Annual Corn Field Date Night

 We had our annual date night visiting all the cornfields last night.  No, we didn't let Willow drive.  I can still remember doing this with her last year, and I could easily carry her and plop her on the tailgate of the truck while we counted kernels and shelled corn to test the moisture.  This year, she ran wild through all the fields.

Willow was thrilled with the whole experience.  The hubs was happy with the lower than expected moisture content, but a little disappointed in the size of the ears of corn.  He also showed me the 5 gallon bucket of ears of corn that Willow has harvested.  He's been collecting them to run through the combine............every kernel counts!

Willow had been disappointed with me on Tuesday because I went directly from work to the quilt guild work day and meeting.  No play time for Willow!  We were working on items for our bazaar at the quilt show in Arrow Rock in October.  I was able to finish 3 sets of coasters and about 15 hot pad/trivets (with a little help from my friend Pam).  

I didn't have anything for Show and Tell at the meeting, but several others did.  This is Karen's X quilt.

And her table runner from Kansas Troubles fabrics.

 

And another from Karen...........

This is Carol's snowflake quilt.......

And a quilt panel she picked up on her trip to Kenya.  The back has a fuzzy animal print.

Beth showed this bright panel she had done...........

Mary shared her Flock Together quilt......

And her Bull's Eye quilt............

And this was Georganne's Winter wall hanging which still needed the binding.  It's a wool applique.

I'm hoping to spend a little time at the longarm today...........before piano lessons start.  We're looking forward to the weekend.  A football game in Iowa a show at the New Theatre are on the agenda.  Then corn harvest will start in earnest on Monday.  Last year, I carried Willow with me into the combine for a ride.  That definitely won't be happening this year.  She loves to ride though, so Porky, one of the truck drivers, may have to adopt her as a riding companion.  We'll see how it goes.

Christi

Tails from the Cutting Table

 Since I'm still waiting on that yard of fabric to come for my pumpkin quilt, I decided it was time to drag out another UFO to work on................

No, it's not a cattails quilt.

Cici likes to make sure I'm really paying attention when I'm cutting fabric.  You have to time your cut just right, in between tail swishes!

I dug out my Village quilt, this one being done in Christmas fabrics.  The background fabric is black with stars, so it's a nighttime village, and every house has a chimney for Santa.

Here are 74 Christmas house blocks.............only need 58 more to reach the required number of 132!

The blocks are really fun to sew together.  The struggle is the cutting, and not just because of Cici's tail.  I have this huge tub of Christmas fabrics and when I pull them all out onto the cutting table, it just gets overwhelming.  You can even see that I have stacked some of the larger pieces on a different table by the sewing machine.  I'm trying to use up the small scraps and leave the larger pieces.  But the scraps just seem to be multiplying!  

You may remember my first Village quilt..............I didn't make as many houses as the pattern said, and added some tree blocks into it and a pieced border.  That quilt has now been gifted to a cousin in Minnesota.

I also prepped the binding for a couple of things and the backing for the Quadrangle quilt to piece while I'm waiting on fabric to arrive.

Oh, and somehow, I forgot this Halloween wall hanging...................  Stack of Jacks!

It will go back to the quilt show this year as it won the viewer's choice for small quilts 2 years ago.

It's piano day.  Three down, eight to go!  Music is in the air!

Christi

Stay Spooky

 

The fall spirit is starting to hit me.  I had received a gift card from piano students to a local greenhouse that has lots of decor items, so finally took the time to go out and look around.  It was fun, but a little overwhelming.  I wanted something cute and fallish that Willow wouldn't think was a chew toy.  This is what I came home with.  I had to get the hubs on board with putting the screw eyes and chain on it to hang.  He had different ideas, but I didn't want him drilling holes in my new decoration.

And double the fun, it's reversible!

So finally getting it hung made me ready to get out a few more decorations.  I was really interested in the quilted or woven items, and didn't realize how many things I had.  Here is just a taste..........

I had totally forgotten about this little pumpkin wall hanging that was a mystery project from a guild retreat.  It fit this spot (which has been bare except for a hook in the wall for some time) perfectly!

