Wicked Blog Hop

Welcome to my post in the Wicked Blog Hop. I'm so sorry to be posting late. Unfortunately, I am one of those affected by Hurricane Sandy. We are fortunate that the power we lost yesterday came back on. Millions of others in my state (New Jersey) are still without power including two of my adult sons who both live in the same town about 12 miles from here.

There are a number of others posting today and I hope you will visit their blogs to see what they have come up with. I plan to do the same this evening. To make it easy, here is a list of today's posters.

Tingling Tuesday,

October 30^th

I Like To Quiltblog

Canary Created

Cherry's Prairie Primitives
Count It *All* JOY!!

Archimedes' Bathtub

Quilts And Dogs

Jane's Fabrics And Quilts

Creations On The Island

Englating

Mrs.Pickles Garden

Scrapbook-Chickadoodle

Taschen, Quilts Und Mehr

 

Thanks to Wendy and Madame Samm for their efforts in organizing this blog hop.

Next up is my block-

  I think it's a pretty scary looking spider. No, it's not the 10" or12" it was supposed to be. Originally I was going to add background around the spider and then embroider on a spider web, but I decided I really like it the way it is. I got the design from the Paper Panache website. I love her patterns. They aren't the easiest, but they are wonderful.

I'm off to Texas

This time tomorrow I'll be on a plane to visit my sister in Texas. We will be attending a reunion of the school we attended in Japan.. She lives in Plano, and the reunion is in San Antonio. She is driving and will pick me up at the airport in Austin on her way. Then we'll continue to San Antonio together. I have no idea of the driving times involved.

I've been to Texas, but never to San Antonio. From what I understand, it's a lovely place to visit, and I'm looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, I've been in a bit of a slump about sewing. I did finish my 'Tis the Season quilt-about a week and a half ago, actually. I'm really happy with it. I ended up doing stitch in a ditch with no walking foot. It came out pretty well. I wish I could find that missing walking foot though.

Since then I've worked on my new kitchen curtains, and that's it. Still  a ways to go on them, and no pictures yet.

I'll be back from Texas next Tuesday, October 2. Then I need to get back to the kitchen curtains, the curious nature quilt, and some blocks for the Wicked Blog Hop (coming up in a few weeks-see my sidebar). I also have in mind a throw quilt as a belated wedding gift for my nephew and his new wife. I have the fabrics for that already, and would just need to purchase fabric for the backing.

Dots on Dots Blog Hop

It is finally my turn on the Dots on Dots Blog Hop. Many thanks to Madame Samm from !Sew WE Quilt! and Corrie from Quilt Taffy. They are the ones who organized this hop.

Before I show you my blocks, I don't want to forget to tell you where to find all of today's posters. They are:

September 14th

Debby Kratovil Quilts

Quiltingfiesta

PigTales and Quilts

Sew Me Something Good 

Archimedes' Bathtub (That's me!)

Simple Sew 

Patchouli Moon Studio

In the Boon Docks 

Debuko @ Quilts My Way  

 

 

Hopefully, I did that right and the links are clickable! Now this hop started on September 10 and continues until September 21. To find the information for any of the other days click on the Dots to Dots logo off on the side. The blocks and projects that people have shown so far are well worth checking out. 

Good. Now that I've taken care of business, I'm eager to show what I made. FYI, all of my blocks are 12 1/2" square (unfinished).

First up is a Dresden Plate block. 

Every single one of those fabrics except for the background has dots on it. I've had to laugh at how many people so far have included a Dresden block in the Dots on Dots hop. It just seems to fit! They're all different though. I needleturn appliqued the plate onto the background and the center onto the plate. I just like how it looks with that applique method.

The next two block were just me playing around to see what I could come up with. They aren't  particular named blocks that I know of.

The red is a little flange I added to spice up the block a little. I like the way it came out.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my work. I'll be participating in another hop during October called Wicked (see side bar). It has a Halloween theme and I've been planning my contribution to that one.

