being well read

your blog I mean...hard to keep some things "secret" if that person or persons read your blog.
And some friends are mighty good detectives too! So-anyway....here is most of my quilt shop discovery experience....with a few omissions.

My sister and I had Friday open for doing whatever we felt like: she decided going to a movie would be good. She even found a movie she wanted to see-Transamerica-and I was fine with that- like whatever so long as it is not horror or sad. gotta draw some lines right? As the movie wasn't until the afternoon time slot-we figured hitting a quilt shop was in order- she needed labels and some fabric for a sleeve - which I would do before leaving on Tuesday. I tracked down with help from online quilter friends, InTown Quilters [Quilt Shop] as being a shop not terribly far from where my sis lives. It was a warm sunny day and we were off. This quilt shop was an immediate hit with me from the moment I stepped inside the door. Glorious bright colors everywhere! Batik quilts lying all around- wonderful bright quilts up on the walls...I mean really, what more could I ask for? I decided this was a sign for adding to my stash-fabrics that made me want to sit right down and cut into them and make something to wrap around on gloomy days. I found so many fun fabrics...whimical and humorous and cheery. It was a very tough job to hold back and only get a taste of what this shop had to offer. And the best thing of all was hearing my sister ooh and ahh over the fabrics and say she wished we had the time together to teach her to quilt now...instead of having to wait. Music to my ears- at any rate...after getting my lovely fabric wrapped up we left and had a nice Thai lunch before going to the movies.
I thought the film was done very well-and had some humorous moments too. When we got out it was still on the early side of the afternoon -plenty of time to come home and relax. Did I mention we have now done a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle and a 500 piece one and started on the 3rd-another 500 one? Somehow we don't have any other friends that spend time with us that like to work on them-so we are getting our puzzle fix in while we have so much time together. We went on to a lively game night with her friends after eating leftovers for dinner at home. We were having a grand time when my sister became ill and we had to leave early. By the time we got home-she was pretty green and glad to be able to climb into bed. Today she is gradually feeling better-the good news-and I think she got whatever 24 hour bug her son had earlier in the week. Today was cleaning day-left to me to oversee. I rallied the boys and as a team we did it all. My sister was impressed at the end results. She has pretty much stayed in bed or on the couch (when I was cleaning her room/bath) either reading or napping. Max the yellow lab has been staying by her side-making sure she is ok. So-around the cleaning and another chore I tackled I have been able to do blog reading catch up and other internet stuff needing my attention. Oh, yeah, I handled the laundry-not a big deal around here. The boys do their own...sometimes at 11 pm at night -that would be the 18 year old...realizing he wants something to wear to school the next day! At any rate, it's been nice to spend more time online and feel I know what everyone is up to a bit more. I am ready to go do some hand quilting...
later I hope to use her camera and upload a glimpse of some of the fabrics I bought..after her nap time that is.

a few added details

Late at night my brain just does not retain all the details-that is why I collect quilt shop cards when I travel-with notes on the back of them if I find fabric I love and want to visit again.

LJ might post a great quilt shop photo of us...and she might not-but, the quilt shop where I found great bright fabric at a price half of what I would pay back home-is A Time 2 Sew in Collinsville, Alabama. They have limited hours of being open and if you blink you will drive right on through this small town. And, they carry Pie in the Sky patterns-so I was able to check those out! They are still getting the class side of things figured out and I believe Joy will be teaching a few classes there as well. The white on white wholecloth quilt Joy was hand quilting on was just amazing to me...teeny tiny stitches...oh my! And without a bat of an eyelash she looked at my handquilting and said honey those fans look just wonderful! Granted she has been quilting since a young child I am sure-her momma quilted all her life and I think Joy just took to sewing and quilting like a duck to water. No one on either side of my family quilted, near as I have been able to find out-it will be my quilts left behind to be enjoyed and I hope start a quilting tradition.

