WHEW! OCTOBER CHARMING GIRLS PROJECTS DONE

I was beginning to think I would not be able to finish my projects for the month that I had committed to doing. In fact, if I had not gone back earlier this past week to review what I said I would try to finish in October, I would not have finished one of the projects. I had completely forgotten about it. Out of sight, out of mind.

I finished the wool on cotton applique and made it into a pillow. I think the design would make a nice applique quilt. The pattern I used is called "Coxcomb Pillow". It was in the November/December 2005 issue of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting magazine. The designer is Julie Larsen of Prairie Star Quilts.
I apologize for the darker pictures of the Great Pumpkin Quilt. I should have used the flash. But you will be seeing more of this quilt in the future. The pattern is by Jeanne Davis of Briar Rose Designs. I could not find a website for the designer. The pattern set is available from several quilt shops.





Next is the quilt I almost forgot about. It is called "Duck, Duck Goose" and is a pattern by Kim Diehl from her Simple Seasons book. I still need to do a final pressing on the quilt. It isn't laying very well in this photo. My pressing station by the sewing machine is small. I have to set up the ironing board to press well and will do that before layering the quilt for machine quilting. I added a row to the main body of the quilt so it would be plenty long enough to cover up with. I purchased the fabrics two years ago. I added in some fabrics from stash. Many of the purchased fabrics were designed by Deb Strain.
Hurray, I finally made the final block for the Christmas quilt! The long block on the left side that has a mitten holding a tree is the only one I needed to make. The quilt had been to that point for several months waiting for that one block. The patterns are by Cheri Saffiote-Payne. I don't see the set on her website. I love this quilt.
I showed "Miss Tessie Twitchett" on a post earlier in October and it is the last project from my goal list.

Now I have to make decisions about what to work on completing in November. Definitely at least one quilt top to be machine quilted. Maybe two. I have plenty to choose from for that. And lots of UFO's that need finishing.

Enjoy your Halloween night. I still need to get candy for the Trick or Treaters!

Karen

SEW 'N SEW SATURDAY

This past Saturday was the monthly meeting of The Sew'n Sews and it was my turn to host. My sister-in-law helped with some of the preparation before she left to return home. And a big thanks for that. We started with Show 'n Tell. Kenyan showed us this finished quilt. She said she had to really work hard to get lines to match up and found it frustrating. Then she went back and checked the shop sample and found that the quilt there did not match up the lines perfectly. All agreed that the lines down her quilt looked very good.
The second quilt has a trick to it that involves squares folded on the diagonal and then pulled back slightly in the center to give a curved appearance. Kenyan machine quilts all her pieces. She did some circular designs in the center of the stars that also added to the illusion.
One of our members showed us how to do the French Roses quilt blocks a while back. This is Jean's quilt.
Jean took quilt blocks that another friend of mine had been working on and got tired of the project. Jean had to finish one block and put everything together. This is her finished result. The quilt is from a Joined at the Hip pattern. I made one of these last year and you can see it here.
And here is another quilt that Jean took parts from my friend's discard UFO and finished it. Jean just needs to do the binding. It made a wonderful quilt.
After showing and discussing the quilts, we moved to the dining room to play Fat Quarter Bingo. We played two regular rounds and then a cover-all.

The ladies then started working on coloring quilt blocks that I had prepared using colored pencils. I showed them the "Faux Applique" book by Helen Stubbings and we discussed the technique. While they colored, myself and Vicky got lunch ready. Vicky's husband made potato salad for us and a big thank you for that. My husband had previously picked up barbecue called Sloppy Woody. It just required reheating. I prepared a squash casserole earlier in the morning. My sister-in-law had baked apple dumplings for us the night before. We reheated them and added a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Mmmmm good! A good time was had by all.

Time for me to get into the sewing room and work on my Great Pumpkin quilt. Have a great day and come back soon for another visit.

Karen

THIS AND THAT PROJECT UPDATES

Time for some project updates. My sister-in-law is visiting from the Atlanta area. We have been working jigsaw puzzles at a frenzied pace of about one a day. I have not been doing much in the sewing line but have gotten a little bit done.

I finally found the "Great Pumpkin Quilt" blocks that I had been searching for. It was in one of the project containers but the very last one I could look in that was in the sewing room closet. I don't know how I missed checking the container previously. Anyhow, found they are. Here is one of them that the stitching is almost complete on. This will be the 8th one finished of the nine regular size blocks. That leaves me with one to go of that size and then the one that stretches the whole width of the quilt. I think I will get the top done yet this month but it won't be quilted for this fall season.
I am trying the Colorque method from the "Faux Applique" book by Helen Stubbings. Here is the block that I practiced on. The technique uses colored pencils and a textile medium for sealing the color. The block needs the embroidery done around each colored area and the stems done. The Sew 'n Sews will be coming here Saturday as it is my turn to host. I have prepared blocks for them to play with using this technique. I find the technique interesting but I am not sure I would want to do a whole big quilt this way.
The last photo is of another block for the Christmas quilt. I have two Christmas quilts in the making. A more prim style by Cheri Saffiote-Payne and this one. I have posted a few parts to this quilt earlier this year. I need to take a picture of all the parts together soon. Have a good ways to go on this quilt yet.
I finished another small project but forgot to photograph it. It will give me something to show you on the next post. I also have made progress on the prim style Christmas quilt which I need to photograph.

