Pictures! And seeking travel advice.

I was feeling badly about my nearly picture-less post yesterday, so here we go.  First, Donald and I cutting wood for the chicken coop.  We couldn't find safety goggles, so we are wearing "cool dude" sunglasses, as my boys call them.

Then, my latest pillowcase aprons.  The one with the pockets is for me.  For some reason, these pillowcases just said "Spring" to me.

And finally, I put the last two borders on this quilt.  It is 39" square, and the vintage fabrics are super soft, so it seems like it would be perfect for a baby, but since all the fabrics (except the white background) are vintage from a salvaged quilt, they are also super fragile.  I'm guessing a baby isn't necessarily the best recipient.  Is 39" too small for a lap quilt?  What to do with this one?  I would have made it bigger, but I was trying to use up the last of that white fabric, and I did.

I just love looking at these vintage fabrics and trying to guess what they were used for (besides making a scrap quilt) - an apron? a shirt? a babies jumper?

This weekend is my annual twin retreat with my sister.  We are headed to Columbia, SC to see the Zac Brown Band in concert.  Anyone from there or been there, with ideas for what else we should do?  I'm sure we'll find some thrift and antique stores to browse.  She is a knitter - any great quilt and/or yarn stores we shouldn't miss?  Any textile exhibits?  Great (and affordable) food?  Our schedule is wide open and we are open to suggestions.

Balking at borders

I don't know why I do this, but I always seem to cruise along making the blocks of a quilt and putting them together, but when it comes time to put on borders, I lose momentum. I love pieced borders, so that is probably why. After doing all that work making the center of a quilt, the work of making pieced borders is sometimes overwhelming. But with this little quilt, I really don't have an excuse. The pieces are already cut and just need to be sewn together and then sewn onto the quilt. What is taking me so long?

Part of the problem is my recent infatuation with making aprons from pillowcases.  My thrift store shopping spree last weekend yielded A LOT of pillowcases.  Last night I made 2 more.  First, this reversible children's full apron from a pillowcase and some green striped fabric that I had on hand.

 And then this half apron from a large cloth napkin that I found paired with the last bit of a Thimbleberries print..  I just LOVE the pom pom fringe at the bottom.

And lo and behold, I posted items in my Etsy shop last weekend, and had a sale in less than 12 hours.  Woo hoo!

New life for old scraps

I truly didn't mean to start a new project, but I was straightening up my sewing room and came across the scraps from my great-great-grandmother's quilt that I dismantled a couple years ago, and they called out to me. They are so soft, so I found a soft, off-white fabric to pair them with and got to work.

The center is completely constructed (blocks and thin inner border), and I am currently pairing the salvaged HST units to make a pieced outer border. The finished quilt should be about 40" square, and it should use up all that is left of the old scrap quilt.

The HST units were already sewn in the old quilt, but I have to cut them down to 2" first (because most of the seams have disintegrated) and then sew them together with the other HST units.  It is a little less work than making them from scratch, but not much less.  I love all the prints on the old fabrics.

I also whipped up a couple more corner bookmarks today.

Bookmark modeled in Lizbie Brown's Broken Star.  I have all the books in that series except Shoo Fly.  Does anyone know where I can find it?

 Last weekend at my quilt guild meeting, I was asked to provide instructions for the bookmarks for this month's newsletter, so I made some more while I made sure of my instrucions. The next time I give a kid a book, I am ready with a bookmark.

Speaking of books, when I wasn't sewing today, I was reading. I finished Leann Sweeney's The Cat, The Lady, and The Liar, and got started on Katherine Hall Page's The Body in the Basement. I had read one of her books before, The Body in the Kelp, because a quilt played a role in that mystery. It turns out, the book takes place in Maine (where I grew up) and was not only clever but well written with characters that I liked, so I was thrilled to learn that there is another in the series with a quilt in it. I haven't gotten very far into this one, but so far, so good. Truly, if I could spend my days splitting my time between quilting and sewing, what a happy existence that would be!

Zombie

I'm going to be a zombie in the morning. It is 2 AM and I am still awake, and curiously alert. I know it is because I leave for a 10-day trip in the morning and I don't really want to go. I guess if I put off going to bed, I put off leaving, right?

Of course, everyone else is in bed, so I've been sewing. First, I sewed together some border blocks for my scrappy star quilt, just because they are faster than the star blocks and I wanted immediate gratification.

Yup, I'm gratified. I'm going to love this quilt! Although, after seeing this photo, I may see if I prefer to have the rows with the light stars on a dark background next to the border.

Then I started playing with the un-usable scraps that I've trimmed off my GGG quilt, the ones I can't square up to 2" square. I just can't throw them away, so I thought I'd see what I could come up with by crumb piecing. My first idea was a house block with the GGG crumb pieces in the window and door.

I'm not sure how I feel about it, but it was fun and easy to make. Perhaps I'll come up with some other ideas while traveling this next week. I did not end up kitting something to take with me, because everything was just too big. These additional fees to check a bag are very frustrating. I feel like I am not a good steward of my employer's money if I waste money on a checked bag fee. So, I'm packing super light. I hope I don't forget anything. Like my PASSPORT....OK, I'm back. It would have been a disaster if I had forgotten my passport.

Anyway, I should stop putzing around and go to bed. I'll do my best to post from the road. Get in some extra quilting for me, would ya?