Ta-Da! Finished x-bag

Last night was the third and final evening of our X-bag class. The first picture shows the front, with an earrings used in place of a button.  The second pic is the back side of the bag.  Picture 3 shows the three generous pockets in the bag.   

Considering this is the first major item I’ve sewn since Grade 8 Home Economics class, I’m pretty proud of myself.   My Grade 8 project was a princess waist cotton sleeveless dress in green toile, which my Mom  finished for me.  Without my daughter’s help I would not have managed to finish this bag, but I’m making progress with my sewing.

 Now that Andrea has marked the pattern so I won’t make any dumb mistakes, I’m seriously considering making another x-bag.     Julie, our instructor, also demonstrated machine stippling which I’m hoping to learn.   Thanks to You-tube, there are numerous videos on this technique.

Christmas Crab Quiltery

At the quilt shop I stooped to a new all time low.   I took the scraps out of her garbage can.   After ooohing and aaaahing over the fabric, I asked the owner if she had any selvage edges for sale.  ”No, I throw those out”, she answered, “in fact, I just threw a bunch into the garbage can”.

She didn’t seem at all impressed when I told her a bag of selvage sold on the quilt market for $6.00.   “You can have the selvage in the can if you want them”, she stated.  ”The can is clean. I use it only for fabric.”   While retrieving the selvage edges, I found a huge bunch of scraps.  “Don’t you sell your scraps?”.

The owner explained she tried to once, but one of her customers from the local quilting guild, turned up her nose and muttered, “And that’s all they are………..scraps”.     I told her I would pay her for any scraps she had on hand.   After some digging the owner found the original bag of nose turning scraps.

Staring at the price tag, I wanted to yell…………….”Start the car.  Start the car. “   For the grand sum of fify cents I purchased a bread bag size of scraps.  Not tiny little scraps but  jelly roll size pieces and larger.   She will now save the scraps and selvage for Andrea to purchase on my behalf.

Son-in-law humour

After our busy shopping spree on Saturday, Andrea and I relaxed by sewing the homework I had to complete for this Wednesday’s x-bag class.   Actually Andrea taught me how to put the binding on my project without any hand sewing.  Thank God I have such a talented daughter as I suck at hand sewing.

My son-in-law and husband were busy installing a new bathroom sink.   While passing through the craft room for yet another tool, without skipping a beat, my son-in-law asked,  “You guys sewing thongs?”

We didn’t spend that much money

Leaving the fabric shop on Saturday, I heard my oldest granddaughter mutter….”Well, there’s goes my inheritance ……………. but at least I’ll be warm.”    Mind you when I paid for her purchases of clothing, I received a big “thank you Mam.”

I love the little fabric shop Christmas Crab quiltery in Woodstock.    The owner carries a good selection of patterns. This visit I purchased “Tee Time Pincushions” to make these little sweeties.   A golf tee glued to the bottom of each pin cushion enables it to stand in the thread spool.  Andrea plans to make the tea pot  without the golf tee. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I treated my daughter to fabric as well.  She chose a charm pack of Heirloom garden by Marie Osmond.   A yard of Robert Kaufman Over the Rainbow guarantees me at least one visit when I’m in the old age home.   This evening when I telephoned Andrea this evening she was too busy sewing a disappearing 9 patch quilt with the charm pack to talk.   She plans to go back and buy more of the Kaufman fabric to make tote bags.

Whirl wind weekend

We left Miramichi at 8:00 Saturday morning and headed for Woodstock.  The girls were ready to go shopping as soon as I arrived.  My DH had the pleasure of staying home to help my son-in-law  install a new bathroom sink.  Imagine he gave up shopping to do that !

My granddaughter and I have a little shopping prayer, which goes like this, “Lord, send us a sign that says at least 50% off”.  Our prayers were answered when we spied this in front of the first store on our list.

Let me tell you, no one in Woodstock need worry but global recession.  We did our best this weekend to boast the economy.

We hit a quilt shop, afabric shops, one thrift shop and the mall.  Top that shopping off with a feed of Chinese food for supper, I’m calling it a successful weekend.

There’s plenty of other things to talk about, but I’m pooped.  When we left Woodstock this morning, we took the long way home.  Our first stop was Mactaquac to see the dam, then to Fredericton for a bit more shopping.  It was such a perfect day we decided to drive to the property on Belleisle Bay.    After a great dinner at a new restaurant in the area, we headed for the Miramichi.   In total we were on the road for 9 hours today.

Are we pattern challenged?

Notice the seam through the centre of this fabric, it should not be there.

Wednesday night was lesson two of the X bag classes Win and I are attending.  As promised Julia brought in her tickle truck for show and tell.  The evening was going great until I noticed my pieces of cut fabric did not resemble the teacher’s project.   I glanced over at Win’s and her pieces looked just like mine. 

It did not take long to realize that Win and I had cut the fabric incorrectly.   We laid the wrong side of the pattern against the fold of the fabric. Not only had I cut the first piece wrong last week at class, I managed to cut the other three at home incorrectly as well.  Win cut all of her pieces in class last week.   We were sitting across from each other, not paying too much attention to one another, and still made the exact same mistake.   All was not lost however, our very patient instructor Julia  determined how we could cut and sew the pieces together.  

