another note, I have lost 4 or 5 pounds and I like that, too.

Speaking of retirement, I received a couple of very special gifts.  First of all, my daughter contacted several friends and family members and organized purchases of Pandora charms.  I was not aware of this jewelry but here is a link if you want to know more about it.  She asked each participant to write a memory and purchase a charm of their choice.  She made a card out of scrapbooking materials with each memory and attached the corresponding charm to the card.  The four of us went out to dinner and she presented me the gift; all the cards were wrapped and in a little basket, the bracelet was in its box. Many of the cards made me cry as I remembered my friends and relived their memories.  What a wonderful gift.  Thank you, Wendy, for being the thoughtful, creative, loving daughter that you are.

Yesterday after work I was able to meet my best friend, Su for lunch.  I haven’t seen much of her this past month either.  We stayed for a couple of hours catching up and before we left she gave me a handmade basket to celebrate my retirement.  (I keep telling her to stop giving my gifts.)  This little basket was made by a Passamaquoddy Indian woman named Clara *** .  It is signed on the bottom and dated ‘98.  This basket is one of a collection that belongs to Su and the fact that she has passed it on to me makes it an invaluable gift.

That’s all for now.  Thanks for stopping by…

;o)

I started cutting the fabrics for the Halloween wallhanging for Wendy.  Holy cow, talk about a pain in my back.  I cut 36 charm squares into 2×5 strips and 2×2 squares.  Then I cut another 18 squares into 2×5 strips.

I still have to cut the background fabric into 85 2″ squares and 13 4″ squares, which then have to be cut into triangles.  I’m making a pattern by Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co. titled “X-rated”.  It can be seen here.  It’s part of the Schnibbles group.  It’s the first one I’ve ever made; then again, it’s the first time I have made anything from a charm pack.

Anyway, my back has had enough cutting for tonight; think I’ll sit at the machine for awhile.

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;o)

Doodle Day - Butterfly

I didn’t doodle any dragonflies but this is a rough rendition of the wall hanging completed for my son and his wife last Christmas. ..

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Ella Bella's Funky Monkeys

Just in the nick of time.  I completed Ella’s quilt around 1:00 in this afternoon.  Her birthday party is tomorrow so I was cutting it pretty close.  I have mentioned previously in this blog that her quilt was actually a companion quilt to the one I’m making for her dad.  He loves sock monkeys, which I just recently discovered, so I made him a quilt using sock monkey fabrics.  Her quilt was made using one of each of the monkey fabrics in her dad’s quilt, along with some black and whites that I had.  Unfortunately, her dad’s quilt is still at the LA quilters but since it was her birthday, I gave her the one made for her so I guess that will make her dad’s the companion quilt.  He doesn’t know that he is getting one so I couldn’t even till him the story.

The back of Ella's quilt

Ella Bella's Funky Monkey label

quilting patterns completed on DSM

I’m especially proud of this quilt as it was completely my design, inspired by Project Improv.  I traced the patterns onto some iron-on paper and did all of the quilting on my DSM.  The biggest problem is pulling out all of the paper once the quilting is completed; very time consuming! One of these days I will attempt the quilting completed freehand.  I just have to work up my courage and not worry about ruining anything.

This is the first quilt that has been my own creation but I made a small wallhanging years ago that was also my own design, made from some leftovers from one of my first wallhangings.

Leftovers Again

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Park City Girl is hosting an online quilt festival.  It sounds like fun and a great way to get some new inspiration.  Be sure to check it out.

This is my entry..

Butterflies

This is a wallhanging that I made at the request of my son and daughter-in-law.  The center was a batik panel that I ordered online.  The border fabrics were leftovers from the quilt I made them for a wedding gift.  Although it was promised for Christmas ‘07 and not delivered until Christmas ‘08 they were very happy.  It was the first time I had done any quilting with metallic thread and the first time I had done so much background quilting.  I posted about this piece here when it was completed.  I hope to see some of your work too.

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Well, it’s been a long time since I actually finished a project.  I don’t remember when I started this one but it’s done.  Actually, there are a few loose threads I need to take care of and I need to add a hanging sleeve.  I had prepared a sleeve but it was not wide enough so I’ll do another.  For all practical purposes…it’s DONE.

Oriental Flower

Close-up of echo quilting

Because it’s my wallhanging and I can do whatever I want (it’s really Bill’s), I decided to quilt a “ghost flower” in some of the echo quilting.

"ghost flower"

I spent most of the day on Thursday working on the companion quilt for Ella.  It has one square of each of the Funky Monkey fabrics that are in her dad’s quilt.  I added the black and white because I know small children see them better and she is only 9 months old.  I used the improvisation technique which I really enjoyed.  I started to sew on the borders but didn’t like the fabric choice, AT ALL, so I took them off.  I’ll have to search for a different fabric to use as the borders.