'Tis the Season progress

I finally decided to go ahead and machine quilt my 'Tis the Season quilt without the walking foot. I figured I could do some of it, and if it was horrible-well, I'm good with the seam ripper.

While it wasn't as good as with a walking foot, I decided I could live with the results. I'm stitching in the ditch and am almost done. I should finish the quilting tomorrow. Then it's on to the hanging sleeve, the label and last of all the binding!

Meanwhile, I've won a couple of giveaways in the blog world lately. I won some half yards of flannel from  Henry Glass Fabrics and some goodies from Tamiko at patchworknotes.blogspot.com

 If it wasn't so hot and humid, I'd definitely want a pair of jammies made with the bunny fabric from Henry Glass. It's made to be a baby fabric, but hey, I like it too.

The garden is coming along. The cucumbers and lettuce are past. We are still getting squash and tons of beans. We are getting tomatoes, but far less than in other years. They are good though! Don planted a new batch of lettuce for the upcoming cooler weather.

Look at these bean plants!

They are literally 8 feet tall.

I've been redoing the Curious Nature quilt and ordered more fabric in one of the fabulous sales over the holiday weekend. I'm going to end up with two quilts instead of one. That'll teach me to read the directions more carefully!

A Little Something Done

I'm ridiculously happy that I finished hand sewing down the binding on the placemats I've been making. It's not a huge project, but it's done and I'm very happy how they turned out. I won the fabric in a giveaway at the Ellison Lane blog back in March. It is a line called Fruit Slice.

There aren't 8 placemats, I made 4 and made them reversible for more variety. I like that each one is different, but they all fit together. There is also a cover for the top of my microwave which I didn't photograph. I'm also making a matching set of kitchen curtains. No, I didn't win enough fabric for all that; I went shopping for more. Goal-to finish the curtains by the end of August.

My other little finished project is my name tag for the Northern New Jersey Modern Quilt Guild. There was no pattern given, just anything we might want. This is what I came up with.

I thought I had some pin backs but couldn't find them so I sewed on a quilt basting pin for a simple and permanent solution.

My big concern at the moment is my missing walking foot. I want to get the quilting done on my 'Tis the Season quilt. Unfortunately the walking foot is far too expensive to just go out and get another one. I think that if I don't find it within a few days, I'll be hand quilting it. I don't mind except that it's a lot slower....and hard on my fingers. If only I could learn to use a thimble....

We got back from our visit to Ohio last week, and I'm still worn out. Here's some of what we did.

I spent a good part of two days sewing with my sister-in-law, Linda. I worked on my Curious Nature quilt and she made new throw pillows and worked on weaving a rug to redecorate her family room. We were so involved in what we were doing that I didn't take any pictures at all! After I take some, I'll show pictures of how the Curious Nature quilt is coming in my next post. I almost have the top finished.

I also made a couple of burp cloths for the new baby that my niece Peggy is expecting in October. I did get a picture of them once we got home.

The cloths are the same, and are reversible. Maybe it was a result of having three sons first, but I enjoy using girlie fabrics, especially pink, for a baby girl.

We visited my in-laws while there; my father-in-law in assisted living and my mother-in-law in a nursing home. We did get some pictures with them, but they didn't come out well so I decided not to share them.

After a few days of that, my husband Don and I drove a few hours to the family cottage on Lake Erie. We spent a couple of days there, just the two of us. Here's Don, in the cottage, relaxing with a book.

 I was cold while we were there, the first time I've been cold since about March. It's been a hot summer almost everywhere it the US. Here's the beach at the cottage. As you can see it's deserted. It's not a public beach, so it's never crowded, but it's rare to see it completely empty in the summer.

 I'm so happy to say that I got my 'Tis the Season quilt basted while we were at the cottage. Basting is the hardest step for me to get done since I am not agile enough to get down on the floor to do it. At the cottage I used the huge picnic table that we use as a dining table. I'm determined to get this finished soon. I already have the binding ready to go.

