Getting Organized

I have been following Bonnie Hunter's blog http://quiltville.blogspot.com a lot lately.  She does a lot of great things with scraps and lately she has been having "quilt cam" in the evenings, where she sews on her different antique machines.  At an estate sale, actually a downsizing sale, I bought 2 large bins of scraps.  Many were precut into 1" and 2" strips.  But there were also a lot of other sized scraps.  She suggests precutting your scraps so that they are ready to go when you want to sew.  So I have been precutting the scraps I bought and my own into strips of 1.5", 2", 2.5" and 3.5".  Squares in 1.5", 2", 2.5" and 3.5" and bricks in 2 x 3.5, 2.5 x 4.5, and 3.5 x 6.5.

I am going to be taking a class from Bonnie at our guild in November, in fact 2 classes.  So I have been precutting the scaps that I will need for those 2 patterns, Start Struck and Oklahoma Backroads. I'm also saving reds for her Talking Turkey blocks and leaders and ender Bow Tie blocks.

As I have been cutting I still end up with scraps that are too small to save.  I had been throwing then in the wastebasket.  But when I look in there I was surprised just how much there was.  Some of the members of our guild and small groups save their scraps to fill pillow cases which get donated to the local animal shelter for dog and cats.  So I tried to figure out an easy way to save the scraps.  What I hit upon was this.  At lots of sales I have always bought pillow cases to store my quilts in, so I have quite a supply.  So I came up with this.  Take a bucket. . .

and a pillow case . . .

Once it's full of scraps I can just sew the top shut and it's ready to go.  I may even add a cup hook to the bottom of the table I cut at and hang it there.  But for now setting at my right side is good enough.

My niece, Denise is home for a visit.  We all had dinner at my mother's house yesterday so we would all get a chance to see Denise and Jason.  Jennifer and Leif and Darryl and Anna couldn't make it from the Chicago area.  But hopefully we'll see them at the holidays.

Have the quilters again Tuesday night, maybe after that I will post some pictures of recent sale finds.

Race Day

Well this was the day that I had been training for.  My 2nd 5K at Sparrow Hospital.  Thank goodness the temperatures were cooler.  It was nice in that Susie Merchant and the MSU Women's Basketball team were there as supporters.  There was a 5K and 8K so it was nice that I wasn't the very last one across the finish line.  I improved my first 5K time by 2 minutes, 1:0d.  Not much but at least it was better.  Has a picture taken with Sparty.  Now to shower and rest a bit.

Scraps... of all sorts

I home everyone has a great holiday weekend!  I woke up Saturday morning to find my battery had died in my truck.  But brother Mike to the rescue and by the end of the day I was up and running the roads again.

Yesterday I was at my mom's sorting through 4 boxes of fabric that a friends daughters brought over for her.  Betty Smith used to be a member of my mom's quilting circle, "What you see is what you get!".  The piecing gene seems to have passed my mother.  She will quilt and embroider but doesn't like piecing, and doesn't believe in having a stash@#!?  She has always bought just what she needed for a quilt  and then can't stand what's left over. 

So yesterday we sorted through the boxes.   We found enought pink and/or blue for at least 1 girl and 1 boy baby quilt.  Enough red and green christmas prints to make something with and also enough patriotic.  Then there were the "others", feed sacks, 60's or 70's prints, some much older that must have belong to Betty's mother or grandmother or mother-in-law.  Here are what I brought home.




Even some funky cheaters cloth.

I have been enjoying Bonnie Hunter's blog lately, http://quiltville.blogspot.com/.  A friend is using Bonnie's pattern, Scappy Trips Around the World for her block exchange.  And I had noticed it a while ago as well.  So yesterday we began cutting strips to just see what happens.  I brought them home to sew them and see what comes out.  Whatever comes out we will probably donate the items to the VFW for their holiday craft show/sale in November.  I will post as things move along.

 

Something else my friend Carol has been doing was "deboning mens shirts", which Bonnie also has a video on.  Carol has does a demo on cutting a man's plaid shirt up into usable yardage for scrap quilts.  Well, I did pretty well at the flea market with my designer fabric samples, so why not try this.  I might want some of the yardage but I really don't need it all.  So I bought 5 shirts this past weekend and took them apart.  I plan on ironing the fabric and then putting it in bags at the flea market for sewers/quilters to buy.  I will probably label it "deboned shirts" and sell them for about $3 with pieces from several shirts so they get a good selection.  These are the shirts I got this weekend.

 

Now for the final scraps.  Yesterday I took lunch with me to my mom's.  I did chicken on a skewer and separate skewers of vegetables (green peppers and cherry tomatoes off my plants, summer squash, zucchini, sweet onion and mushrooms.). Tonight I'm taking the left over veggies roasting them in the oven with sweet corn added and a little olive oil and salt and pepper.  It smells soo good right now I can hardly wait to tuck in.

 

 

 

Well, smells like it is just about ready so I have to go.  Have a good evening.







Progress toward 5K

Wednesday night I went to 5K training.  Walked 3 miles in 1:06:06.  Not too bad.  I was going to go to training again today, Saturday.  But when I went to start my truck it wouldn't start.  First time it's let me down in 7 years.  Oh, well, placed call to handy brother and he seemed to think it is just the battery.  So he has taken pity on my and may be over later today to have a look.

But that's good.  Since I would go anywhere it means I'm force to stay home and get something done. I mowed the front lawn about 8 am. Then decided if I was going to have to take the truck into the dealer I should unload my "merch" from the fleamarket into the garage.  So emptied truck, loaded the dishwasher, did laundry.  Now the big task, cleaning off the kitchen table.  Oh, so much fun on the last holiday of the summer.  But that's ok.  Hope you all have a safe holiday.

Yours in stitches
Jackie