I love fall colors

I guess it is autumn.  You couldn't tell it by the temperatures lately.  Highs in the high 80's last week and down into the high 70's this week.  Beautiful fall weather and the farmers are making the most of it.  Many of the fields are harvested.  

The fall decor is up in Clifford.  I love that old blue pickup!

Driving through our woods today was beautiful.  I had to stop and take a few pictures.  We don't get a lot of color in our trees in North Dakota so I try to make the most of what we do get.  

Down the road to town.  The leaves are starting to fall.

Fall color in the Cottonwoods.

The road home.

The woods had a bad time this year.  Too much wind.  Many trees were pushed over and the undergrowth is a tangle of weeds and broken trees.  I am sure the wildlife loves it. To me it looks like the Shire after the Orc's took over.   

However if I stick to pictures of the roads you can't see the destruction.

Hugs,

Nancy

Playing with Scraps

 Another day, another squirrel. 

The thing is, people give me little triangles...

 I was starting to trim some little squares this morning when I had this idea.  The squares, when trimmed, are about 2 inches. They would only finish at about 1.5 when sewn into something.

 "Why," I thought, "am I trimming these when I am just going to add them to something to make them bigger?  Why don't I just make them bigger now, before trimming!"

Sew that is what I did! They ended up at 3" unfinished.

Once I had two trimmed I was so in love with them that I had to search out some more "neutrals" a la Bonnie Hunter and make up some more sets to sew.

If I only knew what I had planned for them I would be a happy camper.  

But really, the Journey is the fun part, the destination is not.

hugs,

Nancy

Six and a half inch quilt blocks

Hey Mary and Jeni,

Over the last year I have started playing with quilt blocks that finish at 6 inches. Partly because that is the size for most Treadle-On block exchanges and partly because I saw some cute ones while trolling the net and decided to try them out. 

First of course was stars.            >         

Those were because I was making them for a raffle quilt for the River Rat Toga. I can't show you that quilt. (It is a secret until the raffle) but I can show you an assortment of the stars that went into it. 

After that starry fun time I started working on scrappy 6.5" squares.  I became addicted to them.  I bet I have made close to 200 so far. 

I had to find ways to use them up.  

Lots of runners and covers for my vintage sewing machine cabinets. (I try to keep the cat claws from scratching them.)

< First this lap quilt with black and white striped sashing. That only used up 35 of them. 

Next this sample from a class with   >  Jan Mullen  at  the Quilt Market many years ago.  I decided it needed a frame of scrappy blocks.  I found a WOF strip of the background blue for a wide outer border to tie it all together!  That got rid of 14 more.

< This little table topper was made with scrappy blocks from two different projects.  The angled blocks were from my friend Deb P. who was making a paper pieced quilt from a Judy Niemeyer pattern.  

The straight ones are leftover from a Treadle On block exchange  (TOBE) of Modern Blocks. The colors were perfect to go together!  To make it the size I wanted I had to add in a few extra strips.

Then I used up 10 more in a sewing   machine mat.  It was tricky adding the tool pocket that hangs over the front.  I had to make 4 half square blocks for this design

Enough with the scrappy squares! 

<  I noticed these little flower blocks on another blog - I forget where.  They were making tulips mostly which I didn't care for but then someone made one of these!  

I loved them. I did NOT worry about making the little triangles all the same. It is nature after all and Mother Nature loves diversity.

Yes I have 4 now but don't have a picture. The fourth one is blue.

Next I ran across this cute dragonfly  > pattern at the Moda Bake Shop.  It is designed by Jen Daly.  The pattern shows both 6.5" and 12.5" options.  

I have been saving this shimmery fabric from Maywood Studio for years.  It is perfect for the dragonflies.  And the background is a Benartex Fossil Fern that reads SKY to me.

< And then, just as I thought there couldn't be any more cute little 6.5" patterns, Bonnie K. Hunter came up with these little fishies for this summer's leaders and enders.  

Hers were made smaller than 6.5".  

Well that's OK I know how to enlarge a simple pattern like this.

Most of these 3.5" units were plucked out of my scrappy boxes so I didn't have to even make the HST's.

 

Well if there are fishies then there must be Kitties.  These cute little cats are from a pattern from my friend Helen Howes in England. She calls the pattern Counter-Change Cats.   The pattern can be purchased and downloaded from her at https://www.helenhowestextiles.co.uk/kitsandpatterns/patts.html 

I have had the fabric ready to sew these for several months and just started playing with it lately.  The curve is really fun to sew.  It is amazing how nicely it lays flat.  Just go slow when you sew it.

