Holding on to Autumn

Here is my journal quilt for September. This is a combination of techniques. I used felt and yarn for the trunk with my felting machine. I used the "snippets" technique for the leaves and did lots of free motion quilting. The date is NOT on the quilt. LOL.I used my camera at work to take this pic. We need to date all our photos. Anywho, I love autumn, the colors and the smells. Autumn doesn't get as much recognition as it used to what with Halloween in the stores in July and Christmas shoved upon us in September and October. For me, autumn is a time to tidy up the nest, inside and out, to enjoy the last days of strong sunlight, and to settle in for winter. I really do hibernate! I don't like the cold, never did, even as a child. I venture out only when necessary.



I am trying very hard not to get caught up in the "media blitz" of Christmas. I was pretty upset when I went to the mall to return something five days BEFORE Thanksgiving and they were playing holiday music! I know the setup has to be done but can't the music wait til the day AFTER Thanksgiving!!

I enjoyed "sharing" everyone's Turkey Day with your pictures and such. We spent the day with my brother's family. He is the one with triplets who will turn 13! in February. It's hard to believe how grown up they are. They also have a daughter, my godchild, Bridie, who is 5. My son, Alex, and his SEVEN loads of laundry were home for a week. It was a wonder he could close his trunk! LOL!! He is pretty stressed out trying to finish his senior thesis and set up his internship for next semester. He got some much needed rest and I sent him back loaded up with clean clothes and provisions for the refrigerator. He will be moving into another apartment about an hour from school and even further north! He will be working at Jay Peak, a ski resort about 2o minutes from the Canadian Border in Vermont. Don't know if we will see him but for a few days at Christmas.

I am soo very busy at work! I have very little time for quilting. I continue to work on my winter challenge quilt. I'm excited to show it but need to wait til the challenge date, December 12th. Maybe I can give you a peek at the fabrics I am using! They are fabulous! I'll do that in my next post. I am working on some Christmas projects and my PIF gifts are coming along.

I guess I will have to open the Christmas door soon. It's not that I don't love Christmas - I really do! I guess I just long for the simpler days. I want to try to recapture some of that feeling that I had as a child at Christmas time. It's hard to escape the barrage of commercialism that has a hold on this country at this time of year. It starts earlier and earlier.

Woww, on rereading , this post is a little solemn. I guess I feel like the last leaf on the maple tree about to fall to the ground. It's goodbye to Autumn!

Forgot my camera!!

Yep, left in the morning and forgot my camera. But that was ok, had a camera at work that I could take to the meeting. Yep, left work and forgot the camera! so no pictures of the Pigs today.. but, one gal was organized enough to have her camera and took pictures so she is going to send me the pics and when received I will post them. We had a tremendous response to our PIG project. There were 5 gals who participated with 2 of these ladies finishing 2 or more UFO's as they are commonly known. We had a viewer's choice award and all participants got FQs of Olivia the Pig fabric!

My mom is coming to town to visit on her way to Florida for the winter. I won't be seeing her for the holidays so we are getting together this week so not much sewing will be done. Back after the weekend!!

Fiber, Fiber postcards

I spent much of Saturday and Sunday trying to come up with an idea for my Fiber postcards. I don't usually have a problem generating ideas. Usually I have a hard time deciding from a dozen or so ideas. This one was tough for me. I finally decided on using my felting machine and came up with these two lovelies. The sunflower has a hand dyed background and the flower is made of wool roving and some yarn and beads. The flower trio is on a wool felt background. The flower heads are wool roving and yarns and the stems are wool felt. I blanket stitched around the stems to add some interest. In the process of making two, yes only two, postcards, I ransacked my sewing room. I wish I had taken a picture, the place was a wreck!! It took me a half hour just to put everything away.


But these cards are on their way to Australia and Holland.









I have pulled my fabrics for my Guild's Super Secret Challenge which is due December 12th. There are only six members doing it. Mine is, as I often say, "done in my head" so that's half the battle. The size restriction is that it can only be 24 inches wide but it can be as long as you like. There is a theme but it's a secret. Just like last year's challenge, which you can see here. I really loved making last year's challenge so I was the first to shoot my hand up in the air for this year's challenge. You don't know what it is until AFTER you sign up! The gal that comes up with the challenge has not disappointed. It's a good one!!

Seww, that's the next project on my plate. I also have Pay it Forward gifts that I would like to get out by year's end and 4 months of journal pages.

My back has been really acting up the past few days. So much that I wasn't able to go to my Journal class on Saturday, the driving was too far for me to sit in one position and then sit in class for another two hours. But I am sticking with the exercises and will return to physical therapy. I have to hope and pray that it will provide some relief. I really don't want to go to the next step - epidural injections.!!! Yikes!!

Well, tonight is our guild meeting and the Parade of Pigs! I'll have some pictures tomorrow.

Round Robin roundup

Well, I have finished the last round of the Round Robin that I started with three other gals from my guild back in the spring. We had good intentions of completing it by August but, as always, other projects, such as family, life, vacations, etc. kept us from finishing sooner. But these ladies are as laidback about quilting deadlines as I am , so no worries. We will get our tops back on Tuesday. But I thought I would share my contribution to this one with you. The last round's requirement was a border with squares and rectangles. I just did two alternating four patch blocks to make a checkerboard border using the fabrics that were used throughout the piece. I think it came out pretty good.

My DH is out with buddies tonight so I have a free evening! Yeah!! I am putting the finishing touches on my fiber, fiber fiber Postcards, working on my journal quilts which I am hopelessly behind on and hope to start my December challenge quilt this weekend.

My back is feeling a bit better. I have a great physical therapist who is really getting the kinks out and getting me mobile again but it's a lot of work! I have a problem sitting for extended periods of time so my desire to sit and sew for hours is not a good idea.

I had promised myself not to start any new projects or challenges but I got an invite to do a class with Tonya at Lazy Gal Quilting and couldn't say no! So I will be sketching some ideas for that project this weekend also. Hope everyone gets quilty this weekend. Next week, I'll post pictures of all the Round Robin tops as well as the Parade of Pigs!