of Halloween fun and another birthday!
I love Halloween and I don’t think it’s because it’s my birthday . . . I like the colors, I like the cats, ghosts, haunted houses and pretty much everything else - as long as it’s not too gross!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
‘til next time,
M.
Canton Village Quiltworks is having a super giveaway, although I’m not sure of what the odds of winning will be – there is already well over 1000 comments listed! It will be like trying to win the lottery, but what the heck – you never know. You only need one number to win!
I’ve got my eye on all the treats that are up for grabs but especially drooling all over that little Moda Bakeshop Sampler box.
Isn’t this the cutest little box of goodies you’ve ever seen?!?!?! Still haven’t seen any of the blogs mention what the retail price of this box of delectables is? Even if a person was to win, would you really use it? Or just prop it up somewhere in your sewing room as a little trophy – something to look at all the time to just make you happy. I’d be torn . . . use it or save it. Even if I didn’t win one of these, I know I’ll be stepping out and purchasing one as soon as I see them being offered somewhere – how could I not!
Alma over at Blackbird Designs has a wonderful tutorial for making a fabric covered sewing box using a paper mache box and your favorite 1/2 yard of fabric. But before she tells you how to cover the box, she explains how to distress the fabric to make it that aged antique look – so really it’s like two tutorials in one! Looks like a great project and I will be taking note of these instructions so that when I have my dream sewing studio I will be able to coordinate all my storage containers to match my decor. Seriously though – this is a great project and maybe one that a group could do together – would be a lot of fun playing with the dyes and all that glue – I can picture it now!
Annette over at Sunshine Yellow Creative Stitching has finished a beautiful quilt for her kitchen. If you recall she was the winner of my Loonie Bloom giveaway a while back and she is a member of the Year of Schnibbles group.
I’ve been seeing a lot of these little quilts around blog land and have done some investigating - they all originate from Miss Rosies Quilt Co. and they are soooooooo cute. Over at Quilter Going Bananas are some other examples of these little quilts – lovely work!
Let me know where you’ve been visiting in blog land . . . where’s your favorite place to visit?
‘til next time,
M.
Halloween is fast approaching!
All the ghosts and goblins are at the ready . . . all the treats have been purchased and bagged.
This quilt needs to be quilted – can’t really see that happening before Saturday. Sure would be nice to finish off . . . it’s only been in this state for three years now. I dragged it out to try and guilt myself into getting started on it, but so far things have been too busy or I’m just not guiltable any more.
I read an article the other day that the new color trend at Quilt Market this year was purple. I find myself right in the middle of working on a new quilt that just happens to have a tonne of purple in it – you can only see a little corner of it there in the photo, but really there is heaps of purple in this quilt!
The binding and backing fabric arrived for the quilt I’m making for a Christmas gift – so now it is ready for machine quilting as well. So that is a Halloween quilt and a Christmas quilt that need done – good luck to me!
Oh, this book arrived from Amazon the other day and I’m finding it just a little too interesting. My husband can’t understand the appeal of little quilt blocks and how that could be anywhere near as absorbing as I can make it. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves the intricacies of block construction – this most definitely gets a 10 out of 10 rating from me. Ah! No wonder I’m not getting anything done . . .
‘til next time,
M.
are so much fun!
But before Saturday comes the Friday mail . . . I received the Mill House Inn fat 1/4’s back in September from The Fat Quarter Shop and then found a sale on the jelly roll not too long after that – couldn’t pass it by! These colors are fantastic and will look wonderful on a white background.
And this little stack of fat 1/4’s showed up for the October shipment from The Fat Quarter Shop and it is called Astor Manor. What is it lately about all these wonderful colors and prints . . . it seems that I like everything right now!?!??! Many, many design dreams floating in my head . . .
I’m really enjoying the William Morris style of appliqué . . . I will most definitely have to work some of this into a few projects. There are a couple of quilts in this book that need to be added to that ever growing list of “wanna-do’s”.
Now moving onto Saturday . . . I’ll show you some food first - I love the display on this tray! How eye-catching is that? Of course I couldn’t try it – shellfish issues :(
Still looks good though!
Gail was working on this wonderful Christmas project . . . love the colors and the cats.
The borders were being made up as she went and there was much discussion as to which little panel went best with which border. I know it’s going to make a super gift for some lucky gal for Christmas and she’ll be happy with any decision that is made with the border. Love this fabric line!
