Good Things Do Come in Small Packages When You Have Quilting Friends

I think quilters love to exchange gifts with their quilting friends.  I have now reached the Quilter's Trifecta of Gift Receiving.  I have received gifts locally, Thank You, Carol, by Interstate, Thank You Mary and Dee and now I received one internationally from Australia (now don't get jealous, Dee).  I received this parcel today from Susan Snooks who blogs via http://patchworknplay.blogspot.com and we recently became friends.

I've long admired Susan's creations on her blog and have left her comments never realizing that we would become friends.  Her work is amazing; Melbourne Town, which is a version of Jen Kingwell's pattern, Small World, which I considered almost doing but then Gypsy Wife got in the way and haven't full recovered from that experience, her Chuck Nohara blocks which are a great example of her piecework skills and eye for picking just the right fabrics, as you can see from my gifts above, and sew forth.  (You really need to check out Susan's blog to be inspired.) And all I did was send her some leftover Cotton+Steel blocks and scraps.   This may be hard to believe but I asked Susan to send me a photo of her fabric stash and I could maybe only find a couple that I already had.  She shops from a different planet than mine.  

Susan is also my unofficial Help Desk for starting this blog and now my tutor for how to send a parcel fit for a quilter.  I read other quilt blogs from Australia and noticed the way they send pretty parcels to each other.  Of course I didn't realize my faux pas until after I sent my package to Susan and had to send a FB message to warn and apologize before she received it.   I was too hung up on meeting the postal requirements in sending an international package and I just put everything in a ratty plastic storage bag because I wanted to make sure nothing got wet.  Of course, Susan's package was encased in a crisp plastic bag with Washi tape with colored coordinated tissue paper.  Talk about being put to shame.  I've learned my lesson in a good way.

So cheers to Susan and to my good Quilt friends and for the continuation of  wonderfully wrapped parcels to each other. I am thankful and blessed to have you in my life.

It's Finally and Officially Fall For Me

I don't know why it was hard for me to put out for the Fall decorations and quilts in the past; I was lucky if it was done at least a week before Halloween.  This year, I was done by the first week of October which is an all-time personal best.  I think retirement has helped, no more having to switch the closet from spring/summer clothes to fall/winter clothes since I was able to consolidate all my clothes into one closet due to the big purge last year.  This really was a big time saver.

One of the new additions to the Fall front is the one that was inspired by the gigantic squirrels' nest which lived in the birch tree in front of my house.  It fell down and I couldn't bear to throw it away so we brought the dog planter from the back, put the nest on the bottom, added some artificial leaves and a perfectly sized pumpkin and I loved how it turned out.  Pluto (our beloved late Bluetick Coonhound who resembled this planter) would be proud. I must place an order for another squirrel nest with my fur buddies for next year because this idea is a keeper.

Also not to be forgotten is the lovely metal Indian Corn decoration that was purchased from my visit to Shipshewana, IN this past August.  I propped them in a milk can which we had since we were married and it was from my sister-in-law's farm and may be around 50 years old.

My few disappointments for this Fall is that it's another year that I have not made a quilt from my stash of wonderful Halloween fabrics.  This is one bin of them; I have two.  And another one is that I have not quilted my Primitiva quilt which also has these wonderful Fall colors.  My plan for this quilt is to put fleece instead of batting and only do light quilting.  I experimented with doing this last year on another quilt and liked how it turned out.

For 2016, I used the The Quilter's Planner and it was a wonderful tool for me to plan and journal my activities, both personal and quilt related.  I've ordered mine for 2017 and love that it will include an expanded Project At A Glance List and a section dedicated to doodling which in 2016 I doodled wherever there was a blank sheet which made it difficult to find my idea.  I will definitely put in my planner next year to start a Halloween quilt no later than June and to finish the Primitiva quilt.

And lastly, here are some of my Fall quilts which were placed around the house yesterday.  These quilts were made from my stash of Sandy Gervais fabrics and made a very nice dent in the bin.  The quilt from the bottom was made from last year's participation in Pat Sloan's Happy Little Wishes Challenge which was a great opportunity to use up more of the Sandy Gervais fabrics.  As much as I love buying new fabrics, I love making stash buster quilts.

I realize now that it's funny whenever I post a photo of one of my quilts in either Pinterest, Facebook and now this blog is that I'm looking for a photo in my library thinking I made it over several years ago and instead was last year.  I guess you lose your track of time when you make quilts which may be a good thing to do.

A Christmas Quilt Done in September

For some reason last year, starting in September, I decided to make eleven baby quilts for my church Blanket Ministry four lap size Christmas quilts and a Paris quilt for my daughter-in-law, Christina.   This was quite a project list considering we were taking a two week vacation in October.   I was happy to finish everything with the exception of my Holly Jolly Quilt which was the last of the four Christmas quilts.  One of the reasons I love Pinterest is finding patterns/ideas for the ever growing fabric stash.  I saw this quilt with strips and patches done in 30's Christmas reproduction fabric and thought that it would look great with my stash of Sandy Gervais Christmas fabrics which it seems I have been trying to find the perfect pattern forever.  The blocks are 8" finished and I used mostly jelly roll strips.  The cut sizes for the inside patches are 2-1/2"  square and 2-1/2"x8-1/2" long for the outside strips.  For the strips and setting triangles, I used yardage that I already had and I'm not sure if I like how it turned out which is the problem you face when you use what you have.  But on the upside, it's done well before December which is a personal best for me.  The quilt measures approximately 54" x 72".   I still have a stash of Christmas fabric but at least I whittled it down a little.  Maybe I'll have time to make another one with the Cotton+Steel Christmas stash.  Ho Ho Ho!

Here's to the Start of my Blog

Thanks to the encouragement of Susan Snooks, PatchworknPlay, I finally decided to start a blog so I can share my latest patchwork and quilting creations and the explanation that is sometimes needed.  This blogspot is still under construction but I'm seeing this as a way to keep track of my activity so bear with me my two followers.