Whew!

I'm glad I got all these 6.5" blocks off my chest.  Now I can go a do a little sewing.

Hugs,

Nancy

What happened eleven years ago tonight.

Eleven years ago July 18th was a Sunday night.  At about 11:00 I heard the phone ringing.  My first thought was who would be calling me at this time of night.  My second thought was...maybe it's Meritcare hospital in Fargo and they have a kidney.

I didn't think it would really be the hospital because I had been waiting for 5 years and had given up on ever getting one.  

But it WAS!

I was told I was the backup patient in case the person in front of me on the list was unable to pass all the last minute tests to qualify. I was told not to take my evening .81mg aspirin and asked when did I last eat and warned don't eat anything more and be in Fargo at 7:30 in the morning.  

Just in case.

About 15 minutes later I got another call.  The decedent donor had two good kidneys and I was now primary for the second one. 

I don't remember if I was excited or scared or calm.  I told Jim and I know we got ready.  Really I don't remember much until we got to the hospital the next morning. I remember they took 16 vials of blood from me.  I remember I had some kind of heart test.  An EKG?  I remember waiting and waiting.  Hungry and thirsty.

I didn't get into the surgery until after 7 in the evening. I remember being wheeled into the operating room and Dr. Mistry asking if I wanted to see the kidney before the surgery.  Hell NO!

Then it was the next morning and it was over, or just beginning.  The rest of my life.

Eleven years ago. July 18 2010.

Ah, the Elliot neck in full view. 

Sewing on the phone!

This is what is up on the design wall right now.  I really like the look of the blue and red 12.5" blocks but I am totally bored with them.  I have to make many more of them.  I was planning to sew some tonight while I was on a messenger video chat with my siblings and I did get four more of the 6.5" blocks made so that is ONE more complete block. 

SIGH...

My design wall.  

In order to try to increase my interest I put up one rainbow block set.  That only lasted until I had chosen all the colors.  Can you tell I don't like to do the same thing over and over again?  I had hoped the fact that I was using many different fabrics would keep me interested but it seems that is not true.

If you notice at the top of the wall is a lone flower block. I saw it on Facebook and thought I could make that little block.   So I did

Isn't it cute?

After I made the 4 red and blue blocks I decided I needed a treat so I made a companion block for the first one.

Ahhh, that's better!

Since I was video chatting with my sisters while I was doing this I showed them the flowers.  Then I was informed I had to make a yellow flower too.  I was concerned because I wanted the flowers to have yellow stamens and I didn't know if that would show up on a yellow flower.  But we found a scrap of orange with yellow dots that will work nicely for the flower center.  I guess I can be flexible occasionally.

Ready to sew the pieces.

So all the parts are cut and laid out. Now all I have to do is sew the petals together and assemble the block.  That will be for tomorrow I guess. It's late tonight.

Hugs,

Nancy

Finished!

My first quilt retreat since November 2019!

I was a bit worried that it wouldn't be safe, but I had both my vaccine shots and it had been 3 weeks since the last one so I decided to go. I was promised a spot away from the others with no table mates.  

This is my spot. Half the gymnasium away from the rest of the retreaters.

My goal was to quilt several quilts and to put binding on them and some already quilted ones.  I planned on using my 301 for the free motion quilting.  I brought several different threads but ended up using Glide 40 weight and it worked well.  

On this Harmonic Convergence wall hanging I quilted loops and oak leaves.

I used a thread holder behind the machine because the spool of glide was too large for the machines spool pin. 

 

Three of the quilts I wanted to put binding on were backed with Cuddle.  What a pain putting binding onto Cuddle.  But I got it on all three.  I had to use the walking foot for that.

On this quilt I couldn't make a mitered finish
because that was ALL the binding I had left! 
I cut off about 3/8" and it worked out fine.

My friend Loretta needed help with a quilt that was way out of her box!  We spent about an hour moving the blocks around and this is what she ended up with.  I have a feeling she is not going to keep this one.  

Loretta's challenge

Another look at how far I was from the rest of the ladies.  

Distance from the others really wasn't a issue until Friday night when an idiot lady arrived and came in talking about how she would never get the vaccine blah blah blah.  I told her to make sure she stayed far away from me because I had a transplant and she mildly said she would.  We didn't hear any more stupidity about the vaccine after that.

There was lots of room and only about 15 retreaters.

