A Fabric Sale And A New BackPack

Bernina connection had their annual Summer Sale today, machines, software, etc all on sale and lots of fabric too! Their sale fabric, normally 50% off, was 75% off today! I think a lot of people did some stash building including my young quilting friends who are focussed on building a respectable stash.

L bought close to 30yds of fabric I think, I forgot to take pics, and I was much more restrained because I do already own a respectable stash!

This lovely black and white came home with me, just what was left on the bolt after my young friend bought a large chunk to back a yellow, black and white quilt she is planning for a friend's wedding gift! Only sewing two months and she is motivated and ambitious, it is exciting to see!

I also found this great CW repro patriotic fabric in the 75% off group that is perfect for the backing of the flag quilt I am making for our great nephew in Boston. I purchased all that was left, at $2.50/yd. there was no point in leaving a yard or two on the bolt, LOL!

Anyway, I make those Quilts Of Valor for our wounded warriors so I can always use more patriotic fabric.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Isn't this adorable?

After our shopping trip the youngest new quilter wanted to make a backpack for the family trip to the islands next week. We found this cheerful Hawaiian looking fabric on the sale table so the whole project cost $2.50, with some scraps of trim and velcro out of my stash.

Time being short- we had only this afternoon to do it- we made a simple drawstring style. No pattern but it was really fast and easy and we just made it up as we went along. There's a double pocket inside for cell phone and cash, and one on the outside with a velcro closure for sunnies etc.

S did the sewing and I did the directing! I wish that I had taken pics of the progress so I could have a tut, but it was very simple, just a rectangle sewn pillowcase style with the drawstring in the top. We made it self lined and the final item ended up about 18" square. The straps are 2.5" x 18" strips sewn lengthwise and turned and the drawstring is 3/4" grosgrain ribbon .

S found this flower sample piece I made when I got my embroidery machine and thought it was cute so she sewed it on the back of her pack! Doesn't it look sweet? And it even says "Quilters" on it! Perfect!

She looks pretty pleased with the result and I know her that Daddy must be very impressed with her creative abilities.

Way to go, girl, have a lovely island holiday!

Finished For Friday And Sew And Tell

I discovered another Friday celebration through Miri's blog, it's called "Sew And Tell Friday" so I am linking with both this blog and "Lit And Laundry". You can see all kinds of delightful inspiration when you visit these blogs.

Here is Andee's " Day and Night" quilt with the binding already sewn to the front ready for her to stitch down on the back. It's so large-king size-that it doesn't quite hang clear of the floor

I couldn't bring myself to just quilt "all over" without regard for the block design, so I had to come up with some way to quilt the blocks separately and the SID I saw on a couple other Day and Night quilts simply wasn't in consideration. I would have been bored to tears by the time I got halfway through!

So I quilted "line dancing" with these curlicues in the star blocks and another version of curlicues on the octagons-

it has an optical illusion thing with a secondary design so the octagons can be difficult to see but they are there, just squint! If that doesn't work, click on the pic to enlarge and I think you'll see it then.

The back is a black and white print so nothing much shows up there.

This is for Andee's cousin, a wedding gift and I heard that Tara is pretty anxious to get her hands on it now that she has had a sneak peek on Andee's blog!

It's very dramatic design, a great deal of time and energy expended in the construction so it deserved a complimentary quilting and I hope I have achieved that!

VTT, Happy Birthday Vintage Husband, June 17th.

Definitely vintage, [and you know how I love vintage ] He even comes with provenance!

High School grad. pic. the Elvis look!

The handsome Captain I married............

And a current depiction, oh my how things do change!

Now check out all the rest of the VTT bloggers at Colorado Lady's blog

Wordless Wednesday, Samoan Warrior!

Or "future quarterback"!

Samoan warrior legs!!

Flag Day

I meant to post earlier, but Monday is Baby Matthew day so I do little other than spend time with this delightful little chap.

I did take a little time while he napped this afternoon to work on this flag quilt. The quilt is for a five year old great nephew and I need to have it done to deliver when we go to Boston in September.

His twin sister will also get a quilt-they are for their new twin beds. Em's will be pinks and purples and I plan to make the "Pleiades" quilt for her.

Finished For Friday, Wedding Gift

Litandlaundry hosts Finished For Friday!

The wedding gift quilt for M and L is done and gone off to it's new home.

Quilted with meandering feathers.

The backing.

Sewing Days With my Young Friends

A few posts back I mentioned how I had taken a young friend to the quilt shops to choose fabric for her wedding gift. I related how L had caught the dreaded Quilting Pox and promptly passed it along to the next generation.

