Quality time with my sewing machine...

Hello all - well last week was very nice... lots of good things happened... let me fill you in. When I was here last Sunday I said I had my fingers crossed that my son's house would sell before today... and it is sold... in fact, it sold in less than 24 hours, above asking price... the agent came and took pictures around noon on Sunday and didn't get them uploaded till around 4:30pm... within 15 minutes of it being listed they had a showing booked for that night... and before the night was over they had 2 more showings with appointments for a dozen more on Monday. They got their first bid by 7pm on Sunday ... and in the end they closed off the bids and the showings at 5pm on Monday when they had 5 bids... all for over the asking price. Now I knew the market was hot but I didn't realize that now days the asking price is a starting point, not the ending, and I thought the agent started at too low a price point... if I had been the agent I'd have started about $5K higher. They even had one bid sight unseen for more than the asking price but the buyer was upfront in that he was purchasing it to be rental property. My son and daughter-in-law would like it to stay owner occupied so they refused his bid. What surprised me was that every bid waived an inspection... OMG... I've never purchased a house without having it inspected. Now I assume people figured it would be fine because my son did disclose that the basement leaks some times and that they had done some work to mitigate that problem. Any other issue would have been cosmetic ... so now it is a done deal... they close the end of August.

And on the weather front we got some rain... oh we needed it... my grass is still a bit brown but I have my fingers crossed for more rain later this week and a forecast of lower temperatures. I even heard a long range forecast for a cooler August ... 80s being cooler than 90s... I'll take it!!

On the crafty front I was monogamous to  Elliott's stocking...  it is easier to see my progress on the back than on the front...

last week...

this week...

I got that garland and the ornaments at the top done, the blue bow on the package Santa is holding and all the silver garland on the tree.  I know these pictures are terribly interesting to you guys but they do let me look back and see if I made any progress.

I was able to make and appointment and go to the needlepoint shop Monday morning... got some more decorative threads and wool for the background.  I confirmed it has to be stitched by October to get finished by Christmas...

And I spent some quality time with my sewing machine this week. First I got my flag quilt assembled except for the borders...

This is my favorite flag...

All these fabrics are vintage Debbie Mumm...  I love the button prints and the little flags... I think the star fabric I used for the sashing was actually from a Christmas collection but it looks pretty patriotic here.  Oh, the pattern I used was a free one you can find here on Amy Smart's blog. Very easy to sew up...

And while I should have finished up the flag quilt something else shiny came along and I HAD TO DO IT!!!   I totally missed that this quilt was a SAL on Instagram not long ago ... but when I did find out about it I raced to my favorite local quilt shop, Homegrown, Homesewn  to purchase fabric for it... all Basic Grey Grunge... and here is my version of the Jumbo Spider quilt pattern from Pen and Paper Patterns... here's a link to her stuff and  you can see lots of the quilts that were made here.

It is a brighter green than is showing up in the picture... I thought the polka dot was a fun background and I got the Grunge Glitter for the spider and the web...

and instead of the eyes being pieced I'm going to put those googly eyes on after I get it quilted.  I want a spider web panto for this one... it is going to be so cute on the wall in my living room for Halloween!!

Then I got back to the quilts I wanted to get bound... I got 2 finished which was my goal ... first I got the binding on the biggest one I had waiting... my 2x4 yellow scrap quilt... here it is on my bed, freshly laundered... oh I LOVE the texture...

Here's a close up of one of my favorite blocks... little red polka dotted chickens...

I even made some new pillowcases to go with this quilt... I found this rose fabric in my stash.. I love the vintage look of it...

And I got the binding on my "Good Girl" quilt too... I have it draped over the chair in my bedroom...

A nice cozy spot to sit and read  in a lovely sunny room...

I still have 3 more quilts to bind and  I want to get the backs sewn for 2 Christmas tops... trying to get ahead of the holidays.  I hope to have some sewing time this week... my son has a dentist appointment, I babysit one day and we have dinner plans for  tomorrow night... I should call and see if I can get the oil changed in my car but nothing else is pressing at the moment.

Since I haven't gotten this posted yet on Sunday ... its almost 10pm... and I have a lot of quilting content for a change...I'm going to link up in a couple of places... Kathy's Quilts, Love Laugh Quilt,  and Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Hope you have a good week ahead... lots of time to do the things you want to do!!

happy stitching-
carol fun