Bloggers Quilt Festival - Hand Quilting

I've decided to join in the Bloggers Quilt Festival with my apple quilt that I made last year. I started making scrappy 9 patch blocks in red with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Then I was coloring with the kids and noticed an apple that would fit perfectly into a 5 inch block. Red was the color of the month and I had plenty of red and maroon fabrics. I also needed a hand work project while waiting in the car line to pick up the kids. How about some applique apples? I drew my lines and glued them to the backgrounds and had plenty of hand work for a few weeks. After I put the quilt together, I took the plunge and decided to hand quilt it. I had plenty of encouragement from the ladies who link up with Kathy's Sunday Slow Stitching and soon I had a finished quilt. This quilt finished at 36 inches square. I love how this quilt came out and look forward to displaying it in my dining room in the fall. This just reminds me of my home state of Vermont and all those wonderful Macintosh apples that I have picked over the years with my Mom and family. Good times and some great memories. Not to mention all those yummy apple pies =). Please excuse the Miss Kitty socks in the picture - my daughter Emily has to be in all my quilt pictures one way or another.

Head on over to the Bloggers Quilt Festival and enjoy the quilt link up party.

A slow 'take it easy' day .....

I think today is going to be a slow and easy day around here. Presents are not wrapped, cards are not sent but... I think I have purchased everything I need except for food. I had a quick run to a Walgreens yesterday while at work to grab some water bottles for the work fridge and got the last few things for the kids. Guess I will have to brave the grocery store at some point today to get some food into the house. Never good when your frozen veggies are down to cauliflower and brussel sprouts and the kids don't like either of them! Christmas day will be just lots of snacks and appetizers at our house this year. Nice and easy. I'm thinking grape jelly and chili sauce meatballs, fried ravioli, salami roll ups, a cheese ball, veggie platter and maybe an artichoke dip or crab cakes. Maybe some shrimp will find a way to the house too. Prime Rib for New Years.... I can't wait. =)

Emily came down with a high fever on Thursday and was home the last two days of school. She curled up on the couch on Friday afternoon and took a 2 hour nap! I guess it was 'cozy'.

Daddy was taking the kids to Grandma's yesterday and made it about 12 minutes of the 45 minute ride before Aidan threw up. They turned around and got him home with a fever and whatever Emmy had on Thursday/Friday. He seems better today and is watching Finding Nemo in the living room. Emily is watching Tom and Jerry in the play room. Daddy is in our room napping... after he said he is starting to feel off. I had a little lay down earlier today but some Advil seems to be working just fine for me right now.

I put the last hand quilting stitches into the apple quilt on Friday night. I just need to trim it up and add the binding. I should be able to do that at some point today so I can work on the binding tonight. A few stitches need to be taken to fix a couple of the apples where the applique stitches are coming up - must not have done a good knot on the end. =(. It has been so fun working on this I am going to be so sad to have it end. It is so relaxing to take a few stitches here and there and just slow down and think during the day. Good thing I have one waiting in the wings all ready to start!
Head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see some other great hand stitching projects.

Slow Stitching Sunday....

Today was our Thanksgiving meal with my father in law. The turkey and all the fixings came out great. My mother in law and her brother Charlie, who is down from Ohio for a few days, came over for some apple pie  and pumpkin moose (as Aidan calls it) this afternoon and to visit. A nice time was had by all and I think the kids did a great job of entertaining everyone. Aidan made a Christmas present for Uncle Charlie - a paper airplane which he wrapped up in a Christmas bag with a name tag and a bow. He was talked into letting him open it today and some paper airplane flying in the living room did happen.

Now it is time to sit and relax for a bit with my apple quilt.

Shrek is on tv and everyone will have a quiet evening I hope. The kids go back to school tomorrow and Greg goes back to work. It has been wonderful having everyone home since Wednesday...... but it will be very nice at 8:05 tomorrow morning when the house is peaceful. I have plans to go into my sewing room and sew on something. It may be the mystery, it may be quilting the coin quilt. I'll see what mood I am in tomorrow. Tuesday will be work - month end needs to get done but I will put it off for one day and enjoy some sewing time.
Head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see what other slow stitching people are relaxing with today.

Weekend Post....

Wow, second week in a row that I missed a RSC Saturday post.
I did a little sewing on the FNSI - got two more of the peels made into my X and O block for the brown RSC challenge.

I also needed two more blocks for the snails trail blocks I have been working on all year for the RSC challenge. I went with a bright pink and a yellow block.

Earlier in the day on Friday I did get one of my quilts pinned and a backing created for a little Boo wall hanging and that got pinned for quilting too. I guess I did get a bunch done on Friday until the stomach bug hit at about 11PM. Today I am feeling better but plan to take it easy (as easy as you can with a 5 and 4 year old running around the house wanting help with things). The most I will do today is maybe some slow stitching on my apple quilt. I am making some progress... who know's maybe I'll turn another corner today!

