Turkey soup

You know Thanksgiving is over when you make turkey soup which is what I did today. We had a wonderful holiday. We had dinner with my aunt and her family. Isn't her table beautiful? I love a beautiful table. I think Thanksgiving may be my favorite holiday. There is not the pressure of Christmas and you almost always are with your family. If you don't want to cook you can even order a whole meal from the grocery store! I have done that before and it isn't bad.

The greatest thing for me is that the members of my family are also my friends.




























This is what the turkey looked like when my cousin finished carving. My other cousin's sweet potato biscuits were to die for. We had so much food and it was all so good.
















My aunt and I visited our favorite quilt shop on Friday and I found some great fabrics. I actually followed a lady around to grab the piece on the right.
















These are for my black and white snails trail.



















My aunt is giving some of her stash away and I got these two great prints. Aren't they darling?
















We got home on Saturday and I got some time to sew on Sunday. I have put together my snails trail but I have no idea where to go from here. I want to add a border but that may have to wait until after Christmas.
















I hope to do a couple of Christmas placemats. And I do need to do some shopping!! I can't decorate until they finish with my house. Oh well!!

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving to all. My husband and I are getting away from all the mess at our house. We are having dinner tomorrow with my favorite aunt and uncle. All the kids are off on their own adventures. My aunt and I hope to hit at least one quilt shop on Friday.

I hope everyone has a safe, fun filled holiday. Don't eat too much!!

Mr. Turkey, thanks to my grandson who is obviously an artist.

A Mess!

Our yard, our house is a big mess! We do have a new roof and they have made some repairs. Rain prevented the people doing the siding working today. But they could have come and picked up some of the shingles they took off the roof.

There was a really bad place outside our kitchen door and they repaired it yesterday. My dining room is on the other side and yes they did come through the wall, UGH!!

And try getting kids to take naps when folks are banging on the roof!






















This is not our truck and you can't see it very well but it is full of the old shingles they took off.






















There is stuff all over the yard and we have a big yard. It makes things in the house seem so out of order. Oh well, it will be great when they finish.

I did get up to my studio this afternoon. I made a few more snails trail squares. I got lots of great advice. Thanks so much for your help. Some said keep the coral and some said no. Actually in person it sticks out but not like in the picture. I have rearranged them a bit and I really like this. It is more orderly than I had before. Ok now give me some suggestions for quilting these squares. I really like the patterns that emerge that you didn't expect. Yes I know some swirl one way and some another. I did that on purpose.

I think I will use all the four squares I have over for the border.






















Now this is my next project and it is hard not to give up on what I have started and work on this. I have seen so many of you do things with black and white. I am going to do snails trails with black and white fabrics only! I am doing a snails trail series of quilts. Last fall and winter I did several D9P. I really enjoy doing more than one quilt using a particular technique. You can really explore different aspects of the pattern.

Where is the sun?

We have had four days of rain, drizzle, clouds and wind. Every day we wake up and hope we will see the sun but so far no luck. The weather man said sun today but he was wrong! I know some of you would not think it is cold but it is hanging in the 50s and with the wind it feels cold to us southerners!

I did get upstairs to sew a bit this afternoon. I am working on my snails trail and liking it so far but I need some advice. First how do you like the bright one on the upper left. That is not pink but it looks pink in the picture. It is actually a coral. It is a beautiful color but I am wondering if it is too bright. I could take both that square and the purple out and make it more muted.




















I am also considering putting the squares in groups of 4 with sashing. Yes I know some of them swirl clockwise and some the other way. Personally I like them that way. It adds some visual interest.


















I needed more room on my design wall and moved my houses over. I actually like the haphazard way they are arranged. I wish I had about 2 days to do nothing but sew and make more houses and more snails trails. It doesn't seem like there is enough time.
































I do a lot of thinking while I am sewing and I have been thinking about the challenges to finish UFOs before the end of the year. I didn't do any of them because I just didn't know how much time I would have and I didn't want the added pressure. I learned when I was teaching that everyone had a unique level of what they can handle. I also think your level may change as you get older. I used to be able to juggle three children and a full time job. I almost always put a meal on the table that I prepared myself. I enjoyed it but I could not do it now. What I am saying is we should all be more tolerant of each other and easier on ourselves. Almost everybody I know does a great job of handling their life. Somebody may do more than the next person but maybe that person is doing the best they can.

I am amazed at how much some of you accomplish while I am plugging along. I celebrate all of you hard workers and hope you will be tolerant of us slowpokes!

Go Away Rain!

We had a wonderful relaxing weekend. Does this looked relaxed to you? Would you believe he didn't catch a thing! But he had a good time.





















We are having some work done to the outside of our house and the first thing that was done was to take out a huge pine tree that was right in front of our front door. I am always amazed at folks that take down trees.





















This guy took a chain saw and laid the tree right down in the only place in the front yard where there was enough room! The next thing is to put the roof on but we are getting the remnants of Hurricane Ida and it has rained all day. Good for me because I was in the studio sewing all day. I will post pictures soon! But bad for what we need done.

Flat Boy

My cousin's son is in the second grade and he has a little friend who we will call Flat Boy. Flat Boy is traveling around to friends and family and keeping a journal of his adventures. We were lucky enough to have Flat Boy spend a couple of days with us.

He met our dog Gus.


















He had breakfast with us one morning. You have to look closely, that is him in the middle of the table in front of the sausage.



















He even was able to go to school with our grandson one day.



















It has been so much fun having Flat Boy stay with us and he is no trouble at all. I am anxious to see what other places he gets to travel to.

I haven't been sewing much this week. I am still working on my Snails Trail. I ran by the fabric store the other day. I only had a minute and I needed one specific color, sort of a azure blue and believe it or not they had the exact color I needed. How many times does that happen?