R.I.P Rosie: October 1998–September 2012

My beloved Rosie passed away this week.  She would have been 14 years old in October.

We took a trip to Montana for my 30th high school reunion in August and took the dogs with us.  Rosie didn’t react well while traveling, so we took her to the vet in Helena, where she was diagnosed with stage 5 lymphoma.  We decided to put her on prednisone to try to make her more comfortable in the time she had left.

Rosie liked to come up to the quilting room and lie at the top of the stairs, making sure that all who entered there had to pass inspection.

She was quite the character.  She knew how to get something she wanted by using her “I’m a cute puppy” look.

She could also look at my husband with one adoring eye, and give me the stink eye out of the other…all at the same time!  It was quite comical!

Rosie didn’t mind bath time, but she’d just as soon it didn’t drag out, either.

Rosie always kept us company no matter where we were in the house,  and she is greatly missed.

Labor Day Weekend – Decisions, Decisions!

After all of the fabric cutting I’ve been doing lately, I think I’ve been able to justify getting the Accuquilt Studio.  Or have I?  The two main issues are price and space.  Oh, is that all??

So, I’ve been shopping the Accuquilt.com site, balking at the price of getting started on the Studio, but remembering my sore back and how tired my hands have been lately, but not quite ready to commit.  Then I received their email newsletter late last week advertising their Labor Day sale.  The Studio is down to $399, just $50 more than the Accuquilt Go!…and I’m so there!…of course, I want the big one!  Still pricey, but I’ve never seen it lower, so this is the time to buy, right?

And then I saw the JoAnn Fabrics email.  What??  They have an Accuquilt Go! on sale for $199?!?  How can that be??  So, I started re-analyzing the systems again, and the short version is, I went to the store on Monday to get the Accuquilt Go!.  If I had more room, I’d get the Studio, but I just don’t have the dedicated space.  Besides, I can always upgrade later, and with the adapter I can still use dies I purchase now.

I can see that buying dies could get to be very expensive, so I’m going to start with the strip dies for the most versatility, since I do a lot of strip piecing and I can cross cut them into squares.  I’m also going to get a 6 1/2” strip die for borders, since I like to cut them with the grain and it’s a pain to handle the fabric that way.  At least it should help me get some quilting done faster!

If you have a Go! I’d like to hear which are your favorite dies.

Craziness, aka “PSQ”

This photo shows some innocent looking 2” fabric charms.  Innocuous, even.  Quite the inspiration for a wonderful new project, right?

Well, let me tell you, I can see this becoming an addiction!  It all started when I ran across a blog written by Mary Wibourn called The Curious Quilter.  I resisted the first two swaps; I didn’t have any charms cut, and 100 seemed like quite a few to come up with.

And then I saw the blog a few more times, and the photos she has, like this one, just started calling my name!

So, I signed up for two swap partners and started cutting my scraps.  And cutting.  And cutting!  And I only had 3 piles of 46 charms!  So, I started digging into my yardage, using my June Tailor Shape Cut mat.  I figured that should make things sing along.  Yet, I still didn’t seem to be making much progress, confounded by the question of “should I cut other size strips, too, while I have this yardage out?”

Yes.  Of course!  That’s what the Stashbusters Yahoo group means by “cut it up Sunday”.  But what sizes should I start cutting them into?  I mean, it’s not like I have a specific project in mind.  That’s why it’s still yardage in the first place!

Well, after all that standing, I have a very sore back and now I’m seriously considering buying the Accuquilt Studio!  Yes, I want the big one.  Where I’ll store it is another question!

So, here’s a questions for you:  do you all cut your fabric into strips, waiting for a project?  How do you manage your stash of strips?  What’s your favorite method of cutting?

And…have you made a postage stamp quilt?  Would you do it again?

Garage Sale Find!

Yesterday I found out about a quilter who was moving to a new home, and had to downsize her quilting stash, so she held a garage sale today.   Bad news for her, great news for the community!  Great news?  Yes!  She was selling her yardage for between $3-$4 per yard!  I haven’t been buying much fabric lately, unless it’s for a specific project.  I don’t have much more room for new fabric, unless it has a specific purpose; that way, it won’t be sticking around! 

About half of this fabric is for a fabric swap I signed up for at guild, and the other half is for a new shadow box quilt I just had a bug to start cutting for; I saw a photo of one on my Stashbusters Yahoo group albums and a tutorial.  While I’ve been cutting 2” charms for my PSQ, I figured it would be easy enough to cut the 8.5” charms I need for that quilt, too.

