SPIDER

Lately, I haven't been able to do much sewing with my arm in a sling and a restriction to not lift more than a pound.  But, I did do a bit of sewing today during our Finish it Friday get-together.  It's another page for my Fall Journal.

I sewed the web on the machine using 28wt thread in the top.  This is the first time I had used the machine since it came back from it's service.  It is making a bad noise now.   But, it sewed just fine, so I kept going until I got this little project done.  I'll have to take it back in for them to look at.

Anyway, after I got the web sewn on, I hand embroidered a spider onto it.  I thought she looked a bit lonely so I added some sequins to the web.

BLUE WAVE PAGE

 I designed and made this page for my Fall Journal today.  I stole the image of Hokusai's Wave (along with the rest of the nation).  I was happy when I found (in my stash) a print of Japanese Yukota cotton that would work perfectly. 

SQUIRREL PAGE

 I started this a few days ago.  This is the Squirrell page for my Fall Journal.  I finished sewing the parts down and adding a bit of embroidery today.  I think it's done now.  

FIXING COVER

 After I embroidered the letters onto the front and back covers for the Fall Journal I spritzed them with water to erase the water-erasable ink I had used as a guide.  And the color ran.  The golden yellow seeped onto the purple background.  It was faint, but visible.

Instead of trying to get the color out, I decided to stitch around the circle -  over the errant color.

SIGNATURE PAGE

 I made the back cover of my Fall Journal.  It will have my name on it. The ribbon from the front will continue around to this back cover.  I embroidered it before I appliqued it to the back cover.  I left the sides unsewn down so the ribbon length can be adjusted.

COVER FOR JOURNAL

 I took my sewing machine in for a service yesterday.  When I got home I started making the cover for my Fall Journal 2026. I found some Sari ribbon I liked to use as a closure.  I'm not sure I should have pressed it, but I wanted it to be under the circle where I'm embroidering the title and info for the journal.  Maybe I can scrunch it back up.

 I got it almost done.

Then today, I finished it, for now.  I'm thinking I will wrap the ribbon around and it will continue onto the back cover.  Not sure how to do that, but the fun part is figuring it out.  I'm also thinking I'd like them to be hard covers.  Hmmm...

FINISH NUMBER 22

 I made bias binding yesterday and this morning I sewed it onto the Turquoise SLABs quilt.

It is done!

It is 69" by 86"

And there's a party on the back:

FINISH NUMBER 21

 I made some bias binding from the same fabric as the borders and sewed it on this morning.

It's done!  This is Finish #21 for the year.

It is "Surprise It's Betty"  52" x 63".

QUILTED SURPRISE

 Yesterday I spent the majority of the day sewing the blocks of 'Surprise It's Betty' together with sashing and then adding borders to each side.  The name for this quilt comes partially from the two charm packs called Surprise!  and the pattern they were sewn into call Betty.  The pattern is from this book:

Then this morning, I got Erik the longarm set up to quilt it with a pantograph, an allover meander.  It took the majority of the day, but I finished it up just before dinner time.  It's quilted.

ONIONS

 Here is another page for this year's Fall Journal.  These are some onions from the garden.

FINISH IT FRIDAY BUSY

 I got a lot done today.  

First, we went for a walk at Lincoln Park.  It was a beautiful morning.  The Fall colors are spectacular right now - and it smells like Fall.

Then, after breakfast, Jelly and I went up to the studio where Erik and I finished the quilting on the Turquoise Slabs quilt and took it off the machine.

And, while Erik was doing the actual quilting, I worked on my Fall Journal.  Here is my Marigold page.  it is about 6" by 5".

And then, I made the last five blocks needed for the twenty needed to complete the quilt for the Quilting Mayhem's UFO Challenge 2026. It is being made using two of the same Charm Packs and some of my solid fabrics. It's going to be down to the wire to get this one done before next Friday.

