Mid Winter Dash & Stash

I was going to post a picture of my newest completed applique block, but alas, my camera (and the person behind it) is still taking those not-so-great pictures.  This picture makes me smile anyway.

Lovely new additions to my stash!

I finally figured out why my pictures are worse than before!  My husband has a Nikon D60 that has been out of action since last fall.  Lately he has been borrowing my little CoolPix Nikon, albeit very begrudgingly and with much sneering and snide remarks about it's supposed deficiencies.  What I didn't know was that he always fiddles around with the settings on my camera, desperately trying to get Nikon D60 quality pics out of my little point and shoot.  I could have told him 'NOT HAPPENING' if he would have just asked me.  Anyway, in my ignorance of all things technical, digital, or computerish, I had no idea he didn't reset my camera back the way it was supposed to be and now I guess I need to read the manual.  Oh joy.

Today was the annual fat quarter sale at a nearby quilt store which is crazy fun.  Lots of women grabbing fabric and stuffing it into bags without hardly looking, everybody sure that someone else is going to get all the good stuff.  I went waaay overboard and about melted my credit card into a puddle.  I like to grab FQ's that I know I can use in applique work, any great blendy fabrics, and basically anything that makes my fingers itch to pick up even if I'm not quite sure why at the moment.  I didn't consciously select by color, but about a fourth or more of what I bought is green???  I've already washed all the fabric and sorted a few pieces into current project totes.  Very exciting stuff!  Plus, I made it back in plenty of time to watch my youngest sons basketball game--so no harm, no foul.*wink

Trying Out Something New & A Correction

I just got a new and improved carryall for my hand quilting.  I'm not sure what everyone else uses, but I've never found anything better than the throw-away zip bags that come with brand new comforters etc.  The problem is, they don't tend to have a very long life span around here.

A new experiment

 When my sister was visiting over New Years, I noticed her dirty clothes bag looked pretty useful.  Good size and it seemed fairly sturdy, plus it had nice handles.  I checked it out on-line and yay!! IKEA sells them for 59 cents!!  The problem is, I live hundreds of miles away from the local IKEA and they are an 'in-store' only product.  So then of course I checked out E-bay.  My husband is one of those hobby E-bay people so I know about strange and unlikely things being sold through E-bay.  He graciously agreed to give up some of his precious Paypal money for me to buy a new bag @ $2.99 (which included shipping and is much, much cheaper than driving to IKEA).  Now I know he really truly loves me.*wink

The old system

 This bag worked fairly well for me and I loved the zip top.  Very nice for our dusty area.  Extremely cheap for the price (free with a new down comforter.)

Notice the shredded top?

However, when the zip top keeps working even after the entire bag has new ventilation, it stops being so impressive.  Thus the search for a new bag.

On another note, I need to make a correction.  The quilt in the above bag is not an American Patchwork and Quilting pattern.  It can be found in the 2002 November/December issue of Fon's & Porter Love of Quilting Magazine.  It is a Pat Sloan pattern so at least I got that part right!  My apologies if you've been frantically looking through your old AP & Q magazines for this pattern.  Not sure why I spaced out on this, but I'm blaming it on raising children--one being a male child about to fly away from home and testing his independence, two that are MoOdy female teenagers (say no more) and one pre-pubescent male child who is also the baby of the family.  The most noticeable effects for me seem to be short term memory loss.  We won't discuss the tic in my right eye.....

Just Another Basketball Saturday

Yum, I just love new spools of thread.  I had to head to the big city today because my youngest daughter had a basketball tournament.  Before I left home, I made a list of what quilting supplies I needed that might possibly, maybe, if I was real lucky, be on sale.*wink  Actually, the closer it gets to winter, the closer I get to being stocked up on quilting necessities because winters are usually pretty hard on us financially.  It pays off for me to have plenty of batting, thread, needles, marking pencils, and a couple quilt backs ready to go (just in case I get the urge to quilt something).  I was also able to pick up my sewing machine!  Yay!!  Nothing wrong with it except the back-stitch button was completely wore out.  Hmm, I'm wondering if I do too much chain piecing for this machine.  Of course it could be the way I patch my boy's jeans too.  I tend to fly back and forth across the patch using a zigzag stitch until I'm positive the jeans will wear out before the patch does.  Probably not real good for that back-stitch button, but I didn't dare ask the repair guy for his opinion.  Whenever he repairs my machine I always get this 'I've never seen this particular part wear out on this machine before, blah, blah, blah.'  Actually I'm kind of scared of him.  Anyway, back to basketball.  During warm ups and at half time I appliqued a few of my little basket blocks getting me closer and closer to.... getting the green baskets finished so I can move on to the brown and black ones.  I love this quilt.  If it ever gets finished, it's gonna be on my bed till I die.

