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Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Three To Choose From -


Yesterday was for finishing up the inventorying of everything in the Quiltville Store.

Most everything has a piece count in the store and automatically keeps track of how many widgets and whatsits I have, but there are some items that have to be counted manually.  Or at least by the case.

It's a high tech process.  

Which means, I am counting while on the phone with the Quiltville CFO (The Hubster) and he is entering numbers on the spreadsheet while I call them out to him item by item.  It works.  LOL!

Big case lots of things are stored on shelves in the climate controlled garage -paper items can't be subjected to too much humidity or pages curl, and that is why the garage is not only greatly insulated, but heated and kept at a certain humidity which also protects any fabric items from getting musty.

It was while I was counting boxes that I spied a corner of just what might be the another long term UFO pressed up against the inside of a fairly clear plastic tub.


Yep.  Untouched since 2009 as I recall.

What remains?  The right side vine applique is only basted in place and not appliqued down yet.


There are some other flowers to be added to the upper left corner, and a couple of scattered other pieces to fill in the spaces around my initials.


See - just raw edge basted.  Not done.

And I know why this languished.

2008 was the release of Scraps & Shirttails.  My traveling and teaching life was kicking off in a very big way and hauling this quilt top around was just not a great idea for an on-the-go project.

Hexies took over.

I'm thinking this is one to be finished, and one that I'll enjoy hand quilting in the evenings.


I learned to do the free hand lettering from my friend Tonya Ricucci, author of the book Word Play Quilts

This fabulous book went out of print way before its time, but is still available in Ebook format, and is currently on sale for a whopping $8.31 through Martingale HERE.

Every quilting library NEEDS this book.  If you are lucky enough to have a hardcopy, hold on to it.  If you can find one at a reasonable price, purchase it. If the best you can do is get it in Ebook format, grab it.

After I finish the border quilting and binding on my Oak Leaf quilt - I think I'm pulling this one into the line up.

Yes, there is still Jeff's hexies to consider - but I'm just not ready to face that one yet.

While pulling that one from the bin, I uncovered a couple other unquilted tops:


My late 1990s Amish phase.

I wanted to hand quilt this because of the texture thing.  Sold quilts really look amazing when hand quilted.  

Sold quilts look really FLAT until that quilting texture brings them to life.

But I don't know if I want to invest the time into this one yet.  It was an Amish phase.  It passed kind of quickly! LOL!


Sampler - also early 2000s.

By the look of these two tops, it also appears that I had a big border cornerstone phase going on. LOL!

This was also the era of trying to replicate things as close to an original antique as closely as possible, even going so far as to take a magnifying glass to a photo and trying to decipher if I had fabric close enough to the original to duplicate it.

That phase didn't last long past my "Nearly Insane" quilt finish either.


And through it all, Lola kept the red scraps from flying out of the bin.  LOL!

All of those scraps hanging over the long arm roller bar are now put away, and the red bin is back in its place.

I have a sew day today with my friend Martha who has a couple of quilt tops of her own to turn into quilts.  I'm so excited!

I've been wanting her to come for the longest time, and I think we are both caught up with stuff enough that a play day or two (or three?!) in the studio is perfect.


The creek view off the porch at Quiltville Inn.

It's still cold.  The snow lingers.  There may be more headed our way this weekend.

But I am counting down - 2 weeks from tomorrow Quiltville Inn welcomes her first guests of 2022!


This son of mine is 32 today!

Happy birthday, Jeff!  We are so proud of you and love you so much!

It's hard to believe it's been 32 years since he came into our lives.

Plans are firming up for a Friday evening birthday celebration for us both - yes, including cake.

Oh, and yes - the book you saw on my new Kindle Paperwhite yesterday is The Sewing Machine which is available for Kindle currently at only $1.08.  Bargain.  It's a cute story and I'm enjoying it!


One Week Remaining!

The introductory price for Cherry Crunch is marked 25% off in the digital pattern section of the Quiltville Store.  No coupon needed!  Price reduction good through 1/31/22.

