Christmas greetings!

to my friends, my followers ... May all the blessing and joys of Christmas be with you on this day ...

 

           Merry Christmas!

long time passed

so little accomplished ... so much time has passed!   i've been hand sewing and have three rows joined; a fourth row has one more flower to join now that a day or two has passed since i had my camera out.  the last five flowers are waiting for their hexie papers, though. 

prizes!  one hundred blocks won from ... gasp!  i wrote this down so i could remember, now i can't find my note.  the second hundred blox book, the trophy mug and bonus bundle of flannel fq's is my prize won from the quiltmaker mag!   i also won five skeins of knit picks wool of the andes peruvian worsted and a pattern for the devon cardigan, a great sweater pattern [i wrote the giver's name down on the same note as the first one]  they also sent a hank of misty alpaca, sock weight along with the knit picks yarn, i presume, as an apology for having to wait for so long for them to send it.   btw, i gave the first 100 blox mag to my sis!

 

two new projects ... a sweater i'm knitting with a llama and silk blend [sigh, so nice!]  the back is done, the fronts are half way.   and a shawl for myself - merino and silk blend.   my other shawls are done and waiting to be rinsed and stretched, but, since i pin them to my carpet, i'll have to wait a little longer 'til i can get down on my knees [i fell on my knees a few months ago and they're still too sore.  doc said i'm too old for them to heal quickly (LOL) but the swelling is gone now!]

 

 

 

p.s.

how could i forget what i wanted to post in the first place ... progress on my fatquarterly hexie qal!  slow progress , but any progress is progress.

i blinked ...

and october has passed ... i've barely been back here in my craft room.
i cut bunches of circles from my fq bundle i won and that's as far as i got on that!







and i took advantage of a whopper of a sale and got some fabulous orange fabric for a pittance.

best of all i won this fab book from favequilts on their giveaway!   great reading! and i hope to work up a quilt top from it.  sometime.  soon

fav fall recipe!

Pumpkin Spice Bread Recipe
Ingrediants
3 tbsp canola oil
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup honey
3 tbsp firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp flax seed
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp chopped walnuts

PreparationPreheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat a 8x4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat together the canola oil, pumpkin puree, honey, brown sugar and eggs until well blended. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, flaxseed, baking powder, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and using the electric mixer on medium speed, beat until well blended.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the hazelnuts evenly over the top and press down gently to lodge the nuts into the batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 50 to 55 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn the loaf out of the pan onto the rack and let cool completely. Cut into 12 slices to serve.

last coupla weeks

time's been whizzing by lately ... and i've been picking up packages every time ive been to the post office ...

fabric for my christmas project







a skein of yarn, a prize [ i was going to say from ... but it escapes me now] and a piece of batik widebacking, a very small cutter with a rotating blade and a pack of needles








some white ss classic redheart yarn and a set of pearl cotton, both prizes from different weeks from stitch and unwind, a new sock book with a great pattern in it, and a hank of quviut sox yarn from a shop over in skagway.






the half circle shawl that i finished is more or less stretched ... there is a broken thread near the bottom edge that has to be repaired.  i don't know how or why that happened!   i only soak my finish and squeeze gently to rinse , fold it into a towel and pat it then lay it out to be stretched.  i saw the broken thread and did not stretch and pin it.   i can fix it, but dont know if i'll gift it now.


i didn't get any sewing done [sigh] but i did get this made!   a squat mason jar pin cushion with my fave piece of scrap ... shamrocks and ribbons.  i couldn't find my curved pins to put in there; looked and looked, and found them a week later pinning a sandwiched quilt together for quilting.    btw, the pincushion isn't that big, it's just the camera angle.

package in the mail!

hancock's of paducah's sale on batiks was just too good to resist!   the batik on the bottom is silver 'blush birch leaf' ... too gorgeous for words and the tonga treats were $17.   what more can i say?







10 flowers! 












i've cast off one shawl and cast on another and worked the foundation row on it.   this one is an alaskan one, out of sitka in southeastern [alaska] and worked bottom up ... the first bottom up for me.  pix of the half circle one i finished when i've got it stretched.






and a new toy:  the new ipad, 32gb that can be used anywhere.  the keyboard is built into the case and is easier to use.   all i have to do is learn to use it!   will load my patterns and pix in soonest.    this's my practice picture a few days ago!  that's progress; to take a picture with it and retrieve it, too!

new month!

i caved, and sent for this gorgeous christmassy tree pattern that i've been drooling over, and then had to get it's companion piece, too.   i'm sew lucky!








and speaking of lucky, this 6 inch charm pack is a prize that i won in july, and now that i've got it in hand, i can't remember who gave the prize ... i didn't write it down when it came!  [senior moment]







the background pieces for 'a walk in the woods have gone from rows to done already.  waiting for me to cut out the leaves.








