thrift store find

First of all, an update on my travel work...
I did get square one totally done,
Having embroidered the black of the eye.

I have also completed square two...
and begun square three.

Both from the "My whimsical Garden"
Piece-O-Cake designs...

They are supposed to be pretty scrappy looking

when completed...
not all matchy-matchy in the prints...

At home my stack of things to do has been
piling up....
I have a bunch of things from my sister-in-law

shirts and pants to hem up...

It's what I get for letting the family know I can sew...

Ha ha ha ha ha...

I really don't mind most of the time...

I also accepted a request from my next door neighbor

to help her with a quilt she doesn't want to look at anymore...

She started taking some quilting classes...

I've helped her with a few of her questions before.

But she signed up for a mystery quilt class...

and she got most of the top done,

but not the borders...

She likes doing the hand quilting not the piecing.

She has requested that I help her finish the top...

And she will do the quilting and maybe the binding.

I also took the room apart again to get a bed set up for my daughter...

She's been serving a mission for the LDS church,

and will be returning in September...

too late to return to university

so she'll be staying here until January when the next semester

starts.

now,

as the tittle indicated

I have been to the thrift store...

actually I go quite often.

you never know what you'll find there.

but

recently I found a quilt top

that I just had to rescue and bring home...

it's approx. 62" square.

and some of the fabrics I think I actually have

in my stash...

Mostly from the 80's and 90's...

I think someone went to a lot

of trouble to sew a bunch of fabrics together

random shapes and colors...

then cut them out into the diamond shapes,

trimmed the diamond shapes with the red...

I think there may be a little bit of a problem

in the shapes not laying quite flat...

but I think with ironing and a lot of quilting it will be alright.

I'm excited to finish it...

I don't know who to give credit for the top piecing.

but

I feel good about rescuing it.

And

it was only 3$.

sooooooooooooo...

my pile of things to get done seems to be getting larger,

not smaller.

to do-

-hemming

-neighbors quilt

-thrift store quilt

-my travel project (My Whimsical Garden)

plus not mentioned today

-fix that shirt I made

-make a quilt for my nephew's wedding

-several other unfinished quilts

including my own mystery quilt

and I purchased a book a few months ago

which I really want to do...

"The Farmer's Wife"

which I have started gathering fabric for...

I also want to have it scrappy looking.

I have decided that I want to use

those reproduction fabrics

that look like they came from flour sacks

in the 30's and 40's.

I don't think I'll ever be caught up,

with projects...

there'll always be new ones on the back burner.

Musings from Utah

Lots of things on my mind today...
As you can see by the tittle I'm over here in Utah again.
I've been spending my time getting caught up on some podcasts I subscribe to.
Though I have a long way to go...
maybe I subscribe to too many?
Nawwwwwww.
I just need to keep still and listen;
it's the one complaint I have with my IPOD,
it will play continously through the song list,
but not the podcasts.
I have to tell it to start them each individually.
So I can't really listen to them while I drive,
can't take the time to change from the finished one to the next.
Apple and ITUNEs listen up...
We need to be able to play the podcsts on a continuous loop.
OK,
enough of that.
I have also discovered through the podcasts,
that I missed a whole lot of stuff going on here in Utah.
Annie Smith was here as were several others from the quilting community...
Oh well.
There is a quilt show going on out here in Eagle Mountain
in conjunction with the pioneer days celebrations going on this week.
I've been meaning to look up on the internet other events
in the Salt Lake City area
as well as here in the Utah county just south of Salt Lake City.
I came down here to spend some time with hubby...
He gave me tickets to the 360 tour with The Fray and U2.
That was a lot of fun.
I must admit that I'm a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll.
Actually more on the rock and roll side.
Loved U2...
The Fray aren't too bad either.

