Little Progress

 I can say I have done some limited quilting.

My biggest accomplishment this past couple of weeks is to say I finished  the top for this quilt.

Sorry to say, I do not have an updated photo.  But to the edges I had added a one inch blue border. And then I gave up on the pieced border of Bonnie Hunter's Frolic and just added a larger blue piece of the same fabric. I caved.  I just couldn't visualize and mathematically figure out how to  add the half square triangles. I had them made and even pieced into sides. It was too busy and it was off with the measurements. I did not want to stretch or adapt the sides to fit and therefore have waves. 

These colors are blah compared to the brown carpet.  

But it is at the quilters.  Hooray! One Christmas present off .

In the past couple weeks, we have had a large variation of fall weather.  The beautiful leaves turned and impressed us with its grand colors next to beautiful blue skies. And then it rained and rained and the colors dropped leaving a few trees with leaves, but not the sparkling reds and oranges. So early only October 25. 

 

     

I have continued to make a 2nd wool tree for Christmas.  It is funny how much easier the 2nd one was and how much quicker I was able to finish it.  One for sister and one for me. Easy to do but tedious. 

The base is a DollarTree pine tree. The needles are all cut off ( in a paper or plastic bag).  Then you fringe the wool strips and wrap around the branches from the center out gluing with Tacky Glue. Sorry, I do not have photos.  The differences in the 2 trees are the color of the green wool. 

 

Additional progress on my row by row Halloween quilt. 

Here is what I have together so far.

This is the cute witch and frog without buttons for eyes. It is a Kimberbell booklet pattern. So cute!

 Next is a pieced row of flying geese using 2 triangles with a balanced color on each side from the center square.

The next row, I just played around with pieced pumpkins and black and white background. These stages were done last year. What is new about the pumpkins is the addition of ricrac which I actually made dimensional. I may add some lime green leaves. 

Then I have another pieced border of piano keys but with offset black squares.

And there it is.  I need 2 additional rows one with I think will be a cat, bat, and spider

and some wording and lastly a border.  Tentative plans: the creative process goes on. 

I have been missing blogging, but not having the time to do so. 

Retreat

 I was so happy to get away for a sewing weekend.  It felt good to talk with PEOPLE! And it was wonderful to share ideas and get some concentrated sewing done.   We went to Oshkosh, and stayed at a hotel which also included a room for the 8 of us to sew in. We brought a lot of our own food and prey much stayed put. No shopping or excursions. But that was fine. 

I was thrilled to get this finished.  It has been a struggle to get the blocks done for my last row. This was a row by row for my guild.  I had started the top one and then passed it to 4 other quilters. I decided to redo the bottom row. I searched Pinterest for images and then printed and sized them for piecing. 

The final block is the one in the middle of the row and was redone completely. 

Now I will add some vehicles, trees, cars, etc. to add more details to the blocks. I had originally thought wool, but am just going to add cotton fabric. 

Then this little buddy has taken over a week to complete.  This started out as a dollar tree Christmas tree in a box.   All the little needles were cut off, and that was a project in itself.  This was started a year ago. I missed the demonstration for gluing the wool to the branches.  I recently sought out my friend who showed me how to attach the wool with Tacky glue.  It took 3 evenings including football games and lots of extra cuttings of the wool. I guess it is about 12 inches or so tall. 

I thought I would share my front porch fall decorations. I have enjoyed some Youtube videos and fall crafting.  The leaves are turning and the weather has gotten considerably colder. Even the heat has come on in the house and I switched over to my winter quilt. My husband has raked his first batch of leaves. There will be more; the colors around here are beautiful. 

                

I am so thrilled to be featured on Quiltfabrication's blog today. https://www.quiltfabrication.com/

Susan always has such wonderful projects herself, but I love her Midweek Makers.