Quilting on Main Street

Friday, March 23, 2012

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.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

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!

Monday, March 19, 2012

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!"

Thursday, March 15, 2012

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!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

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.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

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.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

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.