I did finish the first applique block
in my current traveling quilt project.
Actually, I do still need to embroider the center of the eye on the bird.
(pictured below)

It's from the pattern "My Whimsical Quilt Garden" by Becky Goldsmith & Linda Jenkins.
From Piece O' Cake designs.
Not the first quilt pattern I've purchased,
but,
The first one I've actually started working on.
It's the whole road thing.
I did buy it here in Utah. (Broadbent's in Lehi)
While I was at home in Idaho,
I also finished a shirt
(pictured below)
One of the projects I had on my New Years resolution list of unfinished things to do.
I had promised I'd finish 6 things this year.
This now makes 2 items I can check off.
It is from a Butterick Pattern (B5538).
Which was a multi sized pattern,
and was supposed to be easy to adjust to fit.
I did the 3/4 length sleeve for more versatility,
I think it turned out pretty cute.
But...................................................
It has reminded me of why I don't like to do fashion sewing anymore.
Maybe I didn't follow the instructions closely enough,
but the shirt doesn't fit me right.
It will need some altering before I will be comfortable wearing it.
The sleeves are too tight around the upper arms.
and too loose and baggy around the bust under arm area.
I need to take the side seam in and let out the arm seam.
So I won't be able to wear it until those alterations are made.

Anyway,
While I was listening to the podcasts...
Annie Smith (Quilting Stash) in particular.
I was thinking about my own sewing experiences.
I'm referring to podcasts number 200 & 201.
In 200 she talked about her grandmother's and learning to sew,
and in 201 she was talking to Jenny Wilding Cardin (sp?)
about repurposing used things by sewing them into new things.
I don't know if my grandmother's sewed.
I'm sorry that I don't know more about them than I do.
I lived close to one, but not the other.
The one close by did beautiful crochet work,
don't know what the other one did.
I'm going to have to ask my mom about her.
I''ve often been a little bitter about the one who did the crochet work.
I did not ever get anything hand made from her,
there's a wall hanging in her church of "The Last Supper"
that she had crocheted.
My brother's ex-wife somehow got all of her crocheted items from the house
when she passed away.
They have all vanished from the face of the earth.
No one knows where they've gone.
This is what I'm a little upset about.
I would have cherished the items...
Now they're lost to the family.

I learned to sew from my mother,
I remember learning how to make doll clothes.
I also learned from her to keep all of the scraps of fabric from any project
to use someday in a quilt (or doll clothes, ha ha ha)
I did take sewing in school,
I did a lot of fashion sewing for myself as I grew up.
I made my own wedding dress.
Then the kids came along (6 of them)
and I did a lot of sewing for them.
I took a class when the first 2 were babies,
and the instructor showed us how to use old clothing and things
to remake into clothes for the small children.
(Annies podcast #201 -reminded me of that)
I had a lot of fun doing that.
A friend saw some of the things I had made,
and shipped me a big box full of old clothes they didn't use anymore.
Some of the things I sent on to the thrift store
I just couldn't see making clothes for little boys
out of dry clean only stuff.
But other than that I had well dressed boys.

I did make a few quilts when they were babies,
but they were the whole cloth kind that you lay out and tie with yarn.
There came a time several years ago,
can't tell you the exact date...
When sewing wasn't fun anymore.
It wasn't pushing any of my creative buttons.
I found quilting shows on TV,
and quilting magazines in the stores...
I took a quilting class.
And I discovered that I could fill that creative itch in me.
I've been quilting ever since.
One more thing I want to mention here...
From the time I was a small child.
I wanted to be an artist...
I took art classes all through school,
including a few in College...
I came to the conclusion that I would never be any good at art.
I am not good enough nor driven enough to be any good...
But I believe I've found a place in quilting
to pour out all my creativity
and claim the tittle of Artist.
Even if my family and friends are the only ones who ever see it.

