fe-lion and fnsi . . .

Leia was pretty laid back when I visited Joc and Ellie this week.  

It was a grey and rainy day, and she was content to just kick back at the window.  She didn't even come help me with the quilty project I'd laid out on the table.  Lazy girl.

I tried to get a close-up of her.  Leia, look at me!

No.

Please look at me!

I said no!

Leia, Leia, Leai . . .

FINE!

Yikes!  Uhhhh, nevermind.  Not your finest smile there, girlfriend!

Grey and rainy days are nice days for rolling over and taking a nap.  Ya' know?
Going . . . 

Going . . . 

Gone!

Isn't that sweet?!  But don't be deceived.  Joc has a saying for this stretch.  It looks like an invitation (to pet that soft, furry belly), but it's really a TRAP! Because the minute your hand gets close, you're bound to feel the Leia fury! Still, I give into it pretty much every time ... it does look incredibly inviting!

And of course, I'm linking up with Sarah, over at Sarah Did It! for Feline Friday!!  

Ah, and speaking of Friday, tonight is also a Friday Night Sew-In!  

It's not too late to join in on the fun.  Just hightail it over to Handmade by Heidi and sign up.

I'll be working on my wholecloth project.  I'd love to finish this first quarter of the center.  I'm really excited to get this project underway, and I can't think of a more-fun thing to do on the evening of a Friday the 13th ... up in a secluded campground ... surrounded by acres and acres of woods and creatures.  Oh yeah!  Bahaha!  (Or should that read, Mmwaaahahaha?!?)

:)

fnsi results . . .

Finally!  We were out the door just after six (I know, right?!?!  Six o'clock on a Saturday morning!) to do a conference; went from there to show our house; headed from the house to take care of next week's grocery shopping, and got home just in time to unload/put away groceries and make dinner.  Whew!

My FNSI was dedicated to finishing the hearts!  Yay!!  

But I couldn't leave well enough alone.  I decided it looked funny having Ellie's monogram in one of the big hearts and leaving the others empty, so I'm going to rectify that.  I've quilting "Ellie" into one of them and now there's two more to fill.  Probably one with her date of birth and an "I ♥ U" in the other.  Hopefully, I'll finish those up tonight.

 I love how this quilt looks with the little hearts quilted in the sashing!  It's so sweet.  The dark spots are where I blotted out my quilting marks.  Oops . . . it looks like I missed a few!

Okay, enough from me.  There's a bowl of ice cream calling my name.  And I'm fairly certain there's an early bedtime in my future, too.

And tomorrow I'll bind and toss this darling into the wash.  On Monday it's Ellie's!

Ciao!

:)

friday mish mash . . .

No Ellie pics or quilt pics or Sawyer pics today .... I left my camera at Ellie's house (go figure) along with all the darling pictures I'd taken yesterday!  Oh well, if I wasn't going back over there today, it would give me a great excuse to do so!!

I will share that if you're a quilter and you've not seen Stitched the Film, you really should.  It was wonderful!  It was funny and interesting and gave me a whole new perspective on the trials and tribulations of getting a quilt juried into a major show.  Though I just saw it last night at guild, I'll no doubt purchase it for my own movie library (and watch it while sitting in a much more comfortable chair)!

On top of the movie, I won the name tag raffle last night which was our featured Gadget Girls gadget for January ... The Steady Betty!  I tried them out last night and was very impressed.  I'll definitely put my winnings to good use on my acrylic rulers and templates!

And finally, I am going to quilt my way through hearts for tonight's Friday Night Sew In.  It's not too late ... head on over to Crafty Vegas Mom to sign up ... there are over 150 participants so far!  Click on the FNSI button to link up.

Happy Friday!!

:)

will you walk into my parlour?

Said the spider to the fly. This lovely lady is what greets visitors to my humble abode this season.

And she's my contribution to "spooky" foto finishes today over at Cat Patches!

But as you can see, she's really quite festive and pretty, and while she has the potential to look very ... realistic ... in the dusk, she's harmless and makes beautiful noise, too!

I realized I'd never shared my fall decor, so I figured I'd wrap up this week with a walk-through of the RV, all decked out for autumn.

I love my little acorn swag/hangie thingie that drops down nicely from my paper towel holder.

With the requisite basket of gourds of fun shapes and colors.

And on my mantel, just a couple of fun pumpkins (of course there's pumpkins in this post)!

And if you look closely, you'll see I've also gone just a little batty!

Over my little window, just a sweet candelabra piece of leaves and acorns, along with . . .

PUMPKINS!

And from that window, looking towards the back, my little wick ottoman with my sweet fall table topper and a little pumpkin collection.

Some festive little tea towels hanging off the stove . . .

Yes, of course they're pumpkins!

And over the opposite window, a happy little display of (say it with me now) . . .

Pumpkins! And owls and one of my darling little mason jars filled with candy corn!

