No quilting for me. My machine is still in the shop, hopefully recovering from her fall. I know I could be sewing on the featherweight and if this goes on any longer I will, but I have plenty of other projects that need doing. I think I'll clean out the pantry and replace all the shelves that have come loose. Wow, that will be fun.

Kate

My plan is to make around 100 apple dumplings with a friend!
Karlene

I am cooking for a large meeting/dinner here for volunteers preparing for Christmas work on the trains. In between, I hope to start assembling the signature blocks from the wedding two weeks ago. They lost two of my blocks so I'll scramble around to find enough similar fabric to make two more. Boy, I'll never volunteer to do that again!

We have beautiful weather and dropping to the 40's at night next week so I'm planning to finish up yard work.

I need to clean the house and check on what I have for Christmas gifts. I hope to find time to embroider a little on the Irish Chain Susie.

Have a great weekend everyone!!
Rosa

Probably no sewing for me, either. My sister's coming in to visit mom, so we'll head to Lakeland this afternoon and stay through tomorrow. Her flight home is Sunday afternoon. I may get a bit of sewing in after that, but have things that need doing (laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning) that have been pushed aside due to mom's fall.

Thank you all for your warm wishes over the last couple of weeks! Mom was released to rehab late Tuesday afternoon, and when I saw her Wed. she was doing pretty well. She was dressed and had brushed her hair, and was able to stand and take a few steps at a time.

Donna

I just changed my mind. I'm going to Karlene's house for apple dumplings!!! Yum!

(Donna, glad to hear about your mom.)

Donna, glad to hear your mom is getting better. I might be able to work on this Postage Stamp Quilt some. I should be outside pulling weeds instead.

I'm going with Kate to Karlene's.

Donna, So glad to hear your mom is doing well.

I've been sewing a little every day. Right now I'm inspired to get a small quilt done my daughter asked for to give to a friend to be used for outings. They've just had their first grandbaby (girl) and have already bought a horse that 'grandma' will train for her to ride. So, this quilt is by no means a 'baby' quilt but to be used by the baby on her outings. I had a FQ of small print horses so am using that as the center and trying to spice it up with borders.

SharonG/FL

Donna: Good news about your Mom...I get that when they are up and around, everyone feels better.

Unfortunately no quilting for me...party tonight...a good thing, house hold chores and shopping for white goods (preparation for Frankestorm) not a good thing and theorectically, meeting friends for an all day girls lunch on Sunday...although Sandy may interrupt those plans.
Really...I'd rather quilt all day Sunday...this is really an obesession...will it ever lighten up? :-) !!

V.

Donna so happy to hear your Mom is doing better.
Hope I'll sew at least some, but still have to get the computer into the apple store for it's recall and it always takes a lot of frustration getting it back to normal when they replace a hard drive.
Guess it was easier in the past because there was less on it....and I was younger and more in touch with the technology.

The weather has really turned here - highs in the mid 40's for the next week. I haven't done a thing in my yard. I've got bush trimming, leaf raking, flower garden clean-up, yikes! Sunday, I'm taking my sailboat out of the water. I'm so far behind this year, what with two weeks in Italy with my daughter and 4 days in Denver with our new grandson. I'd like to stay home from work for a few days and get something done. And, since my sister's birthday is tomorrow and I still haven't finished quilting her Blushing Aspens tablerunner, I've got to get going on that. She's coming to town for Thanksgiving, and I have to have it finished by then. I had hoped to have it finished for her birthday. Oh, well...

Donna, I haven't been here much lately and I didn't know your Mom had taken a fall. I am glad that the surgery went well and your Mom is improving. Prayers for her and your family.

I am already quilting. I am finally starting to get the groove back. I started quilting my D9P today and hope to finish it tomorrow.

Hope you all have a good weekend.
Many prayers for those in the path of Sandy. Some are saying that this will be a nasty storm.

Stay safe and be prepared.

~Geraldine

Donna, So glad to hear your mom is improving.
I am joining Kate and going to Karlene's for apple dumplings! Sounds wonderful!

Actually, DH is out of town for the weekend. I am supposed to go out to dinner with a friend tonight then a Halloween 50th Bday costume party tomorrow night. Another neighbor is really sick, so I have been walking his dog and keeping him in soup. I have veg/beef in the crock pot now for him when he gets back from the doc. I am going to make a tote bag for the birthday girl for tomorrow, then work on getting stuff together for birthday blocks.

Sue

I guess I got motivated (since her birthday is TOMORROW!) and got a tote bag finished for a friend. YEAH - now I can not stressed tomorrow!
Sue

Oh, Sue, that is so lovely! Love the pattern and the fabrics look beautiful. Great choice of colours. The red really "grabs" you and pulls out the similar tone in the adjacent fabric. Your friend will love it, I'm sure!
Linda

Wow, not many people are quilting this weekend!

Kate, I was going to ask about your machine, so thanks for the update.... and Donna, I was going to ask about your mom, so I'm glad she's doing better!

My computerized machine is out of commission.... the thread cutter is still cutting the thread so short that the needle comes unthreaded every time i start sewing and there is a knocking sound coming from the bobbin case area... I bought a new bobbin case to see if that was the problem, and it was not. I'll be doing as Kate did and taking my machine to the Sewing Studio (Kate, every time you mention taking your machine to the shop, I have take mine in about a month later!) and resorting to my vintage metal straight stitcher. I still have to do a quilted tote bag for a friend whose birthday is next month... and a co-worker sent me home with her bathing suit to adjust because she knew I had a sewing machine. I tried to get reacquainted with the old machine last night and I knew I was in trouble when I tried to flick the take up lever to thread the needle :o)

I set up a special savings account specifically for the purpose of buying a Bernina.... and I have two weeks of vacation time left, and I'm going to use them and work though them to more rapidly advance me toward that goal... when I get something in my head, I've got to have it, and right now it's a Bernina... will likely be a used one from Craig's List, but even those are insanely expensive... I only require embroidery functionality and a thread trimmer, but Bernina was really behind the times with adding thread trimmers to machines so there aren't many used ones that have that feature....

