A Little Change Of Plans

My momentum on the Barbara Brackman sew along for her "Stars In A Time Warp" is kept up by the thrill of the hunt through my stash for the right fabrics.

Today I have a  large scale Indigo for last week and my best efforts at a Lapis for this week.

If you haven't yet discovered her delightfully educational and fun blog, here is the link.

The above center panel was from an Indigo Crossing bundle that has sat idly by just screaming to be used!
Below is my feeble attempt to find any blue at all that isn't indigo. It is a vintage Old Green Cupboard selection worked with some random scraps that are mostly anonymous.

Please do notice that my cornerstones are from that marvelous hunk of Jo Morton cheddar that my dear friend Grace had sent to me.

Thanks, Grace!

I've been cutting a bit for some upcoming swaps of 5" charms to use as Tumblers in Bonnie K. Hunter's Tumbler Challenge. If you go to this link, there's lot of fun ideas for this quilt! Link.

When I can, I'll cut down my scraps from that tumbler cutting to a 4½" square to use for these 8½" Sawtooth Stars in their centers.

On Tuesday, at The Sunshine Club, Sue was very proud to show off her newly completed Leprechaun Quilt!! Nice finish, Sue!

Sue is also making great progress on her scrappy machine appliqued Dresden Plates blocks.

I left The Alton, New Hampshire Senior Center quilt meeting early to go to the Farmer's Wife sewing group down in Milton, New Hampshire at The Evergreen Quilt Shop.

Alas! Our hostess, Camille had to cancel the meeting at the last minute due to a sick cat that needed a trip to the veterinarian. I'm happy to report that her Miss Emily is doing much better now.

Milton is close to Rochester, New Hampshire, so I popped in to visit Kelly at The Footprints Quilt Shoppe. Grabbed up a fistful of pretty new neutrals and headed back home for the AC!

I hope that you can stay cool wherever you are and quilt on!

Happy sewing!

Celebrations of Fabric

Over the weekend, I enjoyed receiving a tantalizing manila pouch in the mail from my very dear friend, Grace. It contained two delicious cheddars by Jo Morton!! THANK YOU, Grace!!

When I opened the pouch, there was a hunk of brown lying about and I kinda liked them together, so we'll see what develops.

Saturday was the 20% off sale at the Keepsake Quilting Retail Store that I like to call, "The Mothership."

I picked out some lovely one yard rolls of precut Civil War selections for $5.99 regular price, but with the sale discount were $4.80.

Here are the rolls.

That one chintz in the middle roll was really yummy and will go for something very special!

The cut yardage was half yard hunks of some neutrals and a yard of a Judie Rothermel Inkwell red from Marcus Brothers.

The blue floral neutral right beside the red was a Barbara Brackman Union Blues for Moda.

Since I had to go directly past The Quilted Frog Quilt Shop in Weirs Beach, Laconia, New Hampshire, I stopped in for a quick visit there, too.

Owner Jodi welcomed me with a free Row by Row Experience pattern and sold me a gorgeous tan floral by Edyta Sitar for Laundry Basket Quilts for Moda.

My real celebration was because I was able to drive my own car again. That's right, "The Road Warrior" is up and running!!!! Yeehaw! My 1989 Mercury Marquis is my treasure and I've missed her for the past 2 months, so it's great to have her back.

Mr. Tipper didn't care. But as a cat, he is bound by union rules to act in a completely nonchalant manner.

Enjoy celebrating whatever is good today!

Happy sewing!

Quilting the Mystery

Thursday and Friday were a whirlwind of quilty fun!

I did go to The Golden Gese Quilt Shop at 22 Liberty Street in Concord, New Hampshire and sewed with the Downstairs Gang. Here are Beverly and Sue seen below.

Beverly was working on a new Drunkard's Path with modern prints.

Sue was cutting out pieces for the quilt pictured on the wall in the photo below.

Her colors are greens, creams, and blacks, and I teased her about her fancy water bottle matching her quilt, LOL!

Maureen and Sue, below, were having fun looking at each other's projects and we all chomped a little chocolate, too.

Just look at Maureen's batiks!!!

The colors are so vibrant!

My project was sewing my little Quilt As You Go donation quilt. It is made from strips of Moda's Country Orchard line of scrap bags and I did do some supplementing of the strips from my stash.

Aside from my Civil War fabrics, I'm also a sucker for any pretty floral and I have a distinct weakness for Robyn Pandolf romantics.

