Actually, my whole life is a work in progress, but here are some quilty things that are getting my attention lately.  Judy Laquidara’s latest Quilt for an Hour (QFAH) is a star quilt with an interestingly shaded background called Shine on Bayou Cane.  It will really make the stars *pop*.  The idea is that you get her instructions for each day, it should only take about an hour (unless you’re slow like me), and then you post your progress, hopefully each day so you stay caught up!  So for Monday and Tuesday of this week, here are my 120 half-square triangle-blocks, composed of my two background fabrics.  I also included in the photo 32 fat eighths in Civil War reproduction prints that I had squirreled away for a rainy day (and it IS raining today).  If need be, I will break into my fat quarter collection of Civil War fabrics.  And my colors photographed pretty accurately, for a change.

Another fun project is Judy Laquidara’s Star BOM.  We are up to Block #5!  Here is block 5, along with a photo of blocks 1-5.  These will finish at 12″ each, so they are good-sized blocks.  The Star BOM is another example of Judy taking familiar blocks and shaking things up by making the background, the borders, and the settings more interesting.  She also seems to favor nearly solid fabrics.  I’ve always been drawn to prints with maybe a couple of nearly solids, so this has been a new direction for me, and I’m enjoying it!

Here are a couple of table runners that are awaiting binding.  The one on the left is an Anka’s Treasures pinwheel pattern included in the pattern Little Charmers III, designed to use charm packs.  (Eileen, I think you were looking for the name of that pattern?)  And the one on the right is from a Terry Atkinson book, Lessons from Mama.  (Although I’ve never met Terry, I know she’s a local pattern designer.  Her patterns are always easy to follow.)  For a fall theme, I used an Indian corn fabric for the center of the stripe, which you can see better if you click on the photo for an enlarged view (you might even be able to click twice to enlarge it twice).

While I had a neutral backing fabric on the longarm, I floated the two table runners plus this sweet Mary Engelbreit panel.  (Mary also needs a hanging sleeve and binding.)  Panels are such a great “cheat”.  I have a place by the front door for panels of this size, and I would like to be able to change them out at least once a month, so I have a few to go.  It’s fun to look for them for different seasons/holidays/moods.

So that’s it for now! 

Sue

Okay, we really aren’t that cold in Minnesota (yet), but the nights have definitely turned chilly.  Last night I put an extra quilt on the bed.  Normally I love the coolness of the sheets as I slide into bed, but last night it was just too darned cold!  Ahh, the joys of being a quilter.  Another layer on the bed was no problem. 

This is one of my favorite photos out my kitchen window (where the hummingbird was, a few posts back).  We see all sorts of birds in this crab tree, but not this snowy/icy day late in December 2006.  Which leads me to the real subject of this post.  We don’t stay in Minnesota for the entire winter.  It’s a wonderfully diverse state, with fun, caring people, great art and cultural events.  It just gets too cold.  And now that we don’t have “regular day jobs”, we can do something about it.  We will eventually pack a bag and spend a little time in Texas.

We didn’t ever plan that Texas would be our winter getaway, but our first retired winter we spent some time in Port Aransas on Mustang Island (close to Corpus Christi).  Even though DH and I have been City Folks our entire adult lives, we both started out on farms, nowhere even close to a city.  Small-town farm kids.  And Port Aransas has a homey, small-town feel to it — at least in the winter when there are mostly Northerners in all those condos.  (Spring break is another story.)  I have a sewing machine I leave down there, along with all the other necessary sewing items, but what I really love to do in Texas is bird watch.  Me, a bird watcher?  I was surprised too!  It turns out that the coast of Texas, and particularly the barrier islands, is a major migratory path for all kinds of birds.  Some of my favorite pictures:  (okay, all my pictures are my “favorites”; if they weren’t, they would be deleted by now)

Forster’s Terns.  Aren’t they funny?  But they make such a cute couple. 

I love this guy.  He’s a Cinnamon Teal.  And there’s no question about how he got his name, although he also looks like the rich red-brown of cocoa powder, the expensive kind.

This pair of Northern Shovelers was doing some kind of a dance (probably of the mating variety).  Very graceful looking, don’t you think? 

And of all my favorite pictures, this is one of my favorite-est!  A pair of Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks.  I love their pink legs.  I must have taken 50 pictures of this pair, and they posed and posed for me.  Some day I will do a photo album of just the whistling ducks.

There is a frost advisory out tonight for part of northern Minnesota.  Our forecast low for tonight is 37 degrees, with a high of 59 predicted for tomorrow.  We are definitely in October, and this shift in weather has made me start looking forward to our migration south, just like our feathered friends.  We Midwesterners will be traveling south, mostly in pairs, and we’ll try to not leave a mess along the way like these birds do!

