Happy Halloween!

I apologize in advance for the pictures. It wasn't til after I loaded the pictures onto the camera that I realized the camera had been set to nighttime photos to take pictures of our lit pumpkins last night. Oops.

Got the pumpkins out today and noticed a little something. My daughter's is definitely bigger. Which wasn't a big problem in the past since he's younger and smaller. However, this year I could already hear the words, "Not fair" being said once he got home from school, so I decided to do a little something about it.

I made them trick-or-treat bags that are exactly the same size. I used leftover fabric from the 2 Halloween quilts I made earlier this month.

I even lined them! 

This one is my daughter's. I had 1 piece of her fabric (skull with pink bows) leftover from making her quilt that got included.

My son's. I figured this would stay age appropriate for the next few years (he's 5).

Also made this little blanket and pillow for a niece whose birthday is in 2 weeks. I bought her a little doll over a month ago and knew I wanted to make something to go with it. I found a great little box on Saturday that the doll fits in.

Perfect! Once she is out of the packaging, she can be tucked in with her blanket. The box has something special painted on the front, but there has to be some surprises for her. I used some Terrain charm squares, a fabric line I know her mom likes.

Did some quilting too. Not bad for an afternoon's work.

Some of the pins that came out while quilting this afternoon. Hope to get some more done tonight. After trick-or-treating, of course.

Friday Finishes

I'm linking up today at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday. Go here to check out other finishes and if you are here visiting from Crazy Mom Quilts, welcome. Below are my quilty finishes for the week. Go to this post for my yarn finishes. 

Finished the quilt I started with my daughter last Friday for Friday Night Sew-In. She decided she only wanted free-motion stippling over the whole thing. 

I used a light pink thread.

Love the back. I've had this vintage Smurf fabric for awhile, saving it since I didn't know what to do with it. Glad it gets to stay in our house.

Here it is hanging up in her room. 

I also finished this quilt this week. It is hanging in the hallway upstairs, at the top of the stairs. Sorry for the terrible lighting. I forgot to take pictures before I hung it up and I was too lazy this morning to take it down. I outlined the blocks and did stipple quilting around the dancing skeletons in the border. This is my first Halloween quilt. I have another waiting to be quilted but I'm not sure if I will get it done before Monday.

Completed 2 pillow slipcovers for my mom. They got new couches earlier this year and she requested these. Here you can see front and the back and since I don't own any pillows this size (14 inches) they are lying flat. Hope they fit mom.

Here is my project for the next couple days. My hopeful entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival. It's all basted and ready to go. I've decided how I want to quilt it and the binding is made. Now I just need to do it. Go to Amy's blog to see all the amazing quilts (there's already over 100!)

Some finishes

Got to love these! I have to admit that my taste in sock yarn really surprises me. Before I started knitting socks (just last fall!), I mainly wore black socks.  I now have enough knitted socks to wear them everyday, and NONE of them are solid or have any black in them. And every sock I complete still amazes me. Did I really knit that? 

So colourful! Love them.

I only had a little bit of yarn leftover from the socks so I whipped up this little basket. My mug behind it gives some scale.

Not sure yet what I am going to put in it. Maybe I'll just look at it.

Finished this baby blanket. Need to block it and then it will be going in the shop.

Didn't finish all my knitted projects. Got a few more inches done on the cape for my youngest niece. 4 more inches to go before I decrease for the neck and start the hood. There are still so many projects on my list that I would like to make for Christmas this year. November is going to be crazy. I'm either getting no sleep and finishing them all or I'll have to admit defeat. Right now I'm leaning towards no sleep.

I got one Halloween quilt, quilted. Need to add the hanging sleeve. The other one is still waiting for its border and life has been so busy I haven't been able to talk to my daughter about what quilting she would like on her quilt. Maybe tonight.

Friday Night Sew-In Results

I had a special guest for FNSI last night. My 9 yr old daughter joined me for some quilting fun. I ironed and cut the fabrics during the day while she was at school and we were able to get all 9 of her blocks made before supper.

Here she is working hard. She was using a fat quarter bundle that she picked from JoAnn's.

Concentrating on keeping her 1/4 seam allowance.

Here she is this morning with the finished quilt top, basted and ready to be quilted. If she's willing, she can help do some of the basic stitch-in-the-ditch quilting and then I will do any other quilting that she wants done.

