Something Wicked This Way Crosses {Blog Hop}

Wendy from Why Knot Quilt?  and Mdm Samm from Sew We Quilt have continued a wicked tradition with hosting a wickedly fun blog hop for the fourth year in a row. I and the rest of today's wicked sewists plan on showing you lots of wonderfully wicked projects! 

Enjoy your Black Cat Crossing Blog Hoppers on the Eve of All-Hallows-Eve!

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Thursday, October 30

On the Banks of Frog Creek (You Are Here!)

How Art You?

Cucki Stitching Cove

Dancing Moon Farmstead

Life in the Scrapatch 

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Now, here are my two wicked projects... I was not able to purchase the very fun Black Cat Crossing fabrics, but I was able to dig through my stash and finally use some of the Halloween fabrics that I've bought over the years.

I have this family treasure in my kitchen that enjoys being dressed up for the holidays. I already have Christmas and Valentine's Day runners for it, so I was happy to have a wicked-good reason to sew up a Halloween one for it!

I googled "cat sillouettes" and searched and searched until I found this one that fit the runner perfectly. I then measured, cut and sewed and then sewed, measured and cut until the runner fit the antique kitchen cabinet. I quilted it with crazy lines to enhance the feeling of Halloween being a holiday of crazy surprises! 

 I had just enough of this fun fabric for the backing.

With all that cutting and measuring I did for the runner, I had some extras strips and scraps to use up. I figured a quick pillow was just the thing!

 The quilting was my favorite part of this!

My walking foot has been giving me some wicked tension issues, so all I could use was my regular foot. Straight lines can still make a great spider's web! Even E had fun following the lines :)

More stash fabrics for the pillow backing.

Thanks for stopping by! Now, go say "boo!" to those other bloggers listed at the top of this post... I hope you all have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

PS: Finishing these projects in time for the blog hop was also my ALYOF Goal finish for October. I was number #19 on the goal setting link party. Here is a link to my goal post.

ALYOF ~ March Goal Finished!

My March goal was to finish a quilt made with a quilt top that my Grandma made. 

Goal Post Here. 

(Number 85 on the Goal Setting Linky Post)

In that post, I wasn't yet sure if I wanted to quilt and bind it or if I was going to burp and tie it (also known as the pillowcase method).

I decided to quilt it with my walking foot with wavy lines from side to side. 

Many of the fabrics are from clothes that my mom and aunt wore (homemade) "way back when." :)

I made a scrappy binding out of 2.5" strips in my scrap collection. 

I used a white sheet from a thrift store for the backing.

 I look forward to working with another quilt top of my Grandma's soon!

What's a goal post without showing you my trusty cheerleader helping me take pictures.. and of course, there's Mute the Cat, too!

Linking up to several parties; please see my favorites' buttons in my sidebar.

Happy Halloween!

From all of us here on the farm... may your night be full of treats :)

Happy Halloween!!

PS: I may have had a little too much fun on PicMonkey creating this picture...

PPS: I am still surprised that Mute stayed still long enough for me to even capture this picture. He got extra pettings as a reward.

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The Unofficial 6 Months Post

Her official 6 months pictures are on the other computer... so this is what you get for now!

Evelyn had to survive a lot of changes this past month... mostly with the big move! We've also been busy with some going-here and rushing-there, so she's getting used to being out and about more often. These top pictures are all back in Montana. We spent quite a bit of time out on our deck and going for walks... all the while, being thankful that we would be on the farm during the winter. She would have gone stir-crazy in the apartment! She loves the outdoors :) 

Oh, and she loves paper. Loves, loves, loves it. Even glossy paper... like on magazines... really, whatever she can get her little grabby hands on.

 She took to the crib just fine. She is still eating twice a night, but at least she's in the crib! Just recently, we decided to also move ourselves out of the room... we'll see if that helps her twice-a-night-hungerings decrease.

She has already fallen asleep on the 4 wheeler and has worn cousins' hand-me-downs! Yay for family.

 Like I said. She loves outdoors. And cats. She laughs at Mute. And Mute loves using Evelyn's foot as a head scratcher. Whatever works :) However, Evelyn is not always content in just sitting and relaxing outside. Nope. She needs to explore. She scoots right to the edge of the blanket and plays in the grass (aka... eats the grass, leaves, etc).

She has met some of my friends, cheered for the Packers (this attire was acceptable to Dan and his family since the Vikings weren't playing...) and survived her 6 months shots. She wasn't happy afterwards. She was feverish and wanted to sleep all day. Could she sleep by herself? Nope. She needed to be on Momma. All day. My arms got tired. Poor thing.


Like I said, her official monthly pictures will be posted later. Until then, have a wonderful day :)

It's a Strawberry Swap!

  Erin from Why Not Sew? organized a strawberry pincushion swap a few weeks ago, and our packages must be mailed by... Yesterday! Don't worry, I made the deadline! I made the two strawberries in the first picture, plus I added some tidbits of sewing goodies from my stash into the package! I hope my swap partner enjoys!

I've never made a strawberry pincushion before, but this tutorial helped lead me in the right direction.  I couldn't find my poly-fil stuffing (we're still living out of boxes around here!), so I had to cut up bits of batting. I did make sure that pins could easily poke in before I made too many. You can see below that I also experimented with a Christmas strawberry, but I just didn't like out it turned out. I'll have to try again someday.

 Evelyn enjoyed some Grandma time outside while I rushed to take pictures before the rain came. The farmers were in a rush too... get as much combined before the fields get too wet!! As always, there's Mute begging for some attention :)

The same day that I got serious about finishing my strawberries, my swap package arrived! Two strawberries, a needle book, a yummy charm back and some enticing strawberry-flavored goodies... I can't wait to dig in :) Thank you, Amy!!

Harvest Has Started

 This may not be our combine (you can tell by the color... it's actually our neighbor's), but the meaning is still the same. 

Harvest Has Started.

We're working on the soybeans and we're racing against the clock (isn't that true for just about anything, though?). The forecast says rain and maybe even snow (gasp!) could occur later this week... so let's get as much beans in as possible! Hopefully one of these days, I'll go take a picture of the correct color of combine ;)

 So, while Daddy and Grandpa are busy running machinery, Evelyn and I and Grandma get to do some extra bonding. She's getting more and more mobile - for a few days it was mostly backwards movement, which explains how she got under the bed! - but yesterday she was really going after a rolling ball! She may not be fast, but she is starting to get the hang of it! Oh, and she loves the Mute the Cat (his name is Mute since when he opens his mouth to meow, but nothing comes out). I've started to let her "pet" him a few times a day and of course she loves it. Although, can I even call it petting if it's more of a pulling? We're working on it ;)

She still really struggles to go down for naps... but she still wins us over with her cute smiles. Silly girl.