Quilt Fever, New Books

We had a lovely day - picking up Quilting at the Cottage and then heading out to Sew Sisters and after that Quilt Fever in Etobicoke.

Not only did I pick up Liberated Quiltmaking II, but also this lovely book: Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts. There are some amazing quilts in here, and I've decided I want to make one of them.

So - I have a question for all you quilters out there - what is shirting? I know it's supposed to be fabric used to make shirts, but that's too simple. How would I recognize it in my stash, or anywhere else for that matter?

As for Quilt Fever - I forgot my camera, but Quilting at the Cottage brought hers - so I expect to see some more pretty pictures on her blog soon. I managed to restrain myself in the Merchants' Mall - only bought two scrap bags, and some thread. (Well, maybe a lot of thread. LOL)

Road Trip

The weekend is almost here, and I'm looking forward to a road trip tomorrow!

We start off with a trip to my favourite quilt shop, Sew Sisters, to pick up my copy of Liberated Quiltmaking II.

And then we're off to the Etobicoke Quilters Guild's quilt show, Quilt Fever 2010. Perhaps we'll see some of you there!

A Win

This cute fabric and lovely card were the result of a contest on Scott Hansen's blog, Blue Nickel Studios. He had a caption contest, which can be found here. He liked my suggestion, so I won one of the two second prizes.

Aren't these great fabrics? Now to think of the perfect project for them. Hmmmm.....

Speaking of projects - I'm now looking for my next one. I've finished a small quilt top for donation to an animal shelter (after sandwiching, quilting, etc.) but I want to try something different now. I've got some lovely scrappy patterns in mind, and I've started pulling some fabric for one of them. I'll keep you posted.

Cats and Books

This is one of the reasons we sometimes run out of shelf space for our books.

Batiks

Here's the other fabric I purchased yesterday.

It's two sets of 2-1/2" batik strips - Bali Pops from Hoffman Fabrics. There are 40 strips in a package - 2-1/2" x 44". The darker set is called Kiwiberry, and the lighter set is Berry Bliss.

I'm thinking a batik log cabin. :-)

National Quilting Day

It's National Quilting Day (in the US, anyway) - so I felt it only appropriate to celebrate here in Canada by going to an LQS.

If I told you this followed me home, would you believe me?

This will join my probably very large stash of music fabric. Some of it will be used in a scrappy Irish Chain that's currently a UFO/WIP. And the rest - well - we'll see what inspiration hits.

By the way, these were only 4 of the 10 or so possible choices on the shelf. Apparently it only came in recently - and I finished the bolt on the gray/white fabric.

I'll show more of my purchases tomorrow.

Friday WIP

Today's photo is some of the small pieces I sewed yesterday, and a scrap of fabric which has since been cut into 3-1/2" squares to alternate between the small 4 patches.

I probably have thousands of these 2" squares. Once upon a time I thought of making a postage stamp quilt, but my accuracy right now just isn't up to that. On the other hand, if I keep practicing, it should improve - right? I have no idea where the scrap came from. I have a friend who picks up fabric for me at yard sales, etc, and it may have come from her. Or it may have been from any one of a number of scrap bags I've picked up from various quilt stores.

Have I mentioned I'm addicted to scraps?

Victorian Pin Cushion

As promised in an earlier post, here is a picture of the Victorian Pin Cushion that I purchased at the world's cleanest antique store.

If you look closely at the pegs on the bottom, you will see that the one just to the left of centre is slightly larger around, and a different shape from the others. I'm guessing it's the spot for your thimble.

And after the little pushes that I received from friends in my last post, I went into my sewing room and did a little sewing today. Thank you to all for your suggestions - I'll do my best. :-)

In a Slump

I'm in a sewing slump these days. I'm caught between my old, very small sewing room, and my much larger, still mostly unorganized sewing room. Everything is sort of betwixt and between, and as a result, I've been doing nothing much of anything lately.

So why am I blogging about it? Well, because I started out as a blogger with great intentions, and I'd like to continue. But I need a little push.

So, I'm asking for suggestions. I'm going to try to write a little bit every day. If you have a suggestion of something for me to blog about, please leave me a comment. If there are no suggestions, I'll try to have a quilty picture of some sort (preferably something in progress), with some commentary. I'm hoping that a kick start here will translate to a quick start in my sewing again. And I so very much want to get back to my quilting machine...

The Lake Grill

This isn't a quilty post. On the other hand, since food is necessary to keep us quilting, perhaps it is. LOL

We found (as in - were recommended to) a new favourite restaurant in our area. It's The Lake Grill (www.thelakegrill.com). The food was absolutely amazing, and they serve brunch on the weekends. If you get a chance, I highly recommend a visit!

One tiny note - the site is best viewed in IE - it just doesn't work in Firefox.

Toy Sewing Machine

This is the second of the toy machines I purchased. It does work - sewing a very loose chain stitch (there is no bobbin). I've no idea whether this can be adjusted. But it *is* cute!