Two finishes

 So what have I been doing? 

and,

Which makes two finishes.....

This one was for my daughter.

This one has a story.....

About a year and a half ago, I started making the blocks for this quilt. A start and stop, again start and stop. I finally got discouraged and handed the pieces over to my cousin and told her she could make it for herself or just trash it. Well this sweet cousin made the quilt and gave it to me for Christmas last year. I never got around to quilting it. But decided that THIS year I would quilt it up and it now hangs in my dining room.

Yay for finishes.

Wed Wait Loss

 Finished or not Friday 

 Brag About Your Beauties 

To Do Tuesday

Scrap Happy

Grateful Pillow

 I am always blown away at the cost of pillows. I mean two pieces of fabric, a little bit of stuffing and the cost is over $20.

I'm not really much of a DIY crafter, but when an opportunity comes up, I rise to the occasion.

My daughter bought a placemat for $3. When she brought it home, she thought about making a wall hanging. BUT! Mom took it in another direction. The pillow.

I purchased a pillow form for about $5, found fabric in my stash for the backing and created my own Grateful pillow for under $10.

As opposed to the Target pillow

 

 that listed for $40.

I can live with that!

Wed Wait Loss

 Finished or not Friday 

 Brag About Your Beauties 

To Do Tuesday

Scrap Happy

November 1st

 

Well it's the first of November!

26 days until Thanksgiving.

54 days until Christmas.

61 days until the New Year!

Are  you ready??

Making pumpkins

 The fall season always brings out pumpkins.

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

These were so fun to make.  I wanted to make more!

Sew and Tell  Finished or not Friday   Brag About Your Beauties   Scrap Happy Hand Made Monday

Sharing my thoughts

There have been many times when I've had such a burning desire to quilt, that everything else goes by the wayside. 

I was going through some old magazines, sorting them as keepers and give aways. There was an "aha!" moment as I leafed through a variety of older magazines.

 Quilting times have changed. More and more quilters have lent themselves to modern quilting. Modern fabric, modern patterns, modern quilts.

I'm not saying I don't like the newer brighter fabric colors. It's just that I have always been a traditional quilter, and I'm not finding much anymore. Especially since so many quilt shops have closed in my area.

Quilting magazines feature lots of modern patterns, applique and paper piecing. All of which I don't do.

Another thing I've noticed is the emphasis on long arm machine quilting. I don't know about you, but I don't own a long arm, and I don't know anybody who does. So are the magazines pushing quilters to buy a long arm? There certainly are lots of helpful hints for longarmers.

Believe me, I'm not downplaying modern quilting. It's just not what I enjoy doing. I like my fabric to coordinate, my patterns to have symmetry, and my points to match.  I'm just sharing my thoughts. We each have to enjoy what we are creating.

I do wish each of you Happy Quilting. No matter which kind you enjoy doing.

The end of the tour

 Finishing my tour, we ended up in some very nice shops.

Making our way over to VA found some awesome places.

I would definitely return to this shop. Big selection of fabric.

The Sewing Gallery in Princeton was a very classy and beautiful shop.

Batiks Etcetera was an amazing powerhouse of batik fabric. Although I don't usually do much with batiks, it was a treasure trove of the best batiks around.

If you are into batiks, this is the place for you. There had to be hundreds of bolts of gorgeous batik fabric.

Well there you have it. It certainly makes for Happy Quilting.

A Stitch in Time

We made a stop in Franklin, NC and found  A Stitch in Time quite by accident. 

A lovely shop with a large selection of fabric.

My hubby was the camera man, taking videos and send them back to my quilting buddies back home.

This shop was well worth the visit.

Tiny Stitches

 It is always such fun to find quilt shops when we travel. 

Tiny Stitches had so much fabric to choose from. And of course lots of inspiration.

I'm so grateful that my sweet hubby comes along with me. As a matter of fact one of the sales ladies said she would hire him :-)

Quilty travels

 Our trip started out in our new (to us) RV.

So much more room than our previous RV. We headed north amid lots of rain.  But after a couple of days the clouds and rain were gone.

It was a little bit of adventure finding quilt shops along the way. We ended up stopping in five quilt shops. Only one was not worth the time. 

First stop was Cottontail Quilts. A quaint little shop that I had visited once before.

LOTS of inspiration.

I did buy this Christmas Tree panel and coordinating fabrics to make for my daughter.

More to come!

Above the clouds

 I have been feeling a bit better. Still tire easily but I have been able to do more. So my dear husband took me for a short trip. Hoping to see some fall colors, we made our way to the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

The mountains ahead.

And then we were above the clouds! What an amazing sight. Not much color change yet except for glowing orange and yellow aspens. But the mountains are always so beautiful.

My sweet hubby also took me to five quilt shops!  They were really nice and amazing shops. And I will post about them, and what I found.

Taken By Storm

 

Taken By Storm by Jan Fields is a cozy mystery set in Port Huron Michigan.

Sarah Morgan, owner of gift shop Heavenly Presents, is an amateur detective given a mysterious task. In the early 1900's, dying Catherine Martinsfield's last request was to give Rose a gift. But years have passed and no one knows who Rose is. Sarah takes on the task of finding out who Rose was, and passing the gift on to her decedents. 

There are lots of clues to this interesting mystery. A kidnapping that was never solved. Vandalism. This is a clean Guidepost publication. A story of encouragement and hope.

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

Just a short hello

Well, I'm not really back. Just thought I would drop in and say........ things are moving along.

3 weeks ago I was in the hospital with major palpitations of the heart. My BP was though the roof and the medical team could not get it down. So since then I have been wearing a heart monitor. Will continue for two more weeks. Sigh....  I am starting to feel a little more like myself, but still fighting the pounding of my heart. 

I've not been sewing, so nothing really to share on that front. The weather has finally been cooling off, and it's been nice to sit outside and enjoy the lovely breeze. 

So, for now,  enjoy these colorful butterflies.

And Happy Quilting!

Taking a break

 

I'm taking a short break. Two days in the hospital and now follow up appointments will be on my agenda for a few days. Hope to be back soon.

The Society of Second Chances

The Society of Second Chances, a story creatively crafted by Deborah Raney, is heartwarming and makes you think outside the box.

Rachel, Helen, Jennifer and Evelyn, four strangers thrown together by an anonymous benefactor. They have been chosen to be the Society of Second Chances. Four envelopes each containing an amount of money to be used to help a young woman getting out of prison. When the letter of the assignment is read, it affects one of the women. 

This story is good, clean with a hint of mystery. Looking forward to the next installment and the connection that ties them together.

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