Montana Trip, Wooden Quilt Box, Pretty Fabric

Hello everyone!  I have a few great things to share today.  First of all, a couple months ago Mary at Quiltin' Grandma Designs had an anniversary giveaway, and I won!  The funniest thing is that we're friends in real life and guild mates!  She was so generous, and gave me a charm pack as well as the large Tucker Trimmer!  We met up at Dairy Queen, had some ice cream, and chatted for a bit.  It was a beautiful sunny day, just after the fair ended so Mary had some good stories to share.

 

 

I still have not decided what I want to make with it, Mary said to make something for myself, however I feel like so much of what I make is for me, so I think I will be making something for our guild gift exchange.  Still personal satisfaction coming from it!

 

We were able to get up to Montana this year, it was Operation Truck Rescue!  My dad was talking with my grandma, who mentioned that the guy who purchased the property behind her house had said something about the Ford, and how he was planning on throwing it onto the burn pile!!  My dad had a minor freakout, and we decided to get up there ASAP.  So dad, John, and I drove up on a Wednesday, and the following shows some of what we did while there:

 

The view from the "dump" on the hill behind grandma's house.

John with his mad trailer surfing skills, as dad demonstrates how to back down an extremely narrow mountain dirt road.

John was so pleased how smoothly the truck came down off the hill and is excited to tackle this project!

Since the truck loaded so smoothly, we went to Glacier National Park the next day, and WOW!  If you get the chance, visit the park at the end of September, it is beautiful!  In this picture John and I were having an interesting time finding our footing on the bank.

The scenery was perfect!

If you have never been on the Going to the Sun Highway, half of the drive looks like this.



And the other half is very much like this!  I did not zoom for this photo, the wall along the edge of the road is inches from the tires.

One of the many waterfalls on the way up.

John and I hiked up the trail at the top of the mountain for a bit, but it was getting late so we didn't go to far.  We think next year we will try to hike to Hidden Lake, but it's a few miles, and we don't hike regularly... well, it could happen! :)

 Sewing has also happened:

 



Can you see the issue here?  I was in the process of sewing my rows together, and at the end of this row I discovered I had sewn the third row into it as well!  Un-sewing happens in my sewing room too.  Not terribly often, but it definitely happens.

This always makes me laugh, how the blocks go from being so funny shaped into a square.  These blocks will finish at 5 inches, I was practicing for making blocks sometime with my mom, but the blocks we will make will be 10 inches finished.



I finished my Seahawks pillow!  I came up with a different way of making a pillow sham that is quilted all over, and will have a tutorial for it soon.

We're making our blocks for the president of the guild, I'm excited to see how they all come together and will share photos when they are all together.  I decided to embroider my signature on my block instead of just signing it, I'm hoping it will last longer than some of the pens seem to.  We'll see!

 

I made a cat bed!  John helped me pick out this minky fabric from a sale bin about 4 months ago, and I finally sat down and just made this last weekend (the Saturday before Halloween).  This photo was taken that evening, and I was thrilled that Belle took to it so quickly.  It is only partially stuffed, John thought they would like to be able to "rearrange" it to their comfort.  I did use up all my leftovers of fabric bits though, so that's nice to have out of the way.

 

My grandpa Jim made this for me, after I shared a picture with him on Facebook.  He used leftover pieces of wood from his shop, and when I picked it up I mentioned that the ladies at guild would be jealous, and he said he could make some more if I wanted to try and sell them.  So he did, and I did!

We were pleasantly surprised at the popularity of the boxes, I sold all but one at the last guild meeting.  A lot of the ladies mentioned him possibly making a box to fit a ruler they already own, so that's the next step for this coming Tuesday's meeting.

This smaller box has become my travelling companion.  I took it with me to Montana and made great progress.  Then I took it to guild to show off.  I need to take some photos of the EPP progress, the butterflies are coming right along!

 

I am excited about this rainbow of colors John bought me :)

 

 

And since I've worked my way through all seven of the Harry Potter books, I'm moving back to my deeper reading.  My parents have the entire collection of Britannica Great Books, and I had discovered last year that they have a reading list called The Great Conversation that leads you through specific parts of all the different books over the course of ten years.  I'm on the third reading assignment, and started this journey January 2015 I think... one could say I got distracted.  It's not an easy read, that's for sure, the language takes some getting used to.  However, I know I will learn from this and am excited to at least try.  I love that it's making me think.

I'm laughing a bit right now at the Year One reading list and how many of the readings include Government.  By the way, is the election over yet?  Holy cow.  I have never experienced people hitting so below the belt in such a public manner.  And that's all I have to say about that.

Here is a picture of my goofy cat to send you on your way:

 

Yeah, that's a toilet paper roll, he was playing with it and then fell asleep!

