Crumb blocks..so fun!

Hello there friend... I am sorry that I have not been around to chat with you but life has been a little busy. I hope today was nice in your neck of the woods. Here we had a warm fall day and well when you have such a nice day you have to jump on it don't you?? Sooo..
 I went out today and worked in the gardem. I cut the irises back, pulled all the tomato plants out of the garden, as well as the peppers and the corn. It was hard to do this on such a nice day because your brain is saying "hey that will still grow", or "something is going to grow on that still". I actually had some little tomatoes that were growing since we picked them all off awhile back. So it was a sad moment as I really felt my little garden still had alot to give but.... the reality is it just is not going to get warm enough and well winter is right around the corner. So I used my day wisely and started pulling. Wilbur, Poppy and Mex got all the grass I pulled, all the plants and anything else I timmed back- they were really happy!



This is Wilbur at the fair from this smmer. He is eating his treat after being judged.



The cages, stakes as well as all the ties are in a nice pile that will be put up tomorrow until next year. I weeded the roses, hostas, and irises.I have not done the dahlias yet as they are still green and we have not had a hard enough freeze. I brought all the geraniums into the house so that they can bloom in the house this winter. I have to have as many plants as I can around - that way its green all winter long.
I did take some pictures of the plants that are still looking good and liking the cooler weather. I wish I had the money to buy some mums to put in the tires at the end of the drive, I would choose the rust and the red color I think they are nice fall plants.



The Lemon Verbana



I at least have these to add some color to the garden still.



One of the dahlias that will be dug up later. The cow got into the other two and smooshed them alittle- they all will be dug up after they die back some and we have a good freeze.



My sedum from the top, so you don't see all the grass growing around it. The other sedum had some of the flowers ripped off courtesy of Topher the cow. They must taste bad as he did not eat the flower heads. The flowers are alittle darker then this picture shows.

Other things that I have been doing besides the normal everyday stuff around here has been getting some things sewn. I worked on getting the first two rows of the pinwheel quilt sewn together. I did not take a picture of that.. sorry. Once its together I will take a picture.

I made a present for my friend Anita's birthday and I was quite impressed that it turned out right the first time around, no ripping, no pattern- just me and my creativity! I was inspired to make it being I have been working on these crumb  blocks. They have een really fun to make and it has been really freeing to not have to follow a pattern or make sure everything is perfect. Anita likes things bright so this is what I made her...



Here it is hanging on Mikhaila. I wanted the picture to show the true colors and how bright they are so I took the picture outside. The back is the same orange that is around the heart.

Here is the close-up of the stitches around the heart. I was impressed on how well my stitches turned out being I don't do alot of stitching on my projects.

Last but not least are my crumb blocks... they have been a ton of fun!!  I have been up in the morning and cranking out  some blocks so here they are...

Flying geese

A house, that would not just be a normal block so it will stay a cute house!

A nine patch. Thought I would try it in the corner for a different  look.



More flying geese- this is my favorite.





My other nine patch. I actually liked making these. I have not made a nine patch before this quilt. I am looking forward to sewing the four patch and the 16 patch.









So that is what I have done so far on the crumb quilt. I will be working on a heart block tomorrow and see if I can get at least three of those made. It should be easy as I have already made Anita's heart so I know how to do it. The part that will take me the longest is the shirt I have to rip up for the red. I would also like to get a star made as that is another block I have never made before. I have to say if you have not tried the crumb blocks try one.... well actually 2 or 3 becase then you have loosened up a bit to really enjoy it. They are really fun and addictive....

Until next time have a good day, remember you are loved, do something nice for yourself, and surprise someone by doing something even nicer for them! Hugs!



Crumbs, crumbs.. oh so lovely crumbs.

Good day friends! What a chilly day, at least in the house and yes the heater is on by the sewing machine. =)

So yesterday I told myself I am taking a break from the regular blocks I have been sewing and I am going to make a crumb block! Nothing was going to stop me I was on a mission. My daughter kind of looked at me alittle fun when I said we cannot go do any errands until I get one crumb block done. So .......

I did it!!! I made a crumb block!! Isn't it the cutest!!!

