Quilt this, not that

Three things to be happy about:
(1) while-you-wait car repair
(2) retirement on your own terms
(3) sleeping late on a rainy day

Sleeping late, yes!!!   Yesterday I woke up sorta early but I was still sleepy, and I noticed it had started raining.  When I woke up again it was around 10:00 - that was a good rainy day sleep-in!


If there were a movie called June Cleaver Does Quilting - I'd be in the starring role!  Not only did I finish piecing the solid quilt top, but I used the same pattern idea to make another one using prints!  I'm calling this pattern layout Three-Six-Twelve...

The quilting is all done, I've attached the binding to the back, I just need to machine stitch it down on the front.  I tried the idea from the video of pressing the individual strips before joining them... believe me, it saves a lot of time!  I used to cut my strips, even off each end, draw a 45* line [yawn], cross over the ends, sew on the line ... and when all 999 strips were joined into one long strip I'd press it in half -  sheesh!  It's so much easier the "new" way!

I liked the bright colors I used in this little quilt, and since I wanted to use a single border I didn't want the border to compete with the center.  I decided to used this adorable black and white alphabet fabric; there's no black/white in the body of the quilt but I think this makes a cute border!

I was also able to finish up that bolt of alien fabric I bought in December when my local Hancock Fabrics was closing that location.  I'm glad to finish up the bolt, lets me know I'm using my fabric!  The bolt cost $3 and had at least 4 yards on it, and now it's all gone, yaaay!  I was thinking the other day that fabric is not bought to be stashed away in a box or under the bed or on the shelf ... if it's not used, what good is it???  So, I'm glad I made those aliens disappear.  I zapped their little red green yellow butts!

I've got quite an inventory of quilt tops that are waiting to be quilted - look at this pile...

I didn't know I had so many!  There are eight tops ready to be quilted; two of them are the small cobblestone quilts and then there's the solid one.  I took two to the LA last week (Black, White, and a Shot of Red; and Stars and Stripes) so that makes 10 tops - quite an inventory!

These were all pieced this year except the second from the bottom.

That's it for now, have a great Wednesday.  I plan to do a tutorial on the Three-Six-Twelve quilt, possibly tomorrow.  Sew forth and sew on!

behind the scenes

Three things to be happy about:
(1) solving a riddle
(2) crinkly laugh lines
(3) autumn shopping sprees

It's guild day again - already!  Where did the last month go, the time just flew by.  The saying goes "time flies when you're having fun" but I think it flies whether you're having fun or not! 

But thank goodness quilters know how to have fun, whether we're working on our projects or just doodling around some other way.

Today in our workshop we're having a jelly roll race, yaaaay!  Because I've been on a strict fabric diet lately, rather than buying a jelly roll (or two) I decided to shop my stash and cut my own.  Let's hear it for the stash! 

I needed 40 strips and I'm really pleased (and feeling like a clever girl!) that I was able to pull enough fabrics to get those 40 strips... I'm using blues this time, cutting three strips from each fabric.

I took my strips to the quilting session at the senior center on Thursday and trimmed off those pesky selvedges.  I had to laugh, because I also took my new favorite trail mix and everybody was getting hooked on it!

I got this trail mix from Costco and it's a great snack because it's not sweet ... but it's HOT!  There's a liberal amount of wasabi in the mix!

I trimmed off all the selvedges at the center, so I was able to start sewing the ends together when I got home.  Some people sew their strips at a 45 degree angle which is pretty - but I take the lazy way out and just connect em straight on.

I decided not to worry about matching fabrics or which ones got hooked onto which, because when we do the jelly roll race there won't be any way to control the colors anyway.  So, I just let them fall where they may!

So here's the finished product, rolled on a paper towel roll to keep them from tangling...

let the race begin - wish me luck!

Sew forth and sew on

Feeling... 10 percent

You ever have a day that just made you grin?  Me too!

Yesterday I couldn't resist calling the local Hancock Fabrics to see if they were still open, I wasn't sure if they were closed or not ... the person answering the phone said "Yes, but today's the last day!"  So, with me being me, I hopped on over to see what I could see...

I saw "stuff" at 90% off! 

I got the rest of their quilter's between needles, sizes 8, 9 and 10, at 22 cents a package.  A wooden hand presser for 39 cents; an Omnigrid offset square template and two of those ruler handle suction thingies for 69 cents each; three packs of self-adhesive Needle Grip-It dots for 44 cents each! 

And that's just the tip of the iceberg...

Sulky and Mettler threads for 40 cents each...

These books had been marked down to $2.00, so I got them for 20 cents!  Turning Twenty by Tricia Cribbs has been out there awhile but I never made one of her quilts, and I didn't have a book.  I didn't mind paying 20 cents for these three - I got Books 1, 2, and 3 in the series!  And the two snowman books had some cute patterns, so I figured why not.

But the real coup was the fabric; check these out!

I thought these little aliens were so adorable!  I was drawn to the bright colors in it, they'll look great in a child's quilt.  I like words, so the fabric on the bottom had to come home with me!

