Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween!  I failed to get a picture of the pumpkins and gourds I have on my front porch, so this little piece of artwork will have to do... 

We had a couple dozen trick or treater's last night and hope to see more tonight.  It was a bit rainy last night and tonight it's supposed to be much colder, so I don't know what the final tally will be. 

Trick or treat hours ended at 8 p.m. so at 8:01 I put Addy out in the back yard and I went upstairs to sew.  I worked on the spiderweb string pieces for about an hour.  When I went to let Addy back in she was covered in mud!  So there I was at 9 p.m. in my jammies giving the dog a bath.  Good thing she's cute!  haha.

Tonight there are a couple shows I want to watch on t.v.  Not sure if I will set up the old machine or just repeat what I did last night after 8.  I need to keep going on those pieces!

It really is windy and the temp is only in the 30's.  I guess Old Man Winter is knocking at the door.

Tomorrow I'm meeting Marla in Fairview for lunch.  We are bringing the hubby's along.  Looking forward to it!

Sunshine and Sunflowers

Here's a pic of my friend Mary's rail fence quilt.  She is making it for her sister.

I have always liked the rail fence pattern.  It's quick and easy, yet looks like it took more time.  Fabric selection is a big part of it, I think.

I may do a couple of them for the nursing homes next.  Last night I made 8 more sections for the spiderweb star blocks.  Going to keep chipping away at them. 

Tonight and tomorrow night we have trick or treat hours from 5 until 8 in town.  I may have to bring my project downstairs and sew on the 1953 Singer 15-91. 

I hope Addy is okay with all the little ghosts and goblins!

Dangling by a string

Last night I was just vegetating on the couch, trying to keep the puppy amused, and decided to do something productive.  I put Addy outside and then went upstairs to sew for a bit.  I really only intended to be up there twenty minutes, but an hour later I was finishing up!

I made 7 more pieces for the spiderweb string blocks.  I also have all the 'kite' shapes cut out and ready to go.  Have to check Bonnie's website and see if she takes the paper off first or trims them first.  It's not rocket science and if I do it differently from her, it won't be a big deal.  Just wondering what method works best.

Made chicken alfredo last night for dinner.  Oh, it was so yummy!  Not sure what I will make tonight.  We have had meat loaf a lot lately, but I do like it and wouldn't mind having it again.  Will have to ask Ev what he would like.

I still don't have my car fixed.  This has been going on since mid August.  I have decided, after one long venting session with my mother, that I should stop being aggravated about it and just let them keep the car as long as they want.  I have a loaner to drive, which is actually a newer car than mine, so I'm really good. 

Weekend wrap up

We had such a nice time Saturday in Arthur!  Marla, Mary, and I met in Arcola, right off the interstate, then we drove to several shops and had lunch at a local restaurant.  It was a beautiful day!

This house is on the main street in Arthur.  All of the pumpkins are carved into jack-o-lanterns!  It was really neat to see.  I had to snap the picture quick because people kept walking up to it to take closer pictures and cars were driving in front of it. 

You can tell from the picture of the house that we had wonderful blue skies.  The temperature was perfect.  Just a lovely Fall day.

See my tower of spices?  Ha ha.  From the top, I bought black pepper, smoky paprika, cayenne pepper, granulated garlic, onion powder, and sea salt.  These were from the bulk food store, Beachy's.  I need these to make my 'special' spice mix.  It's similar to Emeril's signature seasoning, but doesn't have as many ingredients.  He puts thyme and oregano in his, I think.  I like to make this up and keep it in a shaker bottle.  I use it as I would use season salt. 

Last night I made a beef roast and rubbed it with the special mix.  It was very good.  We had the roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn for dinner.  Then Ev and I played a couple of games of dice.  We watched baseball and foot ball for a while, too.  What a game that World Series Game was!  A shutout for the Giant's pitcher, Madison Bumgartner!  Wow!

The four fabrics across the top were bought at Miller's in Arthur.  They are going to be used in Bonnie Hunter's upcoming mystery.  The mystery also requires a black fabric and neutral fabrics.  I'm thinking this is the black I will use.  It's not my favorite fabric, but I have a lot of it.  I have a few pieces of white on white to use for the neutrals.  Going to dig around and see if I have just one piece large enough, but if I don't, using a few different ones will work.

There was a bit of sewing over the weekend.  While Ev was out enjoying a motorcycle ride, probably one of the last ones of the season, I managed to snag some time upstairs and now have 14 pieces to be sewn into spiderweb string blocks.  I would have liked to have stayed upstairs longer, but Addy had other plans.  sigh.

