Fun for Friday - Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Pumpkins!!

Happy Friday!  This past week has been all about pumpkins.

I went to Norma's last Friday for the first pumpkin making session.

Here is our work area on her lovely porch. 

Sneakers came by to look over our progress.  I love Norma's green batik pumpkin.

Here is the crop of pumpkins we made.  The Pattern is Lil Punkins, A Tiny Treasure pattern from Sweet Treasures.
Designed by Amber Hiebert.

Here is a close up.  They each have a distinct personality.

On Wednesday, Jill and Susan came over to make some with me.

We even had pumpkin soup for lunch.  I made grilled Swiss cheese sandwiches on cinnamon raisin bread.

Here is the crop from Wednesday.   Coco was quite interested, as she always is.

What a fun batch!

Here are some more close ups.  We used real tree branches and pieces of floral picks and made our own curly vines.  We also added cinnamon sticks and whole cloves to the stuffing to make them smell good.

Here is a special one that I made with my new Midnight Pastoral fabric.  Very Martha Stewart, if you ask me.

Lastly, this is a football snack that made on Sunday.  It was so easy.   A package of corn muffin mix and package of hot dogs. 

Make corn muffins according to mix directions.  Spray a mini muffin tin with Pam and fill 2/3 full with mix.

I heated the hot dogs in the microwave just to take the chill off and cut them into 1 1/2" pieces and pushed them into the mix.

Bake according to the muffin mix directions and viola' little bite sized treats.

Happy Harvest and Football Season Everyone!!  Have a Fun Weekend.

Midnight Pastoral

Today I'm sharing a quilt that was made by the shop owner where I ordered more Midnight Pastoral fabric. 

Here is Mary's Quilt:

 

Here are some close ups.  Looks like she had some really creepy black and white fabrics.

The white lace on the border is a great touch.

If you are interested in ordering any of this fabric for yourself,  leave me a comment (with email address) and I'll give you her contact information.

Thanks, Mary, for the sharing your quilt with us.

Fun For Friday - so Fun it's Scarey!!

Quilt friends are the best in the world!  Margaret gave me this fabric saying:  "When I saw this fabric, I knew it was for you!"

She was so right.  I just LOVE it.

It's elegant and creepy - what a great combination.  I really want to do something special with it and will give is some serious thought.

It is "Midnight Pastoral" by Alexander Henry 2010.

Now for some shocking news!  I'm actually enjoying the hand piecing of the apple core Halloween quilt.

I've gotten several rows together.

These long rows are a little tricky (and not really treaty).  I have to mind those pins, less I get bit.

Happy Fall Friday!

Oaks show in Review (2012)

Happy Monday.  On Friday Pauline and I tool a little drive to PA to see a quilt show and today I'm sharing my favorites.

I must say that I really enjoy the older patterns and traditional quilts more and more.  A sign of age?  Perhaps.

This just says "aahhh" to me.

This came out a bit fuzzy, sorry.  I loved this scene.

each rock has been hand stitched.  Incredible.  Inspiring.

This would look so fabulous in my Living room - wonderful!

 This needs further study - I love the color combinations.

 What a charming pig Dottie is!  Well done!

This was a fabulous display of War of 1812 soldier cot quilts.  I wish I had been part of this challenge.    You can read more about it here.

 This was my favorite.

 Here are a few more from the display -

I bought a few Fat Quarters and a weighted hoop designed by Sharon Schamber to aid in machine quilting.  I'm sure it will revolutionize my technique.  I'll report on it soon.


**I have received 2 emails from a reader and there is no sender on the email.  You have asked about the purple toile that my friend used.  It is:  Marcus Brothers, Faye Burgos.
I hope this helps.  In future please leave a comment with your email so I can answer your questions directly - thanks - barb **

Fun For Friday - Charmed I'm Sure!

Happy Friday!   Charm bracelets have always fascinated me.  As a little girl I can remembering wanting one.  When I got older I asked my husband for one for Christmas.

Here it is after several Birthdays and Christmas':

This one represents all the things most important to me.  It was my "Governing Values" bracelet.  My favorite charm is this locket behind the "Chicago" charm.  It was my mother's baby locket and it has her teeth marks on it from putting it in her mouth and biting it.  

Here is one I received as a gift from my friend, Mary Pat, for my 50th Birthday this year.  It is made of vintage buttons.

This one is from the Vatican Library.  It is made of little replicas of treasures of the Vatican.  I wear it when I need grace and when I'm flying.

This one is from Turkey.  It from St. Mary's Chapel - another good luck charm bracelet.

Here is a silver one I started for fun.  It has a lots of funny charms on it like an iron, muffin tin, wine bottle, bird house.  This one is quite jingly and fun to wear.  I love the children's head charms.

This is a charm necklace.  It is special because my 3 best friends have the exact same necklace so I feel close to them when I wear it.

Lastly here is one that I bought at a quilt show - I love the S&H green stamp charm.

Some day I would love to start a vintage U.S. State charm bracelets with all the states I have visited......Some day......

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Wednesday Roundup

Hooray - I finished setting and adding a border to my big star quilt -

I have to work on a better name for the quilt.  Here it is draped on the railing outside my house-top sewing room.  It turned out to be a pretty big quilt!

While unable to sleep in the middle of the night recently, it dawned on me that the only way to get this quilt together was to hand piece it - uugghh.

I cut this quilt out 2 years ago, you can see the post here.  I am hand piecing it by eye - seems to be working well so far.  There is a lot of prep in marking the center, clipping the curves, pinning and finally sewing.

I'm using the map I printed above to keep things straight.  If you are considering an apple core quilt; DON'T.  That is my advice.

Another Halloween quilt I'm working on is a new 4-patch posie quilt.  Not as great as I had thought it would be, but we'll see.

Here are strips waiting to be sub-cut and sewn.  I just love the illustrations.

Some close ups - what a funny vamp he is.

I hope you are enjoying some early fall weather - it has been great here in New Jersey!