quilts photos - part 2

Sorry- my sister took these photos and believes in close ups only. Rather than argue-I am just posting these as they are...the wild looking one up there...the green and blue one? yep, that's my favorite! it is on the small side and will probably be a wall hanging in her room, after I add a sleeve for it. The floral log cabin- a nice queen size, will be a special birthday gift to her best friend, Debbie. Now she has to come up with a label idea for me to do and get on the quilt before gifting it. The purple log cabin will go on her bed, another queen size one. The two log cabin quilts were made by a woman named Flo who will be celebrating her 75th or so birthday next month. They are all beautifully long arm machine quilted and the blue/green one has an equally wild backing on it-while the log cabin ones have a white muslin backing on them. I will have to help my sister with labeling the three quilts she is keeping for herself..an easy enough task for me. I will wait to share photos of my bright fabrics stash additions (what is a trip away without fabric to show for it?) when I get back home. I would have added some of the wild pink/purple squares and such I found but I actually need to use up the pinks I already have - plus I am truly looking forward to what LJ will make with them...I may have to help her with some ideas :-)
Oh, I must share this great comment my sister made....this girl won't sew on a button unless she is forced to-but...she said after watching all the fun we had at the quilt shop and then seeing all the quilts Joy shared with us-including those by her granddaughters...she allowed maybe when she retired I could teach her to quilt....like I am going to wait that long! oh...Patty, if you are reading this...you know my attitude, why wait to have a good time? Maybe when we go over to the sewing bee at Joy's you might find yourself sitting at a machine joining in the fun after all.
Of course this change of heart about learning to quilt and buying all these gorgeous quilts will not get me off the hook of making more for her...I had that made clear enough let me tell you. What greater joy is there, than making quilts for family that loves them?

photos as promised-part one

I hope my words line up with the photos...blogger is being such a bother! This is a lovely blue and yellow pinwheel nine patch-my sister not to be left out of the stash experience, bought four quilts-this one was a fund raiser for the local library of the town where this quilt shop is.






Here is Cody happy with his new quilt-the first thing he looked for was the special label I put on for it. He thinks it is terrific and looks forward to the next one-right after his brother Brandon gets one of course. His big brother is in his twenties and I wasn't sure he would want such a thing as a quilt...I was told-wrong! He needs and wants one for his cold apartment *vbg* (very big grin)! So I guess I will be busting more flannel stash in the near future. The only colors Cody and his mom could think were Brandon's favorite were gray- as that color is not to be found in my flannel stash-he will have to have something else! Sure makes me happy when I see that smile...I told him I would be delighted to do another one for him...and he was to enjoy this one in the meantime. Sorry I am too lazy to link to the earlier photo of this finished quilt...it's back in November I think.

Part two will have the rest of the quilt photos...I managed to lose a few by fiddling around with word placement...in the meanwhile...tonight was my nephew Andy's Eagle Scout Honor Court dinner and presentation. It was very moving as he was pinned by my sister-a moment we all were wishing his dad could have been present to witness-he had worked so very hard in the scouting part of life to help his son earn this highest award. Andy said, tonight and when ever he gets married are the moments he most wanted his dad to be a part of...ok, more tears shed over that too.
I have to get up early...it's spa day once more. Good thing it will allow for some nice quiet napping time in between being pampered. This vacation just keeps getting better and better ....so close your eyes and imagine a nice hour of aromatherapy massage...don't you feel so much more relaxed?

photos to come....of a very quilty day

stay tuned for some photos of the quilty fun we had today....and thank you LJ !!

WrapThemInLove....how I started out

Finn asked a while back about this foundation I support by making "baby" quilts for orphans around the world and also for those in need right here in the USA.

You can visit their website at http://wraptheminlove.org where if you want to enjoy one of the largest quilt shows I know of online-page through the quilt gallery starting in 1999. You will find inspiration and creativity galore.

I joined a quilting list back in 1999-having finally stumbled into the internet world and found my first quilting friends online. Through that list I met the two women that were the driving force behind wraptheminlove. They put together another online list to post and comment on making quilts for the babies. I joined in the fun and have not looked back since.

