Progress

I think 158 half-square triangles is enough for one day. Don't you?

Yard Sale Goodies

There were a ton of yard/tag/estate sales in the paper but I only found a few that looked like they would be any good. So, off we went early this morning, at about 7:30, because I heard of a few sales with fabric. Around here, the fabric won't last very long so we had to get out early. 

The first sale I found a bin with sacks of fabric for $0.50 per sack. I got two; the others had fabric for upholstery and clothing.  That is where most of the fabric in the picture came from. Starting from the top: vintage orange/brown paisley, blue/white plaid, orange/black halloween print, vintage blue flowers, and a red/white plaid at the top.

The next yard sale was actually an estate sale where they sell everything in the house. In this case it was a flower shop business. I got the three bottom fabrics above: blue flags, blue stars, and vintage blue with flowers. There is nice yardage on all of them. I got all the fabric in the pic for a total of $3.50.

I also found a stack of quilting books. I would have bought them all but I picked out a few that I couldn't leave without because a few of them were priced way to high.  I got two BH&G Quilting magazines from Oct 05 and Feb 06. They always have nice patterns in them. I also got Time Crunch Quilts by Nancy Martin. I thumbed through it and saw lots of quilts I'd like to make. The other book is Quilting for People Who Still Don't Have Time to Quilt by Marti Mitchell. It is filled with simple quilts made from squares and strips using easy piecing techniques. Lastly, there is a small book called Vintage Gathering by Kaye England. It has well-known quilt patterns in it using stars and squares. I got all the books for $6.50.

If you noticed a cat tail in this photo, you would be correct. He ran through right as I was taking the shot. He had to be sure and examine each item I bought!

I have been cleaning all week trying to get the house in a nice clean state so it will be pleasant to stay inside during the winter. I didn't do any sewing this week but I hope to get started this coming week on a nice warm winter quilt for our bed. I better hurry because the cold is approaching fast!



My Sewing Room

I'd like to welcome ya'll into my sewing room! I love to see where other people sew and craft so I figured I would show you where I do all of my sewing and crafting.

We bought the house we currently live in a little over a year ago. I did not quilt then and I rarely sewed. I mostly did a little scrapbooking and card making. This house has a bonus room upstairs. It is all open and a nice size. (I think the people who lived here before us used it as a bedroom for their children.) So, when we moved in we said it would be game room on one side and an office on the other. (Each side is kinda separated by the stairs.) I had a cafe style table in one corner where I did all of my crafting and that was the extent of my "sewing room".

Well, a very generous lady decided she was going to buy me a sewing machine as a house warming gift. I was excited to get a new machine because the little sewing I had done was on an old Kenmore unit in a cabinet. I didn't have the book that went with it and could only do a strait stitch. I knew I wanted to begin quilting I just didn't know I would be doing as much sewing as I am now. My sewing machine is one of my favorite gifts ever. It's kinda like the teach a man to fish thing.

Anyways, I'm telling you this so you can get an idea of how this room has transformed. It went from an office with a ping-pong table to a large sewing room with a large quilting table! We hardly used that ping-pong table anyways... (insert glares from husband here)

This is where I cut and lay out my quilts. It is cluttered right now because I have a lot of different things going on. I would suggest any quilter get a ping-pong table to use. Seriously. It is huge and you can lay out a whole lap/baby quilt on one side of it. You can just about lay a twin size over the whole thing. It sure does make it easier to baste. I normally keep one side clear for cutting. I keep a basket on that side where I throw my trash from cutting and (you can't see it here) my scrap bin is right behind my cutting area so I can just toss my scraps in as I go.

You can see that underneath I have bins and baskets to organize smaller pieces that I don't call scraps yet by color. Around on the other side I have other fabrics organized into fleece, apparel, vintage sheets/pillowcases, and home decorating. (See those pillows? I bought those at a yard sale for $0.50 and I'm gonna cover them with a waterproof table cloth I got at a retail outlet for $1 to use in my patio chairs.

This is where I iron. I keep the board set up all the time. Actually, I love having my sewing room upstairs because I can just leave projects lying around and no one sees my mess! Notice my scrap bin in the aqua tub. My ironing station is right behind my cutting table for easy access. Ignore the books piled in the floor I need more bookcases!

Here is where I sew! I like to have a window to look out so I don't feel all closed in so that is why I put my machine by the window. I like to use that small office chair with no arms because it gives me a good range of motion and I can also adjust the height. I like to be looking down when I quilt and at eye level when I piece. My machine table is also on wheels because I like to roll it out from the wall when I quilt to give me plenty of room.

And, lastly we have my wall o' fabric!These fabrics are pieces one yard and larger. They are mostly ones that I have not cut into yet. Below the fabric shelf is where I keep my thread (purple box) and there is a picture of my grandmother on my dad's side and on the second shelf is a picture of my grandmother on my mom's side. Both of whom sewed and/or quilted. That shelf is also where I keep my quilt backings. I use sheets mostly. Those red ones I haven't opened yet are Christmas flannel with cute owls on them ($5, twin size at retail outlet)!

The last shelf is office stuff like printer paper and envelopes. You can also see I now keep my printer on top of my old sewing machine cabinet. Under that is the bin o' batting. Ignore the unorganized mess in the green box. Most of that is vintage trims and the like.

So, there you go! What do you think? Let me know if you share your own sewing room in your blog because I'd love to visit!

Half Year in Review

I began quilting in January of this year. I'm a little late in starting a quilting blog! However, I decided that this blog would be more than a quilting blog because I will share other things I enjoy like cooking and getting great deals with coupons.


In an effort to catch you all up on my quilting progress I will post pictures of all my completed quilts this week in different posts.

#1- Nine Patch:

#2 -Pink Ribbon Wishes:

#3-Mix-Up:

#4-Simple Strips:

#5-Flight of the Birds:

Those are my first five quilts. More to come later. If you have any questions leave them in the comments and I will answer as soon as I can!

I must go start supper now...we are having breakfast! Turkey bacon, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, and biscuits!