November

Every time I think I will sit down and write a post I find something else that really has to be done. I have been in full blown sewing/quilting/craft mode for a couple of months but it has really hit a crescendo in the past two weeks. I did take some time for just me sewing and made two quilt tops. They will most likely be discovered in my studio after my demise along with about 20 other quilt tops that need to be quilted! Sound familiar to anyone else?!

Today is Thanksgiving and I do want to take just a minute to reflect on the things for which I am most thankful. I am very fortunate to be 61 years old and have both my parents still living in the house that my children think of as the "family home". I am thankful for my handsome and delightful sons. They are both wonderful fathers, good husbands and make a huge contribution to society through the lives they touch as teachers. I am blessed with beautiful, healthy grandchildren and daughters in law that are wonderful mothers and good companions to my boys. I am thankful for siblings that have loved and supported me though all the crazy ups and downs of my life. I am grateful that I have gainful employment at a company that appreciates my contributions and has allowed me the opportunity to grow. I am thankful for friends, old and new, that allow me to be part of their lives as I share mine with them. I know that I am blessed beyond measure by a loving and benevolent God.

Thank you, dear readers, for following along and reading my posts - especially through the "lean" and sporadic postings! From my home to yours, "Happy Thanksgiving"!!

For the Boys (Men)!

Welcome to The Reluctant Quiter and my turn on the blog hop! If this is your first visit to the blog, please take a moment and check out the tabs across the top.  If you are so inclined, I would love to have you follow me!

While I can always find some kind of quilt pattern and fabric to make a masculine quilt, trying to find other things that I can craft for a man is always a challenge. I came across a tutorial for something that I think will both appeal to a man and be very useful - a wood carrier.

(The full tutorial from Fiskars can be found here.)

I purchased a piece of heavy cotton duck and a piece of faux reptile skin at Joann's.

I had originally thought I would use a faux tooled leather but I liked this piece of fabric better. There was a decent discount on the reptile fabric so that was a really nice surprise.

While I followed most of the tutorial, I also made some changes that worked better for me. I tried using my Clover Wonder Clips to secure the edges but found that they were just in the way. Instead, I pinned INSIDE the seam allowance and pulled the pins as I sewed.

Do not pin into the body of faux leather fabric. (The pin holes will remain.) I also used my walking foot.

When I turned the carrier right side out, I used my finger as a pressing tool against the inside seams to help them lie flat. Do not iron the faux leather. The design will melt! When I topstitched I just wiggled the seam to make sure the duck fabric was rolled to the back as I stitched and used the inside edge of my walking foot as a guide. I decided not to cover the handles with the faux leather fabric and simply used the webbing. I used a chalk marker to draw the placement lines, secured the webbing with pins and then edge stitched.

(If I had chosen a different color of faux leather I would probably have covered the webbing but the plain black looked fine against the outer fabric.)

If I had a fireplace (or some logs) I could have styled my photo of the finished product. Hanging it from the fence doesn't have quite the same look!

I took this in the rain and the weird reflections are from raindrops on my lens!

I love the way it turned out and I will be giving it as a gift. I even have my eye on some different fabric to make a few more. I think the next ones will be for two men I know that have cabins in the mountains. I think duck on the interior and a nice "woodsy" fabric for the outer would be really nice and also "manly"!

Please be sure to hop on over and check out the blogs below.

November 8^th

Debby Kratovil Quilts

Made By Me in Red

Freemotion by the River

Val's Quilting Studio

Tomorrow's Treasures Today

The Stitchin’ Post

The Nosy Pepper

The Reluctant Quilter (you are here!)

Quilting, Losing & Tea

For the Boys Blog Hop Schedule

The line up of contributing participants for a new blog hop, "For the Boys" has been finalized. The blog hop starts on Wednesday, November 6th. I am up on Friday, Nov. 8th.  Here is a link to the list!

I think this is going to be a great hop. It is pretty easy for me to decide on things to make for girls and women. Boys and men? Not so much! I hope to glean a lot of good male oriented ideas from the participants.

I hope you will follow along!

New to me!

I was looking for some clear plastic boxes to use for storage in my studio. I stopped at Big Lots yesterday and wandered back to the area where they keep all the storage items. I found really nice 6 quart clear shoe boxes.

I think you can see in the photo that the box is larger than a standard shoe box. They are manufactured by Bella Storage Solution and they are made in Massachusetts. Plastic shoe boxes at Dollar Tree are made in China. I prefer to buy American when I can. Here's what is really interesting. These shoe boxes are exactly the same price as those made in China...just one dollar!  If you don't live near a Big Lots I know they carry this particular brand at Kmart. I don't know that the price is the same but it is worth investigating if you are interested in supporting jobs in the US.

I put a fresh tape in my label maker. I am ready to organize!

Guilty Quilting

Sounds really naughty, doesn't it? It really just means that I am making something on a whim when I really should be doing other sewing!

The mailman brought me a package today from Green Fairy Quilts. In it were two packs of "Vin du Jour". I think the fabrics are lovely and very subdued.



I googled "what can I make with two charm packs". I found a Moda pattern that looks crazy fast so I am going to piece it this weekend...after I take my parents to the Poconos to leaf peek and after I finish making the crib skirt and baby bumpers for my great nephew's nursery.

If I get everything else done, maybe it won't be "guilty quilting" after all!

Missouri Star Quilt Company

Have you signed up for daily specials from Missouri Star Quilt Company?

I did and it is the most brilliant marketing I have encountered in a long time. They run fabulous specials every day in addition to weekly specials with items like charm packs for (roughly) $2, layer cakes around $22, etc. Even with shipping on top, the prices are most often less than I can find at Burkholder's (in Lancaster County) using a coupon. However, you don't want to get just a charm pack and call it a day. No, you take a peek at the rest of the weekly specials and throw something else into your virtual shopping basket. Next thing you know, you are shopping there two or three times a week.

Or is it just me?!

Thread sale!!

For one week only, Connecting Threads has select cotton spools, cotton cones and poly cones on sale. I love their thread! The colors in the sale are limited. If you have a cone holder for your domestic machine, you will love the 5000 yard cones priced now at just $5.99.  (My favorite for general piecing is "Sandstone".) Here is a link to the sale. I just snatched up a bunch!