"Ghost Under a Full Moon" is finished.

Voila!  The last of my Halloween wall hangings is done for this year.

Ghost Under a Full Moon measures 11.5" by 16 inches.  I really love ghosts for Halloween and also black cats.

Its been a lovely day in the high 60s and sunny.  Last nite it got rather chilly.  I went out this morning dressed in a quilted light winter jacket and it was perfect.   I think we dropped into the high 40sF last nite.  A long-sleeved corduroy shirt would have been too light.  Penny and I enjoyed a brisk morning walk.

The week looks like more of the same and I see many brown leaves have fallen over the lawn.  I expect we will have our usual fall colors bursting around Columbus Day, October 10th.  Fall is so lovely here in Maine every year.

Have a nice day.

Another Sewing Day

I sewed today and not much else.
I made out a list of foods I should eat and amounts of same since I have to cut back on sugar according to my doctor.  I am getting close to the diabetic range of numbers so he wants me to cut back.  Not eliminate entirely, just enjoy my sweets occasionally.  That will be tough because I love my peanut butter balls, peanut butter fudge, chocolate fudge and my chocolate walnut clusters that I make to enjoy even while sharing some with friends in the building.
I'm thinking I will make a batch only when a Holiday is coming and share most of them with others and eat very few of them myself.
I understand that carbohydrates mean a lot when it comes to sugar numbers so friends have been advising me about that, too.  I surely welcome their input.
One of them is sending me a chart on Counting my Carbs which will be useful.

In the meantime, I shopped for foods that are healthier for me.

......And I am sewing to keep me too busy to think of sticking candy in my mouth.  LOL

 As you can see above, my latest wall hanging, Ghost Under a Full Moon, is pinned now and ready for quilting tomorrow.  I should be able to finish it up the same day with a black border.

Next on the agenda are the few Thanksgiving wall hangings.  I have turkeys and a cornucopia drawn for those.

For Xmas, so far, I have snowmen and a penguin  on the drawing board.

Have a good day.

"Ghost Under a Full Moon" wallhanging is tacked down

I am working on the last Halloween wall hanging today and hope to have it finished by this weekend.

Ghost Under a Full Moon is tacked down so that's it for today.  I will try to work on the satin-stitching tomorrow and finish this up this weekend so all Halloween things are done.

Next up, Thanksgiving wall hangings.

Have a good Day.

"Cat in a Pumpkin Patch" is finished.

I feel good today.  I finished another Halloween wall hanging.

I really like this one with the cat and the pumpkin against the gold background.  This one measures 17.5"W by 11.5" L.  Another wall hanging fit for the Halloween season.

Now I have just one more to work on and I'm done with this Holiday.  Ghost under a Full Moon is in progress.
Have a nice day.

Another Halloween Wall Hanging in the Works

I just can't help myself.  I had to get another Halloween WH started.  I have a daughter who celebrated a Birthday last week and will see her soon so I thought I would give her one of my Wall Hangings to decorate her door.
I decided to make another, this one "Ghost Under a Full Moon" with a pumpkin visible.

This is the pattern I drew for it.  I am just loving making ghosts.  Anyway, this one will have a purple background.

Here's the ghost's body sewn onto the background.  Its a beginning.   I still have to finish the "Cat in the Pumpkin Patch" but was having trouble on a decision to add vines or not.  Still undecided.

Have a good day.

Kitty in a Pumpkin Wall Hanging Finished

Today was a good day.  I finished my wall hanging "Kitty in a Pumpkin" so that's a good thing.  I changed the name from "Cat in a"....since I have another with a fully grown cat in a pumpkin patch and the titles were too closely related.

The lighter bits in the pumpkin is not the fabric, but the lighting.  The orange is all one shade.
This little guy measures 10.5 x 14 inches.

So far this wall hanging is pinned and ready for quilting.  I might just add some vines twisting around on the background.  I'm still thinking about that and how to finish it.  This one is closer to 17 inches wide by 11 inches long at this point.  Adding the binding at the end will determine its finished size.

Have a good day.

Both Wall Hangings are Tacked Down.

I worked on my two wall hangings again today and have got both tacked down and pieces all in place.

Here's "Cat in a Pumpkin" all pieces in place and ready for the satin-stitching.

And "Cat in a Pumpkin Patch" is also tacked and ready to be satin-stitched.
I should have these done by this weekend.  Crossing my fingers that woks out.

Have a good day.

I'm Working on 2 More Halloween Wallhangings

I am on a roll.  I chose two of my designs and started tacking down the pieces.

