the quilting so far

if you look closely, i hope you are able to see the extensive quilting i've done on this center square.  i decided to use matching thread to see the result and i am pretty happy with how it looks.  i've read the amish use matching thread for humility, but my reasons are purely experimental.  believe me when i say i'm not trying to hide perfect 13/inch stitches here.  did i mention i absolutely LOVE amish quilts?  i think i did once or twice.  **** up again in the night.  sometimes when i have only a light supper, i wake up hungry in the night.  a container of yogurt fixes that.  

bonnie's mystery post script

kept wondering where i'd seen this color combo before; it's not my usual at all.  then tonight it finally came to me....mardi gras colors!  green, purple, yellow (sort of)...here's hoping it's DONE by mardi gras....LOL.  poor bonnie, off on another cruise.  i'll keep her in my daily prayers hoping she can tolerate such despair!  no, not jealous at all.  it looks like terrific fun and i'd love to go on a cruise, but the ship would have to stay on terra firma or chained at the dock, hardly likely.

clarification

a comment to an earlier post questioned my mention of "nationality."  Our complex is close to employers who specifically hire immigrants and so the majority of tenants is predominantly non-WASP, no slur intended and no big deal.  i've lived in a lot of situations while homeless and trying to get re-settled since 1993 and experienced good and bad in ALL people, including (sadly) people i've known at churches i've attended for many years.  we try to be respectful, considerate tenants, even to the point of not flushing our toilet in the night because of the noise.  often i rise early but don't watch TV or use the sewing machine because of possible noise.  if there is pot smoke or burning incense smoke coming in my window, it's because it's too strong, in too close proximity or it's directly outside my window in the parking lot.  ordinary household smells cannot be avoided when living in close apartments.  paying one's rent is NOT carte blanche to do whatever whenever without any regard to others in a complex such as this.  i have never believed that immigrant equals ignorant but neither did i just arrive here from sleepy hollow.  even when i owned my own stand-alone house, there was a suspicious skunk in my driveway for 2 weeks straight, even on rainy nights.  i'm pretty sure it was a 2-legged one.  real skunks know enough to stay in out of the rain.   

quiltville mystery

yesterday bonnie posted some color ideas for her upcoming mystery but i was way ahead of her...for once!  i had already pulled mine and here they are.  why these, you ask?  simply according to how much i have in my stash.  she's using red/blue/black; i don't have any black stash at all, only some solid.  i have been collecting cheddar pieces recently and i knew it would WOW.  what else then?  not blue for a change, but purple and then green.  i do have to pick up a few greens and purples, though, as i simply don't have the quantity of stash in any color that many others do...except for blue.  i vetoed red simply because i just finished a predominantly red quilt.  of course i do have enough lights for background.  after christmas it's time to reorg the stash again by color to see exactly how much i have of each.  next to the strip stash to see what's there i can use.  ******   not much to show quilt-wise as i've been quilting on the center diamond.  i've just about finished the center square and have designs planned for the rest of the quilt now.  been making a few stencils to use from my oldie but goodie books by shirley thompson, the first titled "the finishing touch" and her second one as well...title escapes me at the moment.  i bought these books back in the early 1980s and have used them frequently for design ideas ever since....a worthwhile investment i'd say.    

november 1st finish!

so happy to start november off with the finish of the northwind!  i think it's a beauty and sort of hate to part with it, but it is spoken for.  i'll just have to make another just as beautiful.  next up is the amish center diamond to quilt.  i wanted to do the pinwheel first, but it isn't basted and i don't have the backing either.  for machine work, i'll finish the autumn change flimsy and then start on the carolina christmas.  inbetween i'll work on miscellaneous small things and whatever gets finished, stays OFF the 2012 list.  this year i'm not really doing any christmas gift sewing, well none planned as of right now anyway.  off to start the day!

a happy halloween means...

no snow AND melting the little we do have.  seriously, now the weather gurus are talking about 60-degree weather?  why?  it's new england...it changes THAT often.   ***** this photo was on my brother's facebook page and i copied it for here.  i told him they weren't ordinary shoes!!!  **** i am now sewing down the binding on the red/cream and have sewn some on the autumn change today.  the a/c got put away today for another summer.  the laundry got done as well as a bit of cooking.  with november comes waning autumn and the always-dreaded winter.  not much can be done to avoid it, just buck up and wait for spring. 

it's christmas! er...halloween!

despite our snowy ground, 3-4", it is really only halloween here.  thanks to the ocean for the modulation in snowfall here, another good reason for coastal living.  last night i got the halloween witch bound...so cute don't you think?  i still have to quilt around a few of the letters and finish quilting around the shoes but it will definitely be put to use today.  then i can start binding the red/cream.  i put up the folding banquet table to tie the red/cream and pin on the binding, so i'm anxious to put it away as there is no room to keep it up for long, though it would be a tremendous help if i could.  **** got my flu shot  yesterday so i am just as happy to really relax today.  will have to get the paper at some point, though.  ***** next on the list is to get back to quilting the amish center diamond.  i should be able to get this done by the end of the year, lopping off another on my UFO list.  the autumn change flimsy should get done as well.  after that, want to get my carolina christmas flimsy done....that one will be tied as well, so many seams you know, so that will be a quick finish as well.  ***** going into my second year with no job.  it feels like living in the 'twilight zone' as only in maine have i been unemployed for such extended periods of time.  i can't say it enough.....i hate vacationland.

a finish

here is the little fall table topper i finished from some errant swap squares that were lounging in the stash.  you can see the Celtic-type quilting design in the brown squares.  not really a masterpiece but no longer orphans, plus it counts as a 2011 finish.  not sure what i'll do with it, might end up as a giftie for someone....time will tell.  **** today's agenda?  finish quilting halloween witchie and bind; if there is time left in the day, finish tying the red/cream and pin on the binding.  those 2 tasks should eat up 24 hours until tomorrow, plus some sleep of course.  winter will be with us overnight and tomorrow, so won't be venturing out until it leaves.  hopefully the promised temps of 41 will take away icky snow PDQ!

inconsiderate neighbors

we had to go through a lengthy investigative process to get an apartment in this complex; management claimed they were that discriminating.  for some time, unfortunately, the management has no longer been so particular about to whom they rent.  there have been and still are nasty pot smokers in the building, down the hall from us, same side i think.  someone also parks right in front of my bedroom window and then leaves about 11:30 pm or so, putting on their high beams, literally flooding my bedroom with light, which often awakens me.  the nationality is insignificant; these people are downright rude.  they belong out in the woods someplace with the rest of the animals.  tonight, for example, after they smoked their pot, they started cooking to mask the smell.  this is a no smoking indoors complex, but people who think they are entitled ignore that.  they only do it at night so they don't get caught, which wouldn't bother me in the least.  just goes to prove there are heinous turds from every corner of the globe.

dodged a bullet

meaning the snow bullet....places west and south of us got some but not us....not yet anyway.  but this weekend is another storm and we might not be so lucky.  *****  here's a photo of a new project.  remember the lilac pinwheel puzzle?  i decided to make another using batik fabrics. i love the pattern and had some batik scraps, so thought it would be pretty done up in those fabrics.  other than cutting the squares, i haven't started it yet.  first comes the witch wallhanging and to tie the red/cream northwind.  after that i'll finish the "autumn change" flimsy and continue quilting on the amish center diamond.  i'll get a lot more done now that stormy/cold/snowy weather is arriving.  ***** i did finish the autumn squares tabletopper and will post a photo tomorrow.