I'm in trouble.....

I'm in trouble already. My fabra-holic friend, Val, is having a yard sale. Her entire basement is nothing but tubs and shelves and more tubs of fabric. I get first shot at all of it. Fortunately, for me, it's not all cotton. A lot of it is dress fabrics. That means my daughter is in trouble too. I may have to take out a mortgage on my house to buy all her cottons. I might as well suck it up and admit that I'm excited about it. I'm gonna buy buy buy. I was only there for an hour tonight and spent fifty bucks. And the cotton fabric's not even out yet. She had an over the door ironing board that folds up. It will be such a space saver in my sewing room. And, of course there was fabric my kid wanted. Val and I went shopping last spring and she bought a bed ensemble and then a week later found one she liked better. I had been kicking myself for not getting the same one. Now....I own it. It's never been taken out of the package. And, the color matches my bedroom. This is gonna get ugly. (Just trying to sneak it all in the house?) Giggle! Actually, Garry would never say a word. I just like to pick on him. I'm going to have to put all Connecting Thread orders on hold. Well, I'm off to make room on some shelves. I may need to go buy another set of those shelves......hmmmmmmmm.....there's an idea!

A Finish!

Finished! Done! Yippeeee! One down, not counting how many to go. It would just make me feel defeated before the day starts. I'm on a "finish it up" binge. It actually feels pretty good. This is the Bricks andStepping Stones pattern from Bonnie at Quiltville.com I quilted this one yesterday and finished the binding about midnight last night. I don't know what I've done, but my right shoulder is seriously sore. I think I've got a "catch in my get-along". That's pretty much what I call anything that causes me to move slowly. And, I don't like this. In bed at 1 a.m. and up at 5 a.m. cause it hurts to even lay on my shoulder. It started a couple of days ago and with my sorry memory, I can't remember what I could have done to make it hurt. The only things that last in my memory are things Garry does wrong. Those I can remember for years. I mentioned that at dinner on Sunday to some friends. The women all giggled and the men just shook their head and said "I know", in chorus. It was pretty funny.

Oh, the backing on this one is a sheet I found at Goodwill. I've heard a lot of discussions about using/not using sheets as backings. I like them. This one is fun, bright and sewed up great. I even used the left overs for the binding. This is the first binding in my one year (I know, a quilting babe) that I'm very happy with. I have read lots about thread count in sheets being too high and all that, but I make quilts to use, so ... we'll see how it wears. And, for $1.99 for the sheet, I had to try it.

I'm off to pick another UFO and finish it today! I hope I don't lose my resolve.........

No one saw it arrive....

And we all know who I mean by "no one"!

Yep, big box came today from Connecting Threads. Again, I am not disappointed. I love this fabric. So...my day in pictures so far..... I was happily working on this....

when, out of nowhere, this arrived

Giddy-ness and grinning ensued

( no pic of my giddy-ness or grinning. You can thank me later for that)

Oh oh oh...I am a happy woman.

It was all on clearance. On sale. Now, what will I do with the money I saved. That's Girl Math, ya know. If I saved say, 50 bucks buying this on clearance, I figure I can go spend the saved 50 bucks on something else. It's a great thing that Girl Math. I have explained that to Garry, and I think he understands it, but his eyes do glaze over a bit. When in doubt, I mention his new dirtbike I got him for his birthday last year and then his giddy-ness and grinning ensues too. Life is just great!

So, first is the Connecting Threads sewing kit. Now that I'm hand quilting, I really NEEDED that. Came with the fabric and pattern, in the closeout section. Bargain!

Next is the yardage. Some pink and gray. Three yards of each. If there is no plan and I just like it, I buy 3 to 5 yards and in the stash it goes. It was also on Connecting Threads closeout section and under 4 bucks a yard. I wish you could all feel this fabric....yummy! Bargain!

And then ... the fat quarters. Oh yeah, baby! Three sets, cause they to were on sale and I think it ended up being under $1.00 per fq. I think there is like 30 or so fq's per package for under 30 bucks. So....I bought three sets.

I also saved money on shipping because orders over 50 bucks are free shipping. Bargain!

More Girl Math. Add another 10 to my 50 dollar savings from earlier and now, I have 60 bucks to shop with next week. Ahhh....don't you love it when a plan comes together?

And ... the rest of this post is not quilty....is garden-y. I have tomato plants that are taller than I am. I am only 5', but sheesh....I have tomato trees now.

Pics of the garden and then I'm back to YBR blocks.

Camera Found....Yay!

Yep, there it was. Under a pile of stuff I took to craft day. Of course. So, here's what I've been doing. I have 100 blocks made for the YBR. I'll only use 90, so I'll have some leftovers for something. This is that Connecting Threads Fabric. Yummy stuff!

This is a top I made when I first started last year for my friend Val. I'm finally quilting it. Finally. It was for her birthday last Sept. Maybe it will be finished for this birthday? Let's hope so. Nope, no hoping, it's going to be finished for this birthday! Yep!

