Sort, Stitch, Seatcover

While putting away all of my new fabric purchases over the last week or so, I was forced to sort through my bins, drawers and piles and piles of fabric to create room.  This quilting hobby is a love-hate relationship.  lol  Love the fabric, hate that I'm limited on space but it's probably a good thing that I am.  I'm happy to have a sewing room.  I lived many years with junk piled all over the dining room so I appreciate my little space. 

 

I relabeled some of the boxes in my closet.  Moved some things around and I think it's as good as it's going to get.  I need to make some new labels to replace the blue painters tape.  :o)

 

 

I pulled out some fabrics that I've had a long time and some that were given to me.  I filled a kitchen bag and will donate it to my friends church for prayer quilts.  It feels good to make space and to know the fabric will be used for some good.  Win-win.  :o)

 

One of the things that I went through was a drawer of Debbie Mum fabric.  I liked her old stuff and haven't parted with it just yet.  My sewing room valance is a one of her all over designs.  I decided to cover this nasty old chair that I use in my room.  Isn't it disgusting?  I can't believe it's taken me this long to cover it.  All because of a little sorting.  Well, a LOT of sorting!

 

 

Here "she" is with her new coat.  Or cover or whatever you want to call it.  I couldn't believe this chair had a removable back so I was able to staple gun the fabric down and then put the back piece back on.  Makes it look so professional.  For the bottom, I just sewed a casing with double fold bias tape and ran some 1/4" elastic through it.  Ta-da!!

 

It's a little busy, huh?  lol  That's okay.  Anything is better than that nasty old gray.  Here's a picture of the backing piece.  Pretty spiffy, huh?

 

Here's a shot of my valance.  (Buttons are from Joanns several years ago.)  I backed the fabric with muslin because of the light but it still faded a little bit.  I think it still has a few good years left.

 

And I got a little sewing done too.  In trying to get rid of some piles of fabric, I cut and stitched up some travel pillows.  I still need to sew the flannel blankets.  I hope to get those done tomorrow.

 

Seems like everyone is having scorching temperatures this weekend.  Today it was 101 in Fullerton (CA).  As of 10:00 tonight, it was still 92 degrees and the a/c has barely clicked off.  It'll be triple digits again tomorrow.  I hope it cools down for the 4th of July!  

Umm, where am I going to put my new fabric?

Well, I'm almost done putting away my new purchases from last weekend.  The  problem is, I still had 'old' purchases that were still in a shopping bag.  lol  Those were from Road to CA in January.  Some yardage and bundles that I haven't started yet.  I decided to use my little shopping cart from the antique swap meet to hold my bundles, kits and project bags.  The two items on top are flannel from Joanns to make a matching blanket pillow set.  I left them on top because they should be easy and I will tackle those and have them ready for gifts or to sell.  That leaves, what?  6" of space?  lol

 

 

Good.  Because I have to fit this in there!  lolol  All of this except a panel and matching fabric are old "collections".  There a couple of layer cakes, fabric lines I want to keep together, etc.  I think it might fit.  Fingers crossed!!

 

These are my Moda Marbles that I got from the quilt run.  There are 14.  I will stop at the last shop I'm going to do tonight after work.  I will drop off my passport and be done.  I think I contributed enough to the economy and to keep the shops open.  I will put my blinders on when I go to The Calico House because they always have stuff I love.  Argh....what an addiction!!!

Just to take a 'brief' break from fabric, my daughter Ashley and SIL, Dave gave both of us moms one of these framed poems.  Isn't it cute.  Kelley, my oldest put the drawing from their wedding on there.  I think it's just so sweet.

 

Okay, back to fabric.  ;o)  That sweet little granddaughter-to-be is going to need some cute bedding for her bed so Ashley and I searched the internet.  We found this adorable Little Red Riding Hood fabric line from Riley Blake.  I swear, I love everything that company makes!  I found this online for a few dollars less than what cotton is going for in the quilt shops so even though I was doing the quilt run, I bought it.  I'm so glad I did.  Not one quilt shop of the 15 had any of this fabric.  It could be they did have it and it's gone already but I'm glad I didn't wait.