i have lots, well, 2/3's of my hexies basted and have decided i erred on the number of flowers needed and cut some more.  i'm making lap size, about 52" square; my flowers are 7 1/2" and i figured to put 5 down and 5 across, but i'll have to make 7 across to get a reasonable square.  the border with it's vines and smaller flowers will make it about 52"!




so, i had a 20% coupon for the fat quarter shop and got 1 and a 1/2 yds each of all the kona greys:  charcoal, iron, medium grey, steel and ash!   iron and steel are pretty close!

these are the days

one day last week, i brought home a little package from the post office ... fabric samples from ButterflyKissesFabric that tammy had sent me!    they're about 3 inches square ... she sent 'simply color v&co], marmalade [bonnie & camille], tapestry [fig tree] and chateau rouge[french general].  i do like marmalade and simply color!






i had a shopping day downtown, too, and, of course, had to go by the lqs to see what i could see, and found a piece of light blue batik for a background piece, a yard of gold batik in the sale bin and a jelly roll that i had to have.









my mango salsa stars is all cut ... it's a small bit of work [it's supposed to be 40" square, but, there's so much left over, that i'm thinking i may be able to make it bigger.  maybe.  so it's not stashed yet.









and my prize from laurie wisbrun [scarletfig.com] came the next time i went to the post office!   'olive the ostrich' in pink ... i think i'll make another hexie with it [different from thee hexie one i'm working now]; i'm really liking my hexie project!

it's coming right along,   am glad these hexies are bigger than what the pattern calls for .... the pattern is fat quarterly's quilt along project.  i've more done now than shown here.  am getting the lavender/purples done and have the blue ones cut and ready.  the hexies flowers for the vine and flower border will be smaller.  am still trying to find the easiest way to make the running stitch join. 


so, i've been busy this last week and a half!

i had pulled this bundle of basic neutrals for two background pieces, the quilt and a runner.






it seemed to take no time at all to press and cut.

and lay them out in some sort of order ... then i stashed the whole works for this was the hard part.

and did the same thing [well, press and cut] for what will be a lavender blue hexie top. i had the pieces prepped and cut in record time. well, the purple part anyway; the blue part is still stacked, gathered and may be gathering dust before i get around to reducing it to workable size






the fed ex man just brought me a little charm pack of kona solids, my prize won from stashbook's blog and sent from her so nice sponsor, c&t publishing! goodies! i may pair them up with another charm pack and make a little disappearing nine patch quilt.

something new

my daughter came down from the big city and carried me off with her for a couple of days ... on the way we stopped to see the eaglets in a big nest on a snag close to the hiway. they are fledging!







our second stop playing tourist was at the lily pond at mi 15.

 there's a pair of tundra swans there, but no cygnet have been seen.  




 the rest of the trip was uneventful, just the standard gorgeous scenary.  she brought me back yesterday after a delightful visit.  my new little dggs is getting so big!




 our pond lily                                   roadside fireweed, last wirldflower to bloom

                                                     

since the last time

i friend and i made a quick trip up to the big city for a round at the quilt shops ... i just picked up a few items!  three pieces of extra wide batik for backings for my lap size quilts [where is the gold swirls piece?]  the gold swirls and the dk teal will make two backings 53 x 62; that rich brown on will make four the same size!    the mango salsa treat will make the mango salsa stars quilt with one of those rich brown backing pieces.  two skeins of handyed merino and cshmere [handdyed by a lady down in juneau] from the quilted raven downtown for a shawl [for me] and an almost full roll of fusible.

 i have the poppies for poppy paparazzi done and stashed for now.







i've pulled the fabric for 'zenquilty'  a lizzie b cre8ive pattern ... like poppy paparazzi, make a background, applique on top of it.

and my daughter brought down a jones shuttle treadle machine [c. 1936] for me that she found in anchorage  ... were there no singers?  there is also, no bobbin.   she said it was supposed to be there, but she said they're on the 'net and i could get things for it.

i've cut and kitted for moody blue daisies, but i haven't drawn the fusibles for it yet.

i have, though, just finished drawing for poppy paparazzi and have come to the end of my roll.  there was just enough for this batch.   time for another.

 and will go ahead and press the fabric and fuse for the poppy paparazzi flowers since i have the fabrics pulled for them.  i have fabrics pulled for my other drawn fusibles that are waiting, too, but they'll wait in the cupboard awhile longer.

 more fusions!   i haven't cut into my fusions in awhile ... will have to do something about that.

i found some fusion,  my fav blender and a piece for background!  and an angle thingy that may help me sew straight lines when i'm doing triangles.

 i finished my fourth of july table topper, but didn't get it sandwiched and finished off in time for this year, but, by golly, maybe by next!

i finally cut my layer cake for a 'crazy' quilt and have put it in my to-finish hidey-hole. 

i used a gelatto tonga treat for this and added some dragonfly summer batik to square it out ...

the layout for the bargello is not final ... looks better in gray scale but will do some changing around.  meanwhile it's been on my floor for a few days while i think about it.