Another PSA!

Burkholder's in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is having a Moda sale that runs until July 20th.  All Moda is discounted 25%.  If you stop in the shop you will need a coupon but if you order on line, you just need to enter the discount code.  Moda yardage generally is $8.99 a yard (which is already a significant discount!).  With the special discount applied it is down to $6.75 a yard.  Such a deal!!  This is on all the Moda inventory including pre-cuts.  Even with shipping, it is a bargain for most everyone.

Here is the link to their website.

Public Service Announcement!

For those of you who may live in Pennsylvania or western New York or eastern Ohio, I wanted to mention that the Beaver Valley Piecemakers quilt guild is having their 18th Annual Quilt Show in October running from the 12th through the 14th.  This is a 100+ member guild north of Pittsburgh.  If you would like more information, please go to this site and be sure to mark your calendar!

Couple of things

I participated in a 10" Kona square swap.  I now have 64 pieces of lovely Kona fabric in lots of luscious colors.  Now, what shall I do with them?  I am leaning towards using this pattern which I discovered (and subsequently purchased) after reading Nancy's blog post.



All solids might be very cool.  I am also thinking about just randomly choosing stacks of fabric and cutting them them in the traditional "stack and whack" style.  Another thought is a zig zaq quilt because I do love making half square triangles!  I will, no doubt, stew a while on this before picking up a rotary cutter.

Since we working on one painting project over the weekend and the kitchen was already a wreck, I decided to paint more.  If you care to see, I posted that project over on my other blog.

Em is making a sundress while she is here.  Did you know that sizing on women's dress patterns is pretty much what it was 30 years ago and not the "new" sizing in ready made?  Emily wears a 2 or a 4 so we picked up a multi-sized pattern.  We got it out and started looking at the pattern pieces.  I then decided to actually read the size info.  Ummm - if we cut out a size 4 from the pattern pieces Emily would not be able to get into the dress with a shoe horn and a quart of grease.  Turns out in pattern sizes, Emily is a 10.  Thankfully, we had enough fabric on hand to cut the 10.  More on that as we progress!

Ta da!

Emily and I finished the buffet this morning.  Every muscle in my shoulders and back is aching like crazy but it is totally worth the pain.



I am absolutely crazy about this piece and Em wants it to belong to her one day.  I think that is so sweet.  Here is what it looked like when I brought it home two years ago.

My sister suggested that I paint all my kitchen cabinet door and drawer fronts with the chalk paint.  I think I just may do that.  Of course, this will lead to the need for new counter tops!

Lucky day!

I am taking Fridays off while my granddaughter is visiting.  Emily's idea of a big time is going to the farmer's market at the Green Dragon closely followed by going to thrift stores.  We hit the road early Friday morning and loaded up with fruits and veggies at "the Dragon".  After snagging a funnel cake on our way back to the car we headed to a couple of thrift stores in the Ephrata area.  On the other side of the Berks County, Hebbies (a discount home improvement place) had gorgeous cabinet knobs for 99 cents and I want to put handles on all the cabinets in the kitchen.  We stopped in there, picked up cabinet handles for all the kitchen cabinets and the buffet in the kitchen.  On the way home, Emily said that she  thought we should break out the Annie Sloan chalk paint and paint the buffet.

It really IS this splotchy!

My kitchen is a disaster area and the dining room is full of the "stuff" that came out of the buffet.  We painted it with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in Old White.  This is just the first coat.  One more coat and then the magic is supposed to happen.  I have used my homemade chalk paint and that worked great but I am a little concerned about this paint.  The first coat is pretty ugly.  Em and I have our work cut out for today.  The only thing I know for sure is that the new handles on the piece are going to be gorgeous on it!

QOV

Emily and I are working on a couple of things while she is with me this month.  This is one of our projects.

We have one more border and then it will be the right size to meet the Quilts of Valor specifications.  Em and I have both done the cutting, Em has done most of the piecing and I man the iron.  We have not chosen the outer border fabric as Emily wanted to see what it looked like before making that final fabric selection but I am pretty sure it will be something red.

Emily was really excited at the prospect of making something for a member of the armed forces and I am especially happy that we made something using patriotic colors and feminine.  This is my first QOV project so I don't know if I can make suggestions, however, it is my hope that the quilt will go to a woman helicopter pilot.  Army aviation is near and dear to my heart as my father was an Army helicopter pilot and I have friends who also were part of that program.

Next up is making a sundress.  The pattern Em selected has hooks, eyes and a zipper.  The bodice is fitted and the skirt is full and cut on the bias.  Other than a simple jumper that I made for my younger granddaughter, I have not made a real dress in at least 20 years.  I am sure fabric will be thrown at some point in this process...

Stumble Upon

Have you tried it?  You choose your interests and then click on one and then just keep moving from one web post or YouTube video or whatever to another.  I got sucked in for 3 hours.  This will be an even greater enticement for me than Pinterest.  


I blame it all on my Nook Tablet... 

Happy Independence Day!

I did not have it ready for Memorial Day so I hoped I would get it finished by the 4th of July.  Here it is!

Oh, you noticed that it isn't really finished?  I know!  I really thought I would get it quilted by today.  It turned out to be a lot bigger than I anticipated.  I think it is about 65 X 80.  I used most of a jelly roll that I got in my surprise package from Carrie Nelson but added some other fabric that I liked and had already purchased to make a red, white & blue quilt.  I used all Minick & Simpson designed fabrics from Moda.  The jelly roll was American Banner Rose and I threw in some Quilts of Valor and Clermont Farm.  (I love the outside border piece!)  The pattern is "Jelly Filled" from Thimble Blossoms.  I followed it (mostly) but made a few minor changes.  This one will probably end up on the long arm as soon as I can get it loaded.  I really want to have it bound by summer's end.  All of the left over fabric will go into a "Quilts of Valor" quilt that Emily and I are going to make while she is here.  We will use a very simple pattern that I can quilt on my Janome.  With all the florals and feminine paisley prints I am sure it will go to a deserving servicewoman.


Have a wonderful 4th of July and always remember that we are "the land of the free" because of the brave.