I've Had A Touch Of Halloweenish-itis

Halloweenish-itis
Noun ~ Hal·low·een·ish·i·tis
-a mysterious and sometimes (almost always) contagious virus that causes one to begin buying
Halloween fabric and sewing Halloween projects long before the month of October.
It might also include playing in PicMonkey to make an avatar look a little creepy.

Possibly a ghoulish fever caused it or was it that nasty bronchitis that was haunting me?
Whatever it was, I got it BAD!

It all began with a trip to Quilted Works to spend my Stash Cash (funny money earned from
purchases made over several months. I had a small large HUGE stack of them.)

As I walked through the door of Quilted Works, there IT was. A little bundle of Halloween joy!
It said, "BOO" and it had a black cat.
SOLD!
I whipped out my stash cash faster than you could say "Creepy Carol!"
That's when the symptoms of Halloweenish-itis started to appear.

I knew I had it bad because I had sworn there would be no more Ghastlies added to my stash.
But I could tell it was too late. The Halloweenish-itis had taken control of my brain.
I found these fabrics in my bag when I got home. I have no idea how they got there.
It had to have been the Halloweenish-itis. Had to be!

I was shocked to find more in the bag! What's this? Four Halloween pillowcases?
The virus must have known that I have four Monkey Boys...that just gives me chills!

Wickedly split, the fever from the Halloweenish-itis broke and I found that I had managed to
completely sew this pillow. I guess I was lucky to have caught the virus! It might also have been a
big help that the pillow came as a laser cut kit with everything (except the pillow form) included.

I guess that virus wasn't so bad after all!

A little imp over at Quilted Works told me they have this pillow kit for sale on their website...
HERE.

Oh, my...
I hear there are several others fighting the Halloweenish-itis bug!

Me Here, Monkeys There

I had no idea these scary looking clouds would stop me from seeing my sweet Monkey Boys, 

but they did! 

They poured down some torrential rain which then caused major flash flooding in two states.

Add a washed-out freeway that is the main road connecting one state to another and what do you get?

An almost impossible journey from where I am to where the Monkey Boys live.

- Insert my very sad face here! -

The sky on Monday...beautiful, but not very nice!

The road that takes me to the Monkey Boys...gone!

They're estimating it will be several days before the road is open again with just one lane each way.

There's an alternate route, but it adds a considerable amount of time and slow traffic to the trip.

There were also many homes washed out in this area causing horrible damage.

No Monkeys for me, but I'm lucky I still have a home.

What's with this crazy weather!

In the midst of yucky, we still have a blog hop going on with so much inspiration and tons of reasons

to smile and find a little happiness. WAIT...does that sound too much like Pollyanna talking? Sorry!

I'm DEFINITELY NOT a Pollyanna, but here's some places to visit and just have a happy moment.

Wednesday, September 3
Sew Incredibly Crazy

Bumbleberry Cottage
Thimblemouse and Spouse
Mad Quilter's Disease
In The Boon Docks

Thursday, September 4
Jane's Quilting
Life in the Scrapatch
Sew Many Yarns
Gracie Oliver Arts
Everyone Deserves a Quilt

Friday, September 5
Stitchin' By The Lake
Coeur d'Alene
Words & Stitches
TheSlowQuilter
Pig Tales and Quilts
All Thingz Sewn

Monday, September 8
Quilting Quietly
Creatin' in the Sticks
Procrastination Queen
Lovelli Quilts
Cherry Blossoms

Tuesday, September 9
Just Let Me Quilt
Marjorie's Busy Corner
The Quilting Queen Online Blog
Marla's Crafts
K and S Sweets and Stitching

Wednesday, September 10
Secretly Stitching
Buzzing and Bumbling
Quilt n Queen
Quilted Delights
Grandmama's Stories

Thursday, September 11
Susie's World
Needled Mom
Cate's Linens
How ART you?
I Like To QuiltBlog
Quiltscapes

Friday, September 12
Sunshine-quilting
Sew Peace to Peace
MoosestashQuilting
More Stars in Comanche
Living With Purpose

Monday, September 15
I Piece 2-Mary
Till We Quilt Again
Vroomans Quilts
Nini and the Sea
Seams To Be Sew

My Quilting Journey

Tuesday, September 16
Life, quilts and a cat too
Meadowbrook
Apple Avenue Quilts
Just Keep Swimming
Patchwork Sampler
Sew We Quilt

September 4 - Riley Blake

September 9 - Quiltscapes

September 12 - Sew Fishsticks

September 16 - The Stitching Scientist

September 19 - My Fabric Obsession

September 23 - Sassy Quilter

September 26 - Simple Simon and Company

September 30 - Fabric Mutt

October 3 - Just Let Me Quilt

October 7 - Jedi Craft Girl

October 10 - Rose and Odin

October 14 - Sew We Quilt

October 17 - Haberdashery Fun

October 21 - Leigh Laurel Studios

October 24 - The Cottage Mama

It's Me Seeing You In September

After a long, long, long break from blog hopping, it's time for my day of

SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER!

