Plugging away slowly

 I finished another one in the pile of donation quilts.  Pat put this top together.  I backed it with a soft pinwale corduroy that I had.  It is a nice bigger quilt which will be great for a teenager.

My quilt holder is temporarily out of commission with a torn rotator cuff so I draped it over the couch.  Hopefully he'll be able to have surgery soon, and on the road to recovery.
 

The corduroy posed no problems with the quilting, and I have more to use for backings that was donated to us.  I used a pantograph, Quills, which is a design with good flow. 

I started on a top for my daughter's friend who is expecting a baby in December, using this great pattern.  

    

Early rising

I wake up too early.  Most mornings I'm up around 4:30 because I just can't sleep.  It's always more difficult for me to adjust to the time change in the fall because then I have to convince myself that I can't get up when I'm wide awake at 3!  

But getting up early has its rewards.  Especially at this time of the year, when the skies are rich with clouds and colors.  True, the sun is just barely rising at 6:30, but I'm ready to get out to the sewing room and finish the quilt on my longarm, after pausing to enjoy the sunrise.  

Winter feels just around the corner...

The temperatures have really cooled here, enough so that Dale cleaned our heat stove and lit the pilot.  In fact we already used it yesterday afternoon.

The full moon was visible through some virga.  We weren't too disappointed since we recently had over an inch of rain.

Today I'm warming up the house with baking.  I finally tried the pecan cranberry whole wheat bread recipe Dr. Kaufman gave me.  It's a wonderful bread that saved me when I was in the hospital for my total knee.  

We can still see the fall colors in the mountains.  I doubt they'll last much longer.  It's already been over a week since we drove up to see.  

 

 I'm not in a hurry for winter.  Fall could last longer than three months if it were up to me.

Quilt finishes

I finally got some quilts done.  Thanks to all the friends that have donated blocks, tops, and or fabric, I've had quite the queue of quilts to be quilted.  I had to finish the twins' quilts and bears, and have made a second chenille bear, as Jackie chose that one versus the wool bear, though she wants to keep the wool bear as well.  She first tried to get another of each bear!  I forgot to photograph the finished wool bear.  

 This quilt that Cathy made just needed the borders quilted.  I did a freehand feather design.  Still trying to stretch outside the pantograph box.

I first tried using the Gammill workstation on Sharon's stack and whack blocks, but it proved to be too much work.  I think it would be easier to do with two people, and maybe when Pat's here, we can use it together on an appropriate quilt.  After the first block, I just did a freehand design.  

I opted for a pantograph on this fall quilt also from Cathy, as I really couldn't think of a freehand design for it.  I still have a half dozen quilts left to quilt.  Back to the sewing room! 

 

Twin quilts done

I finished the twins' quilts, and the matching bear quilts with the leftover blocks.  I did a dinosaur pantograph on all of them.  The flannel backing features dinosaurs.

I made the first bear out of chenille from an old bedspread.  I wasn't really in love with it, but went ahead and finished it, but not before cutting out another from felted wool.  I think that one is going to have more body, but I will finish both of them and let Jackie decide which fabric she'd like for a second bear.

 

I didn't really read the pattern directions closely--just followed the pictures and sewed the back halves together the first time...not the way to do it.  You sew a back and front together, at the side seams then sew on the arms and legs on each half before closing it all the way around except for a small opening to turn it right side out, then stuff, and close all the openings that you stuff through.  I've made a number of these before--used to dress them with Route 66 tapestry fabric vests and sell them at the motel. 

  

 

Twin tops finished

It's a wonderful weekend in Show Low again, and I've finished twin quilt tops.  They are going to be backed with green flannel with dinosaurs.  Jackie wanted "primitive" in the same colors and fabrics as her bed quilt.  The twins' first quilts will be what she wants...future quilts will be what grandma wants to make or of the boys' choosing.  (well maybe!)  I've already made the faux piping binding for these quilts. 

 

The weather has been perfect here.  Cool nights, warm days.  I didn't even have to drive through rain, as Tropical Depression Geraldine had already passed east when I left. 

