Bits and Pieces

I have been having great fun putting together the cottages for the Christmas swap. I've played with fabric, mixed and matched, and fussy cut. I dragged out my stash of rick rack and trims this morning to see how I might embellish the cottages. I'm not going to sew any together for a few days because each time I look at the design board, I get a new idea! To give you a preview, here is a picture of my design wall. I'm off to the quilter today. Marie is another long arm quilter who is a member of our guild. She just moved her studio and I am so anxious to see her new place. It is wonderful to have such talented people in the guild.

Christmas stash

Here are pictures of some of my Christmas fabric stash. I will be pulling from the pile for my Christmas Cottage swap blocks.

My son's surgery went well and I am home now - tired, but ready to quilt. Taking care of a 2 1/2 year old sure takes a lot of energy but I am happy I was able to help out....that's what Nanas are for.

Deviated diversion

I am away from home for a few days. My younger son had surgery this morning for a deviated septum. He has been having chronic sinus infections that just don't seem to go away. That combined with his allergies made him miserable. Hopefully, the surgery will allow him to breathe comfortably. The doctor said that the septum was really bent! We figure it might be from when his nose was hurt while he was boxing at the police academy several years ago. The doctor said that his sinuses just didn't drain, thus the constant infection.

The surgery went well. He had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am and the surgery was scheduled for 7:30. Luckily the hospital isn't far away so my daughter-in-law took him over to the hospital and got him all settled in and then ran back home to pick up me and their 2 1/2 year old son. This was one of his preschool days so we dropped him off there by 7:20 and then ran back over to the hospital. The surgery lasted about 2 hours and went well. We shouldn't have laughed but when we were able to see him in the recovery room, he had his nose packed with straws sticking out so he could breathe. He was rather out of it so I didn't stay long. Tonight I'm babysitting so my daughter-in-law can go back to the hospital. He should be home tomorrow but will need to be off work for about 2 weeks. I'll go home on Sunday.

Nevertheless, quilting isn't far from my mind. I finished my winter blue and white wall hanging before I came here yesterday and will be taking it to the quilter on Tuesday. And I have been dreaming about the little cottages I will be making for the Christmas Cottage Swap. When I get home, I'll post a picture of my Christmas fabric stash...I'm trying to decide which of the fabrics I will use. I will probably make cottages using a variety of fabric but I'm not quite sure yet. I can't wait to see the variety of cottages that the team makes. The quilt should turn out to be a nice size by the time we use 12 of the blocks!

I have enjoyed visiting the blogs of my team members...it looks like we will be a fun bunch!

It's Fall Already

My how time flies. I've been busy working, quilting, and doing my thing. I have been trying my hand at more applique. This small piece is from an orphan block that I promised to do something with for my guild UFO challenge. I am going to use it for a table topper in my kitchen. It was a hurry up practice piece.

The next project I tried came from a class taught by Mimi Dietrich. This was the first time I actually took a class or workshop about applique. Mimi provided the fabric and pattern for the center block and then I put on my own border of Mary Engelbreit fabric that I had in my stash. Mimi is a great teacher and is so patient. She gave us a lot a great hints. Some of the hints are in her book. Baltimore Basics.

Then I have been working on a large wallhanging for my four seasons collection. This one is for winter. It is about finished. Hopefully, I'll get it to the quilter this week. I am not really happy with it but I am determined to finish it. Perhaps it will be better when it is quilted. I wanted a white on white fabric for the background but couldn't find any that were "wintery" so I decided to use some white fabric that I bought by the bolt a while ago. The fabric frays quite a bit and does not seem to have much body unless I starch the heck out of it. I used blue fabrics so that the wallhanging could be used throughout winter not just Christmas.

I am going to be working on some small pieces for a while - not sure exactly what but I have decided to join a block swap being coordinated by Nannette at Freda's Hive. Each person will be making the little cottages for a Christmasy quilt.

design wall

I have been wanting a design wall for such a long time. Finally, my husband helped me construct one. I needed one that was movable, light weight, large, but could be folded for storage since the room where I quilt is also a guest room that is used several times a year. So here is what we came up with.
We used 3 pieces of 2 inch thick styrofoam insulation that were 2 feet by 8 feet. We cut about 4 inches from the 8 foot length so that it could fit under the 8 foot ceilings in the room. He hinged the pieces with duct tape so that the pieces fold accordian style when I want to store the wall. Then I covered the styrofoam with flannel. I fastened the flannel so that it can be taken off when the wall is folded and lo and behold I have a design wall that is 6 feet wide by 92 inches high. It can be moved to any place in the room as long as it has a wall to lean on. I won't have to move it often, but at least I know I can. It could be put in the closet or even tucked into a corner if need be. The whole thing cost under $75 - much less than some of the large ones that I have seen advertised and it took us less than 2 hours including the time to drive to Lowes for the insulation board and Walmart for the flannel.

quilt show

It has been a very busy week. On Thursday. our guild went to a quilt show at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA and then stopped at the Plain and Fancy restaurante in Bird-in-Hand, PA (Lancaster County) for dinner. It was a long day but really worth it. I bought some new gadgets and fabric but mostly enjoyed looking at the quilts. I was a little disappointed with some of the fabric I bought because the color bled terribly when I washed it before putting it away. I'll not be able to use it for a quilt but perhaps it will be ok for some other crafts I might do.

I took some pictures of quilts in the show but the lighting wasn't the greatest for good pictures.

When I got home from the show, company from PA was waiting. They stopped at our place on their way home from NC. My husband had entertained them until I got home...they are great friends and didn't mind that I was at the quilt show. They left Friday and we prepared for the big Hannah tropical storm....bought batteries, got extra bread, moved the deck furniture, etc. The storm really didn't amount to much here...a couple hours of wind and rain and it was over.

I also got my fall wallhanging quilt back from the quilter's. She does such a fantastic job each time. The quilt design was leaves and we chose some variegated brown thread for the quilting. I chose the orange fabric that was in one of the blocks for the binding. It finished about 58x72. I'll have to get the ladder out to hang it.