Project #1

With the big scare of losing some of our favorite gingham, we had to include gingham in one 

of our projects just to show Riley Blake that we LOVE their gingham!  

I used Riley Blake's aqua color gingham and dots to make this ruffled chevron quilt.

While I was looking for a good spot at the park to take a picture, a mom and her two kids

volunteered to help hold up the quilt. They didn't even know me, but they were so nice!

I love how willing this boy was to help...his little sister was adorable, too!

I added a little ric rac above the ruffle and straight stitched a gazillion rows to quilt it.

Project #2

While going through all my stash I found a huge section of Moda Turnovers that I'd sewn

together long, long ago. I added a couple borders, straight stitch quilted it, and got the binding on.

It's a perfect size to hide under while watching my favorite TV series "The Walking Dead."

Bella thinks I made it for her.

Project #3

I saw a quilt on the wall at Quilted Works and just knew I HAD to make it. 

It is called Front Porch by Jan Patek, but mine does not look exactly like hers.

(I have a problem following directions, so mine is just a tad different.)

The Other Front Porch Quilt

Here's my hubby braving a 12-foot drop to CONCRETE just to hang my quilt for a photo.

He was wearing flip flops while crawling across boulders to secure the quilt, so I might have

gasped a few times when he almost slipped. I envisioned a trip to the emergency room or worse!

With his work done, he waited patiently for me to take the photos. What a guy!

I've never made a quilt with this many applique pieces...there were 1000's of pieces I'm sure!

The size is about 74" x 98" and almost all the fabrics were from my stash.

Quilted Works did their usual amazing job of quilting it with stars and swirls. Love it!

Riley Blake Flannel Blog Tour

Riley Blake has some amazing new flannel that

will be showcased during September and October.

You really must see what everyone is making with their flannel!

Riley Blake Designs

Flannel Exhibition Blog Tour

September 4 - Riley Blake

September 9 - Quiltscapes

September 12 - Sew Fishsticks

September 16 - The Stitching Scientist

September 19 - My Fabric Obsession

September 23 - Sassy Quilter

September 26 - Simple Simon and Company

September 30 - Fabric Mutt

October 3 - Just Let Me Quilt

October 7 - Jedi Craft Girl

October 10 - Rose and Odin

October 14 - Sew We Quilt

October 17 - Haberdashery Fun

October 21 - Leigh Laurel Studios

October 24 - The Cottage Mama

Vintage Christening Dress - The Washing

Thanks for all the wonderful advice and comments about this dress!

Everything I read on the internet seemed to say it was an okay thing to wash it, EXCEPT for

the one article that said washing vintage clothing can sometimes result in it dissolving.

Uh...did it really say DISSOLVING? 

As in, DISAPPEARING? Okay, that scared me!

I certainly did not want this washing to result in a only few threads left in my tub.

With a shaky hand and thumping heart, I took on the task of washing the dress

to remove the stuffy smell and any remaining weevil shells.

Since I had a huge bag of baking soda on hand and using it was among the highly recommended

methods on the internet for cleaning this at home (plus, Sharon said it was okay so it must be okay),

I decided this was how I was going to start the process of cleaning the dress.

I started by adding one quarter cup of baking soda to two cups of boiling water.

I stirred it until it dissolved...I loved watching it bubble and brew...then let it cool down.

Next, I gently laid the dress in my clean bathtub and slowly started filling the tub with lukewarm water.

I poured the dissolved baking soda mix into the running water to incorporate into the water in the tub.

I read that you just let the dress float up in the water allowing it to soak in the water on its own,

but after a few minutes of letting it float I gently pushed it into the water to totally cover it.

I left it to soak for one hour and came back to gently agitate it...do not wring it or lift it!

Water makes fabric heavy and lifting it can damage those delicate threads holding it all together.

 I let it soak another half hour and then drained off the baking soda water.

Once the water was drained I filled the tub with cool water, gently agitated the dress, 

and drained the water. I did this FIVE times to remove the baking soda mixture from the dress.

It didn't dissolve (whew!), but it still smelled a little musty.

 I definitely needed something to take away that yucky smell.

Oxyclean or BIZ was recommended on several internet sites to whiten and clean vintage clothing, but I 

didn't want to whiten the dress because I love, love, love the creamy color of it. Luckily, my sister had

some BIZ so I borrowed only a tablespoon and dissolved it like I did the baking soda. Once again I 

soaked and rinsed repeatedly just like I'd done with the baking soda. It was a long day and my back 

didn't appreciate all the bending over the tub, but it was worth it because it smelled so much better!

Once all the rinsing and rinsing and rinsing was done, and the tub was drained of all the water,

I rolled it into a towel without lifting it up (I didn't want to damage those delicate threads!) 

After gently pressing on the towel to help remove some of the water, I left it there for about a half hour.

