Happy Halloween!

No time for a proper post today :^(














I promise I haven't forgotten about the last set of Gettysburg pictures...

Almost Wordless Wedneday

Happiness is...

mugrugs, table runners, luggage tags, swags, drawstring bags,
bookmarks and 5 kinds of zipper bags, Oh MY!

A full inventory box for this weekends Christmas Bazaar!
2 days left to see how many more I can finish :^)

Design Wall Monday - 10/28/13

It was a mixed bag this weekend with last minute prepping for the Christmas bazaar next weekend, hexies and a little too much retail therapy to soothe a broken heart.

I don't think I showed all 6 of these pieced Boomer blocks once they were finished. I haven't whipstitched them yet since I don't know what they are going to be...I could make them into a rosette or a border, add them to one of the jean jackets I picked up this weekend or ??? I think the left-most rosette is my fav.

I've also worked on making more of these green hexies. The pile probably doesn't look like much but it's 1/3 to 1/2 bigger than the last time I shared. It's kinda boring but basting is easy while watching West Wing on DVD :^)

As part of my retail therapy, I also found this great batik to use with my Salt&Pepper project. All of the diamonds will be in this dark/burnt orange category and the batik will be the border or backing. I've already cut out more BW fabrics for the stars and gone thru all my oranges for the diamonds. I also found a great BW hounds tooth for the binding. Now for my usual delima - needing to decide what this will become so I know how big to make it. I suppose since it's named after my cat, Pepper, it should be big enough for cuddling under!

Feline Friday - 10/25/13

WhooooYahhhhhhh!!!!! Momma finally turned on the heat!!!!!
And none to soon - did you see yesterday's photo?!

She even let me and the Z-man go out on the porch when she was taking photos.
I kept telling The Introoder to make a run for it but he just stood there sniffing the air. Silly Dork!

Today, on the other hand, he snuck out on to the porch when Momma was trying to leave for work. Unfortunately, she caught his little tuckus and unceremoniously dropped him back in the house.

Ughh, now we are gonna have to listen to him whine All...Day...Looooooong. :^(

I hope you other felines are gonna have a better day cuz TGIF, ya know!!

We interrupt our normally scheduled post...

...to share this late breaking weather report!!!!

They were actually gorgeous quarter or half-dollar sized flakes at one point but it was all mostly gone by the time I had to drive to work. That's a good thing cuz most people have forgotten how to drive in snow since last spring. And yet, when I got to work, all of 6 miles away, they hadn't gotten a single flake of snow...go figure.

You'll get the kids' take on the snow tomorrow and Gettysburg #3 will be posted next week!

Gettysburg, Part 2

After the first trip to Devil's Den on Saturday we went to the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center. We weren't sure we would have enough time to see the film, the cyclorama and the displays before the re-dedication but the lady assured us 2 hours was plenty. Yeah right?!

Cyclorama - rocks, grass and wheel tracks in the front are not part of the painting

Your ticket covers a 30 minute film entitled "A New Birth to Freedom" narrated by Morgan Freeman and 15 minutes in the cyclorama. I liked the film but the cyclorama was more interesting because it was an oil on canvas painting. A painting that was 15 feet tall and 300-some feet long!!! It's in a round room at the top of the museum and there are actual cannons and fences and such in front of it. It's so lifelike as you walk around that it's hard to tell the difference between painting and the real artifacts. I only bought 1 book on Gettysburg and I was happy to see it included a large section on the painting.

Cyclorma - wheel tracks and cannon are not part of the painting

Next we went into the museum where there are 12 galleries covering before, during and after the Battle of Gettysburg. There was so much to read and artifacts to look at that about half way thru we realized we were never gonna finish in time and just started looking instead of reading. I hope to get back there sometime to read the rest of the exhibits...

Reunion pose at monument dedication

Next it was back to the NY 136th monument for a re-dedication ceremony. The monument is now 125 years old!  Several people had brought photographs - some taken at the monument when it was originally dedicated and some of a reunion where the men posed at Devil's Den. This collage shows the progression of cornfields, fences and "progress" around the monument.

Center bottom photo shows buildings behind the monument instead of the cornfield showing in the top left.
The monument no longer has a fence and is surrounded by hotels and such.

Several descendants spoke at the ceremony or read family letters.

The framed flag was the regimental flag and it says '136th NY Vol Inft, Smith's Brigade.'
Beyond the stone fence in the background is the National Cemetery.

Mom and I read poems that my g-g-grandfather had sent home during the war.

This is Sue who has been researching civil war vets from her town of Rush, NY.
She is also a quilter and liked the hexie projects I worked on during some meetings. LOL.