Do you see the turtle in the blue strip?  I'm loving the scraps I'm working with and I think that they will be fun for whoever gets this quilt.  I'm hoping that the recipient will notice all the little novelty fabrics.  There are animals, children, fruits, and quite a few other neat fabric prints in the scraps.
  

Itsy bitsy spider...

I started making some spiderweb string blocks for the nursing home quilts.  If you want to see what they look like, you can get on Bonnie Hunter's website, quiltville.com.  I will need 16 blocks, which take 4 of the pieces that have the green section in them.

Once they are trimmed up, these are quarter square triangles that form a block.  I need 64 sections for one nursing home quilt.  Last night I made four in less than an hour, and that was with a lot of distractions (read, "Addy").  I think they will come together pretty quickly now that I have the hang of it.

The strings I am using are mostly coming from a bag of scraps that I bought for $3 in Paducah last April.  I remember that Mary and I were sitting on the floor waiting for a room to open that we were going to listen to a lecture in.  There were booths close by and we each ended up buying a bag of scraps.  It's fun to work out of someone elses scrap pile because there are materials in there that I wouldn't have.

Today the old Singer 15-91 came home to live with me.  Ev picked her up in the truck this morning.  I can't wait to get home and play with her tonight!  Whee!

Tomorrow we go to Arthur.  Really looking forward to that trip, too.  I am so blessed.

6th top finished

This is the top for the 6th nursing home quilt.  I made the whirlpool blocks in all different scraps.  It might get a border yet, but not sure.  Will see how much time I have left when I'm done.

I also started making some spiderweb string blocks from Bonnie's website.  If they go quickly enough, that will be another top for the nursing homes.  If they don't seem to be going fast enough, I may just resort to a couple rail fence and 9 patch tops.  I only need three more.  Then I will have to quilt and bind them all.  Having fun with it, still!

Tomorrow I will go and pick up the old Singer at the antique shop!  Can't wait!  whee!

Saturday Marla, Mary, and I are meeting in Arthur for a fun day of shopping.  We each have to drive about two hours to get there, but it's so much fun when we are together, it makes the drive worth it.

Im-pressed

Yesterday after work was a bit busy for me.  I had a few stops to make before getting home, then walked the dog and made some spaghetti sauce for dinner.  After that, Nick came over and we visited and got his phone situation straightened out.

It was after 9 when Nick left and since there really wasn't anything on t.v. that I wanted to watch, I went upstairs and pressed those 16 whirlpool blocks.  I also laid them out in the order I want to sew them.  Part of me was thinking about sashing between them, but the other part, the lazy part, says they don't need it.  Probably going to listen to the lazy me....  haha

I really need to stay out of the little antique shop near my work.  Yesterday I stopped in on my lunch hour and discovered this beautiful 1953 Singer 15-91 in a cabinet.

The price is very reasonable.  I'm going to head over there again this morning and see how she sews.  If she sews good, I will most likely get her.  I really should wait until pay day, but who needs to eat, right?  haha.

Fall Festival

One thing we did Saturday was go to the Fall Festival in our little town.  It was set up in the City Park on Main Street.  Now, the park is not very large, just one block really, with a gazebo, a few swing sets, and a few picnic tables.  The Fall Festival included some vendors, food stands, and a band set up in the gazebo.  There was also a petting zoo for the kids and pony rides.

Ev was enjoying a bratwurst so I snapped this pic!  We also had a shish kabob, cabbage roll, and a funnel cake.  And we brought home a gallon of apple cider.

We took Addy with us.  She needs to get used to crowds and strangers.  A lot of people wanted to pet her! 

A root canal and a weekend later

Been a few days since I posted on the blog, but I had a good excuse, honest!  Friday morning I had a root canal done on one of my lower molars.  I will say, this was absolutely painless and anyone who is afraid to get one done because of the horror stories they have heard should really reconsider.  I've had them done before and they were relatively painless then also, but this one was the easiest ever.

Enough about my teeth.

Over the weekend Addy was allowed in the sewing room.  Sometimes she only lasted a few minutes because she drove me nuts.  One time she lasted a whole hour because we had worn her out and she just curled up under my sewing table and fell asleep.

Most of the times I took the attitude that "whatever keeps her happy" would be okay as long as it didn't hurt her.  Thus, I was picking up a lot of pieces of paper...

She cracked me up because every now and then she would realize where she was, get up and go downstairs and get a toy, and bring it up to play with.  This was fine, except that she would bring up the loudest squeaky toy she had and proceed to squeak for a very long time...  Oh well, it allowed me to sew, so I tuned it out.

And sew I did!  I got quite a few blocks made for the sixth nursing home quilt.  All 16 are done and need to be pressed and sewn into a top.  Here's some pics.

