Fabric Diet Warning!

Warning!  Never go to a quilt show when you're on a "fabric diet!"   It's worse than going to Baskin Robbins when you are trying to lose some weight.



I really enjoyed seeing the quilts and taking all those pictures, and was actually feeling a little smug about not visiting the vendors booths.  Ahhhhh  haaa!  I can do this.......get out of here without breaking my "fabric diet".......sure!

Then one of our Tied Together Bee members, Connie,  asked me to come with her to a vendor's booth to see a new scrappy template idea to see if she should buy it.  She is totally into doing scrap quilts and using up her stash;  there are foundation string quilts all over her house, and she's even making Christmas fabric ones for 35 Christmas stockings for the Elk's Lodge Christmas party for kids.  She's had a drought of sewing/quilting here lately 'cause they have been laying ceramic tile throughout their house for a couple months now.  I think she's ready to get back to it.

Ok...so we go to that booth, and watch the demo for the scrappy template ruler thingie (I forgot the name of it) and this new gadget is perfect for what she likes to do.  "Get it" I tell her....and "buy the book too".   I walk away.

Well, mmmhh....maybe I'll just make a quick walk around and there will be  some variegated quilting thread on sale.   BIG MISTAKE!

Oh....no....is that 30's reproduction prints fat quarters on sale?   MY FAVORITES!  But, I'm on a 'fabric diet'....... "Walk away"...I tell myself.  But, my feet took me right over to them anyway.   "I'll just get a couple of them".   They were all arranged so pretty....by color.  They looked like a garden of flowers.   My 'buy fabric trance' took over!  That's what I'm doing....picking flowers.

By that time a couple  other Bee members had come over to that booth to see what I was doing.   "Look at these......on sale....and I'm on a 'fabric diet'.   "Just buy a couple of them......that's not too bad",  Marilyn said.   (She bought 3 yards of fabric at the same booth.)


What's a gal who's on a 'fabric diet' to do?  The "buy fabric trance" is in full force!

Buy 12, get 1 free........BUY A COUPLE?  ..........sure!

Here's the 1st four I chose.

Here's the 2nd 4.  Love the yellows.

Last 4..... that makes 12.

And here's the one I got for 'Free'.....red, naturally.

I blame Connie and Marilyn for this.....it's their fault, not mine!

Well.......back on the 'fabric diet' again.........until the next show......or the next time I need some quilting thread.



Thanks for visiting!

Texas Quilt Show

Some of the gals from our Tied Together Bee went to a Quilt Show in Kerrville, Tx this weekend.   We had a wonderful time seeing all the gorgeous quilts.  Here's some for you to drool over.........., but I'm warning you.....get a napkin to wipe the drool off your keyboard.  Naturally, the pictures don't do them justice!  Lots of variety.......

They are not in any particular order.....just took a few as I was walking up and down the aisles......wonderful show.  Of course, there were lots of quilts with a Texas flavor!

Need a break?  There's more to come.

Hope you enjoyed the show!

Thanks for visiting.

Easy Peasy Layering Quilt Sandwich Tutorial

For those of you who are following along with my recent posts, I finished my Batik table runner.  Not all of us have large quilting frames with professional quilting machines, so we still have to do it this way.    Here's a little picture tutorial of layering and preparing a quilt sandwich for quilting.  

I'm so glad that I have this big table in my dining room for doing such things, and the lighting is great in there too.  It does get super HOT in there late afternoons, and I need to get some pull down roll blinds to install behind the mini-blinds.  (put that on my 'to do' list)


1.  Press backing fabric and tape it down to table with masking tape

2.  Press batting (if necessary) and smooth over backing fabric.  (Notice that I pieced the backing by butting the edges together and used a large zig zag stitch.)

3.  Press quilt top first on back, then front side...spraying lightly with MaryEllen's Best Press Spray.  Smooth quilt top on top of batting.  (Notice the extra batting, backing extends beyond the size of the quilt top.)

