Homespun, Seriously

this morning

I needed to move this chest

 it was so heavy...

 forgotten what it was filled with

oh seriously...

I thought I'd used all the homespuns

making those woven placemats with mom! 

looks like a lot of bundles of homespun

to sell soon

 *****

tomorrow the truck is coming to pick up

for the new

St Vincent dePaul thrift store 

opened in Youngstown

furniture, clothes, household goods

out the door

win~win

Happy Thursday

it's a little dreary, a little rainy

who cares?

I'm on vacation again

 

 

Chemo Caps

I can use some help here...

One of my coworkers is getting ready for chemo

again...

She's already lost both breasts to cancer

then recently had a second primary cancer

ovarian...

some girls have all the luck

Yesterday she was saying

it was harder to lose her hair

than her breasts...
no one can see what's going on

under your shirt

but your head...no one can miss it...

The help I need is with bright fabrics

blues for work

any other colors/prints for home

or if you'd like to make a cap I'd love that too!

My budget isn't allowing for anything

extra right now but I'd dearly love to

make her six or more caps...

the pattern calls for 2/3 yard fabric...

http://www.craftandfabriclinks.com/bonnet/chemo_hat_pattern2010.pdf

Please email me for my address

if you have any bright fabric to share

or can make a cap...

I'll share any extra caps

with the Oncology Department at work

A little bit about my coworker...

once she had a patient with cancer and they were

talking about losing their hair

the patient said how tight money was

and that she was going to have

to keep wearing the same few caps

for months...

well

these are the same caps we wear to surgery

my coworker went to her mailbox

pulled out all her caps

then gave them to the patient

who left in tears with a big smile on her face...

my coworker looked at all of us

and said

"don't say a word or I'll cry too...I hate crying"

Cotton, Wool and Cats

I finally broke down last week

ordered a little bit of new fabric to round out my stash...

most are 1/4 yards...Civil War and Jo Morton

after I wash them Mom will get half of each

I really must learn how to use this camera indoors

at least you can see the direction the new design is taking... will Reverse Hook (aka rip out) the vase and flowers

not as bad as I'd thought

changed the blue to olive and added some red...

still drab but more interesting

don't feel sorry for Melrose

he was in the windowsill for over an hour

before he gave Olivia a turn...

Resisting Temptation

I know I don't need any more fabric

I've packed and stacked

enough to last my lifetime

over the past few weeks...

So why do I keep thinking

about this piece?

The one I don't have

from an older line

that will soon

be unavailable...

Should I keep resisting?

or break down

and purchase a yard or two...

but what if I really need three?

~dear friends~

~please give me some guidance~

the BEST fabric

I could use

about a bolt of each...

the fat quarter bundle

arrived earlier this week

...

Mom and I divided

each piece in half

and sat talking about

all our past shopping trips

for fabric

laughing until we cried

about the bad weather

we ignored

to get to the shops

an hour or more away

a foot of snow

and

all the schools closed?

no problem

predicted ice storms?

oh well

off we went

...

we're anxiously awaiting

our local quilt shop

receiving their order

because we might need

a yard or two

of a few of these

Quilt Scap Winners

~ love this scrap quilt ~

it's been on my to-do

list for ages

it's a pattern by Cheri Payne

http://www.quiltsbycheri.com/index.html

found here too

http://www.cloft.com/MainStore/PatternsNKits/Patterns/PatternsCheri.html

I used the Random # Generator

to choose the scrap winner

Kathy (woolfind)

is the winner of the big box of scraps!!!

and two others will receive

smaller boxes

Cathy (hazelruthe)

and

Granny Lynn

I've sent you

an email

ladies

*

please reply with your

address

for shipping!

Mom's Stashbusting !

Great fabric

from Mom's stash!

Just dumped two small bags

worth on the table...

still another two bags

to sort through

I'm keeping the small stack

in the front row

and a few

of the larger pieces

on the left

as for the rest...

Treasures

I made out like a bandit this week...we changed some things around at Mom and Dad's house so she was going to store these little quilts my sister Deb has made her...now I'll be "storing" them on my walls for her...
Purchased these fabrics on the trip to Holmes County...total self control for me because I didn't buy any wool while there...
http://www.countrycraftcupboard.com/AboutUs2PP.htm

these are the quilt top pieces and old indigo fabric I purchased last week off eBay...am planning to make some small quilts from the blues to save these wonderful pieces from the past...

Deb bought me this bowl by Rowe Pottery when we were in Lehman's

http://www.lehmans.com/

this store is so much bigger than the last time I visited...

