Thankful for:

Molly’s latest artwork.

My self care purchase. They will become colors on some fabric during December.

If you consider 30 hours/week as a full time investment into ‘something’ - this means that you would put in 12 weeks of full time work on a project every year. That’s an amazing amount of time. 

This was one piece a few days ago. I knew when it was finished that I didn’t like the two sections together. The plan was that they would each be a side to a reversible item. BUT,,, no way was I going to let all of the work I’d done only get to be seen 50% of the time., lol. So, I took it apart, removed a lot of the outside yarns and I will finish them each as a separate entity. The greens and blues are destined to be a pillow. The spiral jewel tones will be the cover for a journal.

This was a quilt top I longarmed for a friend. She has since added numerous Dresden Plates to it. I don’t have a picture of her finished quilt, but perhaps I’ll get one during December. We used a technique I saw on The Quilt Show to accomplish what would have otherwise been a ‘pain’ to get done..

George and Chico, or should I say Chico and the Man, lol. This little guy has the strangest ‘braying’ I have ever heard. He lives on the Weeks’ farm in Lone Star, SC. We visited the family for Thanksgiving lunch. 

 It’s always fun to visit the beach. The tide was exceptionally low when I took this photo. Usually the water would be touching my feet where I was standing.

We had gone to an event at Auld Brass Plantation on Friday and then on Saturday we went to Boone Hall for the Scottish Highland Games. Bagpipes were the highlight of my day. 

Cotton Gin, not the alcoholic kind. 

These are a small pile of the bales of cotton waiting to be taken into the Gin and processed. There was a  parking lot full of these in the back, but I couldn’t get a decent picture of them. We are still seeing fields with numerous bales still waiting for pickup. From what I understand this will continue into January. Hopefully I will be able to visit one of these ‘gins’ to see just how they actually do the processing of cotton into ‘threads’. 

Such lovely fall colors

 We enjoy taking rides in the country at this time of year. Actually, at any time of year, there’s always something to see. Fall colors this year are dramatic. I do believe it’s because we had some intensely cold temps very early.

The peach trees are dropping their lovely golden leaves.

I enjoyed this book along with Atomic Habits during November

We removed a lot of half-filled junk from under the sink as the quieting and clearing continues throughout our house.

Brown bagging them with hopes that there won’t be snoopers.

 Santa Suit Quilts became a major focus for November. I wanted to make sure all 14 were finished and delivered before December 1st. That was accomplished, and I will start much earlier during 2020 ! ! !

Second set of labels came in with a black background. The snowflakes are the decorative stitch I used to attach that edge.

This was a special backing for one of them. 

First labels looked like this.

Thanks for dropping by and checking out the latest happenings in what George fondly refers to as “LULU LAND”.  

I am so thankful for all the wonderful people that God has blessed me with. May He keep each and everyone of you safe and grateful for the life you have.

Granny Pumpkin Head takes 1st Place

Molly won 1st place in the Third Grade pumpkin decorating contest with her Granny Pumpkin Head. Now where does that child come up with a name like that? Except for the color of the eyes, pretty close to what I look like when I’ve spent too much time in the sun without sunscreen. LOL

Today I helped out my neighbor by heming this cute coat/dress. It had a very long dipping back and she’s not real tall so it looked unattractive. I was pleasantly surprised when I started looking for a thread that would ‘go’ with the butterscotch color. I had a bobbin that was meant for applique work that matched exactly. Sometimes things just work out so nicely.

You may remember that I had quilted the borders on my Tequamenon Falls wallhanging. The center scene became poofy and I’ve been trying to decide what I should do to ‘fix’ it. I didn’t want to remove the stitching, but that’s what has happened. Not sure just when I’ll get back to working on it, but the scene will be done FIRST, then the borders.

I really like the quilting design I used on this Wee Woodlands quilt. I did it in a very improvisational manner. That’s another way of saying, ‘by the seat of my pants’ cuz I didn’t have a clue what to do!

I’ve been working at making Santa Suit Quilts. Today I washed several loads of plaid flannels and fleece for backings. I wanted to use my serger for construction so the seam allowances would be overlooked and the possibility of the seams pulling apart would be very slim. I was just setting up and started down the first strip set, and my feed dogs stopped feeding fabric. Yikes! I sure hope I don’t have to wait 4 weeks to get it back from the repair shop. Hopefully we will drop it off tomorrow.
This is the quilting design I might use on the Santa Suit Quilts, once things are ‘feeding’ properly.

Time for me to see what rabbit hole is just around the corner. I never fall in, I JUMP in with both feet.

A quick update

Love Heals by Becca Stevens. An inspiring book.

The 6 quilts in the above photo, along with a book I finished recently, are going to the Magdalene House in Summerville. The book tells the story of how the concept started in Tennessee.

This next quilt was made by Sheila and I longarmed it for her. It'll go to a local men's shelter.

Finished longarming these for our charity outreach group. Others make the tops, backs, and do the binding. I just stitch the 'sandwiches' together.

Finishing those 3 quilts today brought my total lifetime stitches to over 12 million!!!

George has been busy making a nice planter box. It will have legs so we won’t be stooping or bending and making our backs ache.

And, I’ve been reading quite a bit. Finished these three books. 

Mid October Update

I’ve been getting back into my ‘routine’ albeit slowly.... And this clock might just help, LOL

My Gardenia is ‘out of sync’ with it’s normal blooming time (spring):

I finished the locker hooking on the cover for my rocking foot stool:

My latest books are:

Well, that’s it for now. See you at the end of the month. 

September 2019

I don’t know where I got this picture, but I sure do like it. Hope you enjoy the photos and the chatter.

 Saw this lower picture at a restaurant in Ashland. Yes, that’s how I want to live.

This is a corner of my Tequamenon Falls wall hanging that I’m working on. I’ve had this on the

 ‘to-do’ list for way too long and now that I have a possible place to hang it, I want it done..... LOL

Just before leaving for vacation one of our Gardenia plants decided to produce some strange looking blooms. But the smell was like all the ones from early summer.

These are the latest 4 blocks for the Stroll In Paris BOM with Gudrun Erla of GE Designs. Each month we’ve been give 3 or 4 blocks to make. It goes for 9 months and it is a Mystery just how they’ll be set. 

 Worked on another locker hooking project during the month, not finished but well underway.

Visited Middleton Place early September, the butterflies were everywhere.

 It was a kite-flying type of day while we were there.

Midway thru September we left for our fall vacation in the MidWest. First it was a stop in Poplar Grove to see Jake, Leslie, Hannah, Molly, and Chloe (or is it Clingon, lol). Had 3 days of fun, and got to see Molly in her Cheering Mode, then both girls showed us their expertise (or lack there of) in handling a riding lawn mower. Laugher ensued.

We headed into Chicago for lunch with Nik and then back for our last evening in Poplar Grove. We enjoyed dinner with Luke, Wendy, Ethan, and Grayce the following day at Lumpy’s in Eagle River, WI. Gave Grayce the Orange and Purple quilt I showed in the previous post.  Breakfast with Lee and the crew at the Sunrise Lodge in Land O Lakes was next on the agenda. Then it was off to 

Ashland, WI. and 2 days on Lake Superior with it’s calming sounds.  Then we headed over to Iron River, MI to spend time with Seth, Heather, Hunter, Ashton, Myriah, and Seth Jr. We went to the Harvest Festival they were having in their town.  We headed home tired, but filled with great memories with the love of family.