This is the cheater quilt I've been hand quilting. It's almost done. Some of the edges left to quilt and then the border and binding. Not sure what to border it with or if I even have any fabric that will work, but this has taught me that I love hand quilting. Yippeee...


You know the best part of having these shelves to store fabric? No one (and by no one I mean Garry) can tell when there has been more added. Nope, it just looks the same to everyone (and by everyone I mean Garry). Giggle! Yep, more has been added recently.








I have been seeing lots about Locker Hooking lately, so I picked up a kit to start with and we'll see. My friend Patti and I are going to do this one together. Yep, Patti and I made a shopping trip a couple of days ago. She's quite crafty. Her hubby, Ted, is very crafty too. He does woodworking. Don't hold it against him, but he's a math teacher at our local Christian School. Here's a link to his website. I've seen a lot of his work in person and it's awesome. He's having a show this weekend that I'm planning to go to. I have just gotta have some of his art! Check it out.

Well, that's it for me here. Gotta make a quick run to the grocery store for milk and then, back to the sewing room for me. Have a wonderful Thursday!

Lost Camera Alert

Still can't find it. I had it a couple of days ago. Oh, on Saturday. I took it to craft day, but didn't take any pics. I was too busy using my new Connecting Threads fabrics making YBR blocks. I have gotten 100 blocks done and have started setting them. I worked on my handquilting all day yesterday. Yep, 11 hours of hand quilting. I've got two left fingers that are so sore now, it's hard to type. But, I can see a lot more hand quilting in my future. I love it. I'll post pics when the camera turns up.

I do want to mention that I am by no means a fabric snob. I think you use what you can afford, or what you have available. I am blessed to be able to buy some things that others may not be able to afford. And, on the flip side, there are things I just can't buy due to these economic times. Here's my point of all that. I ordered some fabric from Connecting Threads. Oh, MY! This fabric makes me so happy. It's so soft and so little fraying. It's like butter! I can't even describe it. I, naturally, ordered more already. Quite a bit more. And, the prices? They are less than most of the Joann's fabrics cost. Now, the thread from there. I love it. And, it's priced right! I bought several of their thread kits a while back and I love it. The colors are wonderful and it sews so well. I'm not affiliated in any way, but I highly recommend this company. I expect there will be an order in my mail box today or tomorrow. When I find the camera, I'll post some pics. Here's the link for them, if you would like to look around......http://www.connectingthreads.com

No time to blog.....

Gotta keep sewing. Kristie is trying very hard to get ahead of me in our little July sewing competition. I had to go out and do some campaigning and was gone most of the day yesterday. So, what's a girl to do? Stay up til 3 a.m. to get some hours in, of course. I don't know how long I can do that, but ... whatever it takes I suppose. I can't find my camera now, so, no pics. I'm determined to finish some of the projects I've got started. Hump day already, so enjoy the rest of your week......

Dirt Biking Quilt....Done!

Yep. Finished. One down, a lot to go. Garry is happy with it. He chose the fabric (from my stash) and he even chose the pattern. It's the Scrappy Mountain Majesties from Quiltville.com. He didn't really want scrappy though. He calls all the scrappy quilts "too random". He just doesn't get it, but that's ok. He doesn't get a lot of things I do....giggle!
Since I finished one, I started another, of course.


I found this pattern here and I love the look of it. It's going to take me a while to do this one. I'm doing a controlled scrappy with a set of fat quarters (or two). It takes longer to make these blocks than I would have thought.

Other than that, the hand quilting continues. This is working out well to do in the evenings when the family is watching tv. I still get to hang with them some, instead of holing up in my sewing room. Maybe they prefer it the other way? Nahhhh, they like me, they really do...giggle!

I'm trying a new groomer today. My dogs are being shaved. I have used the same groomer for many years. It's been very convenient since she is in my vets office. My vet recently changed his policies. It's always been that if one of my four dogs needed a shot or anything routing, they would just take care of it while the dogs where there and charge me for the shot. Now, new policy, each time they visit the groomer, he checks them over and charges me $33.00 office call per dog. This added $132.00 to my last groomer trip. I told them this wouldn't work for me and the vet said he'd just charge me $16.00 per dog from now on. That's still an additional $64.00 each time they get groomed. No way. I'm not doing that. So, I have found a new groomer and had a long talk with her last week. I'm really hoping she works out. Yes, I'm quite picky about my dogs although you wouldn't know it to look at them right now. They are a mess. I've procrastinated over finding a new groomer or sucking up the extra charges at the old one. So now....they are a mess. Matted, dirty. Ughhhhh....but this afternoon, I expect them to be beautiful and bald...hehehhee Maybe they'll get their pics taken today and I'll show ya!

Just got back from picking the pups up and they got shaved close! I had let them get really matted and yucky. Now...they look ... uhm....scalped?! But they are running around like they were pups again....Happy dogs!

LOOK MA, SLOBBER!