Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Another Quick Finish

Sometime in the past few years someone from the Northwest Quilter's Guild gave me a big bag of scraps and in it there was a pile of these WOF strips.

There were also quite a few of approx. 4-inch square blocks as well. I had to do a bunch of trimming to actually make them a uniform size. (I would not be surprised if that is why they originally ended up in the scrap bag.) 

I had times when I questioned myself why I was spending time on this project. These are not fabrics I ever would have chosen, but not everyone has the same taste (at least that is what I keep telling myself).

I don't know what the pattern is called, but I've been calling it Basketweave. 

I almost always use Quilter's Dream Green batting. I quilted it with Christy Dillon's Harrison E2E. I used a light purple MaxiLock thread because I hoped it would bring out the purple in the light fabric, but it is almost invisible on the front. It does show up on the back.

I'm actually proud of the binding as this was my first flange binding and I made it from the leftover strips, which weren't wide enough. I found this Flange Binding Tutorial helpful.

Saturday, July 26, 2025

Huge Fabric Score!!

Just when I thought I had my fabric shopping tendencies under control, a crazy good opportunity fell in my lap.

I met a retired long arm quilter a couple years ago when she was selling fabric from her stash for $4/yard. I went and bought a lot at the time. After calling her last fall to see if I could schedule another visit to take a friend, she mentioned she was now selling by the bolt. On a lark, I asked her how much she would sell all of them for. She didn't have a price. But about month later, she offered me a price and I accepted it. 

It was 425 bolts! We took over a friend's hatchback and our compact car and it took two trips with them both filled up.
This is what I'm keeping. It's about 140 bolts. I bought the shelves too.
I'm planning to re-sell the rest. I don't have the space to keep it.

Friday, July 18, 2025

Finally Made a Quilt

My husband and I have spent the past few months sifting our garage and storage areas and decluttering. In June, we had a garage sale and then donated virtually everything leftover. The house is looking much tidier at the moment.

Last week, I had a couple of paid long arm quilting gigs so it finally spurred me to spend time in my sewing room. There was a pile of bright hibiscus and coordinating fabrics stashed under my long arm so I gathered them up and decided to make something with them. Finally. They've probably been there for two years.

I decided to fussy-cut hibiscus flowers into 4.5" squares then I just made a quick Scot's Plaid block pattern. It was a quick one-day project. I had been planning to add a border with the hibiscus fabric, but it is a large scale print and I decided it wouldn't look good sliced into strips.

I long-arm quilted it with Christy Dillon's Hibiscus Hideaway pantograph with Dark Rose Maxi-Lock thread. As usual, I used Quilter's Dream Green batting.

Of course, once I had the scraps spread all over my table, I couldn't resist working on another Broken Bricks quilt for the Friday Night Sew-In. That is my favorite scrappy quilt pattern. I'll probably finish it this weekend.