October Doings

On Saturday, we had our monthly bee at my house.  I had my little bee gifts ready!

And the snack table ready!

And the lunch table ready!

Unfortunately, I was making fresh potato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, so I spent lots of time in the kitchen and then forgot to take pix of us all spread out cutting out stuff and sewing down bindings!

(This pix below was from bee at my house last October!!)

After bee was over at 4:00pm, my husband and I spend several hours removing all the furniture and plants from our deck due the imminent arrival of

hurricane Sandy!!  Then we spent a good deal of the next day doing the same with furniture, flags and plants from the front terrace,  trimmed some tree branches that were touching our gutters and removed the satellite dish from the roof so no more TV!!   So, this is where I’ll be spending some time this morning

answering emails, reading, watching the weather reports online and blogging.

And Yogi is comfy in his bed with one of my Halloween quilts!!

Right now outside it is steadily raining and a bit breezy but that’s about it.  When Sandy makes the left turn toward DC, we expect the weather conditions outside to worsen considerably!!

All schools here are closed, most businesses, all government offices and agencies and the Metro (subway) system… so no one is going anywhere much!!  Our biggest worry is the electricity going out… so, say a little prayer for us, OK? I’ll be sewing some later if power stays on!!

Keeping Busy

I’ve been working on my Schnibble for Otober- Hubble.

I used Moda/Kate Spain’s  “Terrain” collection.

I really love how it’s turning out!!

I hope to get it all pin basted tonight, and quilted tomorrow!

Here are my bee friends and I at my son’s wedding 2 weeks ago!

This Saturday, our bee for October will be at my house!! 

And Yogi is so excited!

I’ve made my dear friends some cute Halloweenie things for little bee gifts, from this awesome book!!

I LOVE this little project…too fun!!

I’m still deciding what to make for bee lunch!!

A soup and salad??  Any suggestions??

My First Quilt

What was the first quilt you ever made? And more importantly, where is it? In the closet? In the rag bag? On the wall? In your son's room? In the landfill? On your bed? Who taught you how to quilt? Your mother? An aunt? Granny? Did you learn through home ec class back in high school... or at the local quilt shop? Or, maybe, like me, you are self taught. As a teacher by profession, I am used to learning through books. My first quilt was a rail fence quilt featured in Alex Anderson's "Learn to Quilt" book. I have been sewing since I was five years old, but only garments and later dolls and home decor. I remember the first time I saw Alex on HGTV's Simply Quilts. I was home from teaching for 6 weeks after my hysterectomy. I was laying on the couch after a week in the hospital and was watching HGTV and Simply Quilts came on. I was immediately hooked. This was waaaay before TIVO, so as a full time teacher up until then, I was never home during the day and had never seen it before! I loved that show and have probably seen every episode several times... and even recorded some on the old VCR tapes to keep. My first quilt was a small rail fence with no batting inside because I was making it for a table cloth, not a blanket. It is in my living room on a table with family photos on it. My sense color value was my biggest problem. But, it was my starting point and I love to look at it and realize I have learned allot since then.

My next quilt was a watercolor quilt. Talk about learning allot....WOW! The process took awhile for me to "get". I hung a big piece of flannel on the dining room wall and arranged the 2" squares and was able to walk through the doorway into the kitchen and see it from a distance. It looks great and is hanging on the wall in my living room over the couch. But DON'T flip it over and look at the back! YIKES!! More pleats than a parochial school uniform skirt! I made it before I learned about using a walking foot. What a discovery!! Thank goodness!! No more pleats!

I've finally finished cutting and fusing all the zillion tiny pieces in the "Thyme for Stu" wall hanging. I've got a blister on my cutting finger!! It looks great, but will definitely take a while to quilt. Mckenna Ryan suggests you use clear thread and make the quilt sandwich and stitch down the edges of all the zillion fused pieces so it is quilted as you do that. I'll work on that on Saturday when bee is at my house. Still pondering what to make for lunch for bee... any suggestions? Leave me a comment and share your first quilt stories! God Bless! Polly