All of us here at Prairie Moon Ranch wish all of you a most wonderful Thanksgiving. Be sure to eat too much and lay around a lot!
I’ll leave you with a couple shots of my antique turkey platters I inherited from my grandmother. Aren’t they cool?
Here’s the round one . . .
And here’s the larger oval one.
They’re both retired from being used for serving, because I cherish them and don’t want anything to happen to them. They’re on display year-round in my kitchen.
I just HAVE to show you my favorite tote bag EVER! I love it so much, I’m almost afraid to use it, but whenever I have, it’s held up just fine, so I’m beginning to relax a little.
Isn’t it the greatest? I got it from Blue Q . . . you HAVE to check them out. They have THE coolest stuff ever, and this particular bag is made out of recycled material, and part of the profits goes to a good cause. Here’s the back:
It’s even decorated on the sides!
This bag is from their Boss Lady line, and it should be obvious why I chose this one, but they have many other lines you can choose from, such as: Dirty Girl, Cat Butts, Hot & Flashy, Total Bitch, and others. You have to go check them out — you could pick up some fantastic Christmas gifts! Here’s their web site: BlueQ.
What’s on my wall today?
Well, of course, there’s my Procrastination Challenge project, and I’m getting about sick of it. I’ll be so glad when it’s done. I love the quilt — I’m just getting tired of working on it.
I took down the Cowboy quilt . . . King-sized is gonna take awhile, I don’t care if half the blocks were already done or not! I’ve once again changed my mind on the layout, so I took most of it off the wall, so looking at it wouldn’t influence my new arrangement.
Then there are Aunt Wanda’s Blocks. I’m trying to finish this top this week. This picture shows the first two rows. You can see a snippet of my Kaffe Fassett scrap quilt still up in the corner. More on that later.
Hopefully next week’s picture won’t be quite as boring. I intend to get a lot done this week!
Meanwhile, check out what everyone else is doing on JudyL’s page.
Today’s Procrastination Challenge update is a mite boring . . . All I’m doing is making blocks . . . but I’m encouraged because I am now past the halfway point on said blocks, so the end is getting closer!
My money pot has grown, too. I can hardly wait to spend it. I am resisting counting it up, but I already have lots of ideas for what to buy with it. On one hand, the longer I take to finish the quilt, the more money I’ll have at the end. On the other hand, the longer I take to finish the quilt, the longer I have to wait to spend the money! What a quandary!
Aside from all that, I’m just getting bored with this project, and I’m anxious to have it done, so I can pick another one . . .
How are YOU doing on your Procrastination Challenge projects?
It’s time once again for the Weekend Challenge . . .
This time, I’m lumping two weekends together: this weekend and next weekend, since it’ll be a holiday weekend, and I’m taking a break. I give you permission to do the same.
So I’ll challenge myself a little extra this time, and the next report will come on December 4, at which time I’ll be saying: “Oh, I can’t believe it’s December already — where has the time gone!”
Last weekend, I said I was going to do some longarm quilting, and I did, but I have nothing to show quite yet. I’ve been working the whole time on one quilt.
I also said I was going to organize another section of my stash, and I did. I got my two bins of neutrals (I sort by color) all sorted through, reorganized, and neatly back in their bins (with room to spare — which was a real shock!).
I also said I was going to start setting together Aunt Wanda’s Blocks. Here’s what I have done so far:
The first row is on the right, folded up and pinned there on the design wall, and the other blocks are the second row. There will be 6 rows altogether . . .
So now what will I do for this weekend and next weekend?
Let’s see . . . I will definitely be doing more longarm quilting, and hope to finally have something to show. I’m also going to continue organizing my stash — I’m going to attack at least one more color section.
I’d like to finish Aunt Wanda’s quilt top (I need to pick a border fabric). That should cover this first weekend.
Then for the weekend after Thanksgiving . . . hmmm . . . I think I’ll finish a little wallhanging I’ve been working on that I’d like to present to someone as a Christmas gift. I’ll post a picture of it when it’s done.