More treasures...Deb gave me the Monroe Pottery and you have to know it's some of my favorite! Bought the homespun hand towels at the Country Craft Cupboard...

Chester waits patiently at the corner of the dining and living room for me to finish taking pictures...

Fabric Storage or Decorating

I had planned to have the living room be a place with no fabric storage...but this cupboard is perfect for storing UFOs and my favorite fabrics...the quilt pieces on the bottom shelf include a Jan Patek basket and stars pattern...

With the doors closed I think the colors behind the screen adds a nice touch of color...so I'm going to consider it a design element...the walls are painted in Revere Pewter from Benjamin Moore...

Woven Mats

I like to use the big foot stool in the living room for taking pics of small things..."someone" tagged along and wouldn't give an inch for the mats my sister made...

Gave up and just used him for show and tell...these are hand woven on frames made by BIL Frank and are made from the good homespun from our fabric collections...they are perfect with all my prim goods and once in a while I even remember to use the smallest ones for coasters...

Giveaway Update: Still waiting to hear from the winner, if I don't hear from June by Friday there is a second name chosen and ready to go...

Stashbusting

Remember that basket of scraps I posted a bit ago...here it is in the new form of assorted squares...might not impress you gals who love the rotary cutter but these were hand cut by tracing around plastic templates...one of the joys of making quilts is handling the fabric...this book arrived yesterday and the cover looks perfect for using up these squares

The book is from my friend Rosemary who is selling a bunch of great books and patterns on eBay (http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZturkeyridgeprimitivesQQhtZ-1 )
I'd had my eye on it for a while and never got around to buying it...couldn't pass up her great deals and bought 3 books...if you love prims she has one of my all time favorite books available, Snowbound by Red Wagon...there is a photo of the Snowbound quilt in one of my early posts on this blog...

Don't forget about the Pieced giveaway ending soon...leave a comment if you'd like a chance to win...

Hand Pieced Patchwork Giveaway

There it sat, high on a shelf upstairs where I seldom venture...my favorite tin...bought on a visit to Quaker Square in Akron, Ohio...

I carry it downstairs, knowing what's inside and dread looking at them again...hours of my life are in that box...hours tracing templates, cutting fabric and piecing tiny triangles...I loved this project when it was begun well over ten years ago...it was going to be a strip quilt based on one seen in Lady's Circle Patchwork Quilts magazine...row after row of tiny triangles...time went by and I no longer liked that design, maybe a gorgeous scrap Delectable Mountains quilt would be better...

This morning looking over the blocks I think they would be perfect for a Bear's Paw quilt and am almost tempted to keep them and do it...almost...it's time for me to find these blocks a new home...

The blocks have all been hand pieced...all the pieces traced around in pencil...I think they would be best for another hand piecer...but am sure they could be machine done too...there are tons of blocks and tons of triangles ready to become blocks...

If you would like these blocks and promise to finish them into a quilt...please leave a comment here on my blog...why would you like them? do you have a project like this that begs to be finished but you just can't do it ?

I ask that only residents of the lower 48 US states request the blocks...I will pick a winner next Friday May 25th...

Early Work

Crazy Evening Star wallhanging made after Roberta Horton workshop...in the early 80's there were few fabric choices...especially the plaids and stripes...hand pieced and hand quilted...

Used to do some fancy labels...

Was going to crop this photo...what a mess...

The stockings were made by my sister, hand pieced and hand quilted...

Nine Patch Scrappy Quilt

One block in progress with some pieces of fabric and plastic template...hand cut and hand piece my blocks...it's the process of stitching rather than the completed project I prefer...

After I cut out a bunch of squares I pin them to pieces of freezer paper in blocks to stitch...All the fabrics were carefully chosen from my stash...this is not a scrap basket quilt...just used a few rules when picking colors...

A bunch of finished blocks...over thirty right now...these will probably end up making two quilts by the time I'm done with the blocks...keeping them stored in a pizza box for now...just took the design wall down in the old sewing room today and am not putting one up in the studio so it will be interesting deciding which block goes where...

A bit of fabric for sale

Check out the link to my webshots page for some homespun and cotton I have for sale from my stash...each box is jam packed with tons of washed and ready to use treasures...

Was going to take pics of quilt tops today and ended up airing out the wool blankets instead...now they smell a lot less like CAT...Chester does love them though so there's no sense even trying to put them away when summer hits...

On block 30 of the nine patch quilt and started a new rug today...just a small one...and finishing up the pieces for the PRHG Tax Day challenge...