–Sue

(By the way, they don’t call us Snowbirds in Texas; we’re Winter Texans.)

Our Quilting Mini-Camp was a big success and tons of fun. I have to admit that I didn’t take a single photo. I should have, but the days just flew by. There were 14 of us on Tuesday, and 12 on Thursday. We sewed in the morning, had a sit-down lunch all at the same table (my dining room table has HUGE leaves), did a little clean-up, then back to work for more fun and sewing.

The “admission” each day was to bring a fat quarter. Betty also donated a beautiful basket to put the FQs in, and we drew names to determine the winner. Jan won Tuesday’s basket of FQs. Tuesday morning I demonstrated making a handbag out of a placemat. I used that purse to place Thursday’s FQs into, and when I have a chance I will take a photo of the purse and insert it into this post so there’s SOMETHING to look at! Betty won Thursday’s FQs & purse.

We had hand-stitchers and machine-sewers, all working like crazy, but still having fun. We have such a great group, it was a joy to spend some extra time together. I gave them each a little gift bag with a breakfast bar, a bit of chocolate, a Busy as a Bee fat quarter, and my favorite item from Ikea: a stackable mug. (Some day I will have to blog about Ikea. I love that store. I don’t buy much beyond frying pans, hangers, and mugs, but it’s a great store.)

Thursday afternoon I loaded some cheater fabric on the longarm, and those who were interested could take “Elvis” for a spin. I did this once before when some ladies were visiting, and I used the interestly quilted end result for a doggie blanket for my Grandpuppy Tucson. This one I will bind up for my new Grandpuppy Milo. (Dave, send me a pic of Tucson and I’ll post him.) I haven’t met Milo yet (or Tucson yet, for that matter, but Tucson lives in Virginia), so I’ll have to get a picture of Milo and Grandkitty TJ also.

Two days of sewing sounds like such a long time, but it literally flew by. Food: Thursday we had soup and salad. I made Sabina’s Cheesy Potato Soup, and the recipe can be found at the Recipes tab at the top of this page. Thursday I made my friend Carol’s Chicken Salad (slightly modified), a fruit bowl, and roll. I will post the Chicken Salad October 1st as October’s new recipe. It was fabulous, if I say so myself. And I guess I just did!

Sue

I really wanted to do some kind of retreat or quilt show outing this fall.  I nearly went to the ND quilt show in Fargo, but things just didn’t work out.  I finally decided to have a “sort of” retreat at my house, and invite all the women in our Wednesday DayStitchers group.  So we start tomorrow, all day; of course, on Wednesday we go back to our regular afternoon quilting group; then about a dozen or so of us back at my house Thursday, all day.  How fun will that be?  Well, I’ll know tomorrow.

The “price” of admission is one fat quarter per day, and they will go to one of the day’s participants (by a drawing at the end of the day).  I seeded the bowl with a few starter FQ’s:

I’ve been busy removing some furniture, moving the rest around, borrowing tables (thanks, Betty!) and an iron, and probably something else I haven’t even thought of yet.  I am expecting about 14 quilters tomorrow, and so I’m getting stations set up for the ones that are bringing their sewing machines — 14 of them!  Part of us will be upstairs, part downstairs, but we will be meeting up midday in the dining room (after we clear the sewing stuff off the table) for some lunch.  I’m going to make my mother-in-law’s Cheesy Potato Soup, a tossed salad, and some nice crusty bread.  I’ll also have my sister-in-law Jeanne’s Dump Cake (MUCH better than it sounds) for dessert.

My husband is out of town for a funeral, and he may be a little disoriented when he comes back to the new furniture configuration:

There are several sewing stations that don’t appear in the pictures.  I also need to get the pressing stations set up, and the exercise room place we store our exercise equipment will be set up with table and chairs for a little magazine and book viewing.  I still have lots to do.  You will notice I’m not posting a photo of my sewing room yet!  So back to work I go.  We will have a great two days sewing up a storm!  Wish you could all be here, but I definitely don’t have enough chairs!

Sue

(And I need to make a correction.  According to my bird book, this is a FEMALE Ruby-Throated Hummingbird.  Looked like a boy bird to me!)

The bees have found our hummingbird feeder.  Again.  When we refilled and cleaned it last (yesterday), we made extra sure the outside was clean, and we didn’t put it back up right away.  The bees went away.  This morning the bees are back.  I was wondering if Mr. Hummer was going to stop by, because sometimes when he sees the bees, he keeps going, and sometimes he picks a part of the feeder where there aren’t any bees.  He must have been feeling his oats this morning.

