Thursday afternoon I was putting the orange blocks together for the next Halloween themed quilt, when my DH stopped by the sewing room to check in. The power went off, as we were speaking, it takes twenty seconds for the generator to kick in, so we continued the conversation as I turned my machine off. Sigh. The power was off for about 22 hours, unspecified reason, and only on our road. I am wary about using my machines on the generators power, it’s fine for the refrigerators and lights though. I ended up getting a lot of little X’es made, and finally finished the binding on the everyday/everyway bag. Between the power outage and the guests from earlier this week I feel like I got very little done. That being said, it was really fun to hang out with everyone and eat lots of good food.

This Halloween quilt is a free pattern from Riley Blake, but I added a row to use up the sixth print from the panel. I am going to change the borders a bit too, and add in the “& Curiouser” words. It’ll be a throw quilt rather than a wall hanging. I think I may do one more Halloween themed quilt for the store, as I sold the other two I made earlier this summer. I did a photo shoot of the Pumpkin Patch quilts and a few others yesterday. Plus I up-dated a few photos from some older listings. Now I need to spend a few hours creatively describing the quilts and posting them. Sometimes I wonder if I am wasting my time writing up the descriptions. I think that if I were buying a quilt, and spending the money, I would like to know all about it. A picture is worth a thousand words though, and a hundred words makes a sale.

I did finish the Light house late last week (9/7). The Floating house has some water under it and a base to float on. I try to do at least three strands of floss in the Caribbean blue color each stitching session. I’ve been loading three needles at a time, so I can just pick up the next one after ending the last. Mindless stitching, once I got the fishes and otter done. I am trying to figure out a plan for the siding of the house part. It is almost an argyle pattern, maybe just go horizontally row by row, rather than trying to stitch the pattern and background separately. Or maybe on the diagonal, sort of like how some stitchers do full coverage pieces. The Tree house had a little of this type of patterning, but in smaller sections due to all the windows and angles.

The Shine quilt got finished and bound. This was from a kit I got at a clearance sale, so it is off the shelf and into the shop. It is pretty cute, and even though it is mostly a panel type quilt, the sections of piecing and borders make it interesting. I thought the instructions could have been written better. I did end up playing binding chicken, I won by ½ inch.

Today I am hoping to get a start on the Bessie quilt, it is relaxing on the LA frame right now. I haven’t picked a panto or block design for it yet. Maybe something southwest or feathery or flowery, but geometric could work too. The sashings could use something, must think on it some more.

Be Kind.

Coming through the fog of stitches, there is half of a beacon and a bit more. My goal of finishing the Light house has not been made. I’m still stitching this house, meanwhile the next house, Fairy House has been released, no pressure here, ha. I actually just ordered the floss for it Saturday, the floss colors are released before the patterns. I estimate that I am about two weeks behind, as I probably have about six more hours to complete the lighthouse. The Floating house is pretty much a full coverage piece, like the barn was, I figure ten thousand stitches. As I see it, there are 14400 in the whole square (120 x 120) and 75% of that is used, so ~10,000.

I whipped up the Halloween wall hanging in no time this weekend. Plus finished the Foliage and Fur Coats top. Got the two Pumpkin patch quilts quilted (not bound yet) and put the Falling Leaves top on the frame. I think there will be enough room on the end of its backing to add the wall hanging on to it. I was thinking of starting another fall/halloween quilt this week, but we are having company this coming weekend and there is some prep work for that needing to be done.

I wanted to start this quilt from (Riley Blakes free patterns page) I pulled all my Mad Masquerade fabrics together and realized I didn’t have any black prints in the line. Some shopping was accomplished and those prints will be here next week. This is a pretty simple quilt, and I was thinking I could add another row or two to make it throw sized. I have a panel of smaller “cards” that I could work into the mix of bigger prints. I like the Alice in wonderland theme, and the pictures are more true to the original book illustrations than the more modern Disn*y ones.

