Some Stitching, Some Prepping, and Lots of Eating

More hexie flowers are complete for my Homage to Mutti project.  The circle of flowers is put together in thirds, so I will need three of each flower.  I’m getting faster at doing them, but that only helps if I sit down and start stitching. 

 

I did spend a lot of time since my last post prepping these little critters.  I hope that helps speed things along.

 

Like Wanda, I’m having trouble remembering what day of the week it is.  Thanksgiving was especially relaxing for me this year, and as usual, I ate too much.  Julia hosted and I only had to prepare two sides.  She did a lovely job.  

I was in a minority of one all day.  Everyone else at the table is supporting Texas A&M in tonight’s game and I was the target of a lot of good-natured teasing.  A&M has an extremely strong team this year.  I’m staying loyal to my Longhorns, though, and wearing my burnt orange today.  Hook’em!

 

Today also happens to be my birthday, one of those ending in “5.”  One of the goodies I received was this amaryllis.  It’s sitting next to the orchid I was gifted several birthdays ago.  This is the first wax-coated amaryllis I’ve had and I hope it blooms for me. 

 

These blooms are on a three-year-old minature rose bush.  I was surprised to see them this late in the year.

A Small Finish

I delayed this post until my Apple Core wall quilt reached Bound-Labeled-Done status.  I like the color mix and the block shape, but this project has convinced me that I don’t want to make another, at least using this method.  It served its purpose and kept me stitching while unable to access most of my stash and sewing machine, though.  So, no complaints.

I have all the 16-patch blocks I intended to make for my Thrift Meets Scrappy Challenge up on the design wall and am playing with arrangements in order to keep the busier neutrals from being too close to one another.  If I stop here, I will have a quilt that is approximately 48 X 64 inches.  This still seems a little small to me, and I haven’t decided whether or not to add borders.  Mostly I would just like to be finished.

 

My Homage to Mutti English Paper Piecing Project is progressing too.  Now I have four hexie flowers completed.  Mostly for the benefit of my memory, the picture includes the needles and thread I am using for the stitching.  Both are much finer than the ones I have used before.  I like the Bottom Line thread because it is nearly invisible when joining the pieces, but the ends tend to fray making it difficult to thread a needle.  Also, it is so fine I have to knot it at the needle’s eye to keep it from coming unthreaded.

My Fall porch flowers.

Rolling Along

I’ve completed 47 of these 16-patch blocks and need one more.  I’ll be happy when I can start joining them together.

 

With all the football on tv these days, I expected to complete more than this one hexagon flower for my handwork project.

 

One cactus plant has begun to bloom and is loaded with lots of buds.  This plant is usually the first, so hopefully the others will follow along shortly.  I rather like that they don’t all bloom at once, making the bloom season that much longer.

 

The orchid is also blooming.

 

The seven members of our neighborhood quilting group have had a hard time getting together for a meeting.  At least two are dealing with husbands’ health issues and one is now the primary care giver for her adult son who is seriously ill.  Four of us did manage to gather at our house Monday for a last meeting before the holiday season.  It was a very relaxing afternoon.  Husband decided to flee the scene and spent that time driving to a state historical site he had never visited.  However, he did enjoy the leftover tiramisu.