Where Did October Go?

 

It seems like Oct went by faster than we could count the days I don't think I've ever packed as much into this month as any other 

 Safari Park with my niece & her grandbabies

The pumpkin Patch with more niece's,great & great grand nieces ,& nephews

My great nieces Beauty Walk they won 1st runner up & 2nd runner up

  A day of making yummy peanut butter balls with my great grand niece& nephew

One Christmas flimsy,hoping to get it quilted by Christmas 

Getting In A Little Quilting

 Got in a little quitting this evening 

Trying out quilting thread for the first time & luving how the stitches are showing up

My neighbor gave me a cutting board,I don't think I've seen one this big

She told me the lines were for making patterns🤷 

I'm not sure what the smaller numbers under the ruler numbers are, would they be centimeters?

Watercolor Adventures

 

A little nervous & excited all rolled up into one🤣 but actually more excited to take my painting to the next level,PTL for an open door & opportunity to take a 6 week course in water color painting,got all my supplies today & I'm ready!

Today was the 1st class which involved the supply list,& going over lots & lots of info & homework🙆 now don't think you're just gonna paint those

 pictures 🤣 4-5 pages of steps for each one , you'll rub the grafit pencil over the back then trace the image onto regular paper then transfer it onto the water color paper,the 4 pages with images ,plant apples etc. has to be prepped & will be painted in the next class

Homework 

Getting Ready To Quilt

 I picked up some batting yesterday on the way home from church, is it just me or does nobody call,text or ask something of you untill you get a project going🤣 my niece wants me to pick her up just to go get dog food,I told her after I get every square pinned 🤣

Sunday Inspiration

 

16 Patch Top Finished

 I spent the day finishing up blocks to size this up to a good full size

In-between I made chicken Parmesan  for lunch 

I was wanting to get started quilting on this one but discovered I was out of  batting big enough to fit this top ,pieces that I do have are of different textures so they'll get used for other projects & I'll pick up a few rolls tomorrow ,even Grace was bummed out that we didn't get to work on it🤣

I've always luved the idea of a simple red & white patch quilt,I know I have a quilt top in reds  & whites waiting to be quilted but I just had to do it 🤣

Pressing Cutting & Sewing

 I have some odd & end  errands to run today so throughout the day there'll be lots of pressing scraps,cutting scraps & sewing blocks

layering 4-6 to get more cut 

so far I have 2 block layouts of the 16 patch,just 2 more to complete another bottom row

I've been trying to decide whether to go light or dark on a background for the tiny 9 patch blocks,the lady at the quilt shop suggested maybe a print with words 🤷 there's still a gallon  zip bag full that needs to double checked & trimmed just a scant ,I've decided I will take them to the fabric shop to match up a fabric for the background ,with a solid in-between each block creating a background color Im thinking I'm almost done with these teenie tiny little things🤣

A Little Sewing A Little Cooking

 I sewed the 5 blocks together & made another row to the left side of the patch quilt 

I laid it across the bed & it will need another row on the other side for good coverage,not sure just yet if it'll need another top & bottom row

bar-b-que chicken & roasted broccoli,yellow & butternut squash for lunch,lightly coated with olive oil & a drizzle of  a sweet teriyaki glaze cause that's what I had & a sprinkle of cinnamon on the butternut squash which gives it a mild sweet potato taste

I think this may be the last of the little salad tomatoes as they've stopped growing to their full potential but coated in olive oil & slow roasted till they're cooked to sundried perfection makes them yummy whether for salads or pizzas,it took about 2 hrs at 170 ,place in a jar & top with olive oil & refrigerate 

Death Of A Waffle Maker & Bobbin War

 

my niece gave me some big as life blueberries😄,I'm talking bigger than a dime 😄 now you may think you've seen our bb waffles or pancakes & even peaches but you've not seen them paired together therefore you've seen these untill now🤣 not as pretty as the waffle maker makes them but bless its heart I think it died on me this morning,the little light that signals its done didn't go off so I went to lift it & it wouldn't open as it always will ,it clicked then locked then started burning so a hot burnt black as coal waffle stuck with no intention of coming out🤣it ran a good race these last 3 years but its time to put it to rest 🤣

