Short bursts of energy

 

It seems like lately I just haven't had many chances to spend time in my sewing room. More hours at work and other events just take precedence sometimes.  I've been procrastinating with the Christmas stockings that I need to make.  Yesterday afternoon was finally my time!

 

Two of the stocking bodies are pieced and quilted and ready for their cuffs - after I embroider some names on them.  A third stocking has the front quilted, and it's pinned to the back. Maybe this afternoon I'll get back down there for long enough to put that one together. Then I still have one more to make before setting up that embroidery module on my machine and tackling the names.

Design Wall Monday - Abiding Faith

My design wall Monday project includes moving some quilts around in my house.  What's on your design wall today?  Check out others at: http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

 

This little finish has me quite frustrated. It's Abiding Faith, another beautiful mini by Kim Diehl, and I got it quilted and bound over the weekend, but it isn't going to be a favorite - because of the rippled borders. I measured over and over again and everything was fitting perfectly, until I quilted it. Obviously my quilting stretched the borders, or maybe the grid quilting in the center pulled it too much.  Either way, 2 of those borders wave a lot.  The lantern is actually sitting on the worst one to hold it down. 

 

So it's now folded and tucked into the painted sewing machine drawer that holds many of my Kim Diehl mini quilts. It looks fine there. 

 

 

Another Sunday afternoon project was using up more of the apples my cousin brought me from Minnesota.  I haven't made an apple pie in years, but this turned out really yummy.

And while I was moving quilts around I thought I would show you another Kim Diehl mini quilt.  This is one of my favorites and from this year's Simple Whatnots series.  It makes the house look so cozy and welcoming. 

Procrastination

I've had all spring and summer to make the 4 Christmas stockings I need for my second daughter's family.  But here it is almost November and I'm just starting to put some ideas together. Do you procrastinate like this too?  The 2.5" squares need to be rearranged yet, but I think this will be the foundation of the first stocking front.

An old denim quilt

This is a quilt that I made many years ago. In fact it is probably 20 years old. My kids used it to snuggle on our sofa, we took it to softball games to sit on, and it has been washed a lot.  Denim with lots of pockets and decorative sections, odds and ends of plain cotton, and a plaid flannel back - this lap quilt weighs a ton. And it's tied, not quilted.  

This quilt has spent the last few years just folded up in a spare bedroom on a bench.  But yesterday I gave it to my husband to keep in the back seat of his pick up, as part of his winter weather gear.  I got a kick out of looking at the blue jean sections, and remember my oldest daughter wearing the jeans with the fancy pocket in this picture. She was pretty upset when the jeans wore out, but loved seeing this pocket in the quilt. Definitely some 90s fashion statements living on in a quilt.

Mash-up

 

This little wall hanging is a mash-up of 2 different projects. The sewing machine block on the top is from Lori Holt's new book Spelling Bee.  Our sew vintage group is using the block this month as our "challenge".  The spool blocks on the bottom were from a past sew vintage group swap. I hadn't decided what I wanted to do with them yet and this seemed like a good combination.

 

Does it need some side borders?  I'm just not sure yet how I want to finish it.  Check out Linky Tuesday at: http://www.conniekresin.com/2017/10/linky-tuesday-october-24th.html

Family picture day

We got really lucky with family photos yesterday, in terms of weather in particular. Saturday was cold and very windy, with spits of rain. Sunday (while pictures were being taken outdoors) was gorgeous, but by mid-afternoon the wind was coming up. And today the wind is howling.  The photographer chose Rotary Park in Sioux Falls and it was a beautiful spot.

 

 

When we finished with pictures the kids got to play on the playground. The girls were having fun on these swinging steps but were willing to stop for a picture. The boys must have felt that they had cooperated enough for a camera already.

 

I snapped this picture of my husband in the parking lot when we were done. He was just waiting patiently.  The girls and I did a "swap" - I brought bags of apples for both, Jerilyn had bags of garden potatoes for us and for Laura, and Laura had huge pumpkins for Jerilyn's kids.

Viewing your hometown through a visitor's eye

 

We had company from out of state yesterday and spent part of the afternoon visiting our most famous local attraction - the Corn Palace. Folks around here often joke about it being the world's largest bird feeder, as the outside is decorated each year with mural made of corn and local grasses.

I always enjoy seeing the murals change each fall.  For decades the murals were designed by noted Native American artist Oscar Howe. But in recent years, other talented local artists have designed them. The outdoor murals are laid out much like a paint-by-number picture. A local farmer grows the 12 colors of corn especially for this display. Each ear of corn is split in half lengthwise, and nailed up onto the board.

This year's theme is South Dakota Weather. So far my favorite picture is on the front of the building, with lightning striking all around a country church. And we've noticed that the green corn is especially prominent this year.

Inside The Corn Palace - it's a city auditorium, with more murals. We watch high school and college basketball in there. We've gone to plays and concerts in there. We've attended the circus in there. They even have rodeo bull riding events.  And now the hallways have become a wonderful museum with photos from over 100 years of murals and entertainment events.  And there are some educational displays about corn for both adults and children. And it's all FREE to explore!