Quilt Progress – Halloween Figs and Four Patch Fun

In last Friday’s post I mentioned I wanted to rearrange my sewing space. I did a little straightening and organized my box for the leader/ender project I am working on alongside Halloween Figs. 

Then I made the next two pieced blocks for HF. 

Carpenter's Wheel Block

This is why I can’t sew and watch baseball at the same time!

Bear Paw Star Oopsie!

This is better.

Bear Paw Star

The leader/ender project is Bonnie Hunter’s latest challenge, Four Patch Fun.  I made 4 new blocks while sewing the two HF blocks.

There are now six blocks, three in each print.

I think Four Patch Fun is going to work out well as a leader/ender project. Bonnie’s instructions have us make one block at a time. That means we do not have several ‘units’ to keep up with, or in the way.

I’m partying this week at...

Jennifer’s Wait LossWednesday

Alycia’s Finished (or not) Friday

See you soon,

 

Leader and Ender Project

Bonnie Hunter has launched her annual leader/ender challenge. Her post is here, to learn more about Four Patch Fun.

When I saw Melisa’s post over at Pinker n Punkin Quilting and Stitching, I was inspired to jump in as well.  Like most quilters, I have a nice sized stash of fabrics and scraps.

Looking through some of my favorite colors, I selected a white-on-white background and two batiks.

Out came the GO! Big Cutter…

I had the cutting done in short order. My pieces are 2 ½” so that my finished blocks should finish at 8”.

The pieces are all matched and clipped for sewing as leaders and enders, while I work on other projects.

I made two test blocks, one in each print. They fell just short of the

8-½” unfinished size needed, but I’m consistent and they match!

These are not sewn togther

The main project I am working on now is the Halloween Figs quilt. Most of the regular blocks are sewn. I think I am going to finish cutting the fabric for the remaining blocks so I can just pick one up and sew.

I’m taking my Mom to an appointment today and while I wait for her I will read my book for tomorrow night’s book club.

You could say that I wait until the last minute…maybe, but at least it will be fresh in my mind 😊

Enjoy the remainder of your week. And tell me, what do you think about a leader/ender project?

See you soon,

 

Last Post for November...already?

Hi Friends!

Remember these guys?

Well, they’ve decided to put on clothes.

We’ve had some chilly temperatures, even a dusting of snow and are headed into the teens for lows this weekend. I was supposed to run the Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving morning at Lake Junaluska, but we are forecast to have rain and a high in the low 50s (Fahrenheit). It isn’t likely that I’ll be able to handle that kind of weather.

Speaking of Lake J, they are starting to decorate for Christmas.

The Rose Walk

One of the houses overlooking the lake

The House Next Door

The Gazebo

The Chapel

Painted Rocks placed on the wall

More painted rocks

The Bell

I made another buttermilk pie Friday night.

My birthday is tomorrow. It’s a big one…ends in a “0”, so I made my very favorite cake last night. I first shared Miss Lou’s Pound Cake 10 years ago on my blog. I find that hard to believe. If you are interested in learning why this is my favorite cake, visit this post. You’ll also find the recipe there.

This was my first time trying a caramel frosting made from scratch.

I think it would be less ugly and more like Miss Lou’s if I used the regular tube pan and not the fancy Nordic Ware pan. I’ll try that at Christmas.

It was ugly but it tasted soooo good!

I’ve done very little sewing and stitching this week. Instead, I’ve spent my evenings after work deep cleaning the house. I put away all the fall décor and I will begin decorating for Christmas a few days early. I don’t usually start until the day after Thanksgiving, but Thanksgiving is so late this year. We still won’t go to the tree farm until Friday. That was a compromise with my hubby.

On the sewing front, I have all the units made for the Primrose blocks.

I wanted to have the Flea Market quilt finished by the end of the year, but it isn’t looking like that will happen. It's ok, I am doing what I enjoy. That is the point, right?

I’ll be back next Monday with October and November stitching stats, as well as a holiday recap. I wish you all in the USA the very best and blessed Thanksgiving holiday.

Hugs!

A Flimsy and Fall Photos

Happy Monday, Friends! 

Scrappiness Is Happiness is a flimsy!

This photo doesn’t look much different than last week’s because it is draped over the bed. Again…no design wall. The borders are the same fabric as the sashing and background. This was what I worked on Friday night, when I joined Cheryll for Friday Night with Friends.

If you click her name above, you can see what others worked on then.

These are the backing and binding fabrics I selected.

I did not fully finish the cross-stitch projects I had on my list. Honestly, I wasn’t in the mood. I need to be in the right frame of mind to do finishing and it escaped me last week.

Hubby and I took a stroll through downtown over the weekend. I enjoy seeing how main street changes with the seasons.

