I’m back!

And where have I been? So much traveling. Mostly to see grandkids. Between trips I finally put my autumn wall hanging together. Almost finished.

It’s a Bear Paw or Bear Claw quilt. More about it next week. I think I’ll have it finished by then and have some fun glamour shots ready for posting. This is just the quilt top, still have to baste, quilt, then bind. (Have to stay home to get any of that done!)

I probably shouldn’t be posting this snap since my candles are crooked and the cat is on the table. (I’ll do better next week!) Athena is 6 months old now and knows she’s not allowed there. Yet she persists. I have to admit though that she looks great in all of her fall coloration against my new fall quilt top!

Here she is in one of her favorite napping spots. Again, she complements my autumn décor. What color cat do I need for my Christmas displays?

I was in DC visiting my daughter, her husband, and new grandson last week. Jes had a sewing project for me, of course! A few years ago she wanted me to make several items while I was there. No problem since I like to keep busy and she had a great sewing machine. But not many decent tools. Guess what she got for Christmas? All the things I need to sew up her ideas! Makes it so easy with the right equipment.

Anyhow. She asked me to make blinds for my grandson’s bedroom. Several years ago I made French blinds for their apartment. When she moved into this house she wanted to put them into these windows and they fit! But…I had made these with rings and strings to pull them up into soft panels. I made them many years ago. Now the strings and rings are choking hazards for babies and toddlers! I was able to take the strings out and use magnetic snaps instead.

This time she had these very cool inexpensive blinds from Ikea that she wanted transformed. They have magnets in the bars so no rings or strings! Just lovely soft panels!

She had some beautiful striped fabric for the blinds. I thought easy peasy since I figured that I would just stitch her fabric onto the front of the blinds. Nope. She wanted them to have a black out lining. Okay, I had to put my thinking cap on. I knew that adding the lining to the existing blinds would be too heavy for the magnetic bars. So I removed all the bars from the Ikea pieces, made all new blinds, and inserted the bars into narrow pockets that I added. It was a challenge. Had to do some hand stitching on the first attempt. The second was much better. I think a third would have been perfect but she only needed two. Not going into detail how I did it, but they turned out really nice. They let the sun in during play time but block it for naps.

And here’s their calico cat Whisky enjoying the sun from the second window in the room! (My family really likes fall colored cats!)

Grandson’s room appears to be turning into a dinosaur theme. Which I LOVE!

My next quilt project is “Dinosaurs” from Elizabeth Hartman. I have wanted to make one of her whimsical quilts for a long time and now I have a reason! Just need to get it finished before Christmas!

The pattern is purchased and I have most of the necessary fabrics. I’m looking forward to getting started.

But first I have to finish my Bear Paw/Claw wall hanging! Next week!