Lighthouse Inspiration

Donna had asked about the Lighthouse pattern for my place mats.  Truth be told...there is no pattern.

I *knew* that I wanted to depict the Milwaukee Pierhead Lighthouse.  Photo credit here.  (oops~this is the Racine lighthouse but in the pictures it looks just like the Milwaukee lighthouse.)

I took this picture of the lighthouse in Manitowoc, Wisconsin this summer.  This gave me roughly the layout for my place mats.  I  *knew* that I wanted my place mats to finish at about 14 x 17 and I wanted the *sky* to be a bit bigger than the *water*  So I pieced the background using  8.5 x 17.5 in for the sky and 6.5 x 17.5 for the water.

For the shape of the lighthouse~I found this wood cut-out at either JoAnn's or Michael's for $1.00.  I fused two way fusible onto the back of red and black fabric and then traced the shaped onto the paper size of the fusible.  I wasn't too sure what to use as land so I remembered my brown plaid in the stash.  I fused a 3 in (by wof) then free cut the *pier*.

Here is my Milwaukee Pierhead Lighthouse before quilting.

WIP Wednesday

Monday and Tuesday, I worked on my L'il Twister tester.  Some of the FAB's (Cher, Linda, Norma and Pam) are meeting online for a sewing day and some of us~will be working on Twister projects.

I wanted to try out my ruler since I just picked it up last Friday. 

I followed the direction included with the L'il Twister ruler and made my patchwork.

I then cut it up and sewed the pinwheels together.

One complaint I read about was that there is waste with this method.  True but I am not too worried as I will put the snippets in the scrap boxes and they will return as parts of crumb blocks.

The finished L'il Twister quilt on the family room wall.  Be kind~I was having an off day quilting.  :(

This twister quilt was inspired by the September Color Palette challenge that is being hosted by JudyL at Patchwork Times and Vicki at Field Trips in Fiber.

Try It On Tuesday: Painting

I volunteered to help a friend paint for a Milwaukee Admirals Booster Club Crew Fundraiser.

My friend, Mara is a true artist!  I merely seemed to glob the paint on and with her steady hand~she fixed what I painted!  :)

Mara had primed the bowling pins and painted a few of the heads.

She showed me the trick of tracing the logo's onto the *jersey* then I painted the hats, eyes and nose.  Mara did the fine detailed work!

I also painted some of the lines on the *jersey* fronts and Mara worked her magic there also.

I did have the idea of painting the bottom of the pin black to represent the players' breezers.





Today I am going to link up with Jo at Jo's Country Junction for her Try it On Tuesday.

The First Lighthouse Place Mat

There was no sewing over the weekend as I was helping DD with her 8th grade diorama.  She was given the task to make a *teepee* and a scene depicting the lifestyle using *your structure*.  First she gathered twigs then about 5 hours later~we had the first smaller teepee.  It was a struggle but thank goodness for my stash of osnaburg cloth!  Her second teepee went together much faster.  We also made a couple trips across town to the Michael's.  I think the one salesgirl now *knows* us...

She was worried about the dead bison scene as being too violent for *school content* but I told her that killing animals was a way of life for the Indians and they needed the dead animals to survive.   oh, and hide it behind one of the teepees! Pretty cool red nail polish, right?!

So I am a little late today as I just sewed together one background and then fused the lighthouse parts. I'm liking this, too.  Now to have a little lunch and fuse the remaining lighthouses.  :)

Fall 2012 *To Sew* Wish List

Time for my Fall 2012 *To Sew* Wish List

Personal

1. my bed quilt
2. place mats:  August

3. DD's bed quilt

4. Lake Country Challenge due December 2012

5. assorted Christmas gifts

UFO's

1. blue ridge beauty

2. quilt #1
3. virginia bound
4. quilt #3
5. blue wicked easy
7. quilt #5

Donations

1. sew 3 more  Quilts of Valor to a flimsy

2. quilt the 6 of 12 I will have.

Stash Update September 23, 2012

Okay~I've lost track of the week number this year!  :)

fabric added this week:        0  yards
fabric used this year:  +194.5  yards

fabric used this week:        -2  yards
fabric used this year:     -216   yards

net fabric for the year:   -21.5 yards

What I accomplished this week:

finished my July place mats
completed a new Admirals' back pack
made 8 blocks to send to Margaret's Hope Chest

Goals for next week:

work on August place mats
work on my quilt

Happy Autumnal Solstice!

September 22, 2012 is the Autumnal Solstice.

image found here.

 

 

Time to review my Summer 2012 *To Sew* Wish List

Personal

1. bed quilt: A PLAN HAS BEEN DEVELOPED!
2. place mats: July: DONE!

                       August:  not done

UFO's

1. quilt expo kit 2011: DONE!
2. quilt #1: DONE!
3. blue ridge beauty: not done
4. quilt #3 : not done
5. virginia bound : not done
6. quilt #5 : not done
7. blue wicked easy : not done
8. quilt #7 :not done

Donations

1. quilt for Margaret's Hope Chest~need quilts for Prison Ministry July 2012

    Eight quilts sent to MHC!
2. start on 12 in 12 Quilts of Valor~just a little behind here. :)

    Three flimsies at the ready to quilt stage

 

 

 

Beef Barley Soup

Karen at Sew Many Ways is having a link up party for soup recipes.

Once the weather gets colder, out comes the crockpot for yummy soups to enjoy.  I don't know about you, but summertime isn't a time to enjoy soup but fall and winter are my soup time!

My son was talking about Beef Barley soup last year about this time and I found this recipe at Food.com.  I crock this overnight and in the morning my daughter takes a serving in her thermos for lunch that day.

The ingredients.  I make the beef stock out of the bullion cubes instead of buying a can.

Assembly of the soup in the crock.

Simmered for 10 hours but not stirred.

Stirred~yummy!

Stored.

Lunchtime!

Whoop!Whoop! Friday, September 21, 2012

I finished my July place mats.

I free motioned quilted stars and loops in the stars and more waves in the stripes.

pattern inspiration here.

Today I am going to link up with:

Sarah at Confefssions of a Fabric Addict.

WIP Wednesday

Late yesterday afternoon, I pieced together my July place mats~USA flags.  Either I am late for this season or way early for next season!

pattern inspiration here.