I love making quilts-my family and friends and friends of friends have benefited from that love. I also love giving back- so when I heard about wraptheminlove-it was the perfect outlet for me to make fun and bright quilts for some child somewhere that would otherwise not have their own quilt to wrap themselves in and know someone out there truly cared about them.
Just as Pam flew out and quilted with a group of gals in Florida (a regional wrap'em group) ,one year I flew out to Alabama and joined in a wrap'em group called the Bama Belles. Oh the fun we all had! I brought back suitcases full of quilts we finished-and after showing them to a friend back home who owned a lqs-the Portland Piecers group was formed. My friend donated the use of her back classroom the first Sunday of each month for our group to use. She spread the word about us through her newsletter. A great friend of mine took on the co-leadership to help find like minded quilters to join us. I went from being a lone quilter quilting for wrap'em to having a wonderful group of women join me and years later-we still meet and crank out over a hundred quilts a year.
The first quilt I made was back in January 2000 for wrap'em-six inch squares of various bug fabrics put together and a print border to bring it close to the 40 by 60 inch size we aim for.
It was also the first quilt I had made since 1995 when a friend helped me get back into quilting and then moved away. Looking back it's pretty funny to note what it took to get me to complete my first quilt. I had already done some quilt block swaps online( at least three sets ), started a king size quilt for myself ,and had the beginnings of a stash too. I was having a difficult time getting to the next stage of quilting-but doing that baby quilt sure kicked me off! I have not looked back since and I really have to say a thank you to this organization for putting me on the path of being the quilter I am today.

So Finn, that's my story of how I got involved with this group and why I make it my main charity effort in the quilting department. There are many, many fine and worthy causes to make quilts for - I always tell folks support what makes your heart sing...what you are led to.
Besides until it finally dawned on me that I could make and keep BRIGHT quilts for myself to enjoy ( I know, I am a real slow learner on this point) making bright quilts for the babies was the most fun as I could use all those wonderful novelty prints I kept on buying -knowing how it would delight some child, somewhere.
Of course now with a grandchild on the way...that child will surely not lack for quilts either!

wrapping up the weekend

Did I mention hand quilting? I did three rows of stitches before realizing I was on the wrong part...took those out and backed up to the right place...and now I finally finished my first row of fans.
I am choosing to not mark and do this free hand...and have to go look at Bonnie's and Tonya's fan quilted quilts to see about starting the next row...it's so great to have online quilter blogs to go visit and be able to see when you get stuck on a quilty something.

Did I mention visiting with my brother and his family? yep- a rousing loud and hilalous card game was enjoyed by all...we do know how to have fun- off to a great dinner at the Outback and then back for another game-along with playing some pool and darts. My sister and I are about equal in the skill of dart playing- with a lot of giggling and laughing we played through a game -probably setting a record for taking the longest time to finally end the game-I managed to win.
Then baby brother had to give us a lesson in the finer points of throwing...needless to say there was much discussion on it until he beat me in about oh, two minutes. dang, what a dart shark!

Cody's big brother, Brandon was around when Cody's quilt arrived via the mail. I am told there were many comments of how he could use a warm quilt for his new apartment and even my brother told me HE was sorry he was only getting a wall hanging - apparently Cody's quilt made quite the hit with him as well. So now of course I have told my sil I will make Brandon a quilt...but I am holding off telling my brother the same thing...guess a few additional family quilts are going to move up on my quilt making list.

Today was girls out shopping day- furniture shopping that is. We visited a few places before deciding to go explore Ikea. There is not an Ikea close to where I live back home- what an adventure that store was for me. Lots of fun walking all over and checking out everything.
I found a great wine rack to take home and a new pillow to try out tonight. Between hand quilting and working on a jigsaw puzzle the evening was very quiet and relaxing.
Now to go track down the next step on this quilting...

vacation update

For those of you wanting to be on vacation with me: today brought the opportunity to sleep in...so of course I woke up at seven am and could not get back to sleep. sheesh. After a leisurely coffee drinking/computer reading time/ eat breakfast period the day kicked off. We did some errands and shopping for the upcoming tea party (over at a place called Harry's-which was just too much fun!) and tracked down comfortable earphones for my ipod listening pleasure. I still need to actually test drive them, but, at least they are purchased and available. We had a nice lunch out- I ordered coconut shrimp-as my friends know, one of my favorite "fattening" foods-and my sister had crab cakes...also yummy. One of the nice things between my sister and I is the ability to eat off each other's plates- we will frequently order different things so we each can try the others. Then, we checked out bedroom furniture for her...before heading over to a friends for dinner and out to a play.
I highly recommend going and seeing Bad Dates, written by Theresa Rebeck- a very funny and sort of "sex and the city" style comedy-thriller. It's currently playing at Horizon Theatre in Little Five Points (Atlanta,GA)...until March 19th. It's a real small building where every seat is a great seat. It features one actress doing the play-and she was excellent-quite an entertaining evening.

Came home to a nice quiet peaceful sleeping nephews house. These are teen-agers...so being a Friday night...and knowing no adults for the evening- we thought possible party night might happen-nice to not have that concern borne out.

