We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming ...

I'm not sure how long I've been gone, but it was long enough that it took an extraordinarily long time to sort through my pictures and get them ready to post.  I can't tell you how many progress shots I had of the Paisley Pumpkin table topper.  So, what have I been doing instead of blogging?  Well, crafting of course, and taking all kinds of progress photos of that crafting.

And, I've been playing quite a bit of Guild Wars 2 lately too.  This character is currently one of my favorites to play.  Lelia Salome is a human guardian.  I didn't think I would like melee combat characters, but she is so much fun!  Right now, she's only level 24, but I'm hoping to have her maxed out at 80 shortly.  As you can see in the photo below, wildlife is drawn to her.  The bunnies in particular like to scamper around her feet.

This one is going to sound like a really random and lame excuse for not blogging, but here goes.  I bought the Naked Smoky eye palette.  No, I haven't been doing my eye makeup over and over and over again, but I have gotten sucked into the ever expanding world of YouTube.  It started as just a quick search to see what looks had been created with this palette, and has sadly ended with me adding 7 subscriptions.  Sigh.  One of them I adore. Macshadowcombos has a great series called Frugal Fridays where she shows looks created with, and reviews of drug store items.  I never considered how many affordable products were dupes for high end items.  Another one, who will remain unnamed and has since been deleted from my subscriptions, I don't care for.  I admit I spent almost an hour watching a few of her videos because they were reviews of foundations and lipsticks for over 50's, and I was really excited to see someone of my age instead of a 20 something with perfect complexion giving a review.  When I had finished watching, I was like, what the heck was that?  She said she wanted her comparison to be fair so she started with a blank slate ... no primer or concealer/color corrector with the foundations, and no primer or balm with the lipsticks.  Then she proceeded to hate on all of them.  My over 50 lips are dry as all get out and have tons of fine lines.  No lipstick is going to look good on me for more than 60 seconds if I don't first exfoliate, then add balm, and after that's set, use a primer and clear lip pencil.  My over 50 face has super dry spots in some areas, enlarged pores in others, and has redness.  No foundation is going to last and look good on me without using a good moisturizer at least 10 minutes before applying, using a bit of concealer/color corrector on my cheeks and around my nose, and using a primer to help minimize pores and fine lines.  I knew nothing more after watching those videos than I knew before .... over 50 skin needs some help before makeup application.

Okay, enough of my excuses for not blogging, and on to the actual crafting content ...

I am 3 rows, long though they may be, from finishing a gift that I haven't posted on the blog.  I'm not positive, but I think the recipient peeks in here from time to time and would know it was for her if she saw it.  After it's been gifted I'll post a finished photo of it.

I haven't been working on the afghan for my niece lately, but once that other gift is done, I'll pull it back out and work on it.

I finished up the applique work on the Row by Row block.  I haven't started another yet, but in the next week or so I most likely will.  This is the 5th of 8 completed.  I haven't been in any rush to get these done simply because I have so many other quilts that need to be done first, and I know once these blocks are complete, I'm going to want to finish the top and quilt it.

Three more Civil War Sampler blocks are done.  I think I might be a block or two behind on this.  Really need to get back to doing one per week.

The Paisley Pumpkin is done!!  I really love it.  I'll be using this fall leaf fabric to add borders and backing.  I'm not positive yet how I'll quilt it.  I don't want to stitch over any of the embroidery, so maybe just shadow quilt around it?

I also finished up the October monthly applique wall hanging.  Yes, I know October is nearly half over, but I should have this quilted and ready to hang up for at least a week or so.  I need to get started on the November one so it can hang all month.

A couple of weeks ago I started on a series of small monthly cross stitch designs.  These will finish to about 3 1/2 x 3 1/2.  I plan to frame them and display them on my sideboard using a small plate stand.  These are nice to work on in the evenings, when I'm not feeling the knit/crochet bug, because they are worked on 14 count Aida so I don't need my Ott lamp and magnifier to see what I'm doing.

Well, that's all for today.  Hopefully, I don't get lost in YouTube again.  Wish me luck!!