Quilted Calendar Holder

Well,
the time just keeps moving on
doesn't it?
I don't know where it all goes.
Sometimes it surprizes me
that so much has passed.
I had not gotten much quilting done for a while,
but recently I was able to finish a couple of things.
I have finished the calendar holder...
whoopee!!
I use a tension rod
to hold it up between two door frames in my kitchen.
the calendar holder has added
a nice quilted touch to the kitchen.
I know that I've mentioned the
plan to have a different square for the 4 seasons.
the first is of course the spring season
with my humingbird square.
Also the inspiration for the entire project.
I have now finished the 2nd season
summer...
I did a lot of thinking about what summer means to me.
I could have done a simple picnic type thing...
you know
the watermellon, the kite flying, the running in the sprinklers.
Any of those would have looked summery.
But my most favorite memories of summers,
were the family camp outs in the mountains.
So I did a simple sketch of a tent in the woods.
You have to have a camp fire in the camp.
My grandson thought I needed to have water nearby
for fishing of course.
My granddaughter thought there should
be snow on the mountain tops.
And
we all thought
(grandson, granddaughter, and me)
that it needed to be night time under the stars.
I found this great tie dyed purple that
I thought looked like snowy mountain peaks in the dark.
the trees close by needed to be a little brighter in the firelight,
as did the front of the tent.
and there needed to be a reflection of the moon
on the calm lake in the background.
I used the same silver thread that I
used for the braces on the girl,
to make the french knot stars in the sky.
They sparkle just a little...
I used the sketch as an idea only,
and free cut the mountains
to fit the dyed purple fabric.
And did the same with the trees
and the flames in the fire.
which was another piece of tie died fabric I found in my scrap box.
The moon was done using a penny,
and a slip stitch drawing the fabric taut around it.
I pressed it well,
then clips the thread to remove the penny.
then I pressed it again.
The penny was a little thick for this proccess
-so it the moon is not exactly round,
that's my excuse
and I'm sticking to it.
I am quite pleased over all with how it turned out.
My granddaughter is already
planning out the next two squares
for autumn and winter.
I decided to sew three buttons across the top
of the calendar holder...
and 3 pieces of ribbon sewn into the binding
across the top of the square to hook over the three buttons.

Everything but quilting in Canada

Sorry to all,

I've been up at my house in Canada.

(The photo by the way- is baker street in Nelson, BC...)

I haven't done any quilting...

I did bring my applique project to work on.

But I've been spending my time

with friends,

and just chilaxing.

I did buy a ball of really yummy yarn

at the local shop here.

("That Craft Store")

The brand is NORO,

from Japan.

It's

50% Wool

30% Angora

20% Silk

color no 73 lot A

It is a multi color yarn

with pinks, greys, blues, & greens.

I only bought one skein because of the cost.

I decided it needed to be a hat.

(I'm going to have to start wearing hats)

I'm actually working out my own pattern.

Not the first one I've tried doing,

I have a pair of slippers I need to finish...

I wanted it to be as little bit slouchy,

but I didn't want it too big.

I have gotten about 1/2 way done with it.

I'll put up my pattern and a photo once it is done.

Also...

I have been wanting some new shirts/tops,

and I just cannot find stuff I like that fits me right.

So

I broke down and bought some patterns

and

I'm doing some fashion sewing.

I have that about 1/2 way done as well.

Again,

I'll post photo and pattern information

when that is done as well.

One of the things I do with friends here in Nelson,

is scrap booking.

They get together on the 3rd thursday of each month

and visit,

scrapbook,

share supplies.

Laugh,

catch up,

eat, etc.

I join them whenever I can be here on the right week.

Right now I'm working on my

scrapbook journal from my 2 years living in Italy.

Soooooooooooooooooo

like I said;

No quilting,

but other craft activities going on here in Canada.

no quilting this week

just thought I'd put in an update on my activities...

of which there haven't really been any.

I caught a cold when I got back from Utah.

Then I had some Church obligations,

and then I had other errands such as

picking up my new eye glasses.

The one fun thing I did do,

was go and watch the pine wood derby.

The local scouting group invited the girl scout group to participate

in the pinewood derby activity this year.

I don't know if they do this every year or not...

My grand-daughter who is a brownie,

got to create a car and race it.

She didn't win any races,

came close a couple of times.

But her car won 3 awards for the design.

She wins prizes quite often for her artistic endeavers.

no quilts this week,

but the pinewood derby was fun.

I included a picture of her here with her car.

Utah trip

Well, in my last blog, I'd said I was on the road again... In Utah to be precise. Since I didn't have much new to write about, I thought I'd talk about our trip into Salt Lake City on Sunday the 27th. My husband and I decided to go in and see the Church History Museum there across from Temple Square in SLC. The Church keeps these types of places open on Sunday's... They consider it to be a type of missionary work. In the museum there was a quilt exhibit.

