Happy Halloween

This darling BOO wallhanging was made by Sharon and given to me years ago. I have not finished it since I have not decided what to do for borders. But, I hang it up every Halloween in my sewing room. It reminds me of the retreat we were at where she was sewing these. She made quite a few of them. I had to whine and beg and plead in order to receive one. She was very gracious and made an extra one and gave it to me.

Included in this post is a picture of my first finished pumpkin block for my block exchange next weekend. All of my orange centers are done. Now I am sewing on the corners, sides, top and bottom strips to finish the blocks. I showed this block to my hubby this morning. I asked him if he thought it looked like a pumpkin. He said, "Quite interesting". He really does not appreciate how much time I spent sewing on all those strips.

The other picture is what is left of the strips that I cut for the blocks. I am going to use these strips to make the chop suey (???) blocks that will accompany my pumpkin blocks. The chop suey blocks are only 5-1/2 inches finished. I have not made those yet. I think they will make a great border for a quilt. I have some fall leaf exchange blocks I received a couple of years ago. I was thinking this morning that I could combine both sets of blocks and have a very nice fall quilt. Just a thought.

Our weather is cold and foggy this morning. It is just the right weather for trick or treating. I love to see the little ones dressed up in their costumes arrive at the door. We have lived in this neighborhood so long we are seeing children of the children that were in our scout troops, and on the soccer and baseball teams our children were on, and the soccer teams my hubby coached. It is so fun to try to figure out who these adult people are that say hello to us while they are pushing and carrying the babies to our door. I will need to find my haunted house shirt and put it on before the trick or treaters arrive tonight.

To all of you who celebrate Halloween... have a Happy Halloween.

October Aunt Millies Garden Block

Yeah! Aunt Millies Garden block for October is finished. My fingers are sore from so much hand sewing and applique lately. Maybe I can give them a rest for a couple of weeks.

I like this block. It is bright, and busy, and it was fun to sew. I always have such a difficult time picking out fabrics. I have too many choices and cannot decide what color scheme I like best. Of course, I never seem to have exactly the right fabric, or the right shade of a color. So that means ROAD TRIP!

Monday hubby and I did exactly that. I needed to get a copy of my birth certificate, so off we went to the county seat of the county in which I was born. It was raining heavily when I exited the county building. I was drenched before I could reach our vehicle that was parked right next to the building. Then as we were driving out of town, lo and behold, I spied a quilt store just a few blocks away. Hubby made a quick left turn and we ended up in a parking lot behind the building. Well, in the process of trying to find a spot to cross the parking lot that did not have a deep puddle, I was drenched again before I arrived in the shop.

I went immediately to the restroom to try to dry myself off a little. I did not want to drip all over their beautiful fabric. I just remembered I had an all weather coat in the back of the truck, I wonder why I didn't put it on? I guess I thought I could dash between the rain drops. But that is such a laugh. I have not been able to dash between the rain drops for quite a few years! LOL and LOL again!

I did find some beautiful purple fabrics there. I bought some beautiful purple fabrics there, too. There were a couple of gold fabrics purchased as well. I was looking for gold and orange for my pumpkin exchange blocks. These blocks are due to be exchanged in November (no pressure there, at least not yet).

When I returned to the truck with my purchases, my hubby asked me where I was going to put this fabric. He had heard me talking to a friend on the telephone the other day. I told her I could not buy any more fabric because I did not have any room to store any more fabric. I told him I was going to sew it up right away. Another LOL! He knows me better than that.

I am glad to have my October block done. I am trying very hard to keep up with the group. If I fall behind... well, let us say I know what will happen. I will not get back on track I fear. I have wanted to do this quilt for over a year. Now that I am actually sewing the blocks, I want to stay focused. I am so distractable. I love starting new projects, but my staying power is not good, to say the least. I am depending on Crispy to keep me on track.

Have a good week everyone, and try to stay dry!

Happy Quilting

Lemoyne Star Blocks

Yesterday was another Quilting 101 workshop. I featured Lemoyne Star blocks. This was the month I decided to present the dreaded inset piecing block. A lot of quilters will avoid this type of block because they feel it is difficult. I much prefer the Variable Star block, but I have done Lemoyne Star blocks. I did not like them, but I think it was because I did not like piecing them very much.

I found a magazine article with one page instructions for piecing a Leymoyne Star block so I decided I could present this at a Quilting 101 workshop. That was a couple of months ago. Last month I saw a show with Eleanor Burns and she did the Lemoyne Star. I liked the way she sewed her block together better than the way the piecing was presented in the magazine article.

The green and blue/purple block is the block I made from the instructions from the magazine article. The pink and blue block is made from Eleanor Burn's book, Victory Quilts. I had to search far and wide to find this book. It seems that someone else had designs on copies of this book. I had seen it everywhere I went all summer. But when I wanted a copy of this book last week, it was nowhere to be found! Since I wanted it ASAP, I did not have time to order it and have it delivered to my home. So hubby and I went on a trek 50 or more miles away to get this precious book. I like the way Eleanor Burns presents her directions in this book. They are very detailed with lots of pictures. Since I am a picture lover (I don't read the directions until I have made a mistake), I appreciate that concept.

One of the ladies finished her block at Quilting 101 yesterday. I was excited for her because this is not the easiest block to piece. She was very happy that she persevered and finished it also.

Please check out Roberta's blog. She has lots of great pictures from our retreat.

Happy Quilting

A Challenging Retreat

This last weekend I attended a quilt retreat. We had a wonderful time. There were many projects finished, started and finished, and all parts in between.

My major project was to complete my guild retreat challenge quilt, and I did it! Our guidelines were: black and white with one other color, and no side to be longer than 24 inches. I took all the black and white fabrics I could find in my stash, and some orange fabrics. I also took a BOM that I bought last year and have not sewn yet. I started on my challenge on Friday, and finished it Saturday evening. I worked on my pumpkin blocks on Sunday. I did not get to the BOMs, again.

I was thinking of Wanda all the time I was working on my challenge quilt. I wanted something artsy, but not a miniature. With the restrictions on size, there was not a lot of room. I made a strata, and then started cutting it up. I wanted some circles and gradations. I saw a quilt in A New Twist on Strips and Curves book by Louisa Smith that sparked my interest. It was a lot bigger and had much more going on in the design elements than my quilt, but the design started me thinking. I really like my quilt and am excited that it is my own design.

I have included some pictures of some projects from the retreat. I will post additional pictures in my next post as I don't think I can get them all in this post. There are great stories that go with these quilts. One of these stories is of the Amish Roman stripe quilt. The quilter said that she started that quilt 16 years ago. She just about finished it at retreat. It was so gratifying to see it get to this stage for her, and for the rest of us also. This gives me hope that I will get my big applique quilts finished some day! There is hope for them all!

Happy Quilting