rabbit, rabbit

Trifecta day . . . not only is it the first of the month (hence the rabbit, rabbit), but its the end of daylight savings time!  Hurrah!  I look forward to falling back every year, and in fact, have turned all my clocks back already.  LOL!  That's only two things, but twofecta sounds dumb, so there's that.

It's been a fairly productive week.  I finished out three projects.  Two were the cute little nine-patch cross stitch designs that Ellie and I stitched in tandem . . .

Aren't these cute?  Ellie did such a fabulous job ... I had a really hard time differentiating between the two!

And the other project was one I stumbled across when I did all that organizing last week.  It was a sweet little pumpkin embroidery that Ellie had sketched out (I put it on fabric) and stitched on in 2022, finishing it up late that year.  I was supposed to construct a border and make a throw pillow slipcase with it.  Well, 2023 was a tough year, and 2024 wasn't much better, and so when I found it, I thought maybe it was time.  So cute!

Here's the back . . . 

Ellie was so pleased!  I brought it and her cross stitch pillow to her on the morning of Halloween, so at least she'd get a little use out of them this year before it's time to pull out all things Christmas!

Speaking of Halloween . . . more importantly, October 31 is June's birthday!

She turned THIRTEEN!  She's a beauty!  Three out of my seven grands are teenagers!!! How the heck??

Celeste agrees with me . . .

Starry let me know that she doesn't do costumes.  LOL!

All the sewing this past week made me realize I needed a way to keep a pair of snippers close to my machine, without getting lost in the shuffle.  A quick google search, and a text conversation with my son-in-law, and look what I had, less than four hours later . . .

 

Isn't that great?!  He made me a total of eight.  I used double-sided tape to mount it.  It's the perfect size!  Gotta love 3D printers and those who know how to make them! (Especially since this same thing was available on Etsy for $4 + s/h!)

What else? Oh yeah!  Another project I "found" during my re-org was a Thanksgiving wool project that I started in 2021. I had three of the five tops finished, but I guess lost momentum when I realized I'd not traced the words correctly.  Took care of that!

Mostly I worked on this today as I carefreely watched college football.  I say "carefreely" because Alabama had a bi- week. No stress! I got them re-traced, selected the wool, fused them, cut them out, and put them to fabric . . .

Whoohoo! 

I even had time to do a little stitching!

Speaking of which, Ellie decided to do some embroidered ornaments to sell for our Advent Market at the end of the month.  I told her I'd help, so she handed off the snowmen to me!

Between these and the wool project, I'll have plenty to keep me busy for a Slow Sunday Stitching!  Linking up with Kathy's Quilts.

Before I sign off, I wanted to see if anyone else had seen the Quilt Fusion online seminar happening November 13? 

I decided to go ahead and sign up for it; I'm really excited!!

Temps are dropping, the sun will be setting earlier . . . it's coming up on the most wonderful time of the year . . . 54 more days!!

:)

a decluttering story . . .

Do you remember when you first started quilting (or any craft, for that matter), and all the tools and gadgets that seemed so necessary were overwhelming in both the scope and the cost of it all? 

I do.

The biggest for me was the rulers and squares.  They make such a difference in cutting pieces accurately!  And while you can get away with a few select sizes, it's just easier to have the range.  It just is.  So over the last twenty years or so, I've been diligent in collecting.  Let's face it; I've never been shy in my love of gadgets and collecting them.  Rulers were right up my alley.  

It started with the OmniGrid rulers, then I switched over to Creative Grids.  Then Quilters Select rulers were introduced.  And finally I replaced (almost—95%) all my OmniGrid rulers. 

Only I didn't really replace them.  I just added to my collection.  Which was unintentional . . . I didn't really want multiple sets of 2.5" squares, for example.  I just wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the ones I didn't use anymore. I sure didn't want to just <gasp> throw them away! Until I found a friend who has just taken up quilting (and taken to it with a passion), and you know what? She needed rulers.  So guess what?!  I don't have multiples anymore!  Well ... I may have multiples, but I don't have any more (almost) OmniGrid rulers . . . they went to a good home where they'll be used to make lots of happy quilt beneficiaries smile. 

