Quilters Thread

[busybee]

Hi CJ: Yesterday was the last blast of summer out here - getting into the highest 70s. Then, a Pacific weather system came in late last night with much cooler temperatures and rain. Today, it's in the low 60s, cloudy, and no doubt we'll have more intermittent rain. But, all the plants and greenery were really ready for a good drink. And they got it.

Yesterday, we got our shots - and that finished me for the rest of the day - and last night and I'm still quite sore in the arm that got the shots. Had a fitful night - some sleep but lots of pain too. And this time, so did my DH feel the soreness in his arm. Glad I'm not "alone!"

So, I'm still taking it easy today and probably tomorrow too. 

Tomorrow the house cleaners come, so I'll try to gather up the clutter - somehow - today.

That big stitch quilting sure takes a lot of time - but I'm sure it's worth the effort.

Stay well.

[cj59]

Hi busybee - Hope you are doing well today and feeling better after your shots.

Hope the weather is nice there. It's been warm and humid here but today we're getting some rain from the hurricane and then I think it's supposed to clear up and be a bit cooler.

I made the next two blocks for this week's quilt along and I'm happy with how they've turned out. I was also able to join them with the first two blocks and I have the first column of this quilt top done. I really like the way Pat Sloan gives all the layout details at the start of a quilt along.

I also did some big stitch quilting over the last few days and hope I can get some more done this weekend. I also got my Temperature quilt up to date for September.

Have a great weekend

[busybee]

Hi CJ: Our weather has cooled down into the 60s - with very cool nights - but we've had some beautiful sunny afternoons up until today - when we've reverted to overcast - with intermittent showers.

With the house cleaners here on Thursday, then an unexpected visitor yesterday and a very late pickup of groceries, I've not been back to my quilt project at all. I take everything slow and easy these days.

The visitor was a long-time colleague and friend from my activist days, a widower living alone who cultivates a sizable vegetable garden. I took him up on an offer (from a Facebook post) of extra green beans and he drove from North Seattle to our home yesterday with several pounds of green beans. We visited for a good 2 hours - and then I went to pick up groceries. So, I was really too tired to do anything other than cook our dinner AND the green beans last night. I offered him, in exchange, some of our abundant Concord grapes which he accepted.

I love your two Pat Sloan blocks - very nicely done and great colors.

I'm doing a little work on the quilt today.

Glad you're not experiencing some of the terrible damage and weather-related miseries of Hurricane Helene. I sure feel sorry for those who were in the immediate path of the high winds and flooding surges.

Stay well.

[cj59]

Hi busybee - I'm glad your weather has gotten cooler, hope you get some nice Fall weather days soon. Hope you enjoy the fresh green beans.

The weather here has been alright, just humid for a few days and damp today. I'm so thankful not to get all that rain that they got in North Carolina and around the Appalachian Mountains. The devastation there, and in Florida, looks terrible

I went to a sewing expo on Friday with my DB and DSIL and was able to test out the longarm machine I'm interested in. I really do feel like I want to buy it now, so we have to make a serious decision on that in the next few weeks to take advantage of a special offer they have right now. Hopefully it will all work out for the best.

I didn't do anything yesterday, just rested since my foot was hurting from being on my feet for about 4 hours on Friday, I just can't do that anymore. This morning I was able to get the backing and batting cut for the table runner I mentioned earlier this week and also a small hand quilting piece that I want to get ready to start. I have several hand stitching pieces to work on, I just need to do stitching each day. It seems like the day goes by so fast, and I don't get much done

Take care

[busybee]

Hi CJ: We are having good early fall weather out here - sunny afternoons, not much rain, and very cool nights. Leaves are turning and drifting down - Concord grapes are deep purple - but skies are still blue so far today - and we are enjoying these beautiful days.

Feel so badly for the people in the path of the hurricane - so much destruction and loss of life! It will take so much time to recover and rebuild.

