Fun For Friday - Quilt Festival Fall 2012!

Happy Friday!

It time for another wonderful on line quilt festival brought to us by:  Amy's Creative Side.

Here is my "Poisoned Apple" quilt that I just finished.

Here is a close up of the quilting.  I extended the apple core pattern into the border quilting.  I used purple, red, green and orange thread.

Quilt Stats:
The quilt measures 52" x 56"
I hand pieced the apple core center.
Quilted by me, barb vedder
category:  Hand Pieced, Machine Quilted (home machine)

The back is pieced of various Halloween prints.  I won the largest piece from my friend, Kelly of Pinkadot Quilts.  Thanks Kelly!  It was the perfect starting point for the backing.

In this photo, it looks like it landed on a witch!  My quilt is about 55" square.  Coco is clearly interested in who's behind this quilt.

Its me in my Raggety Ann costume that I made in 1999.  It was fun to surprise the ladies at quilting yesterday. 

And finally, Dorothy decided to drop in at my haunted house and the poor thing was chased by the wicked witch of the west.  From the yard -

Through the graveyard -

To the party - oh no!  (Thanks, Sheila for the photos!)

Happy Halloween Everyone and good luck fellow East Coast friends with Sandy!!

Fun For Friday - Happy Haunting!

Happy Friday!  Thank you everyone for your suggestions on my pattern search.  I have ordered 2 books from Amazon that will hlep me make my own patterns.

This past week I got out a few Halloween decorations.  I try to change it up and use different ones so I don't get tired of them.

Here is one of my favorites.  It is a Dept. 56 Haunted House and Haunted Graveyard.  I've added a lot of extras to the set like the trees.

here is spooky shot -

A crime scene!  I can see who is to blame, she left her slippers...

Here it is lighted.   The green lights are little skulls.

To give you an idea of scale, I displayed it this year atop a dresser in my kitchen.

Here it is with an apple.  As you can see, it is quite miniature.

Here is my Living Room mantel decorated.  I got the glittered bats at Pier I Imports.

One of my favorite fall recipes.  There are only a few ingredients.

Autumn Pumpkin Soup

1  can Pumpkin Pie mix
1  12 oz. can evaporated milk
3  cups chicken broth.  (You can use up 6 cups, but I like my soup a     little thicker, so I only use 3)

combine ingredients and heat through.

I serve it with sour cream sprinkled with a little nutmeg.

Hope you are enjoying all the sights and flavors of Autumn.  It is my favorite time of the year!

Sweet Little Leftovers

Here is a little doll quilt that I recently made using leftovers in my sewing room.

 

 Here is a close up so you can see the quilting.

I was doodling some new ideas for machine quilting and came up with this:

I used a walking foot for the main lines of the fans.

Then I used my new weighted hoop for the free motion portions.  I really really like the hoop!

At first I forgot my teflon sliding sheet.  I have to say that the sheet is really needed.
 

Here is a link to Amazon where you can purchase the hoop and sliding sheet.

Here is a view of the backing.

I need help!  Over the weekend, I visited Susan in CT and we went to a local quilt show.  We both loved this folk art quilt by Harriet Powers.

There is a Pattern book for this quilt, but it is not available for purchase.  Does anyone have this booklet?  Would anyone be willing to lend it to me?  It looks like this:

I have my fingers double crossed!!  If you post this search request on your blog, I will send you a small thank you gift.

Fun For Friday - Tim Gunn Love

Happy Friday!  It took me a while to get into this season of Project Runway, but I did get there.

About half way through I started rooted for Christopher and Dmitry:

Several years ago Tim came to my town for a book signing.  It was so fun to meet him in person!!

This little book is wonderful.  I really did pick up several fashion tips about silhouette and fit.

I love the way Tim signed my book.

I recently splurged for a new piece from my favorite store; Anthropology.  I found this  black checked peplum jacket -

Boom - check out that piping!  Love at first sight.

It reminded me of Mondo, one of my all time favorites on Runway.

Blog friends are so fun and generous.  Thank you to my buddy, Anna of Thimbleanna.  I won her little British Bunny in a recent giveaway.  Coco looks very jealous and is trying very hard not to taste it.  Mr. Bunny is so cute, I just adore him.

Look at those cute fabrics and label - adorable!

She also surprised me with the sweet needle case and box of French pins - Thanks Anna!

Double lucky week - Elizabeth of Occasional Piece Quilt sent me this wonderful fabric stack.  Great black and white prints and the multicolored Keep Calm fabric.  How thoughtful of you, Elizabeth, I just love them!

Quick Movie Reviews:

The Master,  acting:  10, story: 0
It will have Oscar buzz, but seriously, what?  Rent it or Skip it.

Looper,  acting: 8, story: 10
I loved it, but I love time travel stories.  It is violent and bloody, but the story is provocative and interesting.

Happy Friday and have a Fun Weekend!

Fun For Friday - Silly Stuff

Sometimes I have photos that don't have a theme or relation to each other.  Today I'm making up a post of these.

This is a good time of the year to clip the big hydrangea blossoms from the garden.  The are dried and stacked in a basket.

Rich came home from Starbucks (his second home) and said they had the same display, so I guess that made it legitimate in his eyes.

Last week I picked up grocery store sushi and this is the plastic tray it came on.  How beautiful is this throw away container?

I'm putting it to use next to my sewing machine as a catch all.

Here are some photos of my mantel decorations for fall.

I picked up these lights that have been dipped in yellow rubber or something at Joann Fabrics.  They have a nice soft glow.

This is the silliest quilt design sketch I've ever done.  What the??

Capital One offered to send me a new card for free with my choice of images.  How fun?

Hooray, it's that time of year again......love 'em or hate em'?

That's my girl!  Hanna and Daniel walked the formal gardens at Miami University, in Ohio.  I'll definitely make time for this on my next visit.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and hope you enjoyed the silly stuff today.

Pressing Matters

Who doesn't love a good pun?  I have had some pressing matters the past few days.

1.  I had many projects that needed pressing.
2.  Pressing does matter.  It can save or kill a quilt top.

Hooray!  My Halloween Apple Core top is done.  It is 13 (unlucky number) apple cores wide and long.

So.... I only sewed 2 of the long rows wrong.  Ripping out is always painful, but when it has been hand sewn,  waaaaa   :( ::::::

This was some tricky pressing.  It was difficult to avoid un-pressing previously pressed areas.  Know what I mean?

After about 40 minutes and 3 refills on the steam iron and a dose of starch, it turned out great.

I spent time pressing lettering onto Steam-A-Seam.  These will be on the borders of the Apple Core Quilt.  can't read them?  he he

Here is a little project I worked on recently and was able to use my pressing stick, which helps to keep from un-pressing.

This was a lot of pressing.

These were left over blocks from my Lincoln quilt.  I'm going to machine quilt it and use it as a runner.

Finally, I pressed a lot, and I mean a lot of bias stems for my Jubilee quilt.  Here is the first border that is ready for stitching.

Good Luck with all your pressing matters!