Warming up while cooling off?

The weather has been unusually cool for Tucson in October. All of my company got to feel the beautiful weather, and then it turned cool when they left. I actually like cooler weather better, so I'm OK with this change, but the house is a bit too cool for comfort since I refuse to turn on the heat. See the mug on the table, it's hot spiced cider, my way of warming up!

I'm trying to pick up some of my projects now that life is returning to normal. I had some blocks trimmed, and I got all of those sewn up this morning, but I had these piles left to trim. I opted to sit at the kitchen pile and trim instead of standing in my sewing room, somehow the kitchen seemed like it would be warmer. Why it seemed that way I have no idea, since I didn't cook at all today, and decided we could survive on leftovers :-)

Sometimes I really have a struggle making myself do this type of tedious trimming. The directions I am using call for making the blocks oversized and then trim. I know it will be more accurate this way, and these are scraps I feel no guilt about throwing away! I got everything trimmed and then cut the blocks into smaller pieces, so I can sew them together again tomorrow! I am hoping to get all the blocks for this quilt sewn tomorrow, as well as do a bit of cutting. This quilt will need borders cut, and I have another that needs sashing and borders cut. If I can get all of that done tomorrow, I can start assembling both quilts next week.

We are definitely in the time of year when I must be careful which pictures I post. The two quilts I am currently working on will both be gifts, and I have a pretty long list of gifts I'd like to make. Only time will tell how much I will actually get done before the holidays. I'll have to see if I can go from warming up to hot on sewing projects!

Reception

DH is taking all our out-of-town company to the airport, The washer, dryer, and dishwasher are busy, and for the first time in two weeks, I am not busy! We had a great time with everyone, and the reception was wonderful! That said, I am tired and a little quiet sounds pretty good right now.

I uploaded a few photos in no particular order.

Here is my MIL with the wedding cake she made for DD#3. She did a very nice job.

Here is a close up of the cake topper. It was one of the few things DSIL really wanted. Call of Duty 4 is his favorite video game, and when he saw a picture of a cake topper with the bride dragging the groom away from playing video games he loved it! We bought all the pieces and DD#3 put it together.

Here is DD#3 and DSIL cutting the cake. The song for the cake cutting was

"How Sweet it Is To Be Loved by You".

Instead of having a traditional head table, the bride and groom had a sweetheart table. I made their table runner fancier than the others, and put the bridal bouquet on it.

Their first dance done to "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith.

DS the Elder dancing with DD#2, who was the Maid of Honor.

DS the Younger with some of our nieces. He is quite the dancer and stole the show a few times.

I know there are photos of DH and I, but I couldn't locate them on the computer. I wanted to post one of us together. When we load more pics on the computer I may post a few more. I am also hoping to be able to post a video of the father/daughter dance, which is very cute.

The reception was so much fun, and I think for us it was better that the wedding and reception were separate. I know it's not traditional, but we're not very traditional people. When DH and I got married, we eloped and my MIL and FIL gave us a reception a week later. That was amazing considering they had no idea we were getting married! The break between the two really makes both less stressful.

We actually came in under budget which is incredible! We were blessed by so many people's talents. The DJ is a family friend, and he did a great job. I believe it was his suggestion to do the garter to the "Mission Impossible" theme. Too fun! Other friends took video and photos. I already mentioned that my MIL made the wedding cake. DD#3 did several projects to personalize her reception like the cake topper, making the wedding favors, and making over the guest book and pen. What a blessing to be surrounded by people willing to give of their talent!

Thanks to everyone who helped, and if I forgot to mention you, please forgive me.