 

 

There are two more pieces coming that were back ordered.  Our favorite fabric is the aqua with scallops.

 

 

All three of the girls were together last night talking about shower themes.  I think they're going with a Little Red Riding Hood 'woodland' theme.  Kelley pinned a bunch of stuff on Pinterest.  It's freaking adorable.  I can hardly wait!

To Answer Yvette...

In case anyone else wanted to know.  Yvonne asked what other shops we went to in my previous post.  We hit them in this order.

Saturday...
Tranquility Quilt Shop - Cypress
The Quilt Cupboard - Garden Grove
Orange Quilt Bee - Orange
Flying Geese Fabric - Tustin
Aretoy Quilt Shop - Oceanside
Fat Quarter Quilt Shop - Vista
Quilt in a Day - San Marcos

Sunday...
Amethyst Quilts - Chula Vista
Cozy Quilt Shop - El Cajon
Memory Lane Quilt Shop - El Cajon
The Crazy 9 Patch - Ramona
Quilter's Cottage - Fallbrook
Stars and Scraps Quilt Shop - Corona
Quilter's Cocoon - Riverside

We "almost" got to our local shop The Calico House but ran out of time.  We'll go this weekend.  Our quilt run goes Thursday-Sunday for two weekends.  It's a good thing too.  There's no way you can hit them all in one weekend.  Especially the way I shop!  Gotta look at every----thing!!!  :)
 

Shopping and Driving!!!

Just got home from the So. California Quilt Run.  We went to 14 shops and covered a lot of ground and a LOT of traffic.  Driving down toward San Diego, we hit gridlock and found out afterward that it is also time for the Del Mar Fair.  Oh well, we had fun, did some damage and saw some beeeeautiful fabrics.  I snapped a few pictures. 

 

Since everyone knows Quilt in a Day, I took one of the front of the store.  They added big Barn blocks.  Very cute since they are in an industrial park.

 

I took a picture of my "haul".  I got a few pieces of yardage for some upcoming classes, a few patterns for an upcoming baby :o) some things because they were on sale and some things....just cuz I could. 

We had been to this store in Fallbrook before and they have a decent inventory.  We all found something cute in there.  We asked the sales gal for a suggestion for lunch and they said if we go down two blocks, there is a deli with pretty good sandwiches.  Well, they did not disappoint.  And none of us had ever been to Fallbrook before.  The little downtown street was very quaint.  Good call Quilter's Cottage!

I don't get to many of these shops very often as they are just too far to go to normally.  But driving all over like this is a lot more fun when you have good company.  These are my driving/shopping buddies, l-r Judy, me and Susan  outside Fat Quarter Quilt Shop in Vista.  I love this shop and always find something wonderful here.

 

Now to go clean out some fabric bins to make room to put away my treasures.  Gotta purge and sort!!!

Camp Class Preparation

Guild Camp is next month.  I blogged about it here.  And though it's a little early to prepare for the classes the Southern California Quilt Run started yesterday.  Me and a couple girlfriends are going to some shops from Orange County to San Diego.  We're going to stay the night for the first time ever.  How fun, right?  I've been saving my loot so we'll see what treasures I come home with.  Hopefully not too many because Mr. Hubbard's Cupboards are F-U-L-L!!  :o)

 

So....for the class by Joanna Figueroa class (Figtree Quilts), I am going to use a jelly roll I've had for years.  I only had three jelly rolls to pick from.  lol  I guess I buy yardage and not jelly rolls!  So the first picture is what I came up with just putting various strips side by side.  There were too many mediums and not enough lights or contrast.  In the second picture, I pulled some additional fabrics from my stash, adding some ginghams and a few light prints.  I can't believe I hardly had any lights with pastel colors in them!

 

The pictures below are the changed combinations.  The piles still need a little rearranging but it's getting better.  I think this weekend I'll be looking for a border fabric and just a few lights with dots, checks, etc. to add to the mix and I will be set for class one.  I never even got started with class #2.  Whoooboy!!