I have a few pics to tell some of the story. They look pretty happy in the "Sweat Shop" don't they?!

The first month they managed to buy two sewing machines and fabric for their first three quilts.

So far L has constructed two tops,

this is her first, basted and ready to quilt.

This the second. Both are square and flat, a feat even for some more seasoned quilters and pretty amazing considering until about six weeks ago this young woman had never even operated a sewing machine!

As for S, last year she took a couple of semesters of Home Ec. and at 13 has taken to quilting like a duck to water!

Freehand quilting? No problem, she loves it!

And it shows!

Today her first quilt was basted ready for quilting, and with a little time to spare I gave her a quick introduction to longarming.

Oh my I think we may have created a problem, they have no spare room for a longarm!

Wordless Wednesday

Finished For Friday

Here is a finished top ready for quilting. It's the wedding gift quilt I made for M and L. Hope to get it quilted tomorrow and I think I will meander feathers all over, it's busy enough that custom work would not show much and I think the feathers can be very effective on a busy quilt.

The fabrics are mostly Civil War repros and some Thimbleberries.

I will get a more accurate picture of the colors when it's quilted and I can photograph it in daylight.

Litandlaundry hosts "Finished For Friday" and from there you can check out other crafty blogger's Friday Finishes.

VTT, Sixties China

It's Vintage Thingies Thursday, so go on over to Colorado Lady's blog and see what other treasures are on display around the blogs.

I purchased this china in the mid sixties In Australia and for some years it was my "good" china, the kind I used for dinner guests. It has cups and saucers, bread plates, small and larger dinner plates and dessert/soup bowls

It was a 36 piece setting for 6 and it is only missing a couple of items.

Looks pretty retro doesn't it?

I couldn't tell you what I paid for it then, maybe $25-35?

I also have no idea why I have hung on to it all these years, for decades I have packed it up and moved it from Australia, to USA, to Europe and back and forth around the USA! And it has not been used for a very,very long time. Go figure huh?

Guess I just like it - still.

Memorial Day, 2010

"At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them."

"For The Fallen" Laurence Binyon, 1914

With thankfulness we honor all those who have served their country especially those who have given all.

Placing the flags for Memorial Day. So many came to do the work that 45,000 flags were placed in 35 minutes!

Grandsons, along with scouts from many troops, saluted at each grave as they placed the flags....

while their Dad, Active duty AZ. Army National Guard, lends a hand.........

along with his Dad, US Army Aviator, retired .

Then breakfast........

Baby Quilt

The second in the baby quilt series of similar colorway and design from Andee. She made it using left overs from the last one with some coordinating additions, way to go to using those pesky scraps Andee!

The center fabric has cats all over it so I pulled out a panto- gasp, yes I did another panto- that I remembered from long ago, I think it's called "Scaredy Cats" or something and they do look scared - or something!

Yesterday I visited a couple of quilt shops with a friend from Alabama, picked up this adorable Lucy fabric for an apron...........

and the red shoes for my shoe addicted friend Gale...........

this to add to the watercolor quilt fabric collection...........

a nice large floral panel that will make a quickie quilt when I need one in a hurry........

a few notions like these adorable little scissors - you can never have enough/too many.........

stain remover touted to be the very best and a new Chaco marker.

The afternoon was passed giving a lesson on the longarm on feathering and I think my student took home some new skills to practice.

Now I am taking a short break from the longharm to work on piecing this wedding gift quilt-the wedding was late March- I have six months don't I according to etiquette?

The pattern L chose is a very traditional Pat Speth design from her " Amazing Nickel Quilts" book.

L chose the colors substituting greens for the blues though I see the colors are very much more dull than in reality probably because I had the flash off. Click on the pics to get a truer idea of the colors.

Turns out that L's tastes are very traditional and she leans towards the scrappy style- the fabrics are mostly Civil War repros and some Thimbleberries I think. Some came from my generous stash of CW repros but I did have to buy more to add to the mix, I never have a problem buying new fabrics, LOL!

The two parts of the blocks are made and I am in the process of finishing trimming the HST's this afternoon to get the perfect 4.5" squares. I think it will go together quickly once the blocks are constructed.

I haven't yet decided on backing or the quilting design but I am leaning towards feathers and perhaps a burgundy/red backing. We will see what L thinks - I only took her to two quilt shops

[I will swear that on a stack of Bibles and I never even breathed on her or cast any spells or anything] before she had contracted the dreaded pox -quilting pox, that is- and would you believe she went home and immediately infected her teenge DD and now they are both addicted! More about them in a future post, it is a very funny tale!