Autumn Quilts & Pumpkins

I love fall even though I am holding onto summer as long as possible. Give me a 65-70 degree day and I'm full of energy. May Britt asked about our favorite season and quilts that depict it. Here are a couple of fall quilts that grace my walls. The scarecrow was made by my sister, Connie for my birthday several years ago. Isn't he adorable? The pattern was in a Piecemaker calendar. The harvest angel I bought at one of my guild's mini auctions and was made by Kathy Pelkki. I love that one, too.

I was at the market the other day and took pictures of pumpkins. They have big ones, little ones, bumpy ones and white ones displayed among gourds and cornstalks and pretty colored mum plants.

Crumbs Update

My Crumb block total is now at 67 blocks with more to come. I repled to Nadine that the fabric in the drawer was finally shrinking. After looking again at my sewing area, I see that statement may have been misleading. Apparently, most of the fabric scraps are now outside of the drawer surrounding my machine. No wonder the drawer is getting empty and my area messier!

Crumb Blocks

The plan for yesterday afternoon was supposed to be tidying up my sewing area while waiting for my sister's call saying Dad had been moved to rehab. Easily sidetracked, I found a drawer that contained bits and pieces of fabrics that seemed to be saying, "Crumb blocks could be made from me." So I ended up with thirty-five 6 1/2" blocks that need a sashing fabric to take them from crumbs to a tasty dessert. The fabric colors are on the medium to darker side. No dent was made in the fabric and the area is now messier than before I began.

I stopped at the Farmer's Market the other day and had to bring home a fall bouquet. Unfortunately, Jasper has been chewing all of the bottom leaves off of the flower stems. He still misses the outside. We need to plant a container of cat grass for him and Annie. Speaking of Annie, this is where you can usually find her in the evening hours. She is a daddy's girl and follows him everywhere.

Saturday morning

Is it just me, or does time go by more quickly these days? I wake up each morning with such great intentions. Before I know it, the day is gone and then the week and the month...

I started a little cross stitched sampler for me after finishing my Dear Jane top a couple of weeks ago. The pattern is called The Red Fence Sampler designed by Nancy Sturgeon for Threads Through Time. Quick and easy is the theme for me these days. I want instant results from my efforts. The sampler still needs to be washed, pressed and framed but the stitching is finished.

My dad had back surgery on Wednesday. When the sign on the wall says "Surgery Waiting" they aren't kidding. It was a long day, but everything went well.

No decision yet on what to make for my SSCS person. I've narrowed it down to a few things, but am having a difficult time picking just one.

Pooh Blocks and niners

Welcome September - it's one of the nicest months of the year, IMHO.

I found some Winne the Pooh fabric in my novelty stash and made a pile of snowball blocks. By the time that pile was finished, the mood had left me for sewing any more blocks. Then I had a lightbulb moment and remembered a container of blocks that I had made when I was doing mindless sewing. There were enough nine patch blocks, when combined with the Pooh blocks to make a little quilt for the Underground Rail Road in Saginaw. The UGRR is a shelter for battered women and children and my guild sends child-themed quilts to them each month. I wonder if this quilt would loosely qualify as an orphan quilt? Finn? There is more Pooh fabric for a small border and then I'll see what other things I can find to keep me busy and productive. Jim is off to a flea market, so I can sew all day.
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Added borders...ready to finish.

Thank you

I am very grateful to all of you who sent congratulations about finishing my Dear Jane top. Each and every one is appreciated and means a lot to me. Thank you for your kindness. I'm still kind of floating on clouds here, but need to get back to my projects today. Where has the summer gone?

I DID IT!!!

The last stitch making this a complete top was taken tonight at 7:24 p.m. I am so filled with emotion as this has been a part of my life since March 7, 1998 when I made my first block, J-6. As I sewed the last few stitches, I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. I may just need to have a good cry now, but they will be tears of happiness.

Thursday at Comerica

Jim, JJ and I left yesterday for Comerica Park in Detroit to see the Tigers/Indians play baseball. We arrived early in order to get the give-away of a Tiger cap with velcro attached Magglio hair. There were Magglios everywhere! It was so funny. We baked in the sun all day until the ninth inning when we finally got some shade. It was an oven out there!!! The game went into extra innings with the score 0-0. The crowd went nuts when Joel (Zoom Zoom) Zumaya came in to replace Nate Robertson who had pitched 8 2/3 innings of absolute masterful baseball to no avail. Cleveland outscored us in the 10th inning and went home the winner. We went home sunburned. It's always a great day being at a Tiger game, though, even if they lose.