Long Beach Antique Flea Market

A friend of mine "liked" the Long Beach Antique Flea Market on facebook.  I have been there once so I liked it too thinking I would get updates on upcoming events.  Well, wouldn't you know, this past Sunday was one of the events.  hehe  Another friend saw that I "liked" LBAFM and she did too.  Next thing you know, we were going together.  :o)

I drove to her house and we got there at 7:30.  That was perfect because it was not too early, nice and cool and not too much of a crowd.  As the morning progressed, we decided to leave.  It was getting warm, maybe low 80's and we were getting hungry.  Neither one of us had eaten anything.

Soooo, these are the treasures I walked away with.  Two trips to the car!  lol

You can't tell from the photo, I don't think, but the white chairs are about 2' tall.  They reminded me of little ice cream parlor chairs and I will paint them and put a cushion on them for my little granddaughter....who won't be able to use them for about 3-4 years.  lol  I want to be prepared.  :)  I put the teal nightstand in my new little bedroom I moved into when my daughter moved in.  I stacked the picnic tin on top of another one I had in the corner of the dining room.  The little red table is on the patio as an end table and the shopping cart...I'm not sure about that yet.  I think I will make a canvas liner and I'm not sure if I'll use it as a shopping cart or use it in my sewing room to hold rolls of paper, batting, etc.

I have put a dust ruffle on my new bed since this picture was taken but this is where my little night table is sitting.  I love it.  I think a little lamp would be cute on here but that is my mom's jewelry box my sisters gave me when she passed away so I want to keep it close.

 

I would love to go back to the flea market again but with the summer months coming, I don't know...  We'll just have to see if I can stand it knowing all those treasures are there now.  :)

 

One Little Indian

My boss's daughter graduated this past week.  She attended the same high school as my girls did, Fullerton High School, home of the Fullerton Indians.  Because my girls went there, I purchased some fabric several years ago from a local quilt shop.  I guess it was part of a fundraising effort to make Hawaiian shirts from the bolts of fabric which was printed at Hoffman Fabrics here in Mission Viejo, CA.  I made my boss a quilt a few years ago as a panel quilt as she is an alumni of the high school also.

 

Anyway I decided to make a little make-up bag using that same pattern I did a while back for all the craft show bags.  Mariah, the graduate, is going to a college in Georgia so I thought she could use the bag for all her power cords for her travels.  I put the attachment on my machine to do some grid quilting.

 

 

Here is the finished bag. This side shows the Indian and the school name.

 

 

And this side shows the Hawaiian theme print and the words "Tribe" as in Tribe Spirit.

 

I whipped up a card for the Open House today.  I used an older Stampin' Up set for the "hats off" and another set for the Congratulations.

 

 

Here is a little tag I made to go on the bag.  I tucked in a little green stuff for the rest of her graduation gift.  :)

Southern California Quilt Run! Woohoo....

**This is a link-heavy post!

 

Are you going to go???  The 2013 Southern California Quilters Run!  The Northern Cal Run was last weekend.  Crazy that we used to have the CA quilt run combining both northern and southern Cal.  That's one big commitment and a whole lotta gas! 

 

I shouldn't be going but I'm gonna!  If I buy something, and you know I'm going to buy something!!...I don't know where the heck I'm going to put it! 

It's not until next week so I have some time to get my ducks in a row so to speak.  My sister and I are taking two classes at Camp Watchapatcher.  Yup, that's what it's called.  :o)  It's the quilt camp that the Orange County Quilters Guild puts on every other year.  My sis and I are taking a Joanna Figueroa class called Lollipops and one by Kathy Brown called Fat Mans Squeeze.

I have a jelly roll I think I can use for the Lollipop class but the coordinating fabric might be challenging.  We need big yardage pieces for the background and borders.  Isabel, my sis, practically had a stroke going through all her fabrics for that class but she did it.  I still have to do the "homework".  And I have a bin of fq's I was going to use for a quilt for my daughter Ashley's wedding a year and a half ago.  We were doing a DIY for a lot of the wedding so I didn't add the stress of attempting a quilt.  If I like the way it comes out, it can be an anniversary quilt.  :o)

So, maybe I'll bump into one of you when I'm out and about.  I'll be the lady trying to hide my fabric in the trunk so I don't get in trouble.  Even though Richard is in Turkey, he's got spies!!  ;o)

How does your garden grow?

