Good deals

You can get some good deals when your LQS decides to close up shop. I bought these books from Quakertown.

Some little FQs that Tig picked out.

Yardage that was 50% off. The wheels match Tig's FQs. The starry navy will be a quilt back for my sailboat quilt. The rest goes to the stash.

Time to clean house!

I share my sewing area with my DH so I have less than half of a very small bedroom. Happily, DH gave me the closet side-and even removed the doors for me. It's gotten to be such a mess! I've got a laundry basket full of fabric that needs to be washed-mostly Jo Morton! I'm cutting up DH's old jeans for a raggedy quilt so I have many pairs of those lying around-and one pair to be mended. Mustn't confuse those!

I spent much of Sunday afternoon reorganizing and washing fabric. I really need to move out all of my spinning stuff out. I haven't been doing it much since I had the boyos and those tubs of wool take up a lot of space. Why on earth do I have so much? I remember that one tub is full of samples of wool from all different kinds of sheep. I should go ahead and finish that sample notebook so I can enjoy it!

Churn Dash Blocks

My Patriotic Churn Dash Block Exchange came!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aren't they gorgeous? I need to make a couple more and the figure out the setting. Can't let these beauties go to waste!

Happy Birthday DH

A day off

So I had scheduled Thursday and Friday off this week to spend with Magpie for her birthday. Unfortunately her parents muddled her visitation dates which left Magpie sobbing-Oh the drama of a young teenage girl! I swapped my Thursday for Monday, her actual birthday, and now Magpie is all smiles again.

So today I slept in until 10-and so did the kids! That never happens. Then we breakfasted on homemade granola, homemade yogurt, homemade strawberry jam and home baked bread. All very good except the bread. It used to be my favorite recipe and this loaf was not so good. It was fairly salty and I used the recommended amount of salt. I lingered over my tea in my pjs. Then Tig and I dressed and went over to my LQS. They are closing and I wanted to find out about the summer sampler I've been doing. Tig picked up a few FQs with tires and tractors and I found a Jo Morton book. I also found out that I will have to mail order the remaining sampler blocks and pay shipping. V. irritating. I don't mind paying shipping if it's reasonable but this will be more than the block costs! Ah well. It's either that or don't finish the sampler.

This afternoon we are just hanging out at home and eating ice cream. But tonight Magpie and I are off to see The Mikado!

ETA: We had a great time at the Mikado last night. Pooh-Bah was excellent-the best I've ever seen. I actually think he was better than Alastair Donkin as KoKo. This season is also the last time that Ralph Katz will sing the Mikado. He is retiring this year. I did notice that he had to force a little to sing but obviously he was enjoying himself-and so were we!

Needleturn

I'm taking a needleturn class (for free) with my teacher from the Broderie Perse class. In this class, we trace the pattern onto freezer paper and iron the cutout onto the fabric. Trace around with a fabric pen and there's the pattern!


I am super slow doing this so I try to do a little each day. We only meet once a month, so I am hoping I can have this block finished for our next meeting.

New hat and what ya gonna do?

New hat for Red due to the Great Kayak Capsize of 2011: Of course, we capsized in about three inches of water at the beach but it was enough excitement to lose a hat. Actually, we lost two but the guy that helped me right the kayak picked up Tig's hat.

I used the pattern from the Oliver + S book, Little Things to Sew. I bought the book expressly to make this hat because Red has a big head and it's hard to find bucket hats that fit. The pattern only goes up to 21 inch size and his melon is 21.5, so I embiggened the pattern. It fits me as well, although I will make the crown deeper for me. I also didn't follow the construction of the hat. I made two hats and then sewed them right sides together, turned, and closed the opening on the brim. Then I did a million rounds of sewing on the brim. I also only used interfacing on the rocket ship side-mainly because I did the rodeo side first as a fit check and didn't want to waste the interfacing if it didn't fit. Red is thrilled but claims he won't wear it kayaking because he doesn't want to lose it. I can always make more!

And in somber news, my local-est LQS is closing: Quakertown Quilts. They announced it in their newsletter last week. They are keeping their online business as well as their second location (about a 90 minute drive away). Am very disappointed to hear it. However, for the last few years they have had very little stock. So much so, that even though I tried to give them my business I often left the store empty-handed. The Summer Sampler is through this store and we can buy the blocks from the other location and pay shipping. QQ has been around for twenty years. Their liquidation sale starts on Thursday with 25% off everything. Sad.

Summer Sampler week 3

Here is block 3 of the Summer Sampler. So far I am keeping up with the weekly block. We are one quarter of the way through! Below are the three blocks I have made.