October was gone before I knew it. I love autumn and we are having a glorious one this year. Most of October was filled with warm days and cool nights and the air seemed to have a golden haze. Now the trees are beginning to lose their leaves and the nights are getting colder.


Going to chemo treatments keeps me busy but I have few side effects so it's not really difficult. Those days I usually come home and sit and sew. I did finish several projects in October. Here is the table topper I made for my older daughter who absolutely loves the Halloween season. I fell in love with this fabric panel!! I also made this quilt for my younger daughter but the quilting took longer than I expected so it wasn't ready for Halloween. I machine quilted the spiderweb pattern on the plain blocks and the other blocks are disappearing nine-patch made from charm squares. She will enjoy it for next Halloween especially since it has her favorite bright colors!!!


I made a couple of fall table toppers as well. When I got out the big plastic bin with all my Halloween and fall fabrics, I found these little hour glass and half-square triangles blocks I had left over from a table runner I had made a couple of years before. I got carried away with the fun of sewing these little fall blocks and made more than I needed for the project. So I tucked them in the bin and forgot about them until this fall. It was neat to pull them out and make these table toppers. This is the one I made for my sister-in-law.














And the one I made for our dining room table...it still needs to be quilted. I'll get that done before Thanksgiving.



















So October was a productive sewing and quilting month. I have plans for a few gift projects in November as well as some much-loved scrap quilting.


I'll close with pictures of our granddogs celebrating Halloween.

This is Virginia who lives in North Carolina.






















And this is Violet (on the left) and Honey May (on the right) who live in Oklahoma not far from us.


















They are all three adorable and very dear to us.

I'm off to fix spaghetti and salad for supper. That sounds so good for a chilly fall night.

Happy stitching!

Happy Halloween!!!

Bessie is ready for Halloween and we both wish you a day filled with the best treats and very few tricks. Best stitching wishes from both of us!!!

Counting Down to Halloween

Another beautiful fall weekend with just a little wind and the promise of rain coming this week. I'm enjoying this fall so much as comfortable days and cool nights stretch on.

One of my projects reached its new owner so I can show it now. You've had peeks of the fabrics



Here is the finished little quilt. I used the pattern Spider Pumpkin from Fall 2008 Easy Quilts. I made the spider webs with Fun Fur yarn.



It's now in the mountains of North Carolina at the home of our older daughter, Amy. She has loved Halloween since she was little and we always had so much fun decorating and celebrating this historical holiday.

We are sad that the OU Sooners lost to Texas on Saturday. The Red River Rivalry is always a big fall event. Maggie and her husband (both OU grads) went to Texas for the game. Amy earned her Ph.D. at Vanderbilt so we are also cheering for the Commodores. Her husband has his Ph.D. from Tennessee so we also support the Vols who are struggling this year. Needless to say, football is one of our major fall interests. We're also big basketball fans as well. Watching games on tv is a great time to cut out quilt pieces or do some hand stitching :)

Today I'm finishing more of the little quilted Halloween baskets. I also have an apron to finish as a gift.

Have a great Monday. Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit.

Mellow Days

It's 70 degrees and the sun is shining. It's been several years since we've had such a beautiful fall in Oklahoma.

Last Friday, my daughter, Maggie, treated me to a visit to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art to see this exhibit.


It was amazing and we spent several hours looking, reading exhibit captions and admiring these beautiful works of art. We had lunch at the museum cafe and it was a wonderful day!!!

My sweetheart spent the weekend doing yard work and finished with washing the windows. Now I can see the sunshine and the trees through sparkling clean glass.
It's so nice to get everything done up just right!!

I finished one project and decided this morning to make one of the fabric baskets I'd been admiring on several blogs. Pink Penguin has a wonderful tutorial here. It is so easy to make with her excellent instructions. I will definitely make more.


I think this will be really cute to hold candy or other goodies.

I'm off to fix vegetable soup for supper. Hope your days are filled with sunshine and stitching.

Autumn Arrives!!!

There's a definite change in the air, nights are cool, and the warm days seem different! It's fall and it's my very favorite season!! I love the colors, the smells, the events and the feeling that the work of summer is over and it's time to gather in and ready our homes and hearts to snuggle in for the winter.

We've already celebrated our younger daughter's September birthday and will celebrate our older daughter's birthday in November. What perfect planning that God blessed us with both of our babies in the fall :)

My sweetheart and I went to the Oklahoma State Fair. We love walking around and looking especially at the exhibit halls with all the quilts and other needlework. Last weekend was our rural electric coop's annual meeting and dinner. We enjoy going and seeing family as well as listening to a gospel singing group. There's always a booth from a local church featuring handwork the church ladies sell to help their mission fund. I found a sweet set of kitchen towels decorated with cows...I collect cows for my kitchen. They were decorated with fabric paint but I had to feel to tell it wasn't stitchery. When I started to pay, the lady who made them showed me the blue ribbon she had won at her county fair for the beautiful job she did on these towels. She gave me the ribbon!!! I think these towels will have to be decorative and everytime I look at them I will think of that sweet lady.


Our home is beginning to look like fall as well.




My sewing room is stacked with Halloween and fall projects. Since these are surprises I'll have to show you through October once they have reached their new homes. I'm also working on more blazers. The ones I made earlier made "older daughter" very happy and that just makes my day :)

My next quilt project will be a baby quilt. Our niece and her husband are expecting their first child, a baby girl, in December. The mother-to-be has chosen yellow, green, light brown and maybe soft rose. I found this combination that I think would look good and match the color choices. I HAD to use the rose color since it fit a baby girl so well. I'm still considering the deep rose and darker print..I think they will be the "pop" but I don't want them to be too strong. What do you think?
The stripe will be the binding.






I plan to use this pattern called Flower Patch from Fall 2008 Easy Quilts magazine.



I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions on the fabric combination. Thanks for stopping by for a visit.