Sewing and quilting

I am having a Hazelnut Hill open house in early November so I have been sewing like crazy. I have received quite a bit of interest in quilted items other than purses and totes so for the past few days I have been making table mats.

This one is quilted and now just needs to be bound. I found a fat quarter of the orange floral last weekend and  fell in love! I love the shade of orange and for some reason it just said "fall" to me.  I had the other fabrics in my stash. I am pleased with the quilting - especially the feathers. I just need to trim, bind and get into the washer & dryer.

This one is sandwiched and ready to be quilted. Yes, I cheat and spray baste. I really dislike having to unpin as I quilt. I purchased only the gold basket weave fabric and the orange fabric. I love using stash!

A couple of months ago I picked up a charm pack of Rouenneries from French General. I love the colors but had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with just 1 charm pack. (For the life of me I don't know why I only picked up one!) I decided to make a table runner.  The quilting on this one isn't anything to write home to  granny about but it is finished - totally - and that makes me happy. It will probably end up on my dining room table.

We stopped in at Burkholder's Fabric yesterday and I picked up some really pretty autumn "flavored" fabrics that will be more table runners. Those I will sell. I have flimsies of 6 Christmas table runners that just need to be quilted. Good thing I am in the mood to sew!

Hope you are having a great weekend. The weather here in southeastern Pennsylvania is just about perfect!

Fabric hunt

Saturday afternoon I drove out to Burkholder's Fabric in search of fabrics to complete my 3 most recent projects.  I know I have written about this shop before but yesterday I took photos just to give you an idea.  Keep in mind that I only shot about 1/3 of the shelves.  I am not exaggerating.  I will also tell you that EVERY shelf is jammed with bolts.  So jammed that 2 weeks ago when I went with my sister looking for batiks, I tried to pull out a bolt and heard something "pop" in my wrist.  I sprained my wrist pulling fabrics!  (I still cannot bear weight on it - getting old is a pain!)  Anyway, be prepared because this post is photo intensive!

fabrics for my projects - pretty boring!

Right now Burkholder's is offering 2 coupons and you must have the coupon for the sale.  One is for a 25% discount on everything in the store and the coupon is good until Sept. 11.  There is also a coupon for 30% that is effective only on Sept. 6 & 7.  I will be happy to forward you a copy of the coupons if you are interested.  (Without a coupon if you are a guild member or member of a sewing circle, you get an everyday discount of 15%.)  Fabric prices without coupons are fairly typical for Lancaster County - most new lines are between $7.69 & $7.99.  For those of you that like on-line shopping there is also a 25% off sale on line at their new website.  There are frequent specials for on-line orders.  You are probably wondering if they are having the sales to reduce inventory...and they are but only because there is more fabric on order!  No one has compensated me for writing this post.  I just love this shop so much I can't stand it!

Results from the Sew-In

I didn't get up to the studio until 8pm so I started a bit later than I had intended.  I grabbed a cold Diet Rite from the fridge, put the first season disc of Grey's Anatomy in the DVD player and started sewing.  This is the first thing I completed

I have decided that I am just going to leave the pinwheels "naked" (no raw edge appliquéd circles) and now just need to find something for the binding and backing.  I like the bright colors against the Kona white.  I also like the fact that the baby quilt is non-gender specific.  Wouldn't it be darling in a circus themed nursery?

I need a gift for my mother and she has asked for a weekender tote.  I really hope she likes this.  All I finished last night was the front and back of the bag.  This morning I made the handle, flap and sewed the outer bag.  Now I have to find something for the inner pockets and lining.

My favorite quilt shop is having a 25% off everything sale so I am going shopping as soon as I finish weed whacking the backyard.  I hope I can find the fabrics that I want to complete both of these projects!

Friday Night Sew-In, 8/20

I am going to do the Friday Night Sew-In tonight.  I have already cut the strips for my pinwheel baby quilt, picked up charm packs to make a "weekender" bag for my mom and I just received another season of Gray's Anatomy in the mail.  I am psyched!!