We're planning** a trip over the mountain pass, possibly tomorrow. I'll be calling the bakery to ask if they'll have our favorite cinnamon buns (with raisins) tomorrow and to please reserve some for us. Maybe we'll stop at our son's on our way back, to visit our DDIL and bring them a pkg. of buns too. ** Called the bakery - they're closed Mon. & Tues. Open again on Wed. at 7 AM. So, our trip will be delayed until the end of the week. I'll be working on the quilt today.

I did the usual Sunday chores yesterday and watched the final baseball game of the season for our Mariners, which they won. We got close to the playoffs - but fell short. Oh well - always next year!

I'm sorry to hear that your foot is hurting - too much standing and walking - no surprise. I could have lent you my rollator - it works great at places like that Expo - because, it also has a seat for resting. Hope you can get that long-arm quilting machine while it's still "on special!"

Hope your foot starts mending real soon - best therapy is staying off of it and "icing." 

[cj59]

Hi busybee - Hope you are doing well today and the weather is still nice. It's been cloudy and damp here and only in the 60s, but I think the rest of the week is clear and warmer.

I hope you do get to go to the bakery this week and that you enjoy the trip and your DH gets his cinnamon rolls

The damage from the hurricane looks awful. I love that part of Western North Carolina, so it's sad to see so much destroyed. And the poor people who are trapped and can't get out of their homes. I had thought about moving that way after I retired, but I knew I wasn't up to living a mountain lifestyle. I think it's different when you are born in a place like that, rather than moving there. Hearing how so many are cut off made me think about what shelf stable foods I have in the house, it's good to be prepared for no power.

I just can't be on my feet that long anymore, fortunately I don't do that very often. I've still been using my father's old rollator that I brought with me from my old house. It helps me on days I'm moving slow. My foot felt better by Sunday, so it was only bad for one day.

I did some big stitching yesterday and almost have 5 blocks done (there are 9 blocks). I also thread basted a small hand quilting piece I'd like to work on. I now have 3 hand stitching projects to work on, I would like to get motivated to do some stitching every day. Maybe I will now that it's getting cooler.

This morning I updated my Temperature quilt and I'm done through September. It's so interesting to see the cooler weather at the start of the year and then it gets warmer and hot in the summer and now it's starting to get cooler again. I hope I can get a green tree in either October or December. That would be a 50 degree temperature day and it might be possible on October 31st. And I'd be thrilled to have a purple tree in December - then all my trees are different colors.

Take care and have a good day

[busybee]

Hi CJ: Our weather continues to be quite pleasant - in the mid 60s - no rain - sunny afternoons - very cool at night - getting down into the high 40s. Hope this weather holds for a while - though we're due for some rain on Friday.

So, I called the bakery today and reserved our cinnamon raisin buns for pickup tomorrow. We'll drive over in the early afternoon - or as soon as I can get ready to leave. Then, we'll drop by our son's home on our way home - with some buns for them too.

I worked on the quilt yesterday and got the cornerstone problem figured out - and will be sewing those FG borders together all the way around the center section today. I've got to clear off the cutting table so I can fit that section on there. (I use that table for folding clothes too.)

I love your temperature quilt! It is a wonderful depiction of the temperatures in your area. 

Well, no surprise that you found standing for that length of time challenging. It's both hard on the legs and feet - and on the back. I will be taking my rollator to the quilt show this next week. I need it both for walking AND for sitting and resting.

I'm planning an easy dinner tonight and with leftovers for tomorrow since we'll be getting back about the time I'd be cooking.

It's amazing that Asheville, NC, in the mountains at 2,000+ ft. elevation could have had such terrible damage from flood waters. I sure feel for those people and all the artist studios that have been obliterated. Just really tough time for so many people.

[cj59]

Hi busybee - I hope you are having nice weather and that you were able to drive to the bakery to get the cinnamon raisin buns

I'm glad you've been able to make some progress on your quilt too. And it's exciting that you'll get to go to a quilt show soon.


The weather here is finally getting nicer, it's been very cloudy and humid but the sun has come out now. Hopefully the next few days will be nice.

