Loving the Extended Fall

It's really quite late for us to still have beautiful fall colors. I am loving it! Friday after work I stopped at this little lake and stayed quite a while, until the sun set. The water was like glass! There were some ducks swimming around at one point, but I didn't get good pictures of them. I enjoyed the ambiance, however.

I don't have quilt pictures to show you, but I AM working on my blue/green HSTs! And I bought more green/blue FQs to use in my HSTs.

Report on our recent church bazaar (I posted photos of some of the stuff I was donating to the bazaar).. I bought myself a pretty bracelet. Of my four table runners/toppers, only one sold. The baby quilt did not get any looks and only one comment, which was quite unusual ("babies can't have quilts any more"). The baby onesie thing I made got a few comments but did not sell. I have not had good luck over the last few years selling my quilty items, so I think it's just not the right crowd. Next year, I'll make stuff I want to keep or give to friends and charities, and everyone will be happier.

A Late Burst of Color

We had a very dry summer, then a very wet fall... not the best combination for making glorious fall colors. Finally in the last few days we've had cool nights and sunny days. That is perfect for the bursts of color, and suddenly they are everywhere. Here are some great autumn colors for you to enjoy:








I had more photos to show you, but I'm having that darn problem of pictures uploading in all the wrong colors (like a printer that is running out of ink). So this is all you get for tonight.

Happy Autumn!

Days Off = Sewing!

Last week I had two days off, so I took advantage of the time and got some sewing done... not as much as I had hoped, but nevertheless I am happy with how much I accomplished.

Here are some heartstrings blocks I made for the October project - pink for the middle string in honor of breast cancer month. These quilts will go to breast cancer patients.



Here's a little quilt I made kind of by accident. I wasn't so sure that I liked it until I got it quilted. Then it looked lots better!



I didn't make all four of these this week, but I made the two on the left... then photographed all four of them together. They will be put in my church bazaar this week, and I hope they all sell. I had intended to make more Christmasy runners/toppers, but realized that I have very little Christmas fabric. And guess what... I didn't remember that the purple runner and the fall colors runner are made of the same block until I saw them photographed side by side! Silly me!



Finally, I made this crumbs quilt sashed in PINK. It's quilted but I have no appropriate fabric for the binding. I'll need to go shopping, or do some deeper scrounging in my stash and hope there's a dark pink I overlooked.



And to anyone who is wondering, the answer is no... I have not made any more green/blue HSTs. But I intend to very soon!! Stay tuned.

Plodding Along

I have some quilty projects that just never seem to get done... I'm not even talking about the zillion-year old UFOs I have. I am making a pieced border for this quilt, and I keep procrastinating!! I finally made some of the border today. When playing with its placement, I changed my mind on the kind of border I'm going to do, so now I have to make twice as many HSTs as I had thought. Oh, man... this is the kind of thing that I am good at putting off for ages! This is what zillion-year-old UFOs are made of: almost done projects that just need one thing that I find too boring and monotonous to make. Hundreds of the same thing over and over. Uffda!

I am hoping to keep plodding along and get this thing DONE! It is going to be for our queen-size bed. I'm excited to see it turn into a real quilt.

Here is some of my HST-making progress while working at church this afternoon:



This is the border the HSTs will become. I really like it and hope I can stick to these HSTs long enough to get it done very soon.



Have a great week, everyone!

Trouble Posting Photos

Lately when I try to upload photos to Blogger, some of the pictures show up half washed out, sort of like a printer that is running out of ink. (Due to this problem I had to choose not to post some pictures that I wanted to show you in my previous message.) Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone know how to fix it?

Quilts, My Niece, and Fall Colors

I managed to do a little sewing this weekend. The only thing I have to show for it is this paper pieced block. The other projects aren't ready to show you yet. (Hey, did you read Tonya's idea about a Class in a Box? Fun! She is so clever, isn't she??)



I also went to visit my niece. She used to live in another state, but now she's back home, about a 2-hour drive from my house. We had a fun visit. She is now a college professor. What an accomplished young woman! Fall colors at her work place are quite pretty. She said that once on her way to work she had to stop and wait for six deer to get out of the road. Isn't that kind of romantic?





There was a quilt show going on in her town, and we kind of "ran" through it. (On account of my hubby waiting outside in the ucky, hot, humid weather, I had promised not to spend too much time inside. Oh, and yes, you are correct, it wouldn't have killed him to go to the quilt show with us! But he doesn't really "get" quilts, so why bring a downer along??) One thing I noticed was that they had a good number of large quilts. Sometimes a show can seem almost too focused on small wall hangings and/or art quilts. This one had plenty of large ones, which I enjoyed seeing. I took a few photos. As you know, quilts always look so much better in person, but I hope you enjoy these few photos.