4. After all 3 layers are smooth, fold back  1/2 of batting & top and spray backing fabric lightly.  I like to use Sulky's KK 2000 or Sullivan's basting spray.   Lift up and smooth 1/2 of the batting only... from center to outside edges with your hands.  If you get a wrinkle, lift and smooth again.  I do this first with just the batting.

5.  Then I spray the batting and lift 1/2 of the top and smooth out the top over that 1/2 of the sandwich.  Repeat the process for the other 1/2 of the quilt sandwich.

6.  I still like to use a few quilt safety pins with the Kwik clip tops also.

7.  Fold back edges of quilt sandwich to expose taped backing edges and remove tape.

8.  Roll quilt sandwich ...ready for quilting.

9.   Quilted, finished and ready to sell in my Etsy Shop.

Is this how you do your quilts?




Thanks for visiting and hope you enjoyed it.

Yesterday's results......and Today's too.

What DID I end up doing yesterday?   Yesterday?   What about today?

Woke up today feeling great until my eyes opened......then.......Wham! 

The dirty floors, cat hair and the dust bunnies came into focus and I just knew it had to be done.   I told all three cats......"This house is dirty and we need to spend some time cleaning it today".     They looked the other way....then told me in no uncertain words...... they wanted their breakfast.  NOW!    Ok..ok.  Let me fix my tea first.   We had quite a morning with me trying to get them to pick up their toys.

It's mid afternoon, already and I just finished cleaning!  Whew!  I think I must have vacuumed up a whole cat there was so much cat hair.  It's almost summer and it's my own fault for not brushing these furbabies more.    They love to "help" me when I'm working on my blog too.

Well.......what about yesterday?    Oh yeah,   YESTERDAY.......




Wanna see?

Every once in a while I just got to  do it!

  

Yes!  Just had to clean off the top of my cutting table before I could even think about doing something else.  It helps me see more clearly........(remember about my eyes focusing up above?)

I Still had a lot of  fun, though........cutting with my GO cutter.

I still want to cut some more fun appliques, as I'm going to be offering more of them for sale in my Etsy Shop..........but not today.

This afternoon, I'm going to...........

layer and quilt this batik table runner.  Remember?  It was one of my choices from yesterday.

Thanks for visiting.

Your Mission for today is............

What do I work on today???   Your mission for today is.......help me decide. 

1.  It's soooo much fun cutting with my GO! 



2.  Here's 3 small mini quilt tops that could be quilted.

3.  I could start putting my Sudoku quilt blocks together with the red sashing.

4.  This batik table runner needs to be layered & quilted to list it in my Etsy Shop.

5.  Now that my BIG table is finished and clean, I could lay out, sandwich, baste and quilt this Dr. Seuss Cat in The Hat quilt top.

6.  Clean up the messes at the end of my cutting table?  I love to make messes!

Ok....leave a comment with your number for what I should do  today.

I'll let you know what I ended up doing on tomorrow's post.

Thanks for visiting.

More Excuses!

Are you getting tired of my excuses  for not posting more often?  Jeez!  I'm even getting tired of them.  It's been six days since my last post....what's up with that?

A picture is worth a thousand words..........

Before



 

During

5 days
of
New floor installation!

Washer Dryer from laundry room

This is my newly painted table?  

Pantry door against piano, cinder blocks in living room

Other supplies stored in living room...yikes!

Laundry room floor in process

Newly painted chairs stored in hallway.

Miter saw used in house 'cause it was raining after 5 months of no rain..lol  Notice the nylon panty hose foot on the sawdust exhaust.

And........finally,  the after pictures......ta da.....

drum roll please..............

Entrance into kitchen

Pantry with door in place, new baseboard installed, 3 lower walls painted.

Laundry room finished, new baseboard installed, back door repaired, new weather seal, new caulking

Dining room -  newly painted (again)  table & chairs, new baseboard installed.

New Garbage disposer too!

Mike...the man who did it all, and is now my new handyman. 
I've got another "want to do, need to fix" list already started for him.

Now maybe I can get back to cutting, sewing, and quilting for my Etsy Shop. 

Was this good enough excuses for not posting everyday?

Thanks for visiting.