 There was a bit of fanagaling to be done when we joined the straps as the main pieces were now a 1/2 inch smaller.   That didn’t worry Win and I.  The way we sew, we always have to fanagal something.  

A quilt shop after hours is a very dangerous place to be with your wallet.  Trudy’s shop, Pins, Needles, Fabric & Yarn is no exception.   The past two weeks I’ve purchased 3 charm packs and two bags of incredible scraps.   I can’t show these yet as I’m visiting my daughter tomorrow and I’m allowing her first dibs.  Damn it! Sometimes I dislike being a good mother.

Great giveaways

Linda of two succulent sisters is giving away a princess denim tote bag, tiara included.  

Connie Colton sent me this recently, check it out!

To be given away on June 1st – Three Moda Jelly Rolls – Nature’s Chorus, Baskets of Flowers, Spring Magic. To enter simply post your quilt picture on the Show and Tell page:  http://www.quiltqua.com/showandtell/upload/
Make sure you note YOUR NAME along with the title of the quilt – each posting is one entry into the Give-away
There will be three winners – names drawn at random from the Show and Tell postings on May 31st and posted on this page June 1st. If you have previously posted a photo, simply drop me an e-mail quiltqua@gmail.com and let me know you wish to be entered.
 
***I plan to start a new category at Quilt Qua – for Give Aways, so do let me know if you are having one, or if you know of one.
 
***Here is a great write-up about Quilt Qua in SuzNuz:  http://www.suzguzdesigns.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/sgdapr09nuz.pdf
 
I hope you are having lovely Spring weather where you live!

–
Thank you,
Connie Colten
Quilt Qua
www.quiltqua.com
619-562-0867

Every little bit helps

Happy Earth Day!  This should not be a once a year celebration, you need to be kinder to the earth each and every day.   It’s the little things that add up to make a difference.

Here’s a list of a few things we do in our household to help make the world last a little longer.

1.  We use cloth bags to carry groceries and shopping.  Kudos to the  Superstore in the Maritimes, beginning today they will charge 5 cents for each plastic bag.

2. We recycle cardboard, newspapers, tin cans and what ever other items our local commission will accept.

3.  We compost our food scraps.   A Lee Valley stainless steel compost pail sits on my kitchen counter.  In warm weather the pail is dumped into one of the two composters we keep in our yard.   During the winter months, when the composters freeze over, the pail is dumped  and sealed into larger pails that originally contained kitty litter.

4. Our beloved kitty Porsche does her duty in a pan of ground wheat rather than commercially produced kitty litter.   To read more about the benefits of ground wheat read my Feb. 4 entry Even Kitties can be green

5.  We use cloth napkins rather than paper.

6.  I cook from scratch whenever possible.  Processed food has little nutritional value and is much more expensive than home made.

7.  I make my own laundry detergent and use simple ingredients such as vinegar, peroxide and baking soda for cleaning detergents.  For more information see my original entry ”we’re getting cleaner”.   For other environmental friendly cleaners check out this entry at Simple Green, Frugal Co-op

8.  We use racks for drying our clothes.

9.  The majority of our clothing is purchased in consignment or thrift shops.

10.  We lowered the settings on our hot water tank.

None of these cost a lot of money nor do we “suffer” in anyway.  It’s easy once you give it some thought.  But most of all, we talk about, sharing ideas with family, friends and readers.

To echo my grand-daughter Emma……..”Help Save the Earth”.  This is the poster she placed in the local post office.

It’s not too green around here

Each morning I  read blogs from around the world, including Betsy’s of Quilting Fiesta from Florida   and Julie’s Towards Sustainability  from Newcastle, Australia.   These ladies live in a world of green lushness.  In cold, rainy, still have some snow on the ground New Brunswick, the only thing green around here is one of the quilts I have on my bed.

The quilt made by my friend Jeannette is green in more ways than one.  The fabric is completely recycled from sheets and flannel blankets.   The lining is a worn wool blanket.    The backing is a vintage sheet.    Sure all the colours don’t match, and maybe it’s not the prettiest quilt in the cupboard, but is serves the purpose.  The lining makes it very heavy, which I like in a winter quilt.  This type of utility quilt is common in households in the northern part of New Brunswick, where many of the families have Acadian roots.  Jeanette has been making quilts like this for her family for the past 30 years.  You could say she was green, before it was cool.

And sew on, and sew on

In the craziness of last week, I forgot to mention that Win and I began the first of a three week sewing class at Pins, Needles, Fabric and Yarn.   We are learning how to make an X-bag.   Here is the one made by our instructor Julia.  She pre-quilted the fabric before cutting the pattern.

  I enjoy taking classes as I always learn a lot more than I paid for.   Trudy, the owner of Pins, Needles, Fabric and Yarn  decided to stipple her fabric before cutting it.   She graciously gave us a few pointers on this technique.  

 Julia was full of good hints, including increasing the thread length when sewing more than two fabrics together.   She also encouraged us to cut out another bag to bring to class this week.   Cutting and sewing a pattern for the first time is often a test.   By completing another bag we will be able to improve on our first attempt, as well as reinforce the lesson.

I don’t know what I enjoyed more, being able to roam through Trudy’s sweet shop or  admiring the incredible quilts these two talented ladies made.   Julia also owned an fabric shop at one point and is an incredible quilter.  She promised to bring her tickle trunk to this week’s class to show us a few handy quilting tools.