Happy Halloween!

I made this needlepunched "Jack Be Nimble" pillow last year. The pattern is from Country Stitches, I did the pumpkin face a little different than the pattern by filling in all with the black. I used all my favourite Halloween fabrics that I had saved for that special project. I didn't have much of this fabric, I wished that I had more.

I wish everyone a happy and safe Halloween. Don't forget to give lots of treats to the tricker treaters coming to your door.

Swap Block

Where did the week go, I've been busy doing stuff but not sure what stuff I've been doing....LOL

I took a class on Sat for making a Buggy Barn quilt called "Star Bright". Silly me I didn't need to start a new project but the class was free and I had a big stack of FQ's waiting for this quilt. Something new I learned in the class is that you can really cute through 13 layers of fabric as long as the blade is new and you have the larger cutter. My 26 blocks were all cut in about 1 hour. I'll post some progress pictures in a future post.

The other more pressing item that I was working on was this block. A swap I've signed up for. My Tues stitching group is having a swap with another stitching group that meets on Thurs. The deadline to finish the block is today and at our meeting this morning I will be exchanging with someone from the Thurs group. The organizers will be matching people based on each others colour choices. When I get my swap partners block I'm to add a border all the way around. I don't remember the size I'm to make it but I'm sure someone will offer that info today. After I'm done adding the border than it's returned to it's owner. This will be a small table topper when done. My block is from Kim Diehl's book and the block is called Country Whig Rose. You can see Darlene has done all 4 blocks.

Next on my list is to work on the Chocolate Swap from Sharon's blog. We are to make something to put our chocolates in (decorate the box) and send off to our swap partner. My swap partner is Annie from Australia, I'm very excited to get to know her likes and dislikes for chocolate, dark or light, chewing or crunchie? So many questions. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, waiting for those creative juices to start flowing.

Letting Go....

My youngest DD moved into her own place this last week. I've been helping her collect up all the necessary household items she might need to get started. We've been packing, shopping and spending some nice quality time together. I won't see her much as she has moved a ferry ride away....It will be so hard not to see her so much. I will need to plan ahead to spend time with her. She certainly seems very happy in her new surroundings, so I feel I need to be happy for her.

Yesterday I spend the day at her new place helping her settle in. This trip was also to bring over my old sewing machine to her as she likes to alter and make her own clothes. We went out for a very nice lunch and walk by the sea shore. On the way back she mentioned a quilt shop in the area and we could stop there. I knew she was thinking of me. When we went in the shop my daughter introduced me to the shop owner....hmmmm she's been here before, well that's not so unusual my DD likes to sew. Then.....the shop owner asked my daughter if she was still interested in a beginner class. Well you can imagine my surprise....what.... she wants to start quilting....could this be real.... My daughter has always been a sewer but never interested in quilting. Oh how all the wheels started turning. I would have to get her the equipment, rotary cutter, ruler and mat. The class isn't until early Jan so that gives me time to get all the supplies she'll need. This is so exciting my DD is interested in quilting....yippee hurray....I'm speechless, she really never showed interest at home, my how anything can change when on their own. I'm very happy and excited about the days when the two of us will have even more in common....quilting.

We had a such a nice visit. Here is a zip pouch I made for her to hold her threads and needles. She loves guitars and music so I stitched a design she would love and could use for a long time.

Fall Bag

Sorry the picture is so dark. Photography is not my thing. I like it when there is a sunny day to take the picture outside, the lighting is better on a nice day. It's been gray and rainy here for the last week. The forecast is for more of the same....so I'll do my best to get a decent picture.

I made this bag in one day using 2 charm packs from Moda's Serendipity by Sandy Gervais. The fabric colours are rich browns, rust, green, purple and beige. This will make a really nice fall bag to carry my stitchery or punchneedle projects to meeting. The pattern is from This & That called Flower Patch, I didn't add the applique flower to the front, I didn't think the bag needed it. If you haven't tried this line of patterns I would really recommend them. Her instructions are easy and straight forward, I found this bag easy to make....and ladies there is no zipper. This bag will be a store sample before I can use it for my goodies.

Darlene tagged me to tell 4 things about MeMe....so here we go.