Vivian was working on a table topper kit that was coming along quite nicely. I believe there was to be at least two more borders to go on even after this photo was taken – it was going to be a fair size topper! Love the colors!
I was working in purple mode on Saturday . . . making lots of half-square triangles and moving them around. This project is currently laid out on my sewing room floor with huge decisions being made as to what the next step will be.
There won’t be any sewing being done this weekend as we’re off to Weyburn, SK to do some family visiting – but I will be taking my doodlin’ pad along and trying to make the decision as to how my little purple design will end up.
‘til next time,
M.
This quilt turned out so much better than I was expecting!
Plus . . . it’s done! Borders on and ready to quilt . . .
that will be another journey in itself, I’m thinking. What color of thread? Stitch-in-the-ditch? Diagonal?
I’m not going to worry about that right now . . . I’m just going to tack it up and look at it – a lot! This photo could have been brighter, but the sun decided to pop under a cloud right about the same time I clicked.
I’m lucky that I wasn’t outside on Friday trying to take a picture of the quilt – this is what the day looked like then . . .
and then a little later also.
At least the snow is gone for now and the temperature is supposed to be a little warmer for the whole week – still nothing to brag about though. It’s great if you like doom, gloom, snow, ice and cold . . . sounds appealing doesn’t it?
Here’s another giveaway that you best head over quick to see. The Quilting Cat or actually Linda, the other half of The Quilting Cat, is celebrating her birthday with giveways to us . . . how remarkable is that?!?!? Be sure and wish her a happy birthday when you get there.
Next post will be from my Saturday sewing day with friends . . .
‘til next time,
M.
They’re mine . . . all mine!
I really hate to share . . . sometimes I’m very selfish . . . but if I want a chance to win, I’m told I have to tell all of you about the great giveaway also. So here it is – head on over to Pumpkin Patch Primitives for your chance to win a fabulous bundle of fabric.
I just saw this collection (Red Rooster's Pumpkins & Spice Fabrics by Whimsicals) somewhere (memory fails me – again!) and I thought it was the perfect country/primitive Halloween grouping that I’d seen in a while.
I’ll have to go tell Brenda that my birthday is on Halloween and that one of these awesome 27-fat quarter stacks would be the perfect present.
I’ve put Mysty on duty – her job is to watch for the postman. She’s such a good employee!
‘til next time,
M.
Well really! How do you expect me to quilt without coffee?!?!? Have you tried this stuff yet? Instant coffee from Starbucks . . . what’s next do you think? Actually it’s not too bad, even though I was able to identify it as the instant coffee in the taste test they had in the store. With a little splash of Nestle’s Quik syrup and another little splash of milk, this makes an excellent cup of coffee – give it a try!
I made a start on the Bunny Hill block #10 and I think it is just the cutest . . . that’s me with the little purse and black boots (who else would do that after all!!) and there’s Mysty in the basket all decked out in her usual gold and black. This is going to be my favorite block – I’m pretty sure of that.
And here is my ghost/skelton guy – I really want to get a set of them made up for Halloween, but the days keep ticking by . . . still got some time left, so we’ll see what materializes with this idea.
This Thanksgiving weekend in Manitoba has seen it’s fair share of cold temperatures and the odd snow flurry. Some other parts of Manitoba have seen much more than we have here in the sunny south . . . this little “skiff” is very minor in comparison. Still say it’s way to soon . . . there’s going to be a lot of months with mittens, parkas and snow boots and it would suit me just fine if we could skip this.
This is really what has been occupying my time. Candace saw this on the weekend and looked at me and said, “Mom, you really need a life!” She thought I had cut each of these little squares out and then sewed them all together and she still can’t visualize how I’m really doing it. Non-quilters . . .they just don’t get the concepts!
Rows 1-10 are now sewn together – that’s 1/3 done . . . wish me luck.
Now movin’ in for the turkey supper . . .
‘til next time,
M.
So here is my entry into the festival - one of my newest designs that will be released very soon and this is your very graphic sneak preview.
How lucky are we that we can sit back in our chairs and have a quilt festival right at our fingertips! This is perfect.
Enjoy!
‘til next time,
M.
and what a project it’s turning out to be!
This is a pattern by Dereck Lockwood called “Links” that will end up being 48”x66”. Let’s just say that I’ve still got a ways to go – even after the rows are all in place everything will need sewn together. I’ve got my fingers crossed that things don’t end up wonky – has anyone out there done one of these and are there any secrets you could send my way? I’ve got my spray starch at the ready for when I start sewing the rows together – someone told me that may help.
