September NewFO & Other Goodies

My September NewFO is the Log Cabin Leaves quilt. I wrote a post about it here and here earlier this month. This is how far I’ve gotten on the blocks…

For a while now I have wanted to make a “leaf” block quilt, since we live in East Tennessee with lovely fall colors.

I have really enjoyed working with the batiks. I have a bunch of batik scraps from a project I did a few years ago, and this is a nice way to use them up. I’m not really following the directions for the strips along the outside of the leaves…I’m actually varying the widths of the strips and I’m making the overall block a bit larger than what is in the quilt pattern. I will probably end up making this big enough to be a bedspread on our bed in our trailer.

I will be linking up at the 2014 NewFO Challenge at Cat Patches. You can head over there and see all the new projects for September.

In other news…

We spent the first couple of weeks of September in our household with a respiratory virus, but I was able to complete a few other projects in the sewing room during September…

This is Teddy Bear Parade. I finally completed the quilting and got the binding on this one this month (after three years!). You can read more about this quilt right here.

I also participated in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy. The color for September is orange and I got some orange squares done to build some house blocks and I stitched a couple of hexie flowers with orange petals...

I also completed some coasters. Some of them are for gifts, but these pumpkin coasters are hanging out at my house…

I guess the only other exciting things that happened this month is my trip to AQS in Chattanooga (you can read about it here), and the continuing output of the garden. I think the garden is now starting to sputter (however, I don’t think the jalapenos will EVER go away), so I’m sure October will be a month to start clearing the garden out a bit. Our first frost is usually during the first week of November (we actually have snow quite often that first week), so I don’t think the tomatoes and peppers will be around long; but I’ve got plenty stored for the winter!

I’ve done my errands for the day, and this afternoon I will probably be spending much of my time baking bread and dealing with peppers from the garden. I hope to get in a little embroidery, but I don’t think I’ll get down to the sewing room today.

I hope you have all had a great September…and now, on to October!

Design Wall

My design wall has blocks from a new quilt I started this month, Log Cabin Leaves…

I’m enjoying working with the batiks and I think I will try to work on this quilt all through October and hopefully finish the top by the end of the month.

Head on over to Patchwork Times to see what everyone is working on.

Stash Report Week 39 of 2014

This week nothing came in and a little bit went out. I finished a couple of small gifts and used up ½ yard of stash fabric.

Next week I may not spend much time in the sewing room, but if I do I’ll try to work on the Log Cabin Leaves quilt blocks.

I’ll be linking up with the Stash Report over at Patchwork Times. Head on over to see how everyone is using up their stash.

Used year to date:    32.75 yards

Used this week:         0.5 yards

Added year to date:  66.25 yards

Added this week:       0 yards

Total net used 2014: 33.00 yards

(green means I’ve bought more than I’ve used)

A Lovely Year of Finishes – September Finish

My goal for September (#23 at the Goal Setting Party) was to finish quilting and binding my Teddy Bear Parade quilt. And I finished it!

I started this quilt for a baby (who is now 3 years old – my bad!), but life got in the way and I didn’t get it finished. I finally got the top finished and started quilting it in the early summer, then my sewing machine went on the fritz and I had to have it repaired. By the time I got my machine back, my interest in the quilt had fizzled…again. But, I pulled it out for September and finished it.

I used my walking foot to quilt wavy lines in the striped sections and in the border, then I made this quilting pattern for the teddy bear sections…

I think you can see most of the quilting in these photos…

I also like the red polka dot backing and the green polka dot binding.

This was a kit from Keepsake Quilting called Teddy Bear Parade. I think it turned out really cute and I’m glad it’s done!

I’ll be linking up at Fiber of All Sorts and Sew BitterSweet Designs for the ALYOF September Finishes Party. Stop by and check out all the wonderful projects.

Throwback Thursday – Fall!

I love the fall here in East Tennessee, and I’ve made a few quilts and wall hangings for the season. Today, I’ll show off a couple of fall wall hangings I’ve made in the past.

This photo is a small pumpkin wall hanging I made in 2011. I just used the shapes of various pumpkin patterns I’ve seen to make these up. It turned out pretty cute and hangs in the living room.