I went out and got groceries yesterday and then later in the day I went out again and got my mail at the post office and also bought some lunch at Panda Express. Today I went to JoAnn Fabrics to take advantage of their sale on the Quilter's Showcase fabrics at $2.99 a yard! They had a lot of polka dot fabrics and that is mostly what I bought. I did pick up a few Christmas fabrics since they were on sale for 40% off.

My DSIL in went with me this morning and bought a few things. We are both doing the National Parks quilt along, so she found some fabric for that. She is making her quilt with fabrics that look like flowers, water, outdoors, etc. I cut the pieces for my two blocks for this week yesterday and hope to get them put together today. I also got my long table runner pin basted so it's ready to quilt.

www.ilovetomakequilts.com/ - scroll down to hopefully see this week's block - it's a Bear's Paw pattern

Take care

[busybee]

Hi CJ: It was rainy and stormy early today - but cleared up by afternoon - though it continued to be quite cool - in the 50s all day with a continuous wind. But yesterday was just perfect weather for our trip over the mountain pass. It was sunny and in the higher 60s.

Though we had a smooth start to our road trip, we found a huge backup of 8 miles just before reaching the pass (at about 3200 ft.), which held us up with very slow stop-and-go traffic with a whole lane of semis (3 lanes which narrowed to 2 lanes). It certainly added a half hour or more to our trip. So, we ended up at the bakery at almost at 3:30 - and they closed at 4pm. But our order was all ready for us, the cinnamon rolls and an extra half dozen of butter horns, which our DDIL told us about - so we surprised her and our DS with those too. We only took 2 of those, but we had several half dozen pkgs. of the cinnamon raisin rolls - which are in the freezer right now - except for the 6 we held out for us to enjoy now. Certainly, we'll share some with our DD too - whenever she takes time to come visit us.

On our return, no backups and very sparse traffic, so we sailed along - arriving at our son's home before 5pm. We brought the bakery treats and visited with them until almost 7 PM. DS had come home early from work - so it was the first time we'd seen them since late August. They are recovered from their Covid ordeal, and they told us all about their trip to the Oregon Coast with their doggies.

And today I've been working on the quilt - putting together the design I think will look best - using all the blocks I've already made in 4 different color combinations. I'm really happy that I've finally come this far on this project. Sewing it together will be another challenge - but I'll continue to take it slow & easy.

Good that you could find fabric at such a bargain price at Joann's and your DSIL did too. That's always fun!

I've put together a small beef stew for our dinner for a couple of days. But I'll continue to work on the quilt now - each day a little bit.

I looked up the bear paw block - very cute. As you may remember, my DD's quilt was mostly made up of bear paw blocks. I could sew that pattern without ever referring to written instructions - ALMOST.

Stay well and enjoy your projects.

[cj59]

Hi busybee - Hope you are doing well. I'm happy to hear you were able to get to the bakery and also to visit with your DS and DDIL. Hope you and your DH enjoy the cinnamon rolls

I finished the Bear Paw blocks the other day and they look good. My fabric combination isn't the most striking but I'm happy with using these fabrics.

I did some machine quilting yesterday and this morning I cut some binding strips, just need to join them and press them. This is for the long table runner I made with my hollow 9 patch blocks that I've made for this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I also have 32 small 3 1/2 inch 9 patch blocks that I'm just going to alternate with a solid white 3 1/2 inch block and make a small piece that should be about 24x24. I have those ready to sew together. So that's what I'm working on.

Hope you have time to work on your quilt too. Take care

[busybee]

Hi CJ: It's colder out here these days - into the 40s at night, mornings get into the 50s, and then we reach the 60s by afternoon. It's sunny and breezy today - but a very nice early fall day. Good sleeping weather.

I had a visit yesterday from colleagues who brought me a sign to post in my yard for my "preferred" presidential candidate (guess who???). We had a great visit too, and they offered to come by again for a visit at other times and to give me rides, if I needed them, to wherever I needed to go. I've ridden with them to other events in the past. They're in their 60s.

We also watched the U.W. football game vs Michigan, which U.W. won in the 4th quarter. It was a perfect day for football in Seattle - 71,000 fans roaring their excitement. Our DD was among them. But we could vicariously enjoy the fun via our big screen TV.