My son had left a message - so I called him back to hear how the sonagram went-they think they are having a girl but due to placement of the cord, could not be positive.
The names they have picked out are Sophia for a girl and Alexander for a boy-great names as far as I am concerned..but then, I am so thrilled at the idea of becoming a grandma whatever names they like are great with me. What can I say? I love babies and babies love me...I will have all the fun and none of the sleepless nights.

What's up for tomorrow?? Finally- some hand quilting time for me...and later in the day a visit over at my brothers- a chance to see Cody with his quilt and all of us playing cards and having dinner together. I need to remember to ask my sis to bring her ditigal camera and I can get some photos! I don't have any with Cody and his quilt...that would be great to have for sure.

Life is good:
a sunny day with bright blue skies
loving phone conversations
the taste blend of coconut shrimp/pineapple salsa
wonderful email from friends
laughing until the tears run down your face

using stash or hoarding??

Sam over at http://spamantha.typepad.com/ asked a great question and I felt it needed more space than what fits within a comment.

Yes, I am guilty of hoarding fabric. And, yes, I have made myself cut into and use up some of my "special" fabric...because someone shared with me how much more I would enjoy a quilt with those fabrics in it...rather than buried 0n my shelf. Which is not to say: I also have fabric up on my wall that is waiting for the "right" quilt to showcase it. Or I just like looking at it on it's own. Or I am waiting for the right go with fabrics to show up *vbs*.....

I have lamented not having more of some fabric and shaken my head over yards and yards of "what was I thinking!" fabric too. My stash runs the spectrum of diversity of fabrics...except- I literally shipped off all my 30's repros to LJ and maybe a few found their way to Pam as well. I am using up as much of my stash as I can-some of it fabric I no longer love -going into quilts for those that will love those fabrics used-some stash I do love a lot going into personal projects I will enjoy using sooner rather than later.

Do I have too much stash? or not enough? the answer is of course both ...sometimes I do not have just the right fabric for what a quilt design calls for...other times, I have almost too many choices to pick from. Also, I would make a quilt for someone and make sure I had enough to make myself one too-have I done that??? NO....but, I could if I felt the need to and sometimes having that extra duplicate fabric has allowed me to release quilts to folks without any regrets.

Nowadays...I am gleeful about using up ALL of a fabric-and boy, it is a challenge at times to truly use up every last scrap. Some fabric seems to live forever in the scrap bin!

Gorgeous new fabric is coming out all the time...if I can use up enough stash to truly feel I have made a dent- then yes, I don't feel guilty or bad about buying some new. I do think adding new fabric from time to time is good for keeping your stash fresh and inspiring. Nothing beats the feeling I get when I can pull everything from my stash to make a quilt I have decided I MUST make- in the evening, long after any fabric store is closed. My stash is always open and available when I am home - and I am most thankful to have it.

what is the real time anyway?

I flew from the west coast to the eastern side of the States-Georgia to be exact..and now I am trying to adjust my body clock to the "real" time here. My sister scheduled spa day to kick off my visit today...but truthfully, I wish it was tomorrow. I would go back to bed gladly right now.

The boys are off at school and it's so quiet right now. Her dog is of course keeping her company-so no Zoe bugging me to do the next thing. I know she is wondering where the heck I am. Our phone went out of order right before I left yesterday-I warned M but...it was still not working when I called in last night. Of course her cell wasn't on either. I sent an email. Some times communicating long distance can be frustrating. Meanwhile I had no trouble im'ing with a quilting buddy last night *vbs*

With my mom gone now, my sister and I were joking about those Mom traits emerging from us in terms of behavior. Not anything new in a way- just more poignant with her gone now. She wants to spend some time talking about old shared memories..we always talk so much about everything anyway-not a problem.
Nancy- my mom died last year too- what a thing to have in common with other people. I never quite "got" it until that moment-my last parent gone...

So, no quilt photos for a while and about the only quilty news is showing off Texas baby to my sister-who said whoa! you are hand quilting ALL THAT ??? oh, yeah, for the new grandbaby.
Then of course I got the teasing over bringing anything quilty to work on - but hand work is a whole nother thing than machine work.

The problem with telling folks about your blog- you can not write about things you are working on for them here...so ....the "other" project I brought along proved too challenging to work on during the plane ride. I pretty much zoned on my ipod (hate the earphones I brought-item added to shopping list) and did su doku puzzles.

