Saturday, March 28, 2009

Shop Hop

The Greater Atlanta Shop Hop is going on. I just did get my new purse made in time. I didn't want to carry my big bulky old one. I'm tired of it anyway. That is another one off my to-do list.

This purse was awkward to make because it has timtex in it. That's what the pattern called for, and I just happened to have some left over from making fabric bowls and take out boxes a few years ago. I call it "the purse from hell", that's how bad it was for me to make. I like the purse now that it is done, but I won't use timtex again, if I make another one. It is a "Pat-e-Pattern" called "Got Pockets?"




We left out around 5:30a.m. on Friday to go shop hopping. We stopped for breakfast and arrived at the first shop a few minutes before they opened at 9:00. Our first stop was Heritage Quilts and Fabrics in Newnan. I bought the pattern "Just Can't Cut it and a couple of Kaffe Fassett FQ's. Then we went to Quilts and Fixins and A Scarlet Thread, where I got more FQ's and found the purse pattern I wanted, called "Bow Tucks". Then we went to Patrick's where I bought fudge instead of fabric, and Sweet Home Quilt Co. I was doing good about not buying much, until we hit Intown Quilters. They had Kaffe Fassett fabric in their sale section. That was my down falling! I found this really cute pattern I liked, "drama queen" by Thimble Blossoms. So after I got the sale fabric, I finished picking out fabrics for the quilt in the regular priced fabric. I think Intown Quilters is my favorite quilt shop. They have the best selection of Kaffe Fassett, Amy Butler and Michael Miller fabrics. I just wish it weren't so far away. I knew I'd kick myself if I didn't get what I wanted while I was there. The traffic was heavy on the way back north to Marietta, so didn't get to do the last 3 shops. Well Jean and Dell cheated and went to Red Hen and Little Quilts on Thursday on their lunch break, so they were only short one shop. We decided to go to a Mexican Restaurant for supper and then head on home. Sandra and I went to Marietta this morning and went to Tiny Stitches, Little Quilts and Red Hen. It rained on us the entire shop hop.


This was taken outside Quilts and Fixins in Jonesboro. Jean and Sandra are checking out there "goodie bags" in front of the store.



This is Sweet Home Quilt Co. in Conyers. I like that it is in an old house. It is a nice shop.



This is their shop hop quilt. It was hanging so nicely when we arrived. By the time I decided to take a picture, it had started coming down. At least I can see what fabric they used as backing.

Here are the four of us on the front porch. I can either smile or have my eyes open. I couldn't seem to do both at the same time. I had a wonderful time and am ready to go again next year.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Quilt Show

Monday Sandra and I went to the library in Rome to the quilts. The Lavender Mountain Quilt Guild has a show at the library every year. It is not big, but we enjoy going and seeing the quilts. We usually eat lunch out and then go to Hancock Fabrics.






Here are the pictures I took of the quilts.

The library is round? The center is two stories and the quilts are hung from the railings. A few are hung on the walls on the upper level.

I liked this little wild life wall hanging.


I got a kick out of this one.

This Cathedral Windows quilt done in black and oriental prints is gorgeous. Wonder how the black would look with the neck ties I've collected for a Cathedral Windows quilt? That would mean buying a lot of black fabric at one time. I already have a nearly full bolt of bleached muslin I was planning to use. But it would make such a pretty wall hanging.

Friday we (Sandra, Jean, Jean's friend and myself) are doing the shop hop. If we don't get to all nine shops, we plan to go again on Saturday. I can't wait! It has been several years since I've done the shop hop. That time I only went to seven shops. We're planning on leaving at 5:30 in the morning and meeting Jean's friend and heading toward the first shop on our list, stopping for breakfast before we get there. I bet we're there way early. The shops don't open until 9:00a.m.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

My Truck is Home Again

Hopefully it is fixed this time. I've driven it a few times and it seems to be doing OK. I'll know more tomorrow when Sandra and I take it to Rome and back. We're going to a quilt show at the Rome Library. Every year the quilt guild in Rome display their quilts at the library. We enjoy going and see them and then going to Hancock fabrics and then out to lunch.




Here is my "new to me" truck.



Isn't it pretty. The consul is what made me want this truck. It has a 6 disk CD changer in it.
Hope I get back in a quilting mood soon. The process of buying another truck has kept me distracted the last couple of weeks. I'll never get through my to do list if I don't get busy. Thursday, I went to Hobby Lobby and got fabric to make two new purses. I have the pattern for one of the purses and I'd like to get it made, preferably before we do the shop hop on Friday. The other purse pattern I will look for when we do the shop hop. I'll make it in April when I take the class at the guild sew in. I'm wanting to take all three of the classes that are being offered. That should keep me busy the entire week.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Truck Woes

I brought my "new to me" truck home Friday evening. Saturday we took it for a ride. Monday it went back to the dealer. There was something wrong with it. I thought it might be the transmission and it turned out I was right. It is being rebuilt now. Hopefully it will be ready this evening. In the mean time I'm driving a loaner. I don't much like it. It is a 2006 Colorado.




