Bits and Pieces

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is next week?  The year has flown by in break neck speed.  The college kids will be home this week in time for our Thanksgiving feast.  It's such a great time of the year.  The temps have finally cooled off and we actually had a measurable (1/4") rain today.  it's certainly not enough to end our fire season, but every drop helps.  The dogs were quite amused to see moisture dropping from the sky.

 

My sewing has me jumping from one project to another lately.  While searching for another project, I discovered a tube that had a snowman kit inside of it.  I bought it years ago when a LQS was going out of business....maybe 12 years ago????  I've been very negligent in participating in Minis and More lately.  This month is a "choose your own project" so I thought it would be fun to sew up Frosty.  Be sure to check out the Minis and More Parade on December 1st on Michele's and Sherri's blogs.

It involved a lot of 1" finished squares and a fusible grid, but I think he turned out pretty cute.

Recently, Carole from My Carolina Home blog had her annual Autumn Jubilee with lots of fabulous autumn projects.  There were also many giveaways.  I was lucky enough to win The Ultimate Presser Foot Set.  I had been interested in this set for some time, but wasn't sure how it would work with my machine. You can imagine how excited I was to hear that I had won it.  Each foot is so well made and heavy duty.  I've tried several of them already and have been very pleased with them.  Included is a universal adaptor for the snap on feet.  It does not work for my Bernina, but I have a Bernina adaptor and the feet snap onto it easily.  Also included is an instructional DVD.  My goal is to try each foot in some creative sewing.

Another sweet gift came from my sister.  She recently took a trip to Japan and managed to find a charming little sewing shop.  Just look at the TINY little treasures she found.  The detail on these pins is nothing short of incredible - a ruler, measuring tape, pin cushion, thread and scissors.  I am holding up a red glass head pin so you can get some perspective of the size of these little gems.

Check out this amazing wooden needle case with pincushion, thread, needles and snips inside the beautiful wooden box.

Lastly, she brought back some beautiful fabrics.

The annual Bonnie Hunter QAL is quickly approaching.  I've sorted through my fabric bins and have pulled out fabrics that may work for it.  The first clue comes out in a little over a week.  Are you joining this year?

A small wall hanging was finished as well.  This was a pattern from Urban Elementz,  It was fun to pull out all my wild prints.

Motivated by so many working on Jen Kingwell's,  My Small World, I have jumped aboard and started one myself.  Section 1 and 2 are completed.

Continuing on with my "hopping around", I attempted rope bowls.  I've seen so many pretty ones and decided to give them a try.  This was such a fun project and I am so pleased with the way they turned out.

We had little ones over the weekend.  This one kept me jumping.  

Is it Spring Yet?

Well ..... it's hardly spring in our area yet.  I hope it is doing better in your areas.  More rain is expected this weekend and an even stronger storm is rolling in next week.  I'm so ready for warm temperatures and sunshine.  Will March be "in like a lion and out like a lamb?"

The first of the month means it is time for the Minis and More Parade.  Michele and Sherri come up with great ideas each month and February was all about pincushions.  I decided to make some patriotic pincushions. I have been wanting to have a little bowl of pincushions on the sofa table for some time now.  I thought it would be fun to change them out for the seasons.  The bowl is made by Char at Cloth Stitched.  I'm sure these will probably be used as bean bags when the kids are here.

It's also time for the next block in the Bloom SAL.  You can read all about it HERE.  I was hoping to get two blocks done this time, but maybe it will happen next time.

We celebrated my mom's 96th birthday this week.

The days have been a bit busy as we added to our household.  This sweet little guy has come to stay and we are back into puppy training again.  Toby has made quick friends with Rudy.

They play hard and then they sleep just as hard.

Minis and More

Another month of 2018 is coming to a close.  Time is moving too quickly.  The end of the month means it is time for the Minis and More Parade.  You can visit the parade at Michele and Sherri's blogs on November 1st.  They have both been great hosts month after month.

This month was a "choose your own" mini to make.  My choice, with Halloween, was to make Soma's (of Whims and Fancies) Witch's Hat paper pieced pattern.  Soma's detail to her designs is impeccable.

I always enjoyed doing dot to dot designs as a child and thought I would do the same on the cute background fabric, using the sewing machine.  It was definitely more challenging than with a pencil and more difficult to erase my mistakes.  lol

Our Sewing With Friends group is making table runners/toppers to swap this year.  Although this is a fall fabric with leaves and nuts, I do think it could also be used as a winter runner.  I found the pattern online somewhere, but I can't seem to locate it again.  That's the story of my life.