I did work on the sashing yesterday for the central medallion section of my quilt - piecing together the strips I had cut earlier. Now, I'll have to square up that medallion - give it a good starching and decide how to get the sashing to even up the wavy sides.

I also started cutting 4-1/2" sections of the many 2-1/2" strips I've collected. I found another quilt block pattern called Broken Courthouse Steps, which calls for rectangles of 2-1/2" x 4-1/2". I've got many strips that can be cut up into those sizes. This porocess is also forcing me to collect all the many strips I have and to sort them into colors. 

I'll do a little more work on the magic quilt today. But first I have to do all the collecting for trash pickup tomorrow. Don't think I'm going to do much cooking today - am going to serve "freezer take-out," as I euphemistically call my stash of frozen meals.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

[cj59]

Hi busybee - Hope you are doing well and enjoying the nice weather. It's cooler here too and it looks like no rain this week.

It's very nice that you have so many good friends, and that they would offer to pick you and take you places. I'm glad you were able to visit with them.

Sounds like your quilt is coming along, hope you can continue to make progress on it. That's a great idea to use those 2 1/2 inch strips for that pattern, hope you enjoy making that.

I did get some quilting done yesterday on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts. I have one all ready for binding and one that needs to be machine quilted, but I do have the binding made for both of these.

Then I decided since I was going to be machine quilting that I'd pull out a few other small pieces and machine quilt them at the same time. One of them I already had the binding made for and another one I'm going to try that method of no binding. So that's what I'll be working on.

Take care

[busybee]

Hi CJ: It's cloudy now, rain has passed, and it's in the lower 60s. This is more typical weather for us this time of year. Once again, we have no complaints. Our greenery needed the water.

And so thankful that we're not experiencing the catastrophe that the state of Florida is experiencing. When our son lived in Florida, we visited many times and toured both coasts, through the Everglades and all the way to Key West. It's a beautiful state, though the summer time was NOT my favorite. But evidently, climate warming in the Gulf of Mexico is producing epic water temperatures that is producing these mega hurricanes. Can't imagine what those people are going through - though the TV videos are most graphic.

I worked on the quilt yesterday - starching and ironing. It was a warm day yesterday - getting up into the 70s, and I got really hot while I was ironing. Today, I'll square up that middle section and apply the black sashing. I also cut up some more 2-1/2" strips into 4-1/2" lengths.

Good idea to keep on doing the machine quilting while you're on a roll. 

Stay well and enjoy your projects.

[cj59]

Hi busybee - Hope you are having a nice day. It's in the high 60s and sunny here today, very nice Fall weather.

I have a relative in Florida so I hope they will be alright and I hope others will be too.

I'm glad you've been able to keep getting more done on your quilt and also working on cutting your pieces for the other quilt

I've been busy the last few days so I haven't done any more quilting. I had lunch with relatives yesterday and also did some other things with them. Today I had errands to run and I also had a dental appointment to see about some pain I've been having. I was hoping for a root canal or cavity but instead it was just what I didn't want - I need to have an extraction So I'm working on getting a consultation with a surgeon because my dentist doesn't feel comfortable doing it himself.

In better news I think we might be able to order the longarm quilting machine next week if everything works out alright - maybe we'll have it set up and ready to use sometime in November. Just have to see how things go.

The new Pat Sloan block came out today, it's a tree block so that should be fun to make in my Fall/Autumn fabrics.

www.ilovetomakequilts.com/2024/10/sew-pink-tour-block-wed-week-5-.html

Take care

[cj59]

Hi busybee - Hope you are doing well and having nice weather. It's been nice here - just in the 60s and sunny. I wish I could go sit outside more, but living in this 55+ development is kind of like being in a fishbowl, it feels like everyone can see me. I guess that's the trade off for the benefits of living here.