I'm Back In The Saddle Again

Wow!  It doesn't feel like I took over a week off from blogging, but that's exactly what I did.  Had a lovely time with my daughter and her boyfriend, even though everyone except me wound up getting sick with a nasty head cold.  One right after the other ... first the daughter, then her boyfriend, then my husband.  How I've managed not to come down with it will probably remain one of the mysteries of life, but I'm sure glad of it.

After the kids left, I got to work on another of those old quilt tops.  This one another interlocking rings, only a different setting.  The quilting is done, a simple spiral from the center using my walking foot, and all that's left to do is bury the ends and sew down the binding.  There's another quilt that's at these finishing stages too.  I thought I had gotten a photo of it, but I guess not.  I'll try for tomorrow. A bit of Netflix tonight while Paul watches football and I should be able to complete the first one get some work completed on the second.

I had plans to concentrate on the cross stitch paisley pumpkin for my October table topper, but Paul sent me an email he received at work about donating handmade items to a charity.  I checked out Mikaya's Grace, and was moved to participate.

Yesterday, while he watched football, I made enough Bento Box squares to complete 2 boy, and 2 girl quilts.  This afternoon I will work on adding sashing and borders.  Tomorrow should see the quilting started on these.

I am also crocheting blankets, and have some flannel that I will add a crochet border to.  I might get some fabric and sew some gowns too, as those should work up quickly.

Even with the extra charity crafting I'm doing, I did manage to get my Civil War Sampler blocks completed.  I really like the blue and green one.

And, I also managed to finish the last of the BOM from hell blocks.  Again, the background fabric for this block measured less than the 12 1/2" the package says the block will finish to.  Sigh.  These will be set aside for awhile, but I'm hoping to decide how I want to border them and have the top finished before the end of the year.

I also got some work done on an afghan I am knitting for my niece, who has just started her first year of college.  I love the way this pattern is working up!  It looks much more complicated than it is.  Only 4 rows to memorize, worked 3 times, then shifted ... rinse, repeat.

Back On The Chain Gang

Finished!  Yay!  This poor quilt top has been put together since 1997.  I made it in my other life, when I first started quilting.  I don't think I had any kind of pattern, just winged it.  That's pretty apparent here, since it's a mish mash of a bunch of stuff all thrown together.  It's a franken-Irish Chain I supposed.  I started hand quilting this, then it got put away when I broke ties with that other life, and wasn't looked at again until we had a minor flood incident in our last house.  When I looked at it, I was reminded that it was made to go on a different bed, and I just didn't want it anymore, but who wants to throw out that much work?

I asked one of the boys if he would like it if I finished it.  He said he thought his lady would like it, so I started looking for the thread and template I was using for the quilting.  Not much work was completed, and that was three years ago.

I recently pulled it back out, and since I'm doing some machine quilting now, and not much of this was done, I ripped out the hand quilting, and prepared to start over.

I used my walking foot to do the straight line quilting, and then I tried my hand at some free motion quilting for the hearts.

The free motion quilting is a bit wobbly in some areas, and I didn't always cross in the center at the exact same spot, but all in all, it turned out nice for a first effort.  I'm sure Adrian and Sandra will get some use out of this.

Also finished up another block for the Civil War Sampler quilt.  Again, half square triangles, sigh.  I should be really good at these once this quilt is finished!

And, a bit of work completed on the paisley pumpkin.  Excuse the weird photo.  I haven't figured out yet how to get photos of cross stitch to show up nicely.  The fabric always looks strangely pixelated, and that makes the stitching look odd too.  One day I shall figure out what settings to use to fix this!

In The Meadow We Can Build A Snowman

The postman brought me a nice package yesterday!  My last picture really didn't show the details of this very well, so here's a better one.  Can't wait to get started on this!  I think a trip to get supplies after my daughter's visit is in order.  I'm considering doing this in blue instead of the red.