When we were back in Iowa, my cousin sent us home with a large bag of apples from their orchard to eat on the way home.  There were too many to eat so I prepped them and made apple pie filling to freeze.  I ended up with seven pie fillings.  We ate one and froze six.  The one we ate was delicious.  I wish we could grow good baking apples here.

The weekend was spent making a Rapunzel costume with my grand daughter.  I will share a photo of it when I can get one of her in it.  She is a perfect Rapunzel with blonde hair below her waist.  It turned out great and she loved it.  Our youngest grandbaby is going to be a bag of popcorn.  I loved this photo our daughter texted me  It looks like he is not quite sure about all of this.

Meanwhile, I have to share pictures of a Corn Hole game that our children gave me for my birthday.  It is fabulous and has details that are way over the top.  Our oldest son constructed it, but all participated in the process.  The kids collected lots of wine corks - many coming from our sommelier son in law.  All corks were cut in half!!  Do I detect a quilt pattern in the arrangement???  The wood was stained a Bordeaux color - very appropriate, I thought.

Not sure why the picture looks like a lopsided circle.  It is actually very round.  

I thought I had managed to get a shot with no glare so that must be a Halloween ghost I am seeing.  ;-)

He even included cup holders on the backside.....

See....round holes!

….and even a special compartment for the bean bags.

We are serious Corn Hole players here!!!

It seems like we get fewer and fewer trick or treaters each year.  I think we had six total - other than the grandchildren - last year.  How about you?

Happy Halloween.

Linking up with Mama Sparks World

Minis and More

First of all ... a question.  Is anyone else having problems with Blogger again?  None of my comments are coming through my e-mails AGAIN and every post lately has spam posted in the comment section.  Since I am not being notified by e-mail, I have no idea they are there unless I go back to all the past comments.  It is beyond frustrating.  I tried the changing e-mail fix that worked last time, but it did not work this time.

Anyway....it's the end of the month which means it is time to post my Minis and More project.  Thank you to Sherri and Michele for hosting the event each month and selecting our projects.

This month was Sherri's Endless Summer pattern.  It was a fun little pattern to make.

Be sure to check Michele and Sherri's blogs on the 1st of the month to see all the versions that have been made using the pattern.

It has been a cooler than normal September for us, but we decided to take Toby for a walk on the beach.  It was a beautiful day and not a soul on the beach.

I love seeing how people build little structures with the driftwood.  There has been a lot this year with the fires last winter.

The Island Princess was in port in Santa Barbara.  It left Alaska and was headed to Mexico.

Another bit of sewing that I did over the weekend was the Swoon Sixteen through FQS.  The little points really reminded me of houses so I added windows and doors.  I think I will make it into a cushion.

The fabrics were from my Seeing Stars QAL.  This week we were to add twenty eight 4.5" stars.  The design called for applique, but I decided to piece stars instead.  After several stupid math calculations, I finally managed to get 28 stars.

Photographing them was a bigger challenge than the math!  This guy thinks everything on the ground is meant to be a bed.

The winner of my Words to Live By giveaway (Sharon) has not replied to my e-mail yet.  If I still have no response, I will select a new name tomorrow and post it on Thursday.

Minis and More

Coming September 3rd in Blogland and IG is the Minis and More Parade, hosted by Michele and Sherri.  This month was a block that I have wanted to make for sometime.  What better opportunity than to make it for the parade?  The pattern this month was Trip Around The World Mini Quilt from Samantha of Aqua Paisley Studio.

After making the mini, I am thinking that I may need to make the Scrappy Trip quilt that was going around Blogland several years ago.   Be sure to pop over to Michele and Sherri's blogs to see the other versions of this pattern.

This weeks blocks for the Seeing Stars QAL was called Curvy Star.  The curves were gentle curves so went together quickly.

August is quickly coming to a close so thought I'd post a photo of an up to date Temperature Quilt.  The August row is hanging to the right of the quilt as it is not quilt long enough to add to the bottom yet.  It's definitely been a warmer few months, but you can see that the nights are starting to cool down a bit.

While watering the pots this weekend, I noticed this cute little guy tucked into a plumeria plant.  He was well camouflaged. 

 While we are on plumerias, these are two more that are blooming.  The smell is so heavenly.

 We had a lovely evening out this week at the Hollywood Bowl for a Chopin concert.  The Bowl is such a magnificent place to visit.  We arrive early, enjoy dinner there and then hear great music. 

As the garden starts to slow down a bit, we have been harvesting peaches, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers daily.  Marjorie shared a recipe for mustard pickles with me so I put some up this week.  They are very good. 

The days are definitely shortening.  Fall is coming quickly.  There is a lot of talk about eliminating Daylight Savings Time.  What are your thoughts on it?