This little scarecrow was made for fall of 2013. I believe the pattern is from a Fons and Porter magazine from 2013. It’s all fusible appliqué and went together very quickly. It’s also hanging in my living room.

Design Wall Monday – It’s Fall, Y’All

The weather is starting to turn a little crisp here in East Tennessee…and I LOVE it! This is my favorite time of year and my design wall reflects that this week!

These are leaf blocks from this pattern from 2002 in McCall’s Quilting…

I have wanted to make a leaf block quilt for a while, but for some reason never got around to it. I stumbled across this pattern a few weeks ago and decided to pull out my batik scraps and get started on it. This quilt will probably take me a long time to complete, but I think I’ll enjoy working on it.

Head on over to Patchwork Times to see what everyone has on their design walls this week. And Happy Fall!

Stash Report Week 38 of 2014

I haven’t posted on the Stash Report for a couple of weeks…not much happening around my sewing room. However, this week I did add 6 yards (24 quarter-yard cuts) of batiks for a project I’m working on. There is nothing to count as going out though. I have mostly been working on piecing blocks in the sewing room, so I don’t have any completions, other than that I did finish this quilt…

However, this was a kit and it wasn’t fabric from my stash, so I’m not counting it out. Hopefully I’ll finish up some gifts soon and start counting fabric out again!

My goal for next week is to continue to work on blocks for this Log Cabin Leaves pattern with the batiks I bought...

…and maybe get some small projects completed.

I’ll be linking up with the Stash Report over at Patchwork Times. Head on over to see how everyone is using up their stash.

Used year to date:    32.75 yards

Used this week:         0 yards

Added year to date:  60.25 yards

Added this week:       6 yards

Total net used 2014: 33.50 yards

(green means I’ve bought more than I’ve used)

Rainbow Scrap Challenge – Orange Leaves

I started working on this Log Cabin Leaves pattern last week as part of the NewFO Challenge at Cat Patches

I pulled out all my batik scraps and started with the orange ones first. Here are four orange blocks. The one in the upper left corner is the only completely pieced block.

I don’t think I have many more batik oranges left, but I have plenty of “fall-ish” colors to make this quilt. I’m getting pretty excited about working on it.

That’s all the orange I worked on this week. I’ll be linking up at SoScrappy for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

AQS – Chattanooga, TN

This past Saturday my husband and I headed down to Chattanooga to the AQS Quilt Show. This is the third quilt show we have attended this year (and probably not the last – there are some smaller local ones in the next month or so). This show was much smaller than I anticipated. There didn’t seem to be as many contest quilts as I have seen in the other shows, and I just wasn’t blown away by any one quilt as I was at the other shows. That said, the quilts were beautiful, and I’m always amazed at the talent of quilters. I only took a few pictures, and none of the winners, but you can see the winners at this web page.

I have to admit that when I walked in the convention center I was immediately overwhelmed. I think the high ceilings do it to me J. It wasn’t overly crowded for a Saturday, but there were still plenty of people to contend with. I personally find this a problem when it comes to the vendor section. It is very difficult to look through the vendor stalls with all the other people in there. And I think these vendor spaces were smaller than any I have seen before. Even though we went to look at the quilts and at longarm machines, I was really looking forward to wandering through the vendor section to look at patterns. That didn’t get done L. Good news…I didn’t spend any money either!

The contest quilts were all great, but I only took a couple of photos of those. I really like this one of the barns…

I didn’t get a photo of the label (my bad) so I cannot credit the maker, but I really like the fun barn blocks. I’m making a quilt similar to this with different house blocks (making them up as I go), so I think that is why I like this one so much. I also like how she incorporated novelty fabric in the “grass” areas to show cows and sheep (I think she has pigs and chickens in other blocks too)…

This is just a fun quilt and though it wasn’t a ribbon winner, it was one of my favorites.

