October 31, 2022 & Progress

 Hi everyone!!

I've managed to get some stuff done and I get to post!!!

First up....."Trunk or Treat"  We got together at your local community center last night. The children were running around all sugared up and having a blast.  This activity is a substitute for the door to door celebration which has become dangerous for children.

I wanted to show y'all this product because it is fantastic in the wash for "whites!"  Do not put it in hubby's work jeans or denims or.....well. there's no need for me to get into any further details!!!!!

I think you've already seen this quilt from years ago. I finally got it quilted and then FINALLY got the binding on.....whew!  It is going to be donated to my ladies community group.

I decided to do another Be Attitude from Art to Heart. At this point, I'm thinking it will take a bit of time.

Four Down

Rhonda's New Project

Again, thank you Shasta for sharing the link to Daisy Yellow's "Index Card project." It's been a life saver for something to do while waiting to move into the new house.  I've been canning but that's a waiting game between the next step of rinsing the cucumbers to marinating them in the spices, etc. So this is new project is one where as I think of things to place on the cards, I can look thru magazines and old books, cut things out, then throw away, ahem, secretly get rid of the trash....shhhhhh.....Mr. Cowboy doesn't like for me to use his tractor/Ag magazines to cut from but what he doesn't know won't hurt ME!!!......LOL.
Anyway, I decided to make my Index Card project about All Things Texas as I see it. I made 4 in one sitting while Mr. Cowboy was baling hay......I know, sneaky was I.
 

Lots of Things

Canning first. I know this looks strange but remember I'm not in my own home yet so I had to improvise, adapt, overcome!!! Anybody remember which movie that's from....hehehehe

Anyway. It's pickle time. I was down to my last jar. Mr. Cowboy was becoming desperate. We eat pickles with nearly everything.

One of my girlfriends called to say the cucumbers were ready & that I could come & get some for free if......if I'd make a batch for pickles for her hubby. Of course I shouted YES!!!

 

 Next, I finally got to the store to buy the things I need for my new adventure thanks to Shasta (read the previous post to catch up on that).

I have a couple of ideas of the way I want to go with this but.....I've been known to change my mind.

 

On a final note, is anyone else getting the large amount of rain/thunderstorms that we are getting? Yesterday we got 3.5 inches. WOW! I'll need a canoe very soon.

Send some sunshine our way please...someone, anyone!

Thank You Shasta!!

One of my blogger friends, Shasta, is doing a very interesting project which she got the idea from Daisy Yellow. It is so interesting and I'm wool gathering at the moment with the house situation, so I'm late to the party but happy to be doing something.....anything.....other than twittling my thumbs.
I'm going at this full steam ahead!!! Many thanks to Shasta for posting about this and sharing it

Binding & Labels & Sleeves, Oh My!

Hello everyone. I've been away from blogging for what seems like months but it's only been a couple of weeks. What have I been doing, you ask??

Well, I've been doing my very least favorite things!

1. Binding four quilts. I really don't like making and stitching binding. The quilts I worked on had been sitting, waiting for someone to finish them. But wait, I'm the someone. So I dug in and got that done, all by hand. I'll explain why in a minute.
2. Labeling quilts. Not my favorite thing to do because I have to hand stitch them down.
3. Sleeves! OMG!!!!! More hand stitching because I have a hair-brain idea of placing these quilts in my County Fair and possibly our State Fair in the summer. So of course, the quilts have to have things done by hand. 

I know I brought all this on myself and I am actually proud of myself for getting them down.

After all that was done, I was surfing my blogging friends and came upon a pretty quilt by 

Nancy at Wyoming Breezes. She named her quilt Diamond Facets and I was 

fascinated with her colors and the off center of the HST (half square triangles)

"Off Kilter" measures 46" by 53" and was done all from my enormous stash which continues to grow instead of diminish!!!

I don't know if or when I'll add a border but I love this little quilt.

Bargello! My First

I went on the Internet searching for a design for another donation quilt for Hands2Help

 and ran across a fantastic tutorial video about how to make a simple bargello without all the fuss over yardage, numbering and basicly ..... over thinking everything. Above is my finale,machine quilted and bound which measures 47 1/2" by 49".

I chose fabrics from my stash and even managed to throw in the color "blue" which I don't usually use at all. I couldn't believe how easy it was from watching the video, to choosing the fabrics, which BTW I added an extra fabric right off the bat. I've hardly ever followed, to the letter, a pattern.

This is what I call, one block. I made four block all together.

Here I've sewn the fabrics together then into a tube and then cut accordingly.

Here's a close-up of the fabrics I chose.

The following video was my guide into the world of bargello which I will be visiting again very soon!

Off On Another Tangent!!