Yesterday was St. Patrick's day. I didn't give it a thought until I got to the grocery store and someone said something about it. I looked down to see what I was wearing and luckily I had on my green slacks.




Last night was the EVQG meeting. Our guest speaker was one of the owners (Kay Roberts and Kathy Kuryla, both came) of The Quilting Squares quilt shop in Franklin, TN. They are certified to teach the square in a square technique, and had the rulers and books for sale. I bout the ruler and the first book, "Square In A Square" by Jodi Barrows the designer/inventor of the technique. Today, they are teaching a class for our guild. I didn't take the class. I'm saving my money for the shop hop later this month.



The lady on the left is the one that spoke at our guild meeting.


They did a little trunk show of some of the quilts in the books. I only took two pictures. It is sometimes hard to get good pictures in the Etowah room at the civic center. The lighting isn't very good in there.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Stuck At Home

I'm without transportation today. My truck that has been ailing for the past two or three years, suddenly got worse. Saturday, Paul told me I had two weeks to decide if I wanted to fix it or get something else to drive. Monday evening, after taking another look at my truck, he told me not to drive it again and I had to decide immediately what I wanted to do. Fixing it would just be buying me more time to make up my mind. If I put a new engine in it and had the transmission work done that it needs, then I'd have more into the truck than I'd be able to get out of it when I did finally decide to buy something else. Tuesday evening we went auto shopping. I test drove a 2005 Chevy truck with 49k miles, 2008 Pontiac SUV with low mileage, and a 2008 Dodge van with 48k miles. The SUV was cute, but uncomfortable to sit in. The van was nice and the price looked good, but I'm not a van person. The truck was really nice, but had a couple issues, like the speedometer didn't work and the steering had a little wiggle in it every now and again. Hopefully all that will be fixed today so that I can go get it this afternoon when Paul gets off work. I also looked at another Chevy truck the same color, only a 2006 with a little less than 29k miles. It was a LS instead of the LT that the 2005 is. It was nice, but it didn't have power windows. I figured if I got it, I'd always kick myself for not getting all the luxuries the other one had, but then again I may kick myself for not going for the low mileage.








Yesterday was the AQG meeting. We had a silent auction for the quilting/sewing supplies of a member that passed away a few months ago. I won the bid on 6 yds of dark brown fabric for $2.00. We had a good meal as usual and show 'n tell. I took a few pictures.







This is Sandra's ducky quilt.




This is a scrappy look quilt that Phylis made.



This is a charity quilt of Jan's. I forget which charity she made it for.



Monday I finished all the log cabin blocks. Today I'm trying to get the top put together.

Here are the blocks on the design wall. I think I will like it.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Slowly Making Progress

So far, I've gotten just over half of the log cabin blocks made. It hasn't been without incident though. Guess I was supposed to have used the rust fabric in the "B"blocks, but I thought it was Burgundy. So now I'm short on parts for the "H" blocks, which I also think are Burgundy. I've got left over rust parts. I also have left over navy parts and will have left over black parts, because I decided to but the dark brown in like in the original quilt in the April McCall's Quilting magazine. The cutting instructions didn't include using the dark brown, so I have no parts cut for it. I'm cutting them as I get to them. In fact, I had to go buy brown fabric. I was lucky to have a med/light brown to use in the other blocks. I really want the dark brown in there so the quilt goes better with the curtains I made.



I'll be glad when I get all the blocks made. But, definitely not happy about the left over parts that I didn't need to cut. They could have stayed attached to the rest of the piece of extra fabric and remained in my stash. Now they will end up in the scrap bucket. Like I need more scraps! Believe me, I collect scraps faster than I can sew them into scrap blocks.

The Strip Twist blocks that I'm making as my beginners and enders are going well. All the strips sets are made and diced and diced again. I'm now sewing them back together for the blocks.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Another Project Started

Finally, all the strips are cut for the log cabin quilt. I didn't think I'd ever get them all cut. I finished yesterday evening.



Both of my little tables are full of strips. Hope I can keep the piecing straight. Maybe I can start sewing tomorrow. The other strips are for the strip twist blocks. I'll be sewing them as my beginners and enders.




I also washed 4 loads of fabric that I sorted through on Sunday. I still have a couple more loads to do. I got tired of folding all those large pieces of fabric. I now have lots more shirtings to cut into strips for scrap quilts.




Today, Sandra and I went to two Hobby Lobby stores. I got a couple of pieces of clearance fabric at both stores then used my 40% off coupon on batting at one and fusible fleece at the other. We had lunch at Steak N Shake.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

The Curtins Are Hung

That's three off my list! I finished the curtains yesterday and hung them in the spare bedroom/computer room.


I made them from some home decor fabric that I've had for a couple of years. I never said they were pretty, but I thought the colors would co-ordinate with the fabrics in the quilt I'm making for the bed in that room. The fabric is real soft, so I'm going to use it for the back of the quilt too.

Yesterday I washed more of the shirting fabric, so guess I'll cut it into strips today. Then I'll go through the rest of the boxes of fabric and see what I want to keep. I'd like to donate what I don't want all at one time to get it out of my quilting studio. I'm tired of having the boxes stacked in my way.