This quilt also jumped out at me as I walked around the corner and saw it…

I also didn’t get the label info on this one (man, am I slacking off!). The main reason I was struck by this one is that I made a roadrunner quilt a few years ago…

There was also a section of exhibit quilts that weren’t judged. I took a few photos of those quilts, as they “spoke” to me more than the others. There were a few quilts from the BadAss Quilters Society (I apologize for anyone who is offended, but that is their name – you can find them on Facebook or on the web for more information about them). This first one is from a pattern I’ve seen several times and I really love the pattern…it was great to see it in a quilt…

The next two were quilts my husband really liked. He liked the subdued colors…

Finally, one thing that really excited me was one of the first things I saw when we walked into the quilt show. Several months ago I bought a book from AQS called The Ancient Art of Applique – Patterns from the Tentmakers of Cairo.

The very first display we saw when we walked in was a table set up selling this same book, PLUS a couple of dozen of the actual quilts made up (and for sale). I love to see quilts made from patterns that I like, so this was a great surprise for me. Here is the first quilt you see when you walk into the exhibit…

All in all, it was a good day. It was a bit long…three hours of driving…and the ceramics store we also wanted to look at was closed, but we saw some lovely quilts and got some more information about longarm quilting machines. I think we have that figured out now. We just have to make the decision to buy it!

I'm looking forward to more quilt shows this fall!

Mid-Month Check-In & Design Wall Monday

Well, the first half of this month has been a bit of a bust. We’ve had whatever respiratory illness that is going around town hit us here, beginning over Labor Day weekend. So, I’ve been tending to sickies and I’ve been hit with it myself over the past couple of weeks. However, we are on the mend and probably in another day or so we will all be as good as new. Fortunately I feel fine now, so I’ve been able to do a bit more than I did the first week and a half of September. So, let’s see what’s been going on…

Whether we’re sick or not, the garden still keeps on going…and going…and going. You can read about the garden in this post.

On to the quilty stuff…

I had a few goals set for myself for the month of September. I wanted to finish quilting and binding this baby quilt…

You can read more about it here. The good news is I finished quilting this on Friday. The binding has been sewn on by machine, now I just have to flip the binding to the back and hand stitch it. I’ll be really glad when this is done.

I also wanted to start a project for the NewFO Challenge at Cat Patches. I found this pattern in a 2002 McCall’s Quilting magazine that I got from my mother-in-law a while back…

I have wanted to make a leaf block quilt for a while, and while looking through my magazines while I was sick I found this one. I figured this was a good one. So, this past week I got one block cut and started to put it together…

This is what is on my design wall, so I’ll link up over at Patchwork Times.

I also got a few orange projects done for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I got my squares made for my orange house blocks, then I put together a couple of hexagon flowers while I was hanging out on the couch sick. I also made a couple of pumpkin coasters. They turned out pretty cute. You can see them all here and here.

The only other things I’ve worked on this month are holiday gifts, so I’ll save those for later so I don’t spoil the surprise J. But here's a hint...

I was also able to attend the AQS Quilt Show in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Saturday; you can read more about that here.

I had so much more I wanted to accomplish this month, but maybe I’ll be able to get some of it done the last couple of weeks of the month.

Our Garden 2014

Our garden has done very well this year, and we’ve had a lot of fun out there working (and eating!). It’s starting to fade, but I pulled up the remaining green onions this week. They didn’t do very well this year, but we had enough to make a batch of salsa last night and there are still enough left to enjoy eating as is this week. Look at the pretty green…

I also dehydrated another batch of cayenne peppers yesterday. We’ve done about 10 batches in the dehydrator this summer and there are still more to go. I think I have about a pint worth of ground cayenne, plus enough dehydrated in the freezer to make another pint. I also cut up 50 jalapenos yesterday to put in the freezer. I already have a few more dozen cut up in the freezer, and we use several each week, so we have gotten a nice harvest of jalapenos. There are still several more dozen on the plants, so I’ll be up to my elbows in peppers. Look at the pretty green of the jalapenos…

I don't have a photo of the cayenne peppers, but the red cayennes and green jalapenos make me think of Christmas!

