Sewing In My Jammy Pants…The BEST!

Friday I went down to the boat, intending on being productive. Well, that was just not to be. It was cold & looked like rain. I hosed down the decks & the cockpit, and then went down below, put on my Jammy Pants & vegged with a book. Dinner & some TV &  a read in bed was it for the night.

Hawaiian Floral Quilt

Saturday dawned cold & windy, so still in those snuggy fleece Jammy Pants, I spent the day working on this summery, Hawaiian flowered quilt.

Jammy Pants

I have just one more row to do for the main squares (ran short of the dark green). Then I’ll figure how to border it, perhaps increasing the length somewhat.

As you can see, my little mates were not big on active helping either…snoozing was  pretty much it for them.

Bos'n Lucy

1st Mate Molly

That’s about it for now…Happy Sewing!

Yep..Recycling Is The ‘IN’ Thing

Our mothers and grandmothers always looked for ways to recycle. It wasn’t that it was an ‘in’ thing…it was just a way of life…’making ends meet’.

Recycling

‘Making do’.  We’ve become such a disposable society here that for a good long while, no one thought much of recycling. Then a number of years ago, folks decided that the landfills were getting filled up. And the oceans are being ruined with non biodegradable  products.  So recycling has once again started to become a way of life for many. 

Now, when George brought down a shirt that he decided he no longer wanted, my 1st response was to put it in a bag to donate. Yes, that’s a good thing to do, but then I thought. I’d had in the back of my mind to pick up some very inexpensive fabric that I could use for the backing squares for a string quilt and/or a crazy quilt (I’ve been accumulating selvage strips & lots of small pieces). Then I thought…heh, his off-white broadcloth shirt would cut up NICE for backing squares!! So, off it went to the sewing room & was quickly cut up into 8″ squares.  I appease myself for not donating it by the fact that it WAS fairly worn and there may have been a stain or 2 on it.

At any rate, I now have my backing squares at no cost. Gramma knew best…make do.

A New GiveAway!!!

Lana, over at at ‘It Seams To Be Sew’ is having a giveaway for a

HONEY BUN

 from Blackbird Designs

called

BEACH HOUSE

for Moda…

 

The drawing

is

Monday,
September 27th!!! 

you can enter here:

http://itseamstobesew.blogspot.com/search/label/giveaway

Organizing My Stash

I have come to the conclusion that clear bins are NOT the way to store your stash. You have to unstack them off the shelves, open them, remove the contents, REPEAT for all bins, to go thru what you have, what might look good together, etc.  in order to utilize what you have. It’s just easier to go out & buy more!!!   

I’ve seen people neatly fold their fabric on shelves, but I know myself & will end up with a disheveled mess.  I’ve seen the Fabric Organizers that several companies offer. But I’m just a bit too frugal to pay for rectangular pieces of plastic or paper board. 

So I’ve been cutting cardboard squares approx 5″x6-1/2″. 

cardboard For Fabric Organizer

 

I then fold the fabric, slide a piece of cardboard into it, fold the fabric around it, and pin it in the corner … rubber bands stretch or get brittle so I decided on a straight pin. 

Making A Mini-Bolt 1

Making A Mini-Bolt 2

Making A Mini-Bolt 3

Making A Mini-Bolt 4

I have a bunch of cardboard bins from the warehouse  to stand the fabric mini-bolts up in on shelves in my closet. (I have a REAL small room..approx 7’x11′) 

Mini-Bolts In Cardboard Bins

So now I can see at a glance what I have…what a nice feeling it is to see it all at once. I’ve gotten 7 bins done, and am almost finished…maybe only 1 or 2 more bins to go.  These are useful for sizes from a fat quarter up to about a yard. The multiple yard fabrics will just have to stay folded in plastic  bins, but I don’t have too many of those. 

Dessert Course

Do you see this ungodly combination of foods?  From top right, going clockwise: 

• Chocolate ice cream, peach ice cream, garnished with pineapple chunks
• Watermelon
• Banana pudding
• Mussels
• Crablegs

This was my dear George’s final course at the Chinese Buffet we ate at last night! It was just so wrong…I HAD to post a pic. 

But he DID get an absolutely great fortune in his fortune cookie: 

Life is not a problem to be solved, but rather a mystery to be lived.

I think this may just be my new personal anthem! It’s a pretty good way to look at life, I think!

Quicky Quilt Donation

Lime Blue Red Patchwork Quilt

The last week before Labor Day weekend I had an idea to make a quilt to donate to our Boat Club to raffle off. Our club was holding a Gyro & Snow Cone sale. And our locale is adjacent to a great little park on the shores of Lake Erie, from which many come to watch the Air Show. 

So I cobbled together a small (46″x48″) quilt from my stash & had it done for the event. I did the cutting & sewing the top on the boat with my Singer Genie and took it home to put together & quilt on my Brother 4500D.

Quilt Back

I hand embroidered on the front corner a little.

Whiskey Island Boat Club 2010

Everyone was pleased with my donation & one of our marina neighbors won the quilt. 

I wasn’t able to get many (or ANY) good pics from the air show. But here’s one of the Blue Angels passing in front of our marina. 

Cleveland Air Show 2010 Whisky Island

So summer is pretty  much officially over for us here in Cleveland. And it’ll be time to close up the boat in the next month or so.  But at least that’ll mean I have more sewing time available!! Life’s always a trade-off!

Fat Quarter Give-Away!!

