A Bunch Of Goof-ups

At the risk of sounding critical, I culled these four patches as unworkable in my Jacob's Ladder quilt. They were from the big 48 piece swap of every three months. I didn't know what to do with them, so two weeks ago, when I was at The Golden Gese, I THREW THEM AWAY!!!! Gasp!

It bothered my frugal Yankee upbringing all week. I kept thinking, "Now, those were perfectly good fabric and very nicely made and you shouldn't have tossed them out."
Then, last week when I was there again, the little tiny workstation wastebasket where I had thrown them out had not been emptied. There, in a tangle of a few stray threads, lay the same four patches, begging to be rescued! So I did.
I dusted them off and brought them home and made these four French Lavender sachets with hanging ribbons for either closets or car dashboards. Now I feel smug for having found a good use for them!

Isn't it great to be able to change your mind?

My Blue 2" strips swaps came in yesterday and they are wonderful! Ten sets of ten half width of strips, and each strip is different.

The above two pictures just show that other people have problems, too. Probably some worker in a foreign sweat shop typed in the legend to be printed and they figured that they would change New Orleans to read "New or Leans." Geez, I just hope it wasn't an American worker, LOL!

As for me, I had to take apart the first block that I did for Celtic Solstice. Here are the two correct ones.

What I'd done wrong was to put a pinwheel in the center and those are only for the Birthday blocks.

The weather is perfect; sunny, mild temps, and light breezes! Miss Emma Lynne loves to chew things up, like sticks outdoors.

And indoors, it's always amusing to completely unstuff a duck toy!

I must put more cotton rope toys on the list, LOL!

Happy sewing!

Stay Busy

Last Saturday, instead of moping and crying and missing Miss Raven, I took my camera out for a ride to Trudy's Thrift Shop in Alton, New Hampshire.

It's the kind of place where you can go to feel rich with one twenty dollar bill in your pocket. Even if you don't buy a thing, it's fun to paw through other people's stuff, LOL!

I decided to buy a couple of sweet baskets for $3 and $2 respectively.

The larger one that is sort of heart shaped will become a fine birthday basket for my sister, Suzanne in September.
The smaller one is like a tray shape, perfect for holding newly made quilt blocks.

The little granite-ware tart pan was a buck, and it nicely holds milk for kitties. Miss Tanner field tested it and approved.

Miss Emma Lynne has been adjusting very well to being the only dog in the household now. She likes going outside to spend time with Miss Tanner.

But Miss Tanner still cannot see why it's fun to chew up sticks!

As for me, I felt a lot better, too.

Happy sewing!

Double Quilty

The last Tuesday of each month is a double helping of quilting groups for me. I get to have coffee and chocolates with The Sunshine Club over at the Alton, New Hampshire Senior Center, and then have a home made box lunch with The Farmer's Wife Club in Milton, New Hampshire.

At the Sunshine Club, Sue got antsy to sew some of her new all-grey Jelly Roll strips. She had them all neatly pinned into the order that she preferred. You go, girl!

Margorie was cutting up a storm for her blue and yellow quilt.

We all had some chocolates and even a mini slice of Boston Creme Pie with our coffee. I worked a wee bit on my Farmer's Wife block and then left for the Milton-based Evergreen Country Primitives Quilt Shop.
The shop's owner, Camille, is a magnificent hostess to the group and makes us all feel right at home. Her shop specializes in reproduction fabrics (my favorite!) and in gorgeous wools, too. Here is Camille holding up a section of the quilt that she is doing all by hand!

We all enjoyed a slice of Sam's Club New York Style cheesecake (my treat!) and sewed up a frenzy as we chatted. Best of all was Shirley's big reveal of her finished 50 block throw-sized quilt.

Like the author of the book, (The Farmer's Wife by Laurie Aaron Hird), Shirley also chose to make each block all hand sewn and cut out with scissors and templates. And like Hird, Shirley chose a longarmer to do the quilting of a simple Baptist Fans design. Click on any picture to enlarge it.

We were all both inspired and intimidated by Shirley's success, LOL! It shows what can happen with slow steady progress.