And gracing our kitchen table, more candy corn in my little quilted table topper, along with a pumpkin filled with felt flowers.

More candy corn hangs on my pantry cupboard door. I love this little wreath. Lesson learned, though -- both Joc and Kim hung theirs outside, and it couldn't handle the moisture. I feel so badly, because that was my choice of crafts when we had our last craft day. Next season I may have to make one for each of them to replace the one they lost.

A pumpkin placard hangs from the door, and my little scarecrow guy hangs from the door knob. I thought for sure that since it was in Sawyer's reach, he'd find that little guy and love on him, but Sawyer's not noticed him yet.

And if you look beyond the door into the office/sewing room, you'll see my fun find of the season -- the houndstooth witch's hat! We had such fun taking turns wearing it around Sawyer yesterday. He wasn't quite sure he liked it. And he *definitely* didn't want it on HIS head!!

Looking from the back of the RV back towards the front, is my fall leave runner, along with Mr. Squirrel and his acorn.

Of course, the little wicker acorn basket it bigger than Mr. Squirrel - I think that explains the smile on Mr. Squirrel's face!!

Last night was the Friday Night Sew-In, and I let James tuck me upstairs last night thinking I had everything I needed to work on my Snow Buddies project. When I went to start stitching, I realized I'd left all the different threads I needed downstairs. *sigh* I could have crutched it back down and gotten what I needed, but I'm still really hesitant in coming UP the stairs by myself. I'd certainly do it in an emergency, but I decided I didn't want to put myself in a position of being hurt or falling, so I finished up what I could on their bow ties and then pulled out my kindle instead. Que sera! Progress is progress, right?

Pardon the photo -- it's a cell phone shot!

We've got campers coming into the camp this afternoon and overnight. I imagine there will be the lovely smell of campfires in the air this evening. Todd and I have a darling group of senior ladies from FBC Gurley coming in tomorrow afternoon for a fish fry! Todd catches and fries up the best fresh fish fillets you'd ever want to taste. I can't wait!!

Hope sunshine fills your weekend -- if not literally, then at least figuratively!

:)

fascinating evening . . .

But before I get too far into last night's guild meeting and our guest speaker, I thought I'd continue my trend and share a cuter-than-cute pumpkin project I played with yesterday . . .

Aren't these little guys darling?! They were super easy and super fast to put together (thirty minutes per pumpkin, tops -- and that was hand sewing). I've found a number of tutorials for fabric pumpkins this season, but when I saw the one at Craft Buds, I knew it was one I wanted to try. Her tutorial is very concise and well-structured, and quite frankly, I thought her fabric pumpkins looked the best of any I'd seen in a tutorial.

I wasn't disappointed! I still had plenty of my Pumpkins Gone Wild and it's such fun fabric, I thought it would be cute as pumpkins! I think it was perfect. And now there's a pumpkin for Sawyer and a pumpkin for Eleanor (or her mommy, for now)!

Just call me the pumpkin queen. But don't call me late for my guild meeting!!

I was so giddy to be out, I had to take a self-portrait. This is me, happy to be out and on my way to a quilt guild meeting! LOL! Yes, I'm goofy. And no, it's no coincidence that I'm wearing pumpkin-orange. I'm also wearing candy corn earrings and a candy corn necklace. Hey, 'tis the season!

I got there last night and came in the back entrance -- because it's the only way I can *roll* in -- and saw the line up front and almost didn't go get my name badge raffle ticket! But I managed to roll through the crowd and sidled over to one of hospitality directors, who slid me a ticket without making me stand in line!

SO glad I did that! Because guess whose ticket was drawn for the Gadget Girl's draw?! Yours truly, thank you very much! And it was a good one, too! Wonder clips -- I've heard a number of quilters say how much better they worked on securing binding ... but they're so expensive. I was tickled to win a bag of 25!

Our lecturer was quilt historian, Sue Reich, and she spoke to us about quilting during the WW2 era. It really was a fascinating evening. I was expecting more of a trunk show, but the majority of her quilts are on exhibit at the Huntsville Museum of Art. She has a wonderful power point presentation, and I took a couple of photos off the screen . . .

I loved this. Yeah, it's a knitting reference, but still, c'mon!

And the whole room broke into a spontaneous cackle when this image hit the screen.

Another result of the war is the slacks-for-women epidemic. LOL! I think WW2 and the sacrifices women had to make on behalf of their country did more than anything else to push the cause of women's rights/equality for women in this country. It literally forced women out of the home and into the workforce. And after the war when the men returned home and to their jobs, women weren't ready to just go back home. In a way, I also think it cost our country. But I won't open that can of worms right now. ;)

This is an image of a "V" ship; they were used to transport food and supplies to troops overseas.

There are only one of these ships left; it's in Maine. Women built these at the rate of one per day. One per day?!? WOW!

Everything was saved, salvaged, re-used, and made over. This beautiful war-bride's dress??