He picked the same spot where the bees were!  Ewww!  Then he popped his head up — and I always feel like he’s looking straight at me — and he zipped around to the “good” side of the feeder.

He took a few more sips, then turned to fly away.  They are such precious little birds.  (You can click on the photos above for a bigger picture.  Especially the one with his back to the camera, you can see the little green feathers better.)  I will get way more done when they fly south and I quit sitting by my kitchen window, camera in hand.  On the other hand, it’s a nice way to start the day.

(I think the reason I like this block so well is because one of the checkerboard fabrics is in the same color family as the star fabric.  Just a thought…)

Here is Block #4 for Judy Laquidara’s Star BOM quilt.  This was a fun block to do, and it went together very easily.  I’m liking how my blocks are coming out, and it’s a great chance to work in some fat quarters that I’ve had for a long time.  Please note that I have a photo of my four completed blocks at the “Star BOM” button at the top of this page.  Thank you, Judy, for another great block!  I don’t know that I will be able to give this quilt away.  I should probably be making doubles . . .

Sue

This little fellow was in our crab tree out our kitchen window today.  I thinik it’s some kind of warbler, and maybe a female or a young one.  I was waiting for the hummingbird to come by again, and he didn’t!  It’s like they know when I’m lying in wait.  I read that the hummingbirds are only flying 20% of the time, and they spend the other 80% of the time perching on a branch.  It’s because flying, and especially hovering, uses so much energy.  Well, I think he was perching extra time today!  But this little bird was worth watching.  I like the effect of the crab tree out of focus behind him.  It makes it look sort of watercolor-ish.

Sue

There were 18 entries in my 20,000th post give-away drawing, and thank you all for entering!  You were all carefully listed, numbered (to make sure I didn’t confuse Karen with Karen L, etc.) cut into strips, counted again to make sure I didn’t “drop” anybody, and gently tossed in my fruit bowl.

DH had just come in from waxing the car (we had a beautiful fall day today, cool and sunny), and he was drafted into the job of “draw-er”.

And the winner is…

I’ll get an e-mail out to you, Linda, and when you supply your mailing address, I’ll get the Ginghers and fabric in the mail to you!  And thanks to everybody who gave a favorite quilting/sewing tool.

Sue

So do you ever enjoy something so much you want to share your discovery?  Last fall, during a trip to Branson, MO, we stopped at a quilt shop — no, we stopped somewhere else and I FOUND a quilt shop — and they had the prettiest greeting cards.  I bought four of them, and then I never wanted to use them because they were so special.  They are prints of beautiful paintings, and every one has a quilt in it somewhere.  There might be a stack of quilts, a quilt on a porch, or the quilt pattern might be incorporated subtly into the painting.  They are by Rebecca Barker of Barker Quiltscapes, and I found her on line last winter.  I promptly ordered 50 assorted cards, and no two were alike!  When you buy a pack of 10, they are about $1.35 each card, very reasonable for a high-quality greeting card (and no shipping charge!).  Buy two or more packs of 10 for $1.25 per card.  They are blank, which makes them wonderful for any occasion.  I’m not affiliated in any way, just wanted to share with you a lovely little product that’s out there. 

Sue

Well, sort of anyway.  I had a fun 2 1/2 day mini-vacation with three best girlfriends.  We do this annually, and it’s always fun.  The four of us used to work together several years ago at a large company.  Now only one of us is still working there, but we’ve maintained our friendships with weekly Saturday breakfasts and annual girls’ getaways.  This year was our 10th year, I believe.  Well, I came back with a raging sinus condition, and that surely takes the wind out of your sails!  It makes it really nice to be back home.  I missed having access to a computer so, as sick as that sounds, it’s nice to be back with my computer as well.

Just a remember, if you haven’t already, check my give-away post of a few days ago.  I will be doing the drawing tomorrow (Monday) evening to somewhat allow for different time zones.  Last chance!  Even if you aren’t interested in entering the drawing, people are listing their favorite quilting/sewing “tool”, so it’s fun to read what comes to people’s minds.

Port Aransas was out of the hurricane’s path, but how very horrifying to have it zero in on a major metropolitan area.  SIL Grace and BIL Ronnie in Lake Jackson are okay, but of course have no power, and I’m sure streets and yards are a mess.  It’s so amazing to me that we can track a hurricane for days, approximate where it’s going to come ashore, and yet we’re helpless to do anything to stop it.  A reminder that we’re not as in control as we like to think we are.

Time to put on a pot of coffee.  I skipped dinner last night and went to bed early, so I was famished about 4:30 am.  (Not to mention, I could no longer breathe laying down.)  So I got up and had a delicious peanut butter & banana on toast, and can breathe a little better.  All I’m missing is a little caffeine.

Sue