"Moth Eaten"
is what I've come up with for my next series of blocks. I'm planning twelve blocks total. As those of you who are followers, you know that when I get something in my head, I'm on a mission to get it done........ Until it comes to the quilting part....sigh!!
I was talking with Mr. Cowboy when a moth flew into the room from nowhere the other day. Of course I had to eliminate it which was not an easy task because said moth was fleet winged. No really, I couldn't catch the little flittering critter. Mr. Cowboy was laughing his head off as I chased the moth around the house yelling for him to help me. Finally, with heavy breathing, a sweaty brow and a near missed fall, I pulled out the big guns. No, not the shotgun, although I did contemplate it, but that would have caused major hole damage. Plus, Mr. Cowboy stood in front of the gun vault thingy. I used Raid, of course!! A can in each hand. I nearly drenched myself before I could take out the moth. I thought I'd need oxygen afterwards.
With that said, here's my first moth, not a block yet because I haven't figured out what I want as a background.

I decided to to the 'death-face' moth from Silence of the Lambs and after surfing the Net I found out what it would look like and drew off my own interpretation. Then I dug into the old stash for possible colors.

Using Steam-a-Seam II Lite or Heat N Bond Lite, I traced off the parts needed.

Next, I cut out parts. Above are most of them. I did have a minor problem with the fan blowing things around.

Finally, here's my moth. I'll think of a background later.

Boots, Vines and Broderie Perse & a Finish!

Boot block #9. This is the final block in this Block of the Week series although I stretched things out in two week intervals for a couple of weeks to make things easier for all.

This pair of boots are what I think of as more girly. Not because of the flowers added but because of the swirls and the tilt of one boot into the other. 

Hand embroidered vines to add blossoms next.

After this block is all sewn down, I'll be putting all nine block together. Each block in my quilt measure 6 1/2 inches unfinished.

I had some borders in mind but changed my mind several times before all was said and done. 

Here's the finished quilt which measures 21" square. I meandered around the boots and vines in a tight stipple so that each boot stands out.

I look forward to hearing from those who sewed along with me.

Boots, Vines & Broderie Perse

Boot block #8 is another of my favorites because of the zebra fabric. Isn't it wild....just like me!!!

Added hand embroidered vines then I plan on adding some Broderie Perse leaves. (see top photo) 

Again, love this boot! 

Can you believe it, just one more boot before the reveal of the mini quilt.....I am screaming and jumping up and down.....Can you feel the earth shaking......giggles!!!

So, I Was Inspired....Part 3

Again, I want to apologize for not remembering to take photos from the beginning of some of the blocks.

Love the crackling fabric on this little red and white church.

Found some brick fabric in the old stash which works well here.

This was a quick little block so it on to the next one.

Looks like a little doghouse but it's not.

Putting all the pieces together, so you can see where this is going. The different scales of rock fabric lends a bit of depth to the buildings.

Add the sidewalks, bushes, grass and the sky and this place of worship is finished.

This one was a bit out of my comfort zone because of the odd shapes but I think I'm on the correct track.

Deciding which background to use is tough with this one.

I'm auditioning a few backgrounds. This is where taking photos really helps in that process.

I'm not sure about this block so I know I need to add something because there's not enough contrast. But I'll need to think about what to do.  

Thoughts anyone???

So, I Was Inspired Part 2

Again, warning.....photo heavy post!!!

The other week I started this new project of places of worship. My head is still spinning with ideas so I'm forging on. Below is how this church came about.

I know, I know, it looks like the beginning of a rocket...hehehehehehe

A rocket with a clock!!! Nope.

Now, it's really coming together. It never ceases to amaze me the awesome different fabrics to choose from whether it be landscaping fabrics, prints, solids, tone-on-tones. There are just so many.

A lot of sky here. BTW, the sky fabric was given to me by my wonderful friend

 Diana from Seldom Seen Quilting.

 She's a long-arm quilter who rents her machines so that anyone who'd like to learn to quilt can do so.

After taking the above photo, Mr. Cowboy said, "Looks great, but....," then he just paused like forever and walked way. Oh I really don't like it when he does that but he was right to pause.

It made me think that I needed to add to the body of the church. Also as you can see from the very first photo, I added mountains to the background. I totally love that idea. Unfortunately, I had to add the mountain after I'd glued and pressed everything down. There was a lot of accurate cutting to be done on my part. Whew! It was hard but I got it done!!!

Onward!

On this block, I went for a pale creamy sky. 

I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep or change the gray brick at this point. The block was looking more like a pyramid which was a bit distracting.

I decided to stick with the bricks. Things are working to my liking once I added a few details.

Again, I've used green and gray fabrics in this block. I know the steeple looks a bit off kilter but it's the shadowing that's making it look that way. I don't think I'm going to change it either!

Onward!!