Scrappy orange.......

This month Angela over at Scraphappy said Orange is the color. Very appropriate for fall and the Halloween season I think. I was looking around blogland and found PS I Quilt and she had this little tutorial for a quick pumpkin wall hanging. I knew I had some orange and purple and brown... so I cut it out and came up with this little wall hanging. It really needs some dimension on the pumpkin and I plan to hand quilt some curves in there this week.


I also read my comments on the last post and was thinking it is all squares - 9 patches are square.... and today I reread and figured out they meant a square quilt. Silly me. I think I am going to go with my original thought and put QST's in two colors - green and cream in between each of the 9 patches. I'll carry the 'frame' into the border I think... if I can figure it out. Not sure if I'll wait another week or two for my big cutting mat and rulers to arrive...and I have a feeling I get to fly up and drive it down.

I have done a little knitting and made this dish cloth.

It is a simple pattern that I found years ago but I don't remember where. Cast on 4, knit two, YO and knit to the end. Turn and continue knitting these rows until you get about 50 stitches on the needle. Then you decrease - knit one, K2T, YO, K2T and then knit the rest of the row. Continue decreasing one stitch per row until you get about 4 on the needle - then cast them off. Very easy pattern that requires no thinking. I need to get back to the sweater for Emily... but think that will be worked on while I am away for a month of training in a few weeks. Without kids underfoot I should be able to make some progress in the evenings.

Other news.... I twisted wrong yesterday and pulled something in my back. It was ok until I got up this morning and could feel it. Then, I made the mistake of attempting to pick up Em...... Ouch! Between - Aleve, Tylenol the heating pad this morning and now the icy hot I am starting to feel better if I don't overdo. That will be the hard part... with 2 kids and all the bending and tending it is going to be difficult to not overdo. DH did this a few months ago and it took a week to get better..... Lets hope mine is quicker healing.

A package in the mail.....

A big Thank you to Jill over at Ramblings of a quilt and yarn obsessor for this wonderful little gift in the mail yesterday! She had a question going every few weeks and if you answered them and then linked to her blog she included you in a drawing... and I won one of the months!
Isn't it so cute? This is a great bag for putting sewing things in and the little closure case has some cute little pockets, great for tucking little things in. Thanks Jill, I'm going to fill them as soon as the kids go to bed tonight!


I needed a break from crumbs and dug through a bucket and found some 9 patches I was working on back in May when I made the log cabin quilt. I had 20 of them... and made 5 more in the last few days for a total of 25. They will be about 6 inches finished..... so I could set them 5x5.... or make another set of blocks to go with them.... what do you think? It will be small if I set it like this with a border or two..... I was originally thinking of a specific block to frame them so they look on point...but can't think of the name right now.


I also did a few more star blocks and I have 2 more blocks in process (don't you hate it when you have to stop sewing because someone woke up from a nap?). I have 10 stars and 21 other blocks. I think I'll be needing to make a bunch more of these in the next week or two. I need to find where I put the other set of 30's prints... I know they made it here just need to find where I put them among the boxes.

Crumblies part 5

Today Jo put up the instructions for this week and it was using HST's! I love using HST's! I decided I needed to use more of my solid so used blue today to tie them together a bit more.

I also finished off a couple from last week that needed a little more so I could trim them up.

This is the lot of them so far, all trimmed up.

Thank you cards....

I was in need of a few thank you cards to send out and I found some boxes with my stamps and card making supplies. I came up with 4 of these (sorry, the others are sealed in their cards and ready to mail). I was looking for the black stamp for the leaves and of course found it about two hours after I finished making the cards. Oh well, I think they came out nice. I'll need to make a few more when I get a chance to have on hand.

October is orange month over at Scraphappy's blog. I know I have some orange fabrics I purchased at one time to make a pumpkin wall hanging. I think I remember packing some a couple of months ago so when I find it I might actually make that this month.
Go on over and check out what everyone is making with their orange scraps this month here.

Crumblies... part 4.

Ok, somehow I got the numbering wrong. Oops... I blame the stress of moving and me just not paying attention.
I slacked off again Monday on the unpacking and with Jo's teaser of 9 patches and 4 patches... I worked ahead on Monday during nap time and did a few more blocks. I have not found the square ruler so these are not cut down to size yet.


