Bonnie Blue Quilts Cotton Club BOM

My local quilt shop is running a block of the month called Cotton Club, designed by Bonnie Blue Quilts.  I saw the finished quilt in the store a couple of months ago and liked it very much.  The problem was that the colors (brown and red) do not go particularly well in our home and if I am going to spend that much time (not to mention the money) making it, I want to be able to show it off. 

It turned out that the store could get me the pattern, or I should say, patterns.  There is a separate pattern for each month of the BOM, 12 in all.  It turned out to be an expensive way to buy a pattern!  I console myself with the though that I will be using a lot of fabric from stash to make it.   

The pieced blocks in Cotton Club finish at 5 1/2 inches, so it is similar to the Farmer's Wife blocks.  I am planning to use a color-scheme similar to this sampler quilt I made a few years ago. 

I'm plannning to structure this project as a BOM - party of one, making a few blocks every month, and taking my time to finish it up.  I'll keep working on my other projects at the same time.  So look for the first Cotton Club update soon.

Dresden Plate - Next Step

I made a trip to my local quilt shop to find the fabric I need for the next step in my Dresden plate project.  After auditioning a number of alternatives, I decided on this:

Hard to see but it is a beige on white vine print by Northcott. 

And for the center circles and the sashing, I selected this bright coral tone-on-tone.  Actually, it is a micro-dot in red and pink that reads as coral.  It is from the Ruby line by Moda.

I will be hand appliqueing the Dresden plates to the background, which could take awhile to finish.  But stay tuned!

Next to My Sewing Machine

Miss Main Street was due back from her school trip to India early Saturday morning so on Friday evening, I was finishing up my sewing room re-organization, moving everything I'd stored in Miss Main's bedroom back to the sewing room's closet. 

Things I discovered while reorganizing:

1.  I have lots of aqua and turquoise fabrics.  Even after making this quilt, Bermuda Breeze:

I need to find another project that will make use of what remains. 

2.  I have an incredible amount of Christmas fabric!  There are definitely more Christmas quilts to be made here.  I  am thinking of using the pineapple block for one. 

3.  I found a couple of UFOs that I had forgotten about.  Really, they are not even UFOs because I never started them, just bought the materials.  I'll be working them into the schedule soon.

Last week, a few bloggers showed what is on their sewing tables.  I love seeing other quilter's sewing spaces, so interesting and a good source of ideas.  I've been thinking I should reciprocate, and what better time than when the space is at its tidiest! 

My sewing room is the fourth bedroom in our house, and it doubles as a guest room so a bed takes up a significant portion of the space (handy for putting quilts on though).  My sewing table is perpendicular to the window centered on one wall.  I have my wooden ruler rack sitting on the window sill, though I'd ideally like to find another way to store the rulers because this tends to look messy.  To the right of my machine, handy for my right hand, are my scissors for cutting thread, a small box of straight pins, a small pincushion (looks like a pumpkin), and a small basket that holds scraps for leaders/enders. 

I store marking pencils, small rulers, a seam ripper, and a small brush for cleaning out the bobbin area of the machine in this mug.  It is from our everyday dishes (Portmeirion Botanic Garden) but developed a fine crack in the glaze inside that made it unsafe to use for drinking.  I have another mug for rotary cutters.

I picked up this Shaker box/tray at a quilting show several years ago, where they were being sold by the woodworker.  It is very handy, as the handle makes it easy to carry items from one place to another.  But right now, it has become a catch-all for extra spools of thread and sewing machine feet. 

So my quilting materials are fairly well-organized.  Miss Main Street's room was looking pretty good, too, until her suitcase errupted.  Now, her souvenirs from India are strewn all over ("I bought a lot, Mom.  Everything was so cheap there!)  But I can't get mad at her about it yet.  The first words out of her mouth when she saw us Saturday morning were, "Thank you Mom and Dad.  I had the best time of my life!"

First Finish of 2012

It's my annual school auction quilt.  I'm calling this one Falcon Nest, after the school mascot.  It will be auctioned at the big event on May 5.

I used a piece from a t-shirt for the center, backing it with lightweight fusible interfacing.  I surrounded it with blue and gold hourglass blocks.  It is quilted in an overall swirl design, and is about 58" by 68".

It's good to have this done!

Dresden Update

The re-organization continues but Saturday afternoon, I'd had enough and took a break to sew.  I made some progress on my Dresden plates project. 

I have nine plates done and six in the works, of the 25 total for the quilt top.  I'm going to try to get to my local quilt shop later this week to look for background fabric.  Despite all the sorting and organizing, I didn't find anything in the stash that will work.  I'm thinking of an ivory tone-on-tone for the background, but will take the blocks with me and try them out on some alternatives.

More Finds for Sale

The clean-out continues here on Main Street.  I found a few more things that I doubt I will use but someone else may be looking for. 

3 half-yard pieces from the Charm line by Amy Butler for Free Spirit Fabrics, plus some smaller pieces and scraps from coordinating fabrics in the line.

$10.00 plus $5.15 postage

Baseball fabric collection, from the top:

baseball motifs, the piece is 28" by 65" (I used this for a border)

baseballs on black, 2 pieces: 

one 26" by width of fabric and one 9" by 80"

(I used this fabric for the back of a quilt)

baseballs on blue - 1/4 yard

Baseball game tickets - this is MLB licensed fabric

that is 60" wide, 46" long

There are some additional small pieces, not shown.

