I Got My Fabric Fix

I have not been to a real quilt fabric shop in almost two years. When we are at the North Rim, there is not a fabric store for at least 200 miles, and that is a Joann Fabrics. I thought I had found a fabric store in Kanab, Utah one time, but it turned out to be 2 aisles in an Ace Hardware Store. I was sooooooo disappointed. 

Last week I went to Hobby Lobby in Tuscaloosa, and they had some fabric but not much to choose from. I got a few fat quarters, but I was still starving for a fabric binge. 

Today, I found Carolina Lily Quilt Shop. As soon as I stepped in the door, it was like I was a kid in a candy store!  Not only did they have top quality fabrics, and plenty of it, the nice lady behind the counter knew who and what I was talking about when I asked if she had any of the Fairy Tip Toes line by Tina Givens. She didn't, but it is so nice to have this store within reach, and to be able to just go and touch and feel and adore fabric. 

I guess I went a little bit crazy. I made up for not being in a real fabric store in so long! Ooooooo, I can already feel another shopping trip coming on....

Another Project Completed!

I did not know how freeing it would be to get Becky's quilt on the road to being finished! Just the very idea that it is on the long arm machine has let me tackle other projects that have gone undone.

This week I completed Becca's quilt. I did the quilting on my sewing machine, just making wavy lines diagonally across it with a lovely varigated thread. I put the last stitch in the binding today, and since the sun was shining I spent the afternoon on a photo shoot with the quilt as the star:

This was photographed on a log at the creek behind our travel trailer.

I love to see my quilts hanging on the clothesline. That brown one is the one I made for Jim, the FabGrandpa.
Close-up detail of the wavy line quilting. Can you see the colors in the thread?
Another close-up of the quilting stitches.
Another view of the creek behind our campsite.

Almost Finished

Are you a lister? By that, I mean, do you keep a list of things you need to do, should do, must do, either written down on a piece of paper or in your head? I am very obsessive compulsive about MAKING lists of things I need to do. But when it comes to actually DOING those things, well, that is a different story. Sometimes I feel like I will literally die if I don’t have that list in my pocket. But there are some things on that list that have been on it for years!

Now that you know that particular thing about me, maybe knowing it will let you understand how happy I am that I actually accomplished one of those things this week. A major thing.

The item that has been on my list of things to do for the longest was the first thing I accomplished this week. You see, seven years ago I bought the fabric to make a quilt for my stepdaughter, Becky. I can remember the day I showed her the pattern and the fabrics I had picked out. She was excited about it, and happy that I was going to be making it for her. She was going to use it in the guest room of her first house that she had just bought. Five years ago, I actually cut out the pieces for the top and sewed them together. The top has been folded neatly and stored under my bed ever since then. It has traveled with me to Texas, Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and back to Georgia. She has moved on to a new home, with no guest room. Hmmm, could that in itself be a hint?

The last time I said anything to Becky about it, she said, “Don’t tell me anything else about that quilt. I am never going to get it, and you know it, so just hush.” It’s not that I didn’t want her to have it. I really love her; she has been in my life for more than 16 years. And while we didn’t see eye to eye when I first became her stepmother, we have become closer and have had some fun together since then.

And, that quilt top lying unfinished has prevented me from starting on a couple of other projects I have to do. How can I finish the quilt I made for Becca, my daughter, when the one for Becky just lies there, accusing me of being the procrastinator I am turning out to be? How can I start on any other thing when I have not completed that one? And now, after all these years, it is a matter of pride, a matter of proving that I do really mean for Becky to have that quilt. So, on Monday, I took it to the quilt shop and dropped it off to be machine quilted. I can hardly wait to get it back so I can put on the binding and sign it:

“To Becky, from your loving stepmother, Karen. May your days be as cheerful as these colors are bright, may your dreams be happy throughout night.”

Owen's Quilt

I figured since he is already here I better get off my duff and finish it up. I had the whole thing finished except for the binding, just sitting there for months. So, yesterday I made myself sit down and do it. Of course, I had to go to the fabric store to buy a half yard of fabric to finish it up. I thought I had enough of a yellow or a purple to do the binding, but could not find one piece that would work.

I love the colors in this one. This picture doesn't really show the deep purples. There is a lot of family history in this--the fabric in the big yellow blocks was also used in a quilt for Spencer and one for Becky; a couple of the purples were used in a quilt for Sarah; another purple was in a quilt for Becca; a yellow plaid was used for a dress for Sarah when she was a baby; and the purple plaid was bought on a trip I took to Mexico. I am sure Owen won't care where the fabrics came from, all he will care about is that it is warm and soft.

Fab Grandma Times 4

I am proud to announce that I am going to be a Fab Grandma again. My son and his lovely new wife, Seth and Sarah, are expecting a new baby probably in September. We are all so excited about this good news. Michael, the big brother, said to me “I told my parents I want to help with the baby when it gets here.” I told him it would be his job to teach his new brother or sister what not to do so he or she won’t get into trouble. He liked that. I have started a crocheted afghan for the cute little him or her. When I was in the store buying the yarn, it looked pale lavender, but at home it looks more pink. Oh well, so much for trying to remain neutral! He will just have to deal with it.

I also have started a baby quilt for the new little person. All I have accomplished on that so far is to sketch it out and decide that I want to make it in yellows and purples. It will be in the pinwheels pattern, with a striped border. I am planning to go to Douglasville next weekend and Emily and I can go to the fabric store and pick out some fabrics to go with the ones I already have. So far, I have some yellow that was used in Aunt Becky’s quilt (which I have not finished yet but plan to this summer) and Spencer’s big boy quilt; some yellow scraps that were left over from a dress I made for my granddaughter Sarah when she was little; some purple from Becca’s quilt (also not finished yet but I promise it will be this year!); and two purples left over from Sarah’s big girl quilt that I made for her sixth birthday. So, as you can see, this project already has some family history. I am eager to begin working on this but I can’t start cutting the fabric until I have all of it, so it will have to wait another week or so. But I can show you the sketch of it, hope you like it.

Last night while I was trying to draw this out, I was having a hard time doing it because the squares are on point. So, I drew them all out in a large square, colored them, cut them out, then taped them all back together in the pattern I wanted them to be in. Now, the reason I have to do all that is because I don’t have a pattern for this quilt to go by, and I cannot visualize it unless I am looking at it. Now that I have my drawing, all I have to do is count the squares so I will know how many to cut of each one. Sometimes even if I have a pattern I do this because I can’t imagine the pattern in MY colors when I look at it in the pattern makers colors. It helps me to see the squares in the quilt in the colors I am using.

But Jim was sitting across the table from me laughing at me. He couldn’t believe I would cut up all those little pieces of paper just to tape them all back together again. “Well,” I said, “isn’t that what you do when you make a quilt? Don’t you cut up pieces of fabric just to sew them back together again?” Men! They just don’t get it.