Gift recycling

My daughter is great at recycling, especially when it comes to gifts for me.   Every time we get together  the topic eventually gets around to quilts, sewing and the fabric I have purchased recently.  Being such a good  mother, I always let Andrea paw through my fabric.

Not only does she help lessen my load of fabric, sometimes she even sends it back to me in a new format.   Her Mother`s Day gift to me was no exception, this blue  shopping bag was sewn completely from fabric she borrowed from me.

I can`t wait to see the quilt she will no doubt  make for  me.  After all I know I have  provided the fabric for at least three king size quilts.

Yard saling with a mission

Cousin San kept me company this weekend as DH is still on a job site in Nova Scotia.  She and the doggies have new digs and were in desperate need of new curtains.  So the only reason we went yard saling on Saturday was to find fabric or curtains for San.  Yeah right.   San is just learning the ins and outs of yard sales so I had to show her a few tricks.

1. Bring money, especially change.

2. Bring a list of the yard sales.

3. Map out your route.

4. Hit the multi-family or community yard sales first.

5. Be sure to find a fund raising barbecue – hot dogs hot off the barbie are the fuel of all good yard salers.

6.  If shopping for curtains or fabric, make sure you have the measurements, regardless of how small the piece of paper they are written on.

7.  You can buy more if each time you have an arm load you take it back to the car.

8.  The four letter `F`word all yard salers love to hear is FREE!

Here`s the loot we drug back to the house on Saturday.  Together we spent the grand total of $22.00 for a morning of fun and laughter.

San found  one signed limited edition Ducks Unlimited print, five original drawings from the local high school, one side table, 3 large pieces of fabric, one stuffed toy.   I brought home two baskets (one free) a metal lunch box (free), a small Black and Decker crock pot, a glass ornament with hanger, a bag of clothes (free), and  eight fat quarters.

At a community yard sale one lady was giving everything away for free.  The stuff belonged to her sister who was too busy gabbing to look after it.

My best purchase was  a counted cross print framed picture,  `Families are like a patchwork quilt, bound together over time with smiles, tears, love and memories. Rather appropriate for the day.

Christmas in April

Our family can spread Christmas gift giving over months.  Sometimes we just aren’t in the same place at the same time. Or we are off visiting another branch of the family.  Such was the case when I received my Christmas gift on Saturday from Addison and Kaytlyn.  I was very happy to be given  the Quilting Pattern-a-Day Desk Calendar.

What a perfect gift for a quilter!   Each day reveals a  new block design  with the pattern on the flip side.  Some days are quilts, followed by the instructions to make each block for that particular quilt.

I’ve allowed myself to look at the blocks up to the end of March and already have plans to make a few of the quilts.   So much for my UFOs.

Eye candy for the quilters

After the chocolate bunny and jelly bean frenzy, I thought a bit of quilting eye candy is just what we need.   This is for those of you who do not subscribe to my daughter Andrea’s FLickr account.

I bought the Rodale Easy Machine Quilting book  years ago thinking I would teach myself how to machine quilt. On a good day, threading the bobbin is a challenge for me, so needless to say I did not get past the table of contents in this book.

My daughter Andrea borrowed the book recently, read it from cover to cover, bought a walking foot and produced this beautiful piece of work.

If you own the book, you will instantly recognize the Amish Wall Quilt from page 219.  The skill level is easy – maybe for some, but not in my little world. Beautiful job Andrea!

April showers

This bright April block was made by Pat of  Cottage Time Stitches, which brings the Cottage block swap to an end. It is hard to believe that a year has passed so quickly.   Pat calls her block “April Showers”. She stated they had a lot of rain lately in her state, and that this block represents the happy side of rain.

I really like the butterfly in the window.

This being my first block swap,  I was a bit nervous.   The talent in the group was simply amazing.   Although the block pattern for each month was the same, the colours and the member’s representation of her month was incredible.

How to join these blocks together is the next big decision.   Here a look at the blocks for the full twelve months.

