The Quilt is Back!

 I got a call from Pam, the lady who is doing the finish stitching on my quilt, to give me the good news that she was done a full week ahead of schedule.  I couldn't wait to go get it and am absolutely thrilled with the results! As you'll see for yourself, it turned out even better than we hoped.  If you click on the actual picture you can see the detail better.

This is the back side so you can see the detail in the stitching.This essentially makes it a reversible quilt.

The front side.

Details of the front-highlighting the cardinal profile.

Here it is folded down so you can see both sides at the same time. 

Now I just have to put on the binding all around the edges. I am thrilled .

Table Topper

Four women from church are getting together each Thursday night to "play". This is what we did in the last 2 weeks.  Each person did their own with their own fabric colors. Here is mine.  I sewed these squares together at home and brought this to our Thursday night group.

 We then cut them apart with a cool twisted ruler that Melissa has.  After resewing them together I ended up with this 20 inch square table topper.

 This twisted ruler is so quick and fun.  You magically get to see plain square blocks get turned into pinwheels.  I put a yellow border around it when I was finished and am in the process of sewing on the brown bias tape trim.  I made this bias tape to use as the trim.

Bias tape is so much fun to make.  You get to use your special fabric to match whatever project you are doing.  It is more versatile than the boring stuff from the store. I made a big  batch of this since this is the same bias tape I will be using for my big quilt when I get it back from the long-arm quilter. I had a fun Sunday. Tomorrow....back to the wedding dress. Sara is coming for another fitting next week. I will have the sleeves and the zipper in by then.

My pieced quilt-top is done

 I have completed piecing the top of my quilt. Here it is spread out on the living room floor since I needed to square it up to the backing.  The backing is the little bit of white edging you see.  The overall dimension is 100X100 inches.

This is Pam's long-arm quilter.  This machine is amazing!!!!!  No wonder it costs tens of thousands of dollars.  She had books and books of patterns we could choose from. We were even able to project the images up on that huge screen in order to get a good visual of what it will look like. We decided on the cardinal/dogwood blossom print below to use as the quilt design and a shimmery brown thread to use. It looks amazing. She will program it to print the first row facing one direction and the next row to face the opposite direction. This info may not be doing it justice but it looked really cool up on the screen and I think it will be amazing when we get it back.  She will have it about 2 weeks.  

Christmas Decorations

Last year we did not put up any decorations as were were in the process of moving and things were packed up. So when it came time to decorate the house this year it was fun "rediscovering" our favorite items and locating places for them in the new house. Here are a few focal points.

 The tree fits nicely where we envisioned it when planning and building.

 The fireplace mantle with all the painted Santas. These were displayed on the piano for decades and we are happy with the new display upon Dad's mantle.

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A close-up of the Santas

Of course we had to put a string of lights up on the chickens home. 

Success at Last

Many of you know I took up deer hunting over the last year.  Like many sports/hobbies, it takes a fair amount of equipment to be successful. I have  acquired clothing (camo), a tree stand, a crossbow, black powder rifle and a conventional rifle in order to pursue this sport. In NC, we have three different seasons, archery, black powder and rifle, each providing an opportunity to hunt while limiting access to other types. Lisa has been very understanding and willing to let me pursue this sport which I really appreciate.

I spent a lot of time in the woods since deer season started back in early September. Alas, it has been a difficult year, with fewer deer available as well as crazy weather when I was able to hunt. enough excuses, I have enjoyed my time in the woods and have learned a great deal about wildlife, our beautiful western North Carolina ecology and how to be patient and still, something my elementary school teacher would be most impressed with.  About two weeks ago I shot a beautiful buck on the first day of rifle season, however, despite a good blood trail, we were not able to locate him in very heavy cover: very depressing. This past Saturday, all the hard work finally paid off. While hunting near a local power line right of way, we spotted three deer making their way toward us. We waited until they got approximately 70 yards away before taking a shot. I was fortunate enough to shot mine through the shoulders which prevented it from going very far after the shot.  Needless to say, it was extremely satisfying to finally complete a goal you've spent a significant amount of time  to accomplish.

after dragging it out, we gutted and skinned it before taking it to the butcher for hanging and processing.

This deer will add to our larder and supplement the food we grew in our garden. Lisa and I both enjoy venison and look forward to enjoying this through the winter.  There is still a little time left to the season, I'll be out there seeing if I can add another to the freezer before its all over for another year.