Bandbox

I have had the fun chance to pattern test Bandbox for Emily of Aunt Em's Quilts and am quite pleased with the way it turned out.  I have been wanting to use some of the reproduction feedsack fabrics and decided this was the perfect pattern for them.

The quilt is crib size - 42x54 inches.

  I used a white flannel on the back which will make the quilt very soft and comforting.

While we were away on vacation several delightful packages arrived in my mailbox.  It's always fun to come home to such fun surprises.

First off was a box filled with goodies from Ida at My Sis Made Me Do It.  There were wonderful fall kitchen towels, an adorable hankie doll card and amazing pincushions that she made.  I fell in love with her cactus pincushion when she had her Pincushion Parade and she mailed it to me.  Thank you so much, Ida.

Then there was a book from Linds at Rocking Chair Reflections.  Her review of it sounded wonderful so I am looking forward to digging into this one.  Thanks, Linds.

I received three patterns from a giveaway that Carol of Just Let Me Quilt had.  I think I need to make the hanging bat one for my next Halloween project.  That is so cute and the grandchildren would love it.  Thanks, Carol.

Lastly, I received a box with a fat quarter bundle of Frosty Forest from My Fabric Relish.  I was the winner from Lisa's Christmas in July Hop.  I posted about the patterns that I also received from Cherry here.  I think the tree skirt is in my future!

I'm looking forward to getting back to the sewing machine on a more regular basis once I finish emptying boxes and cleaning up from the remodel.  I was spoiled when I had an excuse for not cleaning house!!!

Halloween Haunts

Halloween Haunts Blog Hop starts today.  I am so excited to see all of the great projects that people have been working on for the Hop.  There will be great prizes along the way so be sure to check it out.

Featured Haunts on Friday, October 16

A Stitch In Time
Marjorie’s Busy Corner
Ravelly
Words & Stitches
Quilted Delights

Featured Haunts On Monday October 19

Charm About You
Quilting Affection
Moose Stash Quilting
Gracie Oliver Arts
Kwilt Krazy
Debbie

Featured Haunts On Tuesday October 20

Quilt In Piece
The Quilting Queen Online
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Apple Avenue
Quilt Doodle Doodle

Featured Haunts On Wednesday October 21

Tea Time Creations
Grandma’s Stories
In The Boon Docks
Just Because Quilts
Just Let Me Quilt

Featured Haunts On Thursday October 22

Quilt Shop Gal
Jane’s Quilting
U Can Quilt 2
RMS Handcrafted
Everyone Deserves A Quilt
Life In The Scrapatch

Featured Haunts On Friday October 23

Free Motion By The River
Quilt Art
Joan E
It Seams To Be Sew
From This To That

Featured Haunts On Monday October 26

Beads & Birds
Needled Mom
Fun Threads
Pampered Pettit
Vrooman’s Quilts
Pam G

Featured Haunts On Tuesday October 27

Tweety Loves Quilting
Sandy
Cate’s Place
Feather Your Nest
Why Knot Kwilt

Featured Haunts On Wednesday October 28
Bumbleberry Stitches
Meadow Brook
Sew Many Yarns
In Stitches & Seams
Seams To Be Sew

Come back on the 26th and see what I am doing with this crazy project.

Away……Away

The old blog has been a bit quiet here.  We were actually away on vacation for the last two weeks – over 5,600 hundred miles, thirteen states and way too many meals out!  If was great to get home again, but life has been completely hectic since arriving.  Plus….someone turned on the heat here.  Yikes.  We actually recorded the hottest temp in the nation with a temperature of 108* on Friday.  It is suppose to remain warm for at least another week, but we did get some nice cool temperatures on our trip. 

We visited all three of the grandkids who headed off to colleges this year – NAU in Az, University of Dallas in TX and Benedictine College in KS.  They are all settling in and enjoying college life.  We saw amazing scenery along the way.

A canyon out of Snowflake, AZ

Cotton growing in AZ

Granddaughter in KS

Amana Colonies in Iowa

Late evening harvesting of corn.  DH got to help each day as my cousins did beans and corn from 7a.m. until past 11 each night.  They farm over 3500 acres.

Onto the soybeans.....

Long, hard days....

Amish farming at a neighboring farm....a different technique for harvesting their beans.

Meal break.

School is dismissed.

A new batch of pigs arrived while we were there.

Cattle too....it's a busy farm.

My grandmother's home.  A cousin now lives there.