I don't usually buy Halloween fabric but I got these!  The top and bottom ones can qualify for black if I want to... I like the soft purple shade of the one in the middle, so I had to get it!  The first two are from the M'Liss Halloween Magic line, you can get a closer look at the top one here.  The purple is probably discontinued.

More words!  Patriotic words such as freedom, strength, liberty, USA, honor ... and the softer color has baby words such as adorable, muffin, angel face, sweet thing and little pea pod.  I like the first and third bolts because they're neutrals, I was drawn to that bright blue color of the second one.  The brown one is a child's print and is listed as a novelty with dino words ... big scary teeth, dino land, munch, dinosaur footprint.  It's saying all these things but the little characters are grinning.  Whatever.

Oh, did I mention I purchased these by the bolt?  And that the bolts were $3 each?  Yes!!!

If the bolt didn't have at least 4 yards on it I didn't get it, but believe me it was flying off the shelf!  Some of the fabric, such as the purple Halloween fabric, was originally $8.99 a yard, so I got a really good deal!  Upholstery fabric was going for 50 cents a yard; I don't know what the minimum cut was but some customers were getting the entire bolt.

Now you know why I was grinning about feeling "10 percent!"  If I were a smoker... I swanee I would have rared back, crossed my legs and lit a lonnnnnng cigarette!

I said once before that I wasn't going back to Hancock's because I have enough fabric, but I really mean it this time - it's closed down.

Sew forth and sew on

Distracted by the stash!

Yesterday I was looking for a specific piece of fabric (that I didnt' find!) - the bins where I keep my african prints were all a-tumble.  So, I started folding and straightening again, made two tubs out of three... 

I wish I had more of this fabric, I only have this little piece left:

I think it's out of print, I bought it at least 8 years ago, probably just a yard or two. 

I also like this piece, there's about 1-1/2 yards left:

I used a piece of it on the back of a quilt I made and by mistake I put it on backwards.  So instead of saying Tam-Tam  it said  Mat-Mat.  Still looked good, though.

Today I'm not in a sewing mood so I'll do some "controlled" cutting.  I was going through my scrap bins and finding some pretty large pieces in there, I'm not going to just whack them for scrap projects. 

Bonnie has posted the quilt she's going to teach us on the cruise in November and I notice she says we can bring 2" and 3-1/2" strips, so I may as well cut some from the scraps.  It will decrease the number of FQ's I need to take.

Now it's time to eat breffus, then a walk before it gets too hot.  Have a great day - sew forth and sew on til later!

Heeeeere's Bonnie!

Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville lectures on her use of fabric and scraps; I learned about her method years ago, but I've never seen a "live" lecture on it. If you've already seen the video, watch again - you might have missed something the first time!

a-b-c and 1-2-3

I shopped my stash for fabrics to make a kiddie quilt, this is just at the in-my-head stage right now.  The background will be combos of light fabrics, mostly in the beige-light brown family. 



Since I wanted to make something that would use up a lot of my scraps, I thought I'd applique the alphabet and some numbers onto separate background blocks.  I pulled a handful of blues and greens for the letters and numbers; obviously I'll need to add a lot more to this pile - maybe I'll throw in some purples too!  I might also add some crumb piecing, we'll see.

Where do ideas come from?  The layout I plan to use was inspired by the cover of a magazine I saw last month, I think I can make it work.  As I said before it's just in my head right now; I won't start this one until I finish some deadline stuff.

Have you noticed the new "related posts" buttons at the bottom?  Sometimes they have exactly nothing to do with the current posting, I don't know how the program picks which ones to link to.  I'll give it a little more time, then I might remove it.  Maybe I configured it wrong... who knows what, anyway?

Stashhopping?? Stash hopping??

Okay, okay, it's really "stash shopping"... someone else's, not mine...

I admit, with my head hanging down, that yes I went shopping in someone else's stash ... then, with a bright and cheery grin I lift my head and ask "How can you blame someone with such an innocent face!?"

There's a local quilter who has had to rent a public $torage $pace for her stash because she has no more room at her home, and she's having to sell it off.  Last Friday my friend Pat and I hopped in the car and went joyfully to Kensington, Maryland and had our way in said stash.  I took a shopping bag but I had no intention of filling it up - and I didn't!  There was still a little bit of room left at the top when I came home.  :o)

I got some nice Free Spirit pieces...

these are assorted labels - Timeless Treasures, makower uk England, etc.  I got two nice purples and a "cobblestones" pattern in a kind of caramel-ly/brown-y color.

Two Northcotts, a Kaffe.  I like the pale green with the little cups, I took all she had left on the bolt.

Two Kaye Englands and a nice pink polka-dot - what's not to love about those dots!??  I got all she had left on the bolt... Pat talked me into it!

She had quite a few plastic-wrapped, unopened bolts of fabric... she said she now has about 1/4 of what she started out with.  I got a total of 30 yards for $60 - not bad for a morning's raid!  AND, I do intend to use this fabric!  Honest!  I already have a project in mind for that cream piece, above.

As I'm writing this, it is 1/11/11 and the snow is drifting quietly down outside.  We've been "downgraded" from 1-4 inches to just 1".  However, I'm prepared to work from home if need be.  Until later!