Crossed Canoe

 Sigh... I know I was to wait until I had a good start on that memory quilt.... but those fabrics just wanted to get run through the machine and cut! Who was I to tell them no?

I did 3 fabrics..... I wish I had just done 2 in hindsight but I will remember that for next year's RSC. I need to work on patience when sewing the blocks together as my centers are off and I don't feel like fixing them! I might have been sewing around a cat between me and the machine and holding his tail out of hte way of the needle while stitching these. They will be sewn together with a sashing I think and made into a runner for the table for Thanksgiving. Well, I might try and press the heck out of them or unpick and resew. We will see how I am feeling about it on Sunday. 

Saturday I get to pick up the nut and candy orders and sort them while Greg takes Em to horses. That gives me all afternoon to play with the 3 bins of clothes for the memory quilt. All sorts of materials so it should be interesting. I think I have an idea for a simple pattern so we will see how it goes tomorrow. 

I did get a lunchtime walk in yesterday and snapped this butterfly on the front bushes. They love the milkweed Aidan planted there.

I stopped at the Market of Marion after dropping the kids to school to check out the wing of venders selling produce. I got a bunch of things and will be seeing what the heck a Chayote squash is like! She told me it is meatier than a zucchini so we will see. I got 3 of them for $2. I also got some beets, zucchini, cabbage, kale, cukes, tomato, plums, blueberries, watermelon, and mushrooms.  No tomatillo's like I was looking for so no green salsa this weekend.  I still have jalepeno's  from a couple of weeks ago so regular salsa it will be! 

Bowl cozy!

 I have been meaning to make a bigger bowl cozy to fit the pasta bowl for a long time.... (over a year, shhh!). I finally decided to make it today. 

So I remember if I need to make another one - this is what I did!

I pulled some brown and cut a couple of 12.5 inch squares. A couple of the same size from the wrap and zap batting then stitched this up. An X was stitched to each section of fabric/wrap and zap. Then I folded in half and marked 1 inch x 2 inch (2 inch in to the middle) on each side and stitched to make that 'corner'. Folded the other way and did the same. Trimmed that off and also trimmed the corners and a little of the batting all around. I put them right sides together and stitched 1/4 inch all around leaving a bit of an opening on one side. A little trim again and then turned it right side out. Fold under the turning spot and stitch 1/4 inch all around the edges. 

After school the kids check on the animals...well Aidan finds the cats and tries to pick them up. LeeLee does not like to be picked up but occasionally tolerates it. After chasing the cats he heads out to see the girls. Now that Lily is not broody anymore she has gone back to being a Parrot on his shoulder! She will stay up there for a while happy as a clam. 

A little cleaning of the house and then back to the sewing room! I do love my day's off.

Crossed Canoe?

 When I was pulling browns to prep some Hexagons yesterday I was thinking this batch of fabrics with maybe some blues would make a really pretty crossed canoe quilt or table topper. I do have the Accuquilt die that has yet to be opened. I think this might be the month to give this one a try.

First I really need to make progress on a memory quilt I have said I would make.... so having this as my 'carrot' to play with after maybe I'll actually get moving on the memory quilt this week.

I'm thinking this will be a RSC quilt for next year. I just need to calculate how many blocks I will need each month in the various colors. 

Sunday....

 Well, nothing was accomplished for me yesterday except to bring Em to horses. A splitting headache required a nap all afternoon and I watched movies in bed last night.

Today, I have prepped some brown hexagons for the month of November and pinned 2 quilts for hand quilting. The Endless Diamond quilt and then my OMG for the month of the Snowmen Christmas wall hanging. I think I'll mop the floors and then relax with another movie and some hand quilting on the Snowman quilt. 

I have a feeling I am on the kid pick up today from Grandma's. Calculus and Physics are Greg's 2 classes for this 8 week period and it is quite a bit for him. The kids have not been over for a couple of weeks and for Em it has been 3 weeks since she has gone over for the day. Grandma is down to one Dog - She had to put Buttons, the old dog from her friend, down at the end of October. Scruffy will be happy to have her kids there to play with her today I think. 

I'd better sweep and mop so I can snuggle in and enjoy some hand quilting. Linking up with the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

RSC - Hexagons

The leaning tower of hexagons has a count. These are my sets of 4 all sewn together.  I added 4 more sets to the top of this pile and that put it at 284 hexagons. I have 3 more in greens that will be added to the pile by the end of this weekend (I hope) so I can start in on the browns I plan to work on for November. For me - December will be black and grey! Once I get caught up a bit and have my browns prepped and started I think I'll start stitching these sets of 4 into sets of 8. 

 

After purchasing more muslin (how did I run out?!) I was able to prep the rest of the greens from October on Thursday. These are the ones still waiting to be stitched together. I found another set of twosies that will make the 3rd set of 4 for these green ones. It is a very rainy day again in Florida so we will see if I get the horses run or if Greg will take her this week. Depends on how much homework he has left for his 2 classes this week.

 Blueberry muffins are almost done baking in the oven. No one is awake and up and moving yet but me.  I am enjoying the peace and quiet!

Linking up with the RSC. Head over and see how others are working on finishing up their RSC projects from the year.

Out of muslin?

 How can that be? I have been using muslin as the backing of my hexagons all year (occasionally I use a color to mix things up a bit each month). 

I need to make about 7 or 8 more bright greens to finish off Octobers color and start on the browns I will be stitching in November but.... I seem to be out of muslin! Sigh. I guess I need to hit Joanns before or after my meeting tonight to pick some up so I can catch up and prep my hexagons.  I will also pick up some batting so I can pin my OMG for November as well. 

This is the leaning tower of my sets of 4 hexagons that are stitched together so far. Almost time to start making them into sets of 8!

Next in the hand quilting lineup...

I just finished adding the borders to this Snowman and Silent Night sew along from Jaquelynne Steves - The Art of Home. Next up will be to find a backing, batting and pin it for hand quilting. Do we think I could actually get this finished by the end of November? Maybe it should be my OMG for November then? As it is fairly small - at 35 or 36 inches (I have not measured it!) I think it is possible. 

First up - carving some pumpkins (because in Florida you can't do it in advance as they will rot too quickly!) and then the afternoon will be watching a few of the girls from the girl scout troop roller skate. I still need to schedule their Mom and Daughter Painting to finish off a badge for the girls. 

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Stitchers (prepping for hand quilting counts right?) and OMG for November when it opens up tomorrow.