I have to tell you about this last quilt. Holy buckets! It is huge! My niece is tall (maybe 5'10") so you can see how tall the quilt is... and it must be 12 feet or more long! AND the kicker is.... the design? It is all made with TINY 1/2-inch squares! Even the solid blue background is all tiny 1/2-inch squares! I tried to take a close-up photo, but it turned out too blurry. I couldn't even conceive of designing such a quilt, much less attempting to make it!!! I wonder where this quilt will end up.. it needs a LARGE wall in some church to really show it off. My photo just does not do this quilt justice. Wish you all could see it in person!

Marjorie & Frances

Remember the book that Tracey sent me?

I read it this week and am convinced that Marjorie (the main character in the book) knew my grandmother, Frances. They lived in the same small town during the same time period, lived just a few blocks apart (from what I can surmise), went to the same church, and were both active in what was then called the Ladies' Aid. Here's a picture of my grandma, taken in 1962. We had just returned from a trip out to Washington state, and we brought Grandma a box of candy from there. That's what she is holding. She is standing in front of her little brown house. You know what happened to that house? They tore it down and put a parking lot there! Sad!



Now that I have figured out that Marjorie and Grandma knew each other, I wish I could ask them some questions! I maybe even SAW Marjorie, because I remember attending church sometimes with my grandma. It would be fun to let them know that their granddaughters crossed paths and enjoy the same hobby. (Ann, the author of the book, once spoke at my quilt guild, and I talked to her about the possibility that our grandmothers knew each other.)

Thanks for sharing this book with me, Tracey! I have decided that it is going to go on a little train ride of its own. Maybe some day you'll see what I mean.

Matching from Long Distance

Greetings! I have missed posting here but have been so busy! Last weekend I went on my annual female cousin's retreat and had a blast, as usual. We go to our cabins at a northern Minnesota lake. (Many relatives own cabins on the same lake.) We always have such a good time. Every year we also read a book and discuss it together. This year we read Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts... a good book which (finally) chronicles the important role women played in the early years of establishing the USA (after stealing it from the indigenous people) - a big chunk of history that is missing in most history books.

Would you believe that I forgot to take my camera? I was kicking myself all weekend, because the fall colors were just spectacular!

Last Wednesday was my birthday! Husband treated me to attendance at a Talking Volumes presentation (a book club hosted by Minnesota Public Radio). The guest was Sherman Alexie who has written several novels, poems, and screenplays and won many awards. He was VERY entertaining and fascinating. I bought his two most recent books and have already read one which was excellent. It's a young adult book called The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I recommend it for both young and old adults.



Also as a birthday treat I received some fabric in the mail that I had ordered from Z&Sfabrics. On a whim, I went to their site linked from Tazzie's, and placed an order. I thought it was fun to get fabric wrapped in a bow, and the extra bonus was that it arrived on my birthday.



On blind faith, ordering from a computerized thumbnail, I tried to get fabrics that match the blue piece I bought in San Francisco last month. I think I did pretty well for not being able to see them side by side. What do you think? Was my long-distance matching pretty successful?



This weekend I am finally able to do some sewing. However, I can't show it to you! I'm working on a challenge quilt (which has to remain anonymous) for my guild, and most of the other projects I'm working on are also for my guild's annual show. I don't want to show them before they're seen at the show, or they'll all be ho-hum quilts being seen for the 2nd time (by my local readers, if there are any). Last night I finished a funky wall hanging using some of Tonya's letters. All I can say about it is that it was my attempt to stretch my comfort zone and make something funky.

Back to the sewing machine for me! I have a long list of projects I need to tackle!

I Like Words

Hey, this is fun! Vote for your favorite made-up word!

http://writerunboxed.com/2007/09/19/finalists-your-turn-to-vote/

Make An Offer...

Recently I went to the Quilt Pink auction site at ebay and noticed that they have a section called Make an Offer. With so many quilts to auction off, some of them don't sell the first time around. I decided to give it a try, made an offer on a quilt and got it! This quilt was made in Livermore, CA and measures about 40" x 48". I plan to take it to work and use it in the office when it gets freezing cold during the winter. Sometimes it's just too nippy when the outside temps are below zero, and it's nice to have something to throw across our laps. It's the price we pay for having a bunch of wonderful windows in my area of the office.



Next picture is of the non-traditional little quilt I finished over the weekend. (It's about 10" x 12".) The inner piece has been around my house for quite some time. It's just a little sampler technique thingy that I did in a class taught by Shelly Stokes at MQ (Minnesota Quilters) way back when... this weekend I impulsively slapped it onto this batik and finished it as you see. The ribbon hanging thing is not the most professionally done, but guess what... I only had that much ribbon left on the spool, so that's what I did!



