Quilting in December

VW Buses and Beetles

We picked up our Christmas tree in "Rusty", our 1958 VW deluxe bus. This has become a family tradition of ours. This is the 4th year we've gotten our tree in the bus. I know most people think buses are cool and they are. But a lot of people 'think' they want one , but they really don't. They just don't know how hard it is owning one. First you need to be able to rebuild a VW air-cooled engine or know an inexpensive mechanic to rebuild it for you. My husband has has to rebuild or put a new engine in our 1970 "Jaws" bus at least twice this year maybe even 3 time. I loss track. They break down all the time! Sometimes it isn't even the engine, it's the gear shift coming off in your hand as your shifting down the road. It's your side sliding door falling off, or wind-sheild wipers not working. There is no defrost, so when is rains....you can't see out the windows. These buses DO NOT have power anything!! No power brakes, it is hard to stop and people pull out in front of you all the time. No power steering. No power windows. No power, so when you pull out onto ...lets say the interstate, it takes you a looonng time to get going. They don't go 65 miles/per hour. You have to stay in the slow lane. They also have no A/C or Heat. So the picture above where we go get our Christmas tree in 18 degree weather... I hold a propane heater in the back for us to stay some what warm on the trip. There is also no seat belts in the back!! They didn't put belts in the back , back then. My 7 year old son has to ride up front where there is a belt. I could just go on and on. We own 3 buses and 3 beetles and 1 thing. My husband WORKS very hard to keep the ones that are drivable running and on the road. It is like having a second job, that is how much time it takes for him to keep them running. I have people tell me about once a month that they 'want a bus so bad'. All of you teenagers and people who drive EXSTREAMLY comfortable new cars... I know you think you want a bus.....but you really don't. You just like the thought of having one. Sorry I had to rant and vent a little. I don't think my husband or other Vw owners get enought credit for the work they do keeping these awesome little guys on the road. I could say more , but I am going to shut up now. Peace!

I've lost my steam on this one. This is my last block on my "little stitchies" BOM. Maybe I'll get it finished in December. hahaha

Some spider webs stitched on my Halloween quilt top.

A button added to Mrs. Wilbur's Christmas gift.

Dr. Seuss and spiders.

A Christmas gift for my son's teacher, Mrs. Wilbur. She is wonderful and so good with my son. I owe her a lot. Teachers just amaze me.

The school has Dr. Seuss day once a year on Dr. Seuss's birthday, so I figured Mrs. Wilbur could carry her 'Cat in the Hat' purse on that day. I still need to add a button for the closure, but could not wait to show how cute it turned out on my blog.

I finished up all the blocks for my Halloween quilt. They are all sewn together. Now to add some embroidery. I'll be hand stitching spider webs and a few spiders on the cream areas. :o) Oh, then adding a black boarder, but that won't be for awhile.

Happy stitching and sewing!

still in Halloween mode

I still feel like I am in Halloween mode. I've been working with orange, black and white, putting the little blocks together to make Jacob's ladder blocks.

As of right now I have 8 sewn together. In these photos they are not sewn together yet, but I just couldn't wait to see what they'd look like.

And more Halloween looking things I've been working on. The Hoopla swap stitching. My partner loves skulls. So I cross stitched up a skull pattern I found on "skull a day".

This is what I had started out stitching up, but ended up not liking it too much, so made it the back on the hoop.

Blogger's Quilt Fest and more

Amy over at Amy's Creative Side is hosting the 4th annual Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Here is my favorite quilt I've made so far. And of course it has hand embroidery work in it. It is a 'Bareroots' pattern, though I changed 3 of the embroidery patterns to more represent the way we camp. We VW bus camp! So I had my sweet talented husband draw up some buses for me and I substituted then in.

I believe this is my favorite quilt so far because of the colors (my favorite), the hand embroidery ( my favorite sewing to do), and the camping theme ( our favorite family time spent together).

In other news.... the progress on my Halloween quilt, the Jacob's Ladder one. Lots of orange and white 2 1/2 squares being sewn together.

October 'Little stitchies' is done. I love the pumpkins and the Fall colored leaves in this one.

The 'Hoopla' swap is on it's way. I've finished the stitching on mine, using cross-stitch. Here is a sneak peek. I am sure you can guess what she is. She still needs to be hooped up and the finishing touches up to her before 'send outs'. I'll be posting the finishing photo after my partner received it. I don't want to spoil the surprise for her.

