I'm Seeing Stars

Here are the crumb blocks I showed you last month, all together in a little quilt top.  It measured about 34 inches by 42 inches, and I got it handed off to someone else in the guild to quilt.  This will be a quilt for an ill child, and I thought it looked nice and cheery.  The binding is hanging next to the right side of the quilt.  I thought the rainbow stripe added a nice finish.  I had my usual math challenge figuring out the side and corner triangles.  I even looked up the formulas in a book, and still had trouble!  But when I finally got it figured out, it worked out perfectly! 

I don't think anyone in the guild had ever seen crumb blocks before . . . they were pretty quiet when I showed the top, like they weren't sure what to think.  I might have to do a little demo.  That would be fun! *grin* 

At my other guild meeting last week, we had Sharon T. as the speaker, and she talked about scrap quilts.  She was a fun speaker, and very informative too.  When she asked how many people in the guild had blogs, I think I was the only one to put up my hand.  Now, was I the only blogger, or the only one crazy enough to admit to it??

You might have noticed that there's a new button on my sidebar.  I periodically check out the block of the month at the Block Lotto blog, and last month they were doing the most wonderful scrappy, wonky stars.  I was curious about the Lotto, and noticed that Belinda (Brown Dirt Cottage) had joined.  So when I asked  her about the Lotto, she urged me to join.  So I did!

It was late in the month when I joined, so I hurried and made some blocks, which were 9 inches finished size.  We were allowed to make 9 blocks, and I managed to get 8 blocks done before the deadline. 

Here's my first batch of stars.

I got a little more adventuresome with the second batch.  I think my favorite is the one on the bottom right, with the dots and the crazy center!

Well, the drawing for the Lotto is on the last day of the month, which was Halloween.  So after all the trick-or-treaters were done, I went up to see who had won all the wonderful stars.  I couldn't believe it, but Belinda and I both won!!  We each will receive 48 star blocks.  What a great Halloween treat!  I've already started getting squishies in the mail, which is very exciting.  And I'm already thinking of what I'm going to do with my treasures!  Thank you, Belinda, for "twisting" my arm!!

Last week we had a few days of beautiful weather, so I had to get out and take some photos of the gorgeous fall colors.  The first two photos were taken in the yard. 

The Japanese maple in the front yard, with the sunlight coming through the leaves.  This tree has made me learn to love red-orange!  It's so glorious to see it out the front window in the morning with the sun on it. 

This is the maple tree in the back yard.  These leaves are about 3 or 4 times the size of my hand!

We had storms this past weekend and, sadly, now almost all of the leaves are on the ground.  It's starting to be pretty cold - down in the 30's at night - and it's been raining for 5 days.  We saw deer in the yard again yesterday, which means they've moved down from the mountains.  I guess it can't be denied now . . . winter is definitely on the way.

This was taken in the state forest about 20 miles from my house, up in the mountains.  We took off one day, just to go see the forest.  After the storms this last weekend, there is snow up there now!  Looks like we timed our little jaunt just right!