Shop Hop

Wow, these shops are pretty spread apart. It seems like we spent way too much time driving, and not enough time shopping.

I med Janice in Yorktown and drove right past the shop before I noticed her truck outside and turned around. It is a little house that has been converted into a store.

It’s really cute, and although it’s not very big, it is big enough to have a selection of fabrics.

The Shiner store was quite deceiving. It is not impressive from the outside.

I thought it had sort of an industrial vibe, or maybe mid-century modern industrial, and it didn’t look very big, but looks can be deceiving. This is the view when you walk in the front door:

To the right is another entire section:

There were rooms branching off, and one had notions.

A corner of it was nothing but Creative Grid rulers.

I do love quilting notions, but I really went for one thing and that was their shop hop quilt kit.

It was packaged in a cute little bucket. I had looked at all the featured shop kits online already and had decided on this one. I bought a little extra of the Love Lily fabric so I can add a border.

Placemats and Other Things

 The Victoria quilt guild met this morning, and I actually remembered to take the placemats I had ready for Meals on Wheels.

I have a few more quilted, but no binding yet.......I will try and get them cranked out pretty soon instead of putting it off until the end of May.

The quild had their donation quilt hanging up and raffle tickets are now for sale. Six tickets for $5.00. If anyone is interested, let me know. It is a pretty one.

The spring shop hop started today, but because of guild, I only made it to the one in Victoria. I totally forgot to take pictures. Tomorrow, I will meet Janice in Yorktown and we will go to the Yorktown shop and then drive to Shiner. I haven't been to the Shiner shop before, and their website looks really nice, so I am looking forward to it. Saturday, Alan is going with us, and we will hit Ganado and Port Lavaca. Lots of driving......I hope it will be worth it. 

Here's what I bought in Victoria: 

No one was surprised about that. Everyone knows I love 1930's fabric. I saw a picture of a quilt I absolutely fell in love with, so I bought the red fabric to duplicate what I saw in the picture. Or at least a close facsimile.

I am going to try and keep the brakes on when it comes to buying, but my resistance is weak when I see something I like. We'll see how it goes. I think I would feel better about it if I had some of these UFO's completely finished, so I need to be a little more diligent about that. 

Quilt Backs

 I delivered the two quilts back to the LQS today, and they were happy with the quilting. I had planned to get another customer quilt loaded, but I was short on backing. That seems to be an ongoing challenge, and I’m not sure how to get it resolved. I managed to get some pieces sewn together.

We’ll see how it goes.

The queue of quilts to be quilted is going down…..

Hopefully some more will come trickling in.

Here are some shots

of the flower beds Bill did yesterday. The last pic is two tomato plants. I have the space, so why not use it for something?

Manic Monday

We were supposed to get rain today—60% chance—but, so far it has mostly gone around us. I checked the rain gauge after I fed the dogs, and it had 1/8”. Bill planted all the plants we got Saturday, except for the ones I want to put in my hanging baskets; I’ll need to get that done soon.

I picked up two quilt tops for the LQS last week, and I got those finished. The first one is a baby quilt made from a panel with two borders added to the top and bottom.

The quilt pattern is called cool beans, and I really like it for a more modern look.

Karen sent a plaid for the back. I was a little nervous about keeping it straight since I can’t really tell what is happening on the back. It did okay, though.

The other one will be a kit they want to use for Memorial Day. 

It turned out nice with the variegated thread I used. The thread is Fantastico, and it was a struggle to get the tension balanced, but I finally got it looking good. The quilt pattern is Victory—it’s another of the ones I bought during the My Creative Designs sale. I used red thread on the back.

It was a full day, and I hadn’t figured out anything for supper. I ended up picking up a Margherita pizza from Double Dave’s for meatless Monday. 

Weekend Update

I debated a little while on the granny square quilt 

and I finally decided I really don’t want the colored cornerstones on the outside round, and I am in the process of removing them.

I found a partial pack of the mini charms in the same color, and I think the easiest thing to do is to add them in where the colored ones were.

We went to our favorite nursery on Saturday morning. Next to fabric, my big budget buster is plants.

Yes, that is a turkey walking  around among the shoppers. They used to have a pet rooster, but he was killed by dogs, and they now have a pet turkey named Fergus.

He’s quite handsome and seems tame, although I certainly didn’t try to touch him.

Speaking of handsome, my grandson had his confirmation Saturday evening. He looked so nice in his suit.

