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Funoldhag

Almost Halloween

Here's a pretty little girl all dressed up for Halloween.   I so love everything done in this manner - I would guess it is from the 1920's.  She is so cute.

I have been working away at the granny square afghan and have most of the individual rows sewn together along with two long ones shown above.  Not lots of fun but necessary.  I probably could have been finished with it except for.......

the fact that I started another one!!  What in the heck am I thinking?  This is a stitch called larksfoot and it does go quickly, but I certainly don't need another afghan.  Monkey see, monkey want to do!!   With this, when you are done with the rows you are done.  In the middle picture, you can see some of the blooms and buds on my Christmas cactus that usually blooms for Halloween.  Not as many as a couple of years ago when it was just loaded with blooms. 
(Click to enlarge)

Working on Three Projects

I have been working on projects - but ones that I started and have not finished.  Three of them are lying around my living room right now and I kind of jump from one to another and slowly progress is being made.  My granny squares have been done for a long time, but not put together.  So I am in the process of joining them and then will have to crochet a border around the completed piece.  This kind of work is not fun - but it comes with the territory!   Next afghan I do will be a one piece!!

My Mexican Star is all together but the little triangle thingies have to be laid back and sewn down ala catherdral window.  I have maybe seven of them done.  All the time I work on these finishes I think of other things I would like to be start, but I'll bet most quilters do likewise.

Last winter I did the little snowman and now I am almost done with Santa.  Love these little embroideries.  Six or seven more snowflakes and a puff of wind in the corner and Santa is done.  There is a pattern for a tree, also, but I think I will pass on that one.  Found some cute fabric so will make a couple of little wallhangings.  So tonight while tv is on, I will work on one or the other or all and eventually they will be done.  (Click to enlarge)   

Two More Laurel Wreaths



Spent some time these past two rainy days cutting out leaves for the wreaths and there are plenty of them to be cut if I carry on with this quilt.  Wanted to see how it would look with some in a row and I pretty much like it.  No flower or bird in the center of the top two for now.  The little black splotch on the bottom flower is a piece of black with tiny white polka dots that I will use to replace the solid color already there.  It's hard to see unless you enlarge it.  Plan to use a little black and white in each center object and think that would add some sparkle.  Think for now this will go back in the box until after Christmas as I have lots of things I would like to do.   It seems the older I get, the slower I get but I'm not about to complain because I'm still moving and getting the fun things done.  Housework and cooking?  Not so much!  (Click to enlarge)

Choosing Pumpkins is Exhausting

First you have to get dressed in your jeans, cool hat and argyle socks - then meander all over looking for the perfect pumpkin.  Whew!  Looks like this is the one, finally, so now it's time to get a little rest.  More pictures on Mommy's new blog post.    (Click to enlarge)

Sweet Little Poem

There is so much to see on the internet - easy to spend way too much time just going from one blog to another and to different websites.  I love things from the 20's and 30's, especially relating to children.  Could it be because my childhood was in the thirties?   Talking Pinterest again, but I found my way to a blog http://loverforbooks.blogspot.com/ that is full of beautiful illustrations with many of them from my time.  This sweet little illustration (the illustrator is unknown) accompanies a little poem that I have heard before.  It is by Dorothy Aldis.

Little
I am the sister of him,
And he is my brother.
He is too little for us
To talk to each other.

So every morning I show him
My doll and my book;
But every morning he still is
Too little to look.

Hope you enjoyed my little find!

Finished Tabletopper

All quilted and bound, the little Christmas tree tabletopper is done.  I chose not to make scalloped edges by following the bottom of the trees and the circle is really not an exact circle but that's okay.  I am going to put it under the quilt on the sewing room bed and that little hump on the edge will flatten down.  Love the way it looks with my old pitcher which I bought at an antique show a long time ago.  It's one of my favorite things.   And I have the Mexican Star all together but the borders-boy, that little bugger was a puzzle to piece and required several sessions of "unsewing".  Turned out great, though. (Click to enlarge) 

Mexican Star

Yesterday I took a class to make this Mexican Star wallhanging.  It was a fun day even though there were only six of us who signed up.  Our program chair was there, also, and she was working on a project for the monthly class she is teaching  which will culminate in a lovely large quilt for the people taking the class.   Today I have been working on getting my blocks finished and, by golly, I have done that.

This is a piece of batik that I have in the hanging.  I think this is gorgeous.  Planning the colors is part of the fun for me.  Sometimes, I question what I have picked out, but I am pretty happy with how this is turning out.  Piecing is not my first love in quilting and I most likely won't make another little quilt like this but amvery glad that I made this one.

