Well, we are more than stuffed, and will have some pounds to try to work off before we start indulging in all the Christmas treats that will be tempting us before long.

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful! We went across the street to our son and daughter-in-law's house. Our DIL really outdid herself, as usual. She sent some leftovers home with us, and we continue to eat those. I made six pies, which, of course, was way too much, but that's what I do. We sent some home with everyone, and still have a little left, but surprisingly enough, I am a little tired of pie.

Our DIL sent home the turkey carcass with us, and we made up a big batch of turkey stock. Tomorrow night we will have the kids and grandkids here and have turkey noodle soup. This is definitely the season for soup, and it seems I don't make much else in the winter.

Today I should be able to finish the quilting of my Winter Wonderland, and get the machine portion of the binding done. Then I can vegetate and hand-sew on bindings on two almost completed items - the other being a silver bells stained glass wall hanging. Pics to follow!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there.

Since we are on the west coast, so far the only thing we are enjoying is the smell of the turkey cooking. It is hard to wait when it smells so good.

Yesterday was pie-baking day, and they look wonderful - pumpkin, caramel apple and marionberry (a wonderful large Oregon blackberry).

Today is a good reminder of all I have to be thankful for, and there is so much. Even in these tough economic times, and yes, the economy has definitely affected us, there are many, many blessings.

Have a great turkey day everyone.

Football and Quilting

Well, what do football and quilting have to do with each other? Actually nothing other than it seems that I can get so much quilting done while sitting and watching football. I like pro football the best, but quite a few college games interest me also.

Anyway, I finally got to my redwork embroidery quilting project. A couple months ago or so I had put together the embroidered blocks with the pieced blocks, and now I am quilting away on it. I obviously want to have it ready to put out for the holidays this year. This is a picture of one of the blocks that I have finished quilting. I am using white glitter thread from Superior threads. I have gotten quite a bit done yesterday and today, along with football and four of our grandson's basketball games. Obviously, I haven't done much else!! :-)

Latest quilting adventures

I have been working for several months on king-sized French Braid quilts for our two sons and their wives. The wives were involved in choosing approximately the first three of each of the two main colored fabrics, and then I went and finished on my own. The first one I made was the aqua/brown quilt. I bought a medley of six fabrics from Keepsake Quilts, and my one DIL really liked it, so I ordered more of the fabric, and then rounded out with more fabrics.

On the other quilt, my other DIL and I went to a quilt shop sale and picked out a few fabrics, and I went to the huge Fabric Depot in Portland and got most of the rest. The piecing was the easy part, even with them being king-sized.

The quilting was a huge challenge because I was having so many problems with my Juki sewing machine. After repeated (at least five) trips to the repair shop, the machine still skipped horribly, so in desperation, I bought a Janome 1600P, I think it is. This machine works like a dream, and is, essentially, pretty much like the Juki, just a straight stitch machine.


The quilting is shown below. I used a stencil for the actual braid components. The center large squares and the cables on the dividing rows are patterns I traced and needled onto Golden Threads paper. The rest of the quilting is freehand.

This is a Thanksgiving table topper my friend and I both decided to make. It was such fun, and is fusible applique. The pattern came from the Fabric Trends magazine.

Halloween 2008

My blog says Sunday, November 2, and I haven't investigated why, but it really is Tuesday, November 4, and election day is finally here, and I haven't yet cast my vote here for my darling grandchildren.

This cute little tyke is 4-year-old Anson. His daddy is a Portland firefighter, and it looks like Anson will be a fine firefighter also. He was a bit tired, so his eyes are kind of glazed.

Then we have Tangelina and Tannika. These two cheerleading beauties are also know as Tanner S and Tanner F. The one on the left is Tanner S, and he is our all boy granadson. Their costumes were quite a hit. They went out with three boys dressed up as Hannah Montana, so pretty darn cute.




















This little beauty is dressed as Taylor Swift. She is Aubrey and she made a haul trick or treatingwith her cousin and friends.

And last, but most definitely not least, is our lovely Tylee, dressed up as Sharpay. Now I realize that I most certainly butchered the spelling, but that is phonetic, and that's about as good as I can do.

We had 175 ghosts, goblins, etc. come to our door. I just love seeing all the little kids (and some not so little) come and get their treats. We found the ones with the best manners were the smaller kids. Of course, they all had parents standing in the background.

And now, since it is election day, I hope you have all gotten out and voted. Here we have elections by mail, and that is so very, very nice. We can sit at our kitchen table with the voters' pamphlet and study the issues, not be rushed, and best of all, not have to wait in long lines to vote. It's been that way now for several years, and we love it.