Hard to believe how fast he is growing up. It actually makes me sad that all our babies are no longer babies.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Christmas Lights Part 2

Did I mention how happy I am to have this binding done? Here's the full size picture:

The binding is the same as the second inner border, and I really like the way it looks on the quilt. I was lucky to find it......i had cut all the strips 10-12 years ago and put them in a safe place. Of course, I found them when I moved. 

The backing was from an after-Christmas sale Hancock Fabrics had before they closed. It really has nothing to do with the top, but I liked it enough to use it for a back.

Other news: I got a customer quilt loaded, and it's almost done.

I used one of the new patterns I bought when My Creative Stitches had their sale a few weeks ago. It's called "Joyful". 

It doesn't show up that much in the King Tut thread I used; here is a more representative picture:

Christmas Lights

I have been working on this binding for a couple of months.

I didn’t think I would ever get finished. Binding is not my favorite part of quilting. In fact, this quilt was waiting for binding for about 10 years. Seriously. It is the Christmas Lights mystery that Quiltmaker magazine did in 2009 or 2010. I can’t remember exactly. I got it pieced and quilted, and then it got put in a stack for binding. I am doing my best to get through all of them. Here it is, all finished: 

The binding: 

Tomorrow I will take it to my shop where I can hang it and get a full size picture. I am so happy to have it finished.

Granny Square

This was a quilt-along on a facebook group. I think it was spring or summer of 2020, because I remember we were quarantined, and I latched onto this (and a few other projects) as a means to stay in communication with other people who were also sewing along. 

The blocks were so much fun, and then I got stuck on how to put it together--colored cornerstones vs. plain white sashing--and it got put aside. Once I go going again, it still took a little longer than I anticipated. Now I need to figure out a border. I measured it yesterday, and it is currently 65.5" x 76", so not quite as large as I would like. This one is for me, and I would like to use it on a queen bed. 

I have been looking on Pinterest and through my books for border ideas, and I think I have settled on one: 

The issue was whether I had enough fabric to accomplish this, but I scrounged around last night and found two charm packs.

I think that will give me just enough, and if not, Alan has some leftovers from the one he made that he has offered to let me have. 

 

Happy Easter

 Happy Easter from my house to yours!

We are going to my mom's this afternoon. She is recovering well from her pacemaker implant; my stepdad is recovering well from his kidney surgery; the kids and grandkids are happy and healthy; Bill and I are both healthy; I got the Elmer's Gold Brick eggs I ordered in time for Easter; and I have deviled eggs made and chillin in the refrigerator--life is good. 

Busy Days

I have been so busy I haven’t bothered to post anything in a few days. I also haven’t had much sewing time, so this will just be a mishmash of random things. I stopped at the LQS to get a micron pen, and they had the quilt I quilted for them on display.

It is so cute—Karen put a red binding on it.

She said they sold out of the red kits shortly after they put it out, and they only have two of the blue ones left. She is trying to get more kits before their shop hop in two weeks.

Bill and I went to Corpus on Tuesday so that was an all day trip. Wednesday, he had to go to Lake Jackson (we have a contract on the house—yay!), and I used the opportunity to do some house cleaning chores. A lot of housekeeping chores! Thursday I had a lot of computer work to do for my business. It is definitely the downside of being a small business owner. Sales tax is due on the 20th, so I still need to get that filed. 

I hung up the wreath I got at the flea market.

I put it in the hallway of my shop. It seemed like the perfect spot for it.

No New Projects

I am so wanting to start a new project. But…. I am really wanting to get some things finished. What to do?

I was trying to explain to my friend that I make a bargain with myself. If I finish two UFO’s, I can start a new project. That might sound crazy, but it tends to work for me. I think I get bored easily and want to start something new, and that is what got me in the state I am currently in. 

I need to finish the granny squares quilt I started in 2020, and there s a Quilt of Valor top on my machine that needs to be finished. I found a picture that I had saved to my photos file….I don’t know whose picture it is….but I love it. 

I’m just trying not to start it until I finish a few things. We’ll see how long I can hold out.

Cuero Quilt Show

It was such a pretty day yesterday. I spent the morning in Cuero with friends. It was a small show, but it was nice. There were only about eight vendors so I didn’t blow my budget. There weren’t a lot of quilts either, but there were still some pretty ones. Here are the pictures I took: 

They had a raffle quilt, and I bought six chances.

It’s so pretty. Of course, I would love to win it, but I could probably make my own if I put my mind to it. 

In the afternoon, I took a nap, vacuumed the floors, and in the evening we played outside with the dogs, then went out for Mexican food and margaritas.