Tuesday's Truth

Sometimes when a person opens their eyes, they can actually see.

Saturday Sew-In Fun

Gotta love a Saturday devoted to sewing with friends! This is the second Sew-In I've gone to with my Modern Quilt buddies in St Louis, and I have to say it is a ton of fun- great group of diverse gals with the same desire to quilt, always funny stories and helpful advise, and the sound of sewing machings going at mach speed. The moving in/out is always fun (did I remember to pack my foot pedal? oh gosh, does anyone have a spare pair of scizzors?), and the methods of packing in interesting (gotta love a baby stroller!).

  

My suitcase comes in handy. Who needs one of those fancy sewing machine cases when you have one of these sitting around gathering dust in the basement!



We had tons of work space... four big tables pushed together for two people to share. Here is my project for the day, although I brought three different projects to work on in case I finished one or got bored with it.

 



I finished all 72 blocks in one day! It helped that I had cut them out a few weeks ago. Now to find time to sew them together and add a wide white border to pump up the size. Quilt it? Well, lets just say it might be a while, I've got a few customer quilts to do first.





I won a door prize!







A pretty orphan block that was on the free table... I don't know what that girl was thinking abandoning this block. Oh well, one girl's trash is another's new pillow!





If you are keeping tabs on my progress on the latest (started in August) SLMQG challenge, here is the update.
No progress! I have two weeks to get this sucker done, and its my own private little challenge to do so without coming down with a case of "gotta sew fever".  Technically, I have made a bit of progress, I've pulled out that Kona Coal to possibly go with the Habitat fabrics, and I think I know which one I'm not going to use on the front of the quilt.  And I do have an idea for a pattern, so actually, the quilt is as good as done.... now I just have to cut it out, piece it together, quilt it, and bind it in two weeks. NO PROBLEM!!



Tuesday's Truth

You can't always get what you want; but if you try sometimes, you'll find, you get what you need.
                                                                                       - Rolling Stones

Feeding the beast

Sometimes you have to feed the beast, especially when the buffet is so cheap. "Huh?" you ask? Let me explain. As with many of my weekends these days, I was busy. Dinner out Friday night, quilt guild meeting Saturday morning, Dinner Club with the girls Saturday, the true need (but not desire) to go to work Sunday to prep for the week, quilts to quilt, quilts to piece, a book to finish, find time to breathe. So Saturday I stole a little time for myself and did a bit of a road trip. I was already half way to the middle of nowhere, so I decided to act on a rumor I had heard a while back that there was a hardware store that sold fabric. Yep, you read that right, a HARDWARE STORE THAT SELLS FABRIC. Why not, pretty day (ok, cloudy and cool), tank of gas, a few hours to waste (well, not really, but I was going to do it anyway). So I toodled on down 44 (farty-far in St. Louis speak) to the little hamlet of St. Clair, Mo. Hard to miss the Ace Hardware store on the main drag, mostly because the main drag is only a block long. I wish I had my camera with me because this place had everything- kitchen stuff, halloween decorations, local high school sweats, bird food, yarn, garden decorations, baskets, junk food, stationary, yankee candles, you name it (although I never did see any hardware stuff, must have been in the basement). And lo and behold, in the back was a fabric department. Some designer fabrics, some I've seen in national chains, all marked $3.99 a yard. All flat folds, most were about 5yards in length. Needless to say, I supported the local economy and walked out with several backs for quilts.

I am IN LOVE with the black and white!

The red had an interesting hand to it, and Kaffe Fasset for $4 a yard?!?!

Such a happy fabric!

Thank goodness I can support my fabric habit with my quilting. I also bought a bit of black and white ticking stripe (always see ticking in red or blue, this was a nice surprise), and a black on black/dark grey. Met some really nice locals who gave me a card for another quilt shop in Sullivan, Mo, but I didn't have time to go this weekend. They also let me in on a big secret... the hardware store does a big sale on their fabric twice a year, marking it down to $2.50 a yard. The next sale is one of the first two weekends in October. I will try my best to be too busy (like thats going to be hard!) to go to the sale. I need more fabric like I need another hole in my head. Of course, more fabric would be a lot less painful than a new piercing.......

This week's word of the week: Proliferation

I was a bit prolific in the kitchen Sunday... made cherry scones, banana muffins, and french rolls last minute to go with chicken piccata. Ahhhh/Yummm, feels good to bake a bunch!

So I decided to be a bit prolific in the sewing room too. I cut out a quilt on Saturday morning before meeting up with a great gal I quilt for and then went to my St Louis Modern Quilt Guild Meeting. Always inspirational!!  That pushed me to cut out my Lemon Squares quilt on Sunday (in between all the baking). Yup, I cut out two, yes two, quilts in one weekend!

Somehow the quilt bug stayed with me and I sewed a bit last night after a LONGGG day at work and again tonight and.....

I finished piecing my black and white Jelly Roll quilt! I cheated (is it really cheating?) and cut my own strips from my stash (seems it didn't even make a dent in my black and whites, they must be breeding in the closet!). I cut them 3" wide to increase the size of the quilt. I'm pleased with it overall, just have to quilt it now and it will make a nice thank you gift to a friend helping out with the swim team. Maybe I'll get to that this weekend.... and maybe not!

Tuesday's Truth

Do what you love, love what you do.

Ahhhh... fabric.

Someone asked me recently what I do to relax. I said bake bread and quilt. As we all know, I have been baking when its not been 100 degrees outside (and sometimes when it was), but I haven't been doing much in the sewing room. Until today.  I am happy to report I have cut out two, yes two, quilts this weekend.


A black and white Jelly Roll Race Quilt for a helpful friend



My fabric mail (Simon and Kabuki fat quarters from Fabricworm) cut and piled up for a Lemon Squares pattern quilt

I am exited to have two quilts cut and ready for sewing, now to only find the time to sew them up! Hmmmm, might be able to get the Jelly Roll Race quilt part done before dinner.........

Tuesday's Truth (a day late)

You can't win if you don't try.


And try my boys did, and won the first swim meet of the season! Very proud of my guys, great sportsmanship, team players one and all (even with a monster nose bleed that kept one fella out of the meet). Go Comets!

Apples

The honeycrisp are in and I wasn't going to miss out this year. Only a two week season, you have to know that they start piking in late August and then hustle to the orchards to get them. Yummmm, best eating apples in the land.


Ripe for the picking!



Some nice ones, some damaged ones from this summers hail storms.



If you don't eat at least one (or three) right in the orchard, you shouldn't have come.



Can you believe it was 101 degrees yesterday, and here my car says 68 glorious degrees at noon. Ahhhhh.
Not to show off, but yes that is my Prius getting 48.1 MPG. I love my car!