And I’d like to make some progress on my Kansas City Star BOM quilts. I’m behind on some of them, and it’s high time I started catching up. No promises as to how much catching up I’ll do, but I intend to work on at least one of them. I’ll report back on how that goes.
During all this as well, I’m still trying to get the top of my island cleaned off, so I’ll post an update on that in the next report.
What will YOU be doing for the next two Weekend Challenges?
Last night was guild meeting. I met my best friend at our favorite coffee shop for supper, then we headed to meeting. I always have a good time. I think guild meetings are so much fun.
After a brief business meeting, we had our program, and it was wonderful. Colleen Liebhart came to visit and presented a program on vintage aprons entitled “Aprons Tie Us to Memories”. She recruited some models from the audience, and they proceeded to model all the aprons Colleen had. So not only were the aprons great to look at, the models made it even more entertaining. Here’s Colleen (on the left) with Bonnie, who is modeling one of the aprons:
Doesn’t Kathy look adorable in her pink ruffles? That’s Marsha right behind her in a little floral flour sack number — cute, huh?
And here’s the whole crew — Kathy, Scarlett, Marsha, and Bonnie — modeling the collection of men’s aprons . . . too funny!
After the program, we proceeded with member Show & Tell. And NO, I didn’t have anything to show for myself, as usual — and I have no idea why, because I really HAVE been working! Maybe next time . . . Anyway, here’s Alice with her lime and blue quilt. It’s it wonderful? She does such a great job with her machine quilting, too . . . she used a variegated thread for this.
And here’s Barb’s quilt, made for her son, Max, who is an Eagle Scout. This rag quilt has all (or most) of his badges sewn on, with his name at the top, and “Eagle Scout” and the year at the bottom. Her husband helped her lay out this design — didn’t they do a great job?
And me — I hit the jackpot for no apparent reason I can think of. One of my fellow members, Meredith, caught up with me and said: “I have something for you”, and she proceeded to pull out of her bag THIS creation, and GAVE it to me! 
I am beyond thrilled, flattered, and excited! I LOVE IT! Meredith had purchased my Passion’s Flowers BOM patterns awhile back, and instead of making a quilt, she is using each pattern individually to make penny rugs. She adds buttons on the pennies around the edge, which only adds to the cuteness. I can’t thank her enough. I really really like this piece! Now to find the perfect spot for it to live . . .
Next month at guild, we’re having our Christmas Party, so we’ll have even more fun. I can hardly wait already!
There’s been a flurry of interest in the making of Christmas ornaments recently . . . understandably, since the holidays are fast approaching. Way back in the summer, I gave away some little kits for making a paper-pieced star ornament, in honor of the theme of the Hands of Friendship Quilt Guild’s annual Quilt Show.
In the interest of helping those of you wanting to adorn your Christmas trees with handmade ornaments this year, I’ve decided to put those instructions out here as sort of a brief and kind of “incomplete” tutorial so that you can make some star ornaments for your tree — or for whatever: put them on your packages, fill a basket, use them as party favors, give them as gifts, give them to all your quilting friends to use as pincushions! — use your imagination.
I’m calling this tutorial “incomplete” because first off, you’ll need some paper pieces to use, since this is done using the English paper piecing method. You can buy Paper Pieces from Paper Pieces. Each ornament uses 2 hexagons and 12 jewels. You can purchase the paper pieces in different sizes to make different sized ornaments. The one shown here uses the smaller size, but you can’t really tell that from the picture. Paper Pieces sells two different sizes of jewels, and it tells you right there which size hexagon to purchase to match up with it, so you can’t go wrong. Also, when you buy the paper pieces, they come with an instruction sheet that shows you how to do paper piecing, another thing that I’m not including in my tutorial. So . . . buy the paper pieces you need . . . use their instructions for doing the preparation with the paper, then start here to finish your ornament:
All it takes in the way of fabric for your ornament is some scraps. Here’s a chance to use up leftovers of Christmas fabrics, or little snippets of your favorite colors for the holiday. (I used red, gold, and blue to match our theme — I wasn’t making mine for Christmas at the time!) You’ll also need a wee bit of stuffing to stuff the ornament with.
