A Rainy Day in Texas

It is raining today,

a good day to stay in and stitch with the grand-kitty.

This is baby Pepper in July 2012
on my my favorite blue and yellow bed quilt
when my daughter brought here for a visit.

Quilty Kitty Buddies
This is one of the first photos I have of Katniss and Pepper together.
We adopted Katniss from the shelter where Pepper was found.
Katniss had been picked up as a stray at about two years old.

I love having my quilty kitty and doggie buddies keeping me company
while I stay in out of the rain and stitch.

Grampy is outside sitting under the overhang and whittling
dowels to make the monkey bars for Everly's new playset.

Everly does not mind the rain and is exploring as he builds.

Everly is helping by bringing pieces to Grampy
to add to her tower.

This is a nice play set but the instructions are very difficult to follow
and the pieces have not fit together easily.
It is a good thing Grampy can make it work
by whittling, cutting, filing and drilling.

Hope to have finished photos soon ... :)

Hill Country Pumpkin Pie

Mmmmm ... Pumpkin Pie <3 

This is the pie my daughter made for our Thanksgiving feast.

It is now crumbs.

Time to make another pie.

My daughter made our traditional pumpkin pie with 

My Homemade Pumpkin Pie Recipe Here

and I posted that  I always use One-Pie Pumpkin for Maine

or cooked fresh pumpkin.

Here is Texas we found a very good canned pumpkin,

HEB Hill Country Solid Pack Pumpkin

HEB has it's own recipe 

Hill Country Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Yummy, yummy pumpkin pie.

Happy Thanksgiving and Black Friday Sales

There is pie...
and a porg because the force is very much with us
here in my daughter's home.

Our thoughts are with my son-in-law who enjoyed his Thanksgiving
dinner while deployed far far away.

May you and yours enjoy your feast!

 The Black Friday Sale is happening now 

at "my favorite online quilt shop

with a local quilt shop feel."

Click on the banner above to shop

or the one on the top of my sidebar

I will receive a small commission of the sale

with no added expense to you.

My blog does not track this information.

The Fat Quarter Shop site tracks the sale.

I am thankful to be affiliated in this small way with my favorite

place to shop for all my sewing and stitching needs.

Good Stuff

Good Prices

Good Service

and 

Good People.

Thank you, Fat Quarter Shop

A big thank you to all my readers who have supported my quilty habits

via these links.

I have much to be thankful for this year.

May you enjoy all life's blessings.

Stitching in Texas

For hand stitching here in Texas, I packed the

Vintage Christmas Cross Stitch

which I started last December.

I started this project Here

by stitching the white border and grid.

Now I am adding the cute Christmas motifs in the squares.

I have learned to "stitch in hand"

without a frame, this year and it makes my project more portable.

After seeing one of these online on the

Fat Quarter Stitch Facebook Group

that had a limited palate that I really liked,

I have decided to also limit mine.

I am using mostly the aurifloss that I bought last year

but will be supplementing with some DMC floss in Christmas colors.

So far I am happy with my progress.

Have  Happy Thanksgiving Weekend with you and yours! 

Under the Texas Skies

Grampy is building a better swing set

as our grand-darling outgrew the small one we purchased for her
when she was younger.

Many pieces and time taking.

Everly is helping as she is very interested

and can see how much fun it shall be.

Hope to have the climbing tower ready for play soon!

Binding Day is Done

The binding is done!

I love this project and cannot wait to show it to you

but it is the back of a new pattern release.

Reveal coming soon!

Here is the evening sky.

Tomorrow may be cloudy.

I will be working on a new project.

Happy stitching ... :) 

Sitting and Stitching in Texas

The skies are beautiful in Texas.

This photo was taken at daybreak in the back yard while I sipped my morning coffee. 

Hand stitching the binding to the back of my quilt.

The back is pieced from a panel and fabrics 

Home by Kathy Schmitz for Moda Fabrics 
@ Fat Quarter Shop

I decided not to use the black panel.

Since I am not home and found I forgot to back my favorite binding needles I am using one the Sashiko ones
that I packed for a small hand project.

My quilty kitty helper in Texas is my grandkitty, Pepper.

Kitty and I hope to have this binding done by the end of the day.

Happy sewing ...:) 

Sewing In Texas

Sewing my binding strips to my quilt.

