Have you ever done something spur of the moment you should have your head examined for? I did that very thing this past week and rented a small booth in a new antiques mall here in town. It's a lovely place and I hope I will be able to thin out a few of my collections there.
Yesterday we painted the booth a cheery yellow and put a piece of wall paneling on the floor that looks like hardwood. Since my booth is only 4x8 ft, the paneling was a perfect fit. Today we will be touching up the paint, which was on raw particle board, and putting up a chair rail. My Hubby Jeff is doing most of the work and with a smile on his face! He supports me in everything I do....he's a keeper!!!
Here are just a few of the items I want to thin out of my collections. I have just scratched the surface of what needs to go to new homes. I also have vintage linens and a few store-bought quilts to sell. My one big ticket item is a 1955 Chevy convertible pedal car (new).
We are painting some old furniture pieces to hold our displays and also making and painting shelves. Jeff painted an old table pistachio green....love the color. On the center bottom is an old glass doorknob.
Next week I should be able to get my head back into quilts and quilting.
Until Monday, take care and enjoy the weekend!
Peace & Blessings, Barb
It's a lovely cool morning with promises of it being a scorcher later on today and the next few days. This is good tomato and zucchini growing weather. Today I will actually sit down and sew a little in my new sewing space.
How many of you have ventured into the delicious world of pre-cut quilting fabric? Pre-cuts carry yummy sounding names like jellyroll, layercake, turnovers, dessert rolls and charms. These names are actually copyrights of the Moda company. Just as I refer to all tissues as Kleenex and all gelatin as Jello, I will continue to refer to pre-cuts by Moda's creative names. Since I use primarily Moda fabrics I hope they will forgive me.
I resisted the pre-cut movement for a while, thinking they were far too costly. Once I tried one I was hooked and I haven't looked back! What can you say about taking one colorful jellyroll and one hour later having a nice quilt top to show for your efforts! Here is the first Jellyroll Race quilt I made. It took me 45 minutes.
I don't use pre-cuts exclusively, but they are a wonderful way to try a designer's full line of fabric. I used 5" charm squares to make a Disappearing Nine Patch (D9P) quilt. I added some unrelated fabric for borders and into a few of the blocks.
The flag banner was made from jellyroll strips with white stars appliqued in the blue field.
If you haven't tried pre-cuts give yourself a treat and see if you can't turn back!!
May you have a day filled with Peace & Plenty.
I's a bright and beautiful morning. Hubby is off to work and my day is going to be slow and steady.
The fabric storage section of my sewing room is pretty much together and I have a few pictures to share with you ~~
The three cabinets are actually wardrobes that were purchased at Lowe's and Hubby and I assembled them together, although Hubby did far more of the work than I. My sewing space is 10x12 feet and these cabinets pretty much fill up the whole 10 ft wall. For added safety they were bolted to wall studs to prevent tipping. Since my room is carpeted (I would prefer hardwood) we put plywood under the cabinets to further stabilize them. A few old quilts, baskets and a doll and wooden thread box are on the top.
I wrapped 1-4 yards of fabric on comic book boards and sorted them by color or type. Each color or type has its own shelf. This cabinet houses black, brown, blue, green, pink/purple and orange fabrics. The wrapped boards stand in the back of each shelf and the FQ's are folded and placed in plastic shoe boxes in front of the wraps. You might notice a few works in progress also, as well as a drawer that holds miscellaneous notions.
Cabinet #2 holds whites/creams, red, yellow/gold, Christmas prints, batiks and Asian prints. There is also a bobbin winder on the red shelf and a jar of hexagon paper foundations on the yellow shelf. The bottom of the cabinet houses batting and bags of 2 1/2" strips. The old canning jar holds stuffed chenille hearts. There is also a stack of small quilts on the third shelf on the right.
The drawers are so nice and roomy. The top one holds thread and needles; the middle drawer houses rotary cutters (stored in eyeglass cases) and the bottom one hold templates and small rulers.
The last cabinet houses solids, 1930's reproduction fabrics, works in progress, pre-cuts, quilt backings, large cuts of fabric on the bottom shelf, assorted yarn and a sewing machine. The drawers hold quilt blocks waiting to be sewn together and 2 1/2 strips.
