{Post 1,050} Pillow Sham Fabric Quilted

My house is decorated for fall, such as it is.  I put out the same decorations I do every year.  If you want to see some, put "fall decorations" in the search box to the top left.  I enjoy fall.  The weather cooling off is one reason!

I am thinking ahead to Christmas decorations, so I quilted a large piece of one of my favorite cream fabrics.  I am going to make pillow shams to go with my new Christmas quilt.  The thread matched the fabric so well that I had a hard time seeing where I had quilted.  The blue Mark-B-Gone line is showing the edge of the quilted area.  I had to find it by Braille!

Yes, difficult to see on the front.  I wanted a subdued design, but this is ridiculous.  My husband said I should have quilted it from the muslin side.  A great idea, but too late.  Anywho--I hope to get the backs put on tonight.  I think I'll just put a binding on like I did the other set I made.

~Joan

{Post 1,049} Fifteen Tree of Life Blocks

My evening was quite surprising.  Susie had asked me earlier this AM if I wanted to spend an evening sewing and watching one of our favorite movies.  Of course I said YES!!  She was working on a skirt for work.  I think she made great progress.

Because I wanted to leave the cutting table clear for her to use, and using my HandiQuilter would have made conversation and movie-listening-to difficult, I decided to add a few units to my Tree of Life blocks.  To my surprise, I added EIGHT of them to my stack of finished blocks.

I am making my quilt a little larger than the original in Bonnie's book, so I have 10 more blocks to go.  Very doable. I am at that place where I need to add in a few more colors.  I don't have many greens, so I cut a few strips of those tonight.  

There are several browns for the trunks, greens for the tree bases, and sets of creams for the other triangles.  Sort of scrappy, yet controlled somewhat.

Stay tuned!

~Joan

{Post 1,048} New Light Up & Working

Our old light had two 25-watt bulbs.  The new one has two 60-watt bulbs.  Know watt that means?  Now I can really see the dirt on the carpet going downstairs!!

OLD:

NEW:

Can you see the difference in how much light is cast on the walls around the light??  Don't expect a carpet picture any time soon.  ;)

I was planning on starting the quilting on my Feels Like Fall quilt in the AM, but DH just dropped a bomb on me:  we are starting school TOMORROW instead of Monday.  Serious decrease in quilting time!

~Joan

{Post 1,047} Feels Like Fall Top Finished

The tiny flying geese for Feels Like Fall (all 300 of them) were pieced as a leader/ender project for a few months.  Fun!  

This morning I attached the last piece of the outer border.  I am getting ready to piece a backing out of light green flannel and get it washed so I can (hopefully) start the machine quilting tonight.  Have some new ideas to try out on this one.

The raw-edged appliqued leaves were my own idea.  

In other news today, my husband is going to install a new light for our going-down-the-steps area.  We have had the light fixture for a while, but today's the day it goes up!  

This one hardly casts any light, and it's UGLY.  It does work, so there's that.  Will post an update later!

~Joan

{Post 1,046} Etsy and eBay

This is a public service announcement.  I am selling some new books, patterns, DVDs, etc. on eBay and Etsy.  It is to help feed the hungry children of Shelby...MINE!

Take a look if you're interested in helping a worthy cause.  

I have the following:

I only watched this set one time and it is so easy to follow.  Usually retails for $40+ 

And soooo much more!

Here is my Etsy link:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/ShelbyStitcher

And here is eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/whistlersmother10/m.html?item=290769350169&sspagename=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT&rt=nc&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649&_trksid=p4340.l2562

Leave a comment if you have any questions.  I have quilt kits made up with Thimbleberries fabrics, too.

~Joan