This will be our 18th Halloween here at the Three Cats Ranch. In all that time, we've never had a single trick-or-treater. Halloween is kind of a non-event around here. Still, it used to be a lot of fun. Here are some images of some of my favorite trick-or-treaters.
With Thanksgiving not far away, here's some food for thought (pun totally intended).
Halloween aside, here's what's been going on. When it was time to stop yesterday morning, there was just a little bit left to do on the first plate for Pieces of the Past. When I got home, Stitching Cat was at the ready, helping me get it over the finish line. You certainly can't fault her work ethic.
In just a few minutes, I had it all finished.
There were really no fancy stitches to speak of on this first one. The fanciest were the lazy daisy stitches, and those aren't difficult.
After that, I got to work sewing the next three borders on Semper Fi. The borders were made, and so this went together fairly quickly. I must apologize for the blur in these next two images. I started shooting this without flash because the flash makes the center of the quilt bright, while the outer edges lie in shadow. I just need to figure out a way to hold still when I press the shutter.
When finished, this will technically be king-sized, although my original tulip version fits perfectly as a queen-sized bedspread. All of that to say that the quilt is fairly large now...at least twin sized, and possibly full-sized. It's getting harder to photograph as it gets larger.
Next, I'll be adding an 8-inch border of the flag fabric. I laid it down beside the quilt yesterday to get a better look. The flag fabric will be the 11th of 15 borders.
When that's finished, there will be two more narrow borders, and then I'll be back to work on the stars. It's coming along. I'd hoped to have it finished by the weekend, but that might be overly optimistic.
With my latest slow-stitching project finished, I saved some time at the end of the day to make up the first tree for Twelve Trees for Christmas. There was a little bit of fabric left from the Snow Globes quilt, and so I'll use that for the background.
I've already determined that pigma micron pens won't trace over the stamped snowflakes on this fabric, and so I'm using a Frixion pen. I've read different opinions about whether the ink in Frixion pens is safe on fabric, but I'm going to ignore my worries about that for this piece. I went ahead and traced it. The trees are only 3 inches when finished, and so the tracing is fairly precise and tiny. The Frixion pens have the advantage of disappearing when heat is applied, and so I wasn't so worried about keeping my lines exact. It's good enough for a stitching guide.
Now it's hooped up and ready to go. I love a project that fits completely inside my hoop. This hoop is only 4 inches, and so it's easy to hold too.
Not all 12 trees have beads, but this first one does. Checking the tracking number on the beads I ordered, I'm expecting to receive them today.
There's a grocery shopping trip on today's agenda, but nothing else. There should be plenty of time for both fast and slow stitching. It's going to be a good day.
9 comments:
I love the Semper Fi quilt. I have used frixion pens for embroidery and they have worked fine for me. I have started using a hair dryer instead of an iron to make the lines disappear. The only time I have had problems with the pens was on batik fabric where it left a shadow, so I stopped using it for batiks. I also was wondering if maybe pressing the iron on the batiks “helped” make the shadow line, so that’s when I started using a hair dryer.
We live on a busy road, so no trick-or-treaters for us either for the last 17 years. (To be honest, we leave the light off just in case - too busy out there to encourage it!) I, too, have heard mixed reviews about the Frixion pens, the biggest trouble being that if you put it in the freezer, the lines come back. But since I'm pretty sure putting my quilts in the freezer is a poor storage option, I'm good. And taking photos - I watched something somewhere that they were teaching to shoot a gun and said exhale and, as the last air leaves your lungs, pull the trigger. Seems to have worked well for me in taking photos, too! Usually...worth a shot for you maybe?
We haven't had any trick or treaters in nearly 20 years so halloween is a total non-event here too. We're expecting high winds, and rain changing to snow tonight, a good time to stay inside and hand quilt! Love those tiny trees already, not to mention Pieces of the Past. That first plate finished really quickly, Sadie has really developed her skills!
You & Sadie did a wonderful job on the first plate!
The little Christmas tree is so cute! Looking forward to seeing it beaded too.
I knew you said how many borders for Semper Fi, but I didn't translate that into bed size - wow! It is looking semper fabulous!
Your young trick or treat stars are so cute. Ours never wanted to dress up when they were young but love to now. No one rang our doorbell tonight although there were parents and children out and about.
We don't get any tricksters or treaters up on our hillside either. The power has gone out twice so far and we are on flood alert until tomorrow afternoon. I spent the morning running - post office, bank, Mom's meds pick up, and grocery shopping for us both before this storm came in. Still sorting fabrics for the big cull!
We didn't have the number of trick or treaters we've had in the past. First it was really cold last night and secondly it was a school night. Love the pictures of the boys in Halloween costumes. They grow up so fast don't they. The SIT's Halloween plan was to attend the annual showing of Rocky Horror picture show at the student union. She was taking a friend who had never heard of it. Can't wait to hear how that went. Happy stitching today.
I've not stitched with beads, so it will be fun to see you progress with this. Sadie looks quite comfy overseeing your lovely work!
Love your costumed kids. What fond memories you must have. There is a street not too far from us called Holly Street. For the last 20 years they have done Hollyween. It gets bigger each year. It became a traffic concern about 5-6 years ago. This year the official count was 1,604 people. They have hotdogs and other food as well as activities for all. As a result we had about 30 kids. We used to have about 100. Being a school night the kids disappeared around 8:00.
You are looking good with the plates. I will like seeing you making each part. Hu-rah for the Marine Corps quilt.
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