Welcome November

 

It's the first day of November!

21 days until Thanksgiving.

54 days until Christmas.

61 days until the New Year!

Are  you ready??

Hang ups

 Over the years I have had several ways to hang quilts.

When we moved 15 years ago I lost some of the hangers. 

How do you display your quilts? Do you change them with the seasons?

Free Christmas quilt patterns

 Christmas is coming and it's time to get busy making Christmas quilts. Here are a few websites with FREE patterns for you to choose from.

Generations Quilt Patterns

Adventures of a DYI Mom

American Patchwork and Quilting

Cluck Cluck Sew
 Okay I think that will keep you busy for a while.
Happy Quilting!

The spirit of kindness

 Last year my quilting buddies and I embarked on a pumpkin pattern. Along the way I lost interest in making it. So I left it thinking that I would pick it up again this year. Well long story short, I decided that I just couldn't put the effort into making the pattern.

I suggested to one of my buddies that she could take the fabric that I already had for it, and make another one for herself. Or she could just throw it away. Well I was amazed and grateful that she finished it, and gave it to me.

I love it! It was such a generous and thoughtful thing to do.

Ouch!

 

No sewing today. Or for the next few weeks. I injured my back trying to pick up a pot that apparently was too heavy for me. So I am in recovery mode, being cared for by my very loving husband. So unfortunately I will probably not be able to finish the charity Christmas quilts that I have been working on. Sigh, which makes me very sad. But I am hopeful to complete them and maybe donate them to a near by hospital. 

Dress for fun

 

Sew and Tell NTT  Finished or not Friday   Brag About Your Beauties   Scrap Happy

Hearts in Circulation

 

Hearts in Circulation by Sarah Monzon is a delightful rom-com.

Circulation librarian Hayley Holt is trapped on the road when her Bookmobile dies and a rock slide sandwich her in on her way to Turkey Grove. She has one bar to call for a tow truck. Disgruntled hunky Levi Redding shows up and tows her to Turkey Grove. How long will it take for the one road in and one road out to be cleared? Not the best news.

I loved the way Ms Monzon unfolds this story about an outgoing librarian and a reserved mechanic. Levi has a sensory disorder and deals with it by staying away from people. Hayley, a liver transplant recipient, lives her life trying to give back for the life she was spared. Beautifully written humorous dialogue. A clean sweet story. 

I received a complimentary an e-copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

Apple Pie Goodie

Apples. They are in abundance this time of year. But what do you do with all those apples?

A few years ago I found the yummiest recipe on Bitty Bits & Pieces blog.

 

Apple Pie Goodie has been a mainstay for us. A dessert that makes up quickly and everyone seems to love it.

Go to Kim's blog post for the recipe. You will enjoy it!

                                                  Vintage Charm Party

Saturday Sparks

Love Your Creativity

Pumpkins in October

 The fall season always brings out pumpkins.

So I wanted to make my own pumpkins. I came across a very easy tutorial on Stacey Lees website.

These were fun to make. 

Sew and Tell NTT  Finished or not Friday   Brag About Your Beauties   Scrap Happy

 

Quilting with my walking foot

Over the years I have tried my hand at free motion quilting. Every time I get a little bit of control and ease in the quilting, I find that there is a huge break in time. I lose the momentum, and the next time I sit down at the sewing machine, my quilting looks like a disaster.

Taking the time to practice, practice, practice has brought a sense of frustration. So in light of completing the quilt, I purposed to do straight line stitching with my walking foot.

Case in point... I started quilting straight lines through the body of this quilt.

Crossing over to make an X over the white blocks.

But I can also fancy up the quilting a bit, just by adding curves and arcs.

All done with my walking foot.

 

I machine quilted straight vertical lines on this quilt. 

But then I felt I needed to do something more. So here is what I did.

Starting at one point, I spotted down two rows. Went back to the top and crossed over, again spotting two rows down.

I love the way it turned out.

My quilts are not going to win any prizes, but they are what I love to do. Using geometric designs works for me. Better to be finished than perfect :-)

Happy Quilting!

The first 100

 If you have followed my blog for a while, you know I love reading. For many years I have been reviewing books. But the time comes when I need to downsize my book collection. Many books now come to my kindle instead of paper. 

So I went through my books, and decided I would donate some to the library and some to the Hospice thrift store. 

Have you started downsizing in any way?

Look to the stars

 Recently my one of my grandsons has said he wants to be an astronaut. Lofty goal for a 7 year old.  So I thought I would make a quilt to keep his dream alive.

Quilting the quilt.

Making it happen.

Sew and Tell NTT  Finished or not Friday   Brag About Your Beauties   Scrap Happy

Such a friend

 "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21

These very profound words hold such an impact. One Sunday, as our Pastor was preaching from this text, he began to cry. He said as he studied this passage, the realization of his mortality grabbed him. He wrestled with the fact that he really wanted to see his children grow up. He wanted to be here with his family. And yet, the scripture teaches that to die is gain.

Day by day, as we each walk the pathway we are to go, life just seems to keep going. Until we are stopped in our tracks with the loss of a loved one or friend. It's then that we start thinking of the "other side".