And this cat and  pumpkin wall hanging is in the dining room.

As is this jack-o-lantern basket.  I think Sarah made this as a 4-H project one year.

And one of my favorites is this pumpkin wall hanging.  It's hanging over the steps to the basement.  There are more things, but I haven't taken photos of them yet.  

I'm still waiting on the fabric I need to finish the pumpkin quilt.  So maybe having these things out will help.

Stay Spooky everyone!

Christi

Gone About as Fur as I Could Go

 Friday Night Lights...............Greene County Rams Football on my TV!  Cici and I were settling in to watch the third game of the season this past Friday evening.  Jackson's team was 1-1, having lost by 2 in overtime the first game and then a big 63-0 (yes, that was the score and every kid played all the way down to the freshmen) victory for the second game.  Here you can see the cheerleaders on the field waiting to welcome the team.

It was another win for the Rams.  I spent the evening sewing on Lizzy, my 201 in the basement.  She makes such a nice stitch and is so smooth and quiet, that it's easy to sew while watching tv.

My Friday Night Lights Quilt this year is a pumpkin quilt from the most recent Quiltmaker Magazine.  I had a fat quarter bundle of Pumpkins and Blossoms fabric that I couldn't wait to break into.  Since the first game went into over time, I got lots done.  We had made a trip to my favorite and closest fabric store on a Wednesday about a week and a half ago so that I could get the fabric I needed to work on the pieced borders, binding, and backing.  I'm sad to say that the experience was not the greatest.  Neither myself nor my neighbor, Karen who went with me were treated very well.  It's a long story, and the little things that bothered me kept piling up, so the gist of the story is that the next day when I went to cut the fabric so that I would have more to sew on during the game on Friday evening, I discovered that instead of the 1 and 3/4 yards of fabric I had asked for, I was only given 3/4 of a yard.  So, I called the store and talked to the owner (neither of the owners had been there when we were treated badly on Wednesday) and she pulled the bolt and promised to cut another yard and get it in the mail to me.  I proceeded to cut the fabric I had so that I would have something to work on during the game the next evening.  So, I expected to receive my fabric in the mail the next week, but when Friday rolled around and I checked the mailbox, it still wasn't here.  I called the store again and asked if it had been mailed, and the owner admitted that it was still sitting there (over a week since my call) and hadn't even been cut yet.  So, just like the phrase in the song "Kansas City" from the musical, OKLAHOMA!, I've Gone About as Fur as I can Go on this project.

You can see the pumpkin center is done and I have half of the strips cut for the border, the corner star blocks are done, and about half of the flying geese for the border are done.  The only other things I could do would be to make the binding and piece the backing, which definitely wouldn't take a whole football game to do.

So, in the meantime, I did finish piecing the Quadrangle Quilt.  This was part of Sew Sweet's Jelly Roll Quilting project back in the summer.  It was a free pattern.  I have the borders cut and just need to measure them and add them and it's ready to go to the TBQ closet.  I'll admit this one took me awhile because I got a little bored with the blocks.  I gave the pattern to my mom and she has made about 5 of these already when I took forever to get one done ........no exaggeration, well, definitely 4....... and they are all quilted and completed.  I even quilted one of them for her.

This is one that I think I will like better once it's quilted.  I have the prettiest backing fabric for it too.

And when I came up the basement steps from sewing, Watchful Willow was sitting in the doorway with her teddy bear.  This was her way of keeping tabs on me in the basement and David in the living room at the same time.  

I would say that she was just being a very good guard dog, but the teddy bear in the photo kinda disproves that.  She really just didn't want to miss out on anything.

Hopefully my fabric will arrive this week.  Not that it really matters too much since we are going to go see the game in person this weekend.  But still, I would like to know that I have the fabric to finish it.  And as to quilting, the quilting on Flea Market Mix did get started.  However, I have been reading the James Patterson/Bill Clinton book The President's Daughter, and have gotten so engrossed in it that I did no more quilting on Sunday.  Of course, there was also a Chief's game to watch.

It's gonna be a busy week with little sewing or quilting in the forecast.  

Christi

Sad Face

Sad face...........

