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!