November already?

Why do my titles always say "already"?  Time is definitely going way too fast for me.  Fall is definitely here and winter is not far behind (yuck)!! 

I guess you could say we've been busy traveling, not too far, and by car!!  The second weekend in October we went to visit Jake and Jill and the boys in Dwight, IL.  That was far enough, 8 hours in the car, EACH way!!  But we took our time and stopped when we wanted to stop.  We had a delightful time visiting Jake in his world.  He's one busy guy!!  And we did get to watch Cardinal games up there!!  And we did go to the casino and actually came away with more money than we went in with!! (Which is a first for us)!!

And two weekends ago we traveled across the state to Ste. Genevieve to visit my mom in the nursing home with Dorothy and Wayne from Kansas City and with my brother Fred and his wife, Vickie.  It was a fun time.  We stayed in the famous Hotel Ste. Genevieve (the Microtel was full).  Well, you know what they say, you get what you pay for ... $46 per night for a room and that's what we got.  A queen size bed, a private bathroom, and a 13" color TV which I think had rabbit ears hidden somewhere.  Oh, I forgot to mention, it was really close to the railroad tracks.  We were quite surprised at how many trains went buy and I especially want to thank the train engineer who blew his horn exceptionally loud at 3 AM.  I think the walls shook!!

I want to thank Vickie for letting me go through all her extra threads.  I found some wonderful colors and so far, it is working with my Nolting quilting machine.

All in all, it was a good October for visiting.

Of course, we all know the St. Louis Cardinals won the world series.  They don't call them the Cardiac Cards for nothing.  Now we're all watching to see who the new manager will be and if Albert stays or goes.  Such suspense!!

I've been quilting and sewing.  Last weekend was declared "pajama pants" weekend.  15 pair ... in all different sizes ... as of right now, I have 6 pair complete... not bad!

I think this should catch me up for now.  I'll try to add photos later as right now I'm at work and my photos are at home.

Weekend in Review

Talk about traveling back in time...  I went to a neighbor's yard sale this weekend.  What a find .. a Bruce Suter Bobblehead!!  Bruce Suter, who's that?  Only the best relief pitcher for the Cardinals back in the 80s.  Well, I couldn't resist him for $2.  Added him to our collection of Cardinal stuff downstairs. 

Looks like the Cadinals might still have a chance .. three games to go!!  Good luck Cards!!

Didn't get much sewing/quilting done this weekend.  It was my weekend to clean, and boy did I clean .... House looks good and the refrigerator is awesome!!  Got a lot of groceries and did a lot of cooking.  I love to cook in the fall!!

Finished my table topper for my kitchen table.  Too bad the table is never clean enough to use it.  Guess we'll save it for guests. 

Time to get ready for another work week and maybe watch some Sunday evening TV... or maybe load my next quilt onto the frame ...

More Projects

The quilt shop hop inspired me .... to get some things finished so I can start some more.  So on Sunday evening I finished a rag quilt.  Not your typical rag quilt, this on is strippy. 

I'm determined to get some of my tops quilted.  So here's one I'm working on now.  The music quilt for Mike:

Went to my quilt guild meeting last night. I'm really enjoying being a member.  They have lots of projects (like I need more) but I brought home a small quilt top to quilt for them.  They gave me the top, batting, backing and even the binding.  Although I don't have to do the binding, just dont lose it.  I'll put it on the frame next. 

Congratulations to Megan - she won a $50 gift certificate from Sew Simple in Ozark from the quilt shop hop.  I'm hoping she'll share :)



Worn out!!

Megan came to visit this weekend and we had a wonderful time.  Did our first Quit Shop Hop.  Six (+) quilt shops in one day.  Through Branson, down to Arkansas and back to Springfield ... IN THE RAIN!!  We got some awesome fabric and some really good prices.  Can't wait to start some more new projects. 
Here are a few photos of some of my new fabrics.

flower fat quarters $1 each at Quilt Sampler

Yardage I bought for some quilt backings

I worked on another flannel rag quilt this evening.  This one isn't as heavy or as big as the first one I made.  I'll post a photo when it's finished.  Not much else going on around here, it's kind of quiet tonight.

What happened to summer?

Holy cow!!  It's the middle of September!!  Was I that busy all summer that I didn't have time to blog??  Can't really say I was busy, except for making quilts.  We did take a vacation to San Diego the end of May, I got my Nolting Hobby Quilter in June, and I joined the local quilt guild. 