I have placed some OTHER Winter themed patterns ALSO at 25% off with no coupon required!
Forever Mine PDF pattern includes the runner too!

On sale at 25% off through 2/13/22
Warm Hands, Warm Heart & Winter Blues are both 25% off through 1/31/22.

If this is your first time downloading digital patterns from my store to a computer click HERE.

If you intend to download to an iPhone/iPad click HERE.


Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Thoughts on keeping pretty!

Kaleidoscope quilt in blue and yellow made by me somewhere around 2003.

Have a lovely Tuesday, everyone!


 

17 comments:

  1. That book by Tonya is one of my favourites... I'm so glad I bought it way back when and have used it many times.
    I enjoyed seeing your older UFOs and thinking about the phases we go through as quilters.
    Enjoy your stitching time with Martha!

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  2. My 8th child had his 27th birthday yesterday on Jan 24. I don't have any other children born in this month but if your son is as special as mine, then that might be a clue. January babies are special, right? Happy Birthday to Jeff. and a Happy belated Birthday to you, Miss Bonnie!! Keep up the good work!

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  3. I have Tonya's book and it's how I found you, Bonnie. Liberated and scrappy is the way to go!

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  4. It looks to me like you had a yellow/gold phase too! Enjoyed seeing the older quilts. Lola is such a love, and a great model!

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  5. My Vote is the first one. I got the Wordplay Book when you posted it on the Blog, used it to make Pillowcases for the Grandchildren's Birthdays. Fun to sew scraps in to letters of their names on the cuffs. Happy Birthday to Jeff. Glad you have plans to celebrate with Cake. Happy Tuesday with no place to go! Lucky Martha! Have a great day stitching those tops into Quilts.

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  6. Looking forward to seeing in in a few weeks at the Inn!

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  7. I really did enjoy that book Bonnie. Hope you will too. Im also a fan of the Nook paper white. I’m joining you in the 60’s on Feb 8th. What a trip! Wheee!!!

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  8. Just the book I need in Feb/March to finish something

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  9. This year may be my year to get rid of some UFO's in lieu of starting new projects. I just found an applique quilt in red and green in a box. There are 8 blocks and with some sashing and borders it may be a perfect size for a lap quilt or maybe a wall hanging. Finish may be my motto this year.

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  10. It is nice to see that you have quilt tops that seem to disappear and then reappear. Mine aren't the only ones to go missing for a while. HollyAnne Knight might have some ideas on how to quilt all those solid fabrics. Thanks for introducing me to her.

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  11. Lola looks to be saying - Take the lid off the box so I can snuggle down in these comfy strips! LOL!!

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  12. My daughter bought me The Sewing Machine for Christmas. I am almost finished with it. I enjoyed the first part but had a hard time figuring out how the characters fit together. Once it begins to make total sense it is a good read. I have about 20 pages to go. I really like books that have something to do with sewing or different crafts.

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  13. I also have that book. It’s great.

    I have the “Nearly Insane” book as well, although I haven’t made that quilt. Did you? I’d love it if you showed it to us. Assuming you can find it, if your house is like mine, lol!

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  14. I too have macular degeneration and get a shot in my eye every 6 to 8 weeks.Had to miss the last one because of weather. Usually the doctor drains fluid from the eye. I too have The Sewing Machine on my Paperwhite Kindle.

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  15. Congratulations on finishing your inventory! We have to do it monthly where I work, and our system is remarkably similar to yours. I just give my helper a physical copy of the spreadsheet to write on, because cell phone service in our store is miserable.

    I really enjoyed all the old 'vintage' projects you have been unearthing lately. My mother gave me pretty much her entire stash and supplies (with the caveat she can have them back if i ever inspire her to quilt again), and I am pretty sure I've seen some of those fabrics in there!

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  16. My daughter is 47 on the last day of January... so she is a January baby!.. But 47?
    How did that happen??..

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  17. I bet that cute little red headed feller is fun. Nice picture of them both on the tractor. Happy belated birthday Bonnie. Spring is just around the corner!

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