Thrifty Gift Week #1: Orphan Block Hot Pad

Thanks for joining me for the first week of #QuiltChat's Thrift Gift Maker hour.

Gift Maker chat is scheduled for Sunday 7 pm EST and Monday 10 am EST.

The first week is nice and easy and everyone should be able to make one. Next week we have Show & Tell! (Just email me a picture of what you have made and I will add it to the picture album.)

Step #1 Grab an Orphan Quilt Block-
I know you have a shoebox full!

You will also need some backing fabric (thick cotton is preferred), some binding, some batting or hotpad Insulation.

#2 Cut pieces of backing and batt equal to the size of the the block. Sandwich the layers together and baste- pins should be adequate.

#3 Choose thread to match and quilt your block.

#4 Square up the little quilt and trim.

#5 Apply the binding.

#6 Finished!

This will work with any shape of block you have hanging around, and can even be used to make the glove shaped hotpads.

What can you make?

Shop Hopped Out

I did it!


I visited the requisite 16 shops, collected my stamps and turned in the Passport at the final shop of the day! I am now entered in to win the lovely prizes. :) I also bought a few raffle tickets from various guilds.
And I must say WE did it. Thank you to my wonderful-darling-patient Husband for going with me. He was a great sport and we had a fun time discussing esoterica, arguing plants and making inappropriate jokes. He earned major brownie points for going along (and I think he had some fun too).
Of course, I collected more than just stamps (a sore butt from driving the 250 miles and 8 hours.)






I now have 16 block patterns to work on while deciding on the next project(s). Many shops included all the pieces required for finishing the blocks. And I bought the finishing kits from the shops that didn't.
I did some stash enhancements along the way. Mostly I collected 1/2 yard cuts, some random fat quarters (and some nice coupons inviting me back). I kept saying I was on the lookout for white-on-white and cream-on-cream. But I only ended up buying ONE of those LOL

I found two fabrics with Dragons- one is black with gold dragons, the other is black with multi-colored dragons.
My favorite purchase has to be the Australian designed fabric (bottom right hand fabric in photo below). I will be collecting a few more yardages of that line. Stunning. (I picked this one up at the Shibori Dragon in Lakewood.)





I also learned where some great shops are. And I know how to get to them, in case I am ever in that area... Which is not unlikely, considering all 16 of the shops I visited were within a one hour drive of my home. Here is a map of the places we visited.

Today's stops (pink pins):

#1 Rochester, The Quilting Cottage. (My first visit- really well stocked!)
#2 Centralia, Quilter's Junction. (Moving to a nearby space soon, all on 1 level.)
#3 Chehalis, Sister's Fabric Shop. (Bursting at the seams like usual.)
#4 Morton, Sugar & Spice. (My First visit here, NOT my Last. Very friendly, SUPER prices. Really Good Prices!)
#5 Eatonville, The Country Mouse. (Fun dimensional pieced block- Three Blind Mice.)
#6 Graham, Creative Quilter. (Very friendly and helpful. Nice selection of panels too.)
#7 Orting, The Wild Rose. (Beatiful shop, great location. It is for Sale. They are having an inventory reduction sale soon too. Watch the site for details.)
#8 Puyallup, The Quilt Barn . (Another shop that is moving to a bigger location soon.) (Yay for success!)
#9 Tacoma, Train Fabrics Etc. (They offer bananas for the weary hopper. And a selection of non-quilty things.)
#10 Tacoma, Evergreen Quilting. (Has done very well since opening. Has expanded already! Check them out.)
#11 Lakewood, The Shibori Dragon. (Always interesting finds. Specializing in asian fabrics and imports. Just expanded yarn section too.)

Previous days (blue pins):

Olympia, Bayside Quilting. (The machine quilting part, with 5 HQ16's available for rent for $15 an hour.)
Olympia, Bayside Quilting 2. (The fabric section. Always amazing. I am so spoiled to be so close to this amazing shop, full of amazing people. Amazing.)
Tumwater, Quilter's Quarters. (Yes, a third shop within minutes of my home. Spoiled.)
Shelton, Sue's Stitch In Time. (Great selection of wide width fabrics!)
Belfair, Dancing Needle. (I really liked their kits and applique patterns.)


And there are 2 more shops pretty close by, that I didn't make it to, but should mention, as I will probably try to go to them tomorrow (Don't tell my husband!)