Summer Reading Material

Does it look like I really need any new quilting books? I caught the name of one of these books on a quilting blog I read, touted as a favorite quilt book. That always catches my attention because everyday quilters know what inspires them personally and generally don't have an alternative reason for 'pushing' a book. Right? Next thing I know, I'm perusing Amazon to see if I can buy it for cheap in the used book section and then, Hello! something else jumps in my cart. (I'm easy that way!) I haven't even got completely through these books and I'm wondering where they've been all my life! What a find! In all honesty, I have to admit that I'm sure I checked out and read through the 'Scrap Quilts' book a few years after it's release. But that was ahem, over 10 years ago though and I am not the same quilter I was back then.:) Here we are, in the dog days of summer, and I finally find my summer reading material. Don't you just love the blogging world?

New Roll of Batting

Christmas comes early around here!*wink Yesterday I got my new roll of batting in the mail, which always makes me feel like a little kid at Christmastime. I've been ordering it from 'Heartbeat Quilting' out of Spokane, Washington for several years now. What I order is a 30 yard roll of Hobbs 80/20 Heirloom Batting. I love it for hand quilting because it's fairly flexible yet still puffs up just a little when I make my stitches (without being the slightest bit thick and unwieldy). The scrim is great for machine quilting too and I appreciate the fact that the Hobbs batting is 96 inches long as opposed to the common 90 inches in other batting. Those extra 6 inches are a real savings, let me tell you, when you start cutting lengths off of a 30 yard roll. This is one of my many ways of stocking up for our never ending, financially uncertain winters. Quilting stuff is just as necessary as food you know.:)

The Irresistible Fabric

The fabric I couldn't pass up. Even though it's gray. Did you notice? The color is GRAY. (Still scratching my head over why I was swooning over it.)
I tried to add texture in an attempt to blunt the uncharacteristic color choice of the main fabric.
Then I went crazy and got bolder. I have a feeling this particular stack of fabric is going to be bonding for awhile before I figure out the magic formula that makes it all work properly.
The quilt I was working on before I went flying out the door last Wednesday for Oregon. It was the first time I've been to see my sisters down there in months so I was all revved up for it and more than ready to ditch the border work on this grumpy quilt.
My traveling quilting partners. Obviously I was more interested in flapping my jaw than working my needle. I saw these blocks made up into the quilt they were intended to be displayed in, all 192 or so, (on a quilt blog) and the woman didn't even cheat on the border applique blocks.:o I feel very small now and inadequate after viewing that finished quilt, but I still intend to persevere and someday bequeath this quilt to a grandchild perhaps. It could happen.

Sweet Find

Okay, the closest I've gotten to my sewing machine resulted in a miniature curtain for my sons school project. That's the bad news. The good news is my sweet little find this last Saturday! I found these scrappy antique basket blocks this weekend at a show and then promptly paid too much money for them. Considering how stained up they are, I should have taken a picture and then passed them up. Me? I couldn't resist when I saw how scrappy and off-grain the piecing was. Way too cool. This is something my G'ma would have pieced. I am already thinking of a 4 block old style quilt with some quirky applique on the border and maybe a throw pillow. This will require some subconscious deliberating so I will NOT rush the process. I will not, I will not, I will not.:) On a different note, I had visitors all weekend who demand much from my limited store of patience. Thus, I was able to finish 5 more of my little basket blocks for my 'forever project'. Good things come with time....

Cheesy Purchase

Okay, totally excited here about a very cheesy purchase today from my local Habitat store. I saw this old crafty looking holder for my yard stick and thought, 'yes'! In the second picture you can see how my old yard stick was getting bent and warped. I only use it when I'm cutting out batting, but how annoying to try and use a bent yard stick? I am still laughing as I post this because first of all I'm such a sucker for the crafty, artsy shtick and second of all, if you click on my pictures you can see all the cobwebs taking over my wooden chickens on the wall. I SERiously need to spend some time in my quilting room.*smirk