And the tomatoes…

I have about twice as many tomatoes than are in the above photo in the dehydrator today. Our grape tomato plants have just been so prolific, it’s been amazing. I’m going to have to go through all the bags of dehydrated tomatoes that are in the freezer and figure out how many I have. Our Roma tomatoes are about at the end of their life, so I think this upcoming weekend we will pull up those plants. We have been waffling back and forth about whether or not to pull up the grape tomatoes before the first frost in about 6 or 8 weeks. We will probably take that week by week, as long as they keep producing.

The only other plants in the garden are radishes, carrots, and sweet peppers. None of them have been very prolific this year, so we just eat those as they come and haven’t had enough to really preserve them. We still have beans and squash from earlier in the summer in the freezer, plus I canned pickles and blackberry jam. All in all, our garden has given us a wonderful bounty that we will be able to enjoy into the winter. I’m looking forward to planning next year’s garden!

RSC – Orange Again…

Well, it’s been a whole week since I last posted. This place has been a sick house since the 1^st of September with that icky cold that has been going around town. First my daughter, then me, now my husband. We’re finally all on the mend and raring to go (well, maybe just ready, not raring!). Anyway, my husband and I finally feel well enough to go to the AQS quilt show in Chattanooga today. It was close since this is the last day, but we’re heading out there. We also plan to stop by a ceramics store down there so I can start doing some more slip casting…it’s been a while!

While I was lounging on the couch last week (feeling cruddy, not eating bon bons!), I did pull out some hexagons that I cut out a couple of years ago for some hand work. I found the oranges and got a couple stitched together.

I think they are turning out cute and it made me want to work on them some more. It’s been about 6 months since I pulled them out. I think these are the only orange ones I had cut, but I may take some time this week to put a few more of these together.

I will be linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2014 over at SoScrappy. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge – Orange

Yay, Orange! I really like the color orange, so I was excited for this month’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I did a little bit this week. I got my orange squares done for my house blocks…

And for good measure, I also made some pumpkin coasters for the fall…

I have some more orange in the sewing room, so I’ll see what other projects I can come up with during the rest of September.

Check out the other lovely orange projects over at SoScrappy for the September Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

ALYOF and September Goals

My goal for ALYOF for September is to quilt and bind this baby quilt…

This is Teddy Bear Parade, a kit from Keepsake Quilting. I finished this top a few years ago and never got around to quilting it. I started to quilt it earlier this summer, than had tension problems with my sewing machine and had to have that taken care of, then never got back to the quilt. So, I WILL finish quilting and binding it in September. I will be linking up with the goal setting party here.

I think September may be a bit busy with finishing out the garden, doing outdoor projects (still and again!), and hopefully camping, so I hope to get some things accomplished in the sewing room in the meantime.

I want to join in the fun at Cat Patches with the NewFO Challenge, so I’ll need to find a fun project to start for that. I may look at one of the many books I have sitting on my sewing room shelves and select a project from one of those. I’ll let you know when I pick one!

I also want to join in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge at SoScrappy. The color for September is orange, so I’ll be making up some orange squares to build into house blocks. I love the color orange!

Hmmm…a couple of other things I hope to get around to…

I want to continue clearing out my scraps. That means cutting them up into usable pieces and showing no mercy with the bits and pieces that remain. I have a couple of more bins of scraps, so hopefully it will be enough to make more Split 9-Patch blocks for this project.

I also need to work on the Folk Art Cats blocks. I stopped in the middle of one a couple of months ago, and need to get back to it. Here are the blocks I have completed so far…

Maybe by the end of September I’ll have one more up there J

I also have a snowman wall hanging and some more snowman blocks I would like to do something with. Maybe I can get the wall hanging quilted and one of the blocks made into a mini quilt for my table top quilt stand. The other blocks I may just make into potholders and use as gifts for the holidays.

Oh, there are a few more things I’d like to work on, but I don’t know if I’ll get to them. I’ve been trying to organize my genealogy research better, as well as organizing the house before the holidays. Between that and working in the garden and on outdoor projects, I may not have as much time as I’d like in the sewing room.

Good things coming up in September…hopefully some camping, and the AQS Show in Chattanooga next week…and it will officially be fall…Woo hoo!!

I hope you all have a wonderful September!