FALLING LEAVES CHAPTER ONE

I have this fall wall hanging that I have had for many years,  made easily a good 35 years ago.  It is a project I made when I first started my quilting journey.  It is time to retire it and make something new.  

While it appears to be appliquéd it is not.  It was just 2 printed panals that I joined and had quilted.  The quilting is really lovely with leaves and vines.  

I have used this table runner patten a couple of times.  I now have decided to use it again but increase the size by making three rows of of flowers and vines using a fat quarter bundle by Jason Yenter called Falling Leaves, along with some additional yardage of that fabric as well and some background fabrics in my stash.  

I have pulled these fabrics for the center of the quilt.  Of course I have had to order more of a couple of them as well.  I will be modifying the size of the center pieces from the pattern's 3.5"cuts to 6.5" cuts and the center portion of the quilt will be 36" square.  The plan is for the completed quilt to be 50" square once it has a small and larger borders.  

I have prepared the first 5 of the 15 large flowers for the center of the quilt.

And this is 4 of the 12 smaller flowers needed.  

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  The handsome guy above and his two ladies here belong to our youngest daughter.  She lives out in the country on 8 acres and has loads of pets.  Chickens, ducks, geese, and yes this guy along with the his ladies.  Not to worry, all three have been pardon for life and will spend many years pampered and taken care of.   

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THIS AND THAT

 No much accomplished at all this past week.  A good deal of time on the phone back and forth with Thanksgiving dinner plans.  Our youngest daughter's family and husband and I share the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner's hosting.  Depending on her work schedule, she is in the medical field and required to work each year one or the other of those holidays.  The one of us that is hosting organizes an assigned pot luck.  Our other daughter and our granddaughter along with the one not hosting are assigned various dishes and items to bring.  With four families that amount to 12 and sometimes an extra one or two people, sharing the menu means no one has to do all the cooking and grocery purchases.  We all live within a 30 minute drive.  It works very well, other than the fact that we end up with way more food than we needed, but the leftovers are handed out as well.

Our little dog Zoey now has two Christmas placemats all ready for the holidays.  

I fussed around with this storage bag.  It is supposed to have a velcro closure, but I am thinking more like putting a button and button hole on it instead.  The idea was to make a few for my guild's quilt show boutique.  I am not very excited about that idea.

I did finish the charity quilt top.  Once done I think it is really nice.  The idea was to use up all the fabric from the original 45 piece, never ending fat quarter bundle.  I cut up everything leftover and came. up with more than 72 squares cut at 6.5".  Another charity quilt I guess.  The left overs are in a bag and they are going to my friend Michelle.  She can make wheel chair lap quilts for Hospice out of them. 

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BOUTIQUE AND CHARITY PROJECTS CONTINUED

It is a crazy week around here, but thank goodness my cold is much better.  It has been raining here most of the week.  So not able to get out much and do anything outdoors.  I did work for several hours at our quilt show boutique storage unit last Thursday and rolled and priced three huge bins of fabric yardage to sell at the show.  Plus I brought home a couple of donated items that had to be bound. 

Currently I have this scrap quilt up on the design wall to finish.  It is going to my charity group once the top is done and a binding prepared for it.  I try to knock out 2 a month for them.

Unfortunately ridding myself of these scraps doesn't look good, there is at least another quilt top here before I can be done with them.

I did do some extra binding on this boutique runner.  It was donated to us with just quilt as you go quilting, but I did decide to add some serpentine quilting to it and was able to find a binding for it in my stash. 

I still need to shop for a binding for this boutique item.  It really just needs a solid light pink or turquoise binding which I do not have in my stash.

A least one personal item was completed this week.  Our little dog Zoey has a new fall placemat for her meals and I am just finishing the binding on another like it for her.  Have two Christmas ones that have to be bound as well.  Yes, very cute and spoiled dog!!!!!

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PUMPKINS, LEAVES AND STARS

This past week I really have not accomplished much of anything.  I came down with a sour throat, coughing, and very congested cold and have not felt good about doing much of anything.

Last week on Monday I finally finished up this project and it went off to my quilter.  A bit late in the season, but at least it is finished. 

I machine appliquéd the pumpkins down.  

My quilter also dropped off my Autumn Nights quilt that she did custom quilting on.  My policy with my quilter is that I'm the artist that made the top, she's the artist that is going to quilt it.  Almost 100% of the time I just hand it to her and say go for it. I am never disappointed.

I think she did a fabulous job on this one.  

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CANDY CANE TWIIRL AND INTEREST QUILTING FAILURE

 I finished the very last of my quilt show boutique table runners last week.  I am done!!!!!!  Off to sewing for myself and finishing a couple of fall items that were left in the dust this last month or so.

This little beauty is Candy Cane Twirl.  Not for the faint of heart for sure.  All those points and joints just waiting for a seam that is one thread width off to cut them off or cause a gap.  I got this first one done, and thought should I attempt number two.

The second block is always easier than the first.  It is 20" by 36", I skipped a third one.  Not enough Christmas scraps to do the third one.  Love it, off to the quilter tomorrow, goes on the Christmas table this year.  

I had an interesting  issue with quilting this table runner I was doing for my quilt guild's quilt show boutique.  The white border fabric became a major quilting issue for me.  The white dots are a rubbery material.  While running a serpentine stitch through them I was leaving puncture holes and breaking the thread.  Cute fabric, but a complete failure to quilt on it.  I ended up scrapping the entire runner along with another using that same fabric.  Yes, I did try a couple sizes of different needles, no success, and impressions did not iron out and marks at the needle entry do not go away.  Word of warning, pay attention in the future that I do not buy fabric with this type of material. 

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