October 3

Still going strong. This block is called Numerous Excuses and went together very quickly. Instead of the half square triangles I did 8 flying geese blocks to eliminate some seams. Easy peasy!

Today Em has pajama day at school to celebrate the end of the week with the letter P. I do believe they were making pink and purple pancakes this morning in class to go with their fun Friday. Their music teacher invited the parents in for all the classes today so I will be heading to school for 1PM to see her class in music today. That will give me a full 30 minutes waiting in the car line with some orange peels this afternoon. I need 8 more and they are all prepped!

October 2....

So far I am two for two on the block a day!

This one is called 'At Last a Free Man'. I modified it slightly and did not add the little triangles on the two sides.

I also played with the borders a little for the Hugs and Kisses quilt this morning and have a workable solution! I restitched about 5 of the peels to make the seam smaller and ate up the extra 1.14 inches =). It should fit pretty perfectly on that top side so I'll do the same to the bottom and then see where I am for the sides. It feels good to have a solution for those borders. Now to find a few minutes to finish that one off.
Someone has gotten blisters on her feet this week - new shoes two months ago and I do believe her feet just got bigger this week! Off to the shoe store after I pick up from school to get her sized and some new sneakers. The boy asked why his feet didn't grow - because you are just growing UP my boy! At this rate he is going to be taller than me by age 9!

It's October....

Today is the first day of my challenge to myself to make a block a day from The Civil War Love Letter Book. Each block will finish at 6 inches and I have been trying to make one a week since the beginning of January.
Today I made the block called First and Always. Instead of all the half square triangles I made six flying geese with a 2 inch strip of fabric and then four hst's for the four corners.

Tiny Tuesday....

I remembered it was Tuesday and made a Civil War block today!

This is called The Queen of the West and was towards the end of the book. Yes, I flipped through and pulled an easy one for today. Tomorrow I hope to start with the one a day for the month of October..... we'll see how I do.

After a trip to Sam's Club this morning to stock up the freezer and get lunch things for school I did a quick run through my LQS. I wound the last of my Bottom Line thread yesterday into the bobbin and needed more. I picked up a medium tan since that will go with the backing fabric I picked up for the next few quilts to get machine quilted. I also got a blue pearl cotton that I think will be used to big stitch the Little T quilt. Now to figure out what size needle to use for that.

My leader and enders has been making the orange and yellow hst's for step 3 of Celtic Solstice. I think there are more than 120 in that pile and I need 200 total. The pick up line today will have me snipping these apart and trimming the dog ears and counting them.  

I managed to outline the center of the Maple Leaf quilt and stitch around all the maple leafs this morning with the walking foot.

I think the area around the leafs will be stipple stitched. The geese outlined and then some small maple leafs quilted in the black and tan middle border. Lots of leafs stitched with swirls in the outer border. Then I have to pick a binding color..... Just writing the plans down in case I forget what I was planning when I get back to this tomorrow morning.

Monday Snowalong....

Joanne over at CanuckQuilter has a new sew along starting today! She is offering free paper piecing patterns for some awesome looking snowflakes. She will be offering a new pattern every Monday for the next month with a link up of your snowflakes starting next Monday. Head on over and join the fun. I downloaded my pattern already and printed it out. I am hoping to sew some snow flakes on Wednesday. Right now - I'm headed into the sewing room to pin the maple leaf quilt and then I suppose I do need to run the vacuum cleaner around the carpets and mop the floors before I go pick up the kids from school.

Hope to see you join in the snowflake fun.

Sunday, Sunday.....

I plan to do a little more stitching on some appliqué peels later this evening for the border of the hugs and kisses quilt.

I did a bunch of them last night watching Hocus Pocus. I had taped it earlier this week off Disney since I always love watching that movie in the fall around Halloween. Now, I have seen this movie yearly and was quite surprised when Greg pointed out last night that the boy in the beginning of the movie was McGee from NCIS! I pulled out my Mac and looked it up and Oh My Goodness! I have watched both for years and years and never put that together!

Back to slow stitching. I added borders to my quilt with the thinking that would finish it off with a scrappy binding.

Hmmmm. I like how it looks with the peel border after that calming strip but now I need to do some math to make the borders work or play with it a bit to figure something out. A truly work in progress this week as I try and get this to a top that I like.

Head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see what others are slow stitching today.

Had to throw in a picture of the Tiger scout in his uniform yesterday. See those patches on the arm and above the shirt - 1hour to get three numbers, a chapter patch and the little circle patch above the pocket onto that shirt. Quilts are so much easier than sewing those little buggers on!

September Wrap up

This is a recap of my goals for September in the List Goals, Link Blog - Party. 

1.) Test a pattern Starlight Wishes for my blog friend Joanne. 

This is my completed Starlight Wishes. I just love how this came out. Thanks so much to Joanne for letting me test out your pattern. It is ready for purchase at her Craftsy store here. Here is a post she did with some different color options - a truly versatile quilt pattern.

2.) Applique the last Century Quilt block and put the top together. 
I'm happy to say the last appliqué block is done. I hope to put this top together next month.

3.) Continue my RSC blocks in the color chosen for September.
All completed - a 16 patch block, 13 hexagon flowers and 12 churn dash blocks in orange.
I also made the RSC Sampler blocks for the month in orange.

4.) Tiny Tuesday blocks from the Civil War Diary quilt.
I got a few done this month. I plan to catch up a bit next month.

5.) Step 3 and/or 4 of the Celtic Solstice Mystery.
Step 4 - 120 four patches in orange and green are completed.

6.) Walk every morning M-F for 30-60 minutes after dropping the kids to school. 

I did pretty good two of the four weeks. One week I was sick and had a sick kid home a little. This week - I stubbed my toe very badly on Monday afternoon and have been trying to stay off it for a couple of days. It is the first time I have had a toe actually turn purple from a bruise with swelling on the little toe. I'd say the corner of the coffee table won that round! Much better by the end of the week and I was able to bowl yesterday morning.

Goals for October.....
1. Finish the Maple Leaf UFO - top is done and batting is cut. Needs Quilting.

2. Finish the Snails Trail Rainbow quilt - top is done and batting is cut. Needs Quilting.

3. Continue the RSC Challenge in color selected for October. If black or grey I want to make mice to go around my teal cat blocks. 

4. Tiny Tuesday blocks - I'm going to shoot for one a day the month of October. Wish me luck on this one.

5. Step 3 and Step 5 of Celtic Solstice so I can start making those blocks and get the top completed before the next mystery starts the end of November.

6. Get the Century Quilt into a top stage. 

7. Applique the second December block for a pillow.

8. Start hand quilting the Hugs and Kisses Quilt after I finish putting the borders on.

9. Make two pillowcases as requested by my daughter for birthday present gifts for friends. One this Saturday and on the 11th of October for parties.

10. Steam clean the living room carpet - boy does it need it!
11. Continue walking in the mornings - especially now that it is a glorious temp in the mornings - high 60's and I love it!

I'm linking up with Kathi over at KCDesigns on Friday and Angela at SoScrappy on Saturday for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I really hope to have a Slow Stitching Sunday post with the Hugs and Kisses quilt ready for hand quilting... but we'll see how the next two days go!
It is calling for rain today and tomorrow but I hope to run some errands and pull some weeds this morning. Tomorrow Greg is busy with Aidan for scouts (archery in the morning and selling popcorn in front of Publix in the afternoon) and I get to do a birthday party with Emily in the afternoon for a new friend from school. Oh shoot - must sew his patches onto his uniform today too!
Have a wonderful weekend.