Round table runners

I haven't posted in a while, but I have out-of-town company here. We've been doing all sorts of sightseeing and having a great time visiting. I hadn't completed the table runners for DD#3's reception before they got here, and the reception is Sunday, so I've been stealing a few minutes here and there to get them finished. I just finished the last one a few minutes ago. The table runners were all from stash :-)

Here is a completed table runner. I can't take credit for the prairie point binding. The binding came with the prairie points already attached. I haven't seen binding like this anywhere besides the place I bought it. There is this great fabric store in Tucson, and I've heard that there a couple in Phoenix as well. It is called SAS Fabrics by the Pound. It is misnamed at this point in time, because as far as I know, the only thing they sell by the pound now is leather scraps. Anyway, the one I go to is in this very old building, and it has everything anyone who does any type of sewing could want. It has some pretty old stuff (definitely some 70's and 80's stuff in there) as well as fairly new stuff. Their prices are amazing, where else can you find a zipper for less than 25 cents? I bought this prairie point binding about a year ago, and they had it for $4 a BOLT! The bolt itself was marked $3.98 a yard, but they were selling the entire bolt for $4. I bought one bolt of every color they had at the time, which was five colors. I made 12 table runners and it took the entire bolt of white. There was so little left (about a foot) I just tossed it out.

A fabric bowl on the table runner. The wedding favors and some Hershey's hugs and kisses will be in the bowls at the reception.

I am so excited my custom acrylic insert arrived today. Now my sewing machine and cabinet are getting along much better!

I probably won't post for another week or so, when things quiet down after the reception is over and the company scatters in their various directions.

Fabric bowls

When we started thinking about centerpieces for DD#3's reception, we threw out several ideas. Our venue is very particular about candles, so we didn't want to try to come up with something they would accept. I saw a site online that had centerpieces that held the wedding favors. We all liked that idea, but the prices were very high, so we had to come up with a more affordable option. I had thought of shopping thrift stores and doing a shabby chic type arrangement on each table, but DD#3 wanted all the tables to match. That wasn't likely in thrift stores. I remembered a book I had purchased a while back about making fabric bowls. I showed it to DD#3 and she liked this idea, so the centerpieces will be fabric bowls with the favors inside.

Now I hadn't ever made a fabric bowl, but I bought the supplies and dove in. Now I've made twelve, and they are pretty easy to make. They did take a bit longer than I bargained for, and they used a lot of thread. I went through 2 -1000m spools making these.

Here are all 12, with most stacked in the middle.

A bird's eye view of the top.

A bottom view.

These bowls can be flipped inside out, and the white would become the outside and the black the inside. They are pretty sturdy. I happened to find the templates on clearance so I bought them, and I'm glad I did. If I had only been making one or two, it wouldn't have bothered me to do them without the templates, but having templates made cutting and marking 12 much faster.

Making these really got my imagination going. I like doing plastic canvas, and I always enjoyed making the 3D projects. I realized with this fusible stabilizer, I could make a lot of the projects I used to do with plastic canvas, but faster with fabric. Too many ideas are now flitting through my head! No time to do them, but lots of ideas.

DD#3's wedding quilt came back from the longarmer today. It looks great, and I am so pleased. I am hoping to get the binding on tomorrow, and then on to the next wedding project.

Three bound

Here are three of my quilted tops bound. I have two more that need binding. I'm planning on getting those done sometime this week. I did get my quilting goals done. I only have one top left unquilted, and it is loaded on the frame.

This is the back of one of those quilts. I have a whole bolt of the large print fabric, but I have been hesitating to use it, just because I was too lazy to match up the design on a wide quilt. Well, I decided I have two easy options if I don't want to match up the design, and both involve two fabrics. On this one, I cut the large print on the fold, and just added a second fabric in the width I needed. I could also add a second fabric on both sides of the large print for a quick backing. I really like the way this looks, and it was very easy to do, so I'm thinking several of my next quilts will have this fabric for backings and my bolt will soon be gone. I am always amazed at how fast I can go through a bolt of fabric if I'm using it for backings. I've finished so many quilt lately, my bolts are going down pretty quickly. I think I've emptied four bolts so far this year, and I bought my first bolt two years ago. Once I get the other two quilts bound, I think I'll be close to 200 yards used for the year.

Hopefully my next post will have pics of some of the things I'm making for DD#3's reception! Time to get get going on that.