This fabric is so her and the finished quilt will hang in her room. Will finish at 35 inches square.

Here's what I did last night. My daughter helped piece the 4 patch squares for this quilt.

I think the dancing skeletons in the border make this quilt. It will finish at 31 inches square.

Here is my quilt using the same block my daughter used. I had drafted a block using 6 fat quarters than yesterday morning realized she only had 5. I made up a new block with 4 variations. I made my blocks while she was at school and determined that the blocks were easy enough for her.

Close up of my fabrics. This quilt still needs a border. Since all 3 of these quilts are relatively small, I hope to get them all done by Tuesday. My fabrics were also from JoAnn's.

Head over to Bobbi's blog this month to see what everyone else was up to last night.

Getting ready for Friday Night Sew-In

Tonight's the night! I've been busy all day ironing and cutting fabrics for some special projects. Go to Bobbi's blog to sign up or see what others were up to.

This is my only finish this week. A crocheted pumpkin garland that I was able to complete before lunch on Thursday. 

I found the the tutorial on Tangled Happy, which links to a different crocheted tutorial every weekday. I used the cotton yarn usually used for dishcloths. It was the only orange in my stash and I thought it would stand up to the heat of the fireplace behind it.

This is the book I won from Moose on the Porch Quilts during the first prize drawing of the Fat Quarter Stars Quilt Along. It's not too late to join!

And here is the pile of fabrics I will be working with tonight. I figure I have 10 days to finish up some Halloween quilts because... I've never made a Halloween quilt before, and I think we need at least one.

My special guest for FNSI - my 9yr old daughter! Come back Saturday to see what we accomplished. 

A Yarn of an Update

Woke up this morning with a sinus cold, so I have spent most of the day on the couch watching tv and drinking warm liquids to keep my throat happy. Have only done a little bit of knitting today but was able to take pictures of some yarn finishes and in progress pieces.

Finished this baby blanket last week (I think). Ends still need to be weaved in and it needs to be blocked, but then it will be going in the shop.

Finished this cape for one of my nieces for Christmas. Still need to add the clasp and block it.

Started a second cape in a lighter shade of green for her little sister. This is such an easy pattern and small enough that it works up quickly.

Started this very colourful sock yesterday morning. The last 4 pairs of socks I knitted were on 2.75mm needles. These ones are on 3.25mm and are working up so fast. I did the leg and heel yesterday and am about half way done the foot.

I only started another pair of socks because I finished this pair of socks Saturday night (and wore them on Sunday). This month is Socktoberfest and I hope to finish at least 2 more pairs (for me); then I should be set for winter. 

Fun with Blocks

I need a couple more blocks for the Terrain quilt but I only had 2 Terrain fabrics left from the layer cake. I used 2 from a "Just Wing It" layer cake and made the blocks I needed. I have made a decision on how I am going to piece the Terrain quilt top, and I have 2 rows together. Will hopefully show my progress later this week.

Made block 2 of the Fat Quarter Stars Quilt Along hosted by Moose on the Porch Quilts.

I also pieced the 16 log cabin blocks that used just solids into a quilt top. I am loving it and see solid quilts in my very near future. This quilt will measure 56 inches square - a great lap size quilt.

Finally... some progress

My husband was out of town Saturday, Sunday and Monday, so I didn't get a lot of stuff done this weekend. Tuesday and Wednesday, I napped. I have a terrible habit of staying up til 2am (sometimes 4am) when my husband is away. I hate sleeping alone, so I stay up and watch tv until I collapse. Today has been the first day that I woke up full of energy and I finally got some things done.

Here's a picture of me that my son took this weekend. This is how you find time to look at blogs and still have fun with your 5 year old. This is just one of many towers he built on my back. I'm just lucky none of the stuff fell on the computer. There are books under the black blanket.

Here are the 18 log cabin blocks I completed this morning. 16 are all solid, while 2 have a patterned blue fabric. The 2 patterned ones will be pillow slipcovers for my mom. The others.... a quilt? I started cutting and couldn't stop. Unfortunately there wasn't as much of the solid blue fabric as I thought. I cut enough black to make another 6 blocks but the blue fell short. 

A Christmas present for one of my nieces. Only 4 rows left but I had to take a break after knitting almost 4 inches of it this morning.

My ambitious afternoon. Not sure how much of this I will get done but it's nice to be busy. Now it's time to finish lunch and then back to it until the kids come home in 2 hours.