I finished the machine quilting and binding for the 4 pieces I wanted to do, so I'm glad to get that done. This time I decided to sew the binding on the front and then stitch it from the back because I was using white thread and two of the quilts had a white fabric border, so I thought that would work well. They are O.K., I did sew up onto the front binding a few times though. I like the look of this style of attaching the binding, but I think it's easier sewing the binding onto the back and then stitching it down from the front.

Now I can get to the quilt blocks I have to make and also catch up with the monthly piecing for the Marble Mystery quilt along. I also saw this pumpkin wall hanging (the pattern is for a pillow, but I'd make a wall hanging) that I would like to do. Even though I have a lot of Fall quilts, I only have a few that have pumpkins in them, and I thought making one with just a pumpkin would be nice:

www.fatquartershop.com/patchwork-pumpkin-pillow-free-pdf-pattern?sscid=a1k8_gqslv

Hope you've been able to work on your quilting too. Take care and have a good weekend

[busybee]

Hi CJ: We've reverted to much cooler weather these past 2 days - though the weekend will get up to 70 and sunny - then, next week it will revert back to cloudy, rainy, and much cooler. It's to be expected in mid October.

But I'm also suffering more than usual with arthritis pain all over my poor old body - especially my shoulders and arms. I'm feeling so poorly that I gave up on trying to go to the quilt show today. Pushing the rollator would be too hard on my shoulders and arms. Sadly, I'd have to have someone push me in a wheel chair - and that would involve first, finding a wheel chair, and secondly, finding someone to push it. Yes, my DH would do that, I guess. But I've just given up and I really don't want him pushing this heavy body around either. It would have to be our YDS son - but I don't want to tie him up on the weekend and he's working today.

But, I have been making progress on the quilt - but I've found that I'm going to have to continue the FG border around other quilt sections because I can't match up the blocks with the size of the medallion. (Too hard to explain.) Once I've got that border going, I might as well continue it. And I do keep cutting "bricks" for my scrappy quilt to come - in my mind anyway. Now, I'm thinking of making it a Broken Courthouse Steps scrappy quilt. It will work out great with the 2-1/2" x 4-1/2" rectangles. I'm itching to get started on it. BUT - I must continue with my son's quilt. I've even come to the realization that I may not be able to machine quilt his quilt on my Janome when I finish it - I'll just have someone else do it. It may be much too big for me to handle anymore - without lots of pain anyway.

I'm glad you got those quilting and binding projects done. You're making another fall quilt and I'm thinking of digging out my fall-themed quilts for display. Will do that when I'm feeling a bit better.

Stay well and enjoy your new projects.

[cj59]

Hi busybee - Hope you are feeling better today. I'm sorry you didn't feel like going to the quilt show

I think it's a good idea for someone else to quit your YDS's large quilt, I remember how much pain you were in after finishing your DD's quilt. Just doing the quilting I've done on these small pieces this month has shown me how much pressure it puts on your shoulders, back and arms.

I like the idea of a Broken Courthouse Steps block, I've been wanting to make a Courthouse Steps blocks too. I saw a video for a really quick block yesterday and I'll put a link here in case you want to watch the video. I'm going to test it out with some scrap fabric. This would be a quick quilt to make. You don't have to use their pre-cut you can just cut your own fabrics:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CWM5hJirr0

This quilt shop - Sew Yeah - does live stream videos twice a week where they sell fabric. I try to watch it if I'm not doing anything and it's really hard to resist buying some fabric from them. But I've never registered on their You Tube channel so I can't buy. I think it's better if I don't register

I finished the binding on the projects I've been working on the last few days. I started this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge with 4 quilts in mind, I've finished 3 now, and just need to figure out what to do with the last group of blocks. I'm happy with my Hollow 9 Patch blocks and Mini 9 Patch blocks (they are 3 inch squares). I also finished the floral pink hourglass small quilt.

Today I'm going to work on the last clue from the Marble Mystery quilt along and hopefully start with the tree blocks from Pat Sloan's quilt along. I'd like to get all that done this weekend.