The end.  :)

In other news, the drive to cull my rulers started a welcome chain reaction and I spent the majority of yesterday cleaning/organizing my Nook space. It had gotten a little (a lot) out of control; I'm much happier with it now! 

Large rulers and specific job rulers are easy to find.  I love this screen.  It does a great job of corralling my creative space, and is terrific storage.  Here's the front:

The entrance to the Nook is right there at my front door.  I hated the thought that the first thing people would see when they walked into my home, was (potentially) my creativity in the throes of progress.  We all know what that looks like! So the screen was the perfect solution, and provided both storage and display space.  Win/win!

I had started using the cubicles as catch all.  I went through each one and tamed that to manageable. 

Part of that was pulling fabric out and putting it into bins in some sort of system.  So this is what that looks like finished . . .

Bins of fabric, just waiting for me to sit 'n sew. Shew!

And then my cutting table had also become a bit of a disaster site.  Some of it was paper clutter, some of it was fabric clutter.  It was an easy drop off point.

Now it's just ready for projects! As you can see, my next wool project is ready to set and sew! Aaah, and you can also see where my finished cross stitch pieces go to wait some sort of final finishing inspiration. Ahem.

I still need to do some reorganizing with my Nook book shelf.  

I have magazines on it that I need to move to the cubes.  Magazines don't really do well on this shelf.  It's the rotating that does it in. (And the cats.)

Ellie and I found our next cross stitch pattern to stitch together.  Teresa Kogut's Give Thanks. 

At first I wondered if it might be too stitch heavy for Ellie.  But then I thought about the samplers 8-year-old girls worked way back in the day . . . I think 13-year-old Ellie can manage this just fine! I had to order the linen and some of the floss, but we should be ready to go sometime next week!

I continue to work on Lady Halloween. Actually, I had to go back and look at my last post to see if I had in fact worked on it!  I have.

Not much, but I've worked on other things, too!  Maybe this will be my slow stitching project for Sunday!  I'll link that up with Kathy's Quilts on Sunday!

Speaking of working on other things, I finished my little Halloween orts tray . . .

I'm so pleased!  The "BOO!" was an add-on by me.  I centered the design horizontally, but misread misinterpreted the instructions, so there was a whole lot of space at the bottom.  Which was perfect, because I really wanted some purple in that stitchery, and "BOO!" was the perfect place for it!

I'll leave you with a little game of Where's Waldo (aka Starry)?

Have a great weekend!!  :)

hop hop hoppin . . .

Hello!! Welcome to my contribution to the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Mystery Phrase Hop, hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching!  I'll scare...errrr....share some spooky stitching with you, along with a letter, and a link to the next blog!  You collect all the letters and guess the mystery phrase!!  Doesn't that sound like fun?

Fall has definitely found its way to the camp . . . 

I love the changing leaves!  We have such a variety of trees, we get all kinds of color when the season arrives!

I love to decorate seasonally, and this is my favorite time of year for it.  I've gotten to the point where most of my decor is hand made!  And while I'm not really into scary stuff, a tad of Hallowe'en "fright" can be fun . . .

This hexi table topper is spooky enough with the owl and the black cats and spider webs!  But stars and candy corn temper the ring of fire!

Full moon . . . adds to the spookiness of the season!

Tell me though, how spooky can a jack-o-lantern really be, with a great big grin like this one is wearing?!

This was a fun wool felt project that I really enjoyed stitching up!

I haven't done a lot of stitching this fall . . . my Nook is a mess (and needs a dedicated week of tending), and what with Todd's treatments and retiring, life has been crazy!!  I did get over to visit the grands last week for a paint day . . .

We had a hauntingly good time painting spooky little touches on pre-printed pictures!!  Of course, any day with the grands is going to be the best!

