I Was 'That' Customer Today

I met a friend of mine in Virginia Beach this week, and we hit a couple of the quilt shops down there.  I had never been to 'Sarah's Thimble' before, and she hadn't either, so we enjoyed looking around the shop.  It is small but had a good variety of quilting fabrics:  modern, Japanese, novelty prints, batiks, and several shelves of sale fabrics.

I saw a fabric that would have been perfect for one of my POD books, so I asked the woman if they cut fat quarters.  She said no.  So then I asked for 1/8 of a yard of the print I wanted, and she said she could only cut 1/4 yard pieces.  I only needed a piece about 3 inches by 10 inches, so I said ok, I'll have to buy it somewhere else.  She lost my business.  I wasn't going to spend much today, but my mom lives in VA Beach, so I'm down there a lot. Now I probably won't go back.  There are 3 great shops within 25 minutes of my house, so there is really no need.  When fabric is $12.99 a yard, I  don't like to buy more than I need.

While I was in Virginia Beach, I finished the embroidery on two more blocks.  Again, I haven't washed out the soluble canvas yet.

Dreadful Denizens of the Deep, Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration, Madcap Magic for Wacky Warlocks

Flying With the Cannons, Intermediate Transfiguration, Death Omens:  What To Do When You Know the Worst is Coming, Asiatic Anti-Venoms

Here are the same two blocks from my first POD quilt.

  

 

 

 

 

Stash Report, Net Added

I'm back to  counting yards added instead of yards used.  UGH!  In my defense, I've been sewing a lot just not finishing a lot.  I bought 2 fat quarters for my new POD quilt, and I cut a bunch of trash scraps for a mystery scrap quilt that starts in January.

I also finished two more pillowcases, but I never counted this fabric in, so I can't count it out.

 

 

 

The two fat quarters I bought this week have very specific places in my POD quilt.  This one (Timeless Treasures of SoHo Patt#Sea-C 1731) will be for the 'Dreadful Denizens of the Deep' book.

 

 

The next is for a delft china tea cup (Shabby Chic Brands).

 

 

Used This Week:  0 yards 
Used Year to Date: 67.125 yards
Added this week: 0.5 yards  
Added year to date: 67.625 yards
 Net Added:  0.5 yards

To see more stash reports:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2014/09/14/stash-report-week-37-2014/

Why I Stopped Quilting For Fifteen Years

On Throw Back Thursday, I want to show you the quilt that stopped me quilting for 15 years.  In 1990 I made my first quilt.  It was a baby quilt for my second son, and we all called it The People Blankie.
 

 

 

 

Both of my kids loved The People Blankie.  To stop fights over it, I took an Amish Star class and made my first son a quilt too (no picture because he took this quilt with him when he moved out). 

Then I took a class making Pineapple Placemats (no picture because I gave them to my sister as a shower gift).  Then I had what I thought were a lot of scraps leftover, and I decided to make a scrap quilt.  I enjoyed making the pineapple placement blocks, so I decided to make pineapple scrap blocks.  I made at least 13 of them before realizing that not all of  the blocks were the same size.

 Why?  Because  I was a new quilter, and there were at least 40 pieces in each block.  I also didn't have as many scraps as I thought I did, so I got some from my mom who sews but doesn't quilt.  Her scraps weren't all 100% cotton, so I had some raveling from the beginning.   I put all the blocks in a closet and shut the door.

When my third son was a year old, I decided he needed a quilt too, so I put 9 of the blocks together and made one. This quilt had multiple problems, the biggest being the blocks weren't all the same size.  Another problem was not all the pieces in the block had good contrast with the muslin I chose for the background.   The third problem:  it was an ugly quit. 

 

 

I really don't remember my third son using this, but he must have at  some point.  I do remember he preferred The People Blankie too. 

 

After making the quilt I had some ugly pineapple blocks left over that were either too big to ease or too small to stretch into the quilt.  I ended up making 2 pillows out of them, and my kids used these pillows to death.  One of them fell apart and was thrown out.  The other one needs to be!  There's a big hole on the back.

 

I don't like making ugly things, even out of scraps!

 

After this disappointing quilting experience, I stopped quilting until 2007.

Candle Block

I finished cross stitching the titles on one more block last night.  This one was easy because it only had two books.

Sonnets of a Sorcerer and Achievements in Charming

 

 

 Here's the same block from my first POD quilt:

Another Book Block

I finished stitching the titles on another book block last night.

 

These are Famous Fire Eaters, Magical Me, The Dark Arts Outsmarted and The Healer's Helpmate.

I changed the basilisk fang to a vial of felix felicis, and the order of the books is different.  Here's the block from my first quilt. 

Snitch Block

I finished one of my favorite POD blocks yesterday.  Here's the golden snitch sitting on a pile of books.  Notice there are no titles to embroider in this block.  Yeah!

 

I like the way the pages in the bottom book look worn, like the book has been dropped in the bathtub.

 

Here's the snitch block from my first Project of Doom quilt.

 

I still haven't decided which background color I like best.

Stash In Equals Stash Out

One yard added this week.  Since I've done the POD quilt before, I know what sorts of fabrics I'm looking for.  I found one yard of a red print I had to have for one of the blocks.  It was 50% off too! So now I'm back to stash in equals stash out.

Used This Week:  0 yards 
Used Year to Date: 67.125 yards
Added this week: 1.0 yards  
Added year to date: 67.125 yards
 Net Used: 0 yards

I did finish two of pillowcases for my cousin Sarah who picked up a couple of Row by Row kits for me.  I never reported this as fabric in, so it can't be reported as fabric out.

 

And I finished the embroidery on another POD block.

 

 

These books are:  Magical Theory, The Dream Oracle, Rune Dictionary, Invisible Book of Invisibility, and Fowl or Foul? A Study of Hippogriff Brutality 

I've finished the piecing on 3 other POD blocks but don't want to show them until the titles are on.

To see more stash reports:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2014/09/07/stash-report-week-36-2014/