Pumpkin Time

I saw a new pattern by Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew and I just had to make it!  My stash was sadly lacking in oranges and I definitely didn't have anything in the yardage the background needed, so I of course went shopping.  Here's my fabric selections.  I'm planning to cut everything today and get sewing.

I have a cone of Aurifil I bought a while back.  I didn't have a cone thread stand, so my husband made me one with a leftover chunk of walnut from our bed, a dowel, and a stainless garden tag hook that was hanging around in our garage.
I had been feeling like something was a little off on my sewing machine, so I called and got in line for service.  They called Saturday morning to say it was my turn, so I took my machine in.  Monday morning they called to say it was ready for pick up.  Turns out there was a pin in the hook gears! Oh my!  I was lucky it didn't do damage.  My ticket also had the total stitches and hours on the machine--3,011,117 and 1,471 respectively!  
I won second place in The Aqua Umbrella Quilt Along.  I received my prize of a large stack of Bonnie & Camille Ruby charms.
I also bought a pillow cover from Valerie, so she sent it along with the charms.
I've been slowly working on what I thought would be a quick cross stitch project.  I chose linen fabric, which is always a challenge.  I can't see on dark navy (or black) anymore either, so it's been really slow going.




365 Challenge Week 38

I'm up to date again this week.  It was a bit of a challenge because I'd left them all until the end of the week, at which point I received the call that it was my turn for sewing machine service.  So I had to sew them all on my Featherweight.  I know a lot of people swear by theirs, but mine is always a challenge for me.  It's hard to sew a straight line, even with seam guides set up, because it seems to always pull one way or another.  But I did it.  Here they are:
September 19
September 20--6" 
September 21
I did September 22's block back on March 20.  Yay!
September 23
September 24
September 25
September 26



Funny Things #31

We saw this naughty T-Rex at Target last weekend.


Work In Progress Wednesday

Some people share what they're working on with this label.  I feel like I myself am always a work in progress, so I thought I'd share a whole bunch of things this week.

First is a series of sewing room pictures.  Two weeks ago I showed my future sewing room.  Here's some of my current space.  I also keep my (ahem, extensive) stash of fabric and supplies in the basement, along with the long arm.
My sewing machine and serger are in the corner of my living room right now.
My design wall with a few UFOs is in my laundry room.
Notions cabinet, embroidery machine, cover stitch machine, fabrics, minis I've received,
embroidery supplies, general detritus in the kitchen.
My cutting/ironing table and a bunch of stuff are in the office.  That Wellie Wisher doll has been in the bag since the end of July, which is when my son got a bug he didn't recover well from.  He's on the mend now, finally.
More stuff in the office.
The pile of shame.  Although most of it is batting right now.

Next, here is my canning updates.  I should be done for the year unless I start trying some different things.  I made 14 quarts of applesauce by myself this year.  I used a half bushel and a peck (3/4 bushel?) of Jonathan, Golden Delicious, and Jonagolds.  
I also bought some Bartlett pears at the orchard.  The recipe I had said you needed 11 pounds for 9 pints of finished pears, so I bought the remainder--five pounds--at the grocery store.  It turns out the pears I bought in a large handled bag at the orchard were all bad in the middle.  :(  So I only got 5 pints and one half pint.  I don't know that I'd do pears again unless I had a cheaper source, because these ran close to $20.  I do love canned pears though.  :/
I've kept my pineapple and plumeria plants alive outdoors this summer.  Thankfully we've had a lot of rain so they were always watered enough.  This is the pineapple top from the pineapple my husband brought me from Hawaii when he went there for work last year.  He brought me the plumeria starter too.


I completed my Bonnie & Camille Barn Quilt Swap Mini.  This was a 6" block quilt using only Bonnie and Camille fabrics and coordinating solids if needed.  I sent this quilt and some mini charms to my partner Jen, who likes star blocks, Scrumptious and Hello Darling fabric lines, and pink and aqua.
I received this mini from Leah.  She used a mini charm pack of Marmalade fabric to make it.  It's very cheerful and has the cutest quilting.  She also made a nine patch back for it.  It's so cute, and I have nothing like it.

