Comfort and Joy #7

Moving right along here.   It's hard to believe that Christmas is only 2 months away and the quilt could possibly be hanging up for the holidays.    Only one more section to go and then it just finishing up the borders with a bit of applique on them.  

So, here's Sandy's (no blog...I know, you know that by now).  I'm think I want to swap mine out for hers.  

This one is mine.   My heart looks so light but it really seems a bit darker in real life.   (That's my story and I'm stickin to it!)

See?  It's almost finished!  Don't you wish you had joined us?  ;)

Now go visit the rest of the gang and see what they have stitched up.

Sharon
Kim
Karen
Diane
Nadine
Carrie

Living near the mountains, you can always tell when winter is coming.  When the snow is almost gone, you know that cold and snow are right around the corner.  This picture was taken on October 9th.  Even the leaves on the trees haven't turned yet.

Then, last Monday, the 22nd, we woke up to this...  Jack was actually trying to catch the snowflakes through the window. It was pretty funny.

Well, it didn't stick for very long, but the mountains got quite a bit.    I love looking at them with all that beautiful snow.  Skiers are jumping with joy!  I'm jumping with joy that it's not on the streets yet.  Not a fan of driving on the snow and ice.    Yikes!

To all our friends on the east coast....stay safe.  Sounds like a monster of a storm is headed your way!  (The name "Sandy" sounds a bit wimpy for this one).  We'll be sending good thoughts your way.

Hugs, Anne

We have a winner!

Thanks to all of you who commented and told me your favorite Halloween candy.    The winner by a landslide was Candy Corn, and I have to admit, I would have named it my favorite too.    When I buy a package of it, I have to have Mr. CnW hide it and dole it out in small doses to me.    It's so very addicting.

Anything and everything chocolate came in second and I guess I can include myself in that category too.   Oh my, I've given myself away!   I'm a sugar addict!

On to the winner.    I had Mr. CnW pick a number and he picked 25.  No rhyme or reason, just 25.   So, the new owner of the fall wool mat is Merumo, who said....

"I love them all!  Those little pillows are calling me, besides the wool mats :O  Thank you for sharing your beautiful fall decorations.  I enjoyed a lot.  And, I love iPhone too"

(Maybe Merumo doesn't eat Halloween candy....:)

So, Merumo, email me your address and I'll get the little mat in the mail to you quickly.

I didn't take any pictures of the quilts at the show (shame on me), but head over to Anna's blog.  Over the next few days she's going to be showing the pictures she took.

Here's a picture of my purchases.    I love the plaid wools I got.    I was literally sitting on the floor of the booth digging through the pile to find just the perfect ones.  Don't even try to picture that!   LOL

And, I thought I'd share with you the gas prices that the people in California are suffering with.  Something needs to be done about this!  It's outrageous!

I'll be back with pictures of the antique show and also The Farm at Avila.    We had such a good time.

Hugs, Anne

Country Homecoming speeding up!

Well, I was motivated for about a minute after the last post.    Paulette and I were "chatting" and I was telling her how these blocks are weighing me down and how I'm struggling with them so much.   She suggested that we speed up the process and make more than one house per month.  

So, after "talking" with all the other bloggers, we decided to start showing 2 blocks per month and that way we will be finished with all 12 houses by December and can start on the borders.   That definitely helped me resume some semblance of excitement about this quilt.  I know I'm going to love it when it's done, it's just getting to that point that I'm having trouble with.    That's why a quilt-a-long is a good thing.   I KNOW that this would have ended up as another UFO if we weren't doing it as a group.  

Soooo, on with the show.

Here are Sandy's (no blog) houses.

And these are mine.

And progress so far.  

Anna didn't get hers finished so next month she'll be showing you TEN blocks, right Anna?  

Head on over to the other contractors who are madly building away.

Paulette, Sandy R, Patty, Jocelyn, Carrie, and Deb.

See you next month for another unveiling.

Hugs, Anne

A little more fall decorating

I love the fall season.  Wonderful crisp and clear days (although we aren't having the incredible clear days that we normally have because of all the smoke in the air from the fires).  But anyway, I love all the changing colors and getting out my sweaters.  Oh, I could go on and on but I'll spare you the adjectives and just show you some more fall stuff.

See the cute wooden pumpkins on the floor?  Sandy (no blog) made those.   I think she got the idea from Pinterest.  Aren't they cute?  I told her she needs to make more and sell them.

Here's the mantle.

I  made this pillow last year after seeing it the fall issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine.   Jack wanted to say "hi".

Here's the same shot taken with my NEW iPhone5.    Pretty good quality, huh?    I love my new phone!

