"What's on the line?"

November has arrived and here in Minnesota that means cold weather is here for sure and will be for at least six months! I have always wondered how people survived the long cold winters before central heating. Perhaps it was old wool quilts like this one that would keep them warm for a night's sleep when winter winds blew in through cracks in the walls or along windows.

This old tied quilt is made from men's suiting swatches that were cross-stitched together. The batting on this quilt is very thick and it would be very warm to sleep under this quilt. It would also be difficult to move as it's kinda heavy. LOL! The quilt was bought by my dad for just a few dollars at a farm auction. He also bought the one below............

This one was my dad's favorite of all the quilts that he found at auctions. He loved the embroidery work on this one and so I took some close-ups so you could see the handiwork of the maker of this quilt. It's made of wool and a clue to it's age is a pink cotton backing on the quilt that is likely from the 1920's. It was a time when there was renewed interest in crazy quilting and fanciwork embroidery. It is also a rather heavy quilt.........tied, so it's not really a quilt by historical standards.......but I don't think it was used very much. It's in really good condition.

The photos for today's quilts were all taken yesterday afternoon. It was a beautiful day with a bit of sun and no wind. You will notice that almost all the leaves are gone from the trees behind my clothesline. That's because last week's wind blew them all into the woods!

When the sun went down, there was a bit of a nip in the air but it didn't stop the kids and parent from going door-to-door! I had 34 happy trick-or-treating kiddies that rang my doorbell last night. My ceramic Jack-0-Lantern was full of candy and I nearly ran out but luckily there was some more candy in the pantry.

To add some "spookiness" to my front porch, I took an old sheet and draped it over those big teddy bears that live on my front porch (go here to see what the bears look like underneath their sheets). They became perfect ghosts and they each held a tiny pumpkin that had a blinking light inside so the kids thought they were really cool. As you can see by Kaiser's position.........he is not so sure they are cool at all!

I didn't make much progress on that last Halloween wallhanging that I'm working on but I did get that apron finished and I wore it as I worked in the kitchen today and when I handed out treats. I'm going to make a couple more aprons as they are really great to wear when sewing, too. I made extra long ties on the apron so that I can bring them around the back and then tie the apron in front. I used a pre-printed quilt block panel that I appliqued on the front of the apron and then the apron itself is made from a border print Halloween fabric.

Next post will be all about the Halloween treat that my friends, Laura, Sharon and I enjoyed this past Saturday. We had some seriously good fun visiting a couple of quilt shops!

All for now. Here's to a great start to a new week and a new month!!! Have a great day!
Sandi