2013 October

October Garden 2013 & Update

October 31, 2013 4 Comments

A quick post about my October garden, and some other things. Pomegranates are the October standout in my garden. They are delicious! I don’t know why, but a lot of them have split, but nevertheless they are very good. Dear Hubby and I went to the Claremont Faire last week. There was an amazing stained glass artist. I came home with a glass dragonfly :). And the Senior Center where one of my quilting groups meet had a costume competition – so I took a photo with a “Sumo” wrestler (not my husband. Just a random Senior dressed as a Sumo wrestler 🙂 ). Happy Halloween!

Filed Under: Garden 2013, Holidays, Outings And Adventures

First Quilt Done!

October 22, 2013 4 Comments

Well, I have finally finished my first quilt! (first since I took up quilting again). This one is for my mother-in-law. She favors earth tones, so I combined my love of pink, and her browns to make this log cabin quilt. My friend Ellie helped me pick out the fabrics. Piecing was a cinch, but then it sat on my table for weeks, until I got the determination to finish it. Stitching in the ditch went pretty smoothly, then I decided to do some free motion on the borders… Practicing free motion on a 12″ x 12″ sandwich is very different from quilting a whole quilt. Let’s just say, once I got started, there was no going back. The thought of taking out all those stitches was not so exciting, so I just sallied forth and it was “everything goes” free motion. In the process, my 16 year old Singer started giving me trouble… Perhaps, a new machine is on the horizon?

Filed Under: Quilting

Dorothy’s Garden Girls Quilt

October 16, 2013 5 Comments

My friend Ellie invited me to join another quilt group, the Sew Sisters. It is a wonderful group of women with a passion for quilting. We have been meeting in the evenings, and since I didn’t want to lug my machine around, I decided to start a Dorothy’s Garden Girls Quilt, and work on the embroideries there. These blocks are fun to put together, and just the vintage style that I am into right now. The pattern I used is from a book called “Threads from the ’30s”. Here are the first two blocks I completed:

Filed Under: Quilting

My New Vintage Aluminum Christmas Tree & Giveaway

October 13, 2013 4 Comments

I have been on a lookout for a vintage aluminum Christmas tree for some time now. It just brings back memories of Christmas from when I was a little girl. Well, a very nice thrift shop owner promised me one, and I finally went to pick it up. It has the pom pom branches, and came with a rotating musical color wheel and rotating tree base – all in good working order. I am beyond excited to put it together for the holidays! Any way, she decided to close her store, and offered me a big box of vintage Christmas for a song. When I brought it home, dear hubby just looked at me, shook his head, and walked away… I have been saying that we need to purge and clean out our garage :). After sorting, and selectively organizing, I decided I really needed to pass most of it on to others. I put some aside, donated/gave away five bags, and kept just a few ornaments to give away on my blog. So, If you are interested, please leave me a comment. I will pick a random recipient on Wednesday, 16th.

Here are the giveaway ornaments. A Santa, an angel, two elves, a drummer boy, and trumpet player. All are vintage Japan:

Thanks for stopping by!

– Linda

Filed Under: Crafting

Alumni Game

October 9, 2013 1 Comment

I ventured down South the other weekend to attend dear younger son’s first game of the season, the Alumni game. Dear hubby was out of town so I went alone – it was worth it to see both kids. The UCSD Ice Hockey team played against the alumni to kick start their season. I’m not into sports as much as the rest of my family, but when one of my kids play, it’s always fun to watch. This will be his last season, as he is a Senior. So technically, he should be playing as an alumni next year, unless he takes an additional quarter to graduate… A real possibility as he did not declare his major until the end of his Sophomore year. Then he will be a Super Senior. And if someone takes an additional second year, I am told they are called Stupid Seniors! I don’t think that will happen…

Filed Under: Family and Friends

Vintage Fabric And Things

October 7, 2013 4 Comments

I love all things vintage, and with my current quilting obsession, I have come to love vintage fabrics.

A package arrived the other day from my dear blog friend Nancy. She sent me some teacup vintage fabric that she had kept for over 30 years! It is delightful, and I love it! Thank you Nancy!

I also noticed the super cute pumpkin can Halloween decorations Viv, Kim, and Shirley created, and decided to try my hand at making some. This is as far as I got: