Saturday's questions halloween version

 

grrrrr don't make me get off this chair!!!

nothing scarier than a mad poodle!!!

 

anyway, the questions from Saturday 9 today, with a few left off, are....

 3) Do you believe in ghosts?

A: well, we go on ghost walks while visiting historic towns, or did back east... I believe we come and go from a spiritual place, come back more than once even, so why would a spirit not want to return to Heaven in between lives? It's much nicer than earth. 

look what happened to the last guy I dealt with!

4)  Have you ever brought home an edible souvenir? Or do you prefer to remember your trips with something more lasting, like a coffee mug or t-shirt?

A: we brought back wine from Fess Parker's CA winery... lol. We often buy specialty food items when on vacation but not as souvenirs. I usually buy a Christmas tree ornament to remember a place.  

woooooooooo!

5) According to Reader's Digest, The Exorcist is the scariest movie of all time. Have you seen it, and if so, did it scare you? The ads were enough... I do NOT like horror flicks at all even the ads.Life is scary enough for me.

6) Which do you find spookier: haunted houses or cemeteries?

A: I think I went in one halloween house and hated the whole thing, but LOVE visiting cemeteries and grave yards. I read the tombstones, I imagine lives come and gone, I think they are lovely. We often visit them especially when touring historic areas. 

Our Maryland neighborhood was originally a farmstead along the Severn River, and one home was built on original farmhouse site with graves. The new owners sort of let the graves fall into oblivion but I walked right up to visit them.

7) What's the most recent Halloween costume you wore?

I love to dress up. Most recently my husband and I were pirates, I wore my Renn. costume (being a wench for 12 years was a good thing)  with pirate extras but the corset was the imp part of that. DH changed up his Renn. costume to become a dashing pirate with earrings and big sword... heh heh

8) When you were a kid, did you trade your Halloween candy with siblings or friends?  

A: I probably shared, and parents probably took some as I slept but my siblings were married by the time I was 5. No sharing with friends... it was so much fun to tip out the bag and see the candy.

9) Random question: You meet your very friendly new neighbor. She invites you over for a "get acquainted" cup of coffee tomorrow afternoon and you accept. Then you learn that she was once on trial for an axe murder ... but acquitted. Would you still go over to her house?

I wouldn't go over in the first place these days!!! In the olden days, that would spook me... innocent people get charged but mostly guilty people get off on technicalities. Crazy and mean people look normal... so... be careful out there!

linking to

Saturday 9 where you'll find answers from fun people!

Sewing Saturday

I don't know where the week went but I know I did sew. 

I sewed enough to finish one book and get through 2/3 of the next while working! 

this block is from a 1980's book but Deb at (https://vtquilter.blogspot.com/)

 redesigned it. It's slow going but I finished this one by hand in the evenings, and have several more yellow ones cut out, marked, sorted and ready to sew too. 

 We finally put up a curtain rod to hang quilts in the family room, and when we did I noticed the mantel easel quilt had one of my roses, not right for the season... so....sew....

I designed and made a 12" X 14" thankful quilt to go with the home quilt and Thanksgiving!

It deserves it's own post to tell you how I made it but this is a teaser...
 

I am hand stitching the black shot through with gold threads binding onto the art deco leaves piece

click on images to enlarge them for detail

 and then plan to add a row of tiny crystal beads just along the inside border

I started the log cabin blocks... 

organizing the strips and bits into drawers to use as I chain piece them

here they are with about 4 rounds left to go on each one to make them as large as the other colored blocks are. I kind of love them around the endless star, right? 

leftovers from the home and thankful quilts

so I'll be doing a post showing close-ups of the little one finished this week, probably on Monday but those reverse applique bits came from the process...

 like sour dough starter...

 one block leads to another

Craftsy is not honoring my bluprint membership, customer service suggested I purchase another membership but when you do it goes to auto renewal at a price so high I don't see it as valuable to me. 

Don't know what I'll do, but for now I am watching some youtube videos.

 this first version would be so cute with Christmas fabrics!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7F7LCX-z7c 

Linking to

http://www.myquiltinfatuation.com/ 

http://www.inquiringquilter.com/ Wednesday wait loss
Midweek makers wednesdays

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays
sew can do mondays

oh Scrap Sundays

 slow stitching Sundays

scrap happy Saturdays

I Like Thursday # 217

It's looking a lot like Halloween!

If it's Thursday, it's time for the I Like list, so lets dive in shall we? 

Adult trick or treat

We went from 80's to 2F and had about 8" of snow this week. It did not put out the wildfires but slowed them enough to see the sky for several days, which includes sun to melt the snow a little. 

put up hooks this weekend to display quilts

last year's quilt

hung up one of the older Fall quilts

chicken souvlaki for lunch

Fine Dining

I made chocolate chip oatmeal sugar cookies this weekend, from my Gasparilla cookbook. 