Ok- my life is not my own while visiting..at least this morning...I have 40 minutes to get ready to go face the world..

Life is good:

a loving sister
a loving partner who put surprises in my luggage
2 teen age nephews who smile when they see me
falling asleep immediately
plenty of morning coffee

thanks to Jeanne and Darilyn for inspiring me to actually write these and not just think them

off to kick off the first day of "vacation"...

blooming 9 patch photo

This is not from the guild show-but not a bad shot either of this quilt on our bed. I took in most of my fabrics from my floral stash and we added maybe two more from the shop to help transition between the colors I used. My label says I pieced it in 2001-but I know I took the class in 2000-this was the first ufo I finished from the many classes I took in 2000. It was quilted by Merline McLoughlin-my most favorite "local" longarm quilter.
I need to find a good place to take photos of my larger quilts-that will have to happen at a later date.

I swore I would never make another of these-however, I will be making tons of those tiny (to me) three inch finished nine patches sometime this year when I start in earnest on my Jack's Chain. In the meanwhile, there are other projects ahead of that one.

Time to quit playing on the computer and settle down to some hand quilting. It's a relaxing way to spend the evening. First a bit more packing.
It's been a busy and fun day. I don't want to be scrambling come morning.

Zoe photo

Here is my quilting supervisor/buddy-Zoe, our 3 year old boxer. This is her chair, fair warning if you sit in it and get up for anything, expect her to be sitting in it when you return. She also claims the couch-though will share it with others. She is convinced she is a lap dog, though at 50 or so pounds...it can get pretty heavy feeling on a person. I still need to track down the elusive quilt photo I was searching for when I came across this one...

still quilting here

well, I have been hand quilting Texas baby and that sure keeps the hands busy and off the computer. I am almost done with the first row across. My fans are just over seven inches tall- and this quilt is 44.5 by 61.5....you do the math, all I know is, it's gonna take me a while to get done! This is really the first quilt I have tackled quilting by hand since 1981. I took a class five years ago...and of course did not practice. No, I decided life was too short and sent my quilts out to a long arm quilter. But you know, I always felt one day I would hand quilt a special quilt...one day...how I longed to enjoy that hand work and sense of connectedness with those pioneer women who had no other means of quilting than by hand. To enjoy the peace of sitting and working on a quilt. Thanks to many of you, I realized I could do it all- send some quilts out, machine quilt some, and yes, hand quilt one too.
I have spent some time trying to get around and read most of the blogs...with new ones being added-it sure takes longer! I am also packing and getting things ready for being gone for two weeks- off on vacation with my sister in Georgia. She is not a quilter but will gladly take any quilts I make for her *vbs*...we plan on having a lot of fun as she will also be on vacation. I am taking Texas baby and my knitting. I wanted to take my EPP project-but after pulling it out and determining what I would need to take with me-I changed my mind. There will be no new photos from Wednesday until the beginning of March. I am going to look around for a photo of my blooming nine patch quilt- Judy's reminded me I had come across a nice photo I took of it hanging in our guild show. For now, I need to get off the computer and fill out paperwork for the lawyer- 9:30 am appointment is about 12 hours away now.

ok...paperwork is calling- and then more hand quilting too....

does going to a quilt show count?

I had a lovely day today...picking up a dear friend and heading to a quilt shop I had not ever visited before...oh the brights! oh the colors! oh the wonderful quilts and quilting on them! This shop is just a gem of a quilt shop-I found perl cotton in all sorts of colors, even varigated-it was fun to see all the threads they carried-all that color. It was a bright sunny day outside with the wind rushing and gusting you along.
I had brought Texas baby and sat down and did some hand quilting while we waited for our other friend to join us. I gave up trying to use an in between needle and went back to a regular size sharp that feels best in my hand to quilt with. I got several arcs done and then it was time to go see quilts. The Bethany Lutheran Church quilters apparently do this show each year. They put their quilts with little hand written notes -telling you their name and a scrap about the quilt- all over the backs of the pews...and they had all sorts of quilts there-everything from a stack and whack to a double wedding ring. It being held in the church, the show is a Friday and Saturday only event. Downstairs they had lunch available and lots of home baked goods for sale. I would think there were maybe 50 quilts there-with one antique one-sorry no photos to share! A nice lunch out and it was back home to do boring errands and such. I pulled fabric for letters for my wonky village- trying to decide which ones ...I may have to try several before I can make up my mind and really get anywhere.