The weather is a bit warmer this weekend, maybe the last of the warm weather for this year. Take care

[busybee]

Hi CJ: Our weather is very nice today - after a couple of quite cold days - up close to 70 - sunny and no wind. It definitely looks like fall outside - lots of leaves and changing colors. It's a beautiful season - wish we could just skip winter, and go right to spring!

I'm feeling better today - just back to regular pain. The extreme pain I had yesterday, which moved me to tears as I dragged myself out of bed - has gone somewhere else - and I don't want to see it return. I took a couple of Tylenol last night, slept 9 hours and woke feeling better.

The Broken Courthouse Steps block I'm making (finished one yesterday) is inspired by a video I saw on YouTube 
youtu.be/YAnZb1bALj8
"Broken courthouse steps quilt block tutorial aka potato chip quilt block"

The pattern in the video I'm using is very clearly demonstrated and easy to follow. I'm using the 2-1/2" strips I cut for my son's quilt - lots of blues and greens - light to dark, and purples. But I'm also searching through my stash for more fabrics to use. The block ends up being 12" finished. I've watched many videos on how this particular block can be created. I've picked the one that's easiest (for me) to make. No seams to match - best of all - and I can make it as scrappy as I want. But I'm trying to vary the fabric placement from light tones to darker ones. I really don't much care how it turns out. I just want to use up the fabric strips I have and make some quilts to have on hand. I won't make the quilts too big - and I can easily machine-quilt in criss cross patterns without a lot of swirling, etc... (I may even end up doing that for my son's quilt. However, if I needed help with it, I'm sure that he or my DIL would come to hold the quilt for me as I quilted it. Or, certainly my DH would too. If not, then we'll farm it out to a pro.)

Today, DH was asked by our YDS for help with a car/household () project - so DH drove up to their home to help out, and I'm staying "put." Glad to have some time "alone" in the house!!! I'm thinking of making sloppy joes for dinner - simple for me to make. (Later)  DH called saying he was staying to dinner with DS & DIL, so I didn't have to cook. Yay - that sounds very good to me and I know that DIL has fixed chili and corn bread - a hit with my DH and most men!

Your quilts are so perfectly pieced - and nicely designed. Thank you for sharing the photos. I especially like the color gradations in the Rainbow quilt!

So, I'm moving very slowly today - but I will spend some time at the machine too. Just sewing straight seams doesn't seem to affect my arms or shoulders - especially if I don't marathon sew for hours on end. So, I sew a maximum of 1-1/2 to 2 hours at a time.

[cj59]

Hi busybee - Hope you are doing well today. How is the weather there? We had a warmer day yesterday, but the temperatures are supposed to be cooler this week. Hope you are feeling better today.

Thanks for the link to that video. I really like that she uses all the same size pieces. I may have to try these for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks or just for a scrappy block. Sounds like you have a good plan for using your scraps.

It's nice you had a day without cooking. Even though it's just me, I enjoy a day where I don't have to cook

I got all my fabric pieces cut for the two blocks for last week's Pat Sloan block last night. I finished piecing one this morning and plan to make the other one this afternoon. This block had a lot of pieces in it! But I do like the tree pattern.

Thanks for your kind words on my quilts. I enjoy making the Rainbow Scrap quilts each year, but sometimes figuring out the layout of so many colors is challenging to me. It has helped me to use my scraps for all the years I've been participating.

Take care and have a good day!

[busybee]

Hi CJ: Yesterday was sunny and warm - probably the last of our summer-like days. Today, rain has returned - though light - with gray skies - but not too cold - in the mid to low 60s.

Yesterday was our usual pickup day for gathering trash and recycle. I also do the Sunday Crossword. I'm not following the baseball playoffs at all - which lead up to the World Series. Our football games have also been disappointing - with both our UW team and our Seahawks losing. DH follows other teams though too - so he's still happily occupied with those games.

I did work on the magic quilt - beginning to sew the geometric blocks together - not always so easy - as the diagonal stripes have to match - duh - not always happening so perfectly!