All of mine so far... the white really stands out in the photo but not in real life. I think I might sash with a solid 30's color and white cornerstones..... just a thought right now though.




Today was our first visit to the local library for story time. We got there a couple of minutes late but quietly went in and sat down. The kids joined in the clapping when the book was done and had a great time singing along to the songs. The librarian came up to me later and commented on how she enjoyed how the kids interacted during the stories and singing. I told her they are old pro's, especially Aidan as he has been going to story time since he was 6 weeks old! After the books they had tons of toys and crafts there for the kids to play with and interact with each other. After 1.5 hours I had to bribe them to get them home for lunch. I also chatted with a few of the Moms and now have some tips on pediatricians to follow up on. I really need to set up their doctor this week so I have someone in place with their records on hand. You just never know what will happen with a 3 and 2 year old in the house!

Crumblies part 2...

After a very busy week I was able to take some time and sew this afternoon (thanks G!). He said there was only room enough for one person to go through the boxes in the finished garage and I should sew while the kids napped. Isn't that sweet?

Sew I did.... and got these little guys ready for a good press and then a cut down to size. I really need to unpack the boxes from my sewing room once I get them into my room and find that iron soon. I only did the one heart... but have a feeling I'll go back and make some more as time allows and lots more of the stars.



Go on over to visit Jo and see what everyone else has been up to!

Moving....to here! I took this back in June when we put an offer down to purchase this house.


Last week at this time we were getting settled into a hotel somewhere in South Carolina. Hard to believe it hasn't even been a week we have been here yet but it does feel like home. I am figuring out where things are and can find my way around. Tuesday we had promised the kids they would get bikes when we got down here after the long trip in the car.... Em got the little purple Rapunzel bike with training wheels and AT got a red hot wheels 16 inch bike with training wheels. They both are doing great on them and enjoy riding out on the nice flat driveway. Wednesday was our 5th anniversary and we took the kids to my MIL's while we went out to eat. We also did some shopping (I know, pretty boring) and purchased a new dining room table and chairs. We got our hutch for our first anniversary so this seems to be a trend! We were also looking for a bedroom set for Em and a living room sectional but didn't see anything that we both liked. Thursday more unpacking and the installation of some ceiling fans and then after naps we took FIL out to dinner for his birthday and then some birthday cake after at his house. Friday was unpacking again and my new washer and dryer finally arrived. Lots of laundry got done on Friday night and Saturday. We also went out on Friday night and picked up an entertainment center for the living room so we could get the flat screen tv up off the floor. Saturday we took a break in the morning and found the park and playground about 4 minutes from our house. The kids loved it and it was really nice with shade trees around the edges. G and AT put the entertainment center together in the afternoon while Em and I went and got groceries. Heck.. I didn't even need the Garmin to get there and get me home again!
This week I need to unpack more boxes and set up my sewing room/guest room. The majority of the living space is set - kids rooms, our room, bathrooms, living rooms and kitchen are all functional. The finished garage will be an office and the kids play area.... but right now it is full of boxes that need to find a home - either in the house or out in the shed. Oh, the joys of moving.

Home Sweet Home!

Another quick post... no pics yet, sorry.
We made it here Monday afternoon. Cats traveled great - no kitty meds were given and only a handful of small meow's were had for the entire ride of 3 days. They just slept and looked around. The kids.... did really good. A few meltdowns but after 7-8 hours driving in the car I would too! They have adjusted well to the new house and were so happy to see all their things - their own beds, toys and everything they had not seen for the past 6 weeks. Lots of unpacking to do still..... but my MIL put all my fabrics into the 4th bedroom closet, I have my sewing machine and can see and get to a small banquet table that I can sew on. Not sure where the small cutting mat is (the big one is in DH's car in Vermont) so looks like crumbs will be on the top of the project list for a while... assuming I can steal away for some sewing time =).

I hope to answer all the nice comments in the next day or two so thanks for being patient. I will so miss my guild and their meeting next Wednesday night in Vermont. Another answer - Nope, I have never done a crumb quilt before but I was having so much fun sewing on it last week... I had to stop when I did only because nap time was over and I had to pack up everything and put it away so I could get dinner started.

Hope to show some cute crumbs in the next post.... and maybe a picture of my new home!
Happy sewing everyone.