$15 plus postage - SOLD

Red Sox licensed fabric

(the round Red Sox logo is 1.75 inches across)

60" wide by 46" long

$10.00 plus $5.15 postage - SOLD

Prairie Paisley, by Minick & Simpson for Moda

The large piece is 29" wide by 2 yards

(leftover from cutting a quilt back)

There are 37 5" charm squares left from several charm packs, including the coordinating wovens.

These will coordinate with the new Prairie Paisley II line.

$14.00 plus $5.15 postage

SOLD

If something interests you, email me or leave a comment (be sure I can reply and you are not a "no reply" person). I'll send you an invoice via Paypal, and I'll put the package in the mail as soon as I receive payment. Note that where postage costs are indicated, they are for the US only. I'm willing to mail around the world but the postage will cost more. If you want to buy more than one item, I will recalculate postage as it will be cheaper to ship multiple items together in one package where possible.


Some items from my last post are still available. 

Quilting Magazine Giveaway

Yesterday it was fabric, today it is quilt magazines.  I'm cleaning out and these need a new home.  All I ask is that you pay for postage.  If you want one of these magazine groups, email me or leave a comment.  I will send you an invoice via Paypal and put your package in the mail as soon as I receive payment.  (Each group of magazines fits in a medium flat rate Priority Mail box, so the maximum cost of postage will be $11.35; it could be less based on your location).  I will mail to other countries but it could be expensive because of the weight.

Lot 1 - Five issues of American Patchwork & Quilting

October 2000, August 2002, March/April 2003, October 2004, June 2005,

plus two issues of Quilting Ideas

Winter 2002 and Spring 2004

Lot 2 - Eight issues of American Patchwork & Quilting

from the 90's

August 1995, June 1997, February 1998, August 1998,

December 1998, February 1999, August 1999, December 1999

SOLD

Lot 3 - Four issues of Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine

Vol 7 No. 8, Vol 9 No. 2, Vol. 9 No. 4, and Vol. 12 No. 3

SOLD

Lot 4 - Five magazines

Love of Quilting March/April 2004, McCall's Quick Quilts May 2003, Quiltmaker Nov/Dec 1997, Quilted for Christmas 2003, Quilt It for Christmas 2000

Lot 5 - Five issues of Better Homes & Gardens Quilt Sampler

1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, and Spring/Summer 2005 

SOLD

Lot 6 - Four issues of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine

September 2001, December 2002, July/August 2003,

December 2004 

SOLD

Still cleaning out and organizing so there is bound to be more soon.

Re-Organization Sale

As I clean out and organize, I've found a lot of goodies, more than I know I will ever use.  I decided to have a stash sale.  Hopefully, these items will find new homes where they will be loved (and used!), and I won't feel guilty about buying next month's/next year's new fabric releases.

So here goes.  If something interests you, email me or leave a comment (be sure I can reply and you are not a "no reply" person).  I'll send you an invoice via Paypal, and I'll put the package in the mail as soon as I receive payment.  Note that where postage costs are indicated, they are for the US only.  I'm willing to mail around the world but the postage will cost more.  If you want to buy more than one item, I will recalculate postage as it will be cheaper to ship multiple items together in one package where possible.

1.5 yards Barefoot Roses, by Grand Revival for Free Spirit Fabrics

$12.00 + $5.15 Priority Mail postage

Layer Cake of Aviary by 3 Sisters for Moda

40 10" squares of fabric

$25.00 + postage

SOLD

8 fat quarters of Woodland Bloom, by Lila Tueller for Moda

$12.00 + $5.15 Priority Mail postage 

SOLD

2 charm packs of Sanctuary, by 3 Sisters for Moda

Each charm pack contains 41 5" fabric squares in pastel shades

$15.00 + $5.15 Priority Mail postage

SOLD

Almost 2 jelly rolls - 1 complete jelly roll plus 32 strips from a second jelly roll

Sanctuary, by 3 Sisters for Moda

$50.00 plus postage

SOLD

6 yards Sanctuary fabric, by 3 Sisters for Moda

larger floral print on soft white background

$45.00 plus postage

SOLD

2 yards navy hand-dyed Cherrywood fabric

and dyed to match long sleeve heavier-weight t-shirt (size Large)

Cherrywood fabric is dyed to have a suede-like appearance but is cotton.

$35.00 plus postage

SOLD

12 machine embroidered blocks, 2 each of 6 different

floral designs (4 designs shown in photo)

Each block is about 8.5" by 7"

the thread is purple

I was planning to make a redwork wallhanging

(but in purple) but never got to it.

$10.00 plus $2.00 postage

 

I have a lot of quilt magazines but I will put them in tomorrow's post.  Thank you!

Re-Organization

I'm in the midst of a big re-organization here on Main Street.  Miss Main Street left Saturday afternoon on a spring break trip with classmates and two teachers from her school.  In her absence, I've taken over her bedroom, using it as a termporary storage facility while I clean out and organize my sewing room. 

To paraphrase Lynn, I'm one Rubbermaid plastic bin shy of being featured on an episode of Hoarders, so I'm editing my "collections" as I organize.  I'll be having a stash sale here on the blog.  Check back on Wednesday when I'll have some out-of-print pre-cuts and other fabric for sale, along with quilt magazines available free to a new home. 

And if you miss out on Wednesday, I'm sure there will be a second wave later in the week or early next week. 

Dresden Update

I was right, making the Dresden blades is a very good week night activity.  Here we are at the end of the week and I have all 170 made, ready to start assembling into the blocks.

I might have more than enough pink!

Have a good weekend.  We've got exciting things planned here on Main Street.  More next week.