That's all for now. I am working on my Dots on Dots presentation for that blog hop which is coming up in a few weeks. Can't show that yet! Meanwhile, you might want to check out the Bowls With Borders Blog Hop. It continues until August 28.

Getting Ready to Travel

It's hot. And humid. And I'm getting a bit cranky about it. All I want is an air conditioned house and access to a swimming pool. Alas, these things are not to be. OK, time to get over it.

Two days ago, our first cucumber of the season. Actually, our first cucumber ever since this is the first year we've grown them in the garden.

Then yesterday we got two cucumbers. Very nice, good for salads. Then today it was ten cucumbers-yes, 10! I wish I had a picture but the husband is out of town for a few days and took the camera with him. We now have a very large cucumber salad for dinner. We only have a few plants. Will they keep producing like that, or will it be one big burst and then nothing? I'll let you know.

Recently, this came in the mail:

When opened, I found this:

It's a whole pile of Curious Nature fabric by David Butler for Free Spirit. I plan to make this quilt for my son Steve.




It's a free pattern on the Free Spirit website, and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. Steve recently had his apartment renovated, and I think this will suit the apartment beautifully.

In a few days the husband and I will be heading out to Ohio to visit family, especially his parents who are not well. While we are there, I have a Quilt Summit planned with my sister-in-law, Linda. We'll have two solid days of quilting, sewing, and socializing. How far will I get on Steve's quilt? It's to be a Christmas gift, so no real rush, but I'd sure like to get it done early.

Puttering along

How is it that after working off and on all day at my projects, the progress seems so slow? Maybe it's because I did just a bit from several projects. I worked on a set of placemats, my name tag for use at the North Jersey Modern Quilt Guild meeting, and secret blocks for the Dots on Dots blog hop which is coming up in September.

The main accomplishment of the day was getting the bindings sewn onto my new placemats. The fabric is Fruit Slice from Anthology Fabrics.

I still have to hand sew the bindings down on the four plaemats. I'm planning to do that next week as car sewing as we head off to Ohio to visit family. It's an 8-9 hour car ride so I need something to keep me occupied when I'm not driving.

Right now the Think Christmas Blog Hop is going on and I've been following along. I definitely recommend it. There are five more days to go. The hostess is Lesley of The Cuddle Quilter

Upcoming Dots on Dots Blog Tour

I've signed up to participate in the Dots on Dots Blog Tour which will take place from September 10-20. See the logo on my sidebar. It will be my second blog tour and the first on this blog. signup end tomorrow 7/27 so there is still a chance to sign up. Go to Corrie's blog to get the information to sign up. Corrie from Quilt Taffy is the host. Of course, make sure to take the tour when the time comes!

I've already started planning some dotty blocks for my tour entry. Here's a hint:

In other news, we got the first squash from our garden. Yes, I know it's very late but we didn't get the garden in until the end of June. That's a month and a half or more later than it should be. Better late than never, I guess.

I shredded the squash in the food processor, cooked for a few minutes with a little olive oil, added grated Parmesan cheese and cooked for a minute or two more. Tasty! I'm on a search for more easy and delicious squash recipes since it looks like we will be getting a lot more very soon.

I'm back! It was a very long absence. I'll try to do better. Since I was last here I finished the degree I was working on-you can now call me Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. Phew, I'm glad it's done. I was definitely one of the older graduates.

I've been thinking of my grandparents. None of them graduated from high school. My mother's parents didn't go to to high school at all. Of course things were different then and that was common. My maternal grandmother and her sister decided in old age (in their 70's or 80's, I'm not sure which) to get their GED's.
They succeeded too!

My other big accomplishment is to have finished the top for my 'Tis the Season quilt.

I also did a little cushion from the book.

The book calls it a cushion, but to me it's a pillow. It must be one of those language differences between the US and Australia. Either way, it's a cute little thing and I may make more. I also have a 2nd quilt partly done-it will be a gift. I'd also like to make a few of the other projects in the book. Don't know when; there are so many things I'd like to make.