Descendants of the 136th.
Mom & I are on the left

Everyone that attended the ceremonies

After the ceremony we walked across to the National Cemetery to place flags on the 15 or so graves of NY 136th who died in the battle. I thought the way the cemetery was laid out was fascinating.

Same map from yesterday's post...
#17 are burials from NY and #18 are PA

Each state is grouped together in a semicircle and the stones are flush with the sod. Looking up Cemetery Hill, you can't see the stones, only from above do they become visible. NY had the largest space in the cemetery , second would be Pennsylvania. If a state could be determined for an un-named soldier they were buried with their state. The third largest section of the cemetery (#22) is for un-named soldiers from unknown states.

Descendants looking for graves for the 136th.

A penny was laid on this stone, Lincoln side up...

After the playing of taps, the entire group traveled back to Devil's Den to replicate another one of the photos taken at a reunion shortly after the Battle. As a side note, I was impressed that other people in the cemetery paused and reflected during taps.

Early reunion gathered at Devil's Den - supposedly at monument dedication in 1888.

Hard to tell, but I am holding the photo shown above that we descendants are trying to replicate

Ok - I think that's enough pictures today. I should be able to finish up tomorrow...

Gettysburg, Part 1

I promise I won't make you suffer through all 160 of my pictures ... just lots of them :^)

"You are here" is at the bottom right

Friday was really a travel day - we stopped at a couple antique malls in Lewiston and then to the hotel, venturing out to the wax museum gift shop next door at dusk and then to Friendlies for dinner. It was a quiet evening in the motel room but I really had no idea "where" we were.

After enjoying the motel's continental breakfast on Saturday, I went out the front door to see what was on our street. I was surprised to find a parking lot for the National Cemetery across the street and I was thrilled to still see bits of the sunrise on the clouds. I ran back to the room for my camera and then across the block and into the cemetery. The entrance I was at was near where Lincoln spoke during the National Cemetery dedication in 1863.

I didn't have much time before meeting my parents for the first reunion meeting of the day so I was going to leisurely stroll back to the motel when I saw a monument on the other side of the parking lot so I ran over there and Surprise! - it was the one we had come all this way to re-dedicate and who knew it was so close?!

Next up was one of 2 trips to Devil's Den. It may look like just a pile of huge boulders but a very vicious battle took place here among the crevices.

Some of the boulders were heavy!

It was also the location where some of the men from the NY 136th posed on what is called the Devil's Bathtub (yes, there is water in a dip on top of the boulder).

I like this because Mom & Dad were reading one of the placards to the right of the tree

There are monuments and placards everywhere you look in Gettysburg and for the most part the monuments where placed where that particular regiment fought.

Just to the right of the Den is Little Round top. From the top, the view seemed to extend forever. I can't imagine fighting in this open area. Apparently battleground restoration is a big thing with tons of trees removed from the grounds to make the view more like it was during the battle.

Can't remember who this was but it seemed a popular thing to do :^)

Ok - more picture tomorrow!

Design Wall Monday - 10/21/18

We had a wonderful time in Gettysburg, PA this weekend to re-dedicate my g-g-grandfather's regimental monument. And even better...Zorro didn't destroy the house!!

 I'll post pictures about the trip later this week - I thought I would share the hexies I finished today for Design Wall Monday.  It's not quite a 5 hour drive each way and then 2 evenings in the motel room, so I was able to accomplish a decent amount of work while watching the fall leaves/scenery.

First I basted 2" hexies until I ran out of the cut fabric pieces - I am determined to finish my hexie puzzle project sooner than later and I just need to fill in the sides with these hexies...

Then I made 4 more of these black and white stars for my Salt & Pepper project until I ran out of jewel papers. I thought I had a new package of the 2" jewels which should make 12 stars. I have to figure out where the rest of the papers went so I can make more of these and then I need to actually decide what colors to use for the fill in tumbling blocks.

And on the ride home, I basted green 3/4" hexies until I ran out of pre-threaded needles about 7 minutes from home. The various greens are from a swap we did in Hexie Club this summer to make a Christmas Tree banner and I think I have 6 more greens to baste. I best get to working on this since the holidays are just around the corner...Yikes!

I'm still looking for anyone willing to send a postcard to my secret sister. I need to send the address to people from this weekend but I think there were some blog glitches last week where I wasn't getting comments - if you don't hear back from me by Wednesday, please email me again. Thanks again for helping with the card shower :)

Feline Friday - 10/18/13

Momma called me a Dork again over the weekend cuz I wasn't sitting in the kitty chair properly.

