HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Being a fan of rats, bat, cats, and spiders, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Gee, for whatever reason, the other holidays don't feature these wonderful, fascinating creatures.

Have fun tonight and don't eat too much candy. Be safe!

I don't think we ever get tired of looking at leaves! Spring, summer, fall, and even winter. Each season has it's own special display of leaves. This is just one tree, across the street from me, and it simply glows when the sun is shining.

One of our local quilt shops had a garage sale last week end and this is what I picked up. The Moda charm packs were $2 each.....so how could I resist!? Also got a pattern for a needle/sewing box and a Christmas panel. No plans for any of it....just adding to the stash.



And this is what I received just for entering the little Valentine hanging (a few posts down). I already have this fabric marker and it's a $12 gift, plus they added the needles. I also received a coupon for a free yard of fabric and a 50% off of anything coupon. Not bad for simply entering the challenge!

Here's a great tip idea that just came in my newsletter from Quilters Club of America today. A great way to have a design wall without making it a permanent fixture, plus, it would be very inexpensive. My walls are covered in pictures so there is no bare wall space. This trick would enable me to put the little clips between hanging pictures, then take it down afterwards. Thanks QCA!


Winning Member’s Tip – Portable Design Wall
This month’s winning tip comes from member Janet Arnett:
“I have an inexpensive idea for a design wall. This idea works great at retreats and classes. I purchased two 3M Command Spring Clips and a flannel-backed tablecloth. The spring clips come with mounting strips that can be reused and are easily replaced. When I go to a retreat, I try to get a seat close to a wall. I mount the spring clips on the wall when I first arrive to give them a chance to adhere while I set up my sewing space. I then clip the table cloth up on the wall and I am ready to design. When it is time to go home, usually 2-3 days later, the clips are easily removed by pulling on tabs that release them from the wall. There is no damage to the wall, therefore no worries and it does not take up space in an already crowded sewing room. A tablecloth also affords a lot of wonderful space to display your project in process. Great for getting input from everyone in the room.”

This is my haul from a fabric and craft garage sale this week end. (I'm kind of focusing on fall fabrics right now.) I really don't know the full story, but the gal that has this yearly garage sale is a semi-professional quilter and crafter. My understanding is that she makes commissioned quilts for individuals and businesses. In any case, every year, she has a garage sale to move her old stash out of her house to make room for more fabrics. She sells her fabrics for 10 cents and inch and it's all quilt shop quality fabric. A great deal!




She also had boatloads of patterns that were 12 for $10. Another great deal when you consider the price of patterns these days. Here's my pattern haul.



Can't wait until next year!

Look what I won at Quilters Showcase ! It's a wonderful paper foundation pattern that is so cute!

And look at the size of some of these pieces!! 8 little bits of fabric in the size of a penny! I've been using paper foundations for a long time, but I've never worked with anything this intricate. I'm excited to see how it turns out, although it may be awhile before I begin this project. Christmas is coming very soon, you know!

And lastly, can you even guess what this is?! I was lucky enough to go to the Steven Curtis Chapman concert this weekend with my friend Joyce, and this is the BEST photo that I took. Steven is up there with his son, Caleb. Geeze......I even went into the bathroom for some light to see what was going on with my camera. It wasn't until I got home that I found that I had bumped the "secret" button that gives you the choice of photo settings for the circumstances. (Thus, the horrible pictures at the quilt auction, too.) I've never changed that setting and thought that my camera was broken. Must have been jostled and switched in my purse. Live and learn.....

Anyway, the concert was very inspiring and I would recommend going to one if you get the chance. The Chapman's have had a horrible tragedy in their lives and faith has carried them through.....and continues to carry them, day by day. I left there feeling rejuvenated, uplifted, and feeling even stronger in my faith. Go Chapman's!

The Mennonite Quilt Auction was last Saturday and I'm finally getting some pictures posted. I apologize for the quality of these photos. With the flash, they were almost black, without the flash, they were blurry. You get the idea though...........

Here's a shot of the crowd and this was taken after most of the quilts had been auctioned and the people were thinning out. It was still a good crowd and there were around 250 quilts listed in the auction booklet. The auction stage area is toward the left of this picture.