Today we're going to the quilt show here, and doing some retail therapy.

 

Sailors take warning?

We're supposed to have a 70% chance of rain today.  That would be most welcome since it's been a long time since we've had any.  This gorgeous sky photo is not photshopped.  Sometimes I enhance photos because what comes out of the camera just doesn't accurately reflect what I see, but this pretty much captured real life this morning. 

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 I have so many pictures of sunrises and sunsets here.  Anymore I usually just enjoy them without photographing.  I love the way the light affects ordinary things in the yard.

 

Our stucco wall is actually white instead of the pink hue it's wearing.  Looks like my geranium needs a little work before I bring it in for the winter.  Fall is quickly approaching.  

 

When I'm not quilting...

Fall is in the air, and I'm ready for winter with all my canning done...unless of course I come across any great deals on more produce.  We brought back apples, pears, and plums from our trip to Colorado.  Our old neighbors have an orchard and it was a good year.  Then last Thursday we picked peaches in Embudo.  I love them fresh, but canned, not so much.  Dale eats all this fruit in the course of a year with his hot cereal--which I'm also not fond of.  

Yesterday was our longarm meeting.  I took an "emapdão," the large counterpart of "empadinha," small, muffin sized savory pies stuffed with chicken or shrimp found in just about every corner bar in Brazil.  I got this recipe from a friend's daughter and it's become a family favorite, especially with my son-in-law, who doesn't mind that I hide vegetables in the filling. 

Empada Pie Crust

3 cups flour 

7 oz. butter cut into pats (about 2 sticks)

8 teaspoons olive oil

1 egg 

salt to taste

Cut butter into flour until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in beaten egg with olive oil with fork until mixture holds together, then mix with hands, until you can form a ball.  Use more flour if too moist, or more olive oil if too dry to hold together.  Let dough rest in refrigerator.

Divide in half.  Press half evenly into pie plate.  Fill with desired filling.  This is great for leftover chicken, vegetables, or a traditional Brazilian cream of shrimp and hearts of palm.  Olives are also included.

Roll out remaining dough between two sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap.  If you roll it out on a counter, it's impossible to lift off and place on the pie without it falling apart.  Bake in 350-375 degree oven until golden brown, about an hour.  (In Brazil they brush a beaten egg yolk over the top, but I figure the recipe is rich enough without it.)

 

This is the bakery within walking distance of our friend Cybelle's house.  You can get "empadinhas"  and all manner of treats, sweet and savory.  Food is cheap, delicious, and plentiful and cooking isn't a necessity.

Another kitty quilt

I've been working on taming the wild kitties outside, and quilting Pat's kitty quilt indoors.  Unlike our previous kitty quilts, these blocks are a bit more work.  

They need more quilting, and stitching in the ditch on the longarm is more work than a domestic machine.  I decided on rather dense quilting in the frames, and the black backgrounds.  But the kitties look a little puffy, since they're only outlined with a tail and whiskers added.  I'm going to take the quilt to the longarm meeting and see if the more experienced quilters among them have an idea for some kind of fill for the kitties.

 

I also decided to try the faux piping binding featured on this tutorial.  I liked the method, and will probably tweak the instructions a little because I like small binding.  I also worked the recipient's name in one of the kitty borders.

Repairs

I made this bear for Jackie twenty some years ago.  I was rather proud of it.  For some reason she decided to pull apart the soles of his feet, and partially unstuff his legs.  She also ripped the tabs that kept his coat closed, and I don't know what happened to his original hat.  I used regular (read "cheap") felt for the coat and soles, and she had no trouble inflicting the damage.  I was not in the mood to repair him at the time.  
 
She kept him all these years.  When we were visiting I asked if I could bring him back to NM and repair him.  Reluctantly she let me take him.  Fortunately I still had the pattern.  I used felted wool to make him a new coat, hat, and repair his soles.  She intends to put Paddington on a shelf in the boys' room.  Apparently she's the only one who will be allowed to love it quite that hard!