Happy Halloween!

  Happy Halloween! It’s a chilly, very blustery dark night with dried crackling leaves blowing about — a perfectly spooky halloween night for the kiddies going door to door. 

I thought I would get to some quilting today but errands, shopping, some baking and cleaning and writing some final instructions for a BOM took precedence and I never made it to the sewing room.   Oh yes – a little playing with EQ too to get the Halloween message to the left. 🙂  But there’s a marathon of old horror movies (yes, very bad ones with very bad special effects and mostly black and white) that has been running since earlier today and I am a sucker for horror movies – especially the old ones tho I have a feeling that the one that is currently on which stars Frankie Valon (shouldn’t he be at the beach??) may not be all that scarey!

So time to make some dinner, or popcorn, or popcorn for dinner? and go back to knitting a sock.  Socktoberfest is rolling to a close — can I finish the current sock? Hmm time will tell.

Design Wall Progress

Here’s last weekend’s progress.  The other half of the center is pieced and all set together with first three borders added.

Next, cutting all the pieces for the border blocks.

Stash Report, Socktoberfest and Stuff

I had to think really hard to remember what quilting I had done since last week – it seems so long ago.  But I did use a pittance of fabric  making a snow lady wallhanging last Sunday and adding a hanging sleeve to my most favorite seasonal wallhanging yesterday.

So for the stash report — used this week 1.5 yds; purchased y-t-d 142 yds; used y-t-d 202.5….. 60.5 yds net used… can’t complain about that.

Socktoberfest time is dwindling but I’m still knitting.  Here’s the latest sock I’m working on – it’s going to be more of an ankle sock style and is from Plymouth’s Sockotta — 45% cotton, 40% superwash wool and 15%nylon.  I was looking for a yarn with more cotton than wool since these  will go to my Mom in Arizona.  I also solved (or will once I go shopping) the dilemma of the purple socks that I was running out of yarn on. Although I just managed to squeeze one sock out of hank, they just don’t seem long enough.  They are for a gift and I’m guessing at size but I’m sure they’ve go to be too short.  So rather than order another hank of yarn on line (if it’s even still available and hope the dye batch is the same) I’ll just find another solid purple locally and make solid colored toes — why the heck didn’t I think of that sooner? One of those truly DUH! moments. 

As for that favorite seasonal quilt  “Fall Bounty” which was designed in EQ – I’ve shown it before I think, but I just pulled it out to hang and I so love it.  I generally do not make scrappy quilts but this one I just pulled a huge stack of fall fabrics/scraps and picked at random.  It used to hang on a different hanging system so didn’t

have a hanging sleeve on it –  but now I needed one so I could hang it in my living room.  The hangers – which are chopped off  in the photo are metal sculpture hooks (like to hang a coat or towel on with just a decorative rod.  I have several large wallhangings I switch seasonally to hangin this spot but they’re all just a little different in size.  This way I can just use the same rod and not make more holes in the wall.

I hate sewing on hanging sleeves more than anything else.  The method I originally had learned was to whip stitch the top of the hanging sleeve, then create about a half inch pleat (to help accommodate rod) and stitch botton in place.  It just never seemed to work right – something always ended up a little crooked.  Then I found this on the AQS blog.  It’s incredibly easy to do and no messing with pressing in a pleat.  Now Thankful Bounty hangs very nicely with its new hanging sleeve that took no time at all.  I won’t mind sewing hanging sleeves any more.

And here’s yesterday’s baking – pumpkin chocolate chip bread which I’m currently enjoying a slab of right now.  It’s delicious and moist – a slab (you just can’t cut a skinny slice cause of those chocolate chips – it falls apart) so a slab and a cup of coffee – perfect for a crispy fall morning.  I was going to take one loaf in to work but may just put it in the freezer and keep it all for me!

Now off to get busy – there’s knitting, sewing, and some cross stitch to be done.  While cleaning yesterday I came across some cross stitch magazines I had forgotten about – holiday issues.  I had decided the three bosses may get home made christmas ornament collections this year so found some cross stitch ones in there to make for them.

I’m behind again

It’s Wednesday and I’m finally getting around to posting what’s on the design wall – which made some progress on the weekend but none since then.

I’ve now got all the blocks made for the center of this project and some of the rows set together.  I still haven’t come up with a good name for it but oh well.  One of these days something will come to me.

 

 

 

 

On the bottom of the design wall is this little cutie. 

  It’s a Pearl Louise Krush design from a recent quilt magazine I picked up and will probably by a christmas gift.  Whipped it up Sunday afternoon – really easy to make.  I just need to do some hand buttonhole stitching around the fusible applique sections but want to use pearl cotton for that so need to go shopping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And look what arrived in the mail in time for Halloween today!

 Yes that’s a Wickedly good box  of See’s chocolates. YUMMMM I haven’t broken in to them YET!  Thank you Jennifer. 

Still making progress on the Socktoberfest goals – won’t reach them all but one sock done from a new pattern, another sock from the othe pattern I wanted to try is down to the last 2 inches but the challenge will be to see if I can get the toe done and now run out of yarn!  I had two hanks I had ordered for this pair but didn’t bother to look at the yardage on them so it’s going to be a close call but I’m hoping I can get one sock out of each and not have to try to order more.

