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.