I'm not taking Tonya's class, but I see them all posting pictures of letters. It got me inspired to make letters, too. Not sure what for at this point, but here are my first few. I'm making my way through Tonya's tutorials at her site, starting with the easier letters and working up to the harder ones. It's been a while since I did much with her letters... we'll see what sorts of creative juices these will start stirring up in my soul.



Last photo is my wonderful children! We had the best time going out to eat with them this weekend. I'm loving having adult kids. Our son just turned 21, and our daughter will soon be 27. Amazing! Time, like an ever-flowing stream...

I've stayed up way too late and will pay the price tomorrow at work. Time to hit the sack!

Who is Nice?

A while ago Finn tagged me with the Nice Matters Award. Ohhh, I do appreciate that, Finn! (And I do believe that it matters when people are nice.) Thank you! It's my job to send it on to another nice person, and I decided to tag Tracey, because she does a lot of charity quilting, and also she sent me a book, free, because she knew I wanted to read it! Recently she donated a quilt to a neighborhood kid just because. So you've been tagged, Tracey! You get to decide who else in Blogland deserves a Nice Award. You can pick up to five recipients! I went with just one, because I felt overwhelmed trying to pick five out of all the wonderful bloggers I've met. They all deserve it! But Tracey was most recently nice to me, so she wins.

Check in later.. I'll show you the untraditional quilt I made this weekend. First I have to take care of laundry and some other junky chores. (Oh how I would much rather sew today!!!!!)

In Honor of 9/11

I just found this web site and think it's a great idea. In honor of all the compassion and humanity shown on 9/11 six years ago, the idea is spreading to make every 9/11 a Good Deed day. You can sign up at this site, http://mygooddeed.org/ , and make a pledge to do something for others today.

I'm going to donate some school supplies and books to a local community center/food shelf. And speaking of books, here's a great one I got in the mail yesterday from Tracey.



Thank you, Tracey!! I'm very eager to read this book! It's about a woman who rode the orphan train (which you can read about here, at Finn's blog) and ended up in a small town in Minnesota. I'm very familiar with the town where she grew up... right now I have other things I need to finish reading, but next in line, definitely, is this book, They Named Me Marjorie, written by Marjorie's granddaughter, Ann Zemke.

Live your day with love in your heart today!

My Purple Weekend

I had fun sewing this weekend! I won a block lotto of purples. They arrived on Friday, and right away I put them into a top. Here it is:



This will go to a child somewhere.. one of the donation programs I support. I still had some purple blocks left, so after church today I sat down and put these three blocks together, and I started right in on the quilting. Then, while hand stitching down the binding, I watched some interesting shows on public TV about women scientists - Einstein's first wife (I never did catch her name) and Lise Meitner. Both were cheated out of credit for their work - surprise, surprise! But I like to hear about them and the amazingly brilliant minds they had. Anyway, it feels good to get a complete table runner made in one afternoon! I plan to sell this at my church bazaar in October.



And I still have 9 purple blocks left for a future project!! I did manage to finish another orphan top. It doesn't excite me too much... not one of my best jobs. But it's done, and hopefully it'll be cozy and cuddly once it is quilted.



I guess I'll show you some of the fun we had at church today... a good service followed by a picnic and games. (By the way, we have a new minister who is just wonderful.)






Our heat wave finally broke, and the weekend has been cool, sunny, and gorgeous!! We love to have our windows open and take in the fresh air on days like this. Unfortunately we have two neighbors who like to burn their yard waste on nice days. Yesterday we got stinky smoke in our back windows and today we got stinky smoke in our front. Isn't it odd that burning is even allowed here?? This is a suburb of St. Paul, not that far from the city! The problem is that this suburb likes to pretend it's out in the country, enjoying the rural life, so they don't have a ban on things like burning of yard waste, and they even have put up very few street lights, because then we'd lose our rural feel. Crazy, if you ask me. Wake up and notice that we are city dwellers, please! Anyway, I'm going to go for a walk to enjoy the lovely weather and get away from the stinky fires. Ta-ta!

Idea From Tazzie

I got this fun idea from Tazzie who found this: Spell with Flickr.


Here's my version.. thought I'd made the tiles small enough to make only one line, but I guess not. It was fun, anyway.

Cleaning, Cleaning, and More Cleaning

I took on my sewing room this weekend. You would not believe what it looked like Before. It was so bad, that all the hours I spent on it have not yet gotten it to the After stage. My sewing room had gotten so unuseable that I was using my sewing machine in the dining room. I think I mentioned this before... hubby was afraid I was taking over the house. I have thrown away two trash cans full of stuff and have deposited three big bags of old papers in the recycling bin.

