I read about this on The Corvidarium and just had to check it out. Truly cute clothes for children; not the usual run-of-the-mill stuff you see in the stores here in the States. Best of all they're giving away a $100 gift card!
Aunty Ollie $100 Gift Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
More Flannel, A Little Longing
I worked with the flannel blocks and scraps a bit yesterday. This is what I have so far:
This will finish at about 25 inches wide by 30 inches long. Right now only strips and sections are sewn together. You can see that I have a couple of gaping holes to fill. ;- )
I also spent time with my DMC color chart and the Lincoln Logs quilt, trying to find other colors to use as ties. I selected three, and DH was actually able to find them at our local JoAnn Fabrics store (woohoo! that doesn't happen as often as I would like). So now I'm ready to cut out the most offensive ties and replace them with something less obvious.
I have to say that if I were a healthy person I would have sweet-talked my husband into going down south to one of the big malls yesterday to spend the whole day there. We might not have purchased a lot, but I would have been in heaven browsing in the stores, eating in the food court or in a chain restaurant, people watching, even lugging our purchases around on my arms all day. We could have complained about the pre-Thanksgiving Christmas music and displays. It would have been noisy and crowded. We might have gone to see a movie. (I don't even know what's in the theaters right now that we would both enjoy.) We might have found a few things for Christmas presents or I might have come home with a new pair of shoes or pants or a shirt (all of which I need). For that matter, he might have come home with a new suit! It would have been so much fun. I really wish we could have done that.
Instead I shopped a bit online, by myself. Now I have to wait for my purchases to be delivered. None of it was clothing for me or my husband. (I take that back. There was a sweatshirt on clearance I couldn't pass up for myself.) In spite of the fact that I have to I don't like buying things without seeing or handling them first, and I really dislike buying clothes online, trying them on, and then having to return them. So everything I wear is pretty out of date, stained, or maybe doesn't fit as well as it could. On the upside, I do have a head start on my Christmas gifts. I used to try to make something for everyone every year. That was way too stressful. I'm learning now to take the easier way out. And I don't take it so personally any more if they don't seem to like the gift!
This will finish at about 25 inches wide by 30 inches long. Right now only strips and sections are sewn together. You can see that I have a couple of gaping holes to fill. ;- )
I also spent time with my DMC color chart and the Lincoln Logs quilt, trying to find other colors to use as ties. I selected three, and DH was actually able to find them at our local JoAnn Fabrics store (woohoo! that doesn't happen as often as I would like). So now I'm ready to cut out the most offensive ties and replace them with something less obvious.
I have to say that if I were a healthy person I would have sweet-talked my husband into going down south to one of the big malls yesterday to spend the whole day there. We might not have purchased a lot, but I would have been in heaven browsing in the stores, eating in the food court or in a chain restaurant, people watching, even lugging our purchases around on my arms all day. We could have complained about the pre-Thanksgiving Christmas music and displays. It would have been noisy and crowded. We might have gone to see a movie. (I don't even know what's in the theaters right now that we would both enjoy.) We might have found a few things for Christmas presents or I might have come home with a new pair of shoes or pants or a shirt (all of which I need). For that matter, he might have come home with a new suit! It would have been so much fun. I really wish we could have done that.
Instead I shopped a bit online, by myself. Now I have to wait for my purchases to be delivered. None of it was clothing for me or my husband. (I take that back. There was a sweatshirt on clearance I couldn't pass up for myself.) In spite of the fact that I have to I don't like buying things without seeing or handling them first, and I really dislike buying clothes online, trying them on, and then having to return them. So everything I wear is pretty out of date, stained, or maybe doesn't fit as well as it could. On the upside, I do have a head start on my Christmas gifts. I used to try to make something for everyone every year. That was way too stressful. I'm learning now to take the easier way out. And I don't take it so personally any more if they don't seem to like the gift!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Tying One On
If only! The only thing I've been tying is this quilt.