They are tried and true.... until you try to bake them in high altitude. We tried different temps and times and suffered through eating them fresh from the oven on each attempt. We stored them in tupperwear and they were too hard to bite into the next day. I put a wet paper towel in the container overnight and they softened enough to eat. 

I also discovered, sorry no pics, that you can use leftover breaded chicken strips to make a chicken parm. Small baking dish, chicken, tomato pasta sauce, mozzarella cheese, parm cheese, heat in the oven til it's hot and serve over angel hair. Fast easy and delish.

 Sewing

working on a mantel quilt

I made a mantel quilt to go with the Home quilt hanging next to the mantel... I put on things we are thankful for and will show it tomorrow

Reading

 finished my book by Jodi Thomas on audio... very fun story of a Texas family's escapades

started a Jude Devereaux which is shaping up to be good... a guy must go back to earth to correct wrongs from another life, sent back by the head angels... will he do it right?

Watching

I discovered a new -to- me show on netflix... Emily in Paris. Kind of modern show of a young 20 something who wears fab clothes, and enjoys learning the new culture of France while working in advertising. It's a scripted comedy. 

Dancing with the stars sent home one of my faves but still there is Johnny Weir and Nev Shulman. 

bachelorette... oy vey... this eejit came to the show after already getting to know one of the guys before hand so she's wasted everyone's time since she decided on him before it even started. They are replacing her with a woman I do enjoy from the previous season... smart and funny so hopefully it will give me some viewing pleasure. 

Amazing Race... simply awesome to watch especially when we're stuck in one place

Online

I LOVE jigsaw puzzles... here's a fall leaf puzzle

https://www.jigsawexplorer.com/online-jigsaw-puzzle-player.html?puzzle_id=two-fall-leaves 

can you tell I'm tired of people hating other people? I am... bone tired of it. This soothed my weary spirit this week:

just in case it doesn't play 

Here's hoping enough people are also tired of it, and want us to become "united" states again.

I love my friend Sonja in Hawaii... we are sympatico and she sent me the link to youtube series called Green Renaissance with heart warming stories of real people. We are all important, and all should be respected. We NEED each other. 

remember this...

 just in case it doesn't work here

Put on a mask for the common good... the death of so many Americans a day and the constant threat of it has worn me down. 

(only one ear left??? but trying to wear a mask)

MILO's MOMENT

Me defrosting after a snow-scursion this week

Milo here to inform and entertain! Yep, it's aaaallllll up to the poodle!

well after the snows came and went my pawrents got the stupid idea to give me a bath and cut my hairs. Well you can bet I put up a stink! 

Mama: yes, you sure stink!

Daddy: it was awful

Milo: hey! what's a little peepee on the legs matter? Is that worth touching my feet with a shaver? 

I'm SURE the snow melted it off! 

anyway....now I smell like soap!

watch me play here...

in case, this is the link

Please visit Mama's friends to see their lists too!

http://livelylatte.blogspot.com/

https://www.mmmquilts.com/ 

https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/ 
maryinpeoriahandmade.blogspot.com 
http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com 

 craftscaviescontras 

  https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/  

grammajudyb.blogspot.com

   http://littlepenguinquilts 

daybyday12101.blogspot.com/ 

 

 http://www.piecefulthoughts.com

http://homesewnbyus 

  http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/ 
https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/  

 

https://lavenderdreamstoo.blogspot.com/  
https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/   

http://dreamworthyquilts.blogspot.com/

https://100sweets.blogspot.com/

 

the knitty quilter

https://quiltschmilt.wordpress.com/blog-posts/        

 

not posting this week

https://faithtrustandbreastcancer.blogspot.com

LINKING WITH

rosie and the boys nature pics  

friday smiles at a stitch in time 

Thankful Thursdays pet parade

https://www.myslicesoflife.com/ 

http://newthursday13.blogspot.com/
http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com
http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/

T is for Chooseday

 

T is for Chooseday, when I join my friends at Bleubeard and Elizabeth to talk about creativity and what we're sipping. 

Yep, that's wine. Riesling usually. When my husband finishes work for the day, I leave the studio and we meet outside for wine and chat. If the air is clear enough of smoke and it's not snowing like it was last Friday and Sunday that is. 

I want to escape...

in case you need it the link 

 If I was a musical style, it might be this... or a mix of this plus the sentimentality of WW2 music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jwPqDVtsTU 

Or jazz. Or Brazilian or love songs! No the humor and irreverence of thr 20's probably. 

what would you be? If you were a musical style? Note, not just what you like but what style would you BE?  

some of you wanted to see my Halloween quilt, and the post all about it is HERE with close ups of the ghost beads along the bottom

My design wall is full of color...