Yes, I loved your rainbow colors on that quilt you pieced. I'm going to try to add some colors to my Broken CH block as well. I did put together one 12-1/2" block and I really like it. The best part is there's NO matching of seams. To put together the quilt, each adjoining block is turned 90 degrees, so that no seams meet. It's an amazing pattern. Love it. I've collected lots of additional fabrics from which I'll be cutting more 2-1/2" strips. But - I must not get carried away with it - I MUST first finish my DS's quilt.

I did have to cook last night - but it was easy - Sloppy Joes, using ground turkey - with a baked sweet potato and a salad. More of the same tonight. 

Stay well and enjoy your projects.

[cj59]

Hi busybee - Hope you are feeling better today and having nice weather. It's a lot cooler here, only in the 50s yesterday and today. My house is cold inside but I'm hoping to stick it out and not turn on the heat yet since it's supposed to get warmer again.

I'm glad things are moving along on your quilt, and that you are enjoying working with your scraps. It's fun to use those fabrics we have saved up, isn't it?

My DSIL (and DB) and I went to the quilt store yesterday and bought the longarm machine. We got a really good deal, saving about $1700.00 because there was a promotion going on right now. I'm happy to have bought it and I'm relieved I don't have to keep second guessing myself each day about the purchase Everyone at the shop is really nice, I just wish it was closer than it is, but it still isn't too bad - about an hour and 15 minute drive to get to it. The have a longarm club that meets once a month and our purchase lets us go to 12 of those sessions for free.

We probably won't have it set up at my DB and DSIL's house until mid-late November, so that gives me time to sort through my quilt tops and pull out ones that I don't like as much to work on first for learning. I'll save my favorite ones until I'm better at using the machine. The only problem might be that I pull them out and most of them are my favorites

The new Pat Sloan block came out today and I'm going to try to get my fabrics pulled and maybe make it, it's an easy one compared to the tree block, and it will give me a chance to balance out my fabrics in this second column to work with the first column.

www.ilovetomakequilts.com/2024/10/block-wed.html

Here's a picture of my tree blocks:



Take care

[busybee]

Hi CJ: It rained a bit earlier but now, the sun is struggling to make an appearance through the clouds. It's in the higher 50s today - so that's a cool down for us. Hoping that Friday of this week is drier - as we need to go get our pumpkin at the pumpkin patch market. This has become a yearly outing for DH and me - ever since Covid began anyway. The roadside farm also has wonderful vegetables - and I plan to buy beets there.

Today, DH is away with our YDS on a half day outing, which was postponed since DH's birthday. They go skeet shooting together - the only time DH ever handles a gun. Obviously, it's a male bonding experience, I guess. But they enjoy being together. DS is more experienced and likes having his Dad come along.

Congratulations on purchasing the long-arm quilting machine! How exciting for you! (I could ship DS's quilt to you for quilting now - right?) But if that doesn't happen, I've been researching the use of decorative stitches to do machine quilting. And I've pretty much decided how I'm going to do that. My machine has a wide variety of stitches - BUT - it doesn't have the capacity for elongating a pattern for many of them. So, I can't find a wavy stitch that would work. But I have found a couple of stitches that I know would work. That would mean that all I'd have to do is guide the quilt under the needle and then turn it around to go back the other way. 

I'll keep working on the magic quilt today - I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yay!

I love your tree blocks. Keep up the good work with the Pat Sloan quilt-along. You're so organized to keep up with all of them.

Sun is valiantly making a showing - so happy that DH won't be rained on at the shooting range.

Stay well - enjoy thinking about all the quilts you'll get quilted with your new machine.

[cj59]

The weather here has still be cooler but really nice, today was a lovely Fall day with temps in the 60s and sunny weather.

I went out yesterday to run some errands in the morning and then in the afternoon I finished making this week's quilt blocks and put the quilt tops together with the blocks done so far. There are just 3 more blocks to go. I'm pretty happy with how these quilts are looking so far.

Hi busybee - Hope you are doing well and that the weather was nice so you could go to the pumpkin patch today. I love those "traditions" and need to get back to doing some I used to do. Hope you were able to get some vegetables and beets if you went.

