I have not fallen off the face of the earth....

Hi Everyone,

Italy is just three days away and I am so excited, nervous, wound-up, and stressed out. My only excuse for not being around here for so long is that my son arrived from his other home on July 29th and he lives in the room where my camera and the computer with it's software is. So the only thing I have to show you is my second to last Jelly Roll Sampler block:



We will be back on August 28th and I promise not to take too long to show pictures of my trip as well as all of the other sewing I have been doing.

My one year blogiversary passed quietly a couple weeks ago and I still have plans to celebrate it with you all, so don't forget about me while I am gone.

Talk soon!

Signature Block Layout Tutorial

One of the quilters on the flicker group asked for a tutorial so this is a quick one.

Post Script to my previous entry...

About my previous entry about old fashioned vintage style, country charm style.... whatever we should call it ... I in no way meant to insult anyone or anyone's style. As a matter of fact I keep seeing more fabrics I want to buy that would not be considered modern (Bar Harbor is a big one) but I know if I bought it it would just sit around and never get used. I still look at it all, and think of all kinds of stuff I could do with it, but in the end if I am going to spend my time and money on something (for now) it will be modern fabrics. Thanks so much for all of your suggestions... but how about I give it to you guys instead? Okay... big announcement coming soon.

And just because I would feel remiss if I didn't add a photo... how about my kitty in one of the fabric boxes... she is so funny.

Does anyone love old fashioned anymore?

Hi...

Where have I been?

Getting ready for Italy.

It seems that my jeans and tank tops are not going to cut it in Italy. Even though I could never pass for a European I need to at least try not to stick out so much (very un-healthy for an American at the moment). So I am making some dresses and blouses to wear with skirts and dressy capri pants. I have two pair of sandals (gotta skip the tennies) and I went shopping for a few more dresses and some bike shorts for under the skirts. August in Italy is going to be so hot... but I am not complaining... really.

This still needs a zipper and a hem ... but  it is coming along:

It is just a prototype I will probably just wear to church here. I wanted to make sure that the pattern worked for me before I made it out of the voile and embroidered cotton I want to use for the Itally trip. This is a tunic length blouse but I am making a couple of dresses out of this pattern as well.

As the the title of the post... I find myself in a dilemma. When I came back to quilting last year I went back to buying the same kind of fabrics that I used to buy. I hadn't been introduced to the modern designers and fun bright fabrics (that weren't novelty prints) yet so I bought a lot of old fashioned looking fabrics. 

Last Christmas I bought a ton of Figgy Pudding and Glace. I even made a purse out of Glace and carried it around until way past Christmas. Now when I look at these fabrics I am left a bit cold. I have a ton of fabric I don't even consider using anymore. I am going to donate it to my church's craft group. I find now I have to buy new Christmas fabric to make things with even though I have yards of Glace left. I gave away Figgy Pudding a month ago or so if you remember. I decided I wanted to make some trivets and pot holders for my etsy shop. I used Glace to do the tester:

This is 20" in diameter. I am going to bat it with that thermal stuff so you can use it as a trivet for a turkey platter. When I look at it I have no excitement over it. I wonder if my In-laws would like it.

So am I the only one that wants to use nothing but modern fabrics?  Is anyone else bored with the stuff they used to like? Let me know.

Hexagon Top and Jelly Roll Sampler Blocks

Yes! This took forever to piece together but at least it is done (I will probably add a border and some applique to it to make it twin size though):

Click on the picture to see it better :)

New Jelly Roll Sampler blocks:

#8

This was a pain to make and I am not happy with how muddy it looks... hopefully it will blend with the others.

#9

I like this one.

#10

I love this one!

None of my blocks are just like the samples so I have dubbed them "The Sesame Street Blocks" (one of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong). But what is new? I always did go my own way.

These have been my only projects this week. I have been so busy cleaning house that I haven't done much sewing.

Talk soon...

The stars aligning...

or something like that...

Old Red Barn Co. on Flickr hosted a quilt along for Astrisk blocks and the Block Lotto did some wonky ones this month. I have been wanting to do a Union Jack quilt even though I am not British. Anyway... here are my blocks for the Block Lotto:

And here is what I did with the leftover strips:

it was a fun little project today.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for taking time out of your day to comment on my giveaway post. I appreciate you all so much! Now on to the important part...

The winner of the 6 Fat Quarters from the "Brooklyn Heights" collection is:

Random.org says:

# 49 is:

NorahS said...

Love those fabrics! Have a great trip!
June 29, 2010 9:48 AM

I have another surprise! I got so many comments that I felt it would be nice to give out a couple more prizes. Yep, two more! Here they are:

Three Fat Quarters from the "Nest" line by Valori Wells

and

This cute little Frenchy Bag I made with some Amy Butler fabric.

I didn't get the pictures from Random.org for these two but I promise the numbers were 89 and 17 in that order.

The Nest fat quarters go to:

#89 is:

Nancy Sue said...

I love the name of your blog. Thank you for posting about its origin. And here, I thought it was a reference to a hubby!! Congrats on the etsy store! And thank you for the giveaway chance :)

June 30, 2010 9:26 PM

and the bag goes to #17 who is:

Jeannette said...

Oh my a trip to Itlay! I so want to go, you will have to post all about it!
June 29, 2010 5:34 AM

Jeannette you are "no-reply" and you didn't leave your email address please contact me to receive your gift.

Norah and Nancy Sue I am contacting you right now.

Thanks everyone for playing along.