marden's trip

my monday trip to marden's was well controlled, bringing home only these 3 pieces.  the cheddar is 1 yard, the others half yards.  i'm thinking of enlarging my "blue cheese" bow tie project as they are just so darn cute!  and to find a good christmas fabric with a white background can be a challenge, so i usually get one if i see it.  **** raining cats and dogs again this morning, so an ideal day to stay in and finish the red/cream flimsy AND the halloween too, wouldn' t you say?  went to the library yesterday and stocked up on DVDs.  i only have to scoot out and get the paper. 

added some sparkly

though the photo is a bit difficult to see clearly, i've started doing some embellishing on the halloween piece.  on the hat are little silver stars with silver beads and on the shoes are green sequins with green beads.  i also gave one of the bats black-bead eyes.  if i work on this project only, it should be done for halloween; we'll see if that happens.  **** rainy and cool here today but i heard the phrase "43 to 49 overnight" on the local weather.  Yikes, 43 is only 11 degrees over freezing.  this isn't good news at all; inevitable yes, but not good.  **** another ominous news item was the very possible collapse of the government in Greece.  that's right, the ancient seat of governmental establishment itself could very well disappear.  what do you think this says about governments in other places?  an idea whose time has come and soon to be gone?  and what then? 

flimsy done

bit of a skewed view but yesterday i finished this flimsy and photographed it on my bed, for lack of a better place.  the 2 side rows are hanging off the bed and can't be seen, but you get the general idea.  this is completely assembled by hand, squares and top, and it will now be hand quilted with a wool batt.  that's Transfer-eze in the middle with the elaborately detailed quiting design....it's an urn and lots of feathers.  **** right now i'm mainly working on the halloween piece to finish by the end of the month.  yesterday i got my sparkly embellishments and it should be cute when done.  after that i get to quilt with 2 quilts now ready for the really fun part.  ***** took a break yesterday afternoon and met up with bonnie hunter and carol perkins at the famous marden's.  if you hop on over to bonnie's blog, you will see photos at some point; she had a very late arrival home so might be sleeping in this morning.  no doubt carol had a late return home to rangeley as well. *****  me i was up at 4:30 this morning and got some applique done already.  it's really feeling quite fallish here now.

only 4 days til....

friday night sew-in!  no big event since i usually sew most every day, but it's an event regardless!

won't be long

we'll be trimming the tree before you know it!  i made this little star for a reason, but then discovered it was too "modern" so i have to keep it....what a shame (not!), so it'll hang on my tree this year.  of course, that means i have to make another but no big hardship.  ***** this weekend i sewed a lot.  you've already seen the red/cream northwind and i have more of that piano key border done.  i also hand sewed on the amish pinwheel.  only 1 full row and half of another need to be sewn on, so it'll be a flimsy in no time.  once that's done, my hand work will focus on finishing the halloween piece.  looks like november is basting month, plus hand quilting of course.  i've got ideas swimming in my head for the large spaces on my center diamond quilt.  the red/cream is getting tied and i can quilt on the other 2, hoping at least 1 gets finished before the end of the year.  that'll give me 2 more big quilt finishes and the halloween piece, if all goes according to plan.  **** today i'll also be meeting up with bonnie hunter and show off the nearby Marden's.  I'm pretty sure she'll find SOMETHING she can't live without, even with her seemingly voluminous stash!  **** on another ominous note, i read on another blog about someone who was told by a shop owner that cotton fabric will go to $19 per yard....if that's true, many of us are sitting on fort knox-like stashes, so maybe i'd better stock up at Marden's today.  That's my reasoning and wouldn't be frugal to do otherwise, don't you agree?

red/cream flimsy and border idea

 as you can see, my design wall is woefully inadequate to display this flimsy best, but you get the idea.  i am so glad to see this flimsy done; just have to add the borders that i've auditioned here and i think they will work great.  plus i'll be busting more of those red scraps!  i'll even have some of that cute henry glass shirting fabric left over; plop, into the "light" stash!  red is so NOT my favorite color, but have to say i love this pattern and how it worked up.  again, it's a marsha mccloskey, so thank you marsha!  this will be tied and donated, recipient has already been chosen.  just in time for winter....this is a good thing!  **** this afternoon hope to finish adding the remaining 3 rows on the amish scrappy and then i can baste it with my wool batt.  i'm keeping this one and it's going right on my bed for the upcoming winter.  **** since i have lots of little project UFOs on my list for next year that i can finish quickly, i am thinking about making the hawaiian my primary project for the new year.  would be great if that could get finished in 2012.

a giveaway

janet over at http://www.roguequilter.blogspot.com/ is having a giveaway of 2 delicious scrap quilt books by lynn roddy brown!  to up the odds for ME, you don't have to leave a comment but chances are you will ignore that advice....LOL

real reality TV

bored?  then hop on over to http://www.wildlifecenter.org/ and check on the critter cam.  there is a hawk being rehabilitated for eventual release back into the wild.  he came in with a broken wing that has been surgically repaired.  last i read, he was ready for "mouse school," meaning they are going to teach him how to catch live mice!  also recent stories about 2 eagles that were found, both of which had to eventually be euthanized.  fully grown these birds are HUGE, stand about 2 or so feet tall with wingspan of about 30 feet.  it seems, though, they are somewhat fragile in contrast to their size.  one had been hit by a car or something, they think, and the other showed signs of some kind of poisoning.  it is sad to see such a majestic creature put down.  we were driving the interstate last week and did see an eagle, probably just under 5 years as his tailfeathers were recognizable as white but no full white head as of yet.  thought i'd post something a bit different from quilting and weather.

library sale

you know my rule about quilting books...if it doesn't fit on the shelf, out it goes.  fortunately, there was a smidgen of room left for these great used books i got at the library sale yesterday for seriously el cheapo prices.  there were plenty more, but they were thicker hard covers and i knew there wasn't enough room, so they got left behind.  there are a couple of new books i would like, but won't pay full retail and not sure i'd use them enough to warrant that anyway.  they are too new to be found used, so i'll wait and in the interim, might change my mind.  ***** yesterday sewed some rows together on the amish scrappy and on the red/cream northwind as well.  could be these 2 flimsies will be ready to baste at the same time.  the boston commons and christmas ribbons are ready to baste, plus a stack of small pieces, so one of these days it's going to be a big basting party.  then i can get back to quilting the amish center diamond; my fingers are itching to do just that.  *****  hard to believe thanksgiving is a just over a month away.  i have started my christmas shopping, though; just a few gifts for my immediate family.  first up, though is celebrating the birthday of my dear aunt who will be 91 next tuesday!

the ship is in!

no it's not MY ship, that's still cruising around someplace, but it's somebody's ship.  we trekked the 6-7 miles over to portland to see the new, larger terminal and this baby that had just come into port.  before this opened, portland couldn't handle the really big cruise ships and lamented every day over lost tourist dollars.  living here we totally forget that portland is a travel destination.  we saw plenty of buses at the terminal also, heading for locales like kennebunkport and LL Bean, other big tourist draws.  we saw plenty of street walkers with their jackets on.  i know one thing, if i go on a cruise i'm NOT taking my winter jacket.  *****  that roving quilter, bonnie hunter, has arrived in maine and off to rangeley for quilt camp, details here.  on a return trip from baltimore last year, my seatmate was a very pregnant young woman with her toddler.  she was going to visit her mother who just happened to be the very same carol perkins at threads galore, like how eerie is that?  anyway, i'm sure bonnie will find plenty to like about maine...she's northwest of here about 2 hours' drive, in the hinterlands which is probably quite beautiful right about now!