4 jobs I've had
Janitor
Accounting
Retail
Executive Assistant

4 films I could watch over and over
Little Women
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Sleepless in Seattle
When Harry Met Sally

4 TV shows I watch
CSI Las Vegas
Survivor
I don't watch much TV

4 Favorite foods
Salmon
Homemade Soups
Beef Veggie Stew
Spinach Salad

4 Favorite colors
red
yellow
black
green

4 Places I would love to be right now
Sunny beach
White sand beach
Lounging on a sunny beach
Snorkeling at a tropical beach

4 Names I love but would/could not use on my children
Jessie
Rae (my middle name)
Jenny (my cats name)
Jade (didn't hear this name until recently)

4 People I'd love to Tag
Caroline
Karen
Alice
Linda

That's all I have for today.
Have a great weekend.

Redwork Almost Done

Where has the week gone!. I feel like I haven't accomplished any sewing this week....grrrr. I went shopping for this border fabric and pieced the top of this small quilt, at least that's something done. The size is 34"x 44". I'm very happy with the border fabric I found. It was a bit tricky with the directional fabric, I had to buy extra to line up the flowers in the borders. When I get this one layered and quilted....LOL the binding will be done in a small check but not the same check as the inner blocks. See the small red dots in the embroidery; those are clusters of french knots.

I'm starting on a small bag for a shop sample using charm packs, it's taken me longer than usual to be happy with the fabric combinations....I think when using the whole line of fabric it's a bit harder to come up with a pleasing order for the fabric. I've decided to leave out one entire colour as it's just too busy for me. I think I've got it now and can start making the bag.

Happy Quilting.

Charm Square Quilt

Here's a little trick using charm squares. Some of you might have seen this before. We all need a refresher now and again...right...LOL. Take 9 charms squares (5") and layout same way you would for a 9-patch. Did you see that designer rotary cutter??? When I saw this on Nicole's blog I was just so taken by what a neat idea Olfa has finally come out with something pretty...I just had to have one. Darlene was so sweet and kind enough to send one to me. I'm very thrilled to have a pretty tool for my cutting table....it's mine mine all mine....lol. Thanks Darlene you are a wonderful friend.
The 9-patch blocks is all sewn. Easy so far right....lol.
Cut the 9-patch block right down the center in both directions. See the new blocks emerging? I think the new blocks are 7". I made a total of 5 9-patches using one charm pack of 45 squares. This gave me 20 of the 7" blocks. Two packages of charms squares made 40 blocks for a lap quilt. It was so fast and easy to make 10 9-patches and then I was ready to cut my blocks.
Option 1: This random layout of twisting and turning the blocks uses 36 of my blocks, makes a square quilt. Lay the blocks in any pleasing order with 6 rows across and 6 rows down.
Option 2: Layout with all blocks placed with the corner square to the left top corner, makes a rectangular shaped quilt. This layout used all 40 blocks. 5 rows across and 8 rows down.
Option 3: Is to place your blocks on point. With this layout I had 1 block left over, I used 39 blocks. There are so many possibilities with this block. Have fun playing around with your layout.

Fall Swap Arrived

A friend of mine was having a Birthday today so it was a good excuse to go out for a leisurely lunch. The 3 of us met up at a LQS for a fabric fix before lunch. The ladies at the shop showed us a really neat trick with 5" charm packs. I'll do up a couple and show you soon...I promise. We got to the restaurant and since we were celebrating a birthday we decided to start with martini's....mmmm so delicious for such a tiny drink. After I devoured my grilled chicken sandwich and pumpkin soup, we still didn't feel like ending the celebration, so what's next??? Dessert of course....oh I can't even describe our decadent desserts. I had a Sour Cherry Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding....yes it was over the top....but oh so delicious...I think I rolled all the way home LOL.

I found a nice surprise in my mail box when I got home. Well it wasn't completely a surprise. This is my Fall Swap quilt which I;ve been waiting for the mailman to bring. Isn't this so cute with the oak leaves quilted on the front. Sue from Quilting without Guilt has even quilted leaves on the back. Take a look she has posted a picture of the back. What a sweet little autumn quilt "Thank you Sue" for being my swap partner. Sue also sent a few little goodies with my quilt. See the postcard with the flower and the black cat...it's all quilted just like any quilt and on the back it's addressed to me with a little message from Sue. The Down Under calendar will be a wonderful addition to my sewing room.
The next swap will be sometime in Nov, check it out if you are thinking of joining the Winter Swap.