I will probably go ahead and bind the quilt and live with it for a while. If I the ties continue to bother me I can replace them a little at a time. That's one of the benefits of tying vs quilting!
In the meantime I have also been playing around with the leftovers from my Hope Squared Project quilt.
This will very likely become a preemie quilt. I had toyed with the idea of making a Priority Quilt out of the fussy-cut house patch but I can use more of the leftover flannel bits in a preemie quilt. I doubt the 4Patches are going to stay on the right side of the top. I'm thinking I will take them apart or make others so that I can have a single row of squares going down both sides. The interior may simply get filled in with strips and pieces. I've got to get finished with this batch of fabrics and get started on the new quilt for DGD#2 so it will be ready for her at Christmas. With all the rain and gray skies we've had lately I need to play with the bright colors that are going into her quilt!
And now that I've got it done I'm not sure I like the dark ties. They sort of look like flies on the surface of the quilt to me.
There are so many different colors in this quilt that I had a hard time even deciding on the dark blue that I used. Now I'm wondering whether I'll have to take out half of the ties and replace them with something lighter in order to be happy with the final product. {sigh}
I will probably go ahead and bind the quilt and live with it for a while. If I the ties continue to bother me I can replace them a little at a time. That's one of the benefits of tying vs quilting!In the meantime I have also been playing around with the leftovers from my Hope Squared Project quilt.
This will very likely become a preemie quilt. I had toyed with the idea of making a Priority Quilt out of the fussy-cut house patch but I can use more of the leftover flannel bits in a preemie quilt. I doubt the 4Patches are going to stay on the right side of the top. I'm thinking I will take them apart or make others so that I can have a single row of squares going down both sides. The interior may simply get filled in with strips and pieces. I've got to get finished with this batch of fabrics and get started on the new quilt for DGD#2 so it will be ready for her at Christmas. With all the rain and gray skies we've had lately I need to play with the bright colors that are going into her quilt!Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Toxic Whine
I'm not feeling well at all this morning. I was fine most of yesterday. I washed some of the new fabrics that have come into the house recently. (Sorry I don't have the energy to photograph them for you.) Mostly I washed the flannels for receiving blankets and preemie quilts. There's still a pile of regular cottons waiting to be washed, and there's more on the way. Like I need more fabric! RealWomenQuilt is having a sale and I couldn't resist. That happens when I've been exposed. My resistance drops and I go on shopping binges. Well, maybe not binges exactly. I tend to be pretty frugal even when my resistance is down. Still, I don't need more fabric. I need to use what I have.
So it could have been the new fabrics that made me ill. Or it could be that my DH brought scent home with him from work yesterday and neither one of us picked up on it. On Sundays he has to change his clothes immediately upon his return from church to keep me from becoming ill. It's a real drag, let me tell you. (And now you know what decade I came of age in!)
These are the blocks I have left over from the quilt for the Hope Squared Project.
I'm thinking I may sew up a few more 4Patch blocks and make a preemie quilt out of them. One of the pieces waiting to be washed is a sock monkey print that could be really cute for the back.
Today is Election Day here in the States. Don't forget to go vote, or to mail in your ballot if that's the way it's done in your state. We vote by mail here now. I have to say I really miss going to the polls. But I guess in this day of H1N1 flu concerns it may be safer in the long run to vote by mail. {humph} I was planning to drop my ballot off at the courthouse because we live so close to it. Now I'm thinking I may just put a stamp on it and let the mail carrier take care of it for me. The trouble is that I have other errands I need to run too. I'm really not looking forward to going out and being exposed to additional toxins. And the longer I wait to go out the more crowded it will be, thus exposing me to more toxins than if I had gone out first thing. {sigh} Guess I'd better just get in the shower and get going...
So it could have been the new fabrics that made me ill. Or it could be that my DH brought scent home with him from work yesterday and neither one of us picked up on it. On Sundays he has to change his clothes immediately upon his return from church to keep me from becoming ill. It's a real drag, let me tell you. (And now you know what decade I came of age in!)
These are the blocks I have left over from the quilt for the Hope Squared Project.