 I would have made more but I to go run errands.

So this morning what was on my mind??? Well crumbs of course. So I heated up Spicy (the iron) and got Ani Neets all threaded up with some new thread. Yes I have sewn enough that I have worked through 7 spools of thread. They were not all new but hey that is still a lot of thread.When I get some money set aside I will order some new thread from www.superiorthreads.com . They have a great newsletter that they will send to your e-mail if you sign- up for it. Reading their newsletter has really taught me alot about thread that I did not know! I am currently drooling over trying King Tut and the Kimono Silk thread. I would also like to belong to the thread of the month club because it would teach me about the different threads , how to use them and maybe get me to use them in new projects I have not done yet. So when everything was ready I made TWO more crumb blocks! Aren't they cute?????

2nd block

3rd block

So that is the goods so far for today. I am going to get this posted and get back to things around here. Go check out Superior Threads, tell me what you think about the newsletter. What thread do you sew with?

My mom is.... By Bay

Hello!
Mikhaila here- I wanted to take a minute and let everyone know what a great mom my mom is by posting secretly here- She helps with homework, cooks amazing food, lets me keep my crazy, fun-lovin' pets, puts up with my aversions to 'bed time', and ALWAYS ALWAYS makes me laugh.
She's great, and I am so proud of her for having this blog and doing what she loves to do.


LOVE YOU MOM!!

Now, all you faithful readers...comment endlessly! :)

Sharing the day...

Good evening friends... normally I post right away in the morning but well I was busy this morning. I was trying to finish my last day of the Beth Moore bible study I am in- before going to class. Today was the last day! Wow those weeks really went by very quickly.....have to admit I am sad. I will miss my new found lady friends, I will miss getting together to go over the information that Beth is teaching us. I will miss being deep in a hard study- really learning the bible. I made my teacher a mug rug as she is a coffee drinker and well I just really appreciate her opening her house and heart up to us. She is a very nice lady and I look forward to getting to know her even better in the future.

This is the front. I tried my hand on quilting the front this time.

This is the back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then a friend asked  if I wanted some sewing scraps and well I said "yes please" as I am doing this crumbalong. I would like to do a bright crumb quilt for Mikhaila as well as a mixed color one similar to the one Jo has on her site. You can go visit the site if you hit the button on the top of  my blog- Jo's Country Junction really has alot on there to look at so go enjoy it! She has great projects as well as beautiful quilts! So I went over to get what I thought was going to be some scraps...well I was wrong....

This a box that has goodies in it.

This is the big bag of fabric of all sizes! Not just scraps like I thought..... Oh no!!

Here are some of the pieces up close. Can you say WOW!!!

Then the topper of the cake- yarn!! Oh how I really love to get yarn and fabric!Today  I was spoiled!  My day that was a little sad turned right around as I will be able to make a brighter quilt for Mikhaila and I will be able to make some other quilts for charity. I am so glad that God knows my heart and he sees and knows what will put a smile on my face. He knows that I want to bless others and sometimes in doing that I have ignored my own wants and needs. Today He met the needs of Mikhaila's quilt and a charity quilt or two. I will tell you tomorrow what need He met for me personally the other day.....

In closing I have to add some humor. This bonnet was also in the box, actually there are two different ones. Here is my camera shy teenager doing her homework! I think for as much as she shows up on this blog she needs a quilt.. don't you??

 

 

To sew.... or to clean-up??

Good morning friend, come in and catch up with what is going on over here. I have to say that it is not a whole lot of new things at all. Mikhaila has been hard at work with her school work- she spent the whole day yesterday on Pychology.  I have been busy sewing some blocks and I am also participating in a crumbalong but due to being sick last week I don't have any crumbs done! =(    I  told myself that I can not do a crumb bock until I get some of this other sewing done so today I should be good to at least get a crumb or two put together- that is if I get this area by my machine cleaned up and the other little sewing things done. 

Yes this is the mess I am talking about. It is actually not too bad as I cleaned some up before bed.

This is my Autumn Leaves pattern - one of the colors I used I will post more colors later. If you would like to use this pattern please go over to www.delewarequilts.com as that is the pattern I used. I like her patterns as they are easy to understand. Plus she has a TON of patterns there.

