October 2019

I have been busy the past two months.  I can hardly believe it's November already.

In September I decided I wanted to make apple butter.  It was a first for me of any type of preserves.  I had to  purchase all the equipment, but when I went to get my apples they were on sale!!  I started with 20 pounds, then had so much fun I went back for 30 additional pounds.  By the time I finished, I was done!!  50 jars of apple butter.  I'm not waiting till Christmas to give them away.  They are going out as I see people.  I used my crock pot to cook the apples.  It saved having to stand at the stove and stir.  I was surprised at how easy it was!

The apples have a long way to go before they're ready  to be
 called Apple Butter.  I still have to make my pies for this year,
but I'm almost appled out!

Quilts:
In a previous post I showed that I was all caught up on the blocks for the BOM Sizzle from The Quilt Show.  I actually started the prep work for the applique borders, but did not get far.  At least I have the fabric I'm going to use.

I've made several other quilts during September and October.  Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of several of them before I gave them away.

I forgot to take a photo of the entire quilt when I finished.

Here's the entire quilt.  Not the best photo, but you see the design.
I stitched the rick rack 3 times:  center and both sides.

I made this for my brother-in-law in honor of his retirement.
These were his ties.  Quilt title:  No More Ties
Of course, it took me 7 years to get it done!!

Back of No More Ties.

The charity for one of my guilds is Quilts of Valor.
I purchased this as a kit and made it up for the team to quilt.

Another guild does a boutique as a fund raiser.  The committee puts
kits together and you can take several and sew them up. This is three 
of the kits I took home.  I'd never made the iron caddy before. 
My second one was much easier!!  The one table runner is
"wine bottles".  I live in a area with lots of wineries.

More quilts in progress.  My church will be doing a work/witness trip to Belize early in 2020.  They are organizing a fund-raiser dinner with Holly Starr as the guest performer.  I'm making a donation quilt for their use.  Actually I'm giving them a choice of two.

This was my original quilt to donate.

This is a kit.  I think I purchased it at Keepsake Quilting
when we were back there for our Boston trip.

Not sure I like the red thread on white, but
once you start you have to finish.

Back of quilt.

 This is the second quilt.  I'll let Pastor select the one she'd like.  Two completely different styles.

This was a kit I purchased when in St. George Utah
during a Philippa Naylor class at Superior Threads.

The quilting on this is a first for me.  I did an overall
wave design.  It was actually harder to do than I expected.

And finally . . . . may I introduce you to Mr. October.
I saw this online and loved it!  The pattern is by Carol Steely of Fun Threads Design.  There is a second Mr. October.  Watch next year!

He was originally going to be a wall hanging but
I decided he needs to be on the bed.  He'll be a pillow.
His bones are glow in the dark fabric.

In addition to all of this I attended a one-day DIME presentation and a 4-day Destination Education for my Babylock Destiny machine.  Both were fun . . . I learned a lot!!  Workshops held at Kiki's Quilt Shack in Fresno, CA.

Whew!

Thanks for checking in.