Before the Storm

We're expecting a long duration nor'easter up here in New England so I though I'd get a post in while I still have power. I sewed the borders onto the these two small quilts. They measure about 30" X 16". I'll be keeping one but will be gifting one to my son and his wife.

I already started quilting one of them. If you enlarge the picture, you can see I quilted swirls in the black area surrounding the ghosts. I quilted straight lines in the borders. Unfortunately, with these high wind warnings and potential loss of power, I won't be able to quilt all weekend. I would hate to have the longarm on and have the power go out. I'll get back to it next week.

My Hello Autumn pillow is all done and on display in my family room! Just in time! I'm so glad I could use that pine cone fabric. I've had it forever!

I hope everyone has a great weekend and has better weather than me!

Boston Meetup

We drove into Boston Saturday morning and met my friend, Sarah, and her husband Simon. Their cruise ship docked near the Seaport area so we stayed in that area for the day. We went out for coffee and lunch. We went into stores and small pop-up retail areas. It wasn't as warm as summer but it wasn't too chilly. It was perfect walking weather. That's the Boston Tea Party area behind us. People were throwing off tethered boxes from the boat to re-enact it. 

I should have taken more pictures but we were too busy talking and bringing each other up to speed in what's been going on in our lives. We had such a great time being together. They had to be back to their ship by 4pm so the day just flew by. I wish they could have stayed longer but we were lucky to have that day to ourselves. By the way, this picture is from the gift shop inside the Boston Tea Party Museum. I love how they paid tribute to Paul Revere's ride. It was so well done!

We're hoping to meet up again some time soon. It's our turn to visit their area. I'm already looking forward to our next visit. Until then, we'll keep in contact as best as we can. 

Almost done!!

My Autumn cross stitch is finished. I just have to find some sort of trim and fabric to finish the pillow.  I didn't measure it but I think it measure about 4" X 7".

The ghosts are just missing an outer border. They measure about 26.5" X 14.4". They are so cute!

I bought a couple of Halloween fabrics for the borders. I think I'll make one of each and decide which one to give to my son/daughter-in-law and which to keep for myself. 

I have some great plans for tomorrow. A quilty friend will be in Boston tomorrow. She and her husband are on a cruise and they'll be in Boston for the day. We haven't seen each other in 25 years! We write to each other but are both so looking forward to seeing each other in person. I'm hoping I'll have pictures to post. I can't wait to see her and her husband!

Have a great weekend!

Progress on 2 Projects

This is just a quick post showing a little of my progress on my 2 projects. My girlie ghosts are now sewn together. Aren't they so cute?? Each quilt measures about 24.5" X 10.5" so far.  I just have another black border and then one outer border. I'm loving this project! It will be perfect for Halloween.

My Hello Autumn is coming along nicely. It's not a very big piece so it's shouldn't take much longer. I'm so thankful that Primrose Cottage is so generous with their patterns. 

Blogger is having problems once again. Posts are not showing up again. I read somewhere that Blogger is an old platform and has not been updated in a long time. I hope it's updated soon and we can continue our blogs. 

Primrose Cottage Patterns

I've been a subscriber of Primrose Cottage for a while now. They offer great kits and patterns but they also send you a freebie once a month. I don't always make them but I download them and know I have the chance to make them some time in the future. I got this cute little wall hanging not too long ago. I downloaded it and knew I'd like to make it for myself as well as my daughter-in-law sometime soon.

My ghosts are in the process of being made! Aren't they so cute?? It's a small wall hanging that measures about 30" X 16". So fun! I'm making twice of everything so I can give one to my daughter-in-law and son. 

I also needed a cross stitch pillow for the Fall. I think I have a Halloween one but I wanted one for the actual season. I found this pattern from Primrose Cottage in my downloads. These patterns sure come in handy!

I just started this so I haven't made too much progress but I hope I'll have it done soon! These patterns are too darn cute to pass up! Thank you, Primrose Cottage!

