Dear Jane & M-3.....moving slowly

I happened to remember the other day, I have never taken a picture of Jane after I machine quilted it in the ditch and bound it.  I really don't have the room to do it justice here.....

 I just could not get high enough to get it all in.....

 You can pick out the double pink ring....and the smaller yellow one.

 Love, love, love.....what can I say!

I added inked names of our ancestors and companies that fought in the Civil War, both Union and Confederate.  You can see some of those here.  I drew a star by those names that are direct descendants.

M-3 unquilted 

M-3 quilted


Tips for M-3

I try and quilt them as I can see them done from the original, but sometimes because of seam allowance and I fussy cut the fabrics for this block, so I didn't want to quilt through the center of the patches....I thought it would take away from the fabric pattern, so I did a lot more stitching in the ditch than I like to do....but it works and it is DONE!

Happy Thanksgiving

We give thanks to Thee, O God, we give thanks, For Thy name is near; Men declare Thy wondrous works. Psalm 75:1

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Thy name, O Most High; To declare Thy loving kindness in the morning, And Thy faithfulness by night.  Psalm 92:1-2

May your day be filled with gratitude, not just today, but every day!
We have a LOT to be thankful for!

One or Two Pumpkins.....

I have recently ran into several readers that wondered if I was still doing my blog....which was nice to be missed.  Answer.....Yes, just haven't been doing a good job with it.  It would be extremely encouraging to hear from some of you that enjoy these epistles.  You all know I have a "migraine life".....so really you don't want to hear from me, when I am not doing well.  That is part of my problem with writing, I can't be very authentic when I am barely functioning, so I struggle with that.  I don't do well at faking things, which is probably a good thing.  Any way it was nice to hear that some had missed my little corner of the world.  I will try and do better.  I think I have said that before....me bad!

I got rid of my Halloween decorations several years ago, divided it up between my girls.  They could enjoy all the stuff with all the grandkiddos.  So I have pumpkins and turkeys instead.  I really do like fall, just don't like what comes after.....SNOW & ICE.....ick!  I want to move to Arizona every winter.  :)  really!!!

Here is a cute pumpkin coaster I knitted....have a pair of them very cute and fast project.  One of my previous neighbors from La Porte City, wrote a darling book of knitted coasters.  I have been having a lot of fun doing some of them.

Milk glass pumpkin under glass.

I love old books.....here are a couple of them from my collection.

I love Mr. Scarecrow sitting on his bale of straw.....

My Grandma T. did beautiful ceramic work....this piece is darling.  I love the lit up faces!

This bale of straw came from the Thresher's Reunion in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa many years ago.  They had a small machine there that made these small bales.  I have used it to decorate for fall every year since.  So fun!
Do you want to see how they make these?  straw bale

A machine embroidered mini quilt.

By the back door

Oh those fall colors!

I found this little gem a few months ago at a sidewalk sale for 90% off.  I guess nobody thought it was worth the $2-3 I paid for it.....I thought it was gorgeous and have been carrying "my stuff" around in it.

This is my kind of pumpkin....no carving.  I never liked doing that....now they have all these tools for you to use, probably would be a lot easier.  But I still love this one,  just plug it in!  :)

I had these theme sweaters, that are out of style now, but I still hated to part with them....so I made some of them into pillows.  I just rough cut them apart and then mark them on the wrong side where I want to stitch and run them through the serger to get the right size and stabilize the edges.  Sew it all around with the sewing machine and I used the button closure to make my opening.  Oh, and I made it the same size as a pillow I already had.  So I can take it off easily to change them out.

Isn't she cute?

Inspiration From the Iowa State Fair 2013

We so enjoy going the the Iowa State Fair and this year was no exception.  The weather was stellar which made the crowds exceptional.  The spiral potato chips and rib on a stick went down nicely too!  Had to bring home a bag of cotton candy too.....that's gone!!!!

I mostly took pics of machine quilting designs for my MQ notebook.  I need ideas when I have a new quilt in my frame....maybe you will find something that inspires your next project too!

I was mainly looking for quilting designs that fill a certain space....

Wonderful border!

This is a wonderful mini.....love the border fabric!

The 4-H building is always a good source of ideas and inspiration!

This is garden hose and electrical ties fashioned  into a basket....genius!

How about an upside down stool made into a portable gift wrapping station!

Love wooden advertising yardsticks!

Cute little bench!

Great clock!

I call them Gertrude & Hecliffe....I think I need a pair of them!