What was I thinking??!!

Here are 5 pinwheel blocks

Now look closely and please ignore the bits and pieces of snippets on the blocks

Not one stinking block has decent points!  I pride myself on being a decent piecer.  This is deplorable!  And I am not even going to say anything about the block below!  I love pinwheel blocks and every time I make them they turn out like this.

This one WILL be ripped apart!

I can rip every one of these apart (and I am giving that some serious consideration) but I am also thinking about a raw edge applique of a circle over each point and then spiral quilting from the center of each block.

What do you think?

A little sewing

I spent a lot of time in the studio this past weekend.  I had several bags "in process" for a couple of months and I just wanted to get them finished.  Some still need buttons but at this point I am happy just to have a little handwork and they will be ready for sale.

I also went shopping and purchased a basket hanger that I can use to display my bags.  Last year I borrowed my mother's for the show in Virginia.  I will probably end up borrowing that again for this year's show in Pennsylvania but I am happy to have this one in the studio.

I also recently added this very tall bookcase to the studio.  This is what you see as you are heading up the stairs

As you can see, I have bolts on the bottom shelf and (you probably cannot see) there are stacks of yard and half yard cuts of fabric folded and stacked on the second shelf.  The middle shelf is fusible interfacing and the top shelves are filled with fat quarters and scraps organized by color.

Here is what is on the cutting table right now.

I found a cute pack of charm squares that will be a baby quilt.  I have a couple more packs of some bright colors that will also be baby quilts.  I recently purchased some clearance wool batting in a craft size that will be perfect for some small quilts.  I have been anxious to try wool batting so this is a great opportunity to give it a whirl and not break the bank!

Don't you just love packages on your porch?!

I am a "follower" of Sew Many Ways.  Karen is so creative and has some of the best ideas.  She does a "Tool Time Tuesday" that is fabulous.  If you don't know this site, go there!  Every Sunday she does a drawing from all the comments that she received in the prior week.  Recently Karen drew my name and yesterday I received my giftie - 40 assorted holiday cookie cutters.  

I don't want to rush the holidays but all these sweet shapes make me want to start rolling out Christmas cookies!

See that red tag hanging off the side with a little white piece of something in it?

That is a fabric gift tag with a note enclosed.  Is that not the most clever thing?!  A darling little pocket that you can just swap out the note and use over and over.  LOVE IT!  I am guessing Karen made this and I have requested a tutorial 'cause I don't remember ever seeing one before.  I bought yards and yards of Moda Christmas fabric when it was on sale for $1 a yard.  I can make a lot of these things!

Thanks again, Karen!!

Do you know "Miss Mustard Seed"?

I have been reading Miss Mustard Seed's blog for a while now.  Back when I was starting up Hazelnut Hill, I emailed her and asked if she had any advice for someone starting a small business in Pennsylvania.  She emailed me with lots of information and encouragement.  She is an incredibly talented woman, generous with her tutorials and her blog is beautiful.  She is celebrating 2000 posts and is having a giveaway.  If you have not seen her blog, I encourage you to take a peek!

My oldest son and his family are here for a few days.  My granddaughter, Bella, asked if I would teach her to quilt.  You betcha!  She is enthusiastic, takes directions really well and is very precise.  She decided on a small quilt in Christmas fabrics.  Since it was her first time at the sewing machine, I thought simple strip piecing would be a good way to learn to control the fabric and sew a straight seam.

Using the little Brother machine was a good choice for this first sewing attempt as there is a speed control so the machine won't run at a crazy pace and Bella could learn to control the foot pedal.  All of the piecing is finished, outer border is on and the quilting has begun.  We should have a finished, little quilt to show this evening.  I love sewing with my granddaughters and I especially like their level of enthusiasm.  I think I may have another one "hooked"!!