Ella's FM quilt w/o borders

Yesterday Bill and I took a little trip in the car looking for a quilt shop that I have been to a couple of times.  I knew it was quite a drive and I knew the road but I didn’t know exactly where it was located.  We drove more than “quite a drive” and never found the place I was looking for.  However, we did come across another little quilt shop so we stopped there instead.  I didn’t find any of the FM fabric I was searching out but I did manage to find some bee fabric along with a pattern (POORHOUSE Quilt Designs) for a cute little tote that I may be able to sew together fairly quickly and put into my Etsy shop.  I like it because it has a lobster applique on the front.  There are also patterns for a crab and sand dollar. If I get it done, it may be the first item in my shop, which is currently set up but empty.

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"quilting bee" fabric

tote bag pattern by POORHOUSE Quilt Designs

photo of starfish tote bag (from pattern)

When I make quilts or wallhangings or bags or whatever, I can’t give them away.  Unless I make them specifically for someone I usually keep everything.  I don’t know if I’m selfish or if I spend so much time (rather anal) working on a project that I just can’t bear to let it go.

Either way, today I let go of two items.  The first was a quilt that I started many years ago in a class at Portsmouth Fabrics.   The fabrics were supposed to be Kaffe Fassett but I really wanted to do something different so I bought all nice, bright colors.  The result was The Bright One.

I took this to Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor, NH for sale on consignment.  They do it a little differently.  Rather than taking a percentage of your selling price, they add 25% of your price to calculate the total asking price.  At least that way, the seller gets what they want and the shop gets what they want.  They will keep it for four months and then return it to the seller at their expense.  They do not care if you send it in again at a later date.

Of course, while there I couldn’t just walk out without buying anything.  I found several bee fabrics that I purchased for the quilt I will make for Wendy at some point.

The next quilt is the Birthday Quilt.  I called it that because I received the kit from Su for my birthday a few years ago.  After putting it together I used it to practice my free-motion quilting and it turned out really well.  I was putting the binding on one day at work last year and Sue (a different one) said I could give it to her since I didn’t know what I was going to do with it.  We both laughed but I decided then that I would give it to her for her birthday, which is tomorrow.  I think she will be surprised but happy.   The colors are a little off because the photos were taken at night with a flash.   I know I had taken some earlier but I couldn’t find them anywhere.  Guess they are hibernating in cyberspace.                                                                                                                                                                        

I did get a little sewing done on the funky monkey quilt for Greg along with cutting more strips over the last couple of days.  The pattern is Keyholes (On a Roll Again by Heather Mulder Peterson) and the directions are for jelly rolls but I’m using fat quarters.  It doesn’t contain any info about cutting fat quarters so I have too many 2 1/2″ squares and not enough 2 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ rectangles.  Oh well, I have plenty of fabric, I think.  I’m sure I should have been able to figure it out better than I did.  Live and learn.

I had purchased a pattern for a small wallhanging called “Charmed, I’m Sure” by Patti Buhler along with a charm pack called “All You Need Is Love” by Deb Strain for Moda.  The pattern calls for 36  5″ squares but of course, the charm pack only has 31 squares.  I found another charm pack  (on eBay) called “Love Is In The Air” that coordinates with the original one I purchased.  (I hardly ever win a bid on eBay but I did win this one, then purchased an additional pack for my SS.)  I mentioned in an earlier post what a crumby day Friday was and I had gone to the quilt store.  While there I purchased a couple of great border fabrics for this wallhanging.  Now all I have to do is get started, along with the blooming 9-patch, the oriental flower, the kimono quilt and whatever else comes along.

It has been snowing since I got up this morning at 5.  I think they are talking 6 – 8 inches.  Oh Joy!  Have I mentioned that I hate snow, cold weather,  and winter in general.

Yeah, it only took a little more than a year but finally, I finished the butterfly wallhanging for Greg and Vanessa that was promised to them last Christmas.  By last, I don’t mean the one last week, I mean the one in 2007.

I did Diane-shiko in the background as well as some fill between the leaves.  It took me forever but I really liked the way it turned out.  Once all the quilting was completed, I added beads and crystals.  My biggest mistake was adding the border and binding before doing the background quilting.  I’ll know better next time.  As I said, this took forever but it took quite a while for the piece to talk to me.  I think Greg and Vanessa were pleased with the final product.

I also made a microwave heat pack for Su for Christmas.  It was very easy thanks to the tutorial on Carla’s blog.  The photo isn’t very good but you get the idea. The fabric is a nice flannel with angels that I have been hording for many years because I was waiting for the perfect reason to us it.  What more perfect project could there have been?

I also finished another small bag made with Christmas fabric.  So, I actually finished three projects in the last month.  Wow, that’s gotta be a new record. I continue to work on the oriental flower as well as the blooming 9-patch.

I joined an inchie swap on the MQResource forum. It is being coordinated by Carla and she has posted a tutorial on her blog. It was the first thing I have ever done that was completely designed by me and for some reason I decided on a red, white and blue theme. We each make 29 inchies and mail them to Carla. She will distribute 28 different inchies back to each one of us. I’m not sure how mine will compare to the others but I’m anxious to get them back. The deadline is the end of August so we won’t be getting any back until sometime in September. What will I do with 28 inchies? Your guess is as good as mine…time will tell.

I have decided to put two of my projects into the local quilt store quilt show. One is a twin size quilt and the other is a small wallhanging. My plan is to put a price on each of them and hope that they sell. During the show the quilt shop does not take any consignment fees so all of the money will be mine.