Cable Socks

I finished the socks I've been working on for my daughter-in-law. I just have to wash them and block them. Her birthday is later on this month so I finished with plenty of time! I love the cables. They're so much easier than you think!

I took Lily in for her annual check up. I can't believe it but she's 15 years old! Anyways, her bloodwork seems fine although her kidneys seem to be slowing down. I guess that's to be expected since she's considered to be a senior cat. She really hated going the the vet. She gave me the cold shoulder for a good 24 hours. She's back to normal now!

Christmas Mat

Here's my Christmas mat all quilted and bound! I'm in the process of sewing down the binding by hand. It measures about 20" across.

I quilted curved cross hatching in the middle of the mat.

Then I went back to finish the rest of the mat. I quilted lines and arcs in the triangles. I also quilted wishbone in the larger triangles. I used a meandering with loops for the border. I love quilting small items. It's fast and very satisfying!

Have a nice Labor Day Weekend!

Juniper Shawl Blocked

 I finished this shawl a while back but never got around to blocking it. I did that over the weekend. It came out great! It measures about 12" X 46". I plan on giving it to someone for their birthday. I'll talk more about that after I give it to her.

I blocked the shawl on a nice thick towel. I left it to dry over night. It came out better than I had expected! I dropped a pin at each place I wanted a nice crisp point. I was afraid the cats would bother it but I threw another towel over it to keep them away. I guess it worked!

Christmas Table Mat

I bought this pattern by Kris Poor quite a while ago. Now that I'm done that huge quilt, I wanted to make something smaller for a change. This took me a a few hours to make which isn't too bad. It measures 20" X 20" at widest points.

These two portions were paper pieced. It's not too hard to make quarter square triangles but the final measurements are not square so paper piecing makes sense.

The final measurements of this quarter square triangle is 4" X 4.25". I was afraid the directions wouldn't work but I was pleasantly surprised!

I had to make 8 total of these pieces, 4 of each to make the mat. They measure 3" X 4.25".

I made these pieces to fit onto either side of the center. I repeated this for the top and bottom and I have a table mat! I think I'll make a few more of these for the holidays. They make great gifts! Quilting this should be fun!!

Quilting is Complete!!

I finished quilting Whiskas And Catnip yesterday. I didn't take it off the frame right away. I've noticed that I can miss areas of quilting and then have to put the quilt partially back on the longarm to fix it. I went over this quilt 4 times before I took it off! I'm still expecting to find an area that needs quilting but so far, so good!

I took some random close ups so you can see the quilting better. I'm very happy with the results!

Here's a close up of the backing. I just love seeing those kitties! I was going to work on the binding but I think I'll do that tomorrow. I'm just enjoying that "just finished" feeling!

More Ruler Work!

 I'm almost done quilting my Whiskas and Catnip Quilt. The borders are complete but I have these flying geese with feathers on either side that still have to be quilted. They're in the middle of the quilt so I thought I would finish up the borders and then go back and finish this area. You can see I marked one spine. I took a class once and was always told that stitching up the spine should be the first step in making feathers. 

I use this ruler for marking my vine even though that's not the intended use of this ruler. This ruler is to make applique leaves. I love the soft curve of the spine so I trace that side to make my spine. I mark the center of the area and then trace my spine around it.

Since I decided that my feathers are going in opposite directions, I make the spines mirror images of each other. There's no reason except I like the way it looks. I guess it's just personal preference.

I use this small curved ruler to follow my spine when I actually sew it. I would never be able to hold the machine still enough to get a nice curve. The ruler gives me a nice smooth finish. 

Now, it's time for the hard part, the feathers! I'll work on those tomorrow!

Ruler Work

 I made it to the bottom of my quilt! I just have this last border left. This part goes rather quickly since I don't mark anything. I use rulers and the blocks in the quilt to figure out where my designs go.