TURQUOISE SLABS

 I've been working on using up the fabrics in my overflowing Turquoise Scrap Bucket.  I've been making SLABS ala Cheryl Arkinson.  I made a bunch of them and put them up on the design wall thinking I'd just sew them together using fill-in pieces.  That method involves a lot of partial seams and takes a lot of figuring and it's time-consuming.  So, after a bit I abandoned that idea and started making bigger chunks and then sewed them together.  That way there was a lot less partial seams.

So, the top is done.  It's 69" by 86".

FINISH NUMBER 20

 This one took a while to finish.  

I made the top in a "Rhythmic Grid" workshop with Sherri Lynn Wood in 2022.  It was made using some Judy Robertson hand-dyed fabrics I have had since the 1990s.  The backing was made from the leftovers of a Kaffe Fasset print of flowers set in rows.  I had cut some of the flowers and some of the rows out of the yardage for another project.  So, what was left was in pieces and strips.  I pieced them together using a go-with solid color.  I used every bit of what was left.

After I had quilted it, it was set aside because I didn't want to do the tedious task of the facing.  It sat there until recently when I finally told myself it needed to be done.

I put it on my list for the Quilting Mayhem's UFO Challenge.  Otherwise, it might still be waiting.

I finished it today.

This is 'Torrent' it is 62" by 72" and it is my Finish #20 for the year.

FALL TOMATOES

 The next page for my Fall Journal is of our October tomatoes.  This year we grew some different varieties along with the Romas.  The green one is actually stays green when it's ripe, it is called Green Zebra.

WITCHY CAT

 I made What A Curly Life's pattern of a cute Witchy Cat in wool and felt, with a little embroidery.

I'm just learning how to do these kinds of things.  I hope to improve my skills.  I can see what I did wrong because I didn't read the directions until after I had already made it.  

FINISH NUMBER 19

 I made the binding and sewed it onto the National Parks Panel quilt.

It is now done!  It is Finish #19 for the year.

And here's how the backing looks:
 

I wanted to center the pieced stars on the backing, but I miscalculated and ended up cutting off the very bottom of the stars.  Oh well, I still love how it looks.  It's a nice complement to the front panel.

FOUR QUADRANTS

This month's instructions for this year's Seattle Modern Quilt Guild's Block of the Month was to sew the previous month's blocks into quadrants.

Yesterday I got the A section quadrant's done.  Today I finished the B section and put them all together on the wall.

The instructions don't say anything about sewing them together, so I'm not going to yet.  I tried them in two different orientations.

PANEL QUILTED

 I finished up the quilting on the National Parks Panel.  I had started it yesterday and there wasn't much left to do today.

It's now off the machine, waiting for binding.

GOODBYE TABLE

I've had this vintage oak dining room table and four chairs since probably 1988.  I've tried to sell it, but apparently no one wants small well-made vintage tables.  So I decided to donate it to Habitat for Humanity.  They picked it up today.  I hope it finds a good home.

I was also trying to rehome this big chair we no longer want.  I tried to add it to the existing pickup order for the table, but couldn't do that.  So, I asked the guys taking the table if they could also take the chair.  They said they had room in the truck so they could.  Goodbye chair.

SUNFLOWER JOY

 I've really enjoyed growing some Sunflowers this summer. 

And I'm really happy to see the Chickadees enjoying the seeds.

TURQUOISE SLABS

For the last few days I've been making SLABs from my Turquoise Scrap Bucket.

Still have more to make to get it to twin-size.  Lots of scraps left.

 

LUCY GLO APPLE

 I love apples.  I found a new variety in our store this week.  It's called Lucy Glo.  It's a very big variety of apple, yellowish on the outside and a surprising red color on the inside.

It was labeled as being sweet and crispy.  I might have gotten a bad one.  Mine was very tart and a little dry.  I couldn't finish it, it was too tart for me.