Here it is laid out on the bed ready to be sewn together.  Next time I show it in a post, hopefully I will have it quilted and bound.  I took my camera along yesterday and, if you haven't already guessed, forgot to take it out and take pictures.  Eventually I hope to be able to show you the ones made by Stephanie, Kathy, Leslie, Marcia and Helen.  All of them are so pretty.
(Click to enlarge)

What a Picture

I don't go to facebook often and I am so glad I did today.   You can probably guess that this is my granddaughter and her now two month  old baby, Henry.  What a beautiful moment caught with a camera by Henry's daddy.  Hope you enjoy this as much as I do.  (Click to enlarge) 

Big Hilda

Duane Bryers is the creator of Big Hilda, a gorgeous, chubby redhead who was probably on the scene in the 1960's.  I found her a couple of years ago on someone's blog and just thought she was adorable.  So refreshing and reinforcing to the girls out there who have extra padding and lots of curves to see that Hilda is a really cute gal and pleasing to the eyes. 

Love this one of Hilda fishing.  Isn't she a doll?  I will do a post of her every once in a while.    Hope you are having a good weekend!

Some Pretty Old Toddler's Dresses

I have two very pretty, old dresses that are for a toddler or small child that came from the family that my parents rented our old house from.  They had three cottages along the river and our house was through the orchard and about a block from the river.  Dad worked out our $10.00 per month rent by taking care of the cottages - mowing, odd jobs.  There was a mother and two of her sons each with a place.  The mother - Grandma Lynch - had her house just full of wonderful old antiques which I was really too young to appreciate at the time.  I also have a chamber pot from her cottage and that is how I got into collecting those. 

Another dear little dress.  Pretty shadow stripe in this one.  Both feature very pretty lace trimming.

These adorable little shoes belonged to my husband.  The leather is so soft.  I think I bought new ribbon and threaded it through and also attached them together with it.

The darling little booties are also ones that Ray wore.  Those little bows are the original ties. 

And here is Hannah probably between two and three years old dressed in one of the little dresses and carrying a basket of dusty, dried flowers.  We were being silly and thought it would be fun to have her pose in the little dress.  More pictures in an album someplace but this one works well.   The basket is my one and only attempt at basket weaving which, I discovered, I do not like doing.  Love the baskets but not the wet materials.  (Click to enlarge)

Western Electric Sewing Machine

While we were living in Newton, Kansas, I bought this old sewing machine for $1.50 in an antique store.  What we did was turn it into a lamp by putting a curved rod with a socket for the bulb at the back of the wooden base.  Since I was in a phase of paper perforating in those days (and stencilling) I made a lampshade from scratch.    Those were really popular at the time and lots of fun to do.  I took a class to learn how and did quite a few of them.  Funny how things come and go.

This is in the basement - no place to have it upstairs.  Directly below this is a picture I found on the internet that shows how the machine looks in almost pristine condition.

The story with it is it acquired by the relatives of a woman who had it for many years.  The machines were made in the late 1890's and discontinued in 1918 by Western Electric. 

This is a closeup of mine - not as shiny by any means but the pretty decorations are not too badly worn.

Top picture from internet, lower one my machine.

Mine shows lots of wear and tear

Look how pretty the one above from the internet is. 

Here is what I keep on the bed of the machine - a couple of old scissors and a buttonhook.  Below is the foot pedal and connection that I don't have. 

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• What was making me think about this pretty old machine was all the gals at the sewing meets who have Featherweights.  They are beautiful little things and if I were younger I would invest in one.  Have no idea if anyone restores these little machines or not.  (Click to enlarge)

Found the Combination

After taking a timeout, I went back to the machine and finally found the combination to keep the thread from breaking.  Changed the needle, the bobbin thread and fiddled with the upper tension and something I did or all of it did the trick.  The machine was working beautifully at the quilting class on Wednesday so figured it had to be something else. 

Sometimes I am amazed at how good machine quilting looks on it's own - even something as simple and basic as what I do.  I get a lot of mileage out of loop-de-loops.  They are easier for me than stippling.  How I wish I had started machine quilting years and years ago, but at least I am glad that I can get by with what I do for my smaller pieces. 

Here are a couple of samples that I did last week - certainly nothing to be too proud of but maybe they show a bit of promise if I would sit down and do some practicing.  Regardless, it was a lot of fun and I'm glad I can do what I do.  Hope you're having a great weekend - it's certainly pretty here!
(Click to enlarge - see all my bobbles!)

A Little Christmas Project

Saw a table topper that I thought was so cute and am replicating it.   Is that a good word?  Found that I have plenty of Christmas fabrics from Christmases past so am doing one from my stash.  I have had the little trees blown up bigger and will probably do one that will almost fill the dining room table, but it is a bit cumbersome doing the buttonhole stitching on something that big with lots of twists and turns. 

The little round peppermint candy deal has been taken off.  I want to find some cute buttons to sew on - maybe a star? 

Here it is ready to be quilted but my machine is giving me fits and my thread is breaking.  That is really unusual and I will have to find the right combination.  Taking a break to unfrazzle my nerves!   I also have to figure out how to bind it and I am entertaining the idea of cutting it into a circle and doing some close quilting along the edge and just bind it in the background fabric.  Really not wanting to fiddle with bias binding - getting lazier in my old age.  I like the little piece, though, and think it will look cute with something festive in the center.
(Click to enlarge)