Beginnings of a Crabapple Quilt

YIPPEE. It's snowing! We aren't expecting much. That's okay - I'll take what I can get.

Every time I see a Crabapple quilt - a pattern in Bonnie Hunter's Adventures with Leaders and Enders book, I love it. You can see good examples at Subee Sews Quilts, Jo's Country Junction and Scraps and Threadtales and this cute one on Flickr. I know there are many others - I just can't find them. This and her Scrappy Trip (very popular among bloggers right now) have been on my to do list for a while. I usually use the project I'm working on as my leader/ender but sometimes I get confused. So I pulled out my bin of 1 1/2" squares and started sewing up pairs of lights and darks while making the Lil Twister top. I need immediate gratification so I made up a block on my mom's old Montgomery Wards sewing machine. I got it from my sister last weekend and my husband cleaned, oiled and did a little rewiring on it for me.

The quarter inch foot I bought for my featherweight seems to fit perfectly. I do need to buy it a new belt.

I talked to my mom and she says the machine must be close to 60 years old. She remembers using the machine to make green and yellow curtains for the nursery before my sister was born in 1957.

 Love this old can of sewing machine oil.

This weekend I hope to finish making the backing for Ella's quilt. Not sure if you can tell I sewed up the name "Ella". I decided not to use the IKEA fabric because I was too lazy to make the trip. I have plenty of pinks and greys to piece the back and it will go better with the grey thread I plan to use to quilt it.

My sister and I went to a Barn Sale at a horse farm near Frederick Maryland last Sunday.  That is an industrial park in the background : ( We had a fun day browsing there and at a few other vintage shops in Lucketts Virginia and had a delicious lunch at the Blue Ridge Grill in Leesburg Virginia.

We woke up to this yesterday morning. I woke up at 4:00 and could hear the snow falling or hitting the roof or something. Not sure that is even possible. I had a hard time falling back to sleep. I hate that when you feel like you've finally fallen asleep and the alarm goes off. It was a quiet day so the lack of sleep didn't affect me.

Just look at this dog-

 I never thought I'd live with a beagle.

 He's whining for his daddy (my son) to take him on a walk.

I understand Charles Schultz's Peanuts character Snoopy so much better now. He really caught the breeds personality.

An Overdue Update

Here's what's in the hoop-

I'm so slow at this hand quilting thing. I'm about half done with this. Thing is I need to have it done by the end of February. I'm not sure I can do it. I try to do some everyday, but inevitably I'll miss a day that becomes two or three days. I'd like it to go in the quilt show with the other half square triangle challenge quilts. I need a big snowstorm!

I made this little quilt top from the 'Lil Twister leftover fabric I showed in my last post.

And here is my second 'Lil Twister. It's for my nephew's baby. Ella was born last August so I'd really like to finish this up by the end of the month and get it in the mail. I want to use this IKEA fabric for the back. I hope to get over there next week. I have more than a few quilt tops in the queue. I really need some machine quilting mojo! lol

I was feeling really yucky the end of last year. I knew it was from eating too many of the wrong carbs over the past few months. I have to watch my blood sugar and have some other health issues going on. My sister told me about Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo. I was waiting for a copy from the library, but it was taking too long so I just bought my own. I'm glad I did. She turns conventional food wisdom on it's head. I'm kind of following her meal plans and I've lost 5 lbs. The other good news is my joints aren't hurting so much (no tomatoes, potatoes or peppers) and I don't have any nasal congestion (no dairy). The dairy was easy because I'd already cut most of that out a while ago. The tomatoes, potatoes and peppers will be hard to give up for the long hall. I'll just have to be real selective when I cheat. She recommends raw fermented food so here is my homemade sauerkraut-

It should be ready in two weeks. Wish me luck with this diet. It's a challenge, but I want to keep myself out of the doctor's office.