I packed my quilt and binding fabric to finish this project
while I am here in Texas. 

Sewing here is Texas is  a family project.

Here my daughter is threading her machine for me.

Her machine is a Janome Platinum Gem 35,

the Anniversary Edition. 

We bought it for her to take to grad school.

It has now traveled through more states that I have

and is sewing very well.

It is a portable model of my regular machine 

and very easy for me to use.

Here it is on my daughter's sunny kitchen table

and I have my granddarling for a sewing buddy.

Everly loves to sit at the table with us and enjoy her tablet.

It was a lovely day.

Here is My Girl and Her Dad.

The Hub and I are having a wonderful visit.

Tomorrow I will hand sew he binding to the back of my quilt.

Have a happy weekend! 

Quilts and Fur Babies

Visiting with my furry grandbabies ... :) 

The quilt on her guestroom bed this year

is one I made in June 2012 and posted it ...

Here for the Quilt Blogger Festival 2012

I made pillowcases and toss pillows ... 

and mug rugs and  table quilt and curtain tie backs 

with the extra fabrics.

I am happy to snuggle under this well loved quilt while I am here

and pet my furry grandbabies

:-)  

Be Back Soon

Flying south today.

Soon to be sewing with this sweet girl and her mommy

on that cute Janome Jem.

Happy Sewing, Y'all! 

The Quilting Is Done

I used freezer paper motifs to finish up the quilting on the project.

Today I need to finish the packing.

More later ... <3 

VIP ~ Very Important Packing

Packing today for flying south for Thanksgiving

and our early "Grammy~Grampy Christmas." 

Must include the all important hand stitch projects for the airport and flight.

These little scissors have always make it through security with no questions asked.

The folding scissors in the small box are

Rose Gold Folding Scissors

The tiny ones with the pink sheath are

World's Smallest Scissors from ToolTron
I cannot tell you where I bought them as I have had them awhile
and all the other shopping links I checked said out of stock.

What stitching essentials would you pack for a getaway? 

Keeping Those Feed Doggies Rolling

I am still quilting.

I am also busy behind the quilty scenes packing for a trip,
getting my house ready for our trip,

and with other family matters.

Quilting as therapy applies here in the scrapatch today.

Another tool I find very useful ... 

Machingers Quilting Gloves

available in the link, at Joann Fabrics,  on Amazon

and other quilting supply places.

I wear the medium-large.

They are a little loose but I find this very comfy

as they never make my hands swell, even in the warm weather.

No warm weather here right now.

A cold gray rain has been falling all day.

I am at the deadline to complete the quilting on this project before I travel.

I may have to pack it with me to do the binding. 

Must keep quilting ... in the morning.

I always apply a little sweet scented hand cream before I put on my quilting gloves.
It helps relax me when I quilt.

Sweet quilty dreams! 

Stitch and Gift Idea of the Day ~ Folded Fabric Ornaments

Folded Fabric Ornaments

Another easy seasonal gift idea! 

Click Here for my Folded Fabric Ornament Tutorial

These are really easy to do ...

and look very pretty on the tree. 

Happy Sewing! 

Sew Easy Gifts ~ Quick Sew Jar Openers

I took a few minutes break from quilting for a hot cup of herbal tea and honey 
and to sew two of these 

Quick Gift Jar Openers
because I needed a couple of simple gifts for friends.

5 inch squares - 1 -2 -3
I had my walking foot on my machine which is what I like to use for these
and I decided the thread for my quilt
matched the gold in the fabrics just right.

I trim these after I sew and turn and use my
Clover 2 Point Turner
to push out the pints and smooth the edge seams.

I also do a quick press on the fabric side only
before I top stitch around the edges to close the seam. 

This is one of my most popular tutorials on my blog:

Full Tutorial for 

My Easy Jar Opener Tutorial Here

Twist and Turn Hexie Jar Openers

The back of these jar openers is no-slip

easyLiner

These make good no-slip coasters, too! 

It has been a really fun blog hop week seeing all the wonderful
Stitch It and Gift It Blog Hop
that I thought I would do some more stitching and gifting posts.

Time to resume my Quilting ... Quilting ... Quilting. 

This weekend I will be quilting This Project,

which will be featured on my blog in December

with a new free pattern release from Fat Quarter Shop.

Have a Happy Quilty Weekend!