Back to Work

I had gotten a little behind on my quilting work while I was dealing with the church festival, doctor appointments, and multiple other things. I have been trying to get caught up on my customer commitments amd make some progress. I got two done for Marian. This one was a challenge her guild did where they are given a piece of fabric and have to make a quilt with it.

The second one is a mystery quilt her guild did.

It’s an interesting pattern; I don’t think I have seen it before. The back is a darker shade of the same red. I also put the binding on her quilts.

This is a jelly roll quilt Chris made.

She pieced the backing from the leftover strips plus some yardage.

I also quilted a table runner for Chris, but I failed to take a picture of it before it was picked up. 

I have about six more to do before I am completely caught up, and the Houston Quilt Festival is next week. I plan to be there Thursday through Saturday. I already have a hotel reservation for Thursday night and Friday night. I have made the boarding reservation for my dogs, so I’m pretty much ready. I want to get as much done as I can before I leave, but I may not get totally caught up. It’s okay, I’ll do as much as I can before I go and do the rest when I return.

What I’ve Been Working On

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. The time change doesn’t really make me happy, but I have no choice except adjust to it. I actually thought we were supposed to stop doing the time change thing, but here we are, falling back. I’m happy to say I have been getting lots of things done around here. I had several table runners I had quilted but never got the binding on them. Several of them were quilted as one piece on the same backing and then cut apart. They have been laying on the cutting table for way too long, and I made up my mind to get the binding made and sewn on. This was from the December 2025 shop hop:

And another one I made from the same pattern:

At the same shop hop, they also had a potholder kit that looked like an ornament. I used the idea to do an ornament table runner.

I also did one from a Villa Rosa pattern called Ice Jam. I used some leftover Christmas print charm squares with a black background. I made one a few years ago, and still had half of the charm pack left.

There are a few more that need binding. I’ll get to it when I can. I don’t really have a plan for all these runners; maybe I will use them or gift some to friends.

I also finished this tote bag.

Not a very good picture. It is the pattern I posted a few weeks ago. You can see their picture looks a little different from mine. LOL. I did make mine a row wider and a row longer.

I used a Kaffe Fassett charm pack for mine. It was about half colorful prints and half black and white prints.

I used some fabric from my stash for the lining.

I have my Bible study books and spiral notebook in it. If I make it again, I will use a stiffer stabilizer. The pattern called for fusible fleece which is what I used. I would like for it to hold its shape a little more. 

Decisions, Decisions

I am about ready to complete at least one Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt, but I can’t decide on sashing. I know I want gray, and I’ve got it narrowed down to two choices. I have a complete bolt of each so that is not a limitation. 

Here’s the first option:

And the second option:

Opinions are welcome. Here are both together if that helps.

My kitty gave me her opinion, but I don’t know if she’s qualified to make the choice.

She’s not pregnant, just well fed. I had her spayed so there won’t be any more kittens. 

I was able to get outside Monday night and get some pictures of the hunter’s moon. 

It was so bright and beautiful—I find it fascinating! I was able to enlarge the camera viewer enough to get a closeup.

I sent the pictures to Alan on Tuesday morning, and he sent me back one he took on the way to work that morning. 

Besides taking pictures of the moon, I have been working on a few other projects. LOL. I got my teeth cleaned this week and went to the salon to get my eyebrows touched up. I need to spend some time in the house this weekend doing some cleaning chores. We had rain a few days during the week, and the dogs have tracked up the floors. It should be clear today and tomorrow so I will vacuum and mop and maybe dust. Of course, today is Halloween. I need to remember to turn off the outside lights this evening. I don’t have anything against Halloween, but my dogs have a huge problem with anyone coming to the door, so it’s easier on all of us to turn out the lights and hibernate for the evening. 

Weekend Update

What a lovely weekend! The weather was nice, and there was a good mix of fun and chores. The only bad part was the Texans game! It was actually a good game, but when it went into overtime, I lost my optimism. We usually choke in overtime. Oh well. 

While I was watching the game, I got these built.

They are clothing racks for dog clothing, but I plan to use them for the 18” doll clothing. They are the perfect size!

They are unfinished wood, but I plan to paint them white. Reba stole one of the pieces while I was working on them and took off through the doggie door with it, but I walked around the yard a few times (three times), and I was able to find it. Thank goodness she didn’t have time to bury it or I would never have found it!

On Saturday, my church WELCA group hosted a women’s retreat. It was so nice. There was Bible study and crafts and food and games. We had a good turnout. I counted about 25 people.

Darla gave a talk about essential oils from the Bible. She brought samples of each for us to smell.

Colette showed slides from her trip to Greece. They visited many sites that are mentioned in the Bible and she had some great pictures and insights to share.

We did a prayer jar craft. 

I already have mine stuffed full of prayers! 

I put it on the shelf across from where I sit in the mornings to do my devotion and bible study. Anyway, I like the idea and it’s an easy enough craft that even non-crafty people can do it successfully.

I was home early and did some sewing. I got the pink fabric that I had run out of and was able to complete some blocks and sew another row to my Irish chain quilt. 

