Latest .... UFO's and first finishes for the year!

Have been trying to work on the Quilville DD mystery quilt..... way behind the others I suspect. But in addition to the part one parts..... I have been finishing up a few things. I just finished the little baby quilt for a neices baby, born just after Christmas. I just did a simple little meander...but it allowed me to quilt his name into the quilt. I also did this little quilt for a customer a while ago...but it was brought to our quilt guild so now I have a photo. DD did her first quilt.... and stuck it in a closet, I asked for the pieces....( she didn't know that you could cut border pieces in strips...and had pieced all of the border strips out of 4 " squares) I finished the last little bit...and sewed them on. Then it was quilted. I think it is darling....way better than my first quilt, I might add. Have a few customer quilts to do...but waiting on a specefic stencil to use on them... so not ready for photos. They are both very pretty....now just anticipating the quilting! Also have been trying to finish up a little UFO from some very orphan blocks.... It was a UFO because I had accidentally cut one border strip 1/2 inch larger.... and only figured it out after I had already pieced the large laptop. I learned my lesson the hard way...now I do actually stack up my sashing strips to double check the sizes...but this one will be fine. I am not that into ripping it out...since it may become a picnic blanket anyway.... besides I love quirky! I have now decided that I may applique something over the most obvious parts...... but will share that homespun UFO later...maybe much later!

When life gives you scraps.... you make orphans! Orphans complete....so two more 2 Ufo's too!

I am off to Phoenix tomorrow, to work for my sister at a conference out there...no time to play, but with lots of sitting in airports...I decided to take some orphan strips..... the messy pile in the top photo, and began sewing them together similar to the many fat quarter lap quilts I have seen. But I had a few extra squares...so they became a little block strip near the outer border....but still had more strips....so made another lap quilt. These together are about the size of a queen...and I did have two names in our family exchange...so they are off to Pennsylvania for the Family Christmas party. I will be spending my time in the airports wisely sewing down the bindings. I am so pleased.... two Orphan UFO's..... kind of like a two for one! HAd to include a photo or two of the Princess and the Wee One from Thanksgiving..... we did so have a good time...but I forgot to have backup power..for my camera and missed some good shots! And My SSCS swap has been received in the Netherlands.... so here is what she will be opening on Christmas Day. All the little goodies are inside this huge stocking.... can't share the contents until after Christmas. Don't you love the cool wood carved bowl from Africa in the background? I keep Bread or fruit in it...depending on the need at the moment. And the candy thermometer I use to make Christmas candy....in this case ....Pralines. Yummmy. Still have some baking to do...but almost caught up with where I wanted to be at this time. The professor and I put up our outside lights ...all our little iron trees...and the blowup snowman. So I feel like that is complete...except for the greenery lining the driveway. The Professor says we need to put some lights in the back yard...for the kids.... we will have 4 of our grandkids here for Christmas. Good times ahead. Hope you all had a great weekend...and a good week to come.

More UFO's....Longarm practice and the Kitchen redo is done!

When the professor and I bought our home this past summer....we decided two things we had to do, was put in additional kitchen cabinetry as kitchen was cute but lacking... and a deck onto the back of the house.Well, we found a very talented in law family member who could take my measurements.... ( which could have turned out very badly) but because of his talent...he made a custom cabinet for our kitchen... giving us about 70 % more cabinets and room in the kitchen area! Can you believe the first time he saw my kitchen was yesterday when he brought the cabinet to my home to be installed. And he only did the figures about 6 weeks ago. I took photos of the existing cabinets...and requested that they be painted to match the other ones. Just not going to have all new cabinets put inot a temporary dwelling. They turned out fabulous. I am so lucky...it is a delight to be in that kitchen. So happy it is here before Christmas when 2/3 of our family will be with us. I haven't decided where to hang a little quilt or two yet in there...but I am thinking about it. The quilt on the counter...is a little practice Harvest topper...done when practicing doing the free form flowers...for a customer quilt. Think I will do the same thing for a Christmas topper. Libby showed off her special bowl...so I had to include a photo of my favorite mixing bowl...quite the antique.... and one of the first things completed for the holidays is the Chex mix we always have to eat .... perfectly mixed in that big old bowl. I also finished up another UFO, which was begun while still living in South Africa, it is quilted, and finished binding it as well. I used some of the new techniques I learned in my longarm class. This was done free hand..... with minimal marking. I had to show the front and back...as I did it in a bright lime green.... and it is pretty fun on the back too! Lots of fun to do. I think it turned out pretty well. This dear little picture of the wee one...sitting amongst the pumpkins.... loved it. Hope you all have a lovely holiday...I will try to post again before we leave for the Thanksgiving holiday. Enjoy your families.... I have so much to be thankful for this year. I will probably have to include a tic list of all my gratefulness.