And look what else I found at the yard sale!  It’s a gorgeous round robin wall hanging that was started in 1995…I even got the label they made!…and I’ve even got ideas on how to finish it.  Wool batting and feathers are in its future!

 

And here’s a close-up of the middle:

I also went shopping at the local yarn shop today.  Unfortunately, The Yarn Shoppe in Meridian is closing, so they’re having a sale.  I got way too much great stuff.  I won’t need to spend money on craft projects for a long, long time!

Something New – Weaving!

I’ve been wanting to try weaving for awhile, due in part to a friend’s interest; she wants to create tapestries.  However, I’m most interested in making rugs.

This isn’t an entirely new interest.  I grew up with rag scatter rugs my grandmother made.  Later, I received 3 of them as wedding presents from my cousin, and I really like them.  Fourteen years later they’re still in great shape, but I’d like to be able to make more of them.

Last week I received an email that Puffy Mondaes was holding a table loom class this weekend, so I signed up, not knowing what, exactly, a table loom is, but knowing it wasn’t a Cricket loom, which is a small loom, so, while affordable, I can’t make a rug on it.

I thought we’d be making something different than a scarf, but that’s exactly what we started on, using a huck lace pattern.  This is a specific weaving structure, much like a log cabin quilt block is a specific quilt block.  The pattern is very much like a counted cross stitch pattern, but this was black and white, and read from right to left for the warp threading and up and down for the weaving pattern.  Reading those little black dots will make your eyes cross!

I had fun and met some great new gals.  None of us finished our project, though, so we have to find time to go back to work on it in order to get our projects off the frames.  I’m not sure when I'll have the time, though, as I have a customer quilt to work on and some 2” charms to cut up for the Curious Quilter’s postage stamp quilt swap, so now I have another WIP.

I learned a lot and now I’m better able to do some research for getting a loom of my own, should I decide to go down that road.  Oh, yeah, like I need another hobby!

Patriotic Log Cabin…and bikes!

I haven't been online much, with my new work schedule; I’ve been getting there early and staying late.  I’m loving my new job!  I'm just so focused while I'm there, which is a great thing.

The last three customer quilts I’ve finished have been on a deadline, too, so I’ve just had my head down plugging away.  As the days, and projects go by, I keep thinking “I gotta blog about this!”…and then I go to bed.  Sigh, there’s just never enough time in the day.  So, I will catch you up on the latest quilts, starting with this patriotic log cabin.

This is the one I was working on when my leaders came un-taped from the take up bar.  I was frustrated with this design because it is so detailed and I couldn’t seem to get a lot of it right.  Of course, my nose was right up in it so I saw every little mistake.  Overall, it turned out well, and my customer was very happy with it.  She did a fabulous job on the piecing and it laid nice and flat the whole time!

I’ve been working on the Jelly Roll Quilters mystery quilt for the past 3 months.  This month’s installment involved cutting the strips down into tiny little pieces to make log cabins for the design.  I haven't even touched those log cabin blocks.  I'm not a huge fan of making them, but my first obstacle was having to cut them into those tiny strips, so I've just been ignoring this step.  Guess I'd better get on it if I want to keep up!

Over Father’s Day weekend I had a friend I've known for 25 years come to visit me from Tacoma, Washington (near Seattle) where I used to live.  She came to run in a half marathon race, and I was there to cheer her on!

During our excursions after the race I bought a used bicycle from Boise Bike Project!  I’ve started riding it to work, about 10 miles, and I’m completely loving it!!  Because the temperatures have been in the high 90’s, my husband comes to pick me up after work so I don't have to ride it back home in the heat.  Besides, I'm not yet in good enough shape for the round trip, but I hope to be soon!

I’ve completed two additional customer quilts since the log cabin, including the binding on one of them, which I almost never do.  She, however, isn't a seamstress, and this is an heirloom top (it was made in the 1980's by the customer's mother) that I turned into a quilt as her daughter's upcoming wedding gift.  I love how it’s turned out and I’ll post pictures once she sees it.

Thread stash!

I didn’t start out to organize my thread!  Really!

But isn’t it beautiful?

 

I’d been storing some of my pantos in the bottom drawer, but I decided that I simply needed more room for the thread, so they got moved.  I love how easy it is to see what I have now!

Uh oh, was that my monthly shipment of thread arriving?  Guess I’d better get some projects quilted and use up some thread!