That's all for now. Thanks for paying a visit to my blog!

Karen

MISS TESSIE TWITCHETT

Let me introduce you to Miss Tessie Twitchett. She has four dresses with co-ordinating aprons that she is modeling for you. Her collar is the same fabric as her apron. She is patiently awaiting spring, the time when we seem to think more about bunnies and she will get to be on display.
The green border fabric is from the Liberty Garden line of fabric put out by Moda a good while back. I didn't have quite enough left to complete the border using a continuous strip, so I added in a rectangle of the green with cream stars from the same line of fabric. Have to make do sometimes. I tried adding a scrap from the original border fabric. With such a big print, it looked odd, so I like the solution I came up with.
This is the back of the quilt. I used left overs from making the bunnies to piece the stars. And the scraps of the border fabric went in between.

Miss Tessie Twitchett was created from a pattern in "Say It With Flowers" which is a Jan Patek book.

Enjoy your day!

Karen

PROJECT UPDATES & TWO MORE YARDS

I am glad that so many of you enjoyed my last post where I asked if seven yards of fabric was enough for a needle case. My guilt was relieved with so many of you saying you have bought more fabric than needed because you liked a line of fabric so well. And it was on sale. You relieved my guilt so much that I made an online purchase yesterday of two more yards and it wasn't on sale. Now, please don't laugh too hard. About 1/2 hour after I made the purchase, I walked into my sewing room and there laying on the floor by the closet was two yards of the very fabric I had just purchased. I didn't think I had that particular piece in my stash. I need 1 1/3 yard for the project I have planned. Two yards was more than I needed but having a little extra in the stash was okay. Well, now I will have four yards when I only need 1 1/3 yd. Maybe I can incorporate it into the backing. Lesson learned. Check twice, order once. Sort of like that measure twice, cut once thing we learned.

I completed The Circuit Rider quilt top. This is one of my finishes for The Charming Girls's Club, so I will be posting another photo of it later this month for that.
The quilt was being made as a donation for an auction of sorts. Now the need is no longer there, so this will be my quilt. I posted previously that I put in two blocks that were not in the book. One was the cardinal. It is the state bird for Ohio where I was born. The other, I can't remember which one it is. I selected a design from the applique library on Electric Quilt. I did the four rose blocks that are in the corners of the quilt as the original quilt had. There were other repeat blocks and that was why I chose two of my own selection.
I finished the wreath block given to us by Dawn of Linen Closet Quilts. I see I got in the way of the natural light and cast a shadow on the corner of the block. Not a good photo but I am sure you will be seeing this again. This goes along with the eagle block I showed in a post in September.

That's it for today. I have machine quilting waiting for me. Come back soon.

Karen

IS SEVEN YARDS ENOUGH?

Do you think seven yards of fabric is enough to make a needle case? Maybe a bit too much? When I saw the needle case tutorial on Kaaren's blog, I was instantly attracted to it because she used fabric from a reproduction line of coverlet fabrics. A light bulb went off. I have some of that fabric, don't I? I checked my stash and found Coverlet fabric but not what she used for the outer part of the needle case. Then I remember that a local quilt shop had some Coverlet fabric. A trip to the shop netted me a piece but not that elusive outer fabric. Shop online was the next alternative. Minimum purchase was 1/2 yard and it was on sale. I love the houses & birds on the fabric. Maybe a yard would be good. Then I realized I didn't have co-ordinates for the inside, so more shopping. But which fabrics to choose? It's on sale. Buy a bit of this and that. Well, I ended up with a total of seven yards for my needle case. I must have lots of needles to put in it! Anyhow, here is the case. I will put the rest of the fabric towards other projects......someday.
A peek inside the case. I ended up using a red fabric that was not in the seven yards I purchased and used it for one of the pockets and the binding.
I had saved a wool needle case pattern for quite some time from a 2005 issue of a Fons & Porter magazine. While I was in the needle case mood, I made it up also. It looks like a cute tiny purse.
It is rather boring inside. Just a piece of wool for the needles. Maybe I should have used a different color wool inside. If I make any more, I will do just that.
I am working on The Circuit Rider quilt blocks today. That is one of the projects I committed to for The Charming Girls' Club for October. All I need to do is get the blocks sewn together. I should be able to show you the completed top on my next post.

Visit again soon!

Karen

BOO

"Boo" is finished. This is a small project and did not take a lot of time. It was just finding time to do the final finishing work. I like the way the spiders are made. A happy project.
I know the back isn't very interesting but wanted to show you the buttons. I used the witch hat fabric that was used on the front in the border. I decided to attach the two buttons on the back. I have to get to the craft store this weekend. I have been to two Michael's store looking for textile medium and forgot to get some of the magnetic strip stuff. I want the self adhesive kind. I plan on sticking a piece on each button. The quilt is small enough that it will stick to the refrigerator just fine and not get in the way. At first, I tried jute cord with an end tied around each button. That didn't work because the quilt buckled when I held the middle of the cord.
I love fall quilts! It is such fun visiting blogs and seeing all the quilts both for Halloween and fall itself. I know Halloween is not recognized everywhere in the world and it isn't fall in the southern hemisphere. But we sure love it here.

Looking forward to another visit from you soon.

Karen