Meanwhile in the sewing room ,Im ready for bobbin chicken war!🤣 there's nothing worse than having to stop & wind a bobbin just for a little more ways to go,last night coming up to the end of sewing the last block it ran out,it was late,I was tired so I reached for one that had a little grey left in it & it ran out so I reached for one that had just enough blue& it was just enough🤣this morning I wound 10 bobbins , I'm ready!🤣

A Few More 16 Patch Blocks

 These last few days I've just been able to sew with a lick & a promise 😄 yesterday I attended my great nieces beauty pageant but I did manage to finish up 2 more 16 patch blocks & a 3rd one after spending the better part of the day helping out one of my nieces with errands  

my great nieces are in 7th grade this year ,they did pageants when they were a bit younger but the last year decided to go into sport's,this year they decided they wanted to do the pageant,they've always done good & been a good sport if one wins a placement & the other doesn't but last night they were both winners with 1st runner up & 2nd runner up 

Sunday Inspiration

 

It's A Top!

First christmas top finished,bow to see if I have enough yardage for a backing

Grace & Sadie wanted in on the photo shoot😄

As it is now it measures 58x67, big enough to snuggle with a bowl of popcorn & a good movie

The Beginnings Of A Christmas Quilt

 I've decided to add another row around the 16 patch quilt top & make blocks in-between projects ,meanwhile I pulled the Christmas fabrics back out & going with a strip style , the large dots & Christmas candy strips are the accent strips,just need to cut out 3 more

The candy strip will only be on top & bottom of the 4 strips in the middle

There are 5 main focus strips,4 waiting to be trimmed up & sewn to the accent strips 

At this point I'm not sure what I have for a backing but hopefully I  have something & can  get it ready to quilt by bedtime & I will still have to much of these fabrics🤣

Lets Make It Bigger"Or Not"

Having 2 orphan blocks from this quilt top make me have thoughts of making it bigger

The original plan for it was to be an oversize lap quilt,surely it wouldn't take to many to upgrade it to a full🤷 so I pulled out the scraps & started pressing & cutting

Mid way the light bulb went off 😄 each block is made up of (16) 5" squares ,8 rows across & 10 down will require cutting out  288 more 5" squares🤷 I think I had a moment when I shouldn't of been thinking🤣 so should I let well enough slone or carry on? maybe just add borders?🤷

Meanwhile Sadie says its fine the way it is & to wake her when its finished🤣

 I'm not sure if my great grand niece &  nephew's keeping me young or pushing me over the edge🤣 but I do know they are medicine for my soul ,long story short about christmas my husband & me jad always hosted what we called tour of lights for family & a few friends,with every room decked out plus outside we started in Oct ,these two sweeties told me this past Sunday they wanted to het started so we did lol,with all the breaks in between like swinging,brick forts,pizza picnics,cartoons, tree climbing ,making peanutbutter ballas etc.,we managed to get one tree done

speaking of getting things done, I've been wanting 

to cook on the grill what seems like forever & good fresh veggies,yesterday I picked up one if my nieces & off to the produce market we went,after I dropped her off & got back home I fired up the grill & got some veggies going on the stove,it was going on 5:00 before I got to sit down & enjoy the fruits of my labor but ohhh so worth it! grilled chop,green beans with new potatoes,yellow squash & onions,sliced tomatoes

It looks like a rainy day today but our weathers funny that way,you think its going to rain then its like never mind lets do 80 today😄 as far as I know I'm planning on today being a stay home day🤣 the plans are to cook up a few more veggies,Its been a while since I've cooked a variety of things to be able to make a good plate of yumminess for a few days, get the laundry done,& sewing,do I need to day that last one again?🤣

Grace doing a final inspection  on our first tree

Some Things Are Worth Saving

 The things that are worth saving to us may not mean anything to anybody but us,noone gets it, understands it & that's ok 😄 Why bother they say, toss it & move on they day😄 I am over half way finished repairing this old quilt that I have luved for over 30 years

There will come a day when it'll be beyond repair but not today , perhaps  I need to name it my Linus blankie🤣

Yesterday after church I met up with a few of my nieces & nephews for an outing at the pumpkin patch

These sweeties will be with me today ,my great grand niece & nephew,grandbabies to my niece, there's rumors of  🎄 so we shall see 😄