The big blue brick

The blue brick quilt is back from Jeannette’s, the lady who puts it all together for me.  She quilted it with a simple in the ditch stitch.  This one is for my grandson Addison and his lovely wife Katylyn, in celebration of their first child, a baby girl, who is expected to arrive within the month.

Like his Mam, Addison likes a heavy quilt, so I used a wool blanket for the batting.  The binding consists of 7 inch strips of each of the blue fabrics I used in the quilt.

I took these pictures two days ago.  It was warm and sunny.  Yesterday we were hit with a nor’easter, so now that is snow and ice all over the back deck.  What a difference a day makes.

Scraps and strings

Finally, a finish! This is a quilt I started way back in 2003.   Over the years I would haul it out, sew a few more blocks, then put it back into the cupboard.  I was determined to finish it this year.   It took me a few weeks, but this puppy is done.   The lady who finishes my quilt tops did a simple in the ditch finish.  As the fabric covered a total of 8 years in sewing, I could spend hours telling stories of what project I was working on which resulted in each scrap or string.  Some of the fabric are bits left over from my grand-daughters dresses when they were toddlers.  I like a quilt with a story.

The back of the quilt is a deep red sheet.  The center blocks in the denim sashing are called crumbs as they are made with tiny bits of fabric, too small to use in the main block.

Like most quilts I make, once finished, there is always something I would have done differently.  In this case I would have made the center string the same colour for all blocks.   Much like the one here.

If you are interested in sewing a string quilt, check out this tutorial.

Happy international Quilting Day!

I was very excited but not surprised when my friend Michelle left a parcel in my mail box.    Inside were two gifts perfect for me -  a hard covered 1977 First Edition  of `The Quilters Women and Domestic Art` and a bag of gourmet jelly beans.

The book synopsis reads – A moving oral history of the female pioneer settlers of Texas and New Mexico, this book brings to life the rural homesteads of turn-of-the-century America. The quilts these women make are a lovely compendium of family and community history. As their creators speak to us, we come to appreciate the vital place of women’s art in the life of our country.. “This book was the basis of the Broadway play The Quilters.

Although I would love to spend the day reading the book, while eating jelly beans I will have to wait until later this afternoon.

After that my friend Win and I will spend international quilting day the same way we did last year,  going out for lunch and shopping,

This evening I will spend in my sewing room, tidying up.  We are listing the house again which means more cleaning and less sewing for the next while.

Hope your day is full of good friends, quilts, and jelly beans.

The find of the week

As my family knows I love thrifting, and this week shopping was especially good.  We are downsizing and even though what I buy I will end up packing and moving once we sell the house…………………I just love a bargain.

My first find  was this whole cloth vintage beauty.    Double bed size, hand tied with a wool blanket batting.  The knots are very tiny, perfectly clipped threads.

There is a small tear at one end which I am hoping to sweet talk my friend Win into mending.  I am not a fabric expert, I am basing my opinion on the colours – orange, green, yellow and blue.  If you can identify the print please leave a comment.

At first glance I thought these were dolphin earrings.   I really need to start wearing glasses.  When I got home and opened the plastic bag which they were in, I was very pleased to find a  jewellers mark on the  ring on the left.   Can you say 14kt.

Always on the lookout for new cloth napkins, I was excited to find his set of four Vera Bradley `Bali Blues` with tags still attached. These will be used for the fabric and not as napkins.

Care to guess how much this week`s thrifting cost me?

The total was $5.15 cents before taxes.   The most expensive item?  The quilt, at a whopping $1.95.

an extra day off

The office is being painted today so I had a day at home.   As the gym is off limits  due to my recent butt injury the only other thing I could do was spend the day sewing.   I am resisting the temptation to begin any new projects, despite the long running list I have in my head.

I spent most of the day working on this project which I originally started quite a few years ago after taking a class on paper piecing. I love the secondary block pattern it makes with the border.