During the day I'm still having cold tea, it's a habit that's hard to change even in winter! This time it's made of cinnamon tea bags and green decaf mixed.

 

I am working in the studio this week, working on some Fall pieces and hung several Halloween quilts around the house. 

 

Since we had over 24 hours of snow this week, it's looking more like winter though. I think the overnight low was supposed to be around 5F so long underwear was needed.

We changed the closets to winter clothes after just changing them 5months ago to summer, and I was surprised they weren't more crowded (winter clothes are bulky) so  my purge of things I no longer wore must have worked. I will be so tired of my clothes after wearing them over and over... I do miss shopping in person. It's not safe to be in close contact with people however. 

 gotta go defrost the poodle

Happy Tuesday y'all

LINKING TO

Bleubeard and Elizabeth

Sewing round up for the week

 

another week has gone by, the elephants have been playing in the pumpkin patch, and I've been sewing a little! 

I did a post yesterday on this year's Halloween quilt finish... see that **HERE**

Now for the Rainbow Scrap challenge party... remember the little cut away half square triangle blocks from the lozenge blocks? I made them into leaves this time, showed them last week? 

I've been trying to finish the borders on them... The yellow one I think of as Art Deco is ready to quilt

I used madeira sparkly gold thread and went around all the block areas, and then thought about the corners...

I got out my design books on the nouveau style, my circle acrylic templates and my chalk pencil

my pics were done at night, but there are circles in each corner, straight lines connecting them in the side triangles, and I started quilting wavy lines in the willowy border

Not sure if I like this but I think it will be nice. My plan after quilting is to bind it in a black fabric with a metallic gold fiber shot through... or gold tissue lame, we'll see. 

Each step of the way this week, I had so many decisions to make... how big to do borders, how to insert the geese in my log cabin quilt...

They need to fall in the right place on the quilt, and look like they were inserted into the scene...

and make do with the amount of fabric I have which isn't much...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sewed all the logs together, pieced in the bottom geese, and sewed that unit together

and sewed the right side geese into the border fabric I had

so I have more decisions to make, which border goes on next, how will I shape them?

yikes! I think I will do a blue binding so the whole piece will feel unified. I have loved it but now the blue is taking over so things may change. 

Next week I'll do the improv log cabins in Yellow to finish out the month. 

yes, please

LINKING TO

wendysquiltsandmore peacock party (quilts)

off the wall Fridays
can I get a whoop whoop Fridays  

 scrap happy Saturdays

"Halloween Row " quilt of 2020

 

"Halloween Row"   21.5" X48"

This year's Halloween quilt, and I have done one each year since we got married (26 years) is done and hanging up on the wall! 

I am so happy with how it turned out!

I won't go into all the design decisions, but I started it a while back with Joy's magic circle blocks and my scrap bag of halloween scraps, just for fun!

You never know what something will turn into! After I made them I started wondering what else I could put with them, and...
 

I like how the quilting turned out, emphasizing the circle blocks.  I used metallic sparkly copper, blue, purple and black threads to quilt it so it shimmers in person. On the above photo look for applique ghosts and ghost button embellishments, bat appliques, and skeleton button

I decided to use an older solid fabric for the backing, as I get precious about wall quilts and not using prettier fabrics on the backs  that are not meant to be seen. You can see quilting on solid though!

You can see  I did use a cute scrap with tweety and sylvester for the sleeve however. I was going to bind it in black but changed to dark purple on sides, and a purple batik for top and bottom. Happy.

Then time for beading!!! I had all kinds of things I wanted to use for fringe.

I use a thread made for quilting, a thin eyed longer needle and bury the knots. I looked thru my alphabet and couldn't find O's so I used Q's for the word BOO at the bottom, and got busy during a chat with Joy one afternoon. A zoom bee sort of!

I had the cutest square sequins to scatter in the bottom row but decided it didn't add much

Detail shots of the fringe... skulls, hearts, gold balls and ghosts!

hope you've enjoyed looking at this with me. 

I learned how to make the little blocks and that I enjoyed orienting my scrap strips row by row... 

I haven't done that before

I love using a collection in quilts! That I've done often, to see your pretty fabrics in one place. I love doing seasonal quilts too, and bringing them out every year. 

Funny but each time I make one I say, this is my favorite!

 

 

now, on to the next to on the wall... I've been busy sewing borders on this week, piecing in those tiny geese units, keeping the color and scale balanced... more tomorrow on those. They came from the cut off half square triangle units from the lozenge blocks!

you never know where one block will lead you!

for more Halloween quilts from other years scroll down  HERE 

 

LINKING TO

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays

wendysquiltsandmore peacock party (quilts)
http://frombolttobeauty.blogspot.com/
off the wall Fridays
can I get a whoop whoop Fridays 
tgiffriday