Deja Vu All Over Again

Remember these handy-dandy little looms? When I was about 8, I got one of these and spent countless hours making potholders on it. In fact, I think every relative got a potholder for Christmas that year!!! I found this loom several years ago at an antique mall and just had to have it. Sad to say, those loopy, stretchy things you weave with are still as awful as they were 56 years ago!!! But the enjoyment of weaving was as fine as ever. In fact, this craft may have been the one that lit the fire....







Well, I kept seeing these little loomy things at the craft stores and they were tugging at my heart big time. Didn't really know what the heck they were used for, but that 50% off coupon at JoAnn's was "burning a hole in my pocket", as Mom used to say. I knew they had something to do with knitting and since I have a humongous yarn stash, I bought one. Got it home and tried to figure out how to use it from the enclosed directions. Let's just say, that wasn't going to happen! Thank goodness for the internet. I found all kinds of help there! Since I make charity hats--both knit and crochet--and am remarkably slow at knitting and crocheting, I think this will be a faster way to go. Great mindless handwork for TV time.







This is the underside of the knitting. Apparently these little knitting looms date back at least as far as the 1700s when they were known as "Knitting Jennies". The womenfolk would card and spin the wool and the menfolk would knit lightweight blankets and sheets. From the info I have been able to gather, you can make almost anything you can knit on regular needles!!! I'll probably stick to hats for the time being.









However, for my first project I am doing this cute little neckroll pillow from a free project sheet. I think it will be cute.




Went to the post office this morning to mail off my personal property and real estate taxes (ugh, why do they have to come so close to Christmas???) and found these great knitty-looking Christmas stamps. Are they not cute as the dickens????






















GO TIGERS!!!!!

Woohoo Mizzou!!!

Love those Tigers!!!!

This blog will return to quilty content soon! Really.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Not Sew Much

Been a busy week so not a lot of quilting has happened here at KC Quilter-land! Some binding of wallhangings, some knitting, some Christmas decorating... Yesterday was my mini-group get-together and one of our members is in charge of this year's scrap quilt for our guild. I should explain, my guild makes an opportunity quilt to raffle off to the public at the annual quilt show. We also make a scrap quilt that is just for membership to purchase chances on. This year's scrap quilt will be a string quilt---yay! Members are given rectangles of a light-weight
muslin and are to sew strings of Christmas fabrics and Christmas colors onto this muslin foundation. The "in-charge" gal will set them into a quilt using this configuration. The colors are not as pretty in the photo as I had to use my camera phone. I just love, love, love this and will purchase many chances! The drawing will not be until next fall so I may have to start one of my own LOL to use up those gazillion bits of Christmas fabrics I just HAD to have.

On the design wall are these blocks for the Farmers Market quilt we are doing over on Pat Sloan's Yahoo group. Each month brings a new surprise from Pat! They are so fun, quick and easy that I can hardly wait each month for the new one.

On the shopping front I found this luscious doublefaced quilted fabric at Joann's the other day--on sale. Just right for a new bag, doncha think? And they sell those wonderful magnetic snaps for bags for 6 sets/$2.99!!! I have been paying $3.00 for one set! They also carry those newfangled bobbin sidewinders but were out of them the day I was in there, of course. But I was thinking they would be a steal with a 40% off coupon!

Okay, now it is time to be a grown-up and start spending my money on presents for OTHER people......

Orange Is the Word

At guild meeting Thursday our speaker was a quilt shop owner whose program was a brief overview of what's new in quilting, gleaned from her recent trip to Houston market. She saw lots of orange tones in the new fabric lines! Well, I do find myself drawn to the gorgeous shades of corals and pumpkins. She said the large florals seem to be on the wane. She also stated that she thought DMC floss would soon be a thing of the past, due to some color-running issues. I've never had a problem with DMC floss running but apparently some have. She was pushing the Prescencia flosses. I have used it and do love the yummy color selection. She said it was colorfast and she is seeing lots of conversion charts for DMC to Prescencia. Another big trend she noted was the use of embroidery in quilts--both hand and machine. (Maybe I'll finally get my money's worth out of that embroidery module!) Thirties prints will be back with a vengeance. In addition to the extremely popular jelly rolls and charm squares, fabric will be sold in "cake layers" which are 10" x 10" charms. She showed a few new products--the extra-large yoyo maker and colored tape for acrylic rulers and some rotary cutter gadgetry, to name a few. I purchased Judy Laquidara's wonderful book (Hi, Judy!) from her:

And look at these two amazing quilts inside!!! Hourglass Surrounded--wow, does that pop right off the page. Yep, orange IS the word. Love the graphic repeat quality and the secondary patterns of this quilt. Keep In Touch is so-o-o sweet and the adorable ribbon-y border is so eyecatching.

She immediately sold out of a new pattern by the lady who is famous for the Yellow Brick Road pattern. (Sorry, I'm having a senior moment here and can't remember if her name is Terry Adkins, Atkins, Adkinson.....) It is a four-hour beauty and I added my name to the list of folks to be called when it comes in!!!!

Today's lunch: Potato Soup in the Crock Pot

Put in the crock pot 6 potatoes--peeled and cubed, a small onion--diced, a stalk of celery--diced, 2 14 1/2 oz. cans chicken broth plus enough water to make 5 cups total, 1/3 cup margarine--cubed, salt, pepper, celery salt to taste. Cover and cook for 10 - 12 hours on low. During the last hour of cooking add a 13 oz. can of evaporated milk, 1 cup cubed Velveeta, and 4 slices bacon that have been fried crisp & crumbled. Mmmm...serve with a topping of chives or chopped green onion. Also, there will be a cheesy herb bread from the bread machine.

Can't get enough hot soup in November!

Sidetracked

After stitching up the first sixteen blocks for Cotton Candy, I decided to set those aside to finish up two little Christmas wallhangings. The components for 7 more blocks are patiently waiting right next to my sewing machine. I cut an extra five to enlarge the quilt for my queen-sized bed. And I am itching to design some kind of appliqued border to jazz it up a bit. Hmmm...any ideas for the applique?

The first Christmas wallhanging is a Thimbleberries panel called Snow Birds. Just fell in love with it on an impromptu trip to the quilt shop the other day. I am nuts over vintage children's prints. I am doing some very simple quilting on it--just enough to hold the layers together LOL! I want to get it up on the wall this week. Yep, I am one of those people who starts putting up Christmas right after Halloween! Since my sister always hosts the family Thanksgiving dinner and I host the family Christmas, my house doesn't get much of a Thanksgiving twist. The second wallhanging is the twelve days of Christmas folk art piece I worked on this past summer. I am calling it My True Love Gave to Me. It is all pin-basted and waiting in queue. Most of the blocks are from the Cheri Saffiote book, 301 Country Christmas Quilt Blocks. I adore this book and will make some pillows for my rustic bench using some of the other block patterns. So prim, so folk art!!!

Then, while putting some books away in my quilt library, I noticed this Debbie Mumm book that I bought several years ago at my school's book fair. I don't use Debbie Mumm patterns much at all, but this book seemed to have some darling ideas for my partridge-in-a-pear-tree dining room. What I like about it is that she incorporates other crafts with the quilting--centerpieces, aprons, recipes, etc. Now I think I need to go back through some of my other older books!!!