I am sending two bags to the Sew Powerful charity.  I had really hoped to make more, but this year just hasn't worked out like I had hoped. If you are looking for a charity to sew for, this one is great.  They have very low overhead.  The majority of their funds go straight to the program.  Check it out.
I'm working on my Coral, Queen of the Sea quilt right now.  This will be a bed sized quilt when it is finished.  I still have another border to add and it needs a good pressing too.
If you are scared of spiders, quit reading now.  Don't scroll any further.  Nature here can't decide between summer and fall.  Last week was more fall like and this week feels like summer.  The spiders are out in force and make it look like Halloween.  
These are always in the grass and are pretty with the dew on them in the morning.
I saw this on a morning walk this week.
This creepy thing is on our deck and bird feeders.
And creepiest of all is this big guy who build a web over our slider door opening overnight.  YUCK!!


365 Challenge Week 37

Mostly caught up!  I just haven't done today's since it hasn't been published yet. This week was a mix of 3- and 6-inch blocks.

September 11--6"
September 12
September 13
September 14
September 15--6".  I had this one completely messed up, but after ripping most of the
center, it finally came out (mostly).
September 16--unintentionally wonky.
September 17
September 18




Weekly Update

I feel as though I've accomplished very little lately.  We did pick apples over the weekend and I made 14 quarts of applesauce in a day and a half all by myself.  I am also going to try canning Bartlett pears this year and I still have to do those.

Other than that, not much is new here.  Just trying to survive daily life. Maybe I can be more entertaining next week.

365 Challenge Week 36

It's applesauce making time, so I am two blocks behind this week.  These are all 3" blocks.  They always look better before I see the giant photos of them.
September 6
September 7
September 8
September 9
September 10

Constructing a Sewing Room

We are constructing a sewing room in the basement.  Everything is roughed in and it is time for me to decide on a layout and where electrical needs to go.  Oh, the pressure!  I have a general idea of a layout, but not exactly.  I wish I could use the room first and see what works and doesn't before having to commit to something.  Not gonna work that way though.  Mostly I need to figure out a desk/bookshelf/counter type thing.  

This first photo shows the view when standing in the corner nearest the door.  The long arm has to go where the roll of carpet is since that's the only place it fits.  The rosin paper rectangle in front of it is my existing (mobile) cutting station.

In this photo I'm standing in the corner from the photo above.  You can see my big fabric storage closet and a smaller one that will probably hold cleaning things and maybe some general storage stuff.
I'm standing in the same corner in this last picture, just facing a different direction.  You can see my door.  The nearest piece of rosin paper is the cutting table.  The other papers are my husband's attempts at placing my ironing table (by the door) and a desk/chair.  I'm not sold.  I HATE where he stuck the ironing station.  I don't want it in a corner hidden behind other furniture.  Not practical.
So, what would your dream set-up look like?  I would like to have my machine inset into the table, but also adjustable for when I need the free arm.  It seems to work best when there is open space to the left to support a quilt top.  I also have a serger and coverstitch machine.  I'd like a little cabinet or something to put the embroidery machine in and be able to slide it out to use on occasion (hidden the rest of the time).  I need bookcases and drawers, although I'm unsure of quantity.  It would be nice to be able to accommodate another sewing machine and person in the event someone sews with me.  I'd prefer whatever the set up is to look like furniture instead of kitchen cabinets.  

I'm open to suggestions, comments, what works and doesn't, whatever.  Help me decide!

If you're looking for quilts this week, I have added in two more finishes in my 2016 finishes tab at the top. I also made my daughter three shirts, but no pictures of those.

And here's some hummingbird pictures I took through the screened window the other day. I guess this is a juvenile male ruby throated hummingbird.  I really thought it was a female until we uploaded the pictures.