Still being careful not to lift the wet dress or pull on it, I unrolled it and left it in the tub for an hour.

For the next several hours I turned the dress over onto a dry towel using the wet towel to support it.

Right before going to bed to ease my aching back, I placed a dry towel underneath and left it to dry.

TA DA!

No dissolved dress, no musty smell, no ripped seams!

It didn't even need to be ironed because it looks just fine like it is.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not a pro at this and do not claim that I knew what I was doing.

I was just lucky thanks to all the wonderful advice and research.

A Vintage Christening Gown

I spent the last few days at my mother-in-law's helping her clean-up a room in her house.

Among the "treasures" was this christening gown that was folded up in an old Ked's shoe box. 

Oh, my! I went crazy over it...really, I did!

It's about 43 inches long and was made my husband's gr-grandmother, Ingeborg Lokken, for her son's

christening around 1895. My mother-in-law thinks she wore it, too...we'll be looking for pictures!

It has a combination of machine and hand sewing throughout the dress and attached slip.

There's a bit of damage in some places, but considering it's been sitting in that 

shoe box for who knows how many years it's in pretty good shape.

These were my mother-in-law's shoes that were also in the box.

I'm planning on displaying it in a shadow box, but I'm doing a little research first.

Wash or don't wash?

Anybody know the answer to this?

If it's a "yes" to being okay to wash and you've done this before, how did you do it? 

I know it would be hand washed only, no dry cleaning or washing machine!

I'm not worried about whitening it or removing stains,

but it really needs to be freshened up (a few weevil shells were in the folds.)

So...advice anyone?

Another Quilt Bound...Yay!

I'm thinking 2012 must have been a harder year than I remember, because that's when I started LOTS of 

quilts but never finished them. This one was quilted way back in 2012 by Quilted Works and stuck in a

box with no binding. I'm not really crazy about it, but I do LOVE the quilting and the fabric. 

At least I learned to make some new blocks and I used some leftover pieces of a Moda Layer Cake. 

I only have one more quilt to bind and then I'm done with the quilts that only needed binding. Yay!

My next stash clean-up will include finishing partially made quilts.

After that, time to get rid of patterns that have never been used. There's lots of them!

A Date With Subzero Ice Cream

I had a quick date with my hubby that involved ice cream...my favorite kind of dessert!

This was no ordinary ice cream adventure, though.

It was made and frozen right before our eyes! So amazing!

It's a place called Sub Zero Ice Cream.

They pour cream, yogurt, or custard along with any other goodies you want into a silver bowl.

(Pics were taken with my phone, so sorry about the quality.)

They blast it with nitrogen (see their technical explanation below.)

This is what my final treat looked like. There's some peanut butter, caramel, and brownies in there.

It was delicious AND a fun experience (I'm easily entertained!)

In case you just HAVE to know...

The Sub Zero's explanation from their website on how it works:

"For those of us who haven’t been to school in a while, here is some chemistry 101.  Nitrogen is one of 118 known elements and because it evaporates at such low temperatures, it typically exists as a gas (in fact, it makes up about 78% of the Earth’s atmosphere). Therefore, in order for it to remain in a liquid state it must be kept at extremely cold temperatures.  Since liquid nitrogen boils at -321˚F, it freezes anything it touches. Sub Zero uses this molecular gastronomy (the merging of science and culinary arts) to transform milk and sugar instantly into ice cream. So why is liquid nitrogen-frozen ice cream so good? It’s all in the flash freeze. Since the ice cream is frozen so quickly (15 seconds or less), the milk molecules stay very small and the water particles don’t have time to grow into ice crystals. Without ice crystals, you get the smoothest, creamiest ice cream possible. Our rapid freezing process also helps preserve nutrients in the cream, yogurt, soy or rice milk!"

Just A Little Late With The Valentine Quilt

Okay, so I'm A LOT late for Valentine's Day...like over two years late!

I started this ruffly Valentine's quilt in 2012.

A friend quilted it with lovely hearts. I loved it!

All it needed was binding, but for unknown reasons it disappeared into a box for over two years.

(There's several more in that box that ONLY need binding...I'm slowly making my way through them.)

The problem with waiting that long is that the matching fabric to make the binding had disappeared.

Luckily, I was able to use some Riley Blake black polka dot for the binding. Whew!

Let the binding begin...OR NOT.

I had to stop in the middle of sewing the binding on because we got hit with a huge thunderstorm.

It just poured buckets of rain and the thunder went on forever!

A little flash flooding went on, too, thanks to almost an inch of rain in a really short time.

A couple hours later the binding was on and I was off to take pics with the hubby.

Luckily, there was very little rain and the lightening was off in the distance.

The back was fun to make, too.

 

I love this fabric!

 I'm all done with my See You In September projects (my day is September 9th)

and I can't wait to see what everyone else has been busy creating all summer.

Then there's the Rush Hour Blog Hop...I'm so excited to host this one!

Then...oh boy...Black Cat Crossing!