A Howl-o-ween Story

Are you getting ready for all the ghosts and goblins at your house? We live in the country, so we'll not have any trick or treaters this year. So, instead we took Mayo to the local PetSmart Howl-o-Ween party last week. At first Mayo was going to be a Busy Bumble Bee and practiced her walk for the parade:

But then Clyde got jealous and took her costume instead and became the Mad Hornet:

So after that insult, we had to put our thinking caps on.....

It came to her quite suddenly (at the local Goodwill Store's kid's costume rack) that she could just go as herself: Little Stinker!

Here she is in all her Howl-o-Ween finery, and I am certain she is asking herself how she ever got connected to this crazy family!

But she had a lot of fun at the party!

The End.

Another Quilt Show

Today was a surprisingly beautiful day here after several days of wind and cold and rain. The autumn colors have come out in full force, and the sun was shining quite nicely. So why not go to the Blue Valley Quilt Guild show? They had it in the Alexander Majors house and barn this year which was am interesting venue. Quite a few great vendors, and a lot of beautiful quilts. What could be better in October? Enjoy!

Blue Valley Quilt Guild (Overland Park, KS) banner.

Beautiful use of Taupe fabric.

A small friendship stitch group all worked on their own version of this Christmas quilt. No quilt is the same, but not all of them were completed yet.

I love the string of lights!

Close view of the blocks and the presents in the cornerstones.

Another one from the group.

This was a round robin where the only requirements (I believe) was to use Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

I really like the simplicity of the rectangles and the color choices here.

What a great baby quilt!!

This was most marvelous. I wish I could have seen it hanging!

This one was called Nuts and Bolts!

My favorite of the show

Isn't this just a gorgeous border treatment?

Perfect for a fall day.

Pattern from Ami Simms - the fringe was added because the batik binding bled (GASP!!)

The picture doesn't really do this justice. It was heavily quilted in the "bodies, so the bra part stood out, and the sand border was quilted in small bubbles that looked like grains of sand.

Interesting choice of colors.

One of Bonnie Hunter's free patterns - I think it's Tobacco Road.

And another of Bonnie's mystery quilt patterns - Orange crush.

Busy, busy, busy-and a QUILT!! YAHOO!

It's been quite a couple of weeks again. We're still working at the yard cleanup, readying for the cold weather that seems to want to jump in and stay - much earlier than usual! We are just about done now with the garden, and now we have to wait for the next warm, dry spell to finish mulching it down. The patio furniture is just about all stored, and the tractor and the Gator are winterized and covered. By by, Indian Summer, hello entry to winter! Now, I expect rain, and drizzles until it starts to freeze and stay cold. A good time to stay inside and sew, doncha think?

This past Monday, I presented a trunk show of a few of my quilts for my local guild, Lee's Summit Quilt Guild. Now, they asked me to do a presentation of twenty minutes, and anyone who knows me, knows that I can't tell you my name in just twenty minutes. LOL!!! So, FIVE suitcases and 45 minutes later, my presentation was done. I had a lot of stress choosing which quilts had to stay home, but believe me, there were as many that stayed in the closet as the number that went. I've received some really nice emails from folks who told me how much they enjoyed it, and I've even been asked to present another trunk show at another guild in Harrisonville, MO in June. How nice is that?

Mayo has grown like a weed, and now weighs in at 15 pounds! She's still an absolute delight, and with a few minor mishaps, she's just been a joy to have. I hate it when I have to have her clipped! I love her with her shaggy look, but she gets so darned hot, and then there's the issue that she can't see anything unless it's on the ground. Here's Hubby holding Mayo in our kitchen hearth room. This will be her last all over clip until next spring, but we'll still keep her face clear for the winter.


This doesn't look like the same pooch, does it? Especially with the rhinestones and feathers in her ears! She was used as a "demo" dog for the Petsmart grooming Academy. I told them they could clip her anyway they wanted, but I DID NOT want her to look like a poodle. Oh well....I guess her tail gives it away that she is part Bichon, I hope?

We also had grandson Stephen spend the day and night with us Tuesday while his Mommy was on a girlfriend trip to New York. He likes to sleep in our room, so we have an airbed just for him. After he left, I was trying to put everything away, and I had lots of help getting the air out, didn't I?

And of course, Mayo had to try out the French Roses quilt on the bed. I have to tell you that I am in LOVE with the new 50% cotton, 50% bamboo batting from JoAnn's. It drapes nicely, quilts beautifully and is a dream to sleep under. Remember all the the trouble I had with the extra rows on, then off, then on, then off again? Turns out I really could have left 2 of the 3 of them on for the width - but I am not going to worry about it now! It's on the bed and it's DONE DONE DONE!!

Now, I am busy making circles for my applique strips on the outside edges of the quilt I started at Gwen's retreat. They are going fast, and I hopefully will have it all done by this time next week. Stay tuned!

Now, for a little quilt show

After my Un-Birthday last week-end I ran out south about 45 minutes to take in a Fall quilt show. Without further ado, so can you! Welcome to a few of the Miami County Drag and Brag quilt show, 2009.

This was an interesting challenge piece. Notice the paint chips on the lower right? The guild member had to choose three paint chips corresponding to the three initials of their name. Then their project had to be made of those colors, and they could add only two others. They were all pretty wonderful!

I love the way the log cabins make the border rounds, don't you?

I would never have thought of putting all these together like this, but I truly love the looks of it!

Happy, happy, happy!

More beautiful applique

Batik Butterflies are always a favorite of everyone

I really liked the positive-negative effects of these colors!

Another one for my "scrap soup" to do list!

Applique to die for!

Wheel of Mystery

I think this one has to go in my "scrap soup" list, too!

Next Monday is my local guild meeting, and I am presenting a trunk show and giving a 6 minute circles class. So guess what's next on my agenda, today?

Finally - My Birthday!!

As some of you know, my stitch group, the Amazing Quilt Babes, celebrate our birthdays throughout the year by making blocks/quilts for each other. We draw our "birthday" date from a hat, then wait impatiently through the year for that Saturday to arrive. Then, the birthday girl makes up the kit for the others to sew on the special day together. Isn't that a great birthday gift? My real birthday is in April, but this year, my Babes birthday was in September.

I started these baskets last year at Gwen's retreat by drawing up the pattern from scratch (thank you Gwen!), and I had made ten of them before I packed them away. Over the last few weeks, I made up the 420 half square triangles that make up the belly of the basket and cut the other 210 triangles for the tops. I packaged each set to make the basket, and prepared the handles (with the ric rac) on the top half of the block. We powered through the day, and voila! All the basket blocks are now done, and I'm working on setting them together. They will have a simple floating border of the background fabric so the baskets can show off. Oh, by the way - each basket has cherry fabric and other fruit fabric in them, along with a piece of fabric that has bugs on it, too! It's going to be called Cheery Cherry Baskets - and I LOVE it!