Pumpkin time for Brenda

My friend, Brenda of Pumpkin Patch Primitives fame had her birthday this week and so of course I had to make something for her. With applique of course! Brenda and I have very different tastes in fabric and quilts, so making something for her is quite a challenge for me! Whereas I like everything bright and modern, she lives things to be more subdued and Prim. But I think I managed to do it, even with some modern Denise Schmidt Hope Valley fabric in the mix. I'll force modern fabric on Brenda any way I can! I even lined the inside with the orange Hope Valley. Brenda's favorite color is orange, and she loves all things Fall/October/Halloween, and her favorite textile ever is wool, so I knew she'd love the orange wool. And she does, because she has the same piece - we both bought it together at a quilt show!

So she came over, and since my kids are the worst secret keepers ever, she had to open her present BEFORE we had cake.


Then came cake and ice-cream time. Brenda had been complaining all week about the lack of cake for her birthday, so we had to take care of that! Spice cake with cream cheese/lemon/coconut frosting.



The cake was purely there as a vessel for the frosting ;) And can you see how old she is?!
You can click here for last year's celebrations. I think we have now created a tradition. I better start planning next year's party!

Wallets/Purses

Even after 11 years in the US, I still get confused sometimes at what to call things. For the most part I can translate words, but some things still get me. Like wallets and purses. To me, a wallet is something a man uses to keep his money in, and a purse is what a woman would use for the same thing. But it seems that in the US a purse is a bag, and a wallet is used for both genders? Will someone please enlighten me? I know the difference between biscuits and cookies, flip flops and jandals, swimsuits and togs, but wallets and purses? I STILL don't understand!

Which brings me to what I wanted to show you, and now I don't know what to call them, so I will call them money holder thingymajigs. How's that?!!

My friend Shannon is going to sell craft items at Market Square in Portsmouth NH this weekend and asked if I would make some wallets/purses/money holder thingymajigs for her to sell. She decorates them with crystals and makes them look amazing! So I spent some time the last couple of days and made a whole bunch. It was hard to hand them over to her - I wanted to keep them all! But I don't have enough money to fill them all so I guess I'll let her sell them :)

Tree progress

Don't faint. Yes this is my 2nd post in as many days. Something must be wrong with me! Well I suppose I do have a bug - the quilting bug!

I have been happily needleturning leaves and grass in my spare moments last night and today, and now have the top of the mini tree quilt done. I even took photos of the progress, and had my quilt holder on hold ready to work!


First layer of leaves
Second layer of leavesThird layer of leaves and the leaves are finally done!
Grass glue-basted down
Isn't he a cutie?!!
All done and ready to quilt and bind. I hope you enjoyed a look into the process and order of the applique!

A bit of everything

I thought it was about time I did another post since it's been about 2 weeks. And amazingly enough, I've actually been quilting!

First up is a mini-quilt with a tree applique... I'm only half-way done - it still has two more layers of leaves to go, and some grass around the tree trunk, but I'm loving it so far. I'm also loving this little guy who was my quilt holder!Next up are blocks I've made for two online Bees I'm in, Fresh Comfort and Beatnik Bee. I have my months coming up in October and December and just can't decided what 'theme' to go with! These two are for the Beatnik Bee group...

And these were for the Fresh Comfort group...
I have also pieced together some wonky strips of fabric into something resembling grass and sky. I'd like to applique something onto them, possibly a tree, but the background might be too busy. For now they are just hanging in my quilt room while I try to get inspired. They started off like this...And turned into this...

Shannon's giveaway

I just had to do this quick post for my dear friend Shannon - she has a giveaway on her blog and even though I want to win, I want her to have more readers even more:) She makes the most gorgeous things, and is giving away what you see above (all hand-made by her!) if you become a follower of her blog. So stop by her blog and leave her a comment! There are only 3 comments right now, so your chances of winning are amazing! She really has some great ideas to share!

Edited to add...One of the people who commented, said that I didn't leave a link to Shannon's blog. I actually did leave two links! If you just click on the word 'blog' or the phrase 'stop by her blog' it will take you straight to her blog. Carolyn, I couldn't let you know this because your comments are set to no reply. Shannon's giveaway is over now, but her blog is still worth a look!

1 UFO down, countless to go...

Chances are if you are reading this blog, you know what a UFO is, but just in case you're not familiar with quilting terms, UFO stands for Un-Finished-Object!I started this wall hanging way back in January 2009. (Read about it here.) I can't believe it's been sitting in my quilt room that long just begging to be finished. Well today was the day. I couldn't stand to see it there laying limply on my shelves any longer!I did away with the idea of a border and just let the blocks speak for themselves with a simple binding....but lots and lots of quilting!It's happily up on the living room wall now, where it should have been a year ago. Sure feels good to have a UFO done:)My fingers are itching to do some applique now. I'm sure I can find an applique UFO around here somewhere....

Fabric in Vermont

We have been having a blast on our vacation here in Vermont. Swimming with the kids every day, factory tours, shopping, and today, finally, a quilt shop!

I had no idea about any quilt shops here in Burlington, so I got on my Droid and searched. Sure enough, there were several, but none of them sounded like they had the more modern fabrics I like. So I just picked the one with the best reviews, called Strawberry & Rhubarb, and off we went. It was only a couple of miles down the road, which was even better.

Turns out it was in an outdoor type of strip mall, so I dropped hubby and the kids at Best Buy and I went to the quilt store. As soon as I saw it, I KNEW it was my kind of store! I immediately called hubby and told him that he could take as long as he wanted in Best Buy, because I was in heaven! They ONLY carry modern fabrics, which was just perfect for me!

The teller, who was also the soon-to-be-owner helped me and was so lovely! We had a good long chat, and of course I had to buy some fabric!
Oh, you said you would rather have an artsy-fartsy shot?
When I was done, I asked if I could take some photos, because the store was just so charming, and I knew I wanted to blog about it, and she said of course, so I took out my camera, clicked, and nothing....I had left the memory card back at the hotel in my laptop! Aaargh! Never fear, I pulled out my phone and took photos, but of course they are never as good as a proper camera, but it's all I have.
I really wish I had decent photos so you could see the store in all it's glory - the colors were so gorgeous.

As for the quilting I brought with me to stitch in the hotel at night...well I haven't even touched it! I have been so tired at the end of each day that all I want to do is lie down and do nothing.

Our hotel is great - we got a 2 room suite so we can shut the doors on the kids! Hubby and I slept on the pull out couch in the living area the first night and let the kids have the nice beds in the bedroom, but that sure changed quickly! And we have hardly had to buy any food as the hotel puts on a full cooked breakfast and some nights a complimentary dinner. More money for fabric, I say!