Yes, I bought a yard of this yummy orange subtle pattern, tone on tone..and the moda quilt pink squares..for doing the block event later this year.

Tomorrow more family stuff going on for much of the day-not sure when I will have any quilting time... probably will watch some of the Olympics and hand quilt during that time..at least that will be something being worked on.

Finn- I will do a post on WrapThemInLove another time...for now I am calling it a night...

pretty much a non quilty day for me

I finished folding the heap of fabric from the floor and I pulled out the next ufo to work on. (last night)

So here is a photo of the resultant folding...some of the fabric on the far right is in the wonky village top...a lot were rejects or fabrics that go back into the fabric room....next to that stack is fqs more or less. The far left two stacks are African stash, some used in the wonky village-a lot not. Hanging up in the background is part of the backing I will use...all in all, this looks much better than jumbled, tumbled, heaped on the floor! I know Dee, you wanted a photo of this going into the bin...that may happen later...but this is it for now!


I hand quilted one arc on the Texas baby tonight (during small quilt group time)-I hate the marking pencil I chose. But really, I have been off playing with friends and handling some business all day. By the way LJ, that thread is working perfectly on the Texas baby -as in perfect varigated colors...it may be traveling with me to Georgia and you may see it in person. I am going to switch to my yellow chalk marking method and see if that works better for what I want. I am working up to free form fans...marking for a while will help me settle into it easier I think.

Took some time to read through blogs and do some catching up-blogger being down for an hour impeded my posting earlier. Always great to check in with everyone-some inspiring photos too.

Part of my clean up efforts filled that large scrap bin, making at least one of my February goals likely to become one of my March goals...sometimes things just take longer. That's ok with me. Tomorrow I am driving a dear friend out to a small local quilt show, picking up another friend on the way. It's a great chance to visit and check out a new quilt shop to me plus take in some quilt viewing as well.
I do hate leaving Zoe for a second day in a row on her own for most of the day, but she will be ok. (got to get a photo of her up soon)
Have a few plans for the weekend, but, mostly wrapping stuff up around here-quilty wise and life wise...the wind is so fierce tonight the gong chimes are going non-stop...along with some other various banging noises too...glad to be inside in the warm.

It's been really great making some new friends lately and re-connecting with some well loved ones too...it's all good here.

Wimoweh....the lion sleeps tonight...

yes, I bought and downloaded this song to my ipod...I wanted to hear the lyrics and use part of them as words in my borders...and yes, the top is done-but, no photos (sorry quilt pixie!) until I get the borders on. Another learning curve about to start *vbg*....I will say I am happy with the top...although I ended up going a totally different direction than I first had thought. evolving is a good thing!

Now I have piles of African stash all over this room to clean up....I am taking this opportunity to fold them sort of Lois Hallock-style of the book Creating Your Perfect Quilting Space method. So far I have two beautifully folded pieces of yardage...then I have to go empty a fabric shelf to put them on when I am done :-) leading to more folding...hmmm, no, no - they need to go back to the bin out in the garage-all nicely folded of course. I will label the bin and get back to more important stuff on the to do list. Too bad I have to leave and do stuff....but that includes lunch with M which will be a nice break.

more color for the wonky village

I am tempted to blame Nancy for influencing me to buy more fqs...but the truth is I have used up all bright tone on tone yardage and the few scraps I have were just not enough! I have been working on designing a background for the wonky village and thanks to brainstorming with LJ, have come up with a pretty workable concept. Now to get back to more house building and playing with color-raw materials having now arrived on site. So- a photo to give you an idea of what to be looking for in the upcoming days...nights....

TOO MUCH STASH!