I have another 18 rows to do . . . after the first 4 or 5 rows we got into our own routines as to what worked best for cutting, sewing and labeling and then things started to move a tiny bit quicker. Fortunately I have not had to unsew very much . . . only a couple of little blurps to report. I’m really liking the way it’s coming together and hope that it finishes up flat enough to hang on my wall. I think it will be very striking! Everyone keeps asking about my fringe and whether it’s going to stay like that – well, no it’s not – that just happened to be the size of flannel that I put up – should have used the 2 yard piece I guess.
This close up is Gail’s bargello with a completely different color palette . . . see how her pinks are jumping out whereas in mine it is the yellow? The color combinations make them look so different!
This is Ramona’s gorgeous Halloween quilt . . . I think those witches really do look a lot like me and that it should come and live at my house. It’s going to make a nice colorful statement for the Halloween season – love the colors!
Oh, I found out some more information on my “new machine”. I phoned Singer and gave them the serial number on the machine and she told me that it was made on November 23, 1896 in Montreal, Canada and that it is a Model 27-2 if I was looking for a manual for it. The patents on the throat plate are for that specific part of the machine and not for the whole machine, so that was interesting to learn. Unfortunately I was not able to learn anything about the cabinet – still not sure whether it was made by Singer or another company or in what year. Still love it though and will keep looking for some more history on it.
Back to my strips tonight . . . at least for a short time. They’re going to haunt me until they’re done!
‘til next time,
M.
Church rummage sales hold many surprises!
I had never expected to walk in and see this little gem sitting not 10 feet from the door.
How it had not gotten snapped up in the first 20 minutes of the sale I don’t know. I left Candace to stand guard over it while I went to find someone to get more information on it and whether the price of $50.00 was negotiable. I couldn’t get much more information on it, but I was able to negotiate the price. Candace had about six people move in for closer looks while she was on guard and it didn’t take us long to get the SOLD sticker put on it. Even then there were quite a number of people stopping and looking at it.
This is the information on the throat plate which shows that the most recent patent on it was in 1887.
And I’m assuming that this is the model/serial number? I’ve been to the Singer website and cannot locate a number that looks like this for those patent years, so I’ll have to keep doing some research. I love the colorful decals and the design on it . . . it’s easy to see that it was a machine that was well used in the past – hopefully for quilting!
Of course I have no idea if it works . . . the lady I spoke to didn’t think so . . . but really . . . would I ever use it? The belt mechanism is all behind that door on the right and everything turns quite nicely when you step on the foot piece, so that’s good enough for me.
Ah, but the sewing machine is only part of the purchase! Look at this cabinet . . . the detail is fabulous – I love these old pieces. Why can’t we build things like this in this day and age? All our fancy new tools that are out there now-a-days, and this kind of piece, if made today, would cost beyond most of our budgets. How long would it have taken a craftsman to complete a cabinet like this with the tools that were available to him back then? It’s kinda sad that the selling price for a piece like this is so low . . . I, for one, appreciate the quality and time that were put into making this and I hope to treasure it for many years.
The detail on the sides, back and front are in excellent condition . . . all the drawers work and the hardware is original. The base of the whole cabinet is one complete piece of wood. Now I just need to find a little nook for it . . . out of Randy’s sight preferably . . . he’s not as excited about it as I am . . . he’s convinced we have enough furniture and there is no room for anything new (or old). Oh, well, it’s home now!
If you know of a place where I can get some more information, please let me know – I’d like to collect some history on it.
I have FINALLY finished this embroidery! It seems to have taken years, but now hopefully, very soon, I’ll be able to move forward with the project.
This weekend is an all quilting weekend and once again I’ll be starting another new project – why don’t I ever learn? All these new projects need to find happy endings some day and all those some days are getting further and further away. Ah! But I’m still having fun!
Here’s a shot of my little house with all the windows all neatly inserted. As I expected, it is pretty plain and white so I will be printing off some black and white photos of this little “plain Jane” and drawing some appeal on those pages. Shutters, window boxes, landscaping? Ideas on this makeover would be appreciated! Do you have any links to makeover sites or a picture that you think would work? Send me your ideas!
Have a great day . . .
‘til next time,
M.