My ship has come in!!!!! and more UFO's .... semi completed,SSCS SWAP

First a wonderfully mysterious Parcel arrived....sometime whilst I was away last weekend. Hmmmmmm I resisted the temptation to open it...but am looking forward to it with anticipation! I am about to send my own Swap out.... for Chooky Blue's SSCS swap. I have not divulged any of the contents.... Also, the delivery of my Ship items took place on Saturday while I was in Atlanta learning lots of fun things to do on the longarm. I have gone through it all, it seems to be all there..... a few damaged items which are the South Africa branch of the moving company...so won't hold my breath about getting any of the damage reimbursed for. But at least it is here...and I am now planning where to hang paintings, and other decor items. It felt like Christmas opening up all of the boxes...and of course brought back wonderful memories of where we purchased much of it! In fact, I was so nostalgic that I immediately called a few SA friends to hear their wonderful accents! Will post more about that stuff as it gets put out! Now about my wonderful longarm class....I learned a lot. Not mastered it yet...but wonderful class. Well worth the long drive over. The Teacher

at Pat's Calico Cottage is part of a group of longarmers...several award winners, and they did this wonderful quilt. I adored it. I also loved the batik 9 patch.... it was so well done. I really learned quite a bit. My machine seems to be humming perfectly at the moment...thanks to her husband... who sorted the few problems I have been having. I have to share a little photo of the leaders and enders quilt in progress...I am about out of red and white fabric bits...from my African quilts..but had enough to do this one. Now how to make it just a wee bit bigger...to a full bed size???? I already bought a Baptist fan template to quilt it with.... just have to make it a bit bigger. I hope you all have a lovely weekend. I am going to finish up a few things, I am binding two charity quilts to donate to the Sheriff's Dept. for our quilt guild...and have binding on a little Thanksgiving table topper to sew on this evening, whilst watching tv. Keep warm. It is getting colder here tomorrow...and we have wood being delivered tomorrow for the fire box in our Family room. Enjoy your weekend.I so am going to!

We have a winner...... Halloween fun, and other things....

There is a giveaway over at Once Upon A time

to celebrate her blogiversary. So check it out, Here are a few of our Family Halloween Photos,

Homer and little skelly,

Jenga fett, of Star Wars fame, along with the "mum" teenager

Lovely Hermione is our Elisie Pie, with her Nimbus 2000, and the lovely little princess as a Penguin.

DD as 1/5 of the Village People, all the ladies dressed up as Village People for work! How fun is that?

I have done little besides travel the past week, Arkansas, then Tennessee, in on Monday...out to Atlanta tomorrow...for my first longarm class! Woo Hoo. Hoping I learn more quickly than the pantographs took me. Now had to share these divine pics of the lovely grandbabies/kids ( sorry to the older ones) and family members. Those who know us...know that the oldest children live far, far away and their parents got into the act.... Dad as Homer ( of course this could have been the Professor...sometimes I think I AM married to Homer! And DD in law was a High school Girl, not all that far removed from those days it seems. DD and the wee one, gave out candy. Wee One and I passed out the goodies, sitting out on the porch, he had to have his horse costume on of course. Now, I have been doing a bit of hand applique...while traveling, but DD gave me her UFO quilt blocks.... and I pieced the camo looking quilt together for her. I wonder can I count the UFO as an unfinished thing for me, since it isn't mine , but I will be finishing that up????May have to ask our Judge, Finn, to get her take on that question? It will be quilted next week, and she also passed on to me her other UFO.... quilt, with incomplete borders. I will piece those on....and "get her done" next week. Want to return them for Thanksgiving.... can't wait to see 2/3 of the family. Then we will have another 2/3 for Christmas. I am so looking forward to that. I may have to post photos of the Professor and I putting my longarm into my car...to make the trip to Atlanta. That should be an interesting drive?? Now concerning the longarm, I loved several names...so may have to do one with middle names too! But I did draw for a winner. Jackie was the lucky winner. Congratulations Jackie, please email me your details...and I will be back next week. Y'all have a great one! How could I not...with learning new and better tricks on my machine. Good times ahead!

WOO HOO!!!! Just counted...and have finished officially 10 UFO's...