Sorry, but I can't quilt your DS's quilt, there's no way I'd want to mess up your family heirloom I'm glad that you've figured a way to quilt it, hope it works.

There are a lot of my tops that I won't touch for awhile, I don't want to mess them up either. I think I have plenty that I can practice on. I also have all those panels that I could use.

The weather here has still be cooler but really nice, today was a lovely Fall day with temps in the 60s and sunny weather.

I went out yesterday to run some errands in the morning and then in the afternoon I finished making this week's quilt blocks and put the quilt tops together with the blocks done so far. There are just 3 more blocks to go. I'm pretty happy with how these quilts are looking so far.

I also started a wall hanging using Christmas fabrics and hope to finish the top this weekend. I was testing out a block I saw on a YouTube video and decided to make 9 blocks and put them together with a border.

I went to the dental surgeon today and they set up my tooth extraction for next week. I'll be glad to get that done and get healed up from it. I have another procedure that needs to be done at my regular dentist's office, but I'll probably wait until late November or early December for that.

I also called to set up an appointment to get the heat pump in this rental house serviced and they said that right now they don't have any heat pump appointments and they'd call me back when they get one. I thought that was really strange. What kind of company can't make appointments out in the future? When I got the oil furnace serviced I could always get an appointment even if it was months away. Hopefully they'll call back soon. I've resisted turning on the heat but if we get another cold snap like this past one I'll turn it on. It's been pretty cold at night in my bedroom.

Take care and have a good weekend!

[busybee]

Hi CJ: Yesterday was the coldest day we've had in quite a while - getting into the daytime high 40s. We were really feeling the difference and I had to hunker down into my recliner with blankets and extra layers to warm up. My DH felt the same and so did our DIL, where it got even colder. Today it's cloudy and skirting around 49 so far. But we've been turning on our furnaces and fireplaces whenever it gets into the 50s actually.

Hope you can get your heat pump serviced soon. And I guess we're on the same sync - as I'm getting my tooth extracted on Monday, October. 21, at the UW Dental Clinic. So, I'm not looking forward to the recovery time after that.

But, DD and I are going to a long-time planned event tomorrow afternoon with a Slavic Women's Org. in which I was active for many years. It's an afternoon finger food and entertainment party to celebrate all the years this club was active and the inevitable disbanding of it. Sadly, too many 1st generation members have passed and not enough of the younger ones still have the time or the interest. I edited a fund-raising cookbook which raised a great deal of money to help fund a non-profit cancer fighting organization. It's been reprinted 3 times. I rewrote all the submitted recipes, added many more and the personal stories shared by the contributors. So, I really don't want to miss this event.

YDS came over after the outing he and DH went on. I showed him my progress I've made on the quilt and also asked for his preferences as to decorative stitches for quilting. I was, of course, kidding you about sending you this quilt. But it did sound like a possibility - IF - you lived a lot closer!!!!

Today, I'll work more on my son's quilt. I've also gathered a lot of fabric for the Court House quilt. We haven't been to the pumpkin patch yet - it's really too cold for me to spend much time outside - unfortunately.

Stay well and warm.

[cj59]

Hi busybee - Hope you are doing well today. The weather here was very nice.

I hope you were able to go to the event today, it sounds like a wonderful things and I can understand why it means so much to you.

I did a little bit of work on my Bitty Houses quilt that I started last year. I think about it a lot and would really like to finish it by the end of this year. I only have this and the quilt I'm big stitch quilting that I started last year and would love to be finished with. I hate having unfinished projects.

I need to make 77 little houses still to finish the design I made for this quilt. There will be 12 rows in the quilt and I have 5 rows ready to sew together, which I hope to get done tomorrow. Then if I can get the pieces for the sides of the house and the roof all cut, it will be easy to pick them for each house. The harder part is getting 77 house fabrics. I really hoped not to have a repeat of fabric, so I need to see how many different fabrics I have that I can cut. The skies and roof fabrics will be repeated, but I'm hoping I can have a different house fabric. If I don't have enough I may ask my sister-in-law if I can look through her scraps for the rest.

Take care