 

Oh, I forgot to tell you, I'm going to another community sew-in tomorrow, we're making skateboard blocks this round, and the finished quilts will be donated to the YWCA Women's Shelter.  I'm proud to help, and I'm hoping my mom will be available to join me.

 

Have a great weekend all, let's go get some sewing in!

 

~Brandy

Linking up to TGIFF at Busy Hands Quilts this week:

 

Halloween Hop 2015 and Giveaways!

*Edit: I have linked this up to http://quiltshopgal.com/2015-free-motion-quilting-challenge-october-challenge-with-lori-kennedy-of-the-inbox-jaunt/ in order to join the linky party.  Party on!*

 

 

Welcome!  I was SO happy to receive the email from Marian of Seams to be Sew inviting us to join in the blog hops again, I could barely contain my excitement!  Thank you Marian.  And then I saw on The Inbox Jaunt's site that Lori was the featured quilter on Quilt Shop Gal's FMQ Challenge, and that the theme was a pumpkin.  I figured it was a sign.

 

I spent the next two weeks practicing my doodling, and when I finally settled on a pattern I liked I sat down and made it happen.

 

Starting the pumpkin, I used a 40 wt Aurifil thread pack I found on sale.  I was hoping the heavier weight threat would show more, and it does a bit, I would like to experiment with others now that I've tried this one out.

 

Loving the checkerboard!  Also, rather proud of my feathers :)

 

I took this photo before adding the back flaps to make a pillow sham, I figured it would be a good idea to get a picture of it flat, and it seems to show off the quilting very nicely!

 

I wanted to make the pumpkin fall-ish so I added oak leaves and acorns, as well as the wheat stalks below

 

 

It is currently supporting me as I write this post, good pillow!  I backed it with some flannel, so when it gets snuggled it will be cozy.

 

So then, there I was, minding my own business, when suddenly:

*cue creepy music*

 

Arrrgh!  An infestation!

 

 

They were everywhere!  So I threatened them with my rotary cutter, no one messes with the rotary cutter...

*By the way, I NEVER leave my cutter open, I opened it specifically for this photo, making sure the cats were elsewhere, and closed it immediately when I was done.  Safety always.*

 

I saw these spiders on a Google search I did last year and just had to make some.  I got the suckers at the Dollar Store, there were 9 in the bag, and that was enough.  Spent a couple dollars on pipe cleaners, made the eyes with my hole punch and a marker.  I love low cost crafts, and this would be such fun to do with kids!  Although, I could see my family sitting down and doing this too, and everyone is over 18... hahaha!

 

Lastly, I woke up yesterday morning with this idea stuck in my head and it dogged me until I finally just made it.

This is a mug rug, and the first I've actually finished I believe.  Also the first time I have made a rail fence.  The idea was that the gray part represents lightning bolts, and the bat is flying through a dark and stormy night.  I was inspired to do the mini dresden bat after hearing Susan Marth on Pat Sloan's podcast.

A wonderful lady in my guild gave me a Halloween kit that had this fabric in it, and it's so much fun.  You can see I outlined the "lighting bolts" for the quilting.  As it's only 6.5" x 6.5" I didn't figure it needed all that much.  Also, I used 2 layers of Insul-Bright for the batting, so it can function as a hotpad as well.

 

The Halloween hops signal my blog anniversary, so that's kinda fun too.  This is my third Halloween hop, so that means I'm entering my third year of blogging and 4th year of quilting.  Hmmmm, doesn't that mean TIME FOR A GIVEAWAY?!  Of course it does.
 

Follow the link below to enter my blog anniversary giveaway.  I'll be sending one lucky winner a homemade bag with some goodies in it!
My giveaway will be open until next Monday, November 2nd, and a winner will be chosen soon after.
It is open to US Residents only (sorry, international shipping is rough these days).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you so much for stopping by, be sure to visit everyone else and see what amazing ideas they've come up with!

Featured Haunts On Monday October 26
Beads & Birds
Needled Mom
Fun Threads
Pampered Pettit
Vrooman’s Quilts
Grandma’s Stories


Follow the link below to enter into today's $25 Fat Quarter Shop giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Black Cat Crossing-Day 4

Welcome!  My name is Brandy and I'm so happy you've stopped by to visit.  I was really looking forward to the day when Mdm Samm announced this year's Wicked hop so I could join, because it marks the one year anniversary of my being a part of the blog hops!  I love participating, I find I accomplish more projects and pushed myself further creatively than I would have without the "gentle push" from the ladies who organize these hops.  So thank you very much Mdm Samm and Wendy for allowing me to participate again this year.  And thank you to Maywood Studio for bringing Black Cat Crossing into our lives, I LOVE this line of fabric.  And I have really enjoyed seeing what the other participants have created with this line as inspiration.