Mine starts with a trip to the nursery and a call to the gardener.  :o)  Since my back surgery, I haven't really done too much of the 'reaching' kind of planting.  Heck, he had it done before I would've gotten my shovel! 

 

Before....

 

 

After.  I picked up two flats of zinnias.  Gotta love the colors!

 

While I was in Turkey, he brought over a peach tree.  I don't know why but I thought okay, I like peaches.  lol  So, nectarines on the right, peaches on the left and apricots on the far left, out of the picture.  It's a little yard but maybe we can have some fruit next summer.

While he planted the zinnias, I did mending until there was some shade.  I planted some dahlias, petunias and portulaca in one planter.

 

Had some left over so planted this little pot.

 

This one on one side of the back door,

 

And this for the other side.

 

I put one by the front door and gave the rest of the flat to my neighbor.  I didn't have any more potting soil or containers.  lol  I guess a flat was too many.  I can't wait for them to fill in and bloom some more.  It was just beautiful here today.  Hope you got some sunshine on your end of the planet too.  :o)

Peek-a-Boo Bag





People who know me, know I am a "visual" learner.  You know, I need pictures/drawings with my directions because let's face it, the writing is just there to take up space!  It makes me feel like I got my money's worth on a pattern but it has no purpose other than that. 

I'm sort of kidding.  I have had to resort to reading the directions when I've hit a road block but it's usually only a last resort for me.  :o)  Look at this photo.  One drawing!  How am I supposed to make this???  lol


 

 

 

Sorry for the blurry photos.  My camera was charging...  Anyway, I bought this kit, including the pattern a while ago.  I decided to "ease" back into sewing after my trip to Turkey since the time change was hitting me pretty hard.  This little project seemed like a good thing to tackle.

 

 

It wasn't too bad actually.  There was just a tricky part on the inside but EVEN I understood it!  :o)  And the fabric kept me going.  Sooo dang cute!  Like any first bag I make, this would go probably go much fast now that I've made one.  

 

Now that I can't use the excuse of time change issues anymore, I guess I better go dig through my UFO's and see if I can get something done.  I want to be able to check something of my UFO list!!
 

Froggy Shower

Hello blogging world!!  I am home from Turkey (last Tuesday actually) and have been trying to get myself back on CA time.  It's not been easy but not near as hard as it was going to Turkey and trying to adjust to being 10 hours ahead.  I'm trying to figure out how to post pictures but I seem to be "flickr" challenged.  Til I figure that out, I'm going to share an itty bitty sewing finish with you.

 

Last Saturday was a friend's daughters shower.  She LOVES frogs and a few months ago, I found several froggy things for her.  I promised to make a nursing cover up for her and when I got home from Turkey, even though I wasn't adjusted to the time, I went to Joann's to try and find something cute and froggy.  This fabric was perfect except it was a little thin.  I went ahead and bought it and a piece of thin broadcloth to line it.  It doesn't call for a lining but for a thick designer fabric but we are heading to warm weather and we can't have mom and baby all sweaty so this seemed like a good solution. 

 

 

This is a free download pattern from the internet.   I did one modification because I didn't have enough fabric.  (cheap fabric shrinks!!  grrr)  I made the D ring holder the same width as the strap.  I bought a half yard of terry cloth and have used it for three nursing covers so far.  It only calls for a 7" square. 

 

Here is the gift bundle with my purchases from Burlington Coat Factory.  I didn't know they sold things other than coats!  lol

 

I even made a card even though it's a simple one.  I didn't have time to go scouting through the internet for ideas so it was a little basic.  It's the thought that counts right...and I had a frog stamp.  Yay!

 

I love that I found this big froggy fleece blanky.  :)

This was the candy/dessert bar at the shower.  They did a great job.  And everything was delicious.

With an amazing frog cake.  The theme was actually Frogs, Snails and Puppy Dog Tails.

And the mother-to-be with her nursing cover.  Thank goodness I didn't have to give her an I.O.U.!