Those parallel lines are 1/2" apart. This ruler makes them so easy to sew. I bought this ruler at MQX years ago after taking a class that showed us how to use it. This particular ruler was from Deloa Jones. She used to teach and sell all sorts of rulers and accessories for longarm quilting. Since the pandemic, the quilt shows haven't really returned. It was fun learning new techniques and buying tools for the longarm. Mail order just isn't the same!

Some Shopping and Some Borders

I've been quilting and trying to keep cool in this heat. I did manage to go to a quilt shop and bought this adorable needle minder. It's supposed to be a gift but it's just so cute! I just may go back and get another one for me!

I went to the quilt shop to buy a few Christmas fabrics. I have a table mat I'd like to make as a gift but needed a few more reds and greens. I used to run to JoAnn's for these sorts of fabrics. I sure do miss that store!

I'm so glad to report that I have reached the borders at the bottom of the quilt! I have my red triangles all marked and have to fill them in. I only work a little bit at a time on the longarm. I tend to get sloppy after awhile. I guess that's all it takes to finish! So exciting to reach the end!!

The Last Two Blocks

 It's been a few hot days up here. I've been busy but also trying to stay cool along the way. Lily was snoozing on the couch last night. I couldn't help but take a picture and share it. She looks so cute! She's almost 15 years old. I can't believe she's that old! She sleeps right next to me everyday when I knit on the couch. She's nice when she wants to be but also doesn't want too much attention other times! I guess she's a typical cat!

I quilted the last pieced blocks on the Whiskas N Catnip quilt. I'm so glad that part is done! I still have a good amount to quilt but it's all borders that I've already decided how to quilt. No more decisions to make! I used a combination of ruler work and free motion quilting in these last 2 blocks. I didn't get to quilt today. We had someone come and clean the exterior of our house. It was getting very dirty and moldy. It looks much better now!

Have a great weekend and stay cool!!

A Fun Weekend!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. It was a hot weekend here. We saw our son and his band perform Friday night. We had such a great time! The show was early and very close to our house. That's my son in the green shirt. 

This is the latest block I quilted. I used lots of straight lines within the triangles and kitties with a loop meander in the background. It was quick but effective!

My sock is done!! It took awhile but it's finally done. I have already started the next one. It will look much better once it's blocked. This sock is a rather difficult pattern but I wanted to challenge myself. 

It's a very humid and wet day here. I'm staying in for the rest of the day. Tomorrow should be better!

What I've Been Doing

This is the latest block I quilted on Whiskas n Catnip quilt. I quilted a lot of orange peel all along the major portion of the block. I did a little free motion quilting as well as ruler work in the corners. This block seemed to be a quick one to quilt. I guess it was pretty straight forward to quilt. 

I'm almost ready to knit the toe on these socks. This sock is using up so much more yarn than I expected. I went online to try and find another skein. Many stores were out of it but I did find one store that had it. I'm not sure about the dye lot. I'm hoping that's not an issue. I'll get it next week and then we'll see how it goes. I wish I had bought more when I originally bought it. Sometimes it's better to buy more!

Have a great weekend! I took my mom to the doctor yesterday and all is well!

More Quilting!

I had planned to post over the weekend but I think I forgot all about it! Oh, well! There isn't too much going on over here. I'm still quilting this quilt on my longarm. I'm using straight lines, arcs, curved cross hatching, etc. This middle block was difficult only because it's a regular block with these triangles and squares around it to make it even larger. I came up with the design as I got to the longarm and started to doodle. I just couldn't decide on anything until I was at the machine and had to do something!

I already had a plan for this block and the quilting was fast! What a difference when you already know what you're going to do! I quilted lots of arcs with ribbon candy. So fun!! I have 4 more pieced blocks as well as the borders. I guess I am making progress although it doesn't always feel that way!

We had great weather over the weekend. We're expecting rain the next few days. That's okay. We need it!!