Hi Quilting Friends,
Whew! October has been another busy month, filled with loads of activity. Here are a few highlights!
Mr. Fix-It and I drove over to Spring, TX, to see the “Big Boy” 4014 steam engine on it’s journey through Texas. It definitely lived up to its name.
Mr. Fix-It and I spent a week on Galveston Island, sharing a rented beach house with our neighbors and our “girls”.
Our brothers, Blake and Richard came for a quick visit last week. It was such fun to have all four of “us kids” together for a couple of days. Last time we were all together was almost 6 years ago, and we agreed that this needs to happen more frequently.
Mr. Fix-It and I went to the Texas Renaissance Festival this past weekend. We both enjoyed several performances, as well as “people watching”. There were some fabulous costumes, but we both went with hats instead.
In other news, I am a winner. Yes, that’s right! I won a white Kona cotton rollup because I entered a drawing on the “Songbird Designs” blog. Thanks Brenda, and thanks to MSQC who provided the prize.
Are you ready for the holiday rush? I know that I’m not nearly ready yet, but I’ve started planning a few projects and adding events to my calendar. I will try to pace myself, limit the number of new projects that I take on, and enjoy the lead-up to Thanksgiving and Christmas.
This year should be more relaxed than previous years, since I won’t need to deal with semester exams and grades right before Christmas break. One more reason that I love retirement!
Project #2- Black & White Delight Quilt
My “One Monthly Goal” for October was to quilt 7 more blocks of the “Black and White Delight” quilt. Ta-Done, and here’s a photo of one block (they’re identical)! Read more about it HERE!
I just finished quilting the applique borders, and it was a ton of fun! I decided to use a combination of several quilting designs, including pebbles, leaves, swirls, and serpentine lines, around the applique flower garland.
The black binding has been stitched onto the edges, and hand-stitching is in progress. I have decided to add a bit of quilting inside the large and medium applique flowers to ensure that my batting doesn’t migrate later on. I’ll add the stitching after the binding is done.
I will definitely cross the finish line with this project very soon, so my November “One Monthly Goal” is to finish up “Black and White Delight” and take pictures of it. Ready? Set, SEW!
Stories from the Sewing Room One Monthly Goal November Link Up
Project #3- Lone Star Quilt
No progress this month, since I still don’t have a template to use for quilting the squares around the central star. Susan and I will attend the Houston International Quilt Festival tomorrow, so I’ll shop for a quilting template at that time. (I know that I could have ordered one and I would have it already, but it is fun to have something specific in mind when browsing the booths at Festival.)
Once I have my quilting template, there’s nothing to stop me from hand-quilting the squares that surround that center star!
Project#7- “Gnome for Thanksgiving” Challenge
I’ve just finished my project for the challenge, and I’m ready to share it on November 18 during the “Gnome for Thanksgiving” blog challenge. This is secret sewing, so no photos today. The gnomes are giddy with anticipation!
All of the fabric for my endeavor came from Ms P’s “extensive private textile collection”, housed at Susan’s studio, and the design idea has been brewing in my brain for about a year.
New Projects
The RSC color for October was “lights”, which I’ve interpreted as TAN and GRAY.
Read about my scrappy zip bag and place mat, HERE.
And read about my pretty gray Rolling Stone block HERE.
In my effort to use scraps, I’ve started yet another Christmas scrap quilt. It will be similar to this one that I made in 2022. (More HERE)–
I’ll use both red and green for the larger “bricks” instead of just red this time, so I’ve sorted my scraps and started cutting the rectangles to size.
As promised in an earlier post, here are photos of the “Dia de Muertos” place mat set that I made for the “Something Wicked” challenge. Read more HERE.
PHD Progress
Here’s my PHD task list for October, with a few more tasks shaded in-
Here’s my updated PHD tracker for October! The 12 finishes will qualify me for a PHD in 2024, as long as I finish up my new starts during the next two months. Yay! 🌟
Your turn! Link up your post to share your PHD progress, and then visit the other linked posts to congratulate and encourage. We can’t wait to see what you have been stitching!
I’ll be back at the end of November with another update. Until then, keep on stitchin’!
Happy quilting,
Sharon
Ms P Designs USA 
What a fun month you’ve had, Sharon! It’s great you could get together with your siblings. And your Black and White Delight is truly a delight! I love those appliqued borders and look forward to seeing a close up of the quilting you did there. I’m working on my gnome project. I think it’s going to be a blast! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
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Thanks Brenda! Enjoy your weekend. Ms P Designs USA
http://www.mspdesignsusa.com
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Looking forward to seeing all the quilting photos for your black and white quilt.
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Thank you! I need to find the right spot for that photo shoot. 😊
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You definitely were busy with fun stuff in October. It’s a good month to get out and about in Texas, though it was still pretty warm most of the month. Congrats on reaching your PHD with the 12 completed projects. I won’t get close this year, but that’s OK, progress counts too. I didn’t think about all the grading that needs to be done before the Christmas holidays. Retirement definitely has it’s perks. Happy stitching this month.
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Thanks Kate! October was lovely, and November promises to be a little cooler so I anticipate having more adventures to enjoy. 😀
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