I'm not sure how to catch up, but I'm going to try.   I pieced and quilted quite a few tops over the summer.  The quilting is much easier now since I have the long arm.  What used to take a week or two to finish, now only takes a couple of hours.  The very best part is loading the quilts on the frame .. no more pinning .. no more pleats .. no more aching back!!  I'm getting better at free motion quilting and gaining more confidence with each quilt.  Megan also loves the long arm.  She visits more often now and I love it!!

I finished her pumpkin seed quilt and it's now on the bed in her guest room.  It looks great there and if I have to say so myself, I did a great job.  It's the largest quilt I've quilted so far (and it's only a double).  Not sure if I'm going to go any bigger than that for a while.  Time will tell.

The quilt guild gives me little projects to do.  Every month we have a "block of the month" to do which the guild turns into community quilts.   I've made Christmas stockings for the Marine Corp. and sail boat and heart quilt blocks for the annual "sew in" which will be held in January.  I attended and "education" on a Saturday and learned how to make the bullseye block.  It is fun and easy.  So far, I've made a scrappy bullseye, which is now quilted, and I've put together a red/white/blue one, which is pieced and ready to be quilted.  Have to decide on the backing.

I think most of my photos are on the main computer, so I'm going to have to wait til later to post photos.  It's kind of nice to get back to blogging even though I'm not sure if anyone reads this or not. 

Over the Labor Day weekend I took a solo trip to South Carolina to visit Justin, Jennifer, Matt, Hayden and Andrew.  I had a great time and took wonderful photos of them with their quilts.  I sure miss them a lot!!  Got to celebrate my birthday with them. 

April Fools Day

I can't believe it is April 1 already.  What happened to March??  March Madness is past, except for the Championship Game, and Opening Day for the Cardinals was yesterday.  I'll be retiring before I know it!!

So I guess I've been busy in March.  Haven't had time to blog much.  I did send Jennifer 2 table toppers for her birthday and I also sent the "froggie" quilt to Andrew.  Andrew said it was his quilt, but he would share with Hayden.  I miss them so much.

I quilted an I spy D9P and sent it to RedGarnett from the QB for a fundraiser.  I had a fun time making this quilt, but didn't really know why.  So off it went to a good cause (and a tax deduction).  Here's a photo of my version of the I spy D9P:

Fun quilt top to make

I also made a fun snake quilt.  It is actually a zig-zag quilt with  heads:  not scarey at all!!  Kind of a challenge, but after ripping and resewing, I got it together and quilted, now it just needs binding and it will be finished.  Who will be the lucky recipient of "snakes alive!!"

And I also put together a kit I purchased last fall.  It will be quilted and have the honor of gracing Mike's digital piano. I found the backing yesterday and hope to quilt it soon.  Here's the top: (oops, didn't notice Banjos' back side in this photo)

Getting back to my CLFFF, I left 2 small tubs of fabric in my guest room upstairs, and every day I pass this room and look in and see this fabric.  I think these were pieces I didn't care for and thought about possibly selling.  So every day the past few weeks I'd go in the guest room and look through these 2 tubs.  This is what happens when I look too hard:  a western kaleidescope ...

and a quilt for Maverick (Jennifer, Justin, Matthew, Hayden and Andrew's doggie).  Not every doggie gets their own quilt:

And just so Banjo didn't feel left out, I also made one with kitty cats, although I don't think it will belong to him, as he prefers sitting on the quilt on the piano, he'll have to share the above quilt with Mike, but here's my kitty cat top:

So as you can see, I've had a busy March.  Hopefully April will be as productive.  

Busy Week!

I've been a busy bee this week.  I finished, yes, I said finished, a lot of things over the weekend.  Put binding on numerous quilts.  It's a good feeling to get things finished.  Now I have to pack some things for giving.  I'm giving them as soon as they're finished.  Here's a table topper I made for Jennifer's birthday from fabric from my CLFFF: 

You'll also find this photo on my "finished quilts" page, but I thought it appropriate to post it here since it's made from my fabric find. I also made her one with wine glasses and a wine border.

I volunteered to make some red/white/blue blocks for a member of the QB who is making quilts for soldiers returning from Afghanistan.  I always like to help those who give to our military.  So I put some together for her the other night and here's a photo of them:

I might just decide to make myself a red/white/blue sampler quilt soon since these turned out so nice.

Last night it was finally time for the photo shoot.  You can see all the new quilt photos on my "finished quilt" page.  Here's a photo of the photographer taking the photos:

He's pretty good at taking photos!!

And here's a photo of Banjo making sure every quilt is just right. 

He had a great time!! 

Now I have to get ready for my company for the weekend.  I'll post again later when I have more to show and tell.