Lots o' Blocks

I feel like I haven't done any significant sewing in weeks.  I have a lot of little quilting "chores" to get done and haven't worked on one project straight through for quite some time.  This weekend was very productive - I got 2 bindings made and machine stitched to 2 of my older quilts that my friend Liz offered to hand stitch for me.  I put the borders on my Fig & Plum quilt for the shop so we can get that displayed and kits made.

I'm cutting out a couple of projects to take with me on my retreat in early November.  Oh and I made a few blocks!  You might recognize the blocks on the left.  They are from the Fat Quarter Shop's Simply Sophisticated BOM, which is the Moda U Selvages quilt.  The 2 blocks in the middle are the same blocks made with American Jane fabrics, which is one of the choices my shop is offering for our Moda U project.  I really loved how easy these blocks were to put together.  Vicky, the LA Quilter, is hosting a stitch-along for the FQS blocks - check it out.  If you finish and post a picture of your blocks each month, you are entered in a drawing for a FQS gift certificate.  If that's not incentive, I don't know what is!

I'm disappointed that my shop cancelled the Moda U class that was scheduled for Thursday nights.  There weren't enough customers signed up, so I could attend Moda U on Saturdays, but that doesn't really work for me, so I get the blocks, but not the fun of being part of the "club."

Oh and the blocks on the right are for a quilt we're making at the shop for one of our coworkers who is going through a medical crisis.  We're all making two 8" blocks out of Lecien fabrics and will put them together as a surprise gift for our friend Faith.  Everyone is picking their own block design, and I'm sure it will be a great mix of applique and pieced blocks in the beautiful pastel colors that Faith loves.

Merry Christmas, Y'all

Yes, I realize I just said the "C" word.   I know a lot of you aren't ready to hear it - myself included.   But one of our assignments at the quilt shop where I work was to make a stocking to hang in the shop.  We could use any fabrics in the shop, but I kept coming back to this cute Alexander Henry cowboy fabric (and yes, I realize the cowboy front and center is upside down... oh bother...).  I used some ultrasuede for the fringe, found the Texas Ranger badge and a real spur rowel on ebay and I think the stocking turned out very cute.  It sure was fun to make, and it will be fun to see what the other gals at the shop come up with for their stockings.

Halloween Swap

My swap partner does not have a blog, but now that she has confirmed receipt of her package, I will show you what I sent her - a small kitty bag with Godiva chocolates inside, a spooky ice cube tray, 2 Halloween kitchen towels and a tablerunner that I made.  I must say, it was a very unpopular decision in my house to send away that tablerunner, especially since I don't even have one of my own (bad Mommy!).  I hope Ellen likes her goodies, and thanks to Susan at Blackberry Creek for hosting this fun swap.

I won't quit my day job!

Thanks to all of you for playing along with my little money game.   The total amount of money I found in a year was $9.33 - not nearly as lucrative as some of you guessed, unfortunately!  The winning entry was Shar with her guess of $9.23 - wow, Shar, you were almost right on the money (har har!).

Please contact me with your choice of colors for the batiks, or if you're not a fan of batiks, I can send you Civil War fabrics.  Let me know what you would like!

Care to guess?

A couple of friends and I have a silly hobby of picking up pennies or other loose change we find on the ground.  I seem to have a knack for it, so I decided on October 1 of last year to keep all the money I found in a piggy bank, just out of curiosity, to see how much I actually found in a year's time.  So now is your chance to guess - how much money did Lisa find on the streets of Seattle in the past year?   To help you a bit with your guessing, I weighed my piggy bank - the weight of just the money was 1 pound, 8.6 oz.  So - care to guess how much I found?  Submit your guess by the end of the day October 7, and the person who comes closest to the grand total will win 6 batik fat quarters in your choice of colors.

Happy Fall!

I love Fall - I'd have to say it's my favorite time of year.  Just the weather to make you want to throw something in the crockpot and work on a quilt!

I don't have any progress to show for my weekend.  I'm working on a Halloween gift for my swap partner, so while I did finish it (except for the quilting), I can't show it quite yet.

We're all supposed to make Christmas stockings for the quilt shop where I work.  I chose a fun Alexander Henry cowboy fabric and plan to make mine with suede-like fringe at the cuff.  But I haven't started my stocking, so I can't show that.

I finished the binding on my 4OT/Portobello Market quilt and dropped it off at the shop on Thursday.  I hope they get it up on display and when they do, I will snap a photo, but for now, I've got nothing.

Doing the binding in 2 days really did a number on my shoulder - that old rotator cuff injury flares up at the most unexpected times.  This is not good news, as I have about 6 quilts that need bindings.  My buddy at the quilt shop, Liz, agreed to a barter - she's going to sew a binding for me in exchange for some fat quarters.   This may be a good solution.

Move along people, nothing to see here.

There is not much being accomplished in my sewing room of late.  I am starting to get some projects ready to take to my guild retreat in November.  I try to have simple projects all cut out and ready for production sewing, but long sessions of cutting really aggravate my rotator cuff injury, so I have to do it a little bit at a time.

I picked up a new magazine at the grocery store last week, McCall's Quilting America Makes FAST Quilts.   This magazine is great and has 4 quilts that are now on my "must make" list.  My favorite, though is this Starring Repros quilt.  I love everything about it - the fabrics, the size, the star blocks.

You can buy a kit to make yours just like this, but since I wanted to be able to choose my own background fabric, I ordered a fat quarter bundle.  The fabrics are from a collection by Pat Yamin called Come Quilt With Me.  These 1940s reproductions are so unlike me, but I just fell in love with the picture in the magazine, and the fabrics in person are prettier still.  Even the few prints that I wasn't in love with grew on me as I began to cut them up.  These big, scrappy stars will make the perfect retreat project!