These blocks are all going in the same quilt and I'm starting to think they may need some white sashing in between them to tame them down a bit.

All in all, it was a nice weekend.

Ahhh, sewing again

I was able to get upstairs last night and sew!  First, I let Addy come up with me and she was doing well right up until she squatted down and started to pee!  Okay, that's not cool, so I scooped her up and outside she went! 

After that, I was able to press the remaining pieces for the whirlpool block and even sew one of them together.  What do you think?

I seem to have a lot of purple for these blocks, but I also have a lot of other colors going into it.  It's going to be super scrappy, that's for sure!

Now, would you like to meet the newest member of the sewing machine family?  I found this vintage Kenmore yesterday at an antique shop near my work.  It works fine, with the exception of the needle going up and down when the clutch is supposed to be disengaged.  Common problem and more of an annoyance than anything.  I'm pleased with my purchase.

They were asking $30 for her in a cabinet that wasn't made for her.  She didn't sit level with it at all.  I asked if they would sell the machine without the cabinet for $20 and got yes for an answer!  So she joined the herd.

I did a bit of measuring last night and I am pretty sure she will fit in the table I am using now with my grandma's old Kenmore.  Going to swap them out and give that machine a rest and this one a workout!  I love the fact that I now have three vintage Kenmore machines.  They all use the same accessories for the most part and all use the same bobbins.

The antique shop had a couple more vintage machines, including a Singer that looked like it was in good shape.  I talked to Mary about it and she is interested, so I'm going to run over there today again and see if I can snag it for a good price.  Going to make sure it works properly first, of course.  I will see Mary in a couple weeks when we go to Arthur and can get it to her then, or if that doesn't happen, I will take it to her at Thanksgiving.

I am not a chew toy!

Please tell my pup that my feet are not chew toys!  Agh!

I seriously have to get back in the swing of things with my sewing but it's about all I can do right now to keep the pup under control.  I knew this was coming and accept it, but right now, being in the middle of it, is a bit intense.  It will pass.

So, once again, no sewing or quilting to report.  Poor Gemma is sitting patiently in the basement waiting for a quilt to be loaded on her.  It's not like I don't have any tops ready to go...

Hope everyone else is quilting away! 

Meal Loaf Monday

Years ago, when I lived with my parents, I would make dinner for the family on Mondays.  It was usually meat loaf and we just called it "Meat Loaf Monday".  Today I was off work and decided to do some cooking.  Can you guess what I made?  Yup, meat loaf!  And mashed potatoes and gravy with green bean casserole.  Yum!

Have had some bad weather here today, including a tornado warning that sent us to the basement for a time.  All is well, thankfully.

I have more than half of the stacks of half square triangle blocks pressed open and ready for sewing into blocks.  Slow going, but I'll get there eventually. 

Some sewing

I'm almost done making the half square triangle blocks!  Just four more to make then I can put block pieces together.  One block is done already.

Addy

Here's our sweet puppy

We are just loving her to pieces!  She is certainly all pup.  She's teething so we have lots of battle wounds.  She is doing very well with the housebreaking, thankfully.

I'm getting little bits of sewing done.  Sometimes it's only ten minutes at a time, but it's something.  Addy requires constant supervision in the house.

Whirlpool

I was finally able to get upstairs and work on this block.

I know the colors aren't perfect, but these were from squares that were already cut.  Remember a while back when my friend's aunt passed away and she gave me a lot of her fabric?  Well, there was a shoebox full of squares already cut.  Now, they don't really match or anything, but that's okay.  I'm going to make a bunch of these blocks (called Whirlpool) from them for one of the nursing home quilts.  If they are too whacky looking when they are next to each other I will put sashing between them.

Ev and I worked on the floor in the dining room today.  We finished putting the laminate down and are going to put the trim on tomorrow.  It looks really really nice.  The bedroom floor is next but we both need a little break first.

Addy is getting to be quite a little sweetie.  She loves going for rides in the car or truck.  I will be glad when she is out of her biting stage, though!  Puppy teeth are sharp.

Whine, Whine, Whine

I'm whining because I haven't been able to sew!  I love this new pup, don't get me wrong, I just have a hard time getting upstairs with having to watch her closely all the time.  This morning I tried to do a little but Addy was bothering Ev while he was still trying to sleep, so I gave that up.  Maybe it will be nice outside and I can leave her in the back yard for a while right after I get home.  sigh.

Think I'll make a chicken and rice casserole for supper.

I started what I guess you could call a second job, although it's hardly work.  I am picking up the daily newspapers at the newspaper office in the town I work in when I get off work and taking them to the 2 gas stations in the town I live in.  No brainer.  It adds a whole 14 minutes to my day and I get paid for it.  And it will help pay for gas.