INTERNATIONAL SIGGIE SWAP

I received this lovely siggie from Saskia, from the Netherlands. She used the same autumn design on the siggie and in her letter. Very nice!

12 DAYS, PART 4

Lady Dancing

Lord a Leaping

Pipers Piping

Drummer Drumming

Here's Part 4 of Esther Aliu's 12 Days of Christmas mystery BOW. These were very fun to work on! Now that I have this itty bitty applique down, I almost hate to move on to the final two parts of the quilt, which are not applique, LOL! Remember my whining during Part 2?

It's a glorious day here. We are having our first snow. It's not sticking, but what started as little spits this morning, is now big fluffy flakes! Very pretty!

12 DAYS, PART 3 FINISHED

Tonight I finished Part 3 of Esther's 12 Days of Christmas mystery. This is a 6 week BOW, so I must be half way there. It feels good to be keeping up!

Maid a Milking

Swan a Swimming

Goose a Laying

Golden Ring


I'm sticking with fusible applique and then doing all the stitching by hand. My Maid's face/hair is a button, as is my diamond. The ring is some braid I found in my drawer. Thanks for the fun patterns, Esther. I love taking your super patterns and then tweaking them to make them 'my own.'

INTERNATIONAL SIGGIES ARRIVE

Several siggies have arrived recently. This adorable Dutch girl came from The Netherlands.

And these two siggies came from sisters, who live on the same street!

12 DAYS, PART 2

Partridge in a Pear Tree

Turtle Dove

French Hen

Calling Bird

These are photos of my baubles from Esther Aliu's 12 Days of Christmas BOW. This is Part 2, just in time, as Part 3 comes out tomorrow. Well actually it's already up a day early. I am really trying to keep up here, for a change!

The applique pieces are very tiny. I redid my first two baubles. I'm now using fusible applique with Steam a Seam 2 Light. That way I can place the pieces and stick them down, but still reposition them if needed, before the final adhesion. Some of the tiny ones (like beaks and eyes, I'm placing with tweezers. All of the stitching is by hand, using DMC floss. This first batch took forever, especially with the redoes, but now that I have my products and methods down, I think Week 3, which is 4 more baubles, will go faster.

You can find a link to this project in my sidebar on the left.

CHRISTMAS COTTAGES SWAP

These are the rest of my Christmas Cottages, ready for the swap. Seems that house blocks are everywhere just now.

CHRISTMAS COTTAGES SWAP

I had so much fun making Christmas Cottages. The fabric with Santa in his sleigh was part of my DJ secret pal gift. It was perfect for this swap. In the one set Santa is already in the house, and he's flying by in the other set. I have more sets done also, that I'll share later.

IN DISGUISE

Thought I'd share this funny photo of me. DH took the pic in our yard today. I've been having some eye trouble, and it is majorly exacerbated by sunshine, so I bought this new Tilley hat yesterday. Tilleys are made in Canada, and I've been paying more attention to where things are coming from lately. Canada is good!

It works! I wore it this morning walking Tahquamenon Falls in bright sunshine. Lots of 'Go Green' and 'Go Blue' being said there! Off to watch the Michigan State vs. Michigan game. You can tell which team I'm for! Go Spartans!

LOCAL HOUSES SWAP

 

 

 

 

These terrific blocks from the local houses swap have arrived! In this swap, we all used the same pattern, but used fabrics, etc., that reflect where we live and our interests. I LOVE how they turned out! I took individual photos so that you could see all the detail gals put in. I'm debating between making a wall quilt for my sewing room with them, or a cuddle quilt so I can hug my on-line quilty friends. Either way, it's a great neighborhood, and a great way to get to know each other better.

Dear Jane Oct. gift

 
Here's what my secret sister sent this month. Another lovely DJ block and chatty letter. Also a mini lint roller, note pads for the fridge, and yummy chocolate! She is such a sweetie!

12 DAYS, STEP 1

This afternoon, I finished up Step 1, of Esther Aliu's 12 Days of Christmas BOW, 12 foundation pieced diamonds. It is a 6-week BOW, with the next step posted on Wednesdays. Surely even I can keep up for just 6 weeks, LOL! Fingers crossed.

BLOCK LOTTO FOR OCT.

No year of liberated blocks on Block Lotto would be complete without liberated stars. I learned to make these at a retreat with Gwen Marsten a couple years ago, so these were quick and easy to do.

No, I didn't win last month, on the houses. So perhaps I'll just have to sew up some more for myself, LOL!

CHRISTMAS STARS

I just finished the last of 25 star blocks for the swap I'm in. We could use any 6" star pattern. I chose a 4-point rolling star pattern. Colors were to be red/green/tan/gold. I think they turned out fine, and am looking forward to getting them back. They will be used with blocks from other swaps I've done, in a larger quilt. At least that's the current plan, LOL!

I'M HONORED

Joan over at Moose Stash Quilting has honored me with the Sunshine Award. It is given to bloggers who have influenced you with their creativity and positive attitude.

