Harvest Table Runner

I saw this adorable table runner in my October/November issue of Quilt Magazine. I love this time of year even though living in Southern California we don't get much of a seasonal change. Still, I decorate the house for the harvest and this table runner looked perfect.

It has two pumpkins, mirror images on each side. I used scraps for the whole project except the pumpkins. I just didn't have any good orange pieces in my stash. The boys thought this one was fun because they liked watching how the pumpkin was formed. They didn't understand what a table runner was so we had to spend a lot of time going over that. And when it finally went on the table they were very concerned that they might spill something on it. I assured them it could be washed.

I love to copy pictures. When I make a recipe I want it to turn out just like in the picture. My table runner looks very close to the picture which makes me very happy. And since it was a small project I got the extra satisfaction of completing a project in a very short amount of time.

Hannah's Quilt

This is my niece Hannah and the quilt I made for her. She picked out the fabrics. The fabric is a medley from Keepsake Quilting. The pattern is one I adapted from a Moda pattern and something I saw in a quilting magazine.

I used stitch in the ditch to quilt it because I didn't want to obscure the patterns. This fabric is really cute and has butterflies, and frogs, and other cute items on it. The back is a plain yellow.

I used leftover fabric to make a stripped boarder around the quilt. The solid pink is from Kona. This quilt was fun to make because the pattern was all in my head. It was also fun because I was making it for someone who was very excited about it. I would send her status reports via text with pictures. She was very patient with me, quietly asking for updates once in a while. And I did take a long time to finish it. But I think she would agree it was worth the wait.

First Day of School

First day of Kindergarten for my twins today. I am still recovering. I woke up at three am with a terrible dream that one of my boys got lost after school and couldn't be found for hours. I never went back to sleep. But all was fine. They had a great first day. They survived being in separate classes. And we (the parents) survived too. Hope everyone has a great school year.

Sewing again

I finally made it into my sewing room to finish my niece's quilt. It was a three day weekend and I spent a lot of time in my sewing room. It felt great to be quilting again. And if I am in my sewing room then that means my boys migrate in there as well. So my sewing room became a play room.

My cutting board and pattern board became the top and door to this bedside fort. I also had to give out buttons and empty spools to furnish this hideaway.

The side of my sewing table became a secret hiding space complete with star wars gift bag for a secret door. I love that my boys want to be where ever I am but it can get quite chaotic when battles interrupt stitching in the ditch.