When you have all your pieces prepared (according to Paper Pieces’ instruction sheet), stitch them together in the configuration shown above. You will have 2 units just alike. Press these units to ensure that the edges stay put, then remove all the basting stitches and paper.
Match the two units up, WRONG sides together, and using the same stitch you used to join all the pieces, begin whip stitching the two units together around the edges. Leave enough of a gap for stuffing the ornament. Stuff it lightly with a little bit of fiberfill or scrap batting, then finish stitching the opening. You can then add a hanging string if you wish, or you could even stuff it a bit fuller for use as a pincushion.
Easy, huh? You can whip up a dozen or so in no time and be all ready for the holidays!
We’ve decided on a project!
We’re doing the Farmer’s Wife Sampler . . .
There are 6 of us in the group, and we might yet sucker in one more member. Our books are ordered and on the way, and when we get them, we’ll hash out all the particulars, and get started. I can hardly wait! I’m excited because I think it’ll be a good way to use up scraps and have a beautiful quilt when I’m finished. I like participating in group projects, and I think the book itself will be very interesting. I’ll have to keep you posted on how it’s going . . .
On our last Romantical Drive, as we were tooling along, I espied a whole bunch of these along the side of the road. I asked My Cowboy to stop, and I jumped out and collected a few. Aside from the fact that they are quite strange and interesting to look at, I’ve heard it said that hedgeapples, if placed around your house along baseboards and such, will repel spiders. I did a little research to make sure they weren’t poisonous to cats before I brought them inside. (Word is cats won’t go near them, and mine aren’t the least bit interested, so I guess it’s true.)
We’ve been invaded by spiders for quite awhile now, so I may be too late for these to do any good, but I’m willing to give it a try. Since we live in the country, and our house is basically a little ranch shack (and I’m NOT kidding), the spiders and Asian beetles have tried to take over what little living quarters we have. In one weekend, My Cowboy and I, between the two of us, killed 23 wolf spiders inside our house! That’s a little extreme. It’s making me paranoid.
I closely examine any item of clothing I pick up to put on, and shake it vigorously . . . before I grab the hand towel to dry my hands, I look it over first . . . before I reach for a light switch, I make sure to look . . . we check the bed before we crawl in it at night . . . I look before I sit down anywhere . . . they’re everywhere, and I hate them. Luckily, I’m not deathly afraid of them, IF I see them before they see me!
But I’m ready to be rid of them. I figure the first really cold snap that lasts very long will probably help, but in the meantime, I’m going to be placing my hedgeapples all over the house, especially around the bed!
What’s on my wall today? It’s changed a little since last week. My Procrastination Challenge project is continuing. See it here: Stashballs.
The Cowboy Quilt is making slow progress. I took time to re-design some of it yet again. I’m kind of designing-as-I-go, so I keep changing my mind about what I want where.
I got my longarm machine up and running again, so I’ve been quilting, not really working on things for the design wall. But I did have a UFO very close to finished, and since it’s one of my goals to knock a few of those off my list before the end of the year, I drug this one out and hope to finish it up pretty quickly. It’s called Stairway to Cat Heaven, and it came out in McCall’s Quilting Magazine a few years ago, and then they began offering it for free on their web site. I don’t think it’s out there any more. I was going to provide a link to it for you, but I couldn’t find it.
I’ve had my blocks finished for a looooooong time, and am just now getting around to setting them together. Then all I’ll have left is appliqueing on the cats and the moon, then I can quilt it. I’m not sure I like my “sky” fabric, but at this late date, I’m not changing it. I was using stash, and that was apparently all I had at the time that was a big enough piece. It’ll just have to do . . .
In the upper right corner of my design wall, you’ll see some blocks from my Kaffe Fassett scrap quilt. It’s the Autumn Daze pattern from his Quilt Romance book. I’m not using his fabrics, because I wanted to use up scraps, and therefore, I don’t like mine as much as I do his, but it’ll be good enough for a scrap quilt.
Go check out what everyone else is up to on this Design Wall Monday on JudyL’s page.
I'm a severely addicted quilter, quilt designer, and country-to-the-core farm girl in love with the simple life.
