Fall Sewing Going On! And a Little Bit of Christmas too!

I have wanted to make this wreath for a long time so I finally did!

First you sew it into squares and then you cut it all up and resew.  I need to quilt it but not sure what to do for that.

I put together a bunch of hst's together to make a table runner and was trying to add the zig zag border but think it is too much without a resting strip I stopped working on this one and am trying to figure out what to do it finish it.  May wind up being two different table runners.  These hst's were given to me or in something I bought second hand and needed a home.

                                                

Had to remember how to paper piece again!  I made this Halloween Kitty.

Happy with how I quilted it.  Now it matches my Jack-o-lantern from a few years ago.

 I have also put the center together on the Grassy Creek quilt that Barb gave up on.  Have not taken a photo of it but here is one from when it was half together.  Working on attaching the borders...I still need to make the string border or choose a fabric to use in place of it.  

Barb and I started working on the mini schoolgirl sampler quilt.  We each picked out nine blocks to do and I have one left to go.  Here are a few of them.

Barb and Becky and I continue to sew on Thursdays--we started out every other week and now are pretty much weekly.  We started the Christmastime mystery by Pat Sloan and FatQuarterShop.  Patterns are free there and come out each Tuesday.  First block was a cup.

Second block was candy.

I also quilted and bound the table runner I made.  Pretty happy with how it came out.  May give it to my godaugheter Kelsey for her birthday (or I may pick something else out from my done stuff) as we are celebrating Hazel's second birthday this coming weekend and Kelsey should be there.

Lots of Sewing Going On!

My August UFO became a top last week.  These are all the Quiltmaker Bitty Block Houses I made starting at lockdown until I got tired of making one a day.  

This is my Kimberly quilt top from Gudren's quiltalong the end of July.  I made my own layer cake and like how warm and fallish it looks.

I quilted and bound this Simple Gifts baby quilt that has been patiently waiting for me to do.

I did the September Butterfly Bush and Log Cabin Love blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  

Becky finished clue five of the Ruby Jubilee Mystery Quilt.

Barb caught up with clue four and five too!  The three of us have started sewing together more often and have picked another mystery to sew together after the new year.  We chose "Arizona" from Laundry Basket Quilts  but now are also tossing around the idea of Double Delight from Quiltville.  I have made it before but they have not.

 

Sewing with Friends!

I put a border on my Boo Crew Quilt!

Becky and Barb and I worked on our Soul Mates Mystery Sewalong a few weeks ago and got the tops together.  My borders went on later that week.  Not the greatest picture as it is too big to lay out inside and I have not had the energy to take it outside in the heat!

Here is Becky's.  So fun to see two quilts in the same colors still be so different!

                                                

I got out my daughter's old dollhouse for Hazel (who will be two in September) and she loves it.  Here she is swinging the baby doll in the swing.  This kid is so much fun and talks so well.  She signs too but her talking!  She skinned her knee yesterday and said "Nana cleans the ouchy part and puts a bandaid on it" which is a line from a book she has.  She has an amazing auditory and visual memory too!  Blows our mind.  She is starting to tell us about events that happened in the past too.  She just moved up to the two year old room and is the youngest kid in her group again.  The parents go to meet the teacher, etc. and sevral other parents kept asking Hannah and Jeremy how she is talking so well, and commented must not be your first, etc.  She was apprently pointing to things in the room and telling her parents this is x's cup and this is y's backpack, etc.  Most of the other kids cannot name the kids much less the things that belong to them.  We are blessed!

Our last group sewing session Becky and I worked on Ruby Jubilee...barb was a clue behind so did some cutting.  She now has both clues cut but not sewn.  Here are mind.

Here are Becky's!

                                                    

A few weeks ago I attended an online virtual reading retreat.  So nice to have a social life without leaving my bed.  I was in bad shape and skipped Friday night but did join in all day Saturday though laying down through most of it.  These books (and so many others) were highly recommended to us (each person got two minutes to pitch a book!  I did The Thirteenth Tale and got about fifteen people to agree to group read it in October!) and I immediately ordered them.  Many more went on my wish list for Amazon or for the library.  It was so much fun with reading sprints, games, panels, etc.  and I look forward to another one sometime!

Today I sewed my UFO for August together.  This is my lockdown houses quilt made with the bitty block house pattern called Home Sweet Home.  I started these houses in Arizona and sewed one per day til I was really sick of them!