Here's the first quilt that was auctioned from "our" group of quilters. This one was made by my friend, Joyce, and her sister. I've posted a picture of this quilt in an earlier post on my blog (you can get a better look at it). The auction was not bringing in its usual high prices this year, probably due to the economy, and we weren't expecting it to reach as high a bid as it might have in earlier years. At this point, only one quilt had reached the $2000 mark and one had gone for $1500. Joyce was praying for a $1000 bid. Well, I'm happy to report that Joyce's quilt went for $4100!!! The bidding just kept getting higher and higher and Joyce and I were in tears! What a blessing for hunger relief!




Next up in "our" group, was our Psalms quilt, made by six of us, Kathy, Bev, Joyce, Fran, Lois, and myself. The bidding on this quilt did not go very high.....just $225. It was a disappointment, but we still felt blessed that it did sell and $225 can provide a lot of food for the hungry.



Last up is this little runner that Joyce's 12 year old granddaughter designed. It went for $100, a great price for a little quilt.

Overall, we learned a lot from this auction and what kind of quilts might go for higher bids. Small wall hangings went for a fair amount, anywhere from $100 to $450+. When you factor in the price of the fabric and whether or not you have to pay someone to hand quilt your entry, small may be the way to go.

It was a wonderful, exciting event and I thoroughly enjoyed my day with Joyce and watching all of the quilts, trying to predict which ones would go high.....which ones might not be so lucky. I'm already thinking about next year and what I might want to make. I think I'll do my own project, a wall hanging of some sort, then go back to enjoy the anticipation of the auction results!

When I stopped in one of my local quilt shops last week, I was handed a small rectangle of red silhouette fabric (about 5 1/2" x 7 1/2") and was told that they were having a little contest and everyone that entered would at least win some discount coupons. Good enough incentive for me!

I went with something simple, of course, as it has to be turned in next week when they would be having a shop-hop and wanted these items for display. The fabric line is called "Love Letters", so I had to make something to hold those letters.



Here's the little hanging holding some Valentines. Now I need to deliver it to the shop and see what kind of coupons I'll win......and just for entering!

Do not be overcome by evil,

but overcome evil with good.

—Romans 12:21

I've got the next batch of Jo-Ann fabrics 4" log cabins done. This time, I spent several days working on them, little by little, bit by bit.



And here are the finished 27 blocks.



I'm off to start the next color batch!

Sorry about this tiny little picture.....but click on it to see a great commercial. And by the way...... don't do this at home. NEVER let your dog hang out of the window like this without wearing Doggles. Something could hit their eye and cause blindness or serious damage. OK....with that warning being said....I can't help but chuckle every time they play this silly commercial! Enjoy!

As I continue designing my Jo-Ann fabrics quilt, I decided to use disappearing 9 patch blocks (DNP) along with the log cabin blocks. If you aren't familiar with the DNP block, it's a really simple, yet deceptively complex block. And easy, easy to make.

Just start with a 9 patch block. I wanted a plain block with only the purple center for my splash of color. (Again, the center block is a true purple, not a blue-purple.) Obviously, you could use as many as 9 different fabrics, which would give you lots and lots of setting options.




Cut your 9 patch into quarters. Cut the block in half, rotate, and cut it in half the other way, making four smaller blocks. Your basic 9 patch has now disappeared!




This shows two 9 patch blocks that have been cut into DNP blocks. I now have 8 DNP blocks made from two 9 patch blocks (they multiply like rabbits!) and I just lined these up without any particular planning. You can see how the setting possibilities are almost endless. And also try to imagine how complex these settings can become if you were using more colors in your original 9 patch.



I hope you'll give these a try. You can really complete a quilt top pretty quickly using this method. My DNP blocks are 4", just like my log cabins, so it will be fairly time consuming to make boatloads of these, but normally, you would be making larger blocks and building your quilt very fast. Have fun!

Today was my monthly fellowship with some of my quilting friends. It's always wonderful to see what projects they have been working on and catch up on their lives.

