Sewing more clothes

I have misplaced my camera - so nothing new to show for now. But, I am busy working away and doing lots of stuff. On the sewing front - since Monday, I made Little Boy another pair of PJ pants from this pattern (I only had 1 yard of flannel with race cars on it so no shirt - and of course, now he wants a shirt... hummm... will have to see what I can do about that!). That makes 2 complete pairs and 1 pair of pants from this pattern so far. AND, then I went ahead and made him the robe out of very soft fleece! If I had followed the pattern it would drag around on the floor behind him, so I shortened it a bit. And skipped the pockets. And added belt loops. And made it a bit narrower. And made the arms a bit longer. LOL! That is the thing about making clothes - you usually have to make 100 changes to the pattern. And - he loves, loves, loves it even if it is still a tiny bit incomplete right now! He picked the fleece out himself which is a mottled light blue with white butterflys on it - so sweet! My little fleece boy! Plus I made my girlfriend a pair of pants - will have to post a photo of the pattern after I find the camera. No quilting - I am just enjoying zipping some stuff through my serger! You know - making a quilt takes a LONG time - sometimes it feels good just to do something zippy! Despite all the pattern changes, I really enjoy making clothes.

Back On-Line!

Little Boy and I enjoyed the beautiful fall scenery traveling through Maine - the leaves were a riot of reds, oranges, yellows. Little Boy delights when the wind blows and the trees "rain". Thank you for all the well-wishes for safe travels! And, we've had a great week of family visiting time, with more to come shortly.

I have not done any sewing that I can take a photo of yet... so here is a photo of my Country Wife top right before I left on my trip. I know you have seen it before, but not all SEWN together - grin! One of my October sewing goals is to get the 2 final borders on this... we will see...(I still have to BUY the fabric and you might not remember - but my son does not like shopping!) In anycase, I am happy to have the top up to this point! Progress is progress!

On the road

We've spent the past 2 days along the Canadian coast enjoying a little quiet family time. It's been a wonderful time, but is coming to an end all too soon. Tomorrow Little Boy and I head off on our own adventure in Big Boy (our RV's name). It might be a few days before I can check-in.

Faded Blooms

I kept the flower baskets up as long as possible, but there comes a day when one must admit - the flowers are done. They were so beautiful all summer and I nursed them along into the fall, but the day had come... Sooo - Little Boy and I had a few very enjoyable afternoons this week seperating all the flowers because this Momma had big plans to winter over the geraniums. Oh yes, we made a nice big mess while we were at it. And then I just had to double check the directions on the internet about wintering geraniums and I learned that 2nd year plants are very leggy without many blooms. And - while I personally know people who bring their plants inside for the winter - my plan was to put the tubars in the basement - which is iffy anyway. So much for that idea - I don't really want leggy/bloomless plants in my baskets!... The thought provided us with hours of fun in the nice fall sunshine though so it wasn't a complete loss. And now the baskets are all cleaned out and in the basement - waiting for next year.

P.S. - Little Boy has a narrow telescoping rake - and if I keep it folded up - it is the perfect size for him!

Checkerboard Log Cabin...

I forgot my Checkerboard Log Cabin on my October list. Here is the photo so far... I just need to a) add 1 more final red border or b) keep going? Currently it measures 72X72 and seems nice and flat. The checkerboard goes all the way around - I just have it draped across the top of my fence so you don't see the whole thing.

I keep wondering about growing it some more... I could easily add another 3" red strip and then a row of pinwheels and then finish it off with a final, narrow red border. This is the thing - I already have a few BIG log cabins so I was thinking I would like a little snuggle quilt - this will be backed in flannel. But, I am liking the design so much and thinking about pinwheels or flying geese, or both, or railfences, ... or, or, or... oh dear! Borders upon borders upon borders (was that me who said I didn't like to do borders?) Maybe I should just put the final red border on (cut 2") and pack it up and send it off to the long arm quilter (the binding will be red) and start a NEW one!!!


