Bonnie's New Book

I was very excited to get Bonnie Hunter's new book in my mail yesterday. She is a designer whose work I have admired for a long time. I have seen some of Bonnie's designs in quilt magazines recently, so I guess she is well on her way to a new adventure.

I love the design and layout of the new book--it's colorful and engaging, and fun to read. And I just love some of the projects in the book--can't wait to get started! Congratulations, Bonnie, on your new book!

Star BOM Block 4

The rain we're getting up here in Maine tonight is heavy enough to interfere with satellite tv reception, so I thought I'd blog a little. We're already under a flood watch, and as Hurricane Kyle moves up into Maine tomorrow afternoon, the rain will be even heavier. Some news channels are referring to Kyle as a tropical storm, and it's supposed to stay to the east of us, so I'm not terribly concerned about it. It might be on the rough side downeast though.

I've gotten plenty of sewing done this week, but nothing I'm able to post a photo for. Remember the 560 half square triangle units I made for Koleen's quilt? Three of the four borders using those triangles have now been completed, and tomorrow I'll be working on that last border. I've had enough of half square triangles for a while!

I finished block 4 of JudyL's Star BOM last night. What should have been a very easy block caused me more grief than the first three put together. I cut the green and yellow triangles slightly oversized, and I was a little off when I squared up that whole unit in the middle. Then I had to fudge some of the other seams to make it fit right without chopping off all my points. I'll bet I restitched one of those seams about five times. Once I completed the entire block, I noticed there was a cut in the edge of one of the background triangles, so I had to rip that out and sew in a new one. Sheesh, I should have just watched tv last night!

Credit where credit is due:
The "Country Farm" block can be found in the EQ6 Block Library and is copyright-free.

Sunday Stash Report

I still haven't finished my placemats that we made at Kay's a couple of Sundays ago, but I did finish my other pillowcase, and it looks great. Thanks so much to everyone for all the nice compliments on the pillowcases. You know, I wasn't sure about this blogging thing when I started in January. Truthfully, I didn't think I would stick with it; but now I'm as addicted to posting as I am to reading them. I just love seeing what everyone else is doing--it's like Show and Tell every day, and I learn a lot. I hope someone might find something useful on my blog now and then too.

Friday was our regular bimonthly meeting at Kay's, and we had a double theme for the meeting--apples and tote bags. Everyone was asked to bring an apple dish, and we had quite a variety. Kay always makes a lovely supper for us, and we had a nice roast with potatoes, carrots, and apples. As accompaniments we also had three different salads with apples in them, some jello with apples, and a couple of desserts with apples. It's always a lot of fun when we do this, and next month we'll have a Pumpkinfest. Last year I made the most horrible pumpkin and black bean soup. Basically it consisted of a can of pumpkin, a can of black beans, some broth, and a few spices, and you heated it up for about 10 minutes, and it was done. I got the recipe from a well-known tv cooking show host, who shall remain nameless. Oh, it was so awful! This year I'll stick with pumpkin bread or something I know how to cook!

Janice had this tote bag with her a couple of meetings ago, and we liked it so much we decided we'd get together and learn how to make them. The tote uses one of those charm packs that are so popular now, and I happened to have one that I won from Becky the Quilting Booklady's birthday giveaway a while back. The tote used 35 of the 50 squares I had in the pack plus another yard of fabric for the handles and lining, which I found in my stash. Besides the pocket on the front, there are a couple more pockets inside the tote. I really liked this pattern because you could come up with a number of variations to make each one a little different. There's supposed to be a button on that front pocket; but I hate sewing on buttons, so I might let it just flap around for a while.

I got most of it finished on Friday, and tonight after I got home from work I finished the topstitching. While I was sitting there admiring my handiwork, I thought about putting up a hook or something somewhere in my sewing room to hang up my totes. I'm beginning to accumulate more of them, and I've been folding them up inside a cabinet. Then I remembered this coat rack that was upstairs on our closed-in back porch. I think it must have belonged to my grandmother. Over my husband's strenuous objections, I commandeered it and brought it down to my sewing room, and it will work perfectly! After a while my husband even offered to clean it up for me. What a good man!

Well, anyway, here's the Stash Manager's Report:

Fabric used this week: 1-3/4 yards
Fabric used year to date: 133-3/4 yards
Fabric added this week: 0 yards
Fabric added year to date: 246-1/8 yards
Net year to date: - 112-3/8 yards

I've really been behaving myself pretty well lately, haven't I?

Credit where credit is due:
Charm Party Tote design by Penny Sturges, Quilts Illustrated

Pillowcases

I had hoped to have both of these pillowcases done by the end of today, but I still have a little bit more to finish on the second one. I love the way this looks! For the next set, I'm going to insert a band of pieced blocks near the hem. Between pillowcases and tote bags, which is our project for Friday, I think I may be on a couple of new kicks!

Credit where credit is due:

No pattern was used to make these pillowcases.

Sunday Stash Report

No pictures today, but I hope to have one tomorrow. Last Sunday I went over to my good friend Kay's house, and we worked on the placemats. I haven't finished those yet, but I will. I missed the Stash Report last Sunday because I got home from Kay's late and worked the next day. Each one of those placemats takes about half a yard, so there's a couple yards. I also gifted one yard away.

Today three of us went to Kay's, and we made pillowcases and had a great time doing it. Each pillowcase requires a yard or a yard and a quarter, so it's a good little stashbuster too. I finished one flannel pillowcase for my son to go with his flannel quilt I made him last Christmas. I also cut out two more to go with my Road to Many Friendships quilt that's on my bed now. Each of those pillowcases has another fabric added at the hem plus some piping, and I like the look of it so much. I'm also planning to make an0ther set of pillowcases for the quilt that's over to Koleen's being quilted now.

This Friday about half our group will get together at Kay's and make totes. The other half of our group is going to New Hampshire for the quilt show in Manchester. I had the option to go, but if I go, I'll buy, and I don't need to. How's that for self-control?

Here's the Stash Manager's Report:

Fabric used this week: 6-1/4 yards
Fabric used year to date: 132 yards
Fabric added this week: 1-1/2 yards (Keepsake medley)
Fabric added year to date: 246-1/8 yards
Net year to date: - 114-1/8 yards

The Incredible Shrinking Bolt

Am I the only one who's noticed that a bolt of fabric that used to measure 42"-44" wide no longer measures that? Or I am simply the last one to know about it? I was adding borders to a quilt today and needed to cut a few more strips. I looked at that piece of fabric laying there on the table and thought, gee, that looks short. Well, dang, it was short! After I cut off the selvages, I've got a little more than 38" of fabric to work with!

Was it shrinkage? Could be, but 3 or more inches across the width of the bolt? Things always seem to shrink in the length, not the width. So I took out a couple more pieces of fabric I'd bought very recently and measured those. Less selvages, they both measured 41" wide. Okay, that's better but still a little skimpy.

When I was a kid, my mother used to buy canned food--vegetables and whatnot-- in a 16-ounce can. Now you buy those same products in cans that are 14-1/2 or 15 ounces. I did find one can in my cupboard that was 16 ounces, a can of refried beans. Actually, I think the can is the same size, and the manufacturers are putting less food in the can and charging the same price. I'd guess the same thing happens nowadays with cereal and lots of other things.

All my recipes still call for a 16-ounce can of whatever, but I haven't bought a new cookbook in a while. Most of my older patterns base yardage estimates on fabric that is 42"-44" wide; but I looked in a new McCall's quilting magazine, and they based the estimates on fabric 40" wide. Okay, so maybe I haven't been paying attention. What's the moral of the story? I don't know, pay attention, I guess!

Never Forget