(I did have permission to take some photo's)

Silly things didn't load up here in the order I'd intended.

They're actually backwards. But oh well.

I'll describe the quilts in the order they are now.

I thought I'd share two of the quilts I found very interesting.

The first one here and the close up

was actually made in an insane assylum.

The doctor thought it would give the patients something to occupy their minds and their time.

The little diamond shapes are only about two inches long and about 1 inch wide. Very small.

The second one and the close up,

is a single large piece of fabric, with clothing labels arranged and sewn down on it.

I thought it was very cool.

An interesting recycling project.

Not only labels from the clothing lines, but also labels including the sizes like Med.

and I think also the care and content of the fabric used in construction.

I don't know where they got the long roll of labeling stuff, but one of the borders is uncut

labels from a clothing line also.

I thought they were both interesting quilts.

I thought the ideas behind them were inovative and fun.

The one from the assylum,

(where I think I belong sometimes)

and the ultimate recycling quilt.

There were many others,

but I thought these were the most unusual.

This coming week,

when I have time...

I plan to finish the calandar wall hanging,

and hopefully I can share that next time.

I have the wall hanging part done.

I need to finish the decorative panel,

and figure out how I'm going to attach it.

I'm thinking buttons on the wall hanging part

with ribons along the top of the decorative block

to fasten it to the buttons.

I also need to finish the quilt from the

mystery quilt day I was able to attend a few weeks ago.

We'll see what the week brings.

this and that

Well,

as I'm out on the road again...
I may seem a bit flittery.

(I think I made up that word.)

I just hope it's not too odd.

I'm over in Utah,

and I did stop in at Broadbent's again.

Over in Lehi,

It's right between the place we stay

(Eagle Mountain- br0-in-laws house)

and my husbands place of employment

located in Lehi -over next door to Alpine.

I'll not name his employer

as I don't want to seem like I'm advertising for them.

I brought my travel project,

I'd pictured it before...

it's the applique project

using the pattern "my whimsical quilt garden"

by Becky Goldsmith & Linda Jenkins

I'm pleased to say that I'm a lot further along now.

I had stopped in at Broadbent's to pick up some fabric for the sashing,

and a few fat quarters to use for the applique's.

It's supposed to be scrappy looking.

Meaning that there are different combinations in each of the applique squares.

That was all I bought.

I am trying to not over buy right now.

I have a new photo of the square I'm working on,

and as the applique spills over into the sashing

I have also added the sashing piece to the one side.

(The photo has been added to the text part of the Blog -at the top of the page)

So you can see the fabric I purchased at Broadbent's.

I am laughing now,

I didn't want to mention my husbands employer...

But I've named the quilt shop several times.

They are not paying me.

I promise.

Anyhow,
The bird (which will be blue) is the part that will spill into the border.
Haven't quite gotten to that yet.

Another thing I thought of this week that I wanted to mention.
Is a quilt I made for a Christmas gift.
The one just past (Dec 2010).
I don't know why I'd forgotten to post a photo of it.

Last summer when I gave my grandson a quilt for his 2nd birthday...
My middle son, asked sort of jokingly
Why he never got a quilt from me.
I'd actually set aside some fabrics to make him one.
His favorite colors are red and black...
I'd purchased a few fabrics...
I'd raided my stash for other fabrics.
I had even started it before he'd asked me that question.
Any how,
Some of the fabrics had Canadian motif's on it.
Fabric's I'd purchased up north.
(We have a home in British Columbia as well as Idaho)
I'm afraid that his brothers-and his dad,
were a bit envious of the final product.
I had not intended the quilt to have a Canadian flair.
It just happened.

My husband is Canadian,
he's here with a permanent residency card.
Our kids are all blessed with dual citizenship.
I am an American with a Canadian residency card.

Anyhow,
his quilt has been added to the left hand photo column.
I will try to keep the works in progress within the text,
and the finished projects in the left hand margins.