New barn stars are popping up on some of the buildings. I’ll have to do a walk-about and take pictures of them.

The lake is also in full fall glory.

The winter birds are beginning to arrive back at the house. Not a very good photo but this little finch is very colorful.

We had a family dinner on Saturday so I made a small pan of buttermilk biscuits.  I haven’t made them in a while, and I rarely make just a few. They were delicious. Hubby eats his for dessert, covered in butter and sour wood honey.

Several stitchers completed their first assignment for the Witching Hour stitch-along. I’ll share those with you on Wednesday.

In the meantime, I hope you have a great week!

I Need a Design Wall, Cross Stitch, Bread and Mom’s Birthday

Hello and welcome to the last week of October!

The past week was fairly productive for me. I was able to sew the final block I needed for Scrappiness Is Happiness, and I assembled the rows.

I’ll make and attach the borders this week. I do not have a design wall so I stripped the guest bed and placed the top there to get a photo.

My cross stitch finish was the Autumn trio for Well Rounded by Hands on Design.

I have all the supplies I need to fully finish these into rounds.

One evening I made a couple of loaves of pumpkin bread.

I topped them with the same whipped cream cheese frosting I previously used on the banana cake.

Finally, we celebrated my Mom’s 81^st birthday on Saturday night. We took her to a nice restaurant downtown. 

She enjoyed a trout and potato dish, as well as the chocolate bread pudding with cherry topping.

My plans for this week:

- Make and attach the borders on Scrappiness Is Happiness

- Fully finish Give Thanks

- Fully finish Well Rounded - Autumn

- Start the Witching Hour Stitch Along

I’m also going to try a new cleaning routine…we’ll see how that goes 😊
Hope you have a great week.

Quilt Blocks and a Cross Stitch FO

Happy Friday!

We made it to the end of another week, and I am so excited. I have just a little bit of cleaning left to do.  Then I can do whatever I (or my sweetie) want to do.  We are hoping to get a hike in at the Biltmore if the weather is nice. And we always look forward to our Friday evening tradition of pizza and a craft beer at our favorite place in town.  It gets busy there, so we go early. That allows me the rest of the evening to stitch or sew or bake. We have fresh peaches that are just about ready, so I’ll be baking a crisp this evening.

 

The week has been productive both at work and in the sewing room.

 

I finished two more blocks for Lori Holt’s Scrappiness Is Happiness quilt.

 

This is the Patchwork Star block. It measures 16 ½”.

This is the Patchwork Tulip block. It measures 9 ½” x 12 ½”.

There are only six more blocks to go.

I’m still stitching bee charts.  This one is Honey Berry by Erica Michaels. 

It was another quick finish.

I used fabric from my stash and changed the floss colors to match the Primrose Cottage charts. I’ll give you all the details on fabric, colors, etc. when I fully finish it into a berry, which I hope will be this weekend.

Crafting plans for this weekend are to sew two more SIH blocks and fully finish some cross stitch projects.

What are you up to this weekend?

June Stats, Bee Finishes and FNwF

Happy Belated Independence Day to my USA friends. I hope everyone had a nice and safe holiday.

Mama came over for dinner. We played games and watched the Lake Junaluska fireworks from our deck. It was a very low-key day, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

I had a very busy June with cross stitching. I completed 6, 854 stitches on 6 projects. I’ll show you progress on all of those projects soon. I need to take current photos of them.

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to make pillows out of the bee pieces I recently finished stitching.

A Bee C and I Would Rather Bee Stitching
by Primrose Cottage Stitches

I used pieces of Lori Holt fabric from my stash as well as some scrap felt. The buttons are also Lori's. Her button colors coordinate with her fabrics so they are the perfect accoutrements for these pillows.

I ordered and received three more bee charts and there is another one that I am waiting for my favorite store to get. I can’t wait to show you how I am displaying them this summer.

I stitched and fully finished the Stitching Bee by Little House Needleworks last year. You may remember I wasn't completely happy with the finish. I added a couple of honey dippers with twine bows to it and I think it helped a little.

Cheryll at Gone Stitching hosted Friday Night with Friends this week. It is always the first Friday of the month and I was excited to join this time.

Now…don’t fall off your chair or spit out your coffee or tea….but, I actually made a quilt block. Shocking, I know!

This is Lori Holt’s Granny Star Block from her Scrappiness is Happiness book. I was keeping up on the sew along last year but then the move happened, and I never got back to it.

This block measures 6 ½” unfinished. I used some of Lori’s fabrics I have in stash. I’ve completed 21 of the 31 blocks sewn during the QAL. It felt good to sew again so maybe I’ll keep going with this one.

I’ll be back on Sunday to show you the patriotic display on the Hoosier cabinet. Hope you will join me then!