Panther Wall Hanging

It's done, it's done!! It's going to look SO cool against the cool green wall (yes, I have a place picked out already and plan to hang it this week).

First, I should say that I did not make this top. It was a store sample sold when Country Peddler Quiltshop in St. Paul closed. I loved this top, but the fabric was no longer available, so was thrilled when I had the opportunity to buy the store sample (2001?).

As far as the quilting, I did 1/2 inch diagonal quilting in the window, tight woodgrain quilting in the window and freeform leaves in the border mimicking the leaves in the fabric. I originally had some vine quilting in the sashing, but it looked odd. It actually looks better unquilted, so I have left it that way. The backing fabric is also jungle leaves, so really well planned. Alas, none of this used up stash as the backing was purchased only a couple of months ago and the binding was just leftover from the last quilt.


Here's a closeup that shows some of the quilting detail. Really hard to see against black (using black thread).


Country Peddler closed because the owner decided to retire. It was a loss for me as it was my first quilt shop and I learned so much from there. To see what it was like, see the writeup at the link below. Keep in mind that this was posted about the same time as the shop closed, so it's a pretty old posting! Heck, half the postings are of now closed shops!
http://www.planetpatchwork.com/travel/minnesota.htm

Busy, Busy Month

This has been a busy, busy month. It's amazing how much work there is before and after a garage sale. Unfortunately, our garage sale wasn't all that successful. I can only assume it was because it was the first nice weekend in over a month and people were doing other things. Well, we'll be having another one in the Fall.

Also, during this month QuiltingAroundTheWorld.com has had a Bounce Contest! Every day, you work 20-30 minutes on one of 3 projects (and 2 projects on Saturday). GG decides which numbered project you work on. Lots of progress. I'm almost done with my Panther Wallhanging, finished all the blocks for my oldest UFO (started 1992) and got a good start on the next Halloween quilt (as you saw in previous entry).

Here's a photo of my 134 pyramids finished on Sunday!! This charm quilt has more than 1,000 different fabrics.


On the crochet front, since my cousin and his gal recently bought a house, I decided to make a granny square afghan for them using up the leftovers from the 2 floral afghans. They'll get a fancier one later, but right now, there is a house without an afghan and I need to correct that situation. I'm using 2 sizes of blocks, one block being the same size as 4 put together to get a more homey look. Guys are kindof funny about afghans. They can't be too 'pretty.' Anyway, 3 blocks are done and it is both my TV and away from home project.

Spiderweb Halloween Quilt Bounce

At my quilting board, QuiltingAroundTheWorld, I joined a Bounce Contest. Every day (and twice on Saturdays), Glenda posts which of 3 projects we should be working on for 20-30 minutes. Yes, and we get points (and a chance to win a grand prize). My projects are the 1000 Pyramids, a spiderweb Halloween quilt and a Panther wallhanging.

I started the Spiderweb quilt back in the 90s but just really didn't have the skill to do hexagons. I looked at this project a lot with the intentions of doing it and then just never got to it. However, since this is the year when I'm using up all the Halloween fabric, it is project #2 (as well as #2 in the Bounce Contest. I finished the first block yesterday. Cool, huh?



I'm getting ready for a garage sale for next week, so am going through the agonizing task of figuring out what stuff to get rid of to trim down my clutter. It's all GOOD STUFF, but I just don't have the space for all of it (boo hoo!).

Public Service Announcement: I recommend that you get a combo carbon monoxide/gas detector for your basement. Many people over the age of 50 cannot smell gas until it is quite strong. Ours alerted us to a leak 4 days before we could smell it. There was a pinhole in the pipe leading to the furnace, so even if you don't have your furnace running, there could be problems. We thought the alarm might be faulty. Nope. Just detects gas at a lower range than people can.