It's a wonderful way to connect with inspiring blogs. When you receive the award you are supposed to pass it on to 12 other blogs. I'm suggesting you visit my blogs I follow on my sidebar. They are all inspiring, and wonderful! I gain so much from them. They are listed in order of most recent post, so it's easy to see when there's something new to check out.

This whole world of online quilting and quilt blogging has brought so much sunshine into my life. I'm happy if I can pass that on to others too.

NEW FREE BOW

Esther Aliu (Red Delicious and In the Pink) is launching a new Block of the Week. Yes, BOW. A new block will be posted each Wednesday. A complete project in 6 weeks! Just in time for Christmas. Find it here.

FINAL LIBERATED HOUSES

Here are my last three houses for Block Lotto for Sept. I have my fingers crossed to win this month, because I think these will make a super quilt.

And here's a real-life liberated house. We walk by it on our beach walks. It reminds me of Noah's Ark, perhaps left high on a Lake Superior dune, LOL! The builders were certainly liberated in their thinking, and here, in the UP of MI, it sort of fits right in! Many things are quirky here.

ANOTHER TYPE HOUSE

House blocks seem to be everywhere this month. Block Lotto blocks this month are wonky houses. These are very fun, but I think a bit harder than just following a pattern, like the Christmas Cottages. I have 6 blocks done, but would love to finish 3 more, for the maximum of 9, to increase my chances of winning!

FALL-O-WEEN HOP

There's going to be another great designer blog hop! Remember the one last year when they talked about Christmas memories, and gave away great prizes? It's the same gals cooking up this one. I'm adding a link to the hop on my side bar, as well as here.

CHRISTMAS COTTAGES

These are my first two cottages for the Christmas Cottages Swap. It's a nice opportunity to get creative, as we can add embellishments in any way, or not, to make these look Christmasy.

Does the snowman in the window of one, and the Santa and reindeer flying on the roof of the other look familiar? They are from my DJSS, in my last post. They were perfect for this project!

DJSS SEPT. GIFT

My Dear Jane Secret Sister sent another wow gift this month. Again she sent a chatty letter and DJ block (always the best parts). Also I received 3 Christmas fat quarters, some perle cotton (to use making the shashiko bags I talked about the past couple months), and felt autumn leaf Favorite Findings. I've already started using the Christmas fabric, and will post about that project soon.

GIVEAWAY

Jeanneke is having a give away of some of her doll quilt patterns. Check it out here.

INTERNATIONAL SIGGY SWAP

This adorable cat siggy arrived in my mail from Mary in the Netherlands. DH was most impressed that I'm already getting international mail sent up here, in the UP.

I love her corner fabric, and the cat is all hand embroidered. Very nice!

Mary and I are both in The International Siggy Swap group, which you can learn about by scrolling down on the left.

I WON!!!

Well, I didn't win this exact $10, but a gift certificate to Quilt in a Day for $10. I've completed the Fab Shop Hop, you know where you hunt bunnies in on-line shops, maybe 4 or 5 times. I've never won a thing, nor have I ever known anyone who did. But in the July Hop I won this.

I love the Quilt in a Day site and can probably get 3 yards of sale fabric for the $10, or one of Eleanor's books, or.....................

It's not a new sewing machine, or $100's in fabric or the like that the top prizes are, but hey, winning at all is nice!

EXCITING FINDS

We recently sold our house in FL, and of course that means going through everything. Every time we move (quite a bit!), I seem to find some treasure, long forgotten. Well, this one is really long forgotten. Like for over 40 years.

For a long time I've kept a bag that I made in high school, with macrame on the front and handles. For years it lived at my grandmother's house (I lived with her from 7th grade on) but when she died I took the bag and contents. Well I knew it contained my Girl Scout Cadet uniform, souvenirs from my junior year trip to Mexico, and some papers. But what I didn't know, or forgot was what the papers were. That is until I found it last month, and emptied it to give the bag to my DGD.

While living with Grandma, I became interested in quilting, but she didn't quilt. Some other relatives did, but she mainly embroidered and crocheted. But she found some old patterns in her house, gave them to me, and I kept them all these years.


This one is called "Quilts" and the copyright is 1945 by The Spool Cotton Company. The price in the red corner is 10 cents.

Inside are the patterns for many quilts commonly made today -- Storm at Sea, Irish Chain, Basket of Flowers, Red Cross, Hearts and Gizzards, etc.

The introduction gives a brief history of quilting in America and strongly encourages women to "Cherish and promote this art steeped in tradition." Next are two pages of general directions. How to trace and cut your cardboard templates, etc., all the way through putting your quilt on a frame and hand quilting it, which says is done with a straight up and straight down stitch (no needle loading) is "the only correct way." Quilt Police must have been alive and well in the 40's, LOL!

This book is really an interesting read. A true treasure found! More on this topic later.

HAPPY LABOR DAY, USA FRIENDS