Joyce brought this beautiful, hand quilted quilt that will also be donated to the Mennonite Hunger Relief Auction. She and her Sister made all of the blocks.....which, by the way, are only 6" blocks, set them in this beautiful arrangement, then sent it off to the quilter. The blocks are very complicated with lots of pieces in each of the tiny blocks. The hand quilting is just excellent with small, even stitches. The blocks represent women of the Bible so each block has a story to tell. My picture does not give you a very good perspective of the quilt and it doesn't show the binding, which was made up of the colors of the quilt blocks. Oh, and the back is a wonderful purple! I'll let you know how the auction goes......this quilt is a real beauty and I hope it goes to an appreciative home.




This next quilt (top only) was made by Fran. Again, my picture does not do it justice. She used a wide range of beautiful Batiks and the colors are just fabulous. The pineapple leaves are composed of many, many shades of green. I love the way the keyboard border blends from shade to shade to shade around the perimeter. This is one that you should see in person to really appreciate the beautiful colors.



So......another wonderful day with my dear friends! Can't wait until next month!

Look out! It's time for one of my soap box posts!


I joined a student mentoring program last year and it's time again for me to be matched with a student and guide them, via email letters, as they read 5 different genres of books throughout the year.

There are thousands of students, all looking for a reading mentor, and it could be you! Click on the logo above and see if you think this could be a ministry for you. It doesn't take that much time and you will, as always, receive much more than you give. Joining is simple. Your only cost will be for a police background check. I found all of the books that my students chose at my local library, so I didn't even have to buy any books. I ended up with two students, as they are always short on mentors and the program significantly grows each year...... they really need you! In2Books has won many awards and the program continues to improve as they work out the kinks. All of the details can be found on their website.

Please think about joining this great organization. It won't take that much of your time and you will thoroughly enjoy the letters that you receive from your student as you discuss the latest book and get to know each other.

OK......click on that link and check it out!

Here's the first batch of blocks using the Jo-Ann fabrics. I've always loved the Log Cabin block and thought they would work out pretty well for the overall pattern that is growing in my mind. Initially, I was going to use paper foundations, then decided that it would be much quicker to just chain sew them with strips. Since these strips were going to be cut at 1", I figured it would be just as precise to cut and sew these the quickest way. After sewing, these logs are 1/2" wide. The center block is a true purple, not the blue purple that my monitor shows.



This block shows the scale of the blocks. They are 4" finished.



And the backside. If you press as you go, your seams will be nice and neat. I pressed toward each piece that I attached, to get them to all face away from the center.

And here's the finished stack of blocks. There are 27 of them and making them took the entire afternoon....about 6 hours. Had I gone with the paper foundations, I would still be working on them. Now I have tons more to make of different color combinations. They are a bit tedious to make, but I still like a good ol' Log Cabin block and the setting possibilities are endless!

A room with a view..........actually, this is the view from all of the rooms in my house this morning. The high humidity combined with air conditioning produces this greenhouse effect. I'll sure be glad when the high humidity and the high temps break for the freshness of Fall!

These are the fabrics (most of them) that I'll be using for the Jo-Ann quilt contest. There's a link for this contest a few posts down. I don't have a total plan or layout yet, but I do know the size of the blocks and the pattern of the blocks that I'll be using. As usual, it will just evolve as I sew. Whether I get it done in time for the contest or not, is yet to be seen. It's OK if I don't get it done, it's the process that I enjoy. One thing for sure, it will be a bright quilt!

Here's the 12th and last BOM of this series! I left all of the fabrics alone and put the block together as the quilt shop intended. Now I'm ready to set the series into a quilt. I bought some fabric for the sashing and one border, but I may change my mind on the original plan. We'll see.....

Here's a link for you to check out. Jo-Ann Fabrics is having a quilt contest and they are giving away some great prizes! The only restrictive condition is that you MUST use Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Good Luck!

I picked up our charity quilt that had been off to the hand quilter for quilting. The following pictures show the front and back sides of several different sections so that you can see the patterns that the quilter used. She did not quilt this the way that I would have quilted it, but it still looks pretty good overall. Her fee was very reasonable for over 35 hours of hand quilting and she got it done in a timely manner. So here you go;

Braided quilting on the sashing and the key board border, front side.