I spied a quilt that really caught my eye in a magazine recently.  I normally like more classic, patchwork type quilts, and this one is definitely modern.  For some reason, this one caught my fancy, and i kept turning back to the page it was pictured on.  I'm not sure if it was the pattern, or the colors that grabbed my attention, but in any event, I gathered supplies and will be making this one for myself.  I chose colors very similar to those in the magazine; a light, medium, and dark turquoise, and a light, medium and dark blue.  That grayish looking fabric towards the bottom of the photo is actually light blue, and the muddy looking one is very crisp white.

I got all my pieces cut last night, and this morning I put together my first square.  11 more to go!

 Yesterday afternoon, I finally got around to working up my next Civil War Sampler block.  I'll be glad when the blocks composed of eleventy bazillion half square triangles are done.  No matter how carefully I cut, and no matter how slowly I stitch, I still have issues with the bias on these.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Oh my goodness!  I never win anything, but I just won the most fantastic prize!  Karen from Karen's Quilting had a drawing to pass on her Winter Wonderland Quilt pattern and my name came up!  I'm so excited.  Here is a photo of the pattern package.  The center panel is all embroidery.  Can't wait to get started on this.  If you want to see a beautiful version of this, pop over to see Karen's on her blog.

I realized last night that I had completely forgotten to post a photo of this week's Civil War Sampler block.  I finished it this past weekend, but with all the hoopla with the loom, I forgot to show it off.  I had some issues with bias on this block, so I'll have to do some creative adjustments when I add sashing to this one.  I guess I need to slow down when working with these half square triangles.

This was the state of my loom yesterday.  Sigh.  Paul helped me get some of the warp taken off last night.  I was originally hoping to keep the warp on the loom and install the ratchet/pawl upgrade kit around it, but after looking at the instructions online, there's no way that is going to happen.  Now I'm hoping to get the warp removed and save it somehow.

I've been wrapping the pieces up on a shoebox.  In my mind, this will work out nicely.  We'll see once the upgrade kit arrives, which should be by this weekend.  Sunday afternoon will most likely be spent upgrading the loom.

I finished the quilting on this little 9 patch lap quilt.  I was going to do a spiral starting from the bottom right also, but once I finished the first one, I felt there would be too much overlap and decided against it.  I have a few ends to bury and the binding to sew down, then this is done.

I do like how this turned out, but ...

... I still think I like the back better.

Don't You Hate When Your Peach Is Out Of Place?

 I really liked this quilt until I saw this photo.  In person, the purple looks nice.  At least I think it does.  There's some of this color purple in the print.  This photo makes it look out of place, but it's done now, and I'm not going to take it apart and use something else as a border.  Why not?  Because this top has been waiting for 20 years to be complete and I just can't bring myself to take it apart.

Besides, I already pieced a back together using the same fabrics. And used leftover strips to make a scrappy binding. I like the back.  I like the binding.  Even in these photos.  Maybe it's the peach that's out of place, and not the purple.  I am not willing to redo the entire top to replace the peach, especially if I don't have it in me to replace a border.  Oh well, it's done and that's all there is to it.  I'm going to machine quilt this one with my walking foot.  I'm thinking 2 spirals, upper left corner and lower right corner, that meet and overlap in the center.

 Remember this guy from last week?  I got the top all sewn together, then couldn't find a single place in my house to get a picture of it without having to move furniture around.  The best I could do was a spot in my bedroom.  These photos will have to do until it's completely finished and I feel like moving the dining table off to the side of the room.  This is the best I could do for a "full" photo.

So I tried to do a top half/bottom half kind of thing.  Still not really good.  I was standing on the bed and if I held my camera any higher to try to get more of the quilt in the frame, the ceiling fan blades got in the way hahahaha.

I am hoping to do some free motion quilting on this one.  The kit came with quilting suggestions, so I'll give them a try.  I bought a new darning foot for my machine yesterday and tried it out.  Much better than the one I had.  No more skipped stitches, tangled bobbin thread, or other such tension issues.  I've been practicing on some scraps I had laying around.

Block 2 of my Civil War Sampler quilt is done.  I have been so tempted to keep making blocks for this, but I am trying hard to keep it to one per week.  I have so many other tops that need to be finished, the last thing I need is to get sidetracked with yet another large project.