- - Mindless Sewing - -

Like half the country, I have been under the weather as far as my health is concerned. I have caught the cold/coughy/congested thing going around. It has been a couple of weeks and I am just starting to get on my feet. I shouldn't be surprised - after all I a horrible time with my allergies this time a year and always get sick.

As part of my recovery process, I am starting to feel like sewing again. I don't want to do anything that would need a lot of concentrating ............. Ssssssoooooo ............ that could mean only one thing ........... Strings!!!

And boy oh boy .......... I have a ton of them!!! I have all my strings stored in a very large clothes hamper - and they are packed tight. I managed to find some foundations already cut out.  YES!!!! That means all I have to do is start sewing.

The foundations came my way by a co-worker who found them in her mothers attic. There were a ton of 6 inch squares that were cut out by hand (someone did a lot of work!!). The only problem is that they are not a very good quality to use on a front of a quilt. So, I have relagated them to do foundation work. At least the ones that are light colored - I'm not sure I can use the dark ones for this purpose. I'll have to figure out something to do with them.

These are 6 inch squares - so my finished squares will be 5.5 inches once they are sewn together. I don't know how big I am going to make this string quilt .......... I will just make the blocks until I run out of foundations. Just what I need right now ............. mindless sewing!!!!

Happy Sewing

~ Annie ~

The Things You Have To Do ...........

To get entered into a contest!!! YUP!! And I want to have an entry ....... and be a winner in this one. Go check it out here ......... the fabrics are great!!

~ Autumn has Returned ~

Now that I have my Halloween blocks done for my swap - I am moving on (or back!!) to working on my "Autumn Dreams" wall hanging. I bet I drive everyone nuts with my project jumping!!! Or maybe ........ I'm the one that is insane!!! YUP!!! That would be a good description of me!!

I did manage to get all 34 of my stars sewn onto the wall hanging. You would think because I used at least 34 different fabrics (no two in one block), that it should be easy not to place one fabric next to another when sewing my stars down. Not true!!!! And I am coming to believe I need to just learn to let go of that "don't place alike fabrics next to each other" ............. because ........ it can be a big pain in the butt!!!! In the end I think they were distributed evenly.

In this project I, again, decided to piece my batting. I have so many pieces hanging around and it's a shame not to use them up. I use my "joining" foot (also used for my stitch in a ditch sewing), with a "joining" stitch and that is all there is to it. Well, not quite ....... I have to make sure the edges are relatively straight, but that is easy to do - and in no time I have a couple of batting scraps eliminated from my pile!!!

I found a backing at Joann's last week - it was in with the clearance fabrics. And the bonus ...... it was 50% off of the clearance price. I ended up paying $1.50 a yard for fabric that the bolt showed being $8.99 a yard. Now, I can't say if it truly was that original price, but it has a nice, thick feel to it. I also know that it isn't "matchy matchy" with the front, but there is some green and orange ......... good enough for me. I have no intentions of actually seeing the backing once it has been hung on the wall!!!

Now I have to figure out how I am going to machine quilt this puppy - it looks like I might actually have it done before Thanksgiving!!! OH ........... I shouldn't have said that ........... I think I just jinxed myself!!!

Happy Quilting

~ Annie ~

~ Boo to You ~

I have continued to work on my Halloween blocks for the swap that I am participating in. Just to recap what is going on: I couldn't find a appliqué pattern that I liked, so I decided to use a clip art image and I am making my own pattern from that. This is the second time that I have used this type of media to make a pattern - and if you are careful and find something with simple lines ............ in my opinion - it works!!!

I am still new at the appliqué thing - so forgive me if I do things wrong. I am a kinda work as you go gal!!! So, this time instead of pressing all my pieces down first and then blanket stitch them down .......... I decided to do them piece by piece. It worked really nice, no dodging pieces or stop & starting the outlining of the figures.

I also made an "executive decision" to outline most of my pieces in a different color thread so that they stand out. I know this is hard, you want to make sure you are right on .......... because ........... it will show if you are not!!! I did a lot of deep breathing and hoping for the best. In the end, it did work out - I think if I outlined the ghost with white he would have been lost!!!

The two components that I was worried about was the "boo" lettering and the "eyes". My fear was they were small pieces .......... meaning hard to cut out and to sew on!! The lettering has the circles cut out of them, which also meant that I would be appliquéing the inside and outside of them. I had to make the letters a little bit wider to accommodate the stitch width. And I used matching thread just so you can't see all the curves and corners. You really don't want to see my mess now do you???

The problem with the eyes are the "pupils" are white and very small. I had entertained the thought of leaving them off, but once I laid them out ......... the design really needed them to make the ghost's eyes "pop"!!!! So again, I used matching thread to anchor them down into place.

They didn't turn out all that bad - so these blocks are a go for my swap - hope the players are going to like them!!

Hope you had a productive weekend ................. Happy sewing

~ Annie ~

>> BOO!! <<

Still raining!!! The only problem with that is it tends to be dark all day long ...... and all the leaves are falling to the ground. YUCK!!!! A nice sunny day is really needed right now. But, I am moving along with my sewing - what else could I do in this weather??

I decided to join a Halloween swap on one of my Internet groups. I haven't done swaps in a while - the postage has gotten to be a problem. Not to mention, I have several storage containers under my bed with all my swap blocks from the past!!!

I don't think I have actually put together a quilt from any of my blocks except for the happy blocks. I like swaps - you get all levels of blocks back. And I did do a Halloween one a few years ago - I just don't have enough blocks to make a quilt out of. Sssssoooooo ......... this swap I could add to those and have a quilt ......... someday!!!! Or they will get stored under my bed with the rest of them - who knows!!!!

I wanted to do an applique block, but couldn't find a pattern anywhere that I liked. I have in the past, made blocks out of coloring pages. I decided early on, that this is the way I needed to go since my searching was fruitless.

But, all the free coloring pages I found were not to my liking. So - what to do now?? I just pulled up my word processing and took a peek at the clip art. And then I found "Boo". He was Perfect!! - simple lines and not to detailed. He shouldn't be too much of a problem appliqueing.

I choose my fabrics - keeping them simple also. I am using a candy corn fabric for the background, of course the white is "Boo the Ghost" (what else would you use!!). I am trying to keep the Halloween spirit here.

I am a little worried about the lettering - I haven't really done any appliqueing of them. And if you check the picture out - they are kinda on the thin side. Maybe if I didn't cut out the centers - keeping the letters solid??? What do you think?

And the whites of the eyes may be another difficult spot due to them being so small. It may be hard to do a blanket stitch on them - I guess I'll have to wait and see when I get there!! At any rate, I managed to get all the pieces & parts traced on to my steam-a-seam 2. Next step is to cut the shapes out and iron them on the fabrics. Then I will have some major cutting out to do - all those letters and eyeballs!!!

Ssssssooooooo ........ that's where I am at today

~ Annie ~

~ Cloudy ....... With a Chance ~

Of quilting!!! Actually, this week has been down right cold and wet. So, what better thing to do then quilt!!! YUP!!! .................. I have tons of projects that I do need to finish ............... and a ton that I would like to start!!!

Anyway, here is one that I have fulfilled my commitment. Remember, I decided to help my quilting buddy sort out this pattern and finish up her tops. Well - here it is - there are really 2 of them (but if you seen one, you've seen both!!!).

Let's see what else I can get done before the snow flies .............

~ Annie ~