Okay, okay . . . enough of all that and let's get to the alphabet!

My letter was "G" (just in case it was hard to tell).   Now be off with you and hurry on over to Beth's Needlework Stash for your next clue!  And be sure to stop by Jo's blog — she's such a fantastic hostess!!

I'll be back soon with a proper update!  Happy Hallowe'en!!

:)

taking a turn . . .

Backposted (because how ever many years from now I'd regret not having posted these pictures along with their stories)!

Well.  The week started out just fine.  We woke up one day to a lovely blanket of snow.  I love March snows!  Remember, just the weekend before, we were out on the boat!

But, as is typical of March snows (not March ice storms, mind you), twelve hours later, it was back to Spring! And three days later . . .

By the end of the week, I was feeling poorly.  By Saturday morning I was feeling bad enough that, for the very first time, I took a covid test . . .

It didn't even take sixty seconds for the "positive" to show up.  Ah Bach. Talk about a turn for the worse.

Thankfully, I didn't feel terrible.  One day with a fever and bad headache, and then I was just tired.  I spent a bunch of time out on the deck (covered and with the heater on) . . .

And enjoyed the wildlife show . . .

By Monday, as hard as he'd tried to stay away, Todd had also succumbed. By Wednesday, I was really feeling fine, so I nursed Todd and took advantage of being home and worked on (and completed) my March UFO challenge project, which was to piece the T-block quilt (minus the border) that I'd tentatively named Oriental Tea Garden.

Yay!  I also worked on finishing the hand-quilting the silver spiderweb on my Halloween Hexi table topper . . .

This was actually May or June's UFO challenge project, but I've got the time, so I went ahead and finished it up! 

I did end up missing some big things. Ellie did her presentation on the fabled Babylon Hanging Gardens:

I was supposed to receive a Quilt of Valor at a presentation on Thursday, and our guild's quilt show, which is always spectacular, was over the weekend.

Luckily, I've got good friends who sent me some photos!

I can't believe I'm saying this ... but I'm ready to go back to work next week.  <grin>

:)

grand ol' time . . .

So with a crew far away in California, and a crew kinda doing their own thing this year, Todd and I just chilled (on the boat on the lake) and let the pictures of the good times roll in! First, I had delivered the placemats for the local crew . . .

I got a good one of the girls (well, two of them ... Evey had a headache that evening, poor dear) and a good one of the placemats.  So you get to see them both. 

Before I get too far into the Halloween antics, let me also remark that first and foremostly, Sunday was also June Madelyn's birthday!!  No tricks — she's our *treat*!!

Here she is carving her pumpkin!  Sweet girl -- hard to believe she's NINE! Thankfully, a quick trip into San Diego last week saw an end to her cast—after a good MRI! Yay and Happy Birthday, Junie June!

The California crew agreed to themed costuming this year.  They went as characters from Adventure Time.

Marlene, Finn, and Princess Bubblegum.  Too cool for school!

They appeared to have done very well in the trick or treating department!

For the local crew, Halloween is a family affair.  This year the girls and Jocelyn read through the entire series of The Little House on the Prairie.  May I introduce to you Pa, Ma, Mary, Laura, Carrie, and Jack the brindle bull dog . . .

Isn't that fun?  Ma and Jack the brindle bull dog actually stayed home and manned the door, while Pa and the girls hit the trail . . .

They've got their trick or treat bags! It tickles me ... the bags work quite well with the costumes (which again, I didn't make ... though I did hem three of the four dresses!)

And just to make sure you didn't miss this trick . . .

The little treat "Laura" is holding here is Jack the brindle bull dog!  How precious is that ... Ezra's first Halloween!

The local girls also did well in the trick or treating department . . .

It appears those bags were plenty big enough!

So ... good times all around.  Even for us . . .

Perfect sunset for the day; glowing and a soft, pumpkin orange.

And just like that, it's November. *blink*

:)