 

 

 

I was immediately struck with the idea of a cat crossing my piece, whatever it decided to evolve into, when I first heard the name of the fabric line.  It started out a bit larger than it ended up, but that's how it goes sometimes.

 

When I saw the fabrics in the Black Cat Crossing line I was so happy to see the richness of the colors used.  And then I realized I had a smallish budget to work with, so ordering online was out of the question and neither quilt shop in town nearby carried the line.  And then it happened!  John allowed me to drag him to 9 different quilt shops on a 315 mile trip in one day and one of the shops we went to had the ENTIRE line!  The shop is in Prosser, WA and called The Sewing Basket and oh my lord, that lady has everything.  I've never seen a shop like hers, I loved it!  It's totally worth the hour and a half drive from our house.  Here's a picture of John in the middle of the room full of Halloween fabric, he's deciding which one I'm allowed to use for my project.

 

 

My design has a cat crossing a fence on a dark night while branches are reaching for him.

 

I used this project as another opportunity for practicing my free motion quilting (FMQ) and used a double layer of batting to help the cat and branches stand out a bit more.  We decided the FMQ looks like fog.  You can see here the fabric that we ended up choosing.  Although I may be going back for some of that orange and black harlequin...

 

And here's the finished piece!  We now are the proud owners of a wicked wall hanging.  :)

John and I went to Pioneer Park to get some photos:

 

Isn't the fence fabric fantastic?  When John saw it he said, "that's fencing material right there".  I discovered something veeerrrryyyyy interesting about this fabric when I was cutting it up:

 

It seems that the devil is in the details on this one!

 

 

This has been fun, please be sure to visit the other ladies I'm sharing my day with:

 

Thursday, October 23

VroomansQuilts

Lovelli Quilts

Pampered Pettit

TeaTimeCreations  

Whims and Fancies 

 

 

I hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween!

~Brandy

What a Wicked Wednesday (a Giveaway will make it all better!)



Welcome to my turn (for the first time ever, in any!) of the Wicked Blog Hop!  I am very excited to be able to share my projects with so many of you, and I hope you enjoy them.    I must extend my utmost appreciation to Mdm Samm and Wicked Wendy for putting together this hop and allowing me to participate.  I've been following the other blog hops for awhile now, and didn't really think I was ready to show off my own works, but I found I like the slight pressure to get things done by a certain time! 

FYI, I'm an avid photographer, so now you've been warned about what's to come!

My first project was a combination of my two favorite costumes growing up, the witch and the cat.  I take my husband to help me pick out fabric when I do projects, and this batty one caught our eye right away, then he picked out the hat fabric.

 

Trying on the hat for size, maybe it's a little too much...

Ta-da!

All done and ready for broomstick travel!  You know she's happy because her tail is straight up in the air :)

 

This is the third stuffed animal I have made, and when I took her to work to show off, I was commissioned for a 4th!  So here is my kitty's sister temp-ing as an office cat until she goes to her new home (birthday present for someone who has a Halloween birthday!)



While I was working on the kitty I received a catalog in the mail from Connecting Threads and was inspired by one of their patterns, found here.  I thought it was such a great pattern, and I couldn't get it out of my head, so I figured out how to make it myself.

I had to really think this through, especially without instructions :/

But I figured it out!



Me working on the embroidery.  My husband and I like how the uneven-ness of the stitches actually add to the character of the spider and the web.  As opposed to just looking sloppy hee hee :)

 

 

The amazing disappearing ink pen I found at Joann Fabrics (gotta love those coupons)

 

Finished, yay!  Finished size: 35.5"x17"

 

Here's my favorite part, how the quilting on the back turned out:

I did have a little issue on the very corner, only one, but you can kind of see the lower RH side of the "B" swerves away from the rest, and I am not very sure why.  Any ideas?  And then how to correct it?
 

I thank you very much for looking through all my pictures, I hope you enjoy them.  And now, I have a giveaway!  I was very fortunate to win some patterns from Gerri Robinson with Planted Seed Designs during a Christmas-in-July hop that I tuned into, and she was super generous, so I wish to be the same!  I have two patterns of hers, as well as a mini-charm pack of Savonnerie by American Jane Patterns for Moda, just something to give you a bright spot of happiness in this upcoming dreary weather. 

 

Kindly leave a comment about what you're looking forward to this holiday season

(your thoughts on the projects too, if you like)

and I will do my drawing Saturday November 2nd.

 

 

Please visit the others today, they are sure to have amazing projects as well!  Also, the rest of the schedule is a post or two down my page.

 

Quilt To The Edge

Stitchduchess Crazy & Sane Quilting World

Pampered Pettit (this is me)

Feltfree på Åsly

Quilt Matters

Life, Quilts and a Cat Too

Sunshine Girl

Secretly Stitching

Englating

Seams Like a Dream

AnnieOak Designs

 

 

Thank you for stopping by, and

Have a Happy Halloween!