3.31.2009

Thrift Finds

Often I will talk about going to the "big city" about an hour away (Columbus, pop. 750,000), and compared to the nearest village about 5 miles away (Logan, pop. 7,000), it is a shopping mecca. Every now and again I need a few things I can't get nearby but I don't want to drive an hour, so I head to "town," (Lancaster, pop. 35,000). In about 15 or 20 minutes I can be at JoAnn and Lowe's, so it's not too bad.

On my last foray "to town" I decided to check out the local thrift stores. I've never been to one in Lancaster, but I keep seeing awesome thrift store scores in blogland and I wanted in on the action.


The first stop yielded a couple of wool sweaters destined to be felted, and the pink and yellow vintage necklaces in the shot above. The second stop got me the vintage navy handbag (It was $2.99 and 50% off. Charlie read the tag as $299...I had some explaining to do), as well as a dress and skirt not pictured. At the third stop (not *really* a thrift store, but a vintage shop) I found the red handbag and the chain-style necklace. Everything on the table cost less than $10 total. SCORE!

I don't think I am going to get a lot of use out of the red handbag, though, Jaxon has not put it down since it came home (as you might be able to tell from the picture). He opens it every few minutes and declares "I'm checking somping."


I don't know how I missed blogging about *this* lovely scarf I got a few weeks ago from Lauren. I blame my busy end of the quarter schedule. I sent Lauren a purse to test for me, and she sent me this scarf. Check out the hand twisted fringe! I've worn it twice already and plan to wear it this week. It looks great with a dress or my denim jacket. Thanks, Lauren!

3.29.2009

Happy Belated Birthday, Dr. Seuss!


In recognition of National Crafting Month (March), and in celebration of the anniversary of the birth of Dr. Seuss (March 2nd -- yah Pisces!!), Diane of Bee Square Blog suggested a Dr. Seuss-themed quilting contest.


My entry is finally complete, but it has taken me all month to get to that point! I think being busy at work, and time consuming free-pieced letters and embroidery are not a good mix! But I made it in under the wire.


My favorite parts of any Dr. Seuss book are the words. Yes, his illustrations are lovely and whimsical, but there is something about the rhymes that get me every time. My favorite of all of his books is "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish," and mostly for the line "From Near to Far, from Here to There, Funny things are EVERYWHERE!" So true, you just have to look for them.


Free pieced letters and embroidery comprise the phrase, and I quilted the whole thing using silly shapes. I spent way too much money on a Dr. Seuss pillowcase, and ripped it apart to back the wallhanging. I had to piece a bit to get it to work, so I used one improvised block as the label. If you look closely you'll see the tag from the pillowcase on the label!


I'm not quite sure how voting will work. Entries are to be uploaded to Flickr, and the contest rules state that the five quilts with the most comments will go on to the final round of voting. My quilt is number 5, so we'll see how things go.


If you like what I've made please go here and leave a comment on the image! Thanks!

3.14.2009

Spring? Not quite.

It's still a bit chilly out to feel spring-like, but Jaxon would like to present a little spring in quilt form.


This is the quilt I made for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap Monochromatic Challenge. The recipient only specified color, not season. I had remembered this tutorial on one seam flying geese. The bright green rows of geese reminded me of the return of flocks we see in the Midwest around this time of year. I added the "swirl" of quilting to symbolize the brisk winds that sometimes precede them, and called it "Spring Migration."

Here is the back. I pieced the scraps that were left when I cut the geese, and added one white block to serve as the label.


I did cheat *a bit.* The challenge was to use only shades of one color with black or white. I went for navy, both in the binding and the quilting. There's something very "clean" to me in the combination of spring green and navy blue...I think it was worth breaking the rules.

I had a good mail call week. I won a giveaway from Diane of Bee Square Fabrics. This *adorable* charm pack found its way to my house -- all Japanese kawaii. Thanks, Diane, I already have a plan for it!


And, remember earlier in the year, I decided this would be the year I decide if I am going to like knitting? Well I haven't picked up a needle, but I had been vocally coveting these mitts. Well, it's good to have friends who love to knit. A surprise package came from Courtney that contained these...


Oh, they are so beautiful and soft -- the photo doesn't do the color justice. Thank you so much, Courtney! They look *fabulous* with my read coat, and I look forward to warmer weather when I can pair them with my denim jacket!

3.09.2009

Palindromes

Otto.

Racecar.

Madam, I'm Adam.

33.

For 363 more days my age is a palindrome. I had a very nice birthday weekend, with lots of nice weather, good food and some sewing time. Unfortunately this is the last week of classes before final exams, so things are really busy.


I do have my blocks ready to go for Project Improv. I finished 3 orange and pink blocks, which is no where near the 40 blocks Bekhy made.

I also completed the International Women's Day Fat Quarter Swap -- all purple and green in honor of the suffragettes. My partner was Vicki (check out her blog to see what I sent). I received Vicki's package on my birthday (how apropos), and she sent some of the most delicious, deep–colored fabrics ever! It's hard to choose my favorite fabric -- I love the gradient -- but the stripe is pretty amazing as it gets darker and lighter but the contrast stays...well...high contrast. Thanks, Vicki!

Sorry the image is blurry, I had a choice of a sharp focus with untrue colors, or soft focus with true-to-life colors. I went for the colors.


I should be back later this week (fingers crossed) with my completed Four Seasons Quilt Swap quilt, and some progress on my Dr. Seuss challenge quilt. Ot I might just share all my incomplete grading with you!

3.01.2009

Love Complete

I know you are all bored with the LOVE wallhanging, but I did finally finish it. I tried something a little different with the binding, attaching it by machine to the front as usual, but using a running stitch in Perle 8 to attach the back. I like how the red running stitch looks on the front, but it makes the binding a bit large on the back.


And finally something new...I've finally begun my log cabins for the Project Improv charity quilt(s). I selected pink and orange as my color choice thinking that I had the least amount of fabrics in this range (and would have a reason to stash build). I guess I was wrong. I dug through my scrap bin and found *plenty* of orange and pink scraps. Here's my first attempt:

This...

became this...

Yeah, you caught me. I didn't have *quite* enough laid out to make a 12.5" block, so I added a large piece of the woven pink and the orange and white polka dot. This was a lot of fun. I had planned on only making one today -- Jaxon and Charlie have both been sick and I am now behind at work -- but I started another block. I cut myself off, though, after Jaxon's nap and got back to grading.

Also I received my FSQS5 quilt from Rachel:


The "challenge" for this swap was a monochromatic quilt. I chose green. Isn't it sweet? I love the "reversal" in the corners of mostly green to mostly white.


And look at the cute backing fabric! I may have to flip it around on the wall every once in awhile. Thanks Rachel!

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