21 years ago, on a Sunday morning, during the middle of a raging hurricane, my BFF lost her battle with cancer and walked into the arms of Jesus. I have missed my sweet friend all these years, but on that Sunday, the Pastor's message brought a sense of peace to my heart. Diana was such a special friend. We were friends for almost 20 years. She always encouraged me, with unconditional love and always with a smile. It is selfish of me to want her to be here, when she has gained so much more. As she reached out her hand that Sunday morning, she left behind her tired body to walk with Jesus. I can almost picture her, in my minds eye, looking back at all of us and saying, "It's all right, I'm whole now."

Mark 8:35 states: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's, will save it” (ESV).

Jesus Christ offers you the greatest freedom - in learning how to die, we learn how to live.

Mr. Darcy?

 

Not Exactly Mr. Darcy by Carolyn Miller was a delightful read.

When Olivia Bennett loses her job as a History teacher she has the opportunity to travel to England to care for her grandmother recovering from hip surgery. A journey where she meets grumpy Liam Brown, the caretaker of Hartbury Hall. One of England's great houses. The house was used in one of the productions of Pride and Prejudice. However the caretaker is hardly anything but gentlemanly.

First impressions are often not what they seem. When Liv becomes involved in the resurrection of Hartbury Hall, she finds all kinds of ways to promote the Hall. Liam's tragic story tugs at Liv's heart until she discovers Liam's real identity.

This was a great story. Full of wonderful characters and good dialogue. A sweet clean romance that blooms in a Jane Austen kind of way.

I received a complimentary ebook copy from the publisher, through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

 

Autmun Nights pumpkins

 Ok So this is the third installment of the Autumn Nights Mystery Quiltalong. 

I did have a wee bit of problem with this block. The first being you needed to fold the strips and match them up to sew. So I ended up marking them on the back side of the fabric because that was the only way I could match them up to sew on an angle.

The second being trimming them to 7 1/2" using a 7 1/5" ruler. Well I don't have a ruler that size so I needed to improvise by using my 12" square. 

It worked but was a challenge for my pee brain.  I watched the video and Kimberly is SO cute and makes it looks so easy.

But in the end it all worked out.

NTT  Finished or not Friday   Brag About Your Beauties   Scrap Happy

Yummy Apple Dip

Fall! It's that time of year. So lets make the perfect Apple Dip.

(1) 8 oz package Cream Cheese (soften at room temp)
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/3 cup 10x Powdered Sugar
(2) Tablespoons Vanilla
1/3 cup crushed Salted Peanuts

Blend first 4 ingredients together until smooth.  Add peanuts. Serve with sliced apples.

Simple recipe.

Simply delicious!

Saturday Sparks

Love Your Creativity

Who has the thread

 I am not a thread purist, although I have quite a LOT of thread in my sewing room.

However, I have come to love Superior's The Bottom Line bobbin thread for my machine quilting.

Every time I use this thread in my bobbin, I feel like the Energizer Bunny! It just goes, and goes.

When I use regular thread, I always run out of bobbin thread before I am finished quilting.  Which means I have to take my quilt out of my machine, change the bobbin and find the place to start quilting again. I kind of lose my momentum. 

I'm sure the newer threads are very nice, but they are quite pricey, and you see, one of my biggest challenges in sewing with this expensive thread is a lot of times it ends up in the trash.

Autumn Nights Leaf

 Block two of Autumn Nights Mystery quilt was a leaf pattern. 

Fun and easy to put together. Still one more block to go. Can't wait to see how this will all come together.

NTT  Finished or not Friday   Brag About Your Beauties   Scrap Happy

It Shouldn't Be You

 

It Shouldn't Be You by Jessica Wakefield is a well written captivating story about two people who should hate each other. 

Watching Declan and Addey fall in love was so sweet. The demise of the Community Center and the strained relationships with their parents, was a bond waiting to happen. Addey's involvement with senior residents and Declan's mother with early stage Alzheimer’s draws them together. Tensions rise and emotions deepen as they find resolution in the spark that happens between them.

This was a fun clean wholesome romance. 

I received a complimentary copy from the author and voluntarily chose to review it. All opinions are my own.

Great rulers

 I have a lot of rulers. When I first started quilting, I bought a long ruler to use for any occasion. But since then I have acquired many many more.

But today I want to tell you about a little ruler that has been such a help for me.

These Creative Grid rulers are so perfect for accurate trimming.

The smaller one is great for trimming 2 1/2"x 2 1/2".

This is the larger one, which also features the 1/2" markings. But what I love about these rulers is the whole and half size markings.  Takes a lot of the guess work out. There are lots of different sizes to choose from.  And they have the little grips on the back so they stay in place when I am trimming. I believe I got them from Fat Quarter Shop.

Autumn Nights

 The Fat Quarter Shop is hosting another Mystery quilt. This time it is Autumn Nights quilt along.  I downloaded the first two blocks.

Here's my first ones.

I've never made wonky stars before but these were really easy.  

Going to work on block 2 next.

NTT  Finished or not Friday   Brag About Your Beauties   Scrap Happy