Happy October to everyone! To begin this letter,  I would like to send a very big “THANK YOU” 😊 to all of you who read this newsletter/blog post. I really appreciate you taking the time as I know that your email inboxes are filled with hundreds of unwanted emails. This letter is a gift of love to y’all. It takes me about 2½ days to write it, load it into the email server, a different format than my computer, send it out to 1600 recipients. Then I load it onto my website blog that is yet another format. My hope is that you not only find it interesting, but helpful. Thanks again for your time and attention.

Yay for Fall, the temperatures are a little more reasonable. (some days) It’s cool enough to coax me out of the sewing room and outside to do some gardening. Building a flower bed for my irises has been on the ‘To Do list’ for years, about 7 to be exact, 😖 I hate to admit. We finally decided the best place to put it and built it. I have 5 big pots of irises. But the 3’ X 12’ bed only held 2 pots worth with room for about 8 more plants!! I was surprised. I guess I shouldn’t have been, that’s what I get for neglecting them for so long. Now I have to figure out a place to build another bed pronto. They were a matted mass of roots, it’s now a top priority. 😖

We also built my compost bins out of pallets. I’m so excited! They are percolating along great. It feels good to keep all the kitchen and landscape waste out of the land fill or burn pile. Soon it will support wonderful veggies. Yum !

Work on our little vacation Cottage is progressing slowly. Our life is layered with so many different projects on the go. We have been putting up the siding on the west wall of the Cottage, around the new windows. Hopefully we will be ready to start the primer this week end.  Along with finishing up the electrical loose ends, mowing, removing cedar trees, watering and all that goes along with trying to keep up with a small ranch. Whew, it makes me tired just thinking about it. LOL

I’ve been busy in the sewing room, making samples and working on more UFO’s. I did manage to get all 3 of my UFO quilts for the quilt show quilted. YAY !! (not an easy task when you have a constant line of tops to quilt for others)

If you are in the area, you won’t want to miss it this years’ QuiltFest 10.  It’s in the beautiful new pavilion at the Medina Community Library. It runs Saturday, Oct 17^th thru Saturday Oct. 24^th during library hours. (830-589-2825)

New fabrics trickle in during each month, some standard favorites and exciting new prints too. Last month, we got both Halloween and Christmas. Here are just a few:

Elegant and mysterious, this fantastic haunted house and witch panel and it’s companion panel, are a must for the Halloween lover. “Harvest Moon” from StudioE, there are also companion fabrics.

Haunted Night from Wilmington Prints is a fun and not so scary haunted house and laughing jack-o-lanterns. Several companion fabrics are available with a free pattern upon request. (available both in the shop & on our web site)

Speaking of our website, I thot I would share an interesting story with you. I have shipped fabric all over the world. Last April, an order was placed for 9 yards of the nurse fabric to be shipped to Czech Republic! I was excited. I mailed it on April 2, 2020. The unfortunate lady that order the fabric got caught in the pandemic mess and didn’t receive her fabric order until Sept 10^th !!!! WOW. She emailed me a picture of what she is making with the fabrics. I have her permission to share it with you. Very nice clutches and other bags. Happy ending to a tense and agonizing story.

Santa, doing some of his different jobs, is a wonderful, warm and sweet panel from Robert Kaufman. Lots of possibilities with these vignettes.

And my favorite, you won’t want to pass up this darling collection from Riley Blake, “Snow Sweet”.  The panel is the story of “making friends” as 2 snowmen create another. The companion fabrics are equally as darling and could blend easily with other Christmas fabrics. The border print is so cute, it could stand on it’s own.

A new addition to the blue section is this stunning “Shimmer” by Timeless Treasures. Such rich colors and of course, the sparkling gold sprinkled across the surface. A fantastic blender.

I hope y’all get a chance to enjoy the beautiful fall weather and colors. Breath in the crisp, fresh air and look at all the splendor around you, no matter where you are.

Creative Stitcher’s Club: The club now meets at the Medina Library on the second Friday of each month at 10:30 am. They now the “Hill Country Needlers”.

Warriors Heart Quilt project.

They need another 30 quilts. If you are tired of making masks, and looking for a new project, please consider making a quilt to donate to this is a great project, for a fantastic cause. Use up some of your stash, or you can purchase a kit from the Cottage. Thank you so much for your participation in this cause.

“Warriors Heart” is a treatment center for physiologically wounded active military, veterans and 1^st responders. Sometimes these wounds are the most long lasting because they are unseen. You can check out Warriors Heart on their website.  www.WarriorsHeart.com

You may choose any pattern for this quilt you wish. Quilts must be no smaller than 44” X 58” or larger than 60” X 72”. Each snuggle quilt must be finished completely, (quilted, bound & preferably have a label about the person who made it) and returned to Little Cottage Quilt Shop. Once turned in, all finished quilts become the property of Little Cottage Quilt Shop and will be donated to Warriors Heart in Bandera.

Valuable Info

With the gift giving season fast approaching, here is a tutorial on making mitered borders to frame your quilts. It’s easier than you think and looks spectacular. Give it a try, you will like it, I promise. 😊

Mitering Border Corners

 
Measure the center section that you are bordering.  According to your measurements, cut the border fabric into 4 individual lengths, one needed for each side.  Each length will need to be the full measurement plus 2 X the width of the border.
Example;
Center piece is  44” X 60”
Border width is 6”
Cut  2 strips of border 44” + 12”
Cut 2 strips of border 60” + 12”
After you have cut the border pieces, find the center of each border piece, and mark with a pin.  Do the same on all 4 sides of the center section.  Pick one side to start on.  With the corresponding border piece, match the centers and pin from the center to the outside corners.  Do one side at a time.  Sew the border to the center section starting and stopping the seam allowance width from the end. ie: ¼” seam, stop or start ¼” from each end of the center section.
Continue with the other 3 sides and corresponding border pieces.  You should have the full width of the border piece "extra" at the end of each side.
 
Next is the “mitering” part.  Pick a corner to start.  Line up 2 adjacent border pieces, folding the center section in half at the corner to a 45 degree angle.  Line up a straight ruler from the end of the seams, at a 45 degree angle to the end of the border edge.  Draw a line following the 45 degree angle of the fold, across the border strips to the outside edge.  Pin along the line.  If your border has stripes on it, make sure the stripes line up as you pin.  Sew along the marked line from the outside toward the center.  Stopping at the seams of the adjoining boarder pieces. Trim ¼” to the outside of the seam. Press the miter seam open nesting the pieces at the corners.  Repeat on the other 3 sides.