Tote bag

No new pictures today so I'm sharing one of the tote bag I made a couple of years ago using 3" Jane blocks and the Rumbleford tote pattern. My sister, Connie and I made one for our friend, JoAnn, when we visited Minnesota and stayed at her house. Of course, we had to make our own when we returned home.

Getting there

I'm stitching the fourth triangle border on my baby Jane quilt now. One of these days I'll surprise you with a picture of the completed top. It isn't difficult at all, just tedious work. And I am often and so easily distracted. I have an urge to start a new project, but so far, I'm resisting. The stitcheries of the ladies posted on several blogs are calling my name for sure. Then there's all of the Jo Morton patterns I want to do, also.

I've received my name for the SSCS on Chookyblue's blog. There are eighty participants from around the world. I need to read through the blog of the name I've been given for her likes and dislikes in order to get an idea of what to make for her.

On Sunday, Mike, Simone, Jim and I went to Greenville to watch JJ and his friend, Tim in a talent contest that was part of the Danish Festival. They did great and were presented with 2nd Place and $100 prize money. Camp Tuhsmeheta is done for the summer, so JJ came home with us to visit for a few days before heading back to Kalamazoo.


I'm trying to link my Webshots to the side of my blog, but it won't work for some reason. I keep getting an error and the URL showing up instead of a clickable link.

.Happy Anniversary

It was a mere thirty-nine years ago (August 17, 1968) that Jim and I each gave our "I do" answers to the "Do you take this...?" questionS at the altar. When I look at us in this old, faded, not so great photo, it seems like two different people standing there in church. Maybe that's because we were a lot different then. Our ages were eighteen and nineteen, just like the picture suggests - not even old enough to vote, drink or have a credit card. During the years, we were blessed with three beautiful children, Kari, Michael and Jason. They continue to bring us love, laughter and the thought that maybe we did something right. Our numbers increased with the addition of son-in-law, Craig and daughter-in-law, Simone in 1993. Then the icing on the cake - the grandchildren, Abigail and Ian. Every happy and sad event through the years has shaped us into who we are today. It hasn't always been easy, but I wouldn't change a thing.

Hibiscus blooms

I see many homes in the area with beautiful hibiscus plants full of pretty blooms of pinks and reds. This year I bought a couple of small plants from the sale table during the Bay City Garden Walk. They have bloomed! Okay, it's just a flower or two at a time so far, but I have high hopes for these plants. The flowers are huge. The first bloom was spotted last Friday just before dark. The second photo is from today.

Quiet House

Abby and Ian are back in Wisconsin. The house is quiet again. We really enjoyed having them visit us and did so many things that even they were tired when they got home. It should just go without saying that both Jim and I were ready for naps. Here is our good-bye picture along with the family reunited for the trip back home. We are squinting some as it was a very sunny day.

I was pretty much a slug today except for a little machine sewing this afternoon. My friend, Val, is putting on a quilt show in Canada the last week-end in September to raise money for the rec center which was burned down. There will be a 4 Sale Table so I made a few zippered screen bags to send to her. These make up really quickly once you remember how they go together. That part took me longer than the actual sewing.

The Grandchildren are here!

Yesterday Jim and I spent most of the day in our car on the road because we were meeting Kari, Abigail and Ian in New Buffalo. It was one of the hottest and muggiest days of the summer so far, so being in an air conditioned car was a good thing. After meeting at the Michigan Welcome Center, we went to Redamak's to eat before each car headed back home. After driving a couple of hours, we decided to stop in Greenville where Uncle JJ is working at Camp T, a camp for blind and visually impaired children and young adults. The campers and counselors were lined up for an outdoor dinner. We found JJ in the pavilion working on the music program for the week-end. He was definitely surprised that we were there and even more so, that we had Abby and Ian with us.



One more stop at The Farmer in the Dell for an ice cream treat before we reached our house. Is Grandpa trying to eat from Abby's ice cream, too?

My prize package from Finn arrived, too. It contained some beautiful red work blocks along with some feed sack fabric, a couple of vintage hearts, a beautifully written card and a CAT! A Cat! How did Jasper get into that picture again? I just laid the items together and went to retrieve my camera. He is so fast. I do think he approves of the choices Finn made. Thanks again for drawing my name!

