Happy Thanksgiving!!



I am off to spend the day with family and friends but wanted to share really quickly - I did manage to finish this little table runner for my centerpiece.



Inspired by this quilt by John at Quilt Dad. It's reversible, so I can use it for Christmas, too (but that picture came out blurry, I'll try after dinner). I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Labels: quilting, sewing

Working on the table runner. Making cranberry relish. Prepping sweet potatoes. Thawing beans. I can't wait for dinner tomorrow!

Labels: cooking, wip

Rather than joining Jacquie's push to finish WIP's, I keep coming up with more. I'm working on a table runner for our Thanksgiving table and doodling for a long overdue wedding sampler. The flowers are part of my fall decorations, hopefully everything will be cozy for our feast on Thursday!

Labels: wip

I told you I'd be boring you with circle quilt updates! All the circles and squares are cut and arranged. Now it's on to assembly!

Labels: quilting, sewing, wip

I stocked up on some cute Christmas towels at Target this weekend in preparation of making many of these adorable towels for family and friends. It will be fun to put some of my stashed Christmas fabric to good use!

Labels: wip

It is getting harder and harder to motivate myself to get off the couch and go into my sewing room. When is this fabled nesting supposed to happen? With all the motivation to finish projects and deep clean? Haven't experienced that yet. Instead I've just been propping my feet up and resting my cross stitch frame on my big belly and stitching. Books on my iPhone make this especially enjoyable. I still don't think I'll be finishing this stocking by this Christmas, but maybe I'll surprise myself!

Labels: needlework, wip

The rainbow sherbet quilt is done!



I love this quilt so much. I wanted to keep the design simple because the fabrics are so bright and happy on their own.



I've discovered a better balance of relying on my walking foot versus pinning that has drastically improved my piecing accuracy - I figured this out while making the 9-patch blocks for AmandaJean's quilt-along. This is a big step for me!



To preserve the white border I just did a white binding. I was going to do a pieced binding but I am using this same fabric for the circle quilt and need all my scraps!



Sentimental label. I couldn't help it!

Labels: 2009 Quilts, quilting, sewing

I always have good intentions to work on a hand-stitching project while watching TV in the evenings, yet it never seems to happen. Finally I'm doing better, since I have several projects in the works. I'm slowly growing my granny square blankie - I made some progress on the plane to and from my conference last month. I'm also planning to get back out the cross-stitch stockings I've had kits for since my husband and I got married. I guess they won't be done by this Christmas, either...

Labels: knit/crochet, wip

Our church dinner group met on Sunday night for a mini Thanksgiving dinner - turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and so on. I volunteered to bring an apple pie.



I used my mom's pie crust recipe, and a ton of apples. My mom actually came over to help make it, which was fun. I was lucky enough to have a few leftover pieces - they won't hold up long to my current appetite. Don't you wish they'd invented scratch-and-sniff computer monitors?

Pie Crust
- Mix in a bowl 4 cups flour and 1/2 tsp salt.
- Cut in 3/4c shortening - I used half butter and half coconut oil shortening.
- Lightly mix in 5-6 tbsp cold water depending on the humidity (more humid = less water).
- Knead the dough just until it holds together.
This is enough for top and bottom pie crusts - break in half and roll out with a rolling pin. If you use a flexible mat to roll on you can kind of fold up the pie crust to transfer it to the pie plate more easily.

Just add a ton of peeled and sliced apples mixed with sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg, cut a bunch of vent holes and sprinkle with more cinnamon-sugar. Bake at 425F for 30 minutes, then lower to 350F for 15-20 minutes until juices are bubbling out of your vents. Let sit for 3-4 hours.

We cut the fruit up before making the crust so that some of the juice came out of the apples, this way your apples don't all sink leaving you a big air gap between your fruit and your top pie crust. We also sprinkled a little flour in the bottom of the pie before adding the apples to help thicken up the juices during baking. Delicious!

Labels: cooking

My mom finished painting the changing table and bookshelf for the nursery, so we actually have some furniture in the baby's room. I showed you the orange walls and you know about the bright fabric. I can't wait to see the whole room come together. We're getting there!

Labels: homework

This is a little more difficult than I anticipated. Luckily, I am taking Liz's suggestion to do raw edges on the circles so perfect cuts aren't as critical. I am so excited to see this quilt start to come together... I'm sure you'll get sick of the in progress shots so I'll try to keep myself under control!

Labels: quilting, sewing, wip

For the back of the Red Barn quilt I decided to do something bright and a little surprising. My husband said "that's kind of weird." I'm still pleased - I hope it comes out like I picture it, it's definitely bright!!

Labels: quilting, sewing, wip

The Rainbow Sherbet quilt top is basted! Since this is going to be a lap quilt instead of a bed quilt, I'm quilting it to fleece, of course. I wanted a pale orange fleece but ended up with this blue, which I still love. I don't think I'll be able to wait until the baby arrives to cuddle under it. I promise this is the last tease of this quilt, I won't torture you with it again until it's done! (My iPhone sneaked into the picture - I play books on it while I'm working on basting, helps with motivation!)

Labels: quilting, sewing, wip

I finished the Red Barn top! Last night I had an appointment with Karen for a long arm consultation to quilt this. I can't wait to see it! I've never gotten a quilt professionally quilted before, I think it's going to be fantastic.

Labels: quilting, sewing, wip

My beautiful pile of Riley Blake fabric thanks to a birthday contribution from my grandparents. I see the Christmas fabric becoming a pillow, runner, maybe even a throw - though probably not all by this Christmas!

Also, I did a quick mockup of the circle quilt in my nursery fabrics and it looked so good I've already started cutting out fabric! We'll see how much progress I can make since it's a pretty busy week, but I don't think I'll be able to wait to work on it, it's going to be so cool. Thanks for all the input!!

Labels: fabric

I think I can truly call myself a quilter now. Who else would get this excited about a new iron? I'd been using my ~$20 iron from college until now, but I finally had to replace it. It had developed a crack by the handle that released hot steam right onto my knuckles, not good. I love my new iron.



It even has a digital display, so fancy!

Monthly Goals
I can't believe it's November! I seem to be consistently ambitious with what I think I'll get done each month and I don't think I've done any better with my November goals...
1. Finish Rainbow Sherbet Quilt.
2. Finish circle crib quilt.
3. Bind Red Barn quilt when it comes back from the quilters.
4. Do prep work for my Christmas gift project.

October Goals:
1. Finish Gma's handbag.
2. Bind and label QBB quilts.
3. Finish Rainbow Sherbet quilt - top, quilting, binding, the works!
4. Finish Red Barn quilt top.

Labels: monthly goals, quilting