Well duh?! I can see out the window better this way!

Momma (who really does love me and I know that cuz she calls me Dork) would again like to ask if any of you felines would be willing to send a postcard to her guild secret sister? Leave her a comment for more details.

HeLP for Hexie-aholics

Hello to all my fellow hexiologists and welcome to another edition of Hexie Linky Party (HeLP) for Hexie-aholics. Feel free to introduce yourself and tell us about your particular addiction. LOL!

I recently received my signed copy of Ring Around the Hexies with the pieced hexie Boomer template. You knew I couldn't just let it sit right? I tried...but it didn't work...

Boomer is made with 2 strips cut into a triangle shape using the tri-recs tool and then 2 rectangles are sewn to the sides. I also made sure I cut the triangles so that I could do something with the "opposite" pieces. That will have to wait.

Only 2 basted so far but look at the possibilities already!!! I think more jean jackets are in my future!


Wouldn't this make an awesome border?





All right ladies (any gents out there??!!), time to link up your hexie projects. We don't care the vintage of the project nor the paper shape but do link up to the post and not your blog in general or your link might disappear...Let me know if you need help!

Wordless Wednesday

Owl and a favor?

This is my little helper before a meltdown - sunny days do not make for happy recently-homeless-now-indoor kitties. Rainy days are a different story...

Just let me tell you that he has a new kiss up move...he runs up to me and puts his front paws on my thigh so I can easily scratch his little head. Awwwww! It almost makes up for being naughty...

So obviously I finished another owl block...this is lucky #13 and now I need to cut out some more. I have another road trip soon so I am deciding what to bring with me: owls or otherwise. There are sew many hexie UFOs to choose from...

And yikes - HeLP is this week - I best have something fun to share!

===================================================

And now for the favor...

Would you be willing to send a postcard to my guild secret sister?

This is the second to last month and I thought a "card shower" would be fun. You can add your own message or even just "Happy Halloween from your Secret Sister." Leave me a comment if you would be willing to send a postcard and I'll get you her post office box. THANKS!

Feline Friday - 10/11/13

Hi! I thought I should officially introduce myself.



You can all me Z-Man, if you want...



I'm Zorro. I have a face mask and a cape and everything! I am still trying to get my new sisters to believe that I am a ladies man - they still call me The Introoder. You'll have to ask Momma about my little swords.

You see the resemblance right?

Anyway...Momma says I am a naughty boy. It was hard being a street cat for 3 months and now adjusting to indoor life. Yeah, I like to be on top of ALL the furniture and yeah, I like to drink out of the kitchen sink. Yeah, I can be cranky and bite or scratch. Yeah, I like to run and play but those girls won't play with me. Yeah, I have busted open 2 bags and 1 plastic box of food while she was asleep or working and yeah, sometimes I pee where I am not supposed to. She says that is why my favorite cardboard box got put out on the porch this morning.

But come on...aren't I cute?

Momma said two days ago that I had had my last chance...and just cuz I bite her in the nose 2+ hours after I had been reprimanded for being really naughty. Harrumph. She gave me an extra chance yesterday when I was playing at the top of the stairs and rolled off - I thought she was gonna cry. I don't think I got another chance when I did it again tho...





Got me a good place to sleep, huh?!



I'm gonna try to be good this weekend cuz Momma is gonna go to Gettysburg, PA soon and she's worried about leaving me home alone. Well, silly Momma, I won't be home alone - those girl cats will be here.

Anyways...wish me luck cuz I kinda like it here...

Disappearing 4 Patch tutorial

Earlier this week I showed a D4P block I had whipped up for a mug rug. Missy wrote and asked if I would be willing to share a tutorial. Of course!

The original Pinterest pin I stole it from is here which includes the math for different size blocks.



Sew (4) 5" squares together and spiral the center seam.



Use your favorite pencil to mark 2" to the side of each corner, for a total of 8 marks.




Without moving the fabric, cut 4 diagonal lines from mark to mark made in the previous photo.
You can barely make out the cut lines above - 2 from purple to purple block and 2 from striped to strip.

 


This is the fun step!
Move all the triangles one place to the right and rotate the center square a quarter turn.



Since my cutting mat is not on my sewing machine table,
I place all the bits and parts on a square ruler to move them to the sewing machine.



Essentially we are now working with a 9 patch.
Sew the 9 parts in to 3 rows and then sew the rows together.



Becasue of the angles, you'll need to square up your block.



My blocks have been 7.5" unfinished.


Hopefully that was clearer than mud but let me know if you have questions and I would love to see what blocks you make :)