New Endeavour...

So, while i am still trying to talk myself out of picking apart Cookie Monster's chicken quilt to add more fabrics to it (blasted perfectionistic tendancies!!), i started another project....

Inspired by the calico pattern from the Farmer's Wife quilting book.

so far, this is my favourite block

and this is my second favourite

We'll see what it becomes.  After getting the sewing room all cleaning out without a curse word, a handful of anti-psychotics, or loads of alcohol, i am indulging my inner craft geek in some serious sewing therapy.  Yea, me! :)

Thrifty Goodness

I don't know about you, but all this rain is bumming me out!!  Six inches of rain in March alone!  Sadly, April isn't looking any better.  I know this is Seattle, but come on?  For the love of La Nina, could you cut us a break?

I thought i'd take advantage of the nasty weather today to check out the thrift stores nearby.  Pouring rain = crowd control.  :)  And i am on the hunt for a couple of specific homeschooling books.  I didn't find them, however i found other neat items--proving that i need to make a list for the thrift store and not stray from it.  :)

One of my finds...this adorable quilt. 

 I wasn't too sold on it at first, beacuse it was just cute, you know?  I'm trying very hard these days to curb those "i got it cause it's cute" purchases.

You know what sold me in the end?  The Sentimentality Issue.  Look, Mrs. Ruby Dorrah sewed her own label into this quilt.  She was proud of her efforts enough to put her name on it, and i couldn't "bare" to think of her handwork languishing on Goodwill's racks until the orange tag sale day came. 

(sorry about the rotation of the picture--i can't figure out why Blogger is rotating this picture when it isn't that way on my card. *sigh*)

I wonder who Mrs. Dorrah is?  Did she make this quilt for a little baby she knew?  Gasp!  I hope it wasn't a grandbaby or other relative of her.  Can you imagine giving away your relative's work to the thrift?  Maybe she made it for a friend she knew in a nursing home who adored bears.  Maybe she made it for a church raffle.  Or a hospital charity.  Heck, maybe she made it for herself, just for the sheer pleasure of it.

It doesn't matter.  I'm a complete sucker for a handmade item--rescuing them from unwantedness and giving them a decent home.  Mrs. Dorrah, wherever you may be, thanks for making such a cute little bear quilt.  We will enjoy it for years to come.  First up, a "teddy bears picnic" out in the front yard (if April showers will yield a few hours of sunshine.) 

If i get the bug, i may just enlist my mom's help in putting a new flannel backing on your quilt top.

As If The Cabin Wasn't Enough

When we arrived at the cabin last month, we noticed something different.

Try to focus now. I know the cute kid in the picture makes it a bit difficult, but see that chair just below the orange life vests? Do you see the pinkness in that chair??

We hadn't remembered it before, so of course us Curious George's disregarded the old wives' tales about curiousity leading to untimely demise and dug into said pinkness.

What a gem it is!

It's a quilt that i wish i knew the story behind!

It's amazing work. Looks to be done by hand with a vast amount of cloth from

another place in time.

It's pinkness is that front of the quilt. I'll save that for last here, as i was completely blown away by the back of the quilt and am so excited to share it.

This is the back of the quilt: the diamond side.

Can you believe it? Two quilt "tops" effectively, combined to make a reversible quilt. Whoever said more isn't necessarily better obviously hadn't even seen a double-sided, hand stitched quilt made entirely of mostly very graphic vintage cloth.

I love the diamonds, but what i love more was that they were arranged by the colours in the centre so that the fabric wrapping the little centre diamonds could have no rhyme or reason.

These are some of my favourites:

I defy you not to adore these kittens--i'm pretty certain it's an impossibility

And as if that weren't enough, the front is just as delectible

APRONS? (or maybe fans?)

Adorable, regardless of their likeness!

One curiousity left is that funky material below with the woman on a broomstick in a Santa hat? What in the world? I wonder what a boarder piece of that cloth looked like? What's it suppose to be? Was it a feedsack? Very interesting!

