October Happenings

At the Village Dry Goods "Chit Chat, Finish That" the first week of this month, I finished the last houses I needed for my house quilt. And they are tiny.

 I had the idea that in place of a few stars used in the cornerstones, I would slip in these little houses. You can find the link for the foundation paper piecing pattern HERE. I tend to go rogue here and there with a pattern. And you can see the results below. Excuse the really poor lighting in the photo.

I have assembled each row, but have only sewn three rows together--the three that include the center block. I like that you don't notice anything different at first, but as you look closer, you can see the three tiny houses. I have yet to decide if, or what kind of a border should be added. I had planned to make just 2 blocks a month for this, sewing along with Lori @ Humble Quilts blog as she made a different traditional block in 2 colors. But when I decided to attend the "Chit Chat" events as much as possible this year, I decided to get as much done as I could. It feels good to be this close to a finished top.

I also took along a project from a few years ago, "Every Little Bit," by Pam Buda.

This was published in the June 2015 American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine. I love how scrappy it is, and that you can use even the tiniest scrap in making the sides on the churn dash blocks. Even the on point 4-patch blocks don't take much fabric.

I still have quite a ways to go with this one, but it has no deadline. I will take it with me if I am able to go to any more Chit Chat's this year.

I finally got this little piece quilted and bound. I made two versions back in 2023, and I finished and gifted the other one earlier this year. It is shown here along with the quilting-themed games my youngest son has gifted me over the past several years. Hubby is not a gamer, so I enjoy playing these with my kids when they come for visits.

I've dabbled with a couple of minis, but the only other real progress has been placemats for the guild service project.

So that ends the quilty content. 

We took a short jaunt to Yellowstone National Park this month. Wanna see?

Watch a mud pot. I love these!

(Click the "Full Screen" image to get the full effect.)

And then we came home.

Due to our extremely dry summer, the fall colors are not very bright.

Too long between posts--I need to improve on that.

Until next time, be creative, and be kind. I want to say more on that subject, but I'm at a loss for words. 

Janet O.

p.s. Blogger is messing with the background color on my text and I can't seem to change it back to normal. It is hard to look at, IMHO. Sorry about that.

Much to Share From March

Couldn't believe when March came to an end and I hadn't found time to post. I had been stitching more than I have for a while, but never wrote about it, so I will dump it all here.

Rocky Mountain Christmas was finally bound and sent to its new home.

I had hubby hold it in front of the snow covered mountains for this photo to match the Christmas theme. Made from Men's thrift store shirts, this is based on Bonnie Hunter's free Smokey Mountain Stars pattern. Being a very overcast day, the colors are darker than in real life.

The picture below, taken in my living room, gives you a better idea of the true colors.

I tucked my little Christmas gnome into the quilt to give this a holiday touch. :)

I also FINALLY got the borders on my Churn Dash quilt. This was sewn along with Chooky last year. I had the blocks finished and arranged by the deadline, but hadn't finished sewing it all together and adding borders. I so often stall on borders, even when just doing these long, straight borders with no piecing.

I just draped this over my living room sofa. I don't have floor space anywhere right now to lay out a king size quilt, and it is currently wet in the great outdoors, so this will have to do. I have always loved the churn dash block, and these scrappy ones were a delight to stitch up.  Even the challenge of putting a 1" churn dash inside the triple churn dash blocks was fun to attempt. As soon as I get a back pieced, this will be off to my longarm quilter.

In March I also made another batch of the tiny blocks for my guild class. Only one more month of these and we will have been through both sets of blocks Lynn Hopkins has designed so far. These will finish at 2" square. The rotary cutter gives you a little perspective on the size.

Also for guild I got another 5 placemats made up for our service project for Meals on Wheels. In February the gal in charge of this service project sent me home with a large bag of strips she had leftover from the placemats she had made. 

She told me to make what I wanted from them--she didn't want to see them again. I had fun digging through the strips to find things to coordinate for each placemat. The two on the left are definitely out of my usual comfort zone.

With the talk of the upcoming eclipse (which I am sad that I will be missing), I was recalling our experience in 2017 when we car camped to see the total eclipse a few hours from our home. You can read that post here. Canuck Quilter has a great eclipse pattern out that you may have seen Pat Sloan making. What a fun way to commemorate this event.

This is more than I have usually accomplish lately in a month, and it felt good to make progress on some things. Time with family and friends, time in the sewing room, time with books or violin, and time outdoors walking all fill my bucket when stress presses in. What, besides quilting, brings you joy and peace when you need it most? Please share with me in a comment.

Until next time,

be creative and be kind.

Janet O.

Yesterday morning I saw a glorious sunrise. But to make it even better, when I hurried outside to catch photos, I could hear the Sandhill Cranes trumpeting to welcome in the day. Do you have 20 seconds to see (and hear) how my day began? Make sure your sound is turned up.