"What's on the line?"

"Autumn Leaves" are on the line today. I took this photo a couple of weeks ago when there actually were autumn leaves on the trees. Had I actually taken it today, the trees are almost bare. A great deal of the leaves have fallen from the trees and soon the wind will take the rest of them and blow them into the woods.
I love the fall leaves and so I made this table topper or wallhanging to celebrate autumn and it's colorful foliage. This quilt was made in 2003. I designed it, stitched it and my friend, Sara Peterson did the machine quilting. She used a variegated thread that really adds to the quilting design.
The design for the quilt came from little sketches I did when I used to work fulltime. :-) I was often on the phone with customers but would be put "on hold" and so I would "doodle" while I waited. I "doodled" a series of five quilts that are all about the same size - approximately 36" square. Once again, this was a project that I shared with my friends at church (I also taught it as a community education class). This is the project that I made reference to a couple of weeks ago as a "Mystery Series" that I taught. Some of my friends thought we should do a mystery quilt series, so I told them I had designed some small quilts that might work well for mystery projects. The first one was called "Winter Star" and you'll see it in December. The second was "Hearts in the Pines" and you'll see it in November. The spring version is "Spring Wreath" and then for summer comes "Patriotic Pinwheel". I had stitched them and knew what they looked like. I gave clues to what type of fabric to buy regarding lights, darks, prints, etc. However, the one thing about mystery quilts is that sometimes you might have chosen a different fabric and ended up with a quilt that you like a lot more. And that is exactly the case for most of the quilts my friends made. Granted some turned out just right, but others not so sweet. After this series, none of us were interested in any more mystery quilt projects. I have never put these patterns into "pattern format" but my friend, Marianne, is going to "test" my instructions so that I can make that happen. I'll be sure and keep you posted on progress on this project. :-)

A little over a week ago when I was home visiting my mother, there were signs of autumn every where you looked.......trees turning colors, harvesting in the fields, hay bales being put up for the long winter, and the sun going down earlier every day. On that Saturday after we had spent the afternoon shopping, we decided to spend our evening at the McQuire Bend United Brethren Church Supper and Bazaar. It's a little country church that was founded in 1890 and still serves an active congregation. It's a very pretty, very peaceful setting. Many of my family members attended church here in the 1940's and earlier.

As we arrived, folks were pulling into the parking lot in anticipation of a good meal. That young man on the steps is anxiously waiting for his cousins to arrive.

The food smelled delicious. Is there anything better than food at a church supper? In my book, it is the best. There was homemade vegetable beef soup or chili, and beefburgers and, of course, PIE! That's a piece of really fine coconut pie that I had after I ate the nutritious stuff. :-) And for those who were still hungry, there were baked goods that were auctioned off after dinner was over..........

We didn't stay for the auction, as it didn't start til 7:00 p.m . and it is hard for my mom to get around and she doesn't like to be out after dark. But we took a look at all the pretty things that others were going to be taking home............

In the photo above you can look down the table one way............ and in the photo below you can look at it all from the other direction. There were so many sweet things. My favorite were these dishtowel sets! I especially liked the ones on the left.
And the crocheted doilies were just exquisite!! Double-click on the photo below and you can see the detail of some of them.

I also really liked this crocheted angel...........and if there was an item that I really wanted to stay and bid on, it was this rose quilt. It was one of three vintage quilts included in the auction. I wonder who went home with that quilt?

My mom heard that the church group did really well on their supper and bazaar proceeds. As I said earlier, this is a country church but it is an active church. If you want to know more about worship times, just go here.

Behind the church lies the cemetary. I took this photo just as we were leaving and the sun was going down.

Before we ate our meal, I had gone into the cemetary with fall flowers that my mother had bought for the headstones of family members. This is where my grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great grandparents are all at rest. I remember coming here as a child with my grandma. That was back when Memorial Day was called Decoration Day and was all about honoring those who had passed away. As we all know, Memorial Day has become more of a holiday than a day of remembrance. This is not the church that I attended as a child but I did come to church picnics and programs here as it was a "sister church" to our congregation, the Lehigh United Brethren Church. That church closed many years ago but fortunately this one survives. :-)

So, one last photo.........did the cousins ever arrive for that little guy sitting on the steps? Yes, they did because as we were leaving, I snapped this photo of them climbing on the church sign. And where there are children........life continues. :-)

Hope you all had a really good weekend. I had a good day of rest yesterday and I am ready to start a new week and a new day. Happy Monday!

Sandi