At any rate, it's a wonderful addition to the cabin, adding to it's collections of furnishings from yesteryear and making it feel completely otherworldly when your blessed to visit there.

Soon, Very Soon

Thanks to all the time i've taken off from the Internets, i'll be learning how to finish this puppy up soon. This will be the the first quilt i've ever made: Cookie Monster's chicken quilt. It's going to be the dash of colour in her otherwise beach themed room.

I'm trying to make it as functional on a twin bed as possible. Just one more row on the sides and then i think i'll leave the rest of the width to a red polka dot border. Hoping i have enough material to make it as long as the bed. We're a family of tall people (with Cookie Monster following suit as she gained another inch over the past month), so over the years we've grown disenchanted with those little "lap throws" that can't even reach from our lap to our feet when we scrunch ourselves into the fetal position on the couch. :o)

Thanks, Mom, for the help so far!!! It's coming out even better than i imagined and the ladies at church who quilt said i've done an awesome job lining up the points. I told them, "All thanks to the world's best teacher: my mom!"

I'm not the only one getting sewing lessons this month either. While Mom and Pop visited this past month, Cookie Monster designed, and with the help of Grandma, helped sew her new bedskirt to match these curtains while Pop was teaching me to install light fixtures. :o) We're a more productive household, i tell ya, thanks to A&P!

Achoo & Poppa also did Moose and i a favour by taking Cookie Monster to the wilds of Idaho for a week so we could get some packing, cleaning and house projects done. While trying to find a simple solution to our kitchen flooring problem that didn't require us to by 12'w x 20'l lengths of vinyl and upon installing them into our kitchen's 3 ft. wide floor, we grew so disgusted that Moose decided to come home and rip out our old carpet. And we thought that was fun?!?

Just look at the fun Cookie Monster was having in ID....she helped Grandma make all 16 tabs for her curtains for the other window in her new room (she took over the nursery, since she needs more room for sleepovers with friends.)

I'm glad i am not the only one that makes that silly facial expression when i sew. :o)

Well, time for schoolin' so there's time for sewing and more sowing later.

Have a great day AND Happy Spring!

The Quilting Rookie, Eps 2

When we embarked on C.m.'s quilt project, Mom had me pick out a pattern. I found this cute one, that is from a tablecloth project. I love it, but i am not certain it is going to work for the fabrics i have.

The fabrics look really cute together like this.

However, i can't seem to get cuteness to translate when i have to lay them out like this.

Help, Mudder!
I'm thinking that they would look better if maybe i ditched the tablecloth pattern and used triangle piecework instead. I'll keep playing, but just be warned, Mom....i'm getting a little frustrated. :o)

The Quilting Rookie, Eps. I

Well, Mom gave me the go ahead, all figures are done figurin' so i was good to go to gettin' a-cuttin'!

So i picked my "greens" out, and with 3 of 11 (-ish) fabrics cut into 5.5 inch squares (the other *fab*ric is yellow chicks on a green backdrop), i am a quarter of the way there. Woot!

There is no turning back now. :o)

Reasons to Quilt

Oh boy, what have i gotten myself into?!

I am starting learning to quilt. We're gonna make it easy....and break it down.

First, we're figuring a plan (which i think is the most difficult part so far!) but then also we're working on square cutting basics.

So.....

My growing list of reasons to quilt starts like this:

1. I'd like to have homemade/handmade quilts on the beds at home, cause we all know that anything like that is soooo much better than big box bought.

2. All that cute chicken fabric that Cookie Monster picked out.

3. My mom was talking to me about doing my own quilt finishing today and taught me a phrase that i never knew was one of my favourites--as soon as i learned it, i knew what crafting had been missing up till this point. I can't wait to say, "Release the feed dogs!"

More to come, i'm sure....
Merry Christmas!