In contrast the far side of the room still needs work. I bought a new 8 foot table and 6 foot table and placed them against each other in an 'L'. Until I make my mind up about a new sewing machine (or not) I'm happy to sew on folding tables. I currently sew on a Memory Craft 4000 (Janome) and love it. I've had it almost 20 years and it's been a workhorse and has never been in the shop. The other machine in the photo is a Baby Lock Sashiko machine. It makes only one stitch but that stitch looks like quality hand quilting (except on the back side). The tub under the table is full of scraps and the basket on the left holds batting pieces for table runners and small projects. There is room for me to press and trim blocks to the right of the machine. Now I have extra space to the left of the machine to support the fabric. I don't machine quilt large items, so this arrangement will work fine for me.
The blue quilt will be hung on the wall and I need to make a window valance. Like any new project it needs fine tuning which will happen in time. I'm very happy with my new space and grateful for my wonderful Hubby who made this happen for me.
Until tomorrow I wish you a day filled to overflowing with Peace & Plenty ~~ Barb
We have a small but thriving Amish community in our area. It's not unusual to see them in their horse drawn buggies on the roads and in town. While the adults are not very sociable (due to their religious training I suppose) their children are adorable and often make eye contact with you and flash big smiles. Kids are kids are kids! Their lifestyle would feel like hardship to me....I hope they are finding peace and joy in their beliefs and chosen way of life.....the simple life. Our Amish neighbors add charm and diversity to our community and they are very welcome here.
Have you ever noticed that the simple things in life are often the most enjoyable and memorable....sleeping in on the weekend ~ an unexpected hug ~ friendly pets ~ butterflies ~ a rainbow ~ fireflies in the dark ~ a new magazine ~ ice cold watermelon ~ laughter ~ a hot bath ~ music ~ a handwritten letter ~ old friends ~ blowing bubbles ~ fireworks ~ ~ ~ I could go on and on.
Speaking of simple, the quilt I'm sharing with you today is nothing if not simple. It's a twin size 4-point star made of feed sacks. In places you can see black stamping on the underside of the white fabric. Each block has blue floral sashing and there are no outside borders. It is hand quilted and the back side and binding are solid white sack material. It must have been used as a summer quilt because it's quilt light. This was made by Grammy Rose.
Wherever you are I wish you a day filled with Peace & Plenty and an abundance of the simple things.
Blessings, Barb
Sundays have everything to do with going slow at our house. Being creatures of habit, we wake up at the same time on weekends as during the work week. A big pot of coffee for my Hubby is the first thing on the agenda. Sunday breakfast is usually bacon, eggs and biscuits or something similar. Hubby is the bacon and egg king and I'm biscuit queen.
Last weekend the new public aquatic center (how's that for fancy!) opened in our little town. It's quite a nice facility with something for every age group. There is the requisite pool with diving boards, a water slide, a lazy river current section and bouncing seats for infants to diddle their little toes in the water and bounce around if they are so inclined. I look forward to the day the center offers water aerobics classes. Our town could also use a walking trail around the city park. I see so many walking on the edges of the roads where there are no sidewalks. Since most of our roads have only two lanes, this makes walking for your health a risky endeavor.
Work on my sewing room is almost done. I believe I've dealt with all the fabric I squirreled away in nearly every corner of our house. It will soon be time to hang a quilt on the wall and plug in my old machine and sew a valance. I haven't done any sewing for about two weeks and I'm in serious withdrawal. Hubby tells me I've been a little edgy lately! Thank goodness I have this blog and the wonderful forum at Missouri Star where I can at least talk about quilts!
Today I would like to show you a quilt I made completely by hand when I was 14-15 years old. It is an embroidered project done on stamped quilt blocks from the local Ben Franklin store. The lovely lady who worked in the fabric department, Miss Evelyn, encouraged me to sew and allowed me to buy one stamped block per week until I made all I needed (5). She pretended to be splitting a pack of blocks with me! Miss Evelyn was very kind to me and figured out creative ways to help me buy fabric or yarn on several occasions. She attended my high school graduation, my wedding and my baby shower for my daughter. We maintained a wonderful friendship until her passing in 1969. I remember her fondly as my sewing angel and loving friend every time I look at this quilt.