Karen made these little pillows for me a few years ago.  I just love them.

This little runner was my very first project with wool felt.    I graduated to 100% wool soon after and I really like it so much better.

The little crow mat was a kit from Primitive Gatherings.

And last, but not least, this is a little mat that I made for a GIVEAWAY!

Just tell me your favorite Halloween candy and I'll put your name in the hat for a chance to win it.

I'll pick the winner sometime after the 17th, because as we speak (or should I say as I speak), I'm in California attending Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara and also Three Speckled Hens antique fair in Paso Robles.  I'll be sure and take pictures to share.    

Happy Fall Y'all.    Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, Anne

A little fall decorating

Since I didn't decorate for fall last year, I decided to start a little early this year.    Last year, since we had just moved in, the thought of unpacking more boxes was a bit daunting, so I just "let it go".   This year, I put up my decorations right after Labor Day.


Oh look, there are those wavy borders again...  :)

 I used to make and sell dolls at a crafts fair while living in Calif.   This little witch was fun to make.   I always like unpacking them and reminiscing.

I made the little scarecrow on the top shelf and the one sitting on the pumpkin on the middle shelf.  

A closer look.

This quilt on my dining room table was a pattern in an issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine a very long time ago.  Maybe 2000 or 2001

.

Come back for part 2 and there might be a little surprise....

Huge Thanks and some blankets

Wow, thanks to everyone who posted a comment or emailed me directly about my wavy borders.    If you read the comments, you can see that they run the gamut.  And here, I thought it was going to be a simple fix.


I have saved all the emails in a folder and will re-read them when I get ready to do something about the quilt.  For now, it seems like such a huge task that I'm going to wait until winter when I'm stuck in the house with nothing to do.   (haha).     I promise to keep you posted on how things go.


For now, I'm still working on the Buttermilk Basin Monthly Sheep Blankets.   I couldn't remember when I last showed my progress so was kind of shocked when I went back and saw that it was in May.   So, here they are.

October is still a work in progress but should be finished up pretty soon.    They are so quick and easy and I've had so much fun stitching on them.  

At least there aren't any borders to contend with so....nothing is "waving" at me!  ;)

Again, thanks so much for giving me your thoughts and opinions.   I really appreciate each and every one of you.

Hugs, Anne

Folk Art Blooms

If you read my previous post you remember that I mentioned my "wavy" borders.   Now, I know that they were completely straight before the quilt went to the quilter.   I always measure the quilt in 3 places and take an average when cutting my borders.  This is a picture of the quilt on my design wall. 

And here's how it looks after I got it back and added the binding.

It just upsets me every time I walk past it.   Now, my first tendency was to blame it on the quilter but....I happened to mention what happened to Pam and Janet of Buggy Barn fame when I saw them at Quilt Market last spring.   They said that what they have noticed is that when there are wavy borders, it usually happens when the binding is added.   Now....this may have actually been the problem because I didn't use my walking foot (bad bad me) and the quilt was so heavy that it kept pulling down because of the weight.  

Has anyone else had this problem?  If so, did you find a solution?   It's been suggested that I spray the wavy parts with water and hope it shrinks, take off the binding and try again, and even cut off the binding and try to square the quilt up.    Help!

Here are some pictures of the quilting.    I really love it and the quilt hangs in such a prominent place in the house that it's one of the first things you see.  

Let me know if you have any suggestions for me.   Maybe it could help a future project (where you will find me always using my walking foot) or even help someone else so that it doesn't happen to them.   Public Service Announcement.   Hee Hee.

Hugs, Anne

Tater Patch Quilt Shop

Over Labor Day weekend, we headed down to California to visit family in Susanville.   Our drive there takes us through the tiny town of Merrill, Oregon.   Merrill is right on the border of Oregon and California and about 2.5 hours from Bend.    Perfect timing for a pit stop.  

They have a really nice wool section.

Lots of samples on display.  

A great Civil War section.

See the quilt in center?   It's a Buggy Barn design called Folk Art Blooms.   See the straight hanging borders?   Hmmm, mine doesn't look like that.    For some reason I have "wavy" borders on mine.   I'll show you the results of mine in my next post.   So disappointing.    I was drooling over this one.

I always love a log cabin with this setting.  I think it's called Barn Raising.

The children's section had these darling quilts.   They are all part of a series by

Lizzie B Creative.   So cute.  

They also had these last two quilts on display.  Done by a local quilt group.   Stunning.  

I bought four Country Threads patterns and was kind of worried that I might already have them.   But....lucky for me, they weren't duplicates.   Whew!

If you're ever in the area, be sure and stop by and say hi.   Such nice people working there.

Hugs, Anne