Is it late, or is it early?

This morning I finished the binding on my latest Halloween quilt. I had it quilted last summer, and thought that I would have it done in time for this Halloween, but other things needed to be done first, so it waited to be finished. I finally finished the last few inches of binding today. So, now my question is, is it late for last Halloween, or is it just really early for next Halloween?

I call it my Killer Tomato quilt. The fabric is from a line called Pumpkinville. But looking at the "pumpkin" fabric, it looks like tomatoes instead of pumpkins. Hence, I call them killer tomatoes instead of jack-o-lanterns. I have a few other pieces in this fabric line, and I like them all. They are very colorful and fun, but I really look at this one fabric as tomatoes instead of pumpkins. I am thinking of another pattern to make to use these other fabrics. So, there is another Halloween quilt in my future, but not today!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I am so very thankful for being able to be with my family on Thanksgiving. Since all our children are grown, it is nice to be together with them all. That seems to happen mostly at holiday times, and when birthdays roll around.

I am thinking of making a trip today to Joann's to get some black felt and some buttons so that I can start on my ornaments for Christmas. This is the weekend that I really need to get serious about getting started. After all, there are only three weeks left before winter break! Oh my goodness!!!

Happy Quilting

Happy Thanksgiving

Thank you all for your birthday wishes. I did have a good day, even with my cough (which I have not gotten rid of yet). My wonderful husband bought for me my favorite German Chocolate Cake from Neldams Bakery in Oakland. It is so delicious! He even made some chicken noodle soup to help me recover from my illness. My co-worker gave me some of my favorite candy, See's Vanilla Nut Fudge (I know, it is not chocolate, but it is so good!). All in all, it was a pretty good birthday.

I have included a picture of a little wallhanging I made years ago when I was in my "Debbie Mumm" period. I love this little wallhanging. I drag it out every year at this time so that I can enjoy it all over again. My turkey is a little lopsided, but then, so am I!

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Happy Birrthday to Us

Today is my birthday, along with many other folks I know. This picture is of a quilt my Secret Pal made and gave to me back in 2001. I hang it up every birthday and enjoy it all over again.

Today we went over to some friends' house for an early Thanksgiving dinner. Good food and good friends were aplenty. Our daughter dropped by today to wish me a happy birthday. The married son and wife took us out to lunch and a movie yesterday. In fact, we went to the new mega movie theater downtown. Our city denied permits for the three movie theaters we had in town, and then built a new theater downtown. It is a nice theater, but I liked our old theaters.

Not much sewing being done lately since I have been sick. I am feeling better every day, but I cannot seem to get rid of this lingering cough. I went to the doctor and now it seems I have asthma. I have another new medicine to take, whoopie! The older I get, the more medicine I take!

I am finishing up my gift exchange for Chookyblue's SSCS and will have that in the mail next week. I finished sewing down the binding on Hungry Caterpillar #2. Next week I will start making my staff ornaments. I did go to my Friday night tote bag class last Friday. I did not have my embroidered pocket done, but I did go to class anyway. The tote bag class is always fun. Next month we are making a simple bag, in small, medium and large sizes which will be great for gift giving.

I must get busy. I have lots to get done before I go to bed tonight. Have a great week.

Happy Thanksgiving

Second post today with photos

Here are some more photos of our retreat. The first photo is from our Wild and Crazy Quilt class. This quilter has her top done. I still have only one block cut out! The second photo are the blocks I sewed for my One Block Wonder Quilt. The next picture is a long ago started UFO by one of the ladies, which is now finished (at least a finished top). There is one less UFO on her list. Hooray! The fourth picture is a darling seascape finished that weekend. The last picture is a garden theme quilt. This started out as a stack of friendship blocks. We witnessed the development of this quilt top throughout the weekend. The quilter placed her blocks on a design wall, and added a little of this, a little of that, and at the end of the weekend, she had sewn all the blocks together. What a wonderful treat it was for me to witness the birth of this quilt.

All in all, it was another wonderful retreat, with lots of fun and friendship for everyone.

Where have I been?

Where have I been? Here, there and everywhere. First of all, I went to a quilt retreat the weekend before Halloween. I have been so busy, I have not had time to post about it. But when I did take time to sit down at the computer, my mouse died. I bought another one yesterday (that I don't like - too small for my hand). So I am trying to catch up on my 45 emails and get a post done today. This is a little behind the times, but in this post you will see pictures of some of the projects that were done at our retreat. There were twelve of us, and we had a great time.

I finished the second and third Hungry Caterpillar quilt tops. I now have the first one quilted and the binding is nearly finished. The baby shower for #1 and #2 is this Wednesday. Nothing like a tight deadline to get things done! I also made some more One Block Wonder blocks. I cut and sewed another strip of the fabric. I think I have three more strips to go!

In the very first picture, the quilter wanted to make a quilt featuring the photo. She added borders until it became the size she wanted. There were many tote bags made like the one in the second picture. The orange/green/black quilt top was sewn by a legally blind quilter. She did a great job. The purple quilt top was done like a leader/ender project. I wanted this quilt. My friend finished the back on Sunday and handed this project over to another quilter who will do the machine quilting. This quilt is out of my reach, for the moment! The last photo is the beginning of someone's Christmas gift.