The Victorian artist John Tenniel (1820 – 1914) is most famous for his vivid illustrations for the books ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ (1865) and ‘Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There’ (1871), written by Lewis Carroll.

J. Wecker Frisch is very similar, sort of pen and ink sketchy. All of her fabric lines/illustrations appeal to me though. To see the full collection of the John Tenniel drawings go to Alice-in-Wonderland.net Looking back at my last post I realize I had gotten two more fall patterns to work on, Pumpkin Seeds and Hocus Pocus. Too many irons in the fire, and once again not enough time in the day.

Be Kind.

Just keep stitching, is my mantra this week. I really want to finish the Light house this week. I made some head way this weekend and feel like it is within reach. After four days of stitching, I am nearing the top of the house and the beacon light.

In the mean time the Foliage and Fur quilt is in rows. As I am putting the blocks together I am reminded how wiggly Essex linen is. Making a note here to starch it next time I use it. I may even put a physical note on my small collection of this pretty fabric. This quilt is cute, although some of the animals look, to me, like they want to leave, something in the eyes. Not the squirrels though, they are just shifty.

I had stay home days Monday and Tuesday, as there were gardeners and tree trimming people doing things around the house and they needed a little supervision. They were able to move a bunch of soil and compost in and take a bunch of branches and tree debris out. Chores I know how to do, but things a 20-something young man can have more fun doing. I was able to finish off the Pineapple quilt on the longarm. I am figuring out (as I go) a way to do the borders vertically, rather than having to turn the quilt. Once again measuring is my weakness. There was some unstitching involved and some creative resizing, but I think I have a method.

The Alphabet sweater is getting its right front knit up. This piece goes a bit faster than the back. As I suspected the motifs won’t match up at the side seams, but they will start at the button band and at least face the same way.

I started the appliqué on the Tilda Anniversary quilt. I numbered all the fabrics with their corresponding pattern number. So now I don’t have to refer to the printed color chart every time I do a shape. Most of the numbers are written on the backside of the main fabric too. This chart is my friend, I think I should put it in a plastic sleeve, it’s going to get a bit more wear and tear. It came packed in with the fabric and looks like someone sat on it.

Today I want to load the two pumpkin patches quilt tops on the frame. I am going to have to use a bit of math to figure out how to load them both on to one piece of backing and batting economically. I bought two more fall themed quilt patterns, Pumpkin seeds and Hocus Pocus from The Pattern Basket this morning. My DD has asked for a fall themed wall hanging for over her fireplace. I think I will be able to get a small wall hanging version of one of them using my left over pieces from the two Pumpkin Patches quilts.

Labor Day weekend is upon us, sigh, end of summer blues. All this pumpkin talk is making me think of pies and candy corn. It’s time to break out the fall themed quilts, I already hung the Halloween Figs quilt in the stairwell. Maybe I’ll change out the bed quilts to more fall colors too.

Be Kind.

Sewing and sewing some more. This week has been all about finishing, I did have one new start too. I wish I could finish the Light house, because the Floating house is here and I have the floss all ready to start. Looking back at my progress this week, I did make a lot of X’s, I can see the progress. I started this house on 7/27, almost 4 weeks, but I did take a few days off. There are only so many hours in the day.

The second Pumpkin Patches is a top. I didn’t add the row of 2 ½” squares to the top and bottom, but I might do that later today. I would like to use up as much of the kit fabric as possible – no more scraps.

I started the next kit I bought, The Forest den, cute fabric prints, even if it has squirrels. Got the panel blocks cut and 436 triangles to sew together into HSTs. I have been fighting with the squirrels all summer. They are winning. I have a few planters on my elevated deck with dahlia tubers in them. I plant them every spring, and nurture them with fertilizer and watering for the beautiful flowers. They are on the deck to keep them from the gophers and deer. The squirrels have discovered them and eat the stems and flowers. I have tried sprays that smell terrible, leaving the dogs out there, and besides wrapping them in netting, they are hungry squirrels. Acorn season has begun here in the oak forest, so maybe they’ll start eating them instead.