My parents supported me and spared no expense on anything I wanted to do academically ~ math camp, spelling bees, science fairs, field trips, microscopes, telescopes, etc. What they did not support was my creative side, which has always run strongly through my veins. I think Dad had a mortal fear that I might want to go to a liberal arts college, so in an effort to help keep my feet on the ground, he made me do math drills every evening after dinner rather than watch TV. Dad was a math whiz and was determined that I could do the same. To him sewing was nonsense (mending was okay) and spending money on fabric or other sewing supplies was wasteful. I'm sure he felt that sewing and crafting would lead me down the road of ruination. To acquire the money for the supplies to make this quilt I saved my quarters and dimes from babysitting ~ I would watch three children for 25 cents an hour!
After the blocks were embroidered I had to decide on what color to set everything together with....why pink and white, of course! For the background I chose a mix of white and unbleached muslin ~ I thought this was a pretty groovy style statement. White AND off-white in the same quilt ~ on the cutting edge! There was no money in my meager budget for batting so I used flannel yardage. I didn't like binding in the early years so I opted for prairie points. Everything on this quilt was hand sewn and it's the first I quilted all by myself. I even went a step further and made a bed ruffle for my bed. Over the years the bed ruffle disappeared but the quilt remains in very good condition in my collection. Thank you Miss Evelyn for making this quilt and many other projects possible and for talking me out of making bell bottom pants from baby flannel!!
Thank you for letting me run a little long today ~ you never know what you will get here on Monday!!
I wish you all a wonderful day filled with Peace & Plenty ~ Barb
It's going to be another beautiful day in the Ozarks. The sun is just peeking through the pines.
The work continues on my sewing room. It's incredible how many things and the quantity of fabric I had squirreled away in that small room. It's a bit like going on vacation ~ everything fits nicely in your suitcase at home but for the return trip you need to leave some things behind. I have a few bags of fabric and miscellany to donate to the quilt guild and the community center.
This is a work day for us. Hubby is in the shower and Miss Molly, our Scotty dog, just had her breakfast and is munching on a few doggie biscuits.
I will leave you this morning with a picture of a quilt I made in the winter of 2010 and 2011. It's made entirely of batiks and the pattern is a variation on the Monkey Wrench. It's the most colorful quilt I've ever made. You might want to put on your sunglasses for looking at this one!
Have a great day!! Peace & Plenty ~~ Barb
I belong to a wonderful forum at the Missouri Star Quilt Company and have enjoyed getting to know several of the members over the past year. If you are looking for a place to share your quilts or learn to quilt, MSQC is the place to be. One very special friend at the forum, Blondie, has started a pin cushion (pinnie) exchange recently, so I've been pondering the role of pinnies in my life.
Normally I have one 'working' pincushion at my sewing machine and another at the ironing board. Blondie says she has pinnies in every room of her home. After looking at a few of the gorgeous pinnie creations on the Internet I can see why they would be considered accessories for the sewing room and home. I've seen them made on crystal candle holders, wine glasses, bone china cups, tin cans and styrofoam cups!
I have two very special pinnies that belonged to Grammy Rose and Grandma Nan. The lovely cushion below was crocheted by Grammy Rose. Originally it was laced together with white ribbon in a fancy arrangement I've never been able to duplicate. I think it must have been pulled through with a crochet hook and twisted in some manner. A few years back I had to take this pinnie apart and make it a new inner cushion. Since I couldn't do the ribbon work that held it together originally, I crocheted it together and wove ribbon through the openings on top. It's lovely but it pales in comparison to what it was in its youth!
The Kewpie Doll pinnie below belonged to my Grandma Nan. I think this one is too cute for words! Could you stick pins in this little darling ~ I can't.
The lovely pinnie below is my working pinnie that I keep at the sewing machine. It was a gift from a dear friend. The tiny needle case on the top is a work of art in itself. It measures 1 1/2 inches square! I pinned this little gem to the top of my pinnie so I wouldn't lose it. This beauty came with the pinnie.
The patriotic pinnie below is the one I keep at the ironing board. It's filled with steel wool to keep my pins sharp. This was also a gift from a special friend.
Pinnies seem to have been elevated to accessory status....and rightfully so!!
Wishing you a wonderful day!