I likely won't get any quilting done this weekend... I have to go on today when I was supposed to be off because the hurricane has stopped the cruise ship from going out (I work in the vacation/timeshare industry) so we have to find hotels for everyone that was supposed to cruise..... We haven't gotten much rain, but the high winds are lovely!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I certainly HOPE so. I shall not be making the mistake of washing anymore windows . LOL. My b'day is coming up soon and I was thrilled to see a gift certificate to JoAnn's in my email from DD and SIL in Texas. I was needing batting and may need some more cream fabric for a QIP. Like Linda, we down here a bit further south are also expecting a run of cool/cold rain as a fallout from Frankenstorm. Good sewing weather to be sure.

Going to a baby shower today for my cousin's wife and taking her a baby quilt I made - it's whole-cloth, but in teddy bears which she loves. The rest of the weekend I'll be hand-quilting the border on my Grandma's quilt - 3 sides left to do. Hope all my northeastern U.S. quilting and gardening friends stay safe during the Sandy storm.

Best to you,
quiltingfox

Oh and Sue I love the tote! :-)

Best to you,
quiltingfox

Sue, love the bag. I especially like the red with the batiks. Stunning!

Finished the Postage Stamp top today. Now I need batting. I miscalculated and made almost enough blocks to make another quilt. I'm alternating each block with a plain block and I also added sashing between each one with a four-patch at each corner. So they are connected sort of like an Irish Chain. The postage-stamp blocks are an 8-inch block made up of 2 1/2 inch blocks of all colors. The alternate plain blocks, sashing, and border are all of a gold-colored solid. DH asked who was this one for and I said "nobody". I actually have made a quilt for everyone in my family who I would want to give one to, so I'm beginning to get quite a collection of them.

Sue, Your batik tote is lovely, I'm sure your friend will be thrilled. I'm about to finish a batik tote as well, just love those batiks!

Rita..Can't wait to see the postage stamp quilt...pic soon, please!

Vaccumfreak, good luck getting the Bernina you want. I'm on my second one, traded in the first one, upgraded and love mine. I was not crazy about my first bernina so it was a leap of faith when I traded in and up...but it was worth it. have fun..

V.

The top is finished......not anything special, but it's done! I took this pic with my phone (prob won't do that again, but it was easier than with the camera) so you can't see the horses or the pattern in the green fabric very well.

SharonG/FL

Come on over everyone for dumplings! (They will be served on Wed. eve. [weather permitting] and you will be competing with the local munchkins!)

Plugging away on my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks. The reveal is on Tuesday so I should have about half of the 140 blocks in the book done. I will really have to think about how I will set the blocks in a quilt and how big that quilt needs to be....not sure I will get all 140 made.

Stay warm and safe everyone. The Frankenstorm is supposed to affect us here in Southern Ontario too.

V., sorry but there will not be any more pix unless I get some kind of explanation on how exactly this thing works where it gets on Facebook and Pinterest. Then it will depend on whether I have control of it or not. If anyone knows for sure, please share.

Sharon, I love your quilt. It's very dramatic. I think it's very special - you made it. Nice work. Lois

Thank you, Lois.

I was going to a friend's house for lunch today, so I quickly put a binding on a mug rug that I had made some time ago so I could take her a little something. But I think that is all the sewing I will accomplish. My quilt book from Amazon arrived, but didn't have any patterns that interested me for my DD's quilt. I'm waiting on someone to return a pattern book to the library. The fabrics are Asian prints and I may have to design the pattern myself. I really want to get started on it. A different DD and I are leaving Thursday for a few days vacation in Michigan and I would love to get started before we leave. Which reminds me I need to cut some more fabric to bring for hand piecing my Grandma's Garden quilt, so I may quilt some more tomorrow afterall. Enough rambling, I need to go to bed.

Sue, I love your tote bag.... Mine isn't going to look nearly as good as that :o) Your friend should be very happy with that!

Sharon, your quilt is lovely.

Littlehen, thanks for the encouragement about the Bernina... I can't wait!

I used my vintage machine tonight between jobs and it surprised me.... it was easier to sew straight on, even without the quarter inch foot and it went faster and was drama free.... it feels so much more precise and less clumsy than the computerized one.... I had to cut the thread with scissors, but who cares... I'm just grateful to have a back up...

I didn't sew, except for Scout's costume, but I DID clean out the pantry; it ended up being more work but more fun than I expected. We removed both bi-fold doors, took everything out, tore out the old shelves, then spackled the holes in the walls left by the old shelf system, and painted (2 coats). We purchased 3 free-standing shelving units from Target that fit the space perfectly. We sorted through all the stuff we took out and filled up a box for the food bank, after throwing out anything out-of-date. I'm embarrassed to say we found several cans with expired dates. The new shelves will make it easier to see everything and hopefully we won't let anything sit in there until it gets too old again. That's a long overdue project that I can cross off my To Do list!

Kate

Sue and Sharon, I like both your projects!

Kate, your pantry sounds great! Ours must be very similar...bifold doors and wire shelving. I've never thought to redo the shelving, but it probably could be made more efficient.

Thank you all for thinking of mom (and us kids!). She has a long way to go, but things could have been so much worse.

I did have some free time this afternoon, but I've just been taking it easy and resting up from my recent hectic schedule. I hurt my back yesterday lifting my sister's scooter into my car so I needed the rest.

Donna