I'm thinking I may sew up a few more 4Patch blocks and make a preemie quilt out of them. One of the pieces waiting to be washed is a sock monkey print that could be really cute for the back.
Today is Election Day here in the States. Don't forget to go vote, or to mail in your ballot if that's the way it's done in your state. We vote by mail here now. I have to say I really miss going to the polls. But I guess in this day of H1N1 flu concerns it may be safer in the long run to vote by mail. {humph} I was planning to drop my ballot off at the courthouse because we live so close to it. Now I'm thinking I may just put a stamp on it and let the mail carrier take care of it for me. The trouble is that I have other errands I need to run too. I'm really not looking forward to going out and being exposed to additional toxins. And the longer I wait to go out the more crowded it will be, thus exposing me to more toxins than if I had gone out first thing. {sigh} Guess I'd better just get in the shower and get going...
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Flannel Quilt
When last you saw my current project (on the kitchen floor) I had all the rows together and the top was nearly complete. I put an additional strip of flannel on each end to get the length I wanted. Then I went looking for backing fabric.
I didn't have to look far. In my closet I found two pieces of cotton I'd purchased in 1994 or 1995, intending to use them in a quilt for our own bed. That quilt never materialized (obviously!) and the fabrics were still there, waiting to be used. There wasn't enough yardage in either one of them to make the back out of just one of the prints so I combined them by splitting one in half and inserting the other up the middle. In the shot below you should be able to see the two different, yet similar, prints. (Sorry the picture is so dark. This was photographed in the living room where the light is very poor.)
And here's the top laid out on the backing, waiting to see whether I have a piece of batting in the house big enough to do the job...
Hurray! There was! This quilt is small enough that I was able to layer it up (backing, batting, pieced top) on the living room floor. Then my Dear Husband brought in an eight foot banquet table, set it up in front of the couch, and I tied the quilt with a deep red cotton floss while watching TV.
Yesterday I found an old red paisley print in my stash for the binding. Ta daa! A finished quilt before the first Trick-or-Treater rang the bell!
I was actually a little surprised that I got the binding sewn down so quickly. Perhaps more surprising is the fact that I made this quilt, start to finish, in about 10 days. I didn't think I had it in me to pull off such a stunt! Of course, I don't have a job outside the home or children under foot or anything like that to keep me from the sewing machine. Still, I believe I'm going to bask in the glow of a quilt that turned out well (in my eyes at least) for today and look for a box to ship it in tomorrow... and you know what? There are STILL flannel scraps left over!
I didn't have to look far. In my closet I found two pieces of cotton I'd purchased in 1994 or 1995, intending to use them in a quilt for our own bed. That quilt never materialized (obviously!) and the fabrics were still there, waiting to be used. There wasn't enough yardage in either one of them to make the back out of just one of the prints so I combined them by splitting one in half and inserting the other up the middle. In the shot below you should be able to see the two different, yet similar, prints. (Sorry the picture is so dark. This was photographed in the living room where the light is very poor.)
And here's the top laid out on the backing, waiting to see whether I have a piece of batting in the house big enough to do the job...
Hurray! There was! This quilt is small enough that I was able to layer it up (backing, batting, pieced top) on the living room floor. Then my Dear Husband brought in an eight foot banquet table, set it up in front of the couch, and I tied the quilt with a deep red cotton floss while watching TV.
Yesterday I found an old red paisley print in my stash for the binding. Ta daa! A finished quilt before the first Trick-or-Treater rang the bell!
I was actually a little surprised that I got the binding sewn down so quickly. Perhaps more surprising is the fact that I made this quilt, start to finish, in about 10 days. I didn't think I had it in me to pull off such a stunt! Of course, I don't have a job outside the home or children under foot or anything like that to keep me from the sewing machine. Still, I believe I'm going to bask in the glow of a quilt that turned out well (in my eyes at least) for today and look for a box to ship it in tomorrow... and you know what? There are STILL flannel scraps left over!
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