Yelm, GeeGee's. (GeeGee's has more fabric than you can imagine. Fabrics from years ago that you have been trying to find more of.)
Tacoma, Parkland Parish Quilt Co. (Just a nice shop. Nice folks, nice selection.)

Yes, I had a great time. I am excited to start playing with the fabrics I picked up. I may actually make the blocks I collected (dare I think of last year's blocks?).

But first, I think I will take a nap.

Treasure Hunt

Ok... so usually I avoid garage sales. I even host them. Sell my things.

But I was weak. I stopped at a couple places. I only spent $5!

But look at the treasure I found!

A whole jar full of beads and buttons and pins and even a tyrannosaurus pendant. And can you believe that I found big old shiny Jordache brand earrings!

Shop Hop or Bust!

The 2007 Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop has started!

And I did a bit of a start on my Hopping while I was out driving around the countryside today.

There are 58 shops participating this year, and in order to qualify for the prizes, we just need to collect stamps on our yellow 'passports' from 16 of the shops. That is actually a pretty tall order, as there is usually at least 1/2 hour drive between each shop.

You haven't Hopped before? Nothing could be easier!

• Each shop stamps your passport when you visit.
• A fabric has been designed specifically for this year's hop (see it behind my passport).
• Each shop has used this fabric to design a block.
• The block pattern kits include some of the fabrics needed to complete the block.
• You can then join all the blocks you have collected into a quilt.

Easy Peasy! Just go Shopping :)

I picked up the premade block patterns from the shops in Shelton & Belfair, and I plan on getting 3 more from the Olympia & Tumwater area shops tomorrow.

I wonder if I can make it to the shops in Rochester and Centralia and Chehalis tomorrow... Then I would be halfway!

Shop Hop or Bust!

Ohh, yes, I do spend some money when I do this. But I have found that if I have a fabric theme focus, I don';t go nuts. This year, I will be looking for indigoes and white-on-white fabs. I can't spend too much on that stuff, right?

Puppy PIllow

So... I make things for my dog. And my cat LOL
This is a little pillow/cushion I popped together with some bits of poly blend fabrics I had in the closet for loooong time. (Yes, someone gave them to me because I am a quilter.)
I might just have to make a few more :) It was quick and easy... and I had to relearn how to hand sew an invisible stitch.

What have you made from your poly/blends you have been 'gifted' with?

UgFab: Completed

I finally had time to finish and photograph my Table Runner!

Yay!

Not only did I get to sew and finish the runner, I sewed while my husband worked. So a happy home.

Have you ever used that foil stuff for hot pads? That is what I used in this- the hot pad interior stuff and a layer of Warm & Natural. It made it a tough cookie to handle! Kept sliding around and getting caught up. And I don't know how well by blade and needle did... I shall wait and see. For the quilting, I used the new large thread spools of mercerized cotton from Coats & Clark- no troubles whatsoever.

The runner turned out about 6 feet long, point to point. And I did end up changing the outer border fabric yet again- it just needed a bit of sparkle! The detail also shows the backing fabric, which is my new favorite! It is this browns/rusts with a sublte chain link fence pattern. Really neat fabric, that I am thinking of all sort of uses for!

Less fear... and a Find!

So... my husband... my wonderful, sweet, patient husband got up with me this morning and we pulled everything out of the garage for another garage sale.

And he reminded me to post much of the bigger items on CraigsList. And he dragged out a bunch of the heretofore mentioned afeared 'stuff" and put it at the curb with a big Free sign.

:)

So we are harmonious and working towards the same goal of good riddance to gobs of baggage.

And as he was going through random drawer #7 he came across my old #QuiltChat badge! I had forgotten all about it! How it ended up in his things I will never know.

Who else has a badge?

Where is your?

Who in the world made these for us and how long ago?

Can we get more?

I feel like we will need to delve deeply into the mists of memory of chatdom...

Crisis: Existence & Fears

This is my sewing room tonight, June 1st...

Relegated to the corners of the space...

Waiting to breathe out...

when his computers and desk take the unoccupied spaces.

I fear for my sewing space…

Where does he expect to put this?

Or all this:

The inner sanctum of the manworld.

Am I wrong to feel like I await an army of computer screws and fans and drives to invade this happy, productive quilty land?

The plotting begins...