I couldn't leave the shop without these lovelies! The teal on the bottom is a Windham historical. The two Marcus Brothers are a neutral floral from Molly B's Studio, and the exact same cheddar of Paula Barnes that is from the Marcus Brothers Sew Along.

I was honored to receive one of Camille's new bright purple plastic tote bags, too, LOL! 

Before I leave, let me also mention that the Alton Senior Center is being worked on to build a new addition. Now that the newly poured foundation has cured a bit, the lumber has arrived and workers were busy.

Happy sewing!

Caught Up on Marcus Brothers Sew Along

Today was too hot for my comfort so I spent most of the day working on the Marcus Brothers Sew Along block from Friday. Link here. Pati Violick's design was a bit tricky for me to get the inner pinwheel just the right size.

Her instructions were very clear and I especially appreciated that she listed the unfinished sizes of units as I went along.

My fabrics were a mix of Marcus for the pinwheel, Andover for the green, and an RJR in the black corners.

Once again I used my Omnigrid #96 right triangle ruler to make the blue and cream HST's and their wings, too.

I had no problems and everything went together fine.

I was thrilled to hit the perfect 8 1/2" mark right on after pressing with a bit of starch.

Hope your projects from today were successful and that you had some air conditioning available.

Happy sewing!

Friday Quilters

Yesterday, after a weary morning of errands that included an hour long wait at the DMV to renew my license, I got to visit the Friday Quilter's at The Golden Gese.

Maureen was making Disappearing Pinwheels with blocks that started out as 10" squares. We all loved this one best!

This pattern is from Jenny Doan over at Missouri Star Quilt Company's videos on Youtube.com.

And Sue was back from her vacation in Alaska.

Sue is working on a strip-piecing pattern.

Beverly was doing some cute panels for a baby quilt, but her large HST's were very challenging.

We all enjoyed some of Bev's cherry tomatoes, too. This bowl full of them are from Husband Wonderful's garden, with lots of yellow pear tomatoes. They are so sweet!

I brought in a small panel that had been given to me by the Sew Far, Sew Good online quilt shop. If you'd like to see their current selection the link is here. I was just hand hemming and got about halfway done.

When I got home, Miss Emma Lynne wanted a nice sunbath.

But Mr. Tipper prefers the shade.

To each their own!

Happy sewing!

Marcus Sew Along Blocks

Monday, while waiting for the veterinarian to return my calls, I pulled some ALL Marcus Brothers fabrics for the third block of their Sew Along. If you want to play, here is the link to Marcus Brothers.
A cream background stripe;

Then a red, but I struggled with which one. These were the rejects for this block, but I like them and may use them yet in another block down the road.

So the red that I did use was this one below. It is a red with sugar pink flowers and sage green vines. I'm such a sucker for a pretty floral!!!LOL!

Then came a cheddar

And a black. I know, I know, again with the florals, but I do love them.

What I love about Marcus' lines of fabric is that I can buy them online with great confidence; they are always top quality goods with signed designations of historical authenticity. That's important to a fabric snob and fabric collector like me!
This green was just perfect! But I had less than a fat quarter so it was hard to take the plunge and cut it.

Geez, I must've hoarded that green for forty forevers because now Paula Barnes is Red Crinoline Quilts.
It surely was therapeutic to sew along with Sarah Maxwell's (from Homestead Hearth) great directions for the third block. I did choose to use my favorite method to make the HST's, using an old trusty Omnigrid #96 Right Triangle ruler.

I cut the stacked fabrics right sides together so they are ready to rock'n'roll as soon as I carry them over to the sewing machine.

After the chain piecing is done, the strand is laid out for pressing to set the seams, and then to press open.

I chose to make extras as I went along.

They were great fun to play with but I decided to just stick with Sarah Maxwell's block design.

I love this block!! But I have no idea what it is called, traditionally. If you know, would you please leave a comment to tell me? Thanks!

I had just enough HST units to make a second block.

Isn't it great when your blocks come out terrific? Yeay!

Happy sewing