 

This is a VERY nice giveaway from Jaybird Quilts:

 sponsored giveaway: featuring The Fat Quarter Shop

It’s for a fat quarter bundle of the entire collection of Pure by Sweetwater! That’s 37 fat quarters!!!  How awesome is THAT!!!  Hurry over…deadline is Thursday nite!

Fun With 4 Patch

Saturday, after I got done hosing down the deck on S/V Outrageous & doing ‘bug spot removal’ with bleach in the cockpit, I decided to sew up the 2″ squares I’d purchased recently. I paired them with a small dark blue & just started cutting & sewing.

You’ll notice, I’m sure, that this is not what one might call a big cutting surface. Ergo…itty bitty stuff. Any major cutting I have to do at home & bring along with to sew here. When we finally move aboard, I’ll have larger, but for now, this is fine. I’m here for weekends & usually sew a few hours if it’s rainy or too hot & humid or I just want a quiet moment. So there’s no need for a full set of equipment.

I sew at the salon table, and normally iron on the bed in our cabin.  Flat space & electric outlets are not in abundance.

But since I’d have SOOO many things to iron, I moved my boards out into the galley & ironed there. Lucy is usually on the settee next to me, while Molly prefers to lie on the floor near my feet.

My Cute Little Iron

I love my little iron…it really heats up well. I iron dry & use a spray bottle…I steam my fingers WAY too often. At this point, since it’s such a casual summer situation, I’m using a towel covered wooden board for my ‘ironing board’ & use it’s mate as a flat surface to rest my iron & water bottle upon. (They’re actually sink covers, used to extend my kitchen counter by covering the 2 small sinks in the galley.) When this life becomes a reality, I’ll have a proper cutting surface & ironing board.

This is on the counter in the galley…on top of the top loading refrigerator.  This model also has a door in the front, so you can use the frig and the counter at the same time.

Not real sure what to do with these..saw where someone had used small pateches for a circular center of a quilt…I’m thinkin’ maybe…..we’ll see.

It was just so humid here this weekend. Mid 80’s for both the temp & the humidity index, I do believe. And not near enough wind to go sailing. So we were marina bound. BUT…there was a ‘Toga Party’ hosted by our boat club. No, I didn’t wear a toga. But I DID win the 50/50 raffle…$84!!

BLACK & WHITE & FUSHIA DONE

Black & White & Fushia

Back

 I finally got my 1st quilt with my new machine done. It was meant to try out all the many decorative stitches on the machine. It was a lot of fun, but not knowing exactly what I was doing, it certainly didn’t turn out like I’d hoped! Actually, I really hate the back.  I certainly didn’t think it thru properly. But what’s done is done, and I learned a lot on it. (Think I’ll give it to my Sissy…she’ll appreciate it, just becuz I made it.)

I remember the 1st watercolors I painted….It took me years to get past that “beginner’s look”. You have to do something a lot of times before you become proficient.  So even though I’m an advanced seamstress, quilting is just  a whole new ballgame. Back to being a beginner!!!

But all you wonderful quilters out there inspire me…your creative designs & color choices, your talent & techniques that you share on your blogs…I’ll get there eventually!!

TAG SURFING IS ADDICTIVE!!

I Love Surfing....The Web!!

I love reading other Crafty Quilting blogs! Not only do I Tag Surf on my home site, WordPress, but I have just discovered that there are ‘Blog Directories’ , from which you have the big wide world of the internet at your fingertips to find concentrations of your favorite topic with just a few taps of the keyboard! I’ve included several buttons on the lower right section of my page for places you can go to see lots of other blogs. These are not subscription, but are free. I’ve added MY blog to their directories as well.

There’s lots of directories requiring paid subscriptions. For the person blogging to promote their products/service, this would perhaps be a good investment. But for those of us blogging to show off our ‘stuff’ & ideas as a kind of personal outlet, there’s no incentive to pay for ‘blog traffic’ But it IS fun to use to find more kindred spirits & see who’s doing what!

We all would like our ‘moment in the sun’…and the blog allows everyone the potential for just that. I know that many quilters enjoy some notoriety in ‘blogland’. These folk have worked very hard on their craft, and have worked on their blogging as well. These are the people you will find in my LONG list on the right. Some of them have selling venues of one sort or another. Whether it be an Etsy Shop, website, retail store or home based custom business, they’ve included a blog from which they can extend their love of quilting in yet one more direction. 

You find tons of tutorials on the internet. In all shapes & sizes & degrees of proficiency. Some folks have Youtube videos imbedded in their blog, others make PDF documents, others photo & write tutorials as posts. That’s another thing about crafters. Sharing what you do. In the past, craft would pass from one to another locally…at a quilting bee, in church basements, living rooms, craft stores. In this post-modern era we are more and more insular. I see many bloggers have virtual quilting bee’s, shop hops, get-togethers. We still basically just want to reach out to others.

It’s also very ego boosting when your site gets hits, or someone leaves a comment. And that ego boost in itself is tempting. How many hits did you have today? Did anyone leave a comment on my latest post? Guess it all boils down to…we just want to be loved and appreciated. Same ancient desire, just a new century.

MODA LUNA NOTTE CHARM PACKS..MINE!!

Moda Luna Notte

Recieved 4 Charm Packs of this pretty Moda Luna Notte in today’s mail from emeraldcityfabricandcraft…another eBay seller that I want to recommend. You can find her at:

http://stores.ebay.com/Emerald-City-Fabric-and-Craft

I love the soft quiet look of this group of colors…I just want to cuddle up underneath it!!