I accepted a job with ASU doing some grading for ASL classes.  Mostly videos of students signing. It is supposed  to be less than ten hours a week.  I am hoping I can do it since everything exhausts me.  I figure I can grade laying down in need be.  If it is too much it will be short lived. Now that I finally have disability I am not desperate to work though I miss it so much.  I miss having my health more.  I go Wednesday for a table tilt test to see if I have dysautonomia.  Whenever I am sitting my heart rate goes up and standing even more so. If I stay out of bed all day my heart rate goes to 120 and stays there while sitting.  I get a horrible pain between my shoulder blades too.  My cardiologist ordered several tests and gave me nitroglycerin.  I am living 70 percent of my life laying down and even then struggle to function.  I still sew but not nearly as often or nearly as long.  

 

Gudrun's Kimberly Sewalong!

Here are my fabric choices for Kimberly.  I think I already mentioned that I made my own layer cake for this pattern.  Really trying to use what I have and not buy fabric at full price these days.  The sewalong was on Sunday and I just finished the blocks today.  I sewed alone as no one wanted to join me on it.  I listened to audiobooks while I was sewing.  Here are my July reads!  My five star favorites were "The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating," "The Sound of Gravel," The Last Garden in England," Persuasion," (reread) and "Intimations."  It was another good reading month.

Here are the blocks I had done on Sunday as I played with the layouts.  Gudrun offers three different options and several sizes.  Mine will be lap size.  This is Kimberly 1.0.

This is 2.0.

This is 3.0 which is the one I planned to do.  However 2.0 has a secondary pattern of pinwheels which I really like so I may be going with that.  I will try to mix the fabrics better though!

 

Boo Crew!

Last year Barb made Bats and Boos and it was really cute so this year she talked me into making Boo Crew with her.  The pattern is free on the fatquartershop website for both years.  I have lots of Halloween fabric and changed up my colors to try to make it more colorful.

I did not have enough of one purple for the background so I did each one a different purple.  I like how that came out.  I am planning to do a small purple border and most likely a scrappy border with lots of colors in it after that.  I will get a better picture when it is a full flimsy!

 

Soul Mates Part 5!

Barb, Becky and I got together again last Thursday online to complete clue five of Soul Mates.  I changed up the colors as I had an error in an earlier clue so why not make it a happy accident?  I tried out several looks before deciding.

This is the one I went with.  I wanted my inspiration fabric in this clue.  Maybe should have used it in the small blue triangles, but I am guessing I will like it when it is all put together next Thursday when we get toghether again.

Here is Barb's clue.  She ran out of the red she needed, so she found another that was very similar.  She is planning on donating hers to Quilts of Valor and it is going to look great!

Here is Becky's.  Really enjoying seeing hers in the same colors but different fabrics.  

 

She Made My Day!!!

I just got an email (sent to me several days ago but I overlooked it) that the editor of Down Under Quilts wants to feature this quilt in their magazine along with other mystery quilts. I would have had to contact Bonnie Hunter (the amazing designer..so to quiltville.com if you haven't already) for permission because I would want to make sure she is fine with that and they credit her too and I am giving it away for Christmas and can't mail it off to her, but she absolutely made my day by even wanting it! I am going to have to get my hands on that copy even though this quilt won't be in it just because it might have been. WOW! Almost as exciting as when I interpreted for John Kerry at the Bloomer Stock Farm and was on CSPAN! It doesn't get much better than this for me. :)

Big Book Summer Challenge Progress and More.

I could not remember if I had quilted my last Mourning Crosses quilt (made with bits of my Dad's clothing) so I searched my blog and saw that I never posted it finished, but I it was finished and in my cabinet.  So here it is.  

For my "Christmas through the Year" challenge to myself, I made two more stockings to go to Norway to my honorary daughter Rachel's new step children.  Made both with leftover bits and love the one on the left so much I do not want to send it!

These are all my books read in June.  Twenty-four.  My favorites "I Must Betray You,: "Passing," "The Sun Does Shine," and "The Hidden Girl"  A True Story of the Holocaust."  

My big book summer challenge hosted by Suzan at the Book by Book blog is going well. Apparently, I like big books because according to my StoryGraph these are all over 400 pages and read since the start of summer.  Really enjoyed "Young Mungo" and "Persuasion" the most of these.  I did my first official Buddy Read with Sandy from Ms. Reads Alot on Youtube and we had such a great discussion on Voxer.  We read "The Robber Bride" and the first two thirds of it was amazing and then the end just fell off the tracks.  Very disappointing, ack!