So pretty! I need a bunch more of these:

I had sewed a bunch of four patches, but I have run out of them so I will need to continue my leader/ender journey with more four patches. I’m still working on the other color-way also, but it’s not progressing very fast. I hope to work on it this coming week.

I keep reminding myself to go outside and look for the hunter’s moon. This was Saturday night, and it wasn’t quite full yet, but it was bright. 

I went outside last night with my phone, but it was too cloudy. I will try again tonight if I can remember. I have a busy week planned. Now that the quilt guild open house and the church festival are over, it’s time for some “me time”. I got my hair cut and colored Friday, and I go to the dentist for a cleaning this week and the dermatologist next week. I need a pedicure too; I will squeeze that in somewhere.

Nine More

 I am still working on the crazy quilt blocks…..I got nine more finished.

 That makes 22 total done so far. I have some more 10” squares cut, and I’m still debating using the crazier eight templates on those. Here’s one I did several years ago with the crazier eight’s templates.

I used a 2” sashing between the blocks, and I need to think about whether or not I want sashing again. Maybe a 1” black sashing this time? I will lay the blocks out both ways when I get a little farther along and see whether it looks better with sashing or without.

So I’m still working on getting Silent Auction stuff closed out. It should be finished soon, and then I’ll be back to quilting. We had quilt guild yesterday, and the workshop was “Learn a New Craft”. I had told Yvonne I would teach whatever she wanted me to, and she asked me to teach crochet. I had five people at my table including a nine year old and an eleven year old, so that was pretty cool. We finished pretty early, and I was able to go home and get a few things done. I cleaned out the refrigerator including the crisper drawers. I also did a little yard work. There were a few things that needed to be trimmed and some that needed to be pulled up. Oh, Suzie brought the quilt guild raffle quilt to our guild meeting. She made it and is willing to donate it. It’s fabulous!

Speaking of raffles, when I was at church on Tuesday, I found some blocks in the donation room that I think will work for our WELCA raffle quilt. I asked a few of the ladies in my group that also sew, and they agreed we should use them so I took them to my shop.

There are only 13 blocks, so I’ll have to come up with an alternate block. It will probably be something easy like a pinwheel or churn dash.

I got the last star block made for my RSC star quilt. 

I have some gray I can use for the sashing. I actually have two different grays: one a little darker and one a little lighter. I hope to make a choice and start cutting it this week.

I’m still working on the Irish Chain quilts as leaders and enders. I may try to get a few blocks together tonight and have an update post on that soon.

If you have some spare time this evening, this might be worth looking for. I’m going to try and remember to look for it.

Weekend Update

Lots of stuff going on here, but not too much sewing. I did use some of my “spare” time last week to cut out some more pieces for my Scrap Crazy quilt. I only had three done as of last week.

 I dug out some solid fat quarters I had collected for my Women of the Bible quilt. I stalled out on that one and who knows when I will get back to it.

I went back through my photo archive, and it looks like I haven’t worked on it since 2024. Maybe getting out the solids will get me in the mood to work on it again. 

In the meantime, I cut some brighter colors, and when I got back from the church festival yesterday and needed to unwind a little, I whipped out nine more blocks.

I think adding some warmer, brighter colors helped. Now I have twelve total and enough parts and pieces cut to make several more. They are 8” blocks so I need quite a few more to make a decent size quilt. 

The silent auction yesterday was successful. I was so tired when it was over.

The quilt didn’t do as well as it would have with an auctioneer, but a friend of mine was the high bidder so I was okay with it. We sold barbecue chicken plates with German potatoes, pinto beans, and slaw, and we had a live band playing polka music.

I had plenty of assistance, and that helped. I think all 110 items got bids, and most everything got paid for and picked up yesterday. I have about five more things to collect payment on. Hopefully I can get that done this week.

Linking to Melva’s Sew & Tell.

I’m Here!

I think my posts will be few and far between for the next week or so. I am spending about eight hours a day working on Silent Auction for our church festival. It will happen a Sunday. I am spending time at the church every day, from 9am until 3:20 when I leave to pick up Roger. His school is very close to the church which is convenient. Then I spend two to three hours at home in the evening working on bid sheets. 

I went out last night to get some paperwork out of the car and noticed how bright the moon was. The photo is not quite accurate as it looks almost like a full moon, and it was actually a crescent. The moon was in the western sky, and last month when I took a picture it was in the eastern sky. I don’t understand why.

I am almost finished with the auction set up. I had plenty of help setting up. I’m the one that looks like they are ready for a nap! LOL.

We have some great auction items this year. Some we solicited from vendors, and some were donated by church members. Some members donated cash, and I did some shopping.

This one is a bird feeder with a camera. I’m pretty excited about it. 

I dropped off all this things Betty and I made for the Country Store. We made 17 bowl cozies, 12 pairs of pillowcases, 3 bags, 6 sets of placemats, 3 wallets, 2 pout holders, 12 jar openers, 5 glasses cases, 7 dish towels. I think that’s it. I didnt have time to take pictures though. I was just trying to get it all delivered and on of my house. I may try to take more pictures later.