The purple pineapple quilt is getting done row by row. The motifs I am using stitch out fairly quickly. Although the one for the actual pineapple block has a lot of back tracking. I should have looked at it before stitching that first one, as I think it is a bit too dense for the design when using 40 weight thread. I have been cutting small designs in half to fill in some of the open spaces between the squares to create a cohesive look.

Knitting is at a pause, I have reached the last row of the back, but need to pay attention to the shoulder shaping and back neck. It needs my full attention, as counting is involved, so I need to set aside some quality time to finish this part. Then I’ll start the front pieces, I got some buttons for it the other day. I had some cute ones in my stash, but they were either too small or the wrong color. Hmm, looking at the back has me wondering if the front pieces continue the design. Those half ducks and boats must line up, I think. Yet another reason to knit in the round.

The backing fabric I bought for the two El Camino quilts came in. I had the foresight to prewash it. The first wash proved that I needed a second wash. I did add synthrapol to the second and third washes, the color catchers were still bright as day, and the red was easily blotted up with a paper towel from the damp fabric. The fourth wash earned me “suds lock up” and I was scooping the suds out into the utility sink. The fifth time through the machine was a rinse, and the catchers were vibrant red again. I am not going to use this fabric for backing, it was on sale, so not a really big loss, maybe I’ll make a whole cloth with it. Use it front and back, with a Karley Porter design on it. The other fabric I ordered matches well enough with the “bessie” top, I put that together in the TBQ pile.

Be Kind.

Furious as in whirlwind, not anger. I managed to get this top done in three sessions of morning sewing. It went together very quickly and the results are good. The pattern is easy to cut and put together, the hardest part was getting random-ness and no two same prints touching. I see in the picture that there is one block that needs to be turned. I still have fabric left over from the pumpkins, but I used all but three squares from a layer cake, and a yard of 108 wide white that I had hanging about. I didn’t have enough All Hallows Eve scraps for this top, so those are still on tap for another pattern. This mix is from Stacy lest Hsu, Holiday Essentials, cute and not too spooky, no witches or monsters. I am going to cut the pieces from the kit that the pattern came with today. The fabric line is from Maywood – Harvest Gatherings, but I can’t see the name of the designer. It is more fall themed and rusty reds with green and yellow. Much more sedate than skulls, cats and bats.

The light house is growing stripe by stripe. I am falling behind on this BOM, the next one will arrive tomorrow. I still like the project, just wish I was a faster stitcher sometimes. I keep seeing new things and want to start something different, but I know once I put this away, it’ll be a while before I want to do more with it. As long as it is set up and ready to go, I will sit and stitch.

The sweater back is growing, I finished the duck row last night. I noticed a feather out of place, damn, I may go back and fix it. I am disliking knitting this flat, purling the color changes is taxing. I would much rather stitch in the round and steek it. Should have thought of that to begin with. I will chalk it up as practice, I don’t like it, but I need to do it and it is small.

The diaper bag is 98% done too. The binding needs to be secured inside. The pattern calls for doing it by machine, but I had enough trouble wrestling the thing through the machine to attach it in the first go round. It is a fairly heavy bag, might just be that all the hardware and extra straps are in/on it. It is a nice looking bag, if I do say so. I also made the changing pad to go with it. I had to re-do the Velcro three times to get it right, and the end result isn’t perfect, but functional. I wanted to make a bag that could be used and abused, and still look nice. The heavy weight chambray seems like it will do nicely. I remember the diaper bag that we used for my three kids, it was made from nylon, like a back pack, indestructible. I wonder what happened to it.

I’v been toying with the idea of cleaning my sewing studio. Purging some of the magazines and such. I have no clean/organized flat surfaces besides around my machine, which is alarming to me. Messy, and cluttered, but I know where everything is LOL. I’ll start small, maybe the top of the book shelf. Certainly needs a dusting at least.

Be Kind.