Last night I realized my African stash fabric was missing...so today the search was on. It used to be all my fabric was either in here (I used to have more storage in the closet in here- a whole lot more!) or the fabric room-on shelves or in bags on the floor when the shelves quickly filled.
Spring of 2005 we gutted the kitchen - which included doing some remodeling in the hallway too. I moved out all the fabric in the sewing space closet-into the fabric room. I put a lot of it into bins and stacked. I shoved all the fine china and breakables in there too-it became the packed to the gills store room/fabric room. ugh. Of course the remodel ran on and on. Finally, the kitchen was done and I started to reclaim the fabric room. I decided no more fabric in bags on the floor. There was no way all that fabric from the sewing space closet would fit back into it-I gave up a large chunk of it to a cabinet inset from the hallway side. what to do? I sorted and binned what would not fit-and so fabric was moved out to the garage...still somewhat accessible.
Luckily when I unearthed my Texas baby ufo from the garage, I remembered there was more fabric in there. So this morning I went right to that bin and yes, there was all the leftover African stash fabric. Now....I have it all in here-and of course, I have enough for two king sized quilts, at least. It's a good thing I no longer fabric shop like I used to! I am all for having a large enough stash to have variety- but, when you can not see it all? TOO MUCH STASH is indeed my feeling. I have saved all sorts of related pieces of fabric...some of it too big of prints to cut up for a small wall hanging-good backing however-except then you don't get to appreciate the print. I know a series will happen here....but right now I do not want to make a large quilt...M just laughs at me when I say, no really, these wonky houses are going to be a small, small quilt.
Bottom line: play with a few more houses, call it enough, fit the background around the way that pleases me...and stop. Once the backing is made and the binding- gather all this wonderful African stash back up-put back in the bin, mark it accordingly and move on. I will never get back to my ufo mission otherwise. I will know where all that fabric is next time I want some.
Now, I really am going to get away from this computer and back to the matter at hand-quilting!

learning curve

I pulled some more jungle type fabrics and you can see my latest house on the far left-the one on the far right arrived in today's mail, thanks Dee!. I tried to curve the top of the house, but it didn't work the way I wanted...still need to play around with that idea.
So the village grows...and yes, Patti, there will be letters on this top...Tomorrow I am working entirely on this fun village...another storm has rolled in tonight-can't think of anything less-dreary than playing with these wild and wonky houses.

Most of today I worked on some html learning - which resulted in putting up some February Goals. Like many things I have learned over the last several years-I only dive in when I want to see a result. I subscribe to the learning when necessary method..I am lazy about learning just for the thrill of it.

good night village

"The lion sleeps tonight" village is growing...I found the background that is going to surround these houses...should make for a wild quilt *vbg* it's off to dream land for me now.

Mary's quilt

Here was a fast charm quilt I made back in 2002 when we thought Mary wasn't going to be with us much longer. It's 70 by 90 and has 63 different floral squares. My favorite long arm gal did a terrific job on the quilting-sorry I didn't take a close up of it..I recently had it back to care for it before returning it to her in hospice. Mary used to take the most amazing photographs and loved all flowers, this was a fun quilt to do for her. I was delighted when she called demanding I go get her quilt as "those fools are bringing me all the wrong things from home". I cut a second set of these squares when I did this quilt and they are still safe on the fabric shelf. It was nice to be able to get a photo as I have no idea where I put the ones I took of it and her when we gave it to her back then.

ufo#4 done- scrappy2

So, I stayed up way too late last night-but finished quilting scrappy2. Then today was busy with life stuff...but managed to get the label and binding finished. This will be another donation quilt and so I put the binding on the back, pulled it to the front and machine stitched it down. These quilts often go to areas where they will take a beating in being cared for...machine stitching the binding holds up longer I am told. Sometimes I still hand stitch down..it's a hard habit for me to give up even on these. But, I am getting better as it sure gets the job done faster.
The other great thing about the binding ( cut the strips from trimming the backing fabric after quilting it) I used from the backing fabric, is it used all that fabric up but a 42 inch strip. More flannel stash busted.
A friend sent thread for the Texas baby quilt and it arrived today.
I am still not sure how I want to quilt this one...considering hand quilting...meanwhile, many thanks to LJ for sending the perfect varigated thread colors!
Finn- love that song! Now I will be humming it as I work on this village. It's up next for sure now. I sure have been thinking about it as I was finishing up this one...

2nd scrappy top done

I included a close up of the foundation pieced fans-someone had played with these and then donated them to us...they finish at three inches square. This measures at 39 inches by 60-ish inches...no borders, will just add batting and a flannel backing and get it machine quilted up on the Bernie. I got home early enough that I may actually get this top basted today.

That leaves the design wall open- think I will put up the wonky house and play around some more...go find that leopard fabric and ....dig out the African scraps ...hmmm, a jungle village just might appear. I think it's time I played with something new.