This is "Cat in a Pumpkin" so far.  Its pinned atop another wall hanging.  I found that tacking down black fabric with my usual black thread wasn't working for me.  It was too difficult to see where I should be cutting away fabric.  With this one I made two glaring errors in cutting and had to reset more fabric after removing the damaged pieces.
The background fabric I've had for a few years and with its dark clouds and a moon above, I thought this a good place to use it.
There is still lots to go on this but I had to stop when my back starting acting up.  I was doing a bit too much today.

This one is "Cat in a Pumpkin Patch" and will have a large pumpkin to the left of the cat.  The background is a darker gold than is showing here.

Now its time to rest up a bit and with the light going so quickly with the overcast sky, I won't get back to these til tomorrow.

Have a good day.

Two Ghost Wall Hangings are Finished.

I finished the pair today.  Both are 14 x16 inches.

I named them "Boo" and "BooBoo" since they are turned in opposite directions.  The white of the ghosts is the same, but the one on the right was in a darker part of the room so it looks different.

I think the black cat wall hangings will have to wait for next week.  I am pooped from sewing and pinning and pressing and all that goes with getting a wall hanging finished.

Have a good day everyone. 

'Witch in a Cauldron' Wall Hanging is Finished

Here it is, my first Halloween wallhanging.

I finished it today, and am very pleased with it.  It measures 14 x 16 inches so its the perfect size to hang on my front door.

Now I have to layer, pin, and quilt my two Ghost wall hangings but maybe not until tomorrow.  I'm rather tired right now.  I have to get away from my sewing machine now and then.

Its a good time to read and I have a book I know I will enjoy, A Good Man with a Dog by Roger Guay, (published 2016), a retired Maine game warden who served for 25 years in the Maine woods.  Its started out great and caught my interest so I really want to get back to it.
I have a fondness for our game wardens.  They do terrific work tending the wildlife in our state and if you haven't yet seen the TV program North Woods Law, you need to check it out.  It deals with all the things that go on in our woods.   I notice that lately under that title they are showing programs of the New Hampshire conservation officers (another name for game warden).  As our next-door neighbors their jobs are the same and I give them all credit where credit is due.
Good job men and women who serve our wildlife.  Thank you.

Have a good day everyone.

Halloween WHs in Progress

Today I managed to get the borders on 3 Halloween wall hangings.  I bought the fabric yesterday during my day of shopping with the gang on the Parks and Rec Bus.

Here is 'Witch in a Cauldron.'  Satin-stitched and with borders added.  I bought the border fabric at Walmart in a package of several different prints of 2.5 inch strips.  I wanted something that had some orange in it.

These are the two ghosts I made with fabric, again, bought yesterday because I really needed some orange.  When I moved here all my bright orange fabric was given away.  I needed to get a bit more.  Especially for orange pumpkins planned in a couple other wall hangings.

The next step is pinning, layering and quilting the wall hangings before I add the binding around the outside edges.  Then they will be done.  I'm hoping to get to that point soon.

Have a nice day.

Halloween Is Coming!

I really needed to get back to sewing so I drew a few patterns for the Holiday and started my first one, Witch in a Cauldron wall hanging.

This is a rough tacking down of the pattern.  The witch's dress is purple, tho I see it looks sort of bluish in the photo.  The socks are red and blue.  The background is a light orange and cream.   I will add gold buckles to the shoes.

Its simple, but it says Halloween.  I just want a small wall hanging, about 10, x 12 inches or so to hang on my front door.

There's lots of stitching needed to finish this before I can add borders but if I am lucky, I will have it ready by next week, plenty of time for Halloween.

I also free-handed a few other patterns: two with different ghosts, one with a pumpkin and a cat side by side, one with a cat sitting inside a pumpkin, and that should be enuf for the holiday.

I have to buy some orange fabric, that's for sure.  It seems to be I bought some last year but I have yet to locate it among my stacks of cotton fabric. I know other quilters know what I mean.   I think a trip to the local quilt shop is needed next week.

On a positive note, I have lost 7 pounds of the six I gained eating good candy the last couple of months. Yes, I lost one more pound that I gained   I think I may have found my problem when it comes to weight loss.  

I get to craving food and can't help myself and have to pile it in.  But this time, along with limiting my portions and avoiding most snacks, I also cut way back on soda.

I knew that drinking diet drinks always made me crave more food instead of cutting back, but now I'm thinking that regular soda has the same effect, only to a lesser degree.  So that means I am limiting my soda intake to a glass every other day or so.  So far, its been a week, and I am not craving snacks as I had done always in the past.

So friends, cross your fingers for me.  I wanted to lose that extra 6 pounds before my regular checkup mid-Sept. but I really need to lose about 20-30 lbs more if I'm honest with myself.  

Maybe this will work out better for me.  I can only try.

Have a good day.