My Birthday

Today's my birthday! Ta da da da dum! I can hear the music in my head. Hope you can, too. My kitchen table contains a pile of birthday cards from my family and friends and I've also received many online wishes and phone calls. Thank you everyone. Calico Cat asked for the recipe of the banana cake that Simone made for Mike and me. The recipe is one from my Great Aunt Emma who was a sister to my paternal grandmother. Aunt Emma lived with my grandparents for most of her life. My grandma loved to work outside on the farm and Aunt Emma took care of most of the household things including the cooking and baking. She had most of her recipes memorized, but in her later years, she did write down some of her favorites in a medium sized Collegiate notebook. Usually only the ingredients were listed so the oven temps and baking times were discovered by trial and error. Here is her banana cake:

Aunt Emma's Banana Cake

2 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup soft shortening*
3/4 cup sour milk
1 1/4 cups mashed bananas
2 large eggs

Cream the shortening with the sugar and then add the eggs. Mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda and add to the first mixture alternating with the milk. Add the mashed bananas and pour into a greased and floured 9 x 13" cake pan. Bake at 350 for about 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool and frost with a cream cheese frosting.
If you like nuts, add about a 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to the batter.
*I usually use Crisco.

Birthday Cake!

Today is Mike's 37th birthday! We celebrated with them (Mike and Simone) yesterday and today with lots of good food, including a delicious banana cake with cream cheese frosting and Hershey's ice cream. Jim grilled NY strips for dinner tonight. Simone made a wonderful potato salad as well as the cake. And we also had sweet corn from the farmer down the road. No get-together is ever complete without several games of Euchre. We keep a running total on the refrigerator at Mike and Simone's house of who wins how many games. We're not competitive at all. Jim has the badminton net set up for when the grandkids come later this week. After Mike and I were beaten silly in cards, we did manage to win the badminton game. I probably won't be able to walk tomorrow. Which reminds me, you may notice the writing on the cake says Mom & Mike. That's because tomorrow is my 57th birthday. We've been able to celebrate our birthday together the last few years since they moved back to the states. It makes getting older a bit easier when you can share it with someone you love. Happy Birthday, Mike! Hope you had a great day.

Pincushion arrives

Beep! Beep! The mail carrier usually pulls into our driveway and beeps her horn when she has a package or box for us. Today's surprise was the beautiful pincushion that I won over at Darlene's blog. She used the prettiest fabrics to make this and I just love it. Thanks, so much for offering these gifts and for drawing my name.


Jim has been up and down the stairs all day moving some of his unused "treasures" to his van. Tomorrow he will set up tables at Immanual Lutheran for an outdoor garage sale/flea market event. I hope he comes home with an empty van and a full wallet.

Here's a picture of the sixty-eight log cabin blocks that make up the outer border for the wedding quilt in my last post. Today I am trimming and tying off threads on the back of the top. Thank you to everyone for the lovely comments you left. I really appreciate the encouragement.

Abby and Ian will be visiting us next week! We are really looking forward to their stay here.

August challenge

Tilde is a wonderful quilter from Denmark who issues challenges on the WIProducers list at Yahoo. For August, we were told to find our ogre, a quilt that's been hanging around unfinished for some time (UFO in other words) and needs to move forward. Although I dislike associating the word ogre with this quilt, I had to choose the wedding quilt for Kari and Craig. They are celebrating their 14th wedding anniversary today. It's had several setbacks and I could list a ton of excuses. Today I removed the rows from the drawer that housed them and created a top. It next needs an inner border of off white fabric (which I ran out of) and then a final border consisting of 68 log cabin blocks (which I had begun sewing, but later discovered I had used white instead of off white background pieces). I bought the floral material as my focus fabric fifteen years ago at a quilt show in Marshall. It is still one of my favorites. That's a plus because often the fabrics we were once so thrilled with become not so great when we finally get around to using them.

Happy Anniversary, Kari and Craig.

Book Recommendation

This one had me laughing out loud. It's a great read!

July 30th - You can read the first two chapters of this book online at her website.

Jasper and Annie

Thank goodness for kitty pictures when I don't have any pictural progress of my quilting projects. Never a day passes that opportunities don't present themselves for the cutest photos of Jasper and Annie. Now remember Jasper is still pouting since he is grounded for life. You can often find him staring mindlessly out of the kitchen window. Jim found a tunnel at a garage sale yesterday that has temporarily taken both of their minds off of the outside. Annie sleeps right inside the middle of it, while Jasper is a bit leery and stays on the edges. They both chase each other through it and that is hilarious to watch. Pretty soon there will be more cat furniture in the living room than people stuff.

Happy Dozen

A dozen! Yes, my darling granddaughter, Abigail, is now a dozen! Today is Abby's 12th birthday. It seems like just yesterday she was a little baby with lots of dark curls on her head. Today she is a beautiful preteen with blonde hair. Happy birthday, Abby.


















