Getting Ready for Halloween

Someone reminded me today that I have a couple of Halloween tutorials I've posted to my blog over the past few years with links to them over there in the side bar. There's the Happy Jacks quilt and then this cute Halloween treat bag:

I love to get digital downloads from Etsy because they cost only a few dollars and they're delivered by email--usually by the next day. I've purchased a couple more Halloween downloads this year but I haven't had a chance to play yet.

To print images on fabric, I just iron muslin onto freezer paper, and that makes the sheets stiff enough to feed through the printer. If you've never tried it before, maybe this is the time to try out a little weekend project for a special friend or loved one. (I like to print these in black and white and then add colored highlights with colored pencils or crayons.)

The weekend's here--and that means it's time to play! Have fun!

Guess Who's Here?

Our fall house guests arrived on my doorstep yesterday, and one of the first things Hubby wanted to know was where I was going to store them. He's SUCH a party-pooper!

I thought I'd just leave them in their boxes for a few days at least. Remember I told you they were coming in THIS post? I broke the news to Hubby a couple days later, and I've got to say, he wasn't too happy with my office manager. I told her, of course. I figured she needed to know before the next firm get together, which is scheduled for the beginning of October.

I love to decorate for fall and Halloween, but I haven't decided when to do that this year. Maybe the weekend after the one that's coming up--that will be just before my carpal tunnel surgery.

Last year I had a little contest to name my newly-acquired thrift store witch, and Pink Flamingo Dianne came up with the perfect name: Cackling Rosie. I may need to do something similar this year with these new additions.

If you love to decorate for Halloween, have you started yet? When do you think you will? Are you adding any new decorations this year? Inquiring minds . . . .

Hallowe'en Pattern Winner

I was sitting in the Sweat Shop, quilting away until I thought my arms would fall off my shoulders, and I thought, "I'm going to pick entry number 26." I don't know why--no rhyme or reason; that number just popped into my mind. So in counting up the 26th email entry, I found the winner is Abbybeth, a relatively new quilter who commented:

"one of my besties and I are loving this pattern - it'd be really fun to work on it together! Thanks for offering it up :)"

Congrats, Abbybeth! I'm happy that you'll be sharing it with a friend too--after all, I think that's the best way to quilt! Please email me your snail mail address. You can just click into my profile and then click on email. I'll get the pattern in the mail to you shortly.

Thanks everyone else for playing along. I wish I had patterns for everyone--this is a great quilt. HERE's one source for the pattern (click on the link), but I'm sure there are others if you search.

It's time now for a nice, hot bath and a rest for my weary shoulders--after all, I might need them again tomorrow. See you later!

Oh, Hoppy Day!

I wanted to tell you about a couple blog hops--just in case you spend a lot of time under rocks like I think I must.

Moda Country Fair. Do you know about it? The blog hop started today. Well, yesterday, really, but it's still Tuesday for me. The first stop was a visit with Sandy Gervais and Pieces From My Heart. Twenty-seven designers involved in the Moda hop, and the hop carries on into the beginning of October.

Blog hops are great vehicles for new ideas, inspiration, and patterns, and Moda's Country Fair hop promises to be no exception. Sandy Gervais has a pattern for a cute little purse. (By the way, how about using the hop to get ideas for Christmas gifts? What woman or girl couldn't find a use for this darling little purse?!)

There are links at the bottom of the Pieces From the Heart blog to the rest of the Moda designers and a listing of their days. By the time you read this on Wednesday, it will be Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill's turn.

By the way, just in case you're not hopped out by the time Moda's done with you . . . well, did you see the badge in my sidebar about the Ghastlies Blog Hop? Yep, we're having one and the plans are currently being firmed up. I'll let you know a few details soon. I think it's going to be fun, so save a little energy for us.

Hallowe'en 1904

Gosh, thanks for all the compliments on the Halloween quilt! A couple people mentioned how quickly I'd gotten it done--not! Seriously, I've been working on the quilt since 2009 when the pattern came out, and by the time I pulled it out again this year, I only had two blocks left to go and then the border--and I've been working on those two blocks for the last week or two, so I'm not as speedy as I might seem.

First thing this morning, I went out to the garage and set up my two tables and got busy pinning the quilt. I was surprised to find it took me four hours to pin baste! FOUR HOURS! But it got done and then I took a nap. Later in the afternoon, I started the quilting. I think it's going to go relatively quickly, but it will still take about a week, I think, to finish.

Someone asked about the size of the quilt--the pattern states it's 90" square. I made mine about 10" larger by adding the inner border and the longer piano key strips, and the photo I showed yesterday was on my king size bed.

Now that I'm done with the pattern, I'd like to pass it on. From the comments, I gather several of you already have it, but if you don't and you're seriously interested in making the quilt, please leave me a comment saying you'd like to win the pattern.

I'll pick a winner Wednesday night and post the name on Thursday's blog post. Make sure you come back to see if you've won. Thanks for visiting.

Progress Update

Hallowe'en 1904: On Sunday, the blocks were sewn together and the center of the top was "tested" on the bed for size so I could decide what to do for the borders.

I decided the quilt was quite long enough and didn't need a final border along the top edge. I thought I'd vary the pattern a little by adding an inner border so I didn't have to exactly match seams between the center and the border. That worked quite well!

I thought I'd cut the piano key border pieces 8" long. Now I wonder if I should have cut them 10" instead to allow for shrinkage? I think it will be okay.

In the wee hours of Sunday morning--just before writing this post--I finished piecing a quilt back. I decided to echo the piano key border design along the top edge of the quilt so when the quilt is turned back, the pieced edge will show.

In the morning, I'll pin baste the quilt. Now it's time to get a little sleep!

