November

Friday night was to be the last football game of the season and Senior night, where they recognize the seniors in football, cheer and band. Alas, the opposing football team forfeited the game Thursday morning. A lot of scrambling and the school put on a recognition of the seniors and had the cheerleaders perform and then the band perform their show. They recognized the 29 seniors led onto the field by their parents, and then the band and cheer did stand tunes they normally play during the games, including some drumline sequences, Hey Baby, Sweet Caroline and others. They ended it out with the school alma matter song. Greg and I headed out at this point, but I hear the band director was going to let them 'snake the field' as technically we won the game, and it is a band ritual and the last time for the seniors. 

Emily plays in the marching band - clarinet and was the team lead this year for woodwinds with her friend Reese on flute. This is her section all around her and her bestie Bri on her left.

 I spent more time counting and figuring out where I am for the new Spring Valley Log Cabin quilt yesterday. I searched for a green to use for the stem and nothing in my stash looks like it will work.

 I have been waiting for a bolt of Kona eggshell to come back in stock at MQSC. Well, it came back in stock last week but last night went on sale. Then this morning I got a birthday e-mail % off. Hubby asked what I wanted for my birthday and I said nothing really, but I need this fabric so I'm ordering it! I looked and also picked up a yard of a green I think will work with the Log Cabin quilt for the tulip parts. I got my Jennys Christmas Box in the mail this past week as well. I hear there are a few left if anyone is interested. I think this is my 4th year and it is a fun gift of 25 presents in December.

While I wait for that to come in, I pulled a block of a moose I bought up in Alaska. It has oodles of pieces precut with the fusible on the back already. I'm going to need to be sharp when I work on that. Lots of pressing to build the scenery after the base of the block is pieced. I plan to make this into a pillow I think, although maybe a little wall hanging? We will see.

I spent a couple of hours working on the pantry. Sigh, 1 kitchen garbage bag of things tossed (old chip bags and crackers opened and pushed to the back) and now I know what is there and it is slightly organized. I didn't touch the top 2 shelves as I was done by the time I had pulled out, cleaned and then put back the rest. I have a big pantry area! Safe to say we could be just fine for a few months between the freezer and pantry. 

I'm going to try and do a 'crochet a row' for November... I've added my one row to the crochet this afternoon and will add another tonight. I've learned my fingers don't like lots of rows at a time and it is a long row. 

I finished the binding on the Graduation quilt last week, so technically it is finished. I might add some hand quilting into the bear paw blocks. He doesn't need it until August so I have time =). 

I'm going to hand piece the flowering snowball block I have prepped (I drew my stitching lines yesterday) tonight. 

I'll probably start stitching my hexagon sets of 4 into a row so I can eventually add the remaining rows onto the existing quilt to make it a wee bit bigger. Somehow, these are addicting as I cut some leftover batting from the graduation quilt into hexagon shapes to make more at some point! 

Time to settle in the for the end of the F1 race as I stitch some blocks.

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers. Have a great week everyone.

Next project - Spring Valley Log Cabin

 Technically, this is on my UFO list. I went back on the blog and found I cut out parts for this 30's log cabin quilt back in August 2011, as we were packing to move to Florida! It was to be for Emily.... she got a crumb quilt made out of the remnants, which is currently on her bed. This one never got started! Time to remedy that I think.

The crumb quilt.

I have all the parts (I think ?) in a project box. The pattern is a Judy Martin one in the book Piece 'n' Play Quilts. Spring Valley Log Cabin.

I still really like this pattern so I think that is the next thing to be worked on. Hmmm. I wonder if I cut the light parts? I'll have to check since I don't remember seeing them in the box. That will be Thursday's challenge. 

It was a toss up of working on this, or two choices of Bonnie Hunter mystery quilts I started but have not finished. This one yelled the loudest. I guess waiting 15 years to see the light of day was enough! 

I'll be in the sewing room Thursday morning with this one.

Wednesday evening I spent at a football field watching all the Marion County Marching bands perform their shows. Their final performance is November 7th to finish out their season... and this is my girls final season of Marching Band! 

This is their show. It was pretty windy out tonigh and around 70 degrees (which is a nice chilly for us!). This is a link to their youtube channel.

Pre-MPA (Optimist) @ TCHS - 10/28/26

Bear Paw Graduation quilt is completed.

 

The machine quilting is done and the binding is on. I need to write the label and embroider it tonight. I need to 'fix' a little of the machine quilting along the border where the tension was off. Straight line and should be easy to do this afternoon. I might add some hand quilting in on the blocks since he doesn't need the quilt until next summer. 

I'm calling it done though, as it technically is!

86x86 and quilted using the MSQC batting which is oh so soft and very Bear approved. Every time I pulled this to work on, he was on it! Took a little longer since his ear is still bleeding a bit, so I needed to put it away for a few nights. I didn't want blood on this quilt.

The next graduation quilt....

 The girl has looked through the books and decided on one in this book. It has quilts from the book, The Quiltmakers Gift. We also have that book.... somewhere in the house.

She likes this one - called End of the Day. She loves the colors of the greens in this quilt and wants one just like it! I was thinking batiks, but those can be scratchy for a feel. I found some stonehenge fabrics I had that are nice and soft. She liked those. I think I can find some to look pretty close to this one in the Stonehenge line of fabrics online. It's funny, I always liked this pattern so it will be fun to make it.

I have one side of binding to stitch down on the boy's quilt. He is home this weekend and likes how it came out! 