Backside of same.




Front side of one of the pieced blocks. She hand quilted all of the pieced blocks with the same crossed X kind of pattern.



Backside of same.

Front side of one of the applique blocks. Each applique block was simply outlined around the shapes. Because the appliqued pieces were all fused, our quilter was unable to needle the appliqued pieces themselves.

Backside of same.

I'm going to work on the binding today and will, hopefully, have a full sized picture of the quilt soon. I will be glad to have this behind us and delivered to the auction in September!

Happy 13th Birthday, Lily!

My friend's granddaughter turned 13 today (going on 21). I've known her since she was born, have changed her diapers, have watched her grow into a young lady, and the years have just flown by. She had a swim party and sleep over with several of her friends. You know the best thing about a birthday party for a friend's 13 year old granddaugher? I get to go home and leave the giggly girls when I get tired! ;)

Although I play Farmtown on Facebook, nothing compares to the real harvest that took place today.....my first ripe tomato!

I'm heading out to the kitchen to slice into this beauty! Yum!

The dog days of summer have certainly arrived. 90's, served up with humidity, is way too hot for me. From Mutts;




And this is how my cats handle the heat....all piled up on top of each other. Of course, they do live in air conditioning, so they aren't suffering too much. They have both been really tired after several days of noisy fireworks. They aren't afraid of the noise, but they snooze lightly....get startled awake.....snooze lightly......get startled awake. You could just see the expression of annoyance after each rude awakening.





Five minutes after the sleep picture was taken, Gracie took a racing lap through the house, leaving no rug unturned. She slides into each rug as if she's making the game winning home run!

This was left by my blue jay friend that stops to take a cool down in the bird bath everyday. He's been a regular with the excessive heat.

This picture doesn't capture the soft iridescence of the feather. It easily caught my eye when I walked by it outside on the sidewalk. God certainly has a good eye for color!

Hey....I'm on top of things for a change! OK, I'm only on top of one thing and that is July's BOM.

I changed quite a bit on this block. The planned block had just the upper left hand star block and the rest were stripes.....a flag kind of set up. Also, the sections had different widths of stripes. I didn't like the flag pattern done with pastel fabrics, so I made two of the star blocks to break up the flag setting. I also changed the fabrics in the striped sections. The supplied fabric was a very light blue and a light pink. I'm not a pink person and I liked the contrast with the darker blue.

I'm pleased with the way the block turned out. We only have one more month in this BOM series, then it will be time to set the blocks and finish it up.

Hope you all had a nice Fourth of July! I'm always glad when this holiday is over because it means I'll get more than a few hours of sleep......zzzzzzzzz!

Here's my cats cousin, Punkin, fresh from the groomer and decked out in her patriotic bandanna!

June's BOM is finished. I waited until the last minute again this month. This block really appeals to me, both in the design and in the fabrics, and I didn't change a thing.


This next picture was painted by Tao, an elephant. Sorry about the picture quality...the sun was glaring, even with shades drawn, and the flash only made things worse. Oh, and the frame is not wonky, it's perfectly rectangular. I've had the painting since 2001 and never had the wall space to hang it. Yes, every bit of my walls are covered....from floor to ceiling, and I've been taking some of them down and doing some regrouping and rearranging. I'm also eliminating several of them, as they no longer appeal to me. So anyway, I've had this painting for years and there is some controversy about the humanity of having elephants paint. At the time of purchase, (and I don't even want to tell you what I paid for this!) it was recommended by National Geographic and that the proceeds helped both the elephant and the elephant's trainer. It provided food, shelter, and protection for both. Recently, I've heard that it's not as wonderful as they once thought, although I believe that it's still a better life than trying to simply survive without basic provisions.

Tao painted this when he was only 4 years old, and recent articles say that his painting style has "matured!" He was born in Thailand in 1997 and has been painting since he was two years old. The canvas is a little rough, with what I'm assuming is a little elephant snot and a few smudge marks here and there. None the less, I like the colors that he chose and his "composition."

Here's Tao doing his thing. I have this little picture of him on my bookshelves. I pray that he continues to do well and that he does find enjoyment in painting!