Weekend visitor

We are going to have this little dolly at our house for the next 3 days while mommy and daddy take a little trip. And the other 3 grand-kids (and parents) will come on Saturday for an overnight visit. Should be a noisy, crazy weekend.

Can't wait.

Mini quilts on display

Don't you just love displaying your quilts so you can enjoy them?  I love the little iron quilt stand that sits by my fireplace because it holds the little seasonal quilts in my collection. This one is 12" square with an appliqued pumpkin and letters.

And I also have a small iron hanger by my kitchen door that holds my Count On It mini quilts for each month. These are about 10" square. Every time I walk into my house from the garage, this quilt hanger greets me.

A lovely gift

I work with really nice people! This morning, the school librarian (my office is in an elementary school) stopped in my office and gifted me with a beautiful hand made 100% cotton dishcloth. She loves to knit crochet these and had a huge color selection that she let me choose from.  Wasn't that nice of her?  It is going directly to my kitchen.

2 mystery quilts

After a couple of weeks with no time for sewing, I finally got a little time in my sewing room today. Oh so relaxing.

I made the strip sets for the new fall mystery quilt project I'm starting.  And I have the slices cut from those strip sets. Ready for step 2 in November.  I've chosen a black, a pink, and a grey for my 3 colors.  This month's steps only used the light (grey) and the medium (pink).  What we are doing with the dark (black) is still a mystery.

Then I made 4 more blocks for the pieced borders on the summer mystery quilt. I decided to add the borders after seeing the other finished quilts at the show 'n tell.  I just really loved that extra border, but it takes a lot of these blocks. So I'll just keep plugging away on them. 

Fall table topper

My office needed some colorful fall decor, so I brought a small 60 degree table topper to use on my office table.  I made this runner both as the original shape (long rectangular) and the hexagon shape.  These little ones just use 6 triangles and go together in about 5 minutes. This one is hand quilted around the floral and along the stripes.

A quilt-free road trip

This weekend is a long anticipated road trip with 2 friends to Minneapolis to see the play Wicked at the Orpheum Theatre. Can't wait - the play begins in 2 hours.  Earlier in the day we did some power shopping downtown and then had a late lunch at Key's Bar and Grill.  What a terrific way to spend a Sunday.  But it is a QUILT-FREE day as these friends are not quilters. So no fabric shopping.

Here we are at the Mary Tyler Moore statue on Nicolette Avenue - the location of that famous scene at the beginning of the show where she tosses her hat in the air.

Decorating with quilts

Decorating my home with seasonal quilts is part of the main enjoyment of quilting.  Last fall I made this door hanging for Halloween. It was made with the Twister ruler, fabric from my stash, and graph paper. The graph paper was because I saw this online, and knew I could "do the math" myself and not buy a pattern.  I love this quilt.  And my front door faces north, so I don't have to worry about the sun shining right on my quilt to fade it.

I hung this on my door using an expanable curtain rod and 2 of the removable hooks.  Those hooks plus curtain rods serve as the hangers for 3 quilts currently hanging in my home. Very easy and it allows me to move them without leaving hardware holes in my walls.