Carhenge in Alliance, NB

The beautiful Stanley hotel in Estes Park, CO.

Elk roam the town in Estes Park.

Splashes of fall colors in the Rockies.

The scenery was so pretty along the routes that we took so I got very little stitching done along the way, but I did catch up on my Minion beanies!

It felt good to be home again and back to our busy schedules here.  Construction should be completed by tomorrow and now the cleaning will begin.  I may surface one of these days!!!!

From One to Four

I couldn’t help myself.  Do you remember my last post where I thought the little Mini Vintage Tulip pattern from our Minis and More project this month would make great placemats?  Well….as I was putting the pattern away to make them later, I thought to myself….”Self, if you put it away you will not pick it up again”.  I can’t count the number of times I have done just that.  So…..I started cutting and stitching.  Ta da…..




The week did not allow for a lot of sewing as we watched grandkids while three sets of parents were out of town – fortunately, not all at the same time.   It was a wee bit challenging to get seven people up and out of the house early with only one bathroom in working order, but we all managed and had a lot of good giggles over the situation.  All I can say is tankless water heaters are amazing inventions.
 
While we were in San Diego last week I popped into Rosie’s quilt shop with a dear friend.  I fell in love with their little mini quilts that they had on display so I picked up the pattern.  The little pumpkins called my name.

 
It was fun to pull out the orange scraps and it went up so quickly.  The other designs are every bit as cute – frog, witch, candy corn, etc.

Our California autumn has descended upon us with its typical heat.  The only thing we are lacking is our Santa Ana winds that bring their own dangers.  I have heard that the more winds we have, the less rain we will have.  We shall see.  With the roof all fixed and the drains cleared out we are now ready.  What is the old saying….”If you build it they will come”?????????  Bring it on!

Tuesday’s Tidbits

As we enter week #7 of construction around here, I find myself blessed to be able to retire into my own world of sewing.  I’ve had several small projects to work on this week – the first being my small quilt project for this month.  I think these would make incredible placemats and am considering making them in different colors.



Be sure to tune in at the beginning of the month for the Minis and More parade of small quilts.  They can be found at Michele’s and Sherri’s blogs.

As well, I have been doing some pattern testing for Stephanie at Loft Creations.  The pattern is called Paper Dolls and you can see hints of it on Stephanie’s IG account @sadunphy.  I have been playing paper dolls with scraps and loved the way it turned out.  No full pictures yet……



Of course, I had to use up the HSTs so I made a little pillow to go with the doll quilt.



Continuing on the blue/tan idea, I made a scrap quilt top for our quilt guild.  Love the soft colors in this one.  I may have to do another one for here.



We had a few days away on a business convention in San Diego.  Although quite hot and very humid, it was great to get away.  We even grabbed an outdoor concert by comedian Brian Reagan – hysterical!! 

We have little ones joining us for a few days starting this afternoon so my computer time may be quite limited here.  I will be back soon.

Jelly Roll Revisited

Gosh….how many years ago did I do a Jelly Roll Race quilt?  Can it really be that I started it in 2012???  I can now say it is officially finished.




The back is a cross hatch fabric in orange and white to pick up the orange in the four patches and border.



The border is done in a lime green polka dot.  Another quilt top finished – all washed and crinkled.



It’s a three day weekend for us which makes us all smile.  Have a safe one!

For the Love of Pincushions

As I said on my last post, Ida at My Sister Made Me Do It blog is having a Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade starting today.  Link up a pincushion post with your favorite pincushions and you have a chance to be a winner of some lovely gifts, including a gift certificate from Green Fairy Quilts.


I have a few lot of pincushions in my creative world.  One would think that I would spend no time searching for my pins with my collection, but somehow that isn’t the way it is.  They always seem to hide themselves under piles of fabrics.  I guess they think I enjoy a good game of hide and seek while sewing.  I remember my mom and my grandmother always having pins between their lips while sewing.  Maybe they got tired of looking for their pincushions too. 

Here are most of mine in one grouping.



Of course, they all have a certain place where they belong in real life.  Over the years I have received pincushions from swaps...............



as gifts............

Made by my DIL with the grandchildren's thumbprints

Made by a  granddaughter when she was young.  It's filled with little bits of fabric and is a great pincushion.

......and pincushions made for hops.





Then there are two "oldies" in the collection.  My dad brought me the green one when he was traveling and the old red tomato is one that I remember from when I first started sewing - over 60 years ago.  These are treasured and not used.



So........do you have a special pincushion to share?