Ok, I just counted through several of my finished UFO's and I have officially finished 10 UFO's....unfortunately ...not the 7 I had initially planned. Shame. Now I did complete.... 5 of the original 7, but it is sad to think .... I found about 5 more, while digging for the bits to finish these 10! I also did my first Paid longarm commission! She only wanted a simple pantograph, and I had already practiced it on my bedspread from previous posts...so I did hers.... and it was a little twin... turned out very nicely...if I do say so. I didn't think to take a photo of it... so may have to ask for another chance to do that in future. But did

get a photo of the recipient of the houndstooth I made for a local college fellow. He wanted a cozy lap quilt for his girl at the game. She loves brown and gold. And I am working on another UFO, which was started before the Wee one was born, these very bright blocks, have now been pieced together, but have to add borders to the top,as it is just under a double. Hope to have it finished over the weekend. I am planning on practicing on my DD in laws quilt...to get straight line practice, then will attempt the customer quilt. So may have a few photos to share after the weekend. If all things go well. My ship DID NOT come in this week, BUT I have been assured that it is LOADED on the truck to arrive late next week! Now I am leaving next weekend to go see the lovely little Princess, then on to see the Wee one, and will be gone until election day...so no unpacking if if arrives too late. It really may be Christmas before I get to open the boxes! AT this rate!!! Hope you all are having a lovely weekend. Its going to be a good one for me.

UFO's, Hattiesburg , MS Quilt show...and the Halloween finery of our wee one!

Well, still not heard if my ship is coming in ...this week...but holding thumbs that it will. I had so much fun doing the barbecue on Friday, also got this lovely picture of the wee one...in his Halloween finery. His mom sent this to me.... love those Amish MUMS in the background. I so wish I had some in my yard! Had to finally finish up my little Halloween UFO.....Then had the lucky opportunity to go to the Hattiesburg, MS quilt show on Sat. with a few new acquaintances. I think my eye must have changed, as much as I enjoyed seeing the variety of pieced quilts.....I really found myself focusing on the machine quilting on many of these. So if you are bored with some of my shared photos...so sorry, but was so excited to try new things.... that had to take a bunch of photos of the quilting.

there were so many pretty ones...they had over 480. So many really nice ones, I found it hard to choose ...but liked many for a multitude of reasons. Now I have always loved appliques...but some of the cool black and white pieced ones caught my eye as well.... as have been collecting them for years. I didn't see any civil war or DJ, another one I hoped to see ...as so want to do one of each. But plenty to get my mind working on the next batch of UFO's!!!This is a closeup of my favorite, white on white..wholecloth, absolutely stunning. She only got her longarm the beginning of the year. What a beauty! There is something for me to only aspire to! And the lovely pastel pink fabric on the back. It was gorgeous..pics don't do it justice. It was on a back wall...with not enough room for longer photo. But absolutely my favorite.It even beat out the Baltimore!Hope you all have a great day!

Where does the time go.... another UFO.... and a practice piece, the wonderful Old Guard Fife and Drum corps....

Ok, I think I may have shocked a few ladies...today...telling some of the "old" days stories! I was a bit crazy back in the day.... and I will admit...I hitchiked! I even met the Professor hitchiking...... yep...and no....he didn't pick me up...but his roomate did! How else does someone from Pennsylvania get to meet someone from Oklahoma.... in Washington DC as luck would have it. The Professor was in the Old Guard Fife and Drum corps.... it is a ceremonial unit attached to Ft. Myer, Virginia. And the Professors outfit...does all the retirement, Arlington funerals, and they march in front of the Presidential motorcade...at the Inaugural Parade. He sure looked cute in his red coat and white wig...and breeches. Just like a proper old Minute Man. But that is a whole other story.I think I may have taken them aback...just a bit.... at the H ( hitchhiking ) word. I am not proud.... but I did do it. .... FREQUENTLY!!!! What was I thinking. But it was the 70's.... I was poor and carless.... so it beat going by feet. At any rate after I shocked them a bit...I did show them the latest quilt attempts. I got sick of doing muslin practices..so have been using quilts for my hand guided quilting...but decided that I really needed to practice a pantograph... so I did...but I used some

stash material..leftover from making a curtain.... on the front...and some cool green fabric... almost a light upholstery.... one..for the back. AND I love the back..... I am so glad I opted for something more fun than muslin. So I pantographed a custom bedspread to match the little bedroom curtains. And I have hung up my South AFrican MEmory quilt...on the South Korean rack I bought to hang quilts on. I can't show the AFRICA header...as have to sort how to hang it up there.... but it hangs in the lounge now. We are having a Barbecue tomorrow night...for some fellow students...so I want it up!!! I do think I like the green side which shows the pretty panto better....now just have to sort how to keep it all straight! Hope you all have a great weekend. My ship hasn't come in....but after another phone call today to the movers...they tell me it will be loaded for Texas on MOnday....so maybe next week! Hope so..... it has only been since January my ship has been coming!!!!