Jacob's Ladder

What do these......

and these......

and these..... have in common?

They are going to be in the same quilt together.

This is a pattern from my 'Stash busters' class. I used up a lot of my oranges which is one of my favorite colors. It will end up being a Halloween quilt. And my goal is to have it done by next Halloween. I still have about 150 more cream squares to cut out and make 40 more of the black/cream half square triangles.

Hoopla and piranhas

I am so excited! I am in the Hoopla swap over on Craftster. Sign ups are still happening until Oct 13th. So is you are on craftster and you love to embroider and you love swaps.... head on over.

Also, so excited about my piranhas. I painted 2 on my son's wall in a fish bowl. To add to the creatures I've already painted. The painting is going a bit slow as I am super busy with other things in life.

2 bats down, 7 to go

My niece has asked my to make her a Halloween quilt. She is my only niece and I don't see her very often. Here you can see my daughter drawing up some bats on 'heat n bond' for me. I wanted scary looking bats and I just couldn't get them to look scary. ( You can see my full of energy son running out the back door too).

So I am sewing on bats, only two done and 7 to go. An odd number of them is good.

Here they are just fused on....

Some people don't know but, I also dabble in machine embroidery. Yes, I do. I found this wonderful spider web and spider on Urban Threads.

I've stitched it up a couple of times on the quilt.

Here one of them is done.

I am thinking of adding some ghost too. Ok, back to baking brownies and stitching up bats.

Holy photo bag Batman

Remember the photos my husband printer off for me. He did more than print them off, he cropped, re size, turned then black and white , transferred them to fit on an 8 1/2 X 11 piece of paper and more, then he printed them off for me.

These are pictures of my grandmother's grandchildren and great grandchildren. I finished the bag I was making out of them for her birthday.

Here she is blowing out her candles at her "girl's get away" birthday party. Her party was the whole weekend.

And here is her bag, not a very good photo I know. But it was dark and I hadn't gotten a photo of it before I wrapped it. So this will have to do. She loved it and really that is all that matters. :o)

My cousin now wants me to make her one, with her boys playing baseball so she can take snacks and drinks in it to their baseball games.

Smile!

stitching some Kaffe

My September block is complete for my "little stitchies" BOM by Bareroots. I've been putting some boarders on the blocks as I go.

Using some Kaffe and friends. And a small inner boarder of a solid light blue Kona fabric. I'll add another outer boarder after I get them all stitched up.

I am not yet sure what I am going to use of the outer boarder.

And this is the progress of a bag I am making for my Nana for her birthday which is this weekend. I'll be making the "Charm Party Tote" by Quilts Illustrated. My husband, who is good with the computer , has been re sizing photos of her grandchildren and great grandchildren and printing them off for me on 'Ink Jet Printing' cotton sheets. He still has a few more to print. But I can't wait to see how it turns out. I'll be sure to take a photo of it when I am done and post it.

a quick post

I've got a baby shower coming up. They are having a girl and they camp with us. They too own a few VW buses. :o) I just love this fabric line from Moda. And I had to applique a bus on the back.

We started "Stash Busters" this month at the quilt shop. So I am sorting through my oranges. I know I don't have that many, even though orange is one of my favorite colors. But really this is all the orange I have. I am thinking of making my quilt a Halloween quilt for the couch. I'll add black , make the back ground a cream probably, and add some embroidered spider webs and spiders and bats in the corners.

Here is the progress on my son's wall. The turtle is done, but the shark is still in progress.

Chemistry, pillowcases and a tarantula

Today I made 2 Halloween pillowcases for the sweet neighbor boys. They are always so good to my son. Their parents do so much for him, I wanted to make the boys some pillowcases. Their favorite holiday is Halloween. And this line of fabric is the cutest.

I have started to paint some tanks / aquariums on my son's wall. He has been asking for a tarantula for Christmas. Along with a lizard, turtle, and other crazy creatures. So instead of buying and feeding these creatures, I am going to paint them on the wall so he feels like he has them.

I finished painting the tarantula today. And as soon as I can get some time from my chemistry homework I'll paint some more. There will be a lizard, turtle, shark, piranha, and a snake. :o)

Happy September. I am steadily working on my September Bareroots BOM. A picture of that to come later.