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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

scrap management

I showed you my fabric cupboard a while back.
That wasn't the WHOLE story.
Here's the rest......
2 1/2" strips.
One box of little squares in little bags.

3" x 3" squares.

2 1/2" squares.
These even have a little template.
woo hoo!




2" squares.
I will sometimes cut squares with the leftover fabric
from a project and just stick them into these
little bags.
I find that I use these little square quite
frequently in projects.
They're already to go!

fat quarters (or about that size pieces)
I have quite of few of these little buckets.




A drawer FULL of reds, purples, etc......
sharing space with lincoln logs.
:)


Drawer FULL of yellows, tans, etc.....
sharing space with legos...
:)




Drawer FULL of whites, etc.
sharing space with the little people...
:)
NOW.....
why do you think I have so many of these
scraps?????
Besides making quilts and things....
I SHOP....
And I DID shop yesterday.
I was soooo good for so long and then
it HAPPENED.
I went to my favorite discount store...
$2 a yard and found some fabric
I couldn't resist....

Red.


Yellow.



pink and purple.



orange.



blues and greens.
MY FAVORITE!
May your scrap basket be full
and your needle threaded!
I'm OFF to make a quilt!


Tuesday, September 29, 2009

lone star

Here's what I did ALL day yesterday...
or so it felt like.
I quilted...
and quilted...
and quilted.
The top has been done now for a few months
But, the quilting wasn't.
I had this quilt top waiting in the wings,
waiting for me to come up with some GREAT
quilting technique...
but it never happened.
I was never inspired.



Soooo I finally went ahead and just quilted it all over with
some swirls.
No marking for me!
I like the binding.
Thought I would be using RED,
but when I looked at the red it just wasn't right.



This is how I made this quilt.
I used newspaper!
Cut my star points.
Every star began with a white center that I
tacked down with a little glue stick.
(I wouldn't recommend this because the
ink from the paper got on some of my whites.)
Maybe plain newsprint would work better!
Then I just added strips of red, white and blue
any size......
all the way across those star points.


You can see here the center of the starts all have a white strip.
The rest of the strips ALL came from
my scraps!
I know.....too many scraps at my house.
I still have more! oh no!
After all the star points were done...
I DID have to rip off all that paper on the back!
I enjoyed getting this off my to do list.
I love this quilt.
And I enjoyed the process.
Here's the beginning of a new quilt.
Same process.
Different sized shapes.





The backs of those pieces.
You can see how I sewed right through the paper.
For those NON quilters out there.
That's called Paper piecing....
ON THE CHEAP.

If you're a real detective, you can figure out
what month it was when I started these by
checking out the movie ads on the back there. :)

Saturday, September 26, 2009

another finish!

Here's a baby quilt....finished!
I began with 5" squares and 2 1/2" strips.
Thanks to Amanda Jean for the inspiration.

I bought these fat quarters a long time ago.
Don't know who designed the fabric...
but I know I like them.

All those "sort of" solids were in my stash.
I REALLY didn't have to go to the store for this one.
Then I finished the top.
I DID NOT have a piece of fabric big enough for the backing!
Most of the time I buy 1 yard pieces or less...
and 1 yard was NOT going to do it!

I don't like doing extra work.
I like finishing the quilt REAL QUICK when the top is done.
I knew I could piece the back...
but I didn't want to.
and I didn't want to...
and then
I DID IT!
Looking back..I know it took me
LESS TIME to piece the back
than to go to the store and get a bigger piece of fabric.
Aren't you proud of me for restraining myself and
not making that drive to BUY some?
I also am DREAMING some little boy will be
driving his cars on the back of that
someday!
Next time, I thought I might even make it
LOOK more like a road.
Wouldn't that be FUN?


And today I added this to my growing collection.
I wanted to experiment with flowers.
I have TONS of scraps.
Isn't it cute?




Love those pinks!






Here it is...
I am now a
COLLECTOR! :)

Friday, September 25, 2009

SEWING CENTRAL

I had a friend come over to sew yesterday.
It was a very productive morning!

Jen began with fabric, ribbon and elastic.



This is what she got.
Isn't that TOO cute?

Chloe thinks so too.




That ribbon hem was so-o-o easy!





Chloe is JUMPING up and down with
happiness because her older sister....


gets a skirt too!
YEAH JEN!
You did it!


Jen brought over some OLD patterns!

How fun is that?
I'm going to try this one!

And while Jen worked on skirts...
I worked on leaves.
I'm thinking about a house in the middle of all these.
What do you think?


Thursday, September 24, 2009

a puzzle.

Here is a quilted puzzle.
I was given all these pieces.....
....half done.

some big pieces of fabric came in the bag.

Some strips came in the package.
all different sizes!


some more strips.
Why am I dealing with this?
.....without a pattern?
because my "quilt mom" Gerda left these in her
stash when she passed away.
I wanted to finish something she started.
By the way...
She made a LOT of quilts.
She also gave a LOT of quilts away.
I was able to make some headway with it.



Then I found out one of her children had not recieved one of her quilts.
This son and daughter-in-law will be celebrating
25 YEARS of marriage next month!
What an opportunity!
(to give a quilt, of course)
I think this quilt will have a happy home. :)



I will be very interested to see what this pattern actually looks like.
(if I ever run into it at a quilt shop or in a book)
remember...I just tried to fit it together as best I could.






And look at that wonderful mistake (with pinwheels)
in the top right. :)
I had all the borders on when I noticed....!
You know me...
I sure don't like to rip things out....
Let's not tell the new owners about that..
O.K.?


Tuesday, September 22, 2009

too much fabric!

After folding ALL this fabric recently...
I DECIDED....
I don't need any more fabric!!!
The act of folding it really, really helped!
I vowed I would not go to a fabric store
until I REALLY needed something
specific.
AND....I haven't been to a fabric store since.

I went to a THRIFT store!
A thrift store is not a fabric store.
I wasn't even THINKING about fabric when I saw these curtains.
They were still in the package!
Brand new!
(excuse the sideways picture above.
I got ahead of myself....as usual...
and didn't turn it before posting.))

Well, my mind went right to QUILT.
These would make a great
BACKING!
I bought 'em!
I took 'em home!
And now I can make another quilt!
Yeah!
I think I can just fit these curtains in that empty
space on the second shelf. :)


This is a quilt top that I have had in my cupboard for years.
This is the way I used to make quilts...
and this one never made the cut and never was gifted.
I would Cut 6" squares and sew them together.
Well, I didn't think this quilt would ever find a good home.
BUT...I think this week it did!
My daughter's friend came over and
ooohed and aaawed over all the quilts
over here at my house...
Did you know I have a few quilts?
Every bed, every sofa, a few walls....
it's kind of embarrassing.


Like I said, this quilt has waited a long time.
That little square there came from a skirt I made
M-a-n-y, m-a-n-y Moons ago!
So I quilted this top and finished it...
no longer a UFO.


I was so happy to make a college girl happy.
Everyone should have a quilt....
especially if that somebody
LOVES quilts....






Here's the back.
Simple.
I have a whole bolt of muslin I need to use up.
What do you quilters use for muslin...
how do I look for quality in muslin?
inquiring minds want to know.