Just a bunch of stuff.

Mountain Trail is all quilted and bound!

You can see the quilting pattern better from the back.

I'm going to link this up with Lori at Humble Quilts. I had just checked her blog to make sure I wasn't too late to link and I was surprised there weren't more links. I have seen so many of these around blogland. If you have made one and haven't linked yet, please join in. It is fun to see the unique qualities of each quilt, working from the same pattern.

I decided to get my "Random Roses in Jamestown" block done early this month. One more block to go and then I will make some kind of setting squares. I am thinking chain blocks instead of the log cabin blocks in the pattern. I love chains for tying sampler blocks together. I am so proud of myself for keeping up with this, since I am doing it on my own and there is no group, or link to keep me motivated and on track.

I also got another mini quilt finished. When Cheri posted her "labor of love" directions on Labor Day I made two and gave one to each daughter. But I just kept making 4-patches as leader/enders and finally decided I'd better stop and make something out of them. So I made another, larger "labor of love". As is my recent trend, I made the setting HSTs out of rather similar value fabrics--not much contrast there. The 4-patches save it from being too drab. I also bound it with something rather nondescript. I was determined to make this entirely from the scrap basket, and nothing else worked for me any better than this did.

I continue to plug along on Orca Bay (aka SOTMD). I have 32 more of those rectangle unit thingies to make and then I can stitch it all together and figure out how I want to border it. It will only be about a twin size. That is as far as I could stretch the peach and purple shirts. Even after a year, I still love the movement the string blocks (faux, in my case) give this quilt.

 Next up in the quilting cue are these two minis. Both are gifts and the recipients know who they are. I started marking the basket quilt this evening.

My main project for November will be to piece the quilts for my grandsons for Christmas. I have all of the fabric, but have barely begun to cut and stitch. Speaking of grandkids, some have asked to see the costumes I made for two of them for Halloween. 

Abby was a black cat. I made her skirt, tail, and faux fur collar and ankle and wrist cuffs. The ears were purchased. Can you hear her meow?

Ben was The Cat in the Hat. I made his hat and tail, and stitched a white tummy to his shirt. He was thrilled to be "Go-go", as he calls him, because of something on the PBS Kids Cat in the Hat show.
And lest one of the other two grandchildren feel left out, here they are. Matt's Ninja costume was purchased (and can you tell he took his role seriously?) and Josh's Mr. F. costume came mainly from the thrift store, but my clever daughter created his headgear.

That's enough for now. I'm going to go reset clocks and get ready for bed.
Until next time,
Janet O.

I am so spineless!

The little rail fence blocks finish at 3".

Have I said that before? If I haven't, I have sure been thinking it. I wasn't going to make anymore minis for a while. You must admit I have certainly gone overboard in that area lately. But when I saw what Kris had made here with her orange and black fabric I couldn't resist. I really like holiday quilts in the holiday colors, but not in holiday fabrics. Get it?
You may notice that I slipped a little green in this one (and a lot in the next one). I actually considered throwing in some purple, because I love the color, but I guess I am pretty old school. I am still trying to figure out when purple was added as a Halloween color.

I had lots of leftover little 1" strips so, of course, I had to do something with them. Hence, this little 9-patch was born. Those 9-patch blocks finish at 1 1/2". So tiny--I love them!
There are still a few ends of strips and little squares left from making this and I considered a mug rug, but I was able to stop myself this time before going to that extreme to use up every scrap from a project.

When I made the two "Labor of Love" minis, I just kept making 4-patch blocks as leader/enders, even after I had enough. So today I made some HSTs out of some scraps that were handy, to go with those extras. This is bigger than the original. I didn't get quite the contrast I had thought I would in the HSTs. I wanted to use Fall colors, but maybe I should have chosen a brighter one as one of the two colors. This will probably get the same clamshell quilting that the other two received. I liked the look and the clamshells fit perfectly into the blocks.

Are you joining Lori of Humble Quilts on her latest QAL? You can see I have cut random strips from my CW scrap basket. I don't have any solid red, so I selected a Judie Rothermel FQ to create my "Mountain Trail". I have the 20 4-patch units made and I am ready for the next step this Friday.

I finished my two latest Barrister's SAL blocks tonight. Randy, is it something I did wrong? I was cutting off points right and left to get these blocks finished at 6 1/2". But I am leaving them as they are. I like the blocks, I just couldn't make them work the way I think they are supposed to. Probably operator error. Or did anyone else have this issue?

It is Fall in the Rockies and I love looking out at the color creeping over the mountains. 

When I step out my back door to take photos I often have visitors. Aren't they cute? Love how they posed for me.

Thanks to those of you who have sent your prayers and concern as I have been recuperating from surgery. I am doing well and the trouble is I feel like I can do more than I should be doing yet. But by the end of the day I am pretty tired and sitting isn't very comfortable. Hopefully I will be back in the swing of things in another week or two.
Until next time,
Janet O.

Just a few quick things.

This should be short, and won't that be refreshing?
I got September's BOM for my "Random Roses in Jamestown" sewn up.

One of my "labor of love" minis from Cheri's blog is now bound.

We were thrilled when my daughter's neighbor won the quilt Randy donated to her fundraiser.

This is LaReen and she is a sweetheart!

And this was the "haul" I referred to on my last visit to the thrift store for "a couple" of men's shirts for my Barrister's Sow-Along blocks. Several great neutrals, along with some wonderful colorful plaids. On the bottom of the right-hand pile you see two identical shirts. I actually have a third of that same shirt and I am considering using them as sashing and border fabric for the Sow-Along.

I wanted to show you what we are dealing with in Northern Utah. We don't really have fires burning in our part of the state, but they are raging in the Northwestern states above us. The jet stream is currently bringing all of that smoke right to us. Remember these lovely mountain views I sometimes share from my deck?

This is what we see now--same mountain. I wish I could hold my breath for a few days!!

Finally, I did draw Saturday for the "Fall"-ing Stars mini from the names of those who donated to my daughter's fundraiser for dravet.org. I was just too tired to post it after two days of fundraising. Carla (no blog) was the winner. I was happy to know that this brightened her day, as she has just been recovering from eye surgery. I met Carla earlier this year at a LQS. She lives just a couple of hours away.
I'm too tired to do links on this post (I'm tired a lot lately), so I am going to wimp out on you.
I will be away from the sewing machine and computer for a few days. I'm not ignoring any of you--and I will be back. Consider yourself warned! : )
Until then,
Janet O.