Another BOM

Are you a Block of the Month addict?  In addition to Crop Circles, my BOM for 2010 designed for The Quilting Post which will be posted simultaneously here on my blog (go to the BOM page at the top to get a picture of it and the yardage requirements), hop on over to friend Susan’s blog for her Merry-Go-Geese BOM for 2010.  She designed it for The Quilting Post too – we’re doing one applique and one pieced BOM this year – and she’s got her yardage info up so you can start planning. 

I’ve sprung a leak!

I seem destined to have pipe leaking problems no matter where I live. One apartment,the bathroom in the flat above me sprung a leak in the tub pipe.  A nail had been driven into the pipe years previous when nailing in the subfloor.  It took years to finally leak but as I was in the shower one day, the ceiling looked odd.  I reach up and touched it and it moved.  Not a good sign.  When the landlord came to look at it, he was going to poke a few holes with a screwdriver to drain the water out before trying to figure out the problem.  The whole soggy sheet of drywall (and a lot of water) came in on him.

The the townhouse I moved to from that apartment, my upstairs shower had a seal fail and I noticed the water marks on the ceiling of the bathroom below.  Took a while but they finally figured out where it was coming from and fixed that.

Last night I’m in the kitchen and something at the ceiling catches my eye.  There’s a 3 foot long patch where I can see the tape used on the drywall – it’s sort of bubbled and I knew before I touched it it was wet.  The rest of the ceiling nice and smooth and you can’t even tell where the drywall seams or tape are.  DANG!  So I called the management company first thing this morning  and told them there’s a leak in the apartment above me somewhere.  Of course this is curious because no one lives in the apartment above me (cue spooky music).  But they called me back within half an hour (see I said they were speedy) and it was the hoses to the washing machine that were leaking.  So they fixed those and will let me ceiling dry out for a few days and then come to see what they need to repair.  Enough of the raining on my parade (or ceiling) please! 🙂

Socktoberfest Continues

Well I don’t know if I’ll meet my Socktoberfest goals – most likely not – but I did get one sock done of one of the new patterns I wanted to try.  Dang – too bad I made this smaller than the size I wear as a gift because I really like them.  B

 This yarn didn’t look good in the pattern I was originally going to usebut I like it here – sort of a basket weave looking design to me but yarn is just wrapped around the front of slipped stitches to give that look.  The pattern continues along the top of the foot until you start the toes.  It’s the Dash Sock Pattern by Krista on  knitting-socks.com.

But now I’m working on a different pair – found a yarn that works better for the pattern I was originally wanting to make so have the leg of one sock nearly half done.  And I did finish the “mates” to the two orphan socks that were on my goal list so am moving along at a steady pace at least.

Design Wall Monday

What’s on the design wall today — well several things in progress.

 

Baxter Bear is still up there – I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to add any more to that one or call him finished and ready to quilt so I’ll just keep staring at him a while longer.  There’ s snowglobe blocks for a block swap – they’ll be hanging around a while too since I”m got more to make and they’re not due for a few months.  That one lone block above the snowglobes is an acorn with oak leaves – it’s a block for a seasonal potholder swap that I need to quilt soon.  And below Baxter is the new quilt I started this past weekend – or at least a small portion of it.   The whole design (this is just a quarter of the very center) reminds me of crossstitch, hardanger work, tapestry — stitchery stuff – with the x’s and woven looking areas.  It still needs a name tho so take a look  HERE for the whole layout and tell me what you think would be a good name for it. 🙂

New Project – Stash Report

I’ve been busy for the past several months mostly working on projects that are in the swap boxes or tops waiting to be quilted.  So yesterday I decided I wanted to start a new project.  Well, that entailed a trip to the quilt shop to get the fabrics I wanted.  Tho I seldom work in all solid reading fabrics, for this project I decided to.   Course this means my stash report – well I report that tho I bought fabrics yesterday, since they’re already cut and never made it to the stash I’m not adding them in at all. 🙂  But here’s what I bought

  I did end up replacing the darker gold and using something else instead.  My intent was to use all Dimples fabrics but alas the quilt shop no longer carries the full line and I had to scour the whole store since they’re not longer kept together as a group but mixed in with all the other fabrics by color.  And since I’m far to impatient to wait for an on line order, I mixed some other tone on tones in with the mix.

 

So here’s some of the pieces that were on the design wall last night, with many more like piles of them on my table. 

Wondering what they will be??

 

 

 

 

 

eventually they will look like this

 Now I just have to figure out what I ‘m going to call this design.   No name has come to mind yet that says to me
“yes that’s the one” but that could be because I hate coming up with quilt names. 

 

But enough sitting at the sewing machine for one day.  There’s banana chocolate chip bread warm from the oven waiting for a taste test, and I just cut out more snowglobe blocks so I can sit and applique the rest of the night.

SNOW??!!

Well it was only flurries this after noon but really – I don’t need to even see that before the end of October!!  The weather had been so nice all summer and fall so I can’t really complain but in a week’s time or so we went from 70s to 30s.  Perhaps it’s because I’ve been making all those snowglobe blocks. 🙂

I keep switching between the snowglobes to applique and a pair of socks I’m working on.  One sock is nearly 3/4s done and even wore for the first time today, in honor of the chilly weather, a pair of socks I had knit. 

Guess if it’s going to stay colder I’m going to have put put away the sandals I’ve worn to work nearly every day for the last three months and dig in the back of my closet for some real shoes.

But time to get that fabric out of the washer – yes new fabric.  I was playing with EQ last night and ended up with a quilt drawing I loved so there was a stop at the quilt shop today. 🙂 Won’t do the stashbusting report any good but it made me happy!