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Saturday, April 29, 2017

Like a Fabric Tornado

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Watch out world, I’m sewing up a storm!

This is the long string of days of productivity that I have longed and planned for.

It’s fine and fun to package up kits and sew on the road, carrying my bits and pieces in sets in zip lock bags, but there is nothing like the freedom of cutting fabric, sewing it together in my own space.

It’s a flurry of fabric fun and possibilities, and I am enjoying every minute.

I started out with a plan.  A simple block idea.

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Rolling Stone Block Progress!

I've got 2 piles of 10 pinned together in this photo, and 8 more scattered around.  I need many many more!  (Future book or magazine pattern, no pattern available as of yet. Stay tuned.)

I’m not even sure on the final layout.  This is how I work.  Start with one block.  Do I like it?  What do I need to change to make it better?  Make some more.  Do I still like them?  How would I set them?  Don’t worry about the setting yet.  Just keep making blocks and let the ideas circulate until things gel.

I’ve been sewing from “cabin stash” and there isn’t enough black up here in the form of fat quarters or pre-cut strips in the Scrap User’s System,  so I turned to the black string bin thinking there would be big enough pieces to get the parts that I need to add to my variety:

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Some good in here, some too small to do the job. 

SHOOT!  What’s a girl to do?

I quickly sent a text to The Hubster who was flying home from Santa Barbara with plans to stop at the house in Winston Salem to pick up a few things before heading on up to spend the weekend up here as well. 

“PLEASE BRING MY BLACK FAT QUARTER BINS!”  I swear the best thing I ever did was separate my fat quarters by color family and put them in lidded shoe boxes for easy view, grab and go.

Speaking of  Fat Quarters:

**Side note**  If anyone was watching the news in Atlanta yesterday, you may have heard about a woman walking butt-naked through the Atlanta Airport.  I got a live update from Dave who was at his gate in Terminal B  as she walked by.  LOL!!  And you think a travel job is glamorous?  

My response to his text –”Are your eyes burning??”  “Some things can’t be un-seen!” “Some things should never be seen in the first place!”  

News Story HERE.

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Hooray!

I’ll be able to keep going on these.  The little darlings are a bit tedious with those square in a square corners, but I’m loving them.  And the red centers have been fun, throwing some novelty fabrics in with my other reds.  I love little surprises in my quilts.

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And I’ve been working with Leaders & Enders all along!

I haven’t given up on our current Hourglass Leader & Ender project.  I’ll see this one to DONE even if it takes me beyond the start of our next one.  I decided to go with blues instead of aquas, and I’m loving these.  Over the course of the past 3 days I have sewn 51 hour glass units in the simple act of using triangle pairs to end chain pieced seams while making the Rolling Stone blocks.  How easy!  I just have to cut triangles and have them to the side of my machine as I’m working. 

Just cut SOME.  You don’t have to have the whole color round or the whole quilt cut out.  Just cut SOME,  and use them at the end of your line of piecing instead of that folded-over-thread-covered-throw-away-piece-of-fabric-scrap.

Our next Leader & Ender challenge starts in JULY, likely after the 4th.  Details on that to be announced at that time.  I hope you’ll consider jumping in with us if you aren’t currently working with Leaders & Enders already in your quilting life.

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There has been time taken to explore mossy boulders and outcroppings!



The leaves are emerging day by day!

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My allergies are in hyper drive!!

I could be the poster child for Allegra.  Antihistamine eye drops are my current best friend. 

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The cabin is up top, barely visible from where we stand.

And I am constantly amazed that ALL of this is our property.

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And we are being greeted DAILY!

The plan for today is to just ENJOY and see what comes.  Some sewing.  Some helping to build the shed when I am needed.  Perhaps a run to town for more required supplies as I have been here since Tuesday evening and there are some things we need.

One year ago I couldn’t have imagined this.  6 months ago I could never have imagined this. 

I feel so very very blessed.  I recognize that, and am so very grateful for it.

I am also aware of the one constant element I see in anyone perceived as having an abundant or “A blessed life” by others - There is always ALWAYS evidence of pro-active hard work involved.

Blessings don’t fall from the sky without a whole lot of effort behind them.

And always always always GRATITUDE!

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Quiltville Quote of the Day!