My recipe, so far:

The red squares are cut 3.5"
The strips are cut 2"
The unfinished block is 15.5" (15" when sewn together)
The red border is cut 3.5"
The checkerboards are more 2" strips

Go ahead - give it a try - I bet you can't stop at just one block.

October's To-Do list, September progress!

October! I just love October! There is a noticable change in the weather, the colors, the feel. People are decorating with apples, pumpkins, bales of hay, scarecrows and giant buckets of Mumms. My apple trees are raining buckets of apples all over the ground! Little Boy was just delighted when I took him to the store to pick out a few pumpkins - I will have to post a photo of his selection later - got to take a picture first!

Earlier this summer I decided to work just on current UFO's/WIP's (with a few PJ's, some knitting and gifts thrown in the mix). No new projects! I made a list of the top 10 I wanted to finish up and started working from there - rotating around and around until finally, I started to have some finishes! As 1 project gets finished, another UFO/WIP can be added to the list. This system is working great for me!

I like reviewing my past month and thinking about the new month, so here is my September sewing review:

1. I finished my Green Ocean Waves top! Thank you for all the wonderful comments! This top was a bit time consuming to make with all those triangles, but I think the end result was worth the extra effort. If this is a quilt that you have been considering - I would say, go for it! The directions were accurate and everything went together very nicely! And for September - this top only needed the borders put on to finish as I had finished the body of the top in July, so it was a quick finish!

2. Octagon Flowers is also finished! The end of August I got it up to the 1st border stage, so September was just the final borders. Another quick finish!

3. My Country Wife top is up to the stage where I am sewing the rows together! Again - I've been working on this top all summer.

4. Little Boy got new red PJ's.

5. DH got a pair of new comfy pants.

6. Little Boy found those Wonky Heart blocks in the bottom of the scrap pile and I had fun playing around with those a bit!

7. Almost all the shapes are now appliqued down on my seashell table runner.

8. I managed to knit 1 1/2 balls of yarn on my scarf.

9. About 30" of binding is now sewn onto my log cabin top - so I am making progress on that binding project!

10. And, let's not forget - Elmo had eye surgery!

All in all, I am very pleased! Things are super busy for me in the summer and my sewing time has to be squeezed in - here and there - for my own sanity. And - well, long walks to a rocky cove with Little Boy to throw rocks in the water! Grin!

Moving into October - things will be a little bit quieter for me, but my schedule involves some travel and lots of visiting with family, so sewing time will still be limited. I am really looking forward to some famiy dinners, sister teas and hopefully a kids rubber stamping and cookie decorating party (Halloween cards). Oh, and 1 trip to Joanne's and a quilt shop too!

So - sewing wise, I will continue in October what I have been doing all summer - keep working on my UFO's/WIP's, which are listed over on my sidebar - rotating them around and around so eventually they all get finished! But for the sake of having a list (ever so helpful when it comes to fabric shopping), here goes...

1. Make labels for Whirly Gig, Desperado, Log Cabin and Green Ocean Waves. I need to make a few other labels too, but these are the most important to get done!

2. Bonnie quilted 2 tops for me and they are at my sister's house in the US - I was afraid they would get lost in customs at the border so had them sent to my sister. Anyway, I am so excited to see these tops - they both will need binding and labels (part of #1).

3. Put final borders on Cars & Stars - I just found the perfect fabric in my stash this week! Surely I can do that much to get this top finished! I've needed the final border fabric since March so this was a good discovery!

4. Finish Country Wife - those final rows are all pinned together just waiting for me to change the red thread off my machine! I will need to buy inner border fabric - I already have the perfect outer border fabric. So another top which is almost done!

5. Keep knitting on my scarf.

6. Buy sashing fabric for my Grandmother's Choice blocks and start sashing them together. I made all these blocks in January... there are enough to make either 1 king quilt or 2 doubles quilts. I am leaning toward 2 smaller quilts - sashing one in maybe dark blue and the other in dark green so they are similar, but different.