For more inspiration - head over to SoScrappy for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, Kathy's Quilts for Slow stitching Sunday and FNSI.

Weekend post....

I missed the RSC challenge for Saturday due to a cutting error on Friday. After 10 months of making snails trail blocks you would think I would have the cutting measurements down. Somehow I had 3 3/8 in my head instead of 3 7/8 for one of the squares. I decided to re cut the middle 2.5 inch squares and the correct 3 7/8 squares and start fresh this morning. I now have 2 brown and tan blocks to add to the pile for 22 colorful snails trail blocks.

I think I need two more and I'll have a nice size 48x72 snuggle quilt when it is done. Sorry for the blurry picture - I was in a hurry to snap it and pick up the blocks.

Head on over to SoScrappy and see all the wonderful projects being made with brown scraps this weekend.

I have also made progress on the hand quilting front this week. The apple quilt is coming along nicely and I love the swirls in the border.

 I will probably add some squiggly lines around there too to help fill in the space a little bit. For now - it is yard work time. The roses need to be cut back, weeds need to be pulled from the flower gardens and rock part of the driveway and maybe I'll attempt the power washer to start tackling the driveway. If I make a little progress out there, I'm rewarding myself with some quilting prep work and hope to get the coin quilt pinned for quilting. I can just see that swirl in those nice white open spaces! I hope the sewing machine will cooperate this week and allow them. I hit Joann's after work last night and picked up a some flannel for 2.99 a yard for the backing for this and the 64 patch star quilt - with the added 25 % off the total purchase it was a great deal. I also got 5 yards of a pretty white on white..... just because! Thanks so much to G for the birthday gift certificate - I still have another shopping spree there waiting to happen.
Head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see what other hand work is being showcased today. I can't wait to settle down in the recliner later tonight and put some imperfect stitches into my quilt.

Slow Stitching Sunday.....

Today I had grand plans to get Easy Street pinned for quilting. Well, it is ironed, on the boards and the batting has been pieced.... twice. I seem to have added that extra bit to the WRONG side.... so I got to zig zag it together twice. Then I attempted to pin it on my banquet table. Did I mention ES is 97x97 and does not fit on my table? The living room is big enough... but there are other people in the house besides me. So..... I think I will move things around in the 'play room' and hunker down in there around 8 and start the pinning process with a movie on the TV in there. I can leave it there when I get tired and pick it up in the morning after the kiddo's are dropped to school. Grandma will be picking them up and keeping them out of my hair entertained at the park for a bit so I can have some 'me' time on my birthday tomorrow. After a hair cut and maybe a pedicure I plan to get some quilting time in. Hopefully on my Easy Street quilt.

I did get a few things prepped so I am set for hand work this week. I cut a few more brown and moss green peels for working on in the car line up at school.

I also picked up this neat little border template and traced it onto my apple quilt this afternoon. I have the middle done and I am on the home stretch on this one - just the outer border to go!

I had planned a chuck roast in the crock pot for dinner but I guess it was not all thawed out and 1PM -5.30 on high was not enough time to get it so it can be cut with a fork. G and the kids are off to pick up Chinese food for dinner. I have the crock pot on for a few more hours and dinner for tomorrow will be all set to warm up whenever we get hungry. More sewing time for me!

I'm hooking up with Kathy's Quilts today and if I decide to wait to pin tomorrow morning... you can bet I will be hand stitching on my apple quilt this evening.

Slow stitching on a Sunday afternoon....

After a productive morning of weeding, cleaning screens and furniture on the back porch  and the litter box it was time to rest and take a break. Two were napping, one is with Grandma still and I got to sit in the recliner with Sophie (my white kitty) and get some hand quilting in on my apple quilt. I had recorded the movie Hocus Pocus last week (I just love this movie around Halloween!) and got to watch that while the house was quiet. Two are now in the chilly pool (too cold for me but Daddy is braving it with Emmy) and I suppose I need to figure out what is for dinner.

I also have to give a big Thank You to Carla for passing along some silk threads to me last week for my applique.
Head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see what others are working on during this slow stitch Sunday.

Sunday evening relaxing....

It has been a very eventful day. Grandma is getting a new couch and it should arrive early this week. Since our love seat was old and showing it's age, we got Grandma's old couch. G went and collected it this morning while the kids and I cleared out the pigsty  playroom. The old love seat was fixed (handy to have a Mr. Fix it for a hubby!) and placed into the play room. I get the job of attempting to work on the new covering this week. The new sofa looks great in the living room. Thanks Grandma!

