Oh, the holidays, I love them so.

 Last week I made this Elenore Burns table runner.  My intentions were to make one for me and one for my Mother-In-Law.  The second one didn't get made and it turns out that she wants the leaf version anyhow.  Perhaps she'll get one for Christmas.

 I made this bag a few weeks ago and forgot to take a picture.  I don't like it and the button is all wrong.

 I only got to 3 Civil War blocks this week.  That's better than none.

 This is the beginning of an Eeyore quilt that my Niece-In-Law needs, stat.  There will be a thick border on top with the little girl's name appliqued & 2 thinner borders down the sides with thick rick-rack.  I'm liking it so far.  I hope to get it done by next weekend.

Last but not least, I started this super cute pin cushion last Saturday at my TAS meeting.  I probably should have taken a closer picture so that you can see better detail.  And for those who were wondering, the top was finished last weekend but I sewed it together this weekend:)


Now to get caught up on my Girl Scout junk!  Hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving!  Mine was pretty great!

I Guess It's Been Awhile

So, life has been pretty crazy lately. But, honestly, when isn't it? I was offered a position at Jim's Formal Wear just as I was getting used to my other new job at the middle school. Rich is still in training at his new job that he started back in August. Hunter became a Marine Recruit, against his mother's wishes. The kids had Homecoming. We had Halloween. Which, by the way, I have no photos of. I took pictures. When I went to add them to my computer the next day, they were no longer on my camera:( Bummer, the kids looked great, too! And, believe it or not, I did manage to sew a few stitches in the month or so since my last blog.

Well, it doesn't show very well in the photo but, this (above) is a kid upside down in a pile of leaves. You can see his jeans popping out & he has white tennis shoes on. I made him to put up in my cubicle at work. It's only about 12x13".



Today I started back on my Civil War Block of the Week. I was getting a little nervous because the year is almost over & I was only on week 33. Now I'm only 10 weeks behind. I think if I do 4 a week, I'll be caught up in no time. I would have done more but week 37 looked really complicated & I thought it would be better to start fresh on it. My Indiana Puzzle is about 1 inch too small, so, I'll be revisiting that particular one again later.

I finished Bunny Hill's last, free block of the month, "Henrietta Squirrel". It's invisible, machine applique with hand embroidery. By finished, I mean, the top is done. I do have the back & binding saved & ready to use when I get around to it. I put the two pictures up because the one with Fred, the dog, cracks me up. He heard the camera turn on, came over and stood in front of the quilt. When he heard me take the picture, he left. What a ham:)

This stocking is going to be Rich's new Christmas stocking. I made one for him the year we got married but it's falling apart at this point in our lives. It holds a lot of memories, though. I mixed up some of the colors from the pattern & my room mate touched his name to see if it was dry... it wasn't. I guess you could say it's always been a little ghetto but it was done with love:) So anyway, I'm going to take the kit to work with me & work on it while on my breaks.

I also quilted my Pride & Prejudice quilt. It turned out awful! It's stitched in the ditch and at every intersection the bottom stitches loop like crazy! Now I have to rip out the whole queen sized quilt and try it again. This time I'll just do a random all over pattern that will avoid all the intersections.

I did a little on my State Flowers quilt but didn't take any pictures. It's kinda funny. Yesterday, at Frieden's Quilt Show, I saw a finished one on display. I so badly wanted to unfold it and see what they did for South Carolina. I almost quit doing my quilt because I hate how South Carolina turned out! Sadly, it was in the fold and I didn't get to see it. My theory is that they hated theirs too, and were hiding it:)

Any hoo... I really want to make a second batch of granola. Yesterday's was terrible because I used cheap oats. I'm going to try again before it gets too late. Happy Stitching!

My Life in Stitches

I suppose this is another pincushion project. There were several little projects like this that I wanted to get done before school started. I've always wanted to buy one of these thread catchers when I see them at quilt shows but I never like anyone's choice of fabrics. And, you know I love cupcakes.

Let me just say, moving pictures around in this blog sucks. These are the State Flower embroidery blocks that I've been working on. I started them while we were in Minnesota. I'm doing this instead of hand applique for a while. While we were in Minnesota, someone was looking at my work and asked "What are these, cupcakes?" So...I guess my embroidery skills are a tad lacking. By the end, I sould have it squared away. Don't ask me why Utah is upside down, I can't figure out how to fix it. These will all be set on-point in the quilt.

So, don't be too impressed with how much I've done on my Civil War blocks. I had several blocks that I just hadn't taken a picture of yet. They are really bad pictures. I couldn't bring myself to re-take them once they were done. I almost started to cry on Saturday when I sat down to put all the blocks in order. At first, I was going by just the blocks that I'd photographed but luckily I found the others and I wasn't as far behind as I had thought:/ Then of course, I got frustrated & gave up before I was caught up with Barbara Brackman's blog. The Y-seams in the lily block did me in!

So, that's what I've been up to. My to-do pile is: quilt my Haunted Halloween, and Pride & Prejudice quilts, get caught up on my Twisted Mystery quilt and I'm also doing Bunny Hill's BOM Henrietta Squirrel. Ideas running around in my head are: a family tree quilt for the Purdy's, Hearts n' Hands BOM in 30's, a new fall bag, & a new Quilt of Valor. I've got fabric for them all, I just need to start them. But then, I feel like I should finish something else first. Maybe next week.