Early Birthday Surprises!

Happy Monday Morning - and first things first!

Items have started to appear in the Quiltville Zazzle Store.  And when I mean slowly, I mean that so far only the mug has been made available - and it only appears through THIS LINK.

It may be a few days before the store has all of the Indigo Way merch uploaded, but I'll keep you in the know.

I'm showing the 15 oz mug here - my favorite - as the 10 oz one doesn't leave enough room for adding creamer when I use the 10 oz size on my Keurig.

If you are ordering the 15 oz size - be sure you have that option checked.

Again, we thank Forest Jane for all of this swag she makes available to us - and we love knowing that the proceeds go toward all the supplies she needs to offer free sewing/crocheting/crafting classes through her local library, putting all of this into the hands of those who wouldn't be able to afford to learn otherwise.

This is taking "Each One Teach One" to new heights, and I thank you all for being part of it!

Even though I'll be across the world when the full array of items become available - I'll let you know.

And yes, of course - Forest Jane is authorized by me to do this in the name of Quiltville and has my full support. If you see her posts around Facebook and social media - just know that she has my full backing to do so.

Who Dat?!

I found myself ushered away for an early birthday lunch out and a round of antique mall wandering along with other errands (Tractor Supply, Pharmacy, Post Office) because when you live this far away from civilization you do ALL the things when in the vicinity!

We both fell in love with this vanity - though I never fully understood the low bits...who wants to bend that far down to get in the drawers?

Still, I can imagine a 1930s fancy getting ready evening....powder, perfume, jewelry - all while keeping an eye on that uptown clock at ankle height.  LOL!

You never know what you'll find and evidently Christmas is slow to be put away -

The 1980s called and they want their puffy yarn-tied calico wreaths back!

And these puffy trees.

Short Story Long - Dave and I were married in August of 1981.  And around Thanksgiving time we were informed that his parents were coming to stay with US for Christmas - our little 2 bedroom apartment.

We were living in Prosser, Washington at the time and I drove all the way into the Tri Cities where there was a House of Fabircs (Or was it Fabricland?) and bought matching calicos in white-on-red, red-on-white and white-on-green of the same print.

I made a table cloth of one, matching napkins of the other, and the white-on-green print became a puffy tree because the pattern was in some magazine?

Three of the same print in 3 different color ways on my garage sale Formica topped table for Christmas dinner.

I was not quite yet 20, and a couple of months pregnant.  So morning sick, and wanting to assure my in-laws and show them I was a good little homemaker for their son.

Puffy wreaths and trees brought all of those memories back.  The good and the bad!

And to this day I can't stand to make a quilt that has the same fabric print in several different color ways into the same project.  I just can't do it.

Which is probably why I don't sew with Jelly Rolls, Charm Packs, Layer Cakes or fabric collections in general.  Too much of the matchy-matchy- same print.

We did find some oldies but goodies!

What's not to love about a slightly wonky red and white Churn Dash?  I really like this with the red background and white dashes.

1950s Bow Tie.

Quilts are so few and far between these days we were happy to have found so many in West Jefferson, NC.  This was a child's cot quilt - 

Simple large nine-patch blocks...but dearly loved by someone and well worn.  Check out the School Bus print!

This one was interesting - and heavy.

It's a "Folded" log cabin - the strips are pressed in half and stitched down to a base fabric foundation.

Oh how I love a streak of lightning setting!

Some blocks appear to be simple shooflies, and then others have extra triangles added turning them into spinning friendship stars -

We spied a functional treadle!

(Missing a bobbin cover plate)

And it wasn't until I saw the cord dangling beneath that I realized this gorgeous cherry table was also a machine cabinet.

One of those chunky angular Kenmores!

I believe these are 1940s vintage.

A lovely and well worn flower basket quilt.

Gorgeous quilting!

Simple springy nine-patch with fan quilting.

We were finding QUILTS!

Crazy quilt of silks and satins, embroidered "By Mother 1947"

Double knit and hand quilted!

This one was stored in a huge plastic bag (OH NO!) and there wasn't anywhere to get it out and really look at it - but I can only imagine how hard that stuff was to needle and get stitches so small and uniform.

Simple rail fence in sateen

The shame about this one is that it was filthy front and back.  It would take a lot of care to clean it properly and even then - I don't know if it will ever come clean.  It was beautiful made and quilted.

More acrylic yarn -

I thought the rose granny squares were pretty though - and someone put a lot of work into both of these.

Weird item of the day -

When Martha suggested that the front porch at Quiltville Inn NEEDS a mermaid - I just busted out laughing.

I couldn't say No Thank You fast enough.

But if anyone is looking for a 9 foot tall mermaid - I know where you can get one.

Snow in the morning!

Our world was a snow globe yesterday morning - it didn't stick, luckily.  But it was sure pretty coming down.

We had driven over with the dogs to go check on Tula and she was waiting for us all happy and warm.

It started coming down heavy just as we reached our road and made our way back up to the cabin.

I took this photo as we were waiting for the gate to open.

Still photos don't do it justice!

51 down and in the bucket!

With the weather the way it was over the weekend there has been plenty of time for sewing more blocks.

My plan for today is to figure out just how many I really need so that when I get back from New Zealand I can push through the rest of them.

For those wondering - I'm well over 3,000 pieces in already.  But the number of pieces in a project isn't what I focus on. I Just love the whole process of quilts that take a really long time to make.

How was your own weekend? What did you get up to?

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Happy Monday, everyone!

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This is your Monday morning reminder that you can handle whatever this week throws at you.