Monday, February 29, 2016

Sewing Expo

I had a fun weekend meeting my great nephew and seeing the other relatives. My SIL, my daughter and myself made it to the Expo. It's been years since I've been and it didn't disappoint!



 These were displayed in one of the vendor's booth. I look forward to checking out their online store- www.sewcherished.com

 I would never do a quilt like this but I can sure appreciate it. 
 I picked up a few things. I've been wanting to try out some of this thread from Superior for machine quilting and picked up some great scissors made by Kai.  (no reason to not have two good fabric scissors!)

Here's a great older fabric by Pilgrim and Roy. 1 yd for $5!


 Quiltmania was there and I snagged this heavy duty bag with Bill Volkening's quilt on it. It was last year's model and they were practically giving them away!
 I also saw a great display of Liz's Sunflower Fields Quilt Patterns. I love seeing my blogging friends succeed! 
 Isn't that adorable?
 I saw Mary Fons promoting her Small Wonders fabric.  I just did a giveaway of the little quilt I made to help spread the word about her adorable fabrics. It was fun to introduce myself and meet her.
And look who came to live with us this weekend! Please meet 4 month old Elsa. She was brought in to our Vet's office with an injury on her back, saying she was a stray. Because we have Porter (part shepherd) they called us to see if we may be interested in adopting her. We are taking it slow getting the two dogs together. My husband is glad I'm home tonight! LOL

Oh gee, I thought work was cutting into my sewing time! HAHAHA

Happy Monday!

Friday, February 26, 2016

Short and Sweet for Friday

I'm heading North today and will be attending the Sewing Expo in Puyallup tomorrow. If you should see me there, please say hi!
I'm also going to meet my new grand-nephew. (who is a couple of months old now!)

I got this quilted and was hoping to get the binding on yesterday, but ran out of day....

Remember this applique block I got from Mary Koval in France? I did a little repair job and I think it is perfectly usable now!

In a humble sort of way.......


Some fabric pulled for the doll swap quilt. 

My instagram feed this week.


Have a wonderful weekend!

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Market Day

This quilt was a freebie on Pam Buda's site some time ago. I made 2 of them, one little and this one,  small. 


I kept the quilting simple.
I put the final stitches in the binding Monday night and gave it to my friend on Tuesday. 

Thanks for all your kind words about the basket quilt. It is such a goofy fun quilt, but you all seemed to like it so much. I'm enjoying it hanging in my house. 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Monday, February 22, 2016

Bounty of Liberated Baskets

So excited to have another quilt finished! 

 Here is my liberated basket quilt I'm calling Bounty of Baskets, started in a class with Gwen Marston in 2012! it measures approx 50x50.
 I wanted to keep the quilting really simple so I did vertical straight lines about 2" apart. I wish I would have done them a wee bit closer.





Instead of marking or using the Hera tool I wanted to try this bar that is packaged with my walking foot. Is this what it is supposed to be used for? I lined up the bar on the previous stitch line and watched that while I sewed. The quilting is a bit liberated too! LOL

I have two more little quilts closing in on being finished! I love starting the year out this way.

Make it a great week!

Friday, February 19, 2016

Fabulous Friday!

It seems like this week has flown by. Last weekend I had company and a meeting with my CPA and ended up sick on Sunday afternoon so it felt like my days off went fast. I'm hoping for a little slower weekend. 



I may have showed this already. It is part of a design by Rebekah Smith

Here's the first month of a mystery quilt designed by her as well. She has shown us the inspiration photo, but I still don't know what to expect.
 I've quilted my liberated baskets and am calling it Bounty of Baskets. I actually might quilt one more line in between.
I'm going to finish it first before I decide. 

Label and binding ready to be applied. 

Here's a sneak peak at the backing of a little quilt top I made (UFO). I am going to get it layered and quilted for the doll quilt swap, which I'll be setting up soon. You can read about the past two swaps HERE and HERE and HERE.   If you want to participate I'd like to know you in some way or have seen comments on my blog from you. If you are part of my Facebook group that doesn't mean you'll be in automatically. If you know you'll likely be participating it's not too early to start thinking about what quilt you will make.
Here's my instagram feed this week. 

Have a wonderful weekend. 


Wednesday, February 17, 2016

More Thoughts on Fabric Shopping

I had thought about this post since having a question about it at the guild meeting last Monday. I saw Diane's thoughtful  post HERE and am following up with my own blog post. 

My fabric shopping has changed with my quilt style. Almost always I stop by Fabric Depot when I head into Portland- it's right on my way to my daughters. It is huge and can get overwhelming if you are just going in without a plan. 


 First, look what I saw the last time I was there. This lovely display of Victoria Findley's new fabric line and a wonderful story that I took the time to read. Congrats Victoria!!
And then there is rows and rows of beautiful fabric.



Lovely Lovely reproductions. 

 Oh wow! I haven't seen these before. Carolina Blues by Paula Barnes. I LOVE them!
Even with 30% off everything I think 9.45 is more than I like to pay if I don't have a plan for the yardage..  Unless I'm  looking for something really specific I rarely purchase yardage at Fabric Depot.

This is my favorite corner (remnants) and it suites most of the quilts I make- scrappy. 


 Here's a fun piece of reproduction. 

A gorgeous piece designed by Laundry Basket Quilts
 Lots of fun modern pieces too!

The last time I was at Fabric Depot I did purchase 1 yard of Bella solid- Fig Tree Cream for the 1857 quilt, but I also found these lovely reproductions on the remnant rack. The blue one is by French General and the madder is a lovely repro by Judie Rothermel. I also grabbed that great piece of linen. All 3 of these were about $7. I'm happy making purchases this way.

Now you know why most of my quilt backs are pieced with various fabric! I forgot to show you the back of Jill's Jewel Box on Monday. These fabrics came from her stash as well.


Have a wonderful Wednesday! I'm finally feeling better.


Monday, February 15, 2016

In Memory Of


In memory of my dear friend, Jill Reid. 
Some of these blocks were found in her sewing room and they were passed  to me. You can read about it HERE.
The fan quilting was very appropriate for "Jills" quilt
I completely ran out of the fabric she was using and her best friend sent me the corner lighter blue. I wrote about it on my blog HERE. I look at it like Jill's rogue block.
My sister was here this weekend and one of her good friends passed away a few years ago and they gave her the start of this quilt. She brought it to me and I added the patches for the tree and ground.
Her job was to embroider around some of the patches. She said she was DONE and brought it over to figure out the next step.
I trimmed it and we figured out backing and binding. Her plan is to bring it to her local quilt store (in Nampa, ID) and talk with them about quilting it.  She would like to give it back to her friends daughter before the year end.

I thought it was appropriate to show both of these quilts today. I know they will be treasured (I certainly will treasure Jill's) and very special. 

My Valentine evening was spent in the ER!  I've got meds and am on the mend! 

Have a wonderful Monday!