Happiness is also contagious! Share it with another!

I love this vintage chunky Dresden plate quilt found in Cullman, Alabama.

Happy Saturday, everyone!


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17 comments:

  1. Enjoy your time at the cabin, you deserve it! After such a busy schedule... Girl, I would be exhausted!!
    (Poor Dave.... 😨😨😂😂)
    Greetz grom the Netherlands.

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  2. Nature in all it's forms has a wonderful way of putting life in prospective, doesn't it? Serene happy place with a true kindred soul like Sadie is so healing.
    Happy you are taking this time out.
    Hugs
    JulieinTN

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  3. I absolutely love your posts from the cabin. What a wonderful serene place to recharge.

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  4. Love the 'rushing water" sounds, Sadie enjoying outside, your sewing moments, and 5 deer eating. And my laughter upon reading 'both' texts about nude women. And how your hubby understood what fabric to bring 😃
    Thanks for sharing Bonnie.

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  5. Minus the allergies (which I'm also "enjoying"), it sounds like heaven there in your cabin in the woods! Time to decompress and just sew little pieces of fabric together, walk with sweet Sadie and enjoy all that quiet. You indeed Have worked hard for it so enjoy it to the fullest.
    I am enjoying my own space and am making my first Bonnie mystery with a friend. We have most of the pieces of En Provence almost completed. I worked on hourglass units yesterday and make make sashing pieces of triangle in a square block today. I love the little piece part of projects :-) God bless you there in Virginia!

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  6. Nothing better than sewing in the middle of nature! Enjoy!

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  7. Quiltvilla VA seems so peaceful. Love the picture of "Queen of the Mountain" Sadie!

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  8. I love you leader ender concept, but have not tried it yet. I take that back -- I kind of used it when I sewed some blocks for a friendship quilt that I started when we moved from IL to AL. There I used parts of a second block while sewing the first block. What color thread do you use when you are sewing things that have such different colors like you are sewing with now. It looks like the one calls for white thread and the other grey or black. Nancy A: rangerer@sbcglobal.net

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  9. Another leader and ender coming in July. Obviously, I don't wes enough. I'm still making little Bow Tie blocks with Ceddar background. I love the leader and ender concept but sometimes I just us second block from the quilt I'm working on instead of the bow tie.

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  10. You make me happy just reading your blog today. Thank you and hugs.

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  11. I am going to sew up a storm here. Some serious sewing time is need. I am ready for the next leaders and ender challenge. My hourglass quilt is finished. Excited to find out what it is going to be.

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  12. I don't know why, but each time I see your new blocks I think of Dick Clark's American Bandstand and "Rock Around the Clock!"

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  13. abundance and gratitude... right on missy! Sadie is enjoying all the new smells/scents and exploring AND loving having mama home to explore with her... loving looking at your calendar and plans and seeing all the family time blocked out... i want to go on a quilter's Alaska cruise with you please... you are definitely on my bucket list... please help... i know you've got your tours set up years in advance, i'm not physically able to go on the next couple although i would love to see the countries ... just not able to walk and climb stair and etc... so, loving your sharing your life and of course i love you (how could i not?) and your family... thank you so much for sharing your lives... btw... congrats on the new cabin and environs... no HOA (i work with one)... xo xo Cats aka MomCat

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  14. Aren't we quilters just Blessed with the best husbands?? Your cabin photos and those running streams, you deserve this well deserved rest is this little piece of heaven called "QVV Quilt Ville Virginia". Thank you for all you do and all you share with those of us who don't get out much.

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  15. 10 out of 10 and a gold star to Dave for getting the right fabric to you. My hubby would need a sat nav or inch by inch measurements to get the correct box to me!! Your time at the cabin really makes me feel peaceful, time on your own is wonderful to relax and recharge, particularly after your hectic Texas trip. (Thoughts are with the people caught up in the latest hurricane). Love all you do and so appreciate everything.

    Linda H

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  16. It makes me happy to see you both enjoying and grateful for the good things in your life. You indeed have worked hard and deserve the fruits of your labors! In turn I'm grateful for how you have enriched my quilting life. I think I'm doing pretty well on the leader/ender challenge and am looking forward to the next one!

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  17. I really love your yellow tennis shoes.

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