A friend in New York said she had tried them too.  Her's was sweet and crispy.  Maybe the New York variety is better than the Washington variety.  ??  Either way, I don't think I'll try it again.

PAGE TWO OF FALL JOURNAL

My goal is to start a new page of the Fall Journal every Tuesday and finish it that week.  

This was started last Tuesday and I finished it today while on the Finish It Friday zoom with my friends.  These are representing the Black-eyed Susans brightening the turn of the season in our front yard. 

 

SHEPARD'S PIE

 I made our first Shepard's Pie for the season.  We love this when it gets chilly out.  

Here I am topping it with some of the Yukon Gold potatoes from our garden.  I also used a bit of the spicy Tomato Ketchup I made from our tomato harvest.  Unfortunately, we didn't plant any carrots this year, so these are organic store bought.  And we had eaten all the peas we grew already.

It was exceptionally good; I think because it's been awhile since we've had any.

MONTH NINE

 I finally got around to making this month's blocks for the SeaMQGBOM2026, Weave Got This.

I guess I've been busy with other stuff.

I'm getting concerned that I might run out of that orange print before the end.  

HARVEST MOON

 We were on our way to Lincoln Park for our morning walk at about 6:40am when we saw this full moon.  [sorry for the bad photo.  I saw on the passenger side looking through a dirty windshield].

FALL JOURNAL

 The Stitch Club with Ann Wood suggested starting a Fall Journal on Tuesday, September 22, the Autumnal Equinox.  It will go for twelve weeks stitching a page a week.

Here is my page one commemorating the Sunflowers I grew this summer.  I enjoyed them so much.

OHIO STARS

 I've been working on making big Ohio Star blocks for a backing.  Yes, a backing.  It will be for the National Parks Panel I was gifted by a good friend.  Since the front will be just the big panel I felt I needed to actually make some patchwork for the back.  I had a charm pack of vintage-looking 5" squares whose colors sort of matched the colors of the panel.  I added some solids and some other prints from my stash to make enough blocks to cover most of the back.  I will need to add a border around these blocks, once I sew them together.

If you look a little closer you'll notice I wasn't concerned with making the points match or line up.  I just sewed them together. 

CANNING PEARS

 We bought up all the Bartlett Pears at PCC last Sunday for $1.99 a pound.  We got around 21 pounds.

Today we canned them.  Darrell peeled, I cut and cored them.  Then I packed them into jars with a light syrup and processed them.

We now have 10 quarts of tasty goodness.

SIX YEARS OF MONDAY SEWCIAL

 I have been meeting with a group of wonderful ladies, now my friends, online on Mondays for around six years now.  It has been one of the best things ever for me, making friends all over the US and Canada. 

We started meeting during the Covid-19 shutdown and have been together since.

LUNCH WITH A BIRD

 A Coopers Hawk flew quickly and closely by as it swooped into our backyard while Darrell and I were having lunch on the deck.  I thought it was carrying something.  It landed in the trees in the back of our yard.  With binoculars I got a closer look.  It was a Coopers Hawk and it appeared to have a pigeon.  

We left it alone.  Later we found evidence that it did indeed enjoy it's pigeon lunch.  When Darrell went to dispose of the remains he noticed it had a band on it's leg.  

I did some searching online and found the band was distributed by a Pigeon Racing Association.  There was a phone number for reporting the band number  and I called it.  That person told me the band was sold to someone in Seattle.  I called him and let him know of  his pigeon's demise.  "Dang", he said.

WENT DOWNTOWN

 Darrell had to go downtown to pick up his repaired camera lens at Glazers.  On the way we stopped at Honest Biscuit to get breakfast sandwiches.  We took them to the Sculpture Garden in Magnuson Park and sat and looked out at the bay.  Then we walked over to see the Ai Wei Wei installation of his "Zodiac Animal Head" sculptures.

I saw this beauty on our way out of the park.

We walked by the famous metal tree sculpture that was being enjoyed by a crow.