 This is what she does when she knows you are leaving her.  I'm off to Como today for some shopping.  I'm not actually that thrilled about it.  I used to like shopping........I'd go with a friend and we'd spend the day, Sarah got pushed around in a stroller, we'd eat lunch out.  It's just not that fun anymore.  I'm making the trip to pick up needed piano music for my students, stop by Sam's club and try to get my nephew on our membership card, Joanns for some pillow stuffing and/or pillow forms, just a few things at the mall, and Hy-Vee..............and David will be thrilled with the trip if I come home with some Hy-Vee fuel saver points!  It's the simple things.  I have an extensive list, but after the music store, it's like one thing here and one thing there until I get to Hy-Vee, so lots of driving through traffic.  At least this evening I'll get to sit at the sewing machine and listen to Jackson's football game.  Hopefully sometime this weekend I'll get to start quilting that quilt!

Anyway, wish me luck on the shopping trip.............. or perhaps you should wish luck to those who will have to deal with me!  I'm sure the trip would be much more fun if Willow could go along, but somehow I don't think she will fit in the stroller and she would be so heavy to push around.

Christi  

Pets and Some (little) Quilting

I have been telling the Hubster for awhile now that Cici needs a friend - NOT Willow, but a feline friend.  He kept saying that she wouldn't like sharing with another cat, but these photos that were snapped by Sarah when she and her cat Dory were home last week would beg to differ. 

 

They also had several playful romps through the house............totally different than when Cici come streaking into the bedroom and hides under the bed while Willow bounds in after her and jumps on the bed.  

We're still pondering the situation.............well, one of is.

I really have no explanation for this next series of photos.............Just Willow being Willow, I guess.

Not modest is she?

She stayed that way quite awhile while I snapped pics.

Last month at quilt guild, I took the Tuit.  It's supposed to help you get A Round To It on something.  I can't say that it has worked too well for me this month.  One thing I did accomplish was to empty the scrap bin on the cutting table.  All scraps were cut down to useful sizes and put away where they belonged.  

I have had the backing and batting on Lucey the longarm for over a week.  Today, I finally got the top on.  I have had this quilt in the closet for well over a year.  It's time to get it quilted.  After all, it is in fall colors.  This quilt is called Flea Market Mix and I think it will be the perfect quilt to try out lots of different quilting designs.  

 

I have started a few other fall-ish projects as well.  The top one is a table runner called "The Sky is Falling".  It is rather large for a table runner, but very cute.  I didn't even put the final border of background fabric on it.  I still need a backing, but would like to get this quilted soon.  

Below it is a piano runner I would like to get quilted to put on the piano for fall.  My Aunt Judy gave me the 3 gold colored blocks.  They are batik fabrics.  I dug through my batik tub and made the other blocks to put with them.  I have backing, so it shouldn't take long to do once I get it loaded onto Lucey.

Other projects are in the works, in various stages.  I will have some sewing time tomorrow evening while I listen to Jackson's football game.  

Christi

Adventures with Willow (absolutely no quilting)

We took Willow to the local pool for the annual Dog Plunge one afternoon.  I have to say that she was a bit overwhelmed by all the other dogs.  Pretty intimidating to a dog who rules the roost of all the cats around here.

We coaxed her down the slide one time and David tried repeatedly to get her to jump in.

She preferred the handicapped rail.  The water was fine, it was all the other dogs that were bothering her............. when we got home, she was exhausted!

Later that week, we took her on a day trip to Bethany to see my parents and deliver some quilts to Mom.  Of course she loved the car ride, but we also went up to the lake and there was no one else there.

She had a great time swimming with Grandpa.

 She explored to her heart's content on the shore and in the water.  She even left the safety of the swimming area.  She did find an exploded ketchup packet to roll in, but that was easily remedied by a return to the water.

Later she crashed on the floor at Mom and Dad's and we all commented that she really blended in with their wood flooring.

Piano lessons start today.  Sarah gets to actually work FROM HOME today as they finally got the internet fixed last night.  She had quite the adventure yesterday culminating in my teaching her how to thread the sewing machine I left at her apartment via a Google Duo call.  We'll see if she gets her "sewing" project done today.  

Christi