While the boys worked on the love seat and Matter (Aidan was using the tools to fix his car!) he had a snack and then informed us his tooth was loose. Another bite of the rice krispie treat and the tooth was out! His first tooth lost at age 5 and a visit from the tooth fairy tonight. He was beyond excited and had to make lots of phone calls to inform everyone. Then he wrote a letter to the tooth fairy to tape to his door - he is a wee bit afraid of things at night so she is instructed that the tooth is in the living room for her viewing! Too funny. At least it was a bottom tooth as pictures are this Thursday! It seems the one next to it is now loose too - I have a feeling the tooth fairy will be making some trips to our house this week.

Then I took a trip to get groceries. I pulled into the driveway and there was a snake! I stopped the car. Got my cell phone and called into the house....
 Me: G.... there is a snake by the door I think and one in the driveway.
G: The one by the door is black and is fine.
Me: The one in the driveway is more colors than black and there are diamonds.
G: Hold on.... he got shoes on and checked it out. Yup, that's a rattler.
Me: I'm not getting out of the car.
He then went to the back shed, got a hoe and killed it for me. The black one slithered back into the bushes.
One dead snake, one other one gone. I finally got out of the car!

After that it was make dinner while G and the kids played soccer out back. Then a quick bite and pick up so we could go for a bike ride. A dip into the bath tub for the kids and off to bed.

As for me.... it is time to sit back and relax with some slow stitching. Too many things to choose from but it will either be some crochet on this baby blanket which is on skein three.... (new couch in the background).

Or some hand quilting on the apple quilt.

Hooking up with Kathy's Quilts - slow stitching Sunday. Head on over and see what is being stitched on this weekend.

Slow Stitching Sunday....

A wee bit late but it is still Sunday! After getting home from work to a partially sick household (Aidan and Daddy), making dinner for me and Emmy of some Swedish meatballs with noodles and then picking up and taking the kids out for a ice cream treat that they were promised (I found the Wendy's drive through by the interstate - nice and close!), it is time to have them wind down for bed. After they are in bed, I get to wind down with some slow stitching on my apple quilt. For now, I am going around the apples and doing an X through the nine patches. I may go back and add another echo or two in the apples and probably a diamond in the nine patches. I broke down and am using a little circle hoop for this one and it seems to be working OK for me - no having to hold the bunch of the quilt in one hand while quilting with the other. I might as well get used to it before I get a big one ready for hand quilting!

Head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see what other projects are being worked on.

Last Saturday in Red.......

First off are the two snails trail blocks in red and maroon. Hard to find a light shade so I went with a white print. Here are all the blocks so far.

As for my little apple project this month....... Here she is!

 I was planning a nine patch outer border but I really wanted to get this to a top stage so I pulled this maroon from the closet and finished the top. This measures 36x36. I plan to hand quilt this one - outline quilting on the apples and some apples in the outer border, little leaves in the inner brown. Not sure if I'll do a diagonal in the nine patch or another apple outline there. I guess I'll decide that once I get there.

Head on over to SoScrappy on Saturday and see all the wonderful red projects people are working on. I'm also hooking up with Kathy's Quilts on Sunday for Slow Stitching Sunday. I hope to have this one pinned and ready for a little hand work on Sunday evening.

Slow Stitching Sunday

Today is all about applique and apples! I plan to get a few more apples sewn down onto their backgrounds later today.

It will end up looking a bit like this.....

Head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see what other hand work is being worked on today. Oh, Kathy - those are the two silk thread I use for my applique. The light blends well with the light colors and the dark tan blends with all the dark fabrics.

Scrappy Saturday in red

This week I made a few crumb blocks with my reds. They are about 6 inches each right now. I think I may sash them with white into groups of 4 to make a bigger block. I need to go back and make some orange and green ones to add to the rainbow of colors.

I got all 12 of the red 9 patches done and now am starting to work on the apples. This is the first two that I managed to get done on Friday. I'll decide about adding a little leaf in there once they are done. I may just add a leaf or two on a few of the apples. Two down and eleven to go! I really like how this is starting to look.

Next week I'll have to make my snails trail blocks. Thank goodness there are five weeks of red to play with this month. Who knows, maybe I'll have the apples done and sewn together with the 9 patches!

Head on over to SoScrappy and see what other red projects are in the works this week.

Playing with the color red.

I finished hand stitching the peels this week and decided to sew them together into some X and O's. I think they are pretty cute! I need to go back and make sure I have sets of 4 of all the colors I have done so far so I can sew the others together sometime.

Then I got to working on my little apple quilt this week. I cut and made some of my nine patches in red. These are 5 inches and will finish at 4.5 inches once they are into the quilt. I just need to applique the 13 apples down onto the backing fabrics. So far this is a fun little quilt to work on.



Head on over to SoScrappy on Saturday and see what other red projects are being worked on this weekend. As for me....... it is a kid free day (thanks Grandma H) and I plan to quilt my purple pineapple quilt. Wish me luck.