Last Days of October

This summer and fall have sped by. Here in the northeast, it felt we barely had them. Not a lot of hot sunny days this year.

Still, there have been some beautiful ones. Here is a mini celebration of them in pictures.

I took all these in my neighborhood. The daisys are amazing. They bloom long after every other flower in my yard has long gone.

I Love the Way Kids Think

Years ago, when my daughter was about five, we drove up to a 4-way stop sign intersection at the same time as two other cars. She observed how each car proceeded in an orderly fashion, and then asked, "Mom, how do you know when to go?"

"We take turns," I absentmindedly replied.

She thought a bit and then asked, "but what if you don't all come here at the same time again?"

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I love the way kids think.

Today, right now, at 7 a.m. on a Thursday morning, I am thankful that my husband and I are almost over our colds. I am thankful for another morning to wake up and see all that God has in store for me. I am thankful for this first cup of green tea. I am thankful for the sewing I will do in a few minutes. I am at the freemotion quilting portion of making a bag, one of my favorite parts.






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IThessalonians 5:18
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Whoohoo I Won Something!

I won a yard of Robert Kaufman fabric just by replying to their twitter account about why I like fusions. My entry (chosen at random) was "@robertkaufman I'm a fusions fanatic because it is a great mixer!"

http://twitter.com/robertkaufman

They are giving a yard away every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday through December 23. All you have to do is twitter about why you are a fusions fanatic.

And don't use "I never win anything," as an excuse. I've found the best way to win something, is to enter!

Good News Monday

Traditionally Monday morning is thought of as the toughest of the week. How about some good news to start out the week. I found a site titled Good News Gazette where you can find all kinds of good news.

Here is one of the videos on their site. It is a mini movie (about 15 minutes long) a love story. Hope you enjoy it.

Gift Giving Help

Lest you be misled by the title of this post, I am NOT going to be giving gift suggestions. In fact, I am in need of suggestions for the toughest family member to buy for - my Mom. Because of this, I left a comment in Kims Crafty Apple blog a week or so ago when she asked if anyone had gift giving dilemmas she could help out with.

Well, when I got home from church this morning, there was a message from Kim linking me to her blog where she had written up some very well thought out and practical ideas of gifts to give my Mom. I especially like her second idea:

"What about a fabulous getaway to a cozy bed and breakfast in the area? In Wisconsin, Door County is known for their bed and breakfasts and you can afford to do this type gift if you decide on an off-season time. Something cozy and romantic for a couple or relaxing for the single."

My Mom lives many miles away, and when she does come for a visit, I am often working for at least part of the time. I think she would really appreciate some time just for the two of us in a location without the daily distractions of home.

Some years back I tried something like this idea. I booked just the two of us for an canoe trip at Umgagog Lake in New Hampshire with a group of outdoorsy members of the Adirondack Mountain Club. We didn't know anyone, Mom had never really canoed before, and I wasn't feeling very well all week. But we had a marvelous time, and will never forget some of the funny and interesting things that happened.

Here is one of the scrapbook pages I did about the event.

























Kim had other wonderful ideas to share, and I love her gift-giving theme. This time of year we can all use the help! Please check out her blog article here, and her wonderful Etsy shop here.

Here is one of the marvelous quilts you can find in her shop. I absolutely love the color scheme!

Your Most Hearted (but still Unsold) Item - for My Treasury

I love making treasuries on Etsy. Yesterday I tried something new, a treasury for seller's most hearted, but still unsold, items. I started a thread in the promotions forum and asked that people leave a link to their most hearted. It got quite a good response, in fact the thread is still going this morning. The treasury filled quickly, but people still left their comments and clicked on the treasury.

Some people tweeted it, and a couple even blogged about it:

http://juliafinucane.blogspot.com

http://www.oldbutnew.net/blog

As of this writing, we just made it to page one of the treasuries for hotness. I am thrilled for the featured sellers and hope their items sell. Another up side is that I got some new favorites and might just feature them in my next treasury.

Thankful Thursday

Thursdays will now be Thankful Thursdays. Not that we don't have something to be thankful every day, but I read recently that writing a thankful journal once a week can be very effective in one's overall perspective and success in life.

I'll start with a funny kid story. I love the way kid's think. This one comes from Cindy Scott from KidSpirit.com:

When my youngest daughter, Alicyn was about 3 1/2 years old, she had a terrible fear of spiders. California is full of spiders. You knock them down today, they are back tomorrow. Everytime she went to the "potty" she would scream for me to come in with her if she saw a spider, even in the furthest corner of the room. I would assure her that the spider was more afraid of her than she was of it. I would tell her to pretend the spider wasn't there and that it wasn't even thinking about her. One evening, Alicyn was in the bathroom. She yelled for me to come and she yelled loudly. I asked her what she wanted. She yelled back, "Mom, there's a spider in here and he is thinking about me".