This is the machine that I sew on. It is a very nice machine that my friend gave to me, so its named after her Ani Neets (which are both nicknames for her real name)

Yes that is a quilt in the bottom of the bag - not that you would know that by looking at it. These are the pinwheel blocks that are actually stacked in there in the order that they go. They just have not been sewn into the quilt that they long to be. Soon my pretties ...soon.

Some 100% cotton shirts that will be taken apart so they can go in the crumb blocks. This will add some color to those blocks and make them pop!

Ok now the computer is letting me add some more to this. It is frustrating when the computer all of a sudden won't let me put my next paragraph in. Is this the computers way of saying I have talked enough???? 

At the fall festival on Sat Mikhaila ran into some friends and we had to take some pictures of them together. Ever since she was little she has had to have her picture taken with every  animal, storybook character, robot (yes a robot at the MN state fair), Dr. Seuss or anything else in a costume. So having said that......

Yes its a cow, sitting by The Burnett Dairy display, they had some cheese samples and the cow balloons too.

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McGruff

 Now for some humor of the day!!! Yes it is always good to laugh at oneself! The festival had a nail driving contest that yours truly entered ..... well I did not win the grand prize but I gave it my best wack!!!  LOL I look like a biker chick with my rag on my head and my safety glasses.

Ready to go

On your mark.... get set...

GO!!!!!

With my last nail... and my free gift..... Thanks to Bass Lake Lumber for hosting the Woman's Nail Driving Contest!!!

Ok a little more humor. This is my dog Dutchess who does not have a body! LOL She is helping clean the sewing area but had to sniff the lens!

Here she is agreeing that she will be helping out today  and that she IS cute.

This is what she looks like when she is helping out.

Finally a decent picture of her! This is Dutchess Ann. We call her Dutchie. She gets her full name when she is in trouble! She knows then that she is wanted and usually she is gone somewhere hiding. LOL

Hope you enjoyed... Off to be productive. Have a wonderful day.

Grantoberfest-2011

Ok so here are some pictures that I promised I would share with you from Grantoberfest which was held at the fairgrounds here in ..... yup you guessed it Grantsburg! LOL

Here we go.... Mikhaila made her mama proud when she went to the rock wall that was being hosted by the National Guard and climbed all the way to the top!! Woot Woot!!!! You go girl!!





Here we go up the wall. Yes she is wear GREAT shoes to get up there. LOL Big size 11, square toed boots! Hey it is a fall festival and of course the boots made the outfit! LOL 




Trying to figure out where to put her foot next.



Up, up and away.All the way to the top. Go girl!!! Do your mama proud!

She had to give a little war cry as she was in a weird position and was trying to find footing.  



Yes she is hanging on as she lost herfooting and grabbed the wall with her hands and just hung there!!   I was shooting it all!  She was talking to her friends who were on the ground freaking out with me.




She is going to make it!



I LOVE this picture as it shows her concentration. She wanted to be able to get to the top and touch it and not lose her footing. So cool!



Here she is decending, which she did very well. I would have wiped out! What do I mean?? I would not have to decend as I would NEVER have made it all the way to the top anyway. Not even off the ground! LOL




Taking her gear off!! She did it!! She scaled the wall!





I  told Mihaila she should wear her gear around the fair groundsso that she looked all atheletic and cool. She rolled her eyes and took  the gear off! LOL



Here her wall was getting ready to go. I ccould maybe crawl it now.LOL







Here is Mikhaila's first scarecrow. She thought I was nuts when I asked it she was going to make one. She hasn't made on as a teenager. She use to do them as a kid and help stuff the pumpkin bags too.



Here is the close up of her scared guy. He is holding his head and covering his mouth due to being scared. 



She won blue for being the scariest! Not bad.

Here he is  wearing all of Mikhaila's clothes! LOL I think she came up with a great scarecrow!!


Ok that is it for now as I have to go get some other things done around here. I will get some of the pumpkin pictures up later.
I hope you are enjoying some fall activites. Get out and go for a walk, have a campfire, make an apple pie. It is a beautiful season! So don't get so busy you miss out on it!