Better Than Expected

I expected to spend a relaxing Saturday working on the Halloween 1904 quilt, but then the telephone rang as I was cooking breakfast. It was Gran, calling to ask if I wanted to join her in a little shopping trip. Well, of COURSE I did! In fact, I'd been thinking about shopping for a few more pieces of fabric to use in the piano key border for the quilt I'm working on, so Gran's timing was perfect. After breakfast, I got ready to go and we met at her house.

On our outing, we visited three quilt shops, but I only took photos at one, because although the shop has been in business for a few years now, they've moved to a new location and this was our first visit.

Here are two photos of Shared Stitches, which is located in Shingle Springs.

I meant to take a photo of the outside of the shop, but I guess I forgot by the time we left--we spent quite a bit of time there, looking through their selection of 1800s fabrics.

Here are the fabrics I brought home for the quilt:

Some are the same prints I've used in the center and some are new, but all seem to work well together.

Both of us were taken by the print in this Advent calendar panel. It's from a line of fabric called Julen by Julie Paschkis for In the Beginning. We found these at the High Sierra quilt shop in Cameron Park. It felt non-traditional but at the same time, it didn't seem too modern.

We got back to town in time for me to stop by the grocery store and cook dinner for Hubby before he went out to visit with friends, while I stayed home and finally had that relaxing Saturday I expected. By the end of the evening, I'd finished the last block.

Tomorrow I'll put the blocks together and then "test" the size on my bed so I can decide how wide to make the borders--I think I want mine a little larger than the pattern, but I'm not sure how much larger it needs to be.

With what little time is left of this evening, I think I'll go to bed and enjoy one of my other purchases.

Thanks for stopping in for a visit!

The Long Weekend . . .

Here in the United States, the three-day Labor Day weekend has begun. This always signals the end of summer, although in reality, here in Sacramento at least, the summer heat will linger through October. We can dream, though. Autumn is on its way and the mornings and evenings will get cooler.

What are my Labor Day weekend plans? I want to work on that Halloween 1904 quilt I showed you the other day. I have two more star blocks to applique and then I can put the last block together and assemble the quilt, except for the piano key border. Of course, I'll work on the border this weekend too. And if I get that far, I also plan to set up the tables in the garage and pin baste the quilt. (I bought a can of spray baste not long ago, but this one feels too large to try out a new-to-me technique--I'll wait for a smaller one.)

I went to the dentist this morning, expecting an infection in my jaw or something wrong with the tooth I had a root canal and crown on about a year and a half ago. Instead, I learned that the next tooth back from that--the molar at the very back of my mouth--was missing a little piece that had cracked off next to a filling and I never even knew it happened. So I ended up with an "emergency" root canal. My mouth will be a little sore over the next day or two, but nothing like the pain I've had the last few days. I'm SOOOOO glad the dentist and the endodontist were able to help me today before the holiday weekend! I sure don't enjoy going to the dentist, but it's better than the rather painful alternative of continuing to put it off.

Now I feel I can get on with the weekend and really enjoy it. How about you? What do you have planned? Any quilt projects? Family time? Whatever it is, I hope you have a wonderful time!

Obligated Blogging

You've seen the "Blogging Without Obligation" tags, right? I can't do that. I don't feel right taking a night off unless I bring you a note from my doctor.

I remember back in my early blogging/blog surfing days, I used to read Pioneer Woman every morning, and if she didn't post, I was sure a herd of cattle had stampeded (is that a word?) her to death. And I'd worry all morning, just as if she was a close, personal friend. And, of course, that was never the reason; it was always something like her popularity had exceeded her bandwidth and crashed the entire Oklahoma internet. I'm pretty sure none of you would anticipate that kind of thing would be the reason why I would miss posting.

(Funny how I do a whole blog post telling you why I'm not doing a blog post, right?)

Anyway, I have nothing much to say tonight and I'm feeling a little cranky.

I'm at work and it's 8 p.m. (but I'm leaving in a minute).

I have a toothache. I see the dentist in the morning.

I have an upset tummy. (Quite possibly because I see the dentist in the morning.)

Manager Man's plane arrives from New York in about 20 minutes--he'll be staying with us for a few days. (Okay, I suspect he's really staying with the Wild Child, but since she lives with us . . . .)

So I'm going to go home now and not turn on the computer. Please don't miss me too much. I'll be back tomorrow.

Internet Fame and Fun

The internet is a funny thing. Some time ago, I learned that if you do a Google search for "Kim Quilts Nude," you get my blog. (I tried it again just to make sure, and yes, the first several results are me.) No, if you're a newer reader, you haven't missed anything, really. I just used to identify that photo of me as a nude self portrait--the one where you just see the top of my head.

Around my birthday, a couple of my friends took me to Chevy's for lunch, and we took a photo of our margaritas and I posted it on my blog. (Click HERE if you want to see the photo I'm talking about.) Not long after that post, I did an image search on Yahoo for "Chevy's chips and salsa"--I wanted to find a photo to send to a friend along with the suggestion we go to Chevy's for lunch. One of the photos that came up was a pretty cool looking shot of three margaritas. It took a minute or two, but before long, I realised it was OUR photo! Yahoo had indexed it from my blog.

Of course, having had the "Kim Quilts Nude" experience under my belt, it didn't surprise me too much, but my friends were amazed--it kind of felt like we were famous!

So we did it again. I don't think the shot is quite as pretty this time, but the margaritas were just as good--especially on a hot summer day!

THIS time, we at least managed to get the chips and salsa into the picture. I'm going to call this one the Chevy's Margarita Girls. Or, better yet, Nude Chevy's Margarita Girls. I bet we'll be even MORE famous soon! I'm pretty sure it's just a matter of time before the Chevy's endorsement deals roll in.