Made from her groom's parachute. Pretty incredible, huh?

Ms. Reich shared with us that with some exceptions (victory quilts, star quilts, and flag quilts) it was very difficult to tell if a quilt was from the WW2 era, just based on looks.

This quilt was a perfect example of that! Look how funky it is! Would you ever think this was a WW2 quilt?? Ms. Reich also shared that after the war, quilts from this era had been tucked into trunks and attics all over the U.S. and Canada, and were now just being discovered as baby boomers went through their parent's things. She also noted that after WW2, women set aside quilting and it truly was a dying art until the craft was resurrected again at the bi-centennial.

This image is of the famous feuding family, the Hatfields and McCoys -- long after the feud had been settled.

The women of the two families are working together on a V for Victory quilt.

I loved this star . . .

And the signature on it, "MADE FEB 1944 BY MOTHER". How sweet!

Sue did have some quilts with her to display . . .

This particular quilt was made from silk "sweetheart" pillow tops that were available as souvenirs to send home from bases around the U.S. and world, from sailors and soldiers to their parents/sweethearts.

I loved this little blue star banner quilt . . .

Someone suggested that the template for this little sailor may have been the little guy on the Cracker Jacks box! I think she may be right!

I loved this victory quilt . . . see how VICTORY is spelled out on the two diagonals?

And this beautiful quilt top -- the red, white and blue pieces appliqued onto a peach colored sheet.

And while you don't necessarily think of ""red, white, blue and peach", it really worked!

We also had several of our members who brought in show and tell quilts from the WW2 era.

The member who brought in this quilt shared that she recalls her mother saying that she hoped this was the last quilt she'd ever make. She hoped that after the war she could afford to buy her quilts! She went on to tell us that it was indeed the last quilt her mom made, and that the quilt was dear to her not only because of that, but because it was made up from scraps and pieces that her mom had from their clothes. Sweet, sweet, sweet.

I think my favorite story of the night may have centered around this airplane quilt.

It is owned by one of our former guild presidents, Michele. Michele told us how she'd found this quilt on e-bay several years ago and entered a bid on it. She wanted it badly enough (she's a former Army pilot and very much a collector of Americana) that she "sniped" the bid and won it at the last second.

Michele (on the right) said it wasn't long after she won the bid on the quilt that she got an e-mail from some woman named Sue Reich (on the left), saying she'd been the other bidder for the quilt, and that she was doing a lecture and wondered if Michele would let her borrow the quilt for the display! Michele said her initial reaction was along the lines of, "Yeah right, no way!" But after doing a little research, she realized who exactly Sue was! How funny is that?! There was a picture of Michele's quilt in Sue's presentation.

All in all, it was a great night and I enjoyed being around my quilty friends for the evening. Today already promises to be a gorgeous day -- sunny, bright, clear, and cool! Todd's on shift and it's a Friday Night Sew In -- have you signed up yet?!? For me, it'll be time to work on my Snow Buddies! Joc is headed this way and I'm not sure what kind of trouble we're going to find. It will probably have something to do with . . . everyone say it with me now . . .

P U M P K I N S !

:)

all sewn out . . .

What a fun evening I had, even if it wasn't *super* productive. I'm not my creative best in the evenings anyways, and generally by Friday night, I'm just downright pooped! Don't get me wrong; I can stay up -- I just have a hard time focusing. LOL! Mindless movies and internet surfing are more my evening speed. Ask my husband -- he has a hard time getting my day out of me when I got home at night. My brain just quits!

That being said, I did manage to make some progress with my hexagons!

Look at all these lovelies! I am so loving these colors.

So that set is all sewn, ready to be pressed. Hurrah!

I got my next set of strips sewn and pressed.

And then they went under the ruler . . .

I'm so 'in like' with this ruler! It's so much fun. I do admit I have to be really careful or it moves on me and I don't have equilateral triangles any more. Ooops!

So now my solids/patterned triangles are all cut and cute and ready to be assembled.

They will make either these cute little separator hexagons . . .

Or these fun, funky hexagons . . .

Which don't even look like hexagons because of their funkiness!

And I'm left with a huge pile of these. Triangle orphans, I'm calling them.

Don't worry little triangle orphans! I will find a way to use you! I'm thinking little mixed up hexie pillows. Since this quilt is for a pre-teen girl, I think that would be FUN!

So my long list of possibilities for last night ended up being just that. Possibility instead of reality. *sigh* I really should put up the hexagons and work on CHRISTMAS presents. LOL! Especially if I'm going to meet one of my Charming Girls goals for this month. Yikes!

For now, there's a big day ahead, full of fun, non-quilting things: like daughters and grandbabies (for a bit) and tea and ballet and THE GRINCH!!! I've been listening to Christmas music all morning -- I'm so in the mood!

And my man is on his way home from work and I promised him French toast and bacon for breakfast. Better get to scooting!

Glad tidings!

:)