I can't believe how many patterns I had printed off the internet and "set aside." Doesn't that sound polite? It really means, "toss into the corner and let accumulate and gather dust for a couple of years." (Yes, I was finding papers from 2005 on the bottom of the pile. Might as well be honest.) In six lifetimes I would not have been able to use all those patterns - and some were duplicates of patterns I have already saved!



To reward myself for all the work, every few hours I would let myself do some sewing. I had to make a few extra crumb blocks, but did have most of these already made. The turtle blocks were made by Ann D. ("a long time ago" according to her - apparently my orphan blocks pile is similar vintage to my piles of tossed aside papers.) It didn't take long to put this top together, but it took long enough so that I felt like I got some "real" sewing time in. (None of this fake sewing time for me, thank you!)

It's embarassing to admit that I'm still not done cleaning my sewing room. I'll keep plugging away at it; I don't know if I'll get it to a point where I dare take a picture of it, but wouldn't that be grand??

Meanwhile, this top with the turtles will be on its way to Wrap a Smile, to wrap around some little kid who goes through cleft lip/palate surgery. I hope he or she loves it!

I Reluctantly Choose Buttons

OK, I agree with many of my readers who suggested velcro or something other than what I offered... what really got me motivated was the comment that the kids would lose the clip. Ok, you're all right. I was just hoping I could be lazy. Do you know that I *hate* sewing on buttons? And yet I decided to try this...






I'm actually happy with this result! I think it looks so cute! Now I just need to find some buttons that will go with the rest of the bags. I had two of these quilty buttons. I put them on a bag for me and a bag for a friend. The rest will be generic so I can sell them. I wonder if there is a (cheap) button somewhere that says "time for lunch!"

Lunch Bags

I have made a few lunch bags over the years. They have all been just one layer of fabric, with no closure of velcro, buttons, or anything. Today I decided to quilt them, so they are thicker and hopefully can help keep something cool at least for a brief time. Because they are thicker, they are also a little more challenging to close.



What do you think? Would you rather use a lunch bag with a clip like I show here? Or would you like the tie that is sewn onto the side? You can vote for something fancy like a button, but I'm not going to do a button! I'm trying to keep these as simple as possible. Believe me, if I try anything fancy like a button, I know I'll mess up and the bags will look totally amateurish and ugly.



I am planning to sell these at my church bazaar, and I wonder which ones might sell better than others. To do the clip style, I'd have to buy the clips, which I'm willing to do. It requires a big, fat one like shown, because of the bag's thickness. The tie doesn't require an extra purchase, but they're kind of putzy to make. So I am looking forward to hearing your opinions!

The Men's Room

Remember a while back I was asked to make a quilt for the women's bathroom at church? I did make one, and it has been hanging in there for about a year. This week I decided I should make one for the men's room, too. Their bathroom isn't all decorated nicely like the women's; their only decoration so far is this quilt that I just made and hung up today after church! How many guys do you suppose will even notice that it's there??



You may or may not realize that this block in the men's room quilt goes quite well with the quilt I am working on in its tipsy turvy setting. This block actually is from that quilt... when I thought I needed to make more blocks so I'd have a set of 24 (4 x 6), I was doing incorrect math. (There's a surprise.) I forgot that when you start out with a 12-inch block and then add borders to each one, the block will no longer measure 12 inches! Duh!! I was planning a zillion borders to fill out the quilt top so it'll fit our bed, not realizing that the blocks are now 15-inchers! So when I finally remembered how to add and multiply, I ended up with extra blocks, and voila - one was directed to the Men's Room.

I didn't have time to work more on the tipsy turvy quilt, but did cut some borders for it. I spent my Sunday afternoon making these 4 bags for school kits we are putting together at church. I was so bored with them that it took me all afternoon to make these 4 (and the pattern is super simple). I also cut more fabric for school bag kits so others at church can make them, too. We are collecting supplies but ran out of bags. All I had left on hand was the boring fabric - solid, dull colors or ugly prints. They'll do the job, they were just boring me to death as I sewed them up.



This weekend I also made this paper pieced block. What for, you ask? Well... I guess in essence I have just started another UFO.



Someone told me it looks like an LSD trip. Um... I wouldn't know! Does it??

My wonderful, carefree, stupendous, fun, much-appreciated time off has now come to an end. Tomorrow I return to work. The staff return for lots of joyous meetings, and school officially starts the day after Labor Day. Why am I so surprised every year when the summer flies by way too fast??

Counting the years until retirement.... except I don't know when to stop counting. (Sad.) Please cross your fingers that my weekends won't fill up with activities so that I can sew every weekend! Also that my school year won't be so stressful and exhausting like it was last year! Maybe I could even squeeze some sewing time into the evenings if I don't use up all my energy at work.

'til next time...

Be nice like me.

:-) My dad used to say that.