Happy Saturday!

The sun is shining and I got to sew! :-)

 I saw these really cute pumpkin coasters on Brandie's blog~ 'abc' and had to try them! Go look at her's, they are adorable! And she tells you how to make them. :-)  So I gave them a try~  fun and easy!

Then I thought~ how about apple coasters? After an intensive search for brown thread, which involved unpacking a couple more boxes! :-/ I ended up with these. Oh I know a couple are odd shaped, but I've seen a lot of odd shaped apples! ;-)

In other news, I have joined Debi in the Fall into Fall  Giveaway fun. See the little scarecrow on my sidebar?  Lots of bloggers are signing up~ it promises to be lots of fun!  I have a week to come up with a prize~ I'll let you know Friday what it is! :-)

Until next time~
Happy stitchin'!

Whoohoo! Mail!! :-)

I just came back from the mailbox and look what the mailman brought!~

 The last swap blocks from Bingo~Bonnie.  :-))  We have been swapping My Blue Heaven blocks from Quilter's Cache for the past year (or maybe a little more, we didn't count the time, just whenever we got some made) and we are now at the end. We both should have enough blocks now for big quilts. :-)  If you looked at the block on Quilter's Cache you will notice  it is a 12 inch block. We downsized it a bit for our swap. And we decided that all the large triangles would be blue fabrics and all the small ones could be scrappy. All the backgrounds were whites/tans/creams scrappy too.  We used Triangulations to make all the small HST's and boy was it a time saver!  Now I just need to locate the rest of my blocks and I can start sewing this one together. Whoohoo! :-)

 I am trying out blogger's new template for posting~ so far so good!  It is really easy to add links and move photo's around. Thanks Blogger! :-)

Hope you are enjoying the beginning of autumn and had a little time to stitch today~
Until next time,
Have a happy!

A Little Cutting

I did empty a couple boxes!~ LOL and then I got distracted. :-))

I cut up this little pile from my Thimbleberries stash because next Wednesday is Thimbleberries Sew Day! Are you going to sew with me? :-)



And then I cut these strips for scrappy 4 patches for the swap I'm in. Hmmm, now that I see the photo, I wonder if the light with the branch on it is too dark? maybe the gold is too?



Hope you had a happy day and until next time~
Happy stitchin'!!

A Little Fun~

There are so many fun projects in the Fall Quilts and More magazine, but I've had my eye on these two~ the Tiny Treat Bag (page 16), and the drink cozy (page 75). I need a little gift right before Halloween, so thought these two plus a few treats in the bag would be perfect. And the little green bats glow in the dark! LOL :-)

Hope you got to have a little sewing fun today too! ;-)
Until next time~
Happy Stitchin'!

Design Wall Monday

I know, its been a while. ;-) I am slowly getting unpacked and back into a little bit of a routine. And sewing! :-)) I joined a 4 patch swap that Bingo~Bonnie is sponsoring on the HGTV quilting forum. We are making scrappy 4-patches ala Bonnie Hunter. It is such a versatile little block; 2 lights, 2 darks and Bonnie Hunter uses them a lot in her patterns and books. :-) So this is where I am today~ 10 sets of 10 little blocks. I hope to get a few more sets done before the due date.



What are you working on? Hop on over to Judy L's Patchwork Times to see what other quilters are doing. There is always a lot of inspiration on Design Wall Mondays!

Until next time~
Happy Stitchin'!

Sunday Sewing!

Whoohoo!! :-)

First, thank you for your kind words for DH's back~ he is feeling much better and is actually looking forward to getting back out to trim shrubs. ;-) I don't think he gets out enough. LOL :-)

And I sewed! Yay! You know the saying 'sew on Sunday, rip on Monday'? Well not today! :-) It was gently raining when I went out to the cottage to see what I could do.. unpack or sew... you know what won out there! :-)) I worked on the border for Paganini (Carrie's new Schnibble pattern). To tell the truth, I loved the look of the scalloped inside border, but it involved ~shudder~ applique! And well, let's just say applique and I have one of those love/hate relationships! I love the look, not so keen on the process. I read Carrie's directions quite a few times and realized that she applique's the entire scallop down~ as in both sides! :-o I needed something less stressful. :-) I kind of flew by the seat of my pants on this, but it worked out! I only had to applique the outside. As I was sewing it, I kept thinking, 'if I had the right rick-rack, it would look so cool under this edge!' But I didn't come across any, so tomorrow I will get back to boxes. :-)

Anyway, I sewed the white for the scallop into the seam as I added the border. I cut off approx 1/2 inch on each end of the last two white borders, because you really don't need it to extend all the way out to the edge, and this way, it wasn't in the seam either. I pressed the seam open. Then I traced the scallop onto the white. I used old x-ray film to make my template, and I had to cut it and play with it a bit to get 3 to fit on each side. Looking at it now, I think I could've made them a little evener ;-/, but I am happy with my first ever attempt. :-)

Then I opened the seams and clipped so the white was inside the seam allowance below the scallop edge and outside for about 1/2 to 3/4th's inch, and sewed them each back together~ the pink with part of the white, and the white on the outside, so 8 little seams. That was the fiddly part. But I kept thinking, if you can trim to the seam when pressing 4-patches, why not in this case too? Sorry my photo's are not better, taking them was kind of an after-thought. :-/



I trimmed the scallop right above my lines and then using the biggest stitch on my machine, I basted the edges down. This way I didn't have to burn myself with a hot iron. ;-o After another good pressing, I used the buttonhole stitch on my machine to sew the scallops down. Then I ripped out the basting stitches.

Next time, I will probably allow a little more white seam allowance when I trim and sew them back, but otherwise, I'm happy with the result. :-)


Thanks for stopping by! Until next time,
Happy Stitchin'!!

Stitch - Stitch - Stitch

I'm cruising right along with my crocheting. :-) You can click the photo for a closer look. The blue looks a little bluer in the photo than it is~ it is more of a teal in reality.



72 inches long (I started with a chain of 300 stitches) and 17 inches wide so far. It is just beginning to warm my lap as I stitch at night which has been perfect for our autumn temps.

Have a happy weekend! I'll be stitching and unpacking boxes. DH hurt his back so the unpacking has been a little slow lately, but he is starting to feel better soooo... it'll be back to boxes soon.

Until next time~
Happy stitchin'!!