Thanksgiving Revisited

We had our big turkey dinner today at my son and daughter-in-law's house. Big Guy had to work Friday and Saturday, so on Thanksgiving Day, we had my aunt and uncle over for dinner and had ham, and today was our big turkey day instead!! KT's mom cooks the turkey, dressing, potatoes and pies. Big Guy deep fries a second turkey, and I bring corn casserole, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, squash, and cranberry apple salad. It's quite a spread. This is Big Guy getting ready to carve his deep fried turkey.

And here's a close-up of the turkey. He's been doing this for 3 or 4 years, and I think this is the best one yet. He doesn't know if he'll do it next year ... the peanut oil for the turkey fryer was $65.00. For that much money, we might as well buy prime rib!!

We had a wonderful time, tinged with a bit of sadness. Some good friends of KT's family who have joined us for the past few years were absent. The husband of one of the couples passed away this week. He had been ill for quite a while and it was not unexpected, but we missed him in our gathering and we all raised a toast to his memory. My aunt and uncle were also absent, as my uncle was not feeling well. He's 81 and had surgery on his foot recently. He's probably been spending too much time on it, and it was bothering him today, so they decided to stay home.

Last night, after dinner, I curled up on the couch and watched Lord of the Rings, for probably the 10th time!! I was looking for something I could work on while I watched TV, so I grabbed my Warm Up America Afghan that I knitted last winter. I still have a few yarn ends to weave in, but other than that, I got all the rows joined, and it's done. It will be nice to curl up in this winter when the really cold weather comes. It's made from Lion Brand Homespun yarn, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

This is the Christmas tree skirt, all finished and ready to take to KT. I washed it last night and it all crinkled up just beautifully. I gave it to her today, and she loved it!!

Yesterday I worked on piecing the blocks for my Bali Pop quilt for the Poet and his fiance. I got all 35 blocks done. Now I just need to work on the layout and put the top together. I'll get some pictures when I get it all laid out.

Tomorrow is a work day for us, so our holiday is over. Tonight, I'm watching the second Lord of the Rings movie and just enjoying my evening. I hope you all enjoy yours too.

Terri

Finished by Friday and Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!!

I finished quilting and binding my blue and yellow baby quilt this week. This was my beginner's project to get me eased back into piecing and quilting. It's not perfect, but it did what it was intended to do ... refresh my skills.
And ... I pieced the top for the lap quilt I'm making for my sister. This is the rail fence pattern. It's done using assembly line strip piecing and it goes really fast. I want to finish this up to give to her for Christmas so she can cuddle up under it this winter, and I don't have time for a complicated pattern. This one was perfect. I still need to add the borders and sandwich and quilt it, but I'm counting getting the top pieced as a sort of finish!!

It looks like it's going to be a beautiful Halloween here. It's supposed to get up to 65 degrees and the sun is shining. We don't fuss much about Halloween these days like we did when the kids were small, but we do enjoy seeing all the little goblins in their costumes that show up at our door. I wanted to put costumes on the dogs this year, but Honey wouldn't let me. I found the perfect costumes for them ... a pirate for Scooter, scallywag that he is, and an angel for Peanut (who is anything but). I think it would have been cute!!

It's a Start

I found this cute beginner's quilt tutorial and I thought that would be a good place to start. It's a baby quilt, and it just so happens, I have a grand niece of nephew due to arrive in November. It was a lot of fun, although I think the block on the bottom right is a little wonky and I might have to work on that a little before I put it all together.

I also did a fabric basket and pincushion from tutorials I found by cruising quilting blogs, and made a cute little tote bag of my own design with some old fabric I had cut out for placemats years ago, but never put together. I've redecorated the kitchen a couple of times since then, so the placemats would be all the wrong color anyway. I also pieced an odd scrappy block, just for fun!!

The pin cushion tutorial was on Crazy Mom Quilts blog (see link on the side-bar). She also had done the fabric basket, but linked to a tutorial to another webside, and I'm sorry, but I can't find that again right this minute. I will post a link when I do though.


A new life for some old fabric. Just the right size to carry around some knitting!!

My scrappy just for fun block!! So I guess I'm on my way!! I can't believe how much fun I've had the past few days pulling out all my sewing stuff again. My mom passed away four years ago and I had boxes of things from her house in a closet that I've never gone through and I did that yesterday. It was raining outside and a good way to spend the afternoon!! She had dozens of quilt books, templates, and patterns. I was like a kid in a candy store!! Somewhere around here, are two quilts that she had partially pieced, but never finished. I'm going to finish those. One is a blue and white Ohio Star and the other is a Log Cabin in greens, whites and reds. I still miss her every day, and it was comforting in a way to be touching her things, and to use them.

I've been haunting the sale fabrics at WalMart and JoAnns to try and build up my fabric stash. It's pretty much non-existant at the moment. I know that will take time, since the budget is a bit tight right now. There are three or four nice quilting shops in town too, and I've been trying to stay away from those for the moment. I'd go nuts!! I am going to take some hints I found online though, and check out thrift shops for mens cotton shirts. I'll post a picture of some of the fabrics I picked up tomorrow.

Until then .... Terri

The Spirit is Willing ....

I used to sew a lot. I really enjoyed it. But with Honey, my husband of 35 years, three growing boys, a home-based business, and two dogs and two cats packed into a much-too-small ranch house, there was just no space for a sewing room. I had to drag my machine out and set it up on the kitchen table, gather my tools and fabric from the nooks and crannies where I had stashed it to keep it safe from my hooligans, and when meal time came, I had to put it all away again so we could eat. At some point, it became just too much trouble and I quit doing it.

Our youngest son, The Wonder Child, recently moved out and now we truly have an empty nest. Besides having more space, I have time now. So I've been daydreaming about setting up a sewing room in a corner of the basement. I have a long table in the basement already, and an old butcher-block looking kitchen table to use for a cutting table. I bought myself a new steam iron to replace the 35 year old one we got for a wedding gift (can you tell how much I iron?)

I've been surfing the web looking and quilter's blogs and getting all kinds of inspiration. I went to Wal Mart and bought a bunch of fabric. I'm excited. I want to get started. I can sew on the kitchen table until the sewing room is ready, since we don't eat there anymore.

So this weekend I started sorting through boxes of sewing stuff I've had packed away for years. I found a number of unfinished products, a small stash of fabric, a whole box of zippers, a can of buttons, and all kinds of other fun stuff.

Now, after all that, I'm too tired to sew!!

I have several projects I want to work on this week. In the meantime, I may post some pictures of things I've already done. (I haven't been sewing, but I took up knitting this past winter and found I really enjoy that too!!)

So, here I am, entering the blog world. Re-entering the world of quilting and crafting. After so long a soujourn, I'm treating myself like a beginner again.