Auction, martini girl, stars and freebies

My husband was out of town for a few days and the weather was wet and cold, so on Friday night, I took my kids to an auction with me. I wasn't really in the market to buy anything, but I was open to suggestion. I set the kids up in a quiet corner with their portable DVD player, pulled out my sewing, and settled down to watch another person's lifetime accumulation of paraphernalia being parcelled off to others piece by piece. There weren't many people there, and things were going pretty inexpensively. I bid on some plant stands, and won them for $2.00. Later, as I was wrapped up in my sewing and not paying very close attention, I heard the magic word - QUILT. There were a few quilts there, but nothing I particularly wanted, but this was something I had missed. A whole barrel full of quilt fabric - or so the auctioneer said. I hadn't had an opportunity to look inside, but no one else was bidding so I said, "What the heck?", made a bid, and won the barrel for $1.00. COOL!

Until I got it home and figured out how to get the top off, that is. The first thing I noticed was the smell. All the fabric was musty or mildewy - stinky. And then I started pulling the fabrics out. I wanted to give that auctioneer an education in quilting, because these WEREN'T what I call quilt fabrics. In fact, I couldn't identify most of these fabrics. Gauzy, stretchy, scratchy ick! I went through it all and found 6 fabrics that I was willing to give a try - 3 cotton prints and 3 flannels.

I popped them in the wash, and put the rest back in the barrel to dispose of. Oh well, it was just a dollar. Besides, while sitting there, I was able to finish embroidering this block:

I am currently in the process of quilting it to make it into a small wallhanging.

I've also finished the rest of my stars for Jason's karate quilt, but I'm waiting for inspiration to strike before I assemble anything. And I'm pretty annoyed at myself because the blue and the purple fabrics are so similar that it is hard to tell which is which!

Prior to the quilt guild meeting on Saturday morning (which I couldn't stay for since I had to work, but I did make a brief appearance) I made another star for the Just One Star project. I have already sent my first star, but I wanted to make another because we had encouraged members of our guild to make a star to contribute so we could send them all in together. I was thrilled to learn that our guild made over 30 stars to send!

I meant to take this book to the guild meeting to see if anyone wanted it - my friend, Nancy, sent it to me since she already had a copy, but it turns out I already had a copy, too. Do any of YOU want it? If so, just leave a comment to let me know - first come, first served.

The same goes for this Vera Bradley travel planner. It was a gift from a student, and while I love the colors and I love the paisley, I know myself and that I will never use it. I would rather it go to a home where it will be put to use. If you want it, leave a comment letting me know - again, first come, first served.

Finally, we are headed to Atlanta as a family later this week, so I've been gathering hand projects to work on. I will take:

• Donald's quilt off his bed to finish the binding (I've only sewn one side down)


• Feb, Mar and April Birdie Stitches BOM blocks to embroider


• My 4th of July Table Runner that I got to within inches of finishing the hand quilting and then just lost all interest


• And the little yellow gal wallhanging that I've been working on.

I also picked up 4 paperbacks from the library this morning. I envision long hours in the car, and long hours next to the hotel pool while my children wear themselves out swimming. I'm hoping that means lots of progress on my hand sewing projects for me!