Blast from the past

I had a crazy day yesterday. After work I had to go get my hair cut then stop at the grocery store to pick up my online order.  By the time I got home it was too late to sew, so in the spirit of these times I will post a quilt I made in 2011 as a tribute to the president at that time.  The front is improv pieced using African Dutch wax fabrics.

The back is made from fabric manufactured in Hawaii with a Hawaiian print.   HOPE was the campaign's theme and the fabrics represented the president's heritage.

A close up of the dense FM quilting.

Yesterday on my lunchtime walk I took this picture of the Canadian Goose floating in the pond. It was a beautiful day for a swim!

The birds walk all over the property including the road. Someone was in a big hurry and hit one of them.  Two or three birds a year are hit by vehicles on this road.   I know I have had to stop and wait for them to get across the road many a time.  I would rather do that than hit one.

Christmas boxy pouches

I spent time this weekend grocery shopping. It is amazing how much time it takes when you have to go to several stores to get what you want. Ii spent most of my time working on these Xmas fabric boxy pouches. A fellow at work wanted one for his wife. I couldn't make just one!  I ended up making 12.

I got started on cleaning up one flower bed. I pulled out the marigolds and a few weeds then cut back the dead stems from the Shasta dasies. The circle area shows the two loads of mulch I  hauled up from the backyard. It was almost too hot to work out front - 75 degrees and full sun. I will have to work on spreading more mulch over the next week or until I run out. .

I started wrapping Xmas presents including a few things I picked up this weekend. Yes, that may seem a little crazy, but there were two items that involved candy and cookies so if they are wrapped they are out of mind.  Nothing fancy with my wrapping. LOL!!  I got a great deal on a box of brown paper last year.  There was four or six rolls in a box and I think it only cost me six bucks. 

Blocks done - at least for now

I got those last 9 blocks sewn together last night so this is what the top looks like so far. I think I will start on adding the sashing. I am still not sure what I am going to do with those traingle areas.

As soon as I got home from work I got out the leaf blower and pushed the leaves from the front yard to the back as far as the cord would extend. See that white area?  That is my my mulch storage area The white is the tarp covering the pile.

After blowing the leaves I went ahead and mowed the front and side yard. The grass was long and the mower picked up most of the leaves the blower missed.

The leaves in the flower beds were stubborn and I am going to have to get those removed by hand. It is going to be a lovely weekend weather wise so that job is on my list of thinks to do this weekend.

I have about a million things I would like to get done this weekend so if the National Guard show up to help I have plenty for them to do!   Have a great weekend.

Disappearing 9 patch saga and leaves

I got all nine blocks sewn together last evening. Now it is on to cutting the blocks and sewing them back together.

I decided when I got home the weather was just too nice to go inside so I decided to blow the leaves at the side yard and down the hill to the woods. 

Much better!

This is the leaf line I was left with.  I was on a roll so I kept blowing those leaves!

Better! There will be more leaves that fall so I wasn't worried about getting every one of them. It was starting to get dark so I stopped.

There are not as many leaves on the other half of the backyard. I will do those tonight. I  still have to blow the front and the other side yard, but it is sure easier than raking!

The sunrise was beautiful this morning.

Parts made

I needed to make 9 more blocks for the disappearing nine patch quilt so I sewed together and cut the strips. I am not sure what fabric I am going to use for the sashing, how I am going to finish out the triangle areas, or what I am going to do for a border.  I will just figure it out as I go.

I laid out the parts and I miscounted. I need to make four more sets of the medium, light, and dark gary parts. I have pleanty of fabric so that's not a problem.

Another project

I received this comforter that belongs to a SIL. It is a bit worse for the wear. I will take it apart, save as much of the fabric as I can, and make a new sandwich with new fabric on the back.  I will free motion quilt it.  I am aiming for close to a twin sized quilt.  It is 7'x 6' so there is plenty of fabric to work with and hopefully I can get the binding out of the floral fabric too.  My SIL's Grandmother made this for her when she was a kid.  It will be nice to revitalize this. I should be able to get this done for Xmas easily.

The fabric is similar to a feedsack type fabric tied together with embroidery floss.  I am going to have to soak the fabric and try to get out some of the discoloration.  Any suggestions on what I should use? 

Got some stuff done

Pillowcase done! They will go in the mail this morning.

Bibs done! They have been handed off this morning to the co-worker who needed them for her Mom.

Got 28 more disappearing nine patch blocks made for a total of 32. I need to figure out how many more I need to make and find fabric for the sashing. This will be a king sized quilt.

Fixed my gloves! The hems had been coming out since last year. I finally fixed them.

I got a bit more quilted on the 2010 quilt.

On Sunday the weather was nasty. We had winds, grapple, and snow! Things settled down a bit by 5 so I went out for my walk.

Here is the snow I woke up to. It won't last.