We had a CAT-astrophe here last week. Our tiger cat, Jasper, took off for the corn fields after lunch and was lost until the wee hours of the morning. I had to go to bed without him snuggled up to my ankle, although I couldn't sleep. Jim and I took turns checking the kitchen window for signs that he was back. Finally, Jim saw him under the cherry tree in the back yard. I ran out to get him and told him he was grounded for life. He ran right to the food dish. Jasper and Annie only go out when we are outside to watch them, and they both come when called. Not this time. So now we are listening to the whining again since they are indoor cats again. Don't they look sweet and innocent sleeping here on their cat condo?


I'm still working on the string blocks, applique kit, DJ borders and some nine patches. My string block count for the challenge is up to 20 now. This little quilt top was made from half-square triangle units left from the siggie swap on Jo Morton's yahoo list. I haven't done anything with the siggie blocks yet, but I felt the urge to sew up these pieces.

Sleepy Sunday

My Tigers have been playing out in Seattle, WA the last three nights which means the ballgames don't begin here until a little after ten. I can't sleep knowing they are playing, so I stay up to watch. Win or lose, I'm too wound up to go right to sleep afterwards, so by this morning, I'm really dragging. Church at nine with an outdoor service in the pavillion and all that fresh air had me begging for a nap early today.

If you've been wondering about the surprise mentioned on Nadine's blog for the last few weeks, the secret has been revealed. Click on over to Finn's blog to see what it was all about. I'm sure Nadine is anxious to read how her idea played out, but poor gal, is still vacationing in Italy.


I succumbed to a fabric and book buy from Four Seasons Quilt Shop in Plymouth, MN. As a member of the JoMorton Stitchers list on Yahoo, I had been following the discussion of Jo's new book, Remembrances and her Coventry fabric line. My order arrived yesterday. The book and fabrics are wonderful!

On Heartstrings, a challenge was issued by Mary to make 365 Heartstrings string blocks in the next year inspired by new member Tresica Watts, who sent in the most remarkable photo. It's really difficult for me to resist such a challenge, expecially when I have so many strips already cut and way too much in my fabric stash. Yesterday I had planned on sewing a block, but ended up with seven. Perhaps I should sew a week's worth at each sitting. That may be a better plan for me as it's tough to sew just one string block at a time. I have lots of two inch purple strips for my middles. Wonder how many I'll get from that chunk of fabric.

No More Stalling

Yvonne asked me today if I was still stalled with my triangle borders. I was happy to reply to her that the first one was ready to stitch tonight. I can now report one down, and three to go. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated. It seldom is. I make such mountains out of every little mole hole. It's that ole perfection thing. As long as the next step is only in my mind, it is still perfect. In reality, it will never be perfect, but I keep repeating this behavior.

Our garden is full of sunflower volunteers. They are beginning to bloom in bunches. I don't like to pull them out even though some are invading the tomato plants. There's alwys too many tomatoes anyway.

InkLingo

Today I tried out my InkLingo Shape Collection 2 and printed out teeny little quarter square triangles. Linda Franz, author of Quilted Diamonds and Quilted Diamonds 2, is the creative genius behind this innovative idea of printing your stitching lines directly onto your fabric using your computer printer. The shapes are then ready to sew either by hand or machine. I wanted to use my sewing machine today and the results were pretty good for my first try.

Saturday, Jim and I went to Oakville, Ontario. He spent Saturday chasing down bargains at area garage sales while I visited with quilters from around Canada and two from Maryland at Ginny's Quilt Shop (formerly Jillybeans). The date was 7/7/07 and this was the seventh reunion at that location of quilters who were making baby Jane quilts from the book Dear Jane by Brenda Papadakis. The reunion included some InkLingo veterans who had wonderful quilts to share with everyone. Linda brought so many gorgeous samples from her next book and cd that it made my head spin. The possibilities are endless. It is fast and precise and fun. Has anyone else tried it?

Stalling

While I'm stalling on attaching my Dear Jane borders, I have been quilting a kit that has been on my UFO list for ages. (Aren't they all) This is a kit I bought from Judie Rothermel back when she was a vendor at the Rotary in Paducah, KY. The kit suggests quilting the background before appliqueing the leaves and yo-yo flowers. At first I wasn't going to do that, so I stitched the vase. Then I changed my mind and quilted the background. I have the yo-yos made and the leaves are ready for applique.


The neighbors are beginning their holiday fireworks as darkness nears. They've been practicing for the last three nights. Bay City has their big display tonight and it is always a terrific show. We didn't go this year as the Tigers are playing. The skies will be lit up again tomorrow as Saginaw does their annual show. So far the weather is cooperating, too.
I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July whatever you chose to do.