Where did my weekend go? Another UFO completed, one that only needs the binding...and bread for the Professor......

Ok, had to share the photo of the African Vine quilt.... it now has a binding.... shame. I hunted all over the house...then in the studio..went through all of my fabric, just couldn't find that binding fabric, then began checking the less likely places... the laundry room with the Christmas stuff, the winter clothes storage, the oven!!! That is an inside joke with The Professor! *s* But couldn't find it anywhere, so i decided to put away the laundry, yep, there staring me in the face in the Linen closet... with the towels no less....not only the fabric for the African quilt binding...but two more UFO's. I swear they are multiplying! I can't have that many things still going. I have now finished, complete with bindings.....4 things! Most were small, but a few were larger.... and just finished machine quilting the string quilt.... think I am going to do a darker thin blue border...since I am way too lazy at this point to piece a border...though I do think that would look good. So that is number 5..... almost done. But since I did find a few more....think my target number should also reflect an increase. I had been shooting for 7, but hey there are some Christmas things which need working on...so maybe should stay with 7, it is almost October! With October, comes Autumn...the real deal with changing leaves, so I have decided I have to finish the Halloween Little thing...which is really in the fabric collected stage.... and not great stuff, no new fabrics purchased...all from the studio. I have decided that I will not move fabric, in fabric form, when we move, but rather will be happy to transport flimsy's or finished quilts. Not sure I can keep that resolve, but maybe that will motivate me to finish these things up. I have almost finished a little Christmas cheater panel.... that had to be for practice on my machine...and though I did buy it when my youngest was in 5th grade.... that makes it ALMOST my longest UFO. He is married with Children... so over 13 years ago! I also decided to follow Libby's example...and make up the professor some bread. I do it once in awhile..but thought I would actually IMMORTALIZE the event. It is just some kind of sort of wheat with grains added ...but we did eat the whole other loaf, the first night. Almost finished off the second. Now this is a close up of the string quilt, I decided that since it was for me...to make it a bit of a sampler.... and tried dwirling in the white border... then did free hand flowers in the center... and some wonky feather/swirls in the outer border.

I also painted my Bathroom.... over the weekend. It feels like I didn't have a weekend! Another week down...and several more to go. Hope you all had a great one.

A garden visitor.... more UFO's almost finished.....

Ok, we have had some fun the past few days..... just getting away. And while eating my breakfast.... the other morning...what did I spy in my garden?????? But this lovely little creature nibbling on all of my garden shrubs. I should have taken a picture of the almost gnawed bare little bush...I still haven't planted yet!!! Not sure how to dissuade him from eating them.... ???Any suggestions??? Sorry for the blurriness..but forgot I had been taking pics at night...and hadn't changed the settings. I was afraid that if I moved too much, he would run away...before I got the photo.

Today was a lovely day, I did finally put the final border on this little scrappy string quilt..... It is a double sized quilt, hope to load it tomorrow...and attempt to quilt a bedsized quilt..... for me. It should be fun. Think I will do a simple free hand pattern.... since I don't know how to do anything else.... *o* Shame! At any rate.... going to get this on the machine, get it quilted.... then will try to figure out what to do for bias binding??? Any suggestions will be duly noted. This little quilt was made from all the leftover bits.... that I scratched from all of my friends fabric leftovers. I got yellows from Peggy, Reds from Jean, The hot pink and orange and some blues from Ann, then the greens and dark blues from Enid. It was so much fun, going through their leftover scraps. I inititally made a little flowered machine appliqued quilt which is also not finished, with the first bits, then had so many cut strips left from the border of that first quilt, that I had to do something with....so Scrappy Strings was born!!!! Way different from most of the quilts I have made...but lots of fun. The professor and I are going to hear Colin Powell speak tomorrow evening so won't get much done .... but will show the progress .... and if this turns out...then may go ahead and do the scrappy flower quilt next. I have plenty of batting...but have to sort what to put on the back of these quilts.May just piece from the stash.... have plenty of that stuff around.