On Thursday I was able to book the Cat's Whiskers Studio to rent time on the big longarm. Here is Ellen helping me by loading my Grand Illusion.

One of my benefactors, Ila, had sent me a polyester batting of Thinsulate in a queen size. I had been hoarding it for a special occasion. This was it!!! THANK YOU, Ila!!!

Ellen and I were very pleased that this bat had a sturdy scrim that held up very well as we were loading it. There was no stretching or separating with "thin spots." This quilt will be warm and lightweight.

The quilting took me 2½ hours in an edge-to-edge loops and hearts free style that I truly enjoy doing.

The thread that I chose was a rather plain buff or cocoa color. OMG, I can't get away from thinking in chocolate colors even when describing thread, LOL! Thank you, Ellen, for all your help!

I used three bobbins and I kinda hurried my way along so that I could take our one running car to get Husband Wonderful to the Vision Center at the Concord, New Hampshire Walmart for his routine eye exam.

Grand Illusion has been a work in progress since mid November of 2014 when Bonnie K. Hunter first set out the clues for her now-famous annual mystery.

Thank you so very much, Bonnie, for this gorgeous design!! If you'd like to make this oh-so-worth-it quilt, here is the link to the $8 digital pattern. Link. It's a show stopper!

It was hectic, but Mr. Tipper, out on the shady deck, reminded me to take the time to relax!

I am linking up to Oh, Scrap! linky party so hop on over and see what's cooking there! Link.

 Happy Sewing!

Sunshine Sewing

Tuesday doings included attendance at The Sunshine Club at the Alton, New Hampshire Senior Center. We gather once a week for quilty fun.
Pauline, below, was squaring up some cute Birdhouse Blocks that she will assemble for her church's raffle at the Pumpkin Fair in the fall.

Bev, below, was cutting stabilizer for her Tee Shirt quilt for her dear grandson's graduation next year from high school.

Bev had also brought in her serger and was giving lessons to Roney (pronounced Row NAY) on how to thread this machine.

Pauline and Sue were really intense when trying to adjust Sue's Singer to keep the thread from breaking.

It wasn't even responding when given a brand new needle.

Margorie, below, was working on her pink yoyos.

I was hand hemming my second Scrappy Jacob's Ladder, but forgot to ask anyone to take my picture for you, LOL! Can a finish be far away???
Suffice it to say that we all chomped some chocolate and chatted together as we worked on our quilty projects.

Happy sewing!

Enjoying July

My contributions to my pile of "Stars In A Time Warp", the sew along with Barbara Brackman, Link grew by three "drab" olive green stars.

Here are the selvedges of most of what I used.

You may click on any picture to enlarge it. These olive greens, muddy tans, and mustardy yellows are right up my alley, I love them!

My stash yielded more than I could use and I was so happy with the results! Below is the Jeanne Horton drab with a wee bit of turkey red thrown in for an accent.

The last star of the drab series that I've done so far, uses a Jo Morton for Andover neat stripe in the center of the block shown below.

I was also thrilled this past week with the arrival of a bona fide Pillar Print done by Barbara Brackman from her Lately Arrived From London series. I was able to purchase it online from ReproductionFabrics.com Link.  Thank you, Margo!!

Alas! It is far too precious to cut into yet. I must ruminate on it for a while, LOL!


Our Friday's Quilters group was limited to The Downstairs Gang as The Golden Gese Quilt Shop on 22 Liberty Street, Concord, New Hampshire was hosting a shop hop.

Sue, below, was working on joining strips for a piano key border for her Illusions quilt in red, black, and grey florals.

Maureen was sewing her brilliant batiks and they looked wonderful!

Beverly was at the cutting table with navy blues.

As for me, I poked along on my Moda Country Orchards Quilt As You Go project.

Nancy, the shop's owner and our hostess for quilting space and a glorious finger foods buffet, gives out a 20% discount on all regular fabrics for the month of July. Who can resist that??

Okay, that's actually two weeks worth, not one. But I AM greedy, LOL!

May I also show my cute little zipper pouch that I'm now using as my pocketbook? It is from the Missouri Star Quilt Company's tutorial. Link.

Of course, it is shown right beside the chocolate dispenser filled with Hersey's Milk Chocolate Nuggets that I buy at Walmart in bags. The dispenser is a repurposed Parmesan cheese container.

Stay cool and keep stitching!