This top was the winner in the oldest UFO contest at the last retreat with these ladies.  I finally have it sandwiched and pinned and plan on tying it instead of quilting it.  

From 1987!

Here are four of the quilt tops with their binding sewn on by machine and waiting to go home to be finished by hand.

This is my Bonnie Hunter MQ2020 showing off the binding that was attached at the retreat.  I only had that corner stitched down while there.  I really liked the way the veggie fabric binding finished it off.

Eat Your Fruits and Veggies is it's name.

Here are the quilts at home. These are piled up on the couch waiting for some HGTV time to bind them

 Hugs,

Nancy

Tomato Stash

This has been a very good tomato year.

A little over a week ago we brought in all the tomatoes we could find before a hard freeze. But since it didn't freeze that hard (or since our covering worked) I still found more tomatoes hiding in the foliage and brought those in too. 

This is my tomato stash. It is in the mudroom in the way of everybody who wants to walk through there. 

I keep an eye on it and as soon as some start to turn a little bit less green or even have a tinge of orange then they get to move to the east window in the kitchen. 

I love how the window sill looks when it is full of tomatoes.

I check that window everyday. 

Once I get enough tomatoes to fill a roasting pan they come off the windowsill and go onto the counter.

This looks like it will fill a half sheet pan nicely.

The ones on the counter get washed, sliced into quarters, stemmed and have the seeds mushed out of them. Except the Roma's. They just get halved and get to keep their tiny seeds.  There is not much to them otherwise.

Then I roast them. Usually I chop up a few onions to go with them, drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle them with basil.

Waiting to go into the oven.

I put them in the oven at 400° I roast them for 30 minutes. Then I turn them over and roast another 30 minutes. When they're done they come out of the oven sit around till they're cool enough to handle. 

This is the version I make Tomato Soup with.
The carrots are the secret ingredient.

Once cooled down enough to handle they get weighed and stuffed into freezer bags and labeled and put in my freezer.  I've already used some in recipes whenever they ask for canned tomatoes. They sure are tasty.

It's been a good tomato year.

River Rat TOGA Raffle Quilt

  9.5" unfinished block

Dear River Rat Togateers,
As you know we will not be meeting for a Sew-In this Spring. We still want to have a raffle quilt ready for the River Rat Toga in September even if we have to save it for next year.

We are designing this year's quilt around four 24" blocks that were made by Cindy Peters. We want to add more star blocks around them in order to arrive at a 66" x 72" top.  We put out a call earlier and asked for assorted 3.5", 6.5" and 9.5" unfinished STAR blocks.

I have designed a simple quilt that is built with four quadrants.  We are planning to have you mail your blocks to a central person (me) who will scramble them all up (for color variation) and then send them to four volunteers who will assemble them into their quadrants and then send them on to the next volunteer who will put the four pieces together.   OUR MAIL BY DATE IS MAY 8TH!

9.5" unfinished block.

This is what we need for the star blocks.
Thirty two (32)
6.5" unfinished blocks.
They can be made up of one 6.5" blocks
OR
Four 3.5" blocks.

Sixteen (16)
9.5" unfinished blocks.
They can be made up of one 9.5" block
OR
Nine 3.5" blocks
OR
One 6.5" and five 3.5" unfinished blocks
OR 
Four 4.5" unfinished blocks.
We would appreciate you sending one or more 10" light background pieces (just in case we need to fill in some spots.) when you send your blocks. Or send any of the other sizes if you can.

Cindy's block with muslin shown on the left and white on the right. 
If this doesn't look like a pale creamy yellow the computer color is incorrect.
It is NOT a tan color.

Color and Star Rules                                          
All the backgrounds should be light and scrappy unless you prefer to use a single background color.
The backgrounds can be anything from the white and the muslin shown above to the creamy light yellow that is in Cindy's block,
The star points can be any color you want.  They can be monochromatic or multicolored and scrappy.
The stars can float inside the block or reach to the edge of the quarter inch seam.

6.5" unfinished block with a scrappy background.

Send your blocks to Nancy Drew.  
OUR MAIL BY DATE IS MAY 8TH!
My address and phone numbers will be posted on the River Rat Toga.io site and the Minn/Wisc Junkies.io site.
You may also leave a message for me in the comments and I will answer them.

These blocks are not patterns you must follow.  They just happen to be the ones I made. They really are square, it is just the camera angle. - N.

A tap on the pictures will enlarge them.

6.5" unfinished block.

Remember, OUR MAIL BY DATE IS MAY 8TH!
Hugs, Nancy