[especially for my daughter who dislikes spiders intensely. I can picture this happening when she was little]

So back to Thankful Thursday. A few things I am thankful for today, in no particular order:

The gorgeous colors of the trees and grasses during this season. Their last hurrah before dying for the winter, and then reblooming in the spring. It makes me think of the pattern our lives can have - a beautiful maturing as we age, getting better, not just older. Eventually falling asleep, and then rebirth when Christ comes back.

That my husband and myself both got out of work early today.

My family. Especially that I might get to see one of my granddaughters later today.

Health

Taking a walk outside, the weather is still warmish, almost 70 today.

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If you have any cute children's stories, please share!

1000 Pyramids

Lately, I've been working on a 1000 Pyramid quilt. This is what it looks like so far.

This is one of those patterns I've wanted to try for a long time. Since my new die cutter cuts accurate isosceles triangles, it seemed a good time to try this project. Plus, it allows me to use some of those scraps I've been saving over the years.

There aren't necessarily 1000 blocks in this quilt, it just feels that way. This quilt pattern goes by many other names, such as "Joseph's Coat", and "Pyramids and Triangles," to name a couple.

Though a very simple tessellation, I find the pattern fascinating. There are a number of variations of setting the blocks, here are a few:


Set bottom to bottom, this setting is often called "Tumbler."











This next one is called "lightning" because of the zigzag effect.























By searching the web, I found that there are many ways to sew the blocks together as well.
Of course you can sew rows straight across, and then join the rows. You can also make larger triangles as pictured below and then sew those units together. Or you can sew the rows on a diagonal, which is what I've chosen for my quilt.

I enjoy the fact that the individual triangles also make up ever larger triangles like this. By placing the dark triangles pointing in one direction, and the lighter triangles in the other, you can readily see the triangle within the triangle shapes. I separated my scraps into light, medium, and dark piles and then paired them with the darker of the two pointing up and the lighter down. Sometimes a medium served as a dark, other times a light, depending on what it was paired with. Occasionally I would flip a fabric to the backside if a lighter scrap was needed.






Once I figured out how to piece the blocks, it became one of those mindless, repetitive sewing tasks that I find relaxing.

Like most quilters, I have several projects going at once. The 1000 pyramids is the one I reach for when my brain is too tired to tackle anything else, but my hands want to keep busy.

I'll post pictures of the finished quilt... but be warned, it may be awhile.

Quilt Show Fun!

This morning I went to a local quilt show with two friends. The quilts were spectacular, the company was fun, and I won stuff!

The day started off with taking pictures of a quilt my friend and I made as a gift for a guest teacher who will be coming to our church:


Then when we arrived at the quilt show, we found that one of the guilds was having a drawing for 20 prizes. To enter was $3.00 for 25 tickets, which you could then bid on any of the 20 prizes. I especially wanted the ruler/quilting glove prize, and the book prize, so I put extra tickets down on those.

Well guess what, I won both prizes! You can see my loot below:







The second picture is of things I purchased, all good deals of course. I especially like the wooden quilt earrings. I spoke to the gentleman who painstaking makes them by cutting these tiny pieces and told him he should open a shop on Etsy because there are lots of quilters who would love his work. He makes many other quilting designs in wood too, like pins, necklaces, coasters, boxes, ornaments, etc.



My favorite moment of the show (along with winning) was buying from an Indian vendor whose family has made hand batiked and vegetable dyed cotton for 30 years. When I asked if she took credit cards, she replied without hesitation, "you can send me a check." How trusting and sweet is that! Her fabrics are exquisite, and you will be seeing a bag made from some of them soon.

The Hoffman Doll Challenge was being displayed too. Here are some pictures from the show:

A New Toy, and a New Adventure!

I have a new toy, and am off on a new adventure. So it is fitting that I start a new blog as well.

I was frustrated with several (okay 3) blogs I started through my website hosting service. I am just not that computer savvy. I can make my way around, but code is not poetry to me, more like a foreign language!

Blogger is just right. It is easy to set up and customize.

Back to my new toy: TaDa! I bought a Go Cutter for die-cutting fabric. I plan to have lots of fun making quilts with it, and also in making kits and pre-cuts for my next venture - an online fabric shop.

If all goes well, the new shop, Fabric Fascination, is scheduled to open sometime in January of 2010. I plan to carry my favorite designer's fabrics, lots of batiks, and quilting solids in some of those beautiful shades of Kona cotton. I would also like to offer quilt kits, and die-cuts in many shapes for building your own block designs.

I am concentrating on those things I look for in an online quilting shop - fair prices, low shipping cost, and great fabric. Lots of work ahead, but I am looking forward to the challenge!