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...

UgFab Part 3: The home stretch

So.. as I assumed I would, I waited until the last minute, made a few changes, then sewed my project in one day LOL

First step: Make sure the fabrics were the ones I wanted to use... Was there a way to get a red into this group?? No?? Bummer. But! I swapped out one of the gold colored fabrics with this very pretty cream with brown. (It really looks like a stone you would see in a floor tile, as you will see below.)
The next step was to decide the pattern. What's that? You still didn't know your pattern? No, no, no. I have been approaching quilt pattern design in a more organic way and I allow the fabric to tell me what it will be. Barring that, I just cut it into strips, chop a bit more, sew a bit more, and Bingo! Quilt City!

This is what I made!
(Thanks to all the encouragement and help of the lovely ladies of WASIQ! You rock!)

It is not finished yet, not quite- I still need to use that remaining gold as a border, and perhaps a bit of the dark brown as a binding?

But it did turn out pretty well, so far!

Now... I just need to get it completed in time for the Challenge vote!

(In 4 days. )

UgFab Part 2: What should I make?

So...

The UgFab swap... I have this gorgeous fabric.

I have chosen the 3 fabs to go with it...

Now I need to figure out 'what' to make with it.

Any ideas? I am still leaning towards a table runner (that is the dining room table the fabrics are lying on). But what pattern?!?

Really! I need help!

Opinions are TRULY welcome :)

Help!

Why did I start quilting?

That was the question posed to us...

Honestly, I think at least part of my reasoning was that I wanted to try something a bit different from other 17 year olds. (Nothing like learning the skills of a bygone era to up your cool factor with other teenagers.)
Of course a few years have gone since then, and now I would say I do it because I love the manipulation of the media and the subtleties that you can explore.

But I was really interested in making something that would last. Being creative- actually creating something- is a recurring theme in my head. Something like all the service work I have done and do, and the non-physical work doesn't fill a gap I feel. Creating is a physical expression. I can sing and play piano and talk and sell and all that stuff. But I think I must have felt a real disconnect from the world that tactile creation remedies- much like gardening. (But quilting you can neglect for long stretched and it doesn't die or go wild LOL).

My very first project was started shortly after I moved from Montana to Seattle. I didn't quite understand what all the fuss was about the need for 100% cotton- seemed like some sort of elitist thing. So I went to the thrift store and bought a bunch of stuff that looked like good colors. And as I was hand stitching the Tumbling Blocks, Dog and Attic Windows blocks form the tshirt material, flannel and men's suiting I learned why. T-shirt material and suit jackets are tough to get together with good corners!
That delightful little project also gave me a good education in why a sewing machine is such a wondrous device.
I am not sure what happened to that project, but I believe it went away... perhaps to the dump? That is where it belonged.

Very soon thereafter I was blessed to discover the In The Beginning Shop in North Seattle, and learned sooo many other valuable lessons.
-Sarah

WAAH! Having to share

Well, I am slightly (and hopefully very temporarily) decommissioning my sewing space.

See... I am moving my home work space back to the main office.

So my husband thinks he should get to move inside the house for his business... sigh...

That means I have to share. And it probably means I will have to tidy up more often.

But on the bright side, it could be worse! (knock on wood) (We could be getting a child in to live with us!) Gasp! Horror!

Still, it is quite sad putting the machine away into the closet and shutting the door to the fab stash. And just WHERE am I going to put my books? Despair!