Meet "the Fudd"

I know..horrible picture but Hannah has the camera so I took this one with the cell phone. This is my favorite coat in the world. It is a small men's hunting jacket that I bought at Goodwill years ago. It is soooooooo warm. Yes...all make fun of me in it. I am old, though, and don't care. The first time I wore it to work, my coworkers said I looked like I was going out after that "wascally wabbit". I looked like Elmer Fudd, apparently, so the coat was aptly named "the Fudd". Yes, you will find that people in my family often name inanimate objects. We have our tree, "the Fred", "the Fudd", etc..Does anyone else's family do this?? lol

Anywho, "the Fudd" is back and out in his full glory thanks to the cold weather and I am glad to be wrapped up in the arms of my friend again!

An overdue finish and a new week's list

Well, with all the happy chaos of Thanksgiving (and the worse chaos of Black Friday in which I worked from 3:45 am to 12:30 pm), I did absolutely no sewing until last night. I think it took all that time for me to recuperate! lol I wasn't sure what I wanted to work on last night, but when I moved some things around, I refound my blocks from a swap we did on Homesteading today..I think it was at the beginning of the year. I had put them aside as I was going to make more blocks to make it a big snuggly quilt, but when I was playing with them last night, I decided to make it as is. It ends up being 52" x 52". This was a Tattered Pioneer block swap. So, the pieces are sewn on top of each other with the raw edges hanging out so that they fray and look "tattered". I love the colors, the wonkiness, everything about it. Looks very folk artsy to me! I do still have to handstitch the back of the binding on, but will do that tonight so am counting it as a long overdue finish! Yay!!



I have 2 other quilts ready to be quilted, but wasn't really in the mood to quilt up another one. So, looking around, I found my string bins were overflowing. I have never made a string block, so played around and made these 3:



These were sooooo much fun! I can see these being an addiction. What a great feeling to use up something that I never would be able to any other way..mine are all under 1 1/2 inches wide. So, I can see LOTS of these in my future.

Then I noticed my 1 1/2 inch square bin was awfully full so made some of my first loves:



I will keep making these as my leaders and enders while I sew up some other things. I love these little guys and have all kinds of ideas dancing around in my head for them!

I got the best bargains ever on black friday..I bought NOTHING! lol I do most of my Christmas shopping all year long when things go on clearance (I LOVE working at Target!) and though Joann's is right next door, I knew I didn't need anything and a bargain is only a bargain if you NEED the item. Anywho, here is my list of what I want to accomplish on the sewing front this week:

1) quilt Christmas ornament table runner
2) quilt Patrick's Twisted 9 patch OR Jitterbug
3) cut up 1 bag of scraps in to usable pieces
4) make doggie bed
5) get at least 3 more steps done on mystery

I could go on, but I am trying to be realistic..nothing more UNmotivating than a list that is ridiculous!! How did you all do??

Sunday project update

Yay! I got the borders on the Chunky Churndash. You can find the pattern on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site. Mine measures in at 73 1/2" x 79 1/2". Btw...my Hannah, 16, takes all my quilt pics for me. Thanks, Hannah for braving the cold to do this for me!!

Whirly girls

I made some good progress yesterday and think I will get yesterday's list all completed today. Here is the wallhanging I completed yesterday. It is from the book, Pinwheel Party by Ellen Paul. At last weekend's Cobbled Court Quilt Circle retreat, we all brought batik strips to share to make tote bags with. I chose not to make the bag because I know I will ruin it and I wanted to have a keepsake from the weekend. So, I made this top there after cutting down the strips and sandwiched and quilted it yesterday. I named it Whirly Girls as it reminds me of whirly gigs but is a reminder of all my new girl friends!!



I also got the binding all done on the Christmas tree skirt. It is being modeled outside by "the Fred". "The Fred" is a Silver Maple tree that Joe brought home from school as a teensy, tiny twig when he was in 1st grade. He is a senior now! We also had "the Ethel" which Hannah brought home the next year, but our dog ate her lol. As you can see, "the Fred" is a tad big to be modeling the skirt, but he begged and pleaded, so we gave in:



The center of the Chunky churndash is all done..will be trying out borders and getting them on today and hopefully will also get the Christmas ornament table runner sandwiched and quilted today. Then, on to making the list of what I want to get done the rest of the week. Yay..I LOVE lists and crossing things off of them!!

Saturday plans

Patrick has a nasty head cold so we are in for the weekend. I did the grocery shopping yesterday, so that means at some point I need to do the cooking for the month..probably tomorrow. Today is going to be a sewing/cleaning day in between caring for Patrick, aka BoogSchnoogler. Here is my list of what I want to get done today in the sewing area:

1) finish up Christmas tree skirt binding
2) sandwich and quilt Christmas ornament table runner
3) finish up Chunky Churndash quilt top (made a nice dent in making the churndash blocks at last weekend's retreat)
4) sandwich and quilt wallhanging made last weekend at retreat featuring shared batiks
5) introduce you all to a very dear friend of mine

Of course the list could go on and on..I have 2 other quilts all sandwiched and ready to quilt, but boy, would I be thrilled if I can even get these done! What is on your project list this weekend?

PS. I did finish my Stars in Plain Sight quilt. This one was a lot of fun for me as I did the quilting with a freehand fmq baptist fan design. I know it isn't a big deal for those of you that fmq, but I am still so new to it, that this was really pushing the limits for me and I love how it turned out!

Want to take a walk with me?

We might be feeling a little lost in life and searching for something and end up in a wonderful little village in Connecticut called New Bern where chain stores are not allowed and the 2 blocks that make up the town center have storefronts that look like this:

Next we would probably want to grab a bite to eat and see a little of the local life.

What better than a place that is trendy yet comfortable, and you are greeted by a charming gentleman who has a most amazing Irish accent:

Being an abnormally warm November day, we would probably decide to take a walk through the tiny town to rid ourselves of the extra calories brought on by our dessert of the sinfully delectable Bannoffee...which is made of toffee, banana and shaved bittersweet chocolate. (Sorry..wiping drool off keyboard at the very thought of this!!)
While walking, we almost..just almost miss this little sign tucked in at the beginning of what looks like a little alley:

Being curious, we would just HAVE to follow this little alley to see where it led. Just where DOES it lead?? To this fabulous teensy court surrounded by a few little shops and even better...to this:

A shop that is empty of everything but our dream and our faith and our hope!! Want to know more??? Then you will just have to read A Single Thread by Marie Bostwick and the other books in the series.

As for me and 16 of the most wonderful ladies I had the pleasure to finally get to meet, we spent this past weekend on the first retreat of the Cobble Street Quilt Circle! We got to tour this lovely town with the best tour guide ever..


..Marie Bostwick herself who shared with us some of the inspirations for her fabulous books. Being a retreat, we also did a LOT of wining and dining..


...a lot of sewing..



..we made around 40 pillowcases to be donated to a woman's shelter:

...a lot of laughing and smiling...


..but most of all, we became friends..real friends. After all..is there anything better than that?
If you would like to join this terrific group of ladies, just click on the link on the left side of my blog for Marie's site. We would love to see you in New Bern with all of us Cobble Court Quilters!!