Slow Sunday

It has been a lazy start to the morning. Bear got his walk and unfortunately, he got a sand spur in his nostril.... and it is really in there! Normally they get on/in his paws and he lets me take them out. No one else, just me. This one is very spikey and I'm sure it hurts. I have a feeling the vet will need to be contacted.

Today, I will be sewing the binding onto the top of the graduation quilt for Aidan.  That will be my hand stitching later today. He is coming home next weekend so he can do early voting in the midterms, and I hope to have it done by then. I've got 344 inches of binding to hand stitch down this week! While I was working on machine quilting this yesterday, the dog requested a quilt be put down so he could be in the room with me while I worked.

I've added some more detail stitches on the cross stitch wagon area. I hope to switch to the pumpkins next. 

A few rows have been added to the crochet this week. 

I'll prep the flowering snowball blocks and shoo fly blocks to be hand stitched this week. I decided to add more to my collection to make 2 extra wide xl twin size quilts for the new king size bed. The current set of blocks are scrappy blue, green and purples with a cream background. I need to order more of the background but have enough left to make a good number of blocks. 

The other blocks in the collection.

Since it is a cooler day today I will finally attempt to prep the garden for a fall planting. I do have some tomato and peppers transplanted into pots and some basil and a cabbage. Fingers crossed my back stays pain free while I do that! 

Linking up with Kathy and the other slow Sunday Stitchers.

Saturday

 I started out the day at Camp Wildwood, the girl scout camp. It is Sisters Retreat Weekend - where the adults get to go and enjoy camp. I signed up for the day, and Emily was there to help out and get volunteer hours. Turns out, they didn't really need the girls much for helping as most of the sessions were self doing. We did the morning session and lunch (she was in the dish room cleaning up), then knowing she had nothing to do....and could be home sleeping or doing homework we headed home. (She drove me there) We got home around 3. The morning sessions were making a bamboo walking stitck - sanded down, added the grip, some bling and added one inch marks up from the bottom. So, if you run into a stream or swamp you can see how deep it is. Honestly, in Florida..... I'd never venture into a water area. There are gaters or snakes in everything! I'll use it walking the dog in case there is wildlife in the early mornings when it is just turning light out. We are 2 streets from a forest greenway area.  The second session was archery. I always like this and found out last year I do better shooting lefty. So, my 7th shot of 9 (I got to shoot 3 times in my group) was a bulls eye! The last round was junk journaling. I'll probably use mine as a quilt journal and diary I think.

Thursday, I finally buckled down and got the graduation quilt pinned for quilting. I was able to outline the blocks and then on the outer edges I am doing a walking foot echo around. I need to get back to work on that in hopes of getting to the binding stage tomorrow. Right now, the quilt is about 86x86 with the extra border I added. 

This week, has been very rainy. It started raining on Tuesday and finished up Friday. We had over 8 inches of rain in that timeframe. Good thing Florida is pretty much sand! Friday I got to chauffeur my FIL and Greg to FIL's doctor appointment in the afternoon. Since Emily was to have a late night, we stopped for dinner on the way home. A tornado advisory was issued in the evening, so the football game was postponed and we did have a couple of bands swing through. No issues here. My MIL about 45 minutes south had some good gusts of wind that toppled lots of branches and broke her Jasmine in two. We might head over tomorrow and help pick up sticks. For now, I'm heading into the sewing area and adding some stitching to the graduation quilt. 

Oh, I picked up a quilt from a friend today that needs a new binding attached. I've yet to pull it out of the bag, but I'll take a look at it after I get the graduation quilt finished off for Aidan. 

Sunday stitching or pinning.

 It has been a lazy start to the day. I watched the F1 race (which was way too early for me, so I watched it when I got up!) and felt a little closer to the boy away at college. Hubby cooked a brisket on the smoker and then in the oven yesterday and it took all day long! It was a 17 pound one. I finished the clean up this morning of the dishes. I'll have to seal and freeze a bunch at some point today. I got a whole brisket instead of the flat since the price was very different. The extra part is pretty fatty, so he made some chunks of it and I'll seal them and plan to use them when I make beef barley soups. (Still pretty hot here but I can do soups any time of the year!). I did make a baked french toast for breakfast this morning. Yummy.

Grandma wants to go see the new Brad Pitt movie, so Greg and I will go with her today to see that. 

I'll be adding more outline stitches to the cross stitch later today. Question for all who do cross stitch, do you do the outline one stitch at a time, or do you do a couple at a time? I've done a bit each way but think the single stitches look better. I know some of my stitches will be over multiple areas for the grass later so those are different. The outline sure does make a difference! The three wheels are done and I'm working on the wagon now.

 

Yesterday, I decided to machine quilt the graduation quilt and was laying it out to roll onto the boards. I'm using a new to me batting so we will see how it works. It is so soft! Bear really liked it. I got a roll of MSQC Natural Cotton batting on sale at some point and just cracked it open. It says it is good for either hand or machine quilting. I need to clear off my sewing banquet table so I can put the boards up there and pin this quilt. I measured it at 78x78 so decided to cut a 4.5 inch strip and add it to each side to make it a little bigger. It should finish around 86x86.  If I can get it pinned today, I hope to work on it a bit each afternoon this week.

I do need to do a little girl scout online training before a retreat next weekend. That will take a solid hour or two. I'd better get moving and get a little done before the movie time starts.

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers.