Scraps and Shirttails II is Here!

While I was at the mall buying my husband and sons some See's candy,  I bought  5 100% cotton men's XXL shirts off the clearance.... clearance rack in anticipation of Bonnie Hunter's new book coming. The shirts have a nice feel to them.  Later when I checked the mail, hooray, Scraps and Shirttails II was in my mailbox. How fun.

There is a ton of fabric in a men's big and tall xxl shirt so I hope I get more than a yard out of each, and each shirt has 15 buttons to scavenge.

I can't wait to start one of the neat quilts in this book.

Rearranged sewing computer room

No sewing yesterday, but David and I rearranged the sewing room finally... and it is so neat and clean!!! I got the filing cabinets through craigslist. They are nice and sturdy ikea drawers and files and the printer fits with extra room.

We got rid of a bulky L desk I had gotten for $50 w/fancy chair years ago at an estate sale, and now I can move from the sewing machine to my ironing board much easier on the smaller desk top.

We took the TV we had in our room and put it down here, yeah!  I can only listen to talk radio and pop tunes on the radio so long, now I can listen/watch a show too.

So, hopefully this will make me more productive, at least, for a little while!! The teak shelves and cabinet came down from our room as well. A used furniture store find from years ago.

Besides sewing, finding used bargains on furniture and appliances is one of my favorite things to do when I need one of these types of things.

Happy Sewing to everyone this week!

All the blocks are ready to sew together!

I sewed the appliques using an open toe presser foot with a teency blanket type stitch. My machine has a setting where the presser foot lifts automatically, with needle down, when the machine stops which makes it so easy to pivot on curves and turns.

Here are the blocks up on the design wall. I hope to get them put together today and load the quilt on my longarm.

I have the 164 petals turned under and ready to sew....

I am making this Vintage style Quilt...

to begin using the scrap system this year,  incorporating what I have in my stash. I hope to make some "out of my comfort" zone color and value decisions. I have my New Year's resolution!

I was going to start cutting fabric for Roll Roll Cotton Boll, but first,  I needed to cut up my scraps from my last quilt into strips and squares.

Ah Ha! I realized the Cherry Basket scraps would look so cute in the "Going Green" quilt I saw in February's American Quilt and Patchwork Magazine. Hmm, all I needed was a background, 4 5/8 yards. Back to the quilt shop. I got this beautiful butter cream  (color named by Fat Quarters Quilt shop owner, Michelle!) light yellow, so my quilt will have to have a different name. I think  Buttercream sounds great for now. I have a 1/4 of the 164 petals with their seams starched into place....

"Cherries in Baskets" -Shop Sample Quilt finished - Design Wall Monday

I got back to quilting in January and completed a shop sample for the Quilt Shop at work at part time. So I had something to share for design Wall Monday finally!

The quilt pattern is "Jamie's Quilt" by Minnick and Simpson for Moda Fabrics, and the fabric line is "Charlevoix' by Moda.  I made the quilt using a large  (40) fat quarter pack with the extra fabric for the border, sashing and binding. I quilted in on my longarm with a random feather design by Barbara Becker from Digitech.com. I used most of the spare fat quarters for my backing.

Head over to Judy's to see what others are working on  PatchworkTimes

Bonnie Hunter Lecture Trunk show at Canyon Quilters Guild San Diego

It was very exciting to meet Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.com  because her blog is a daily read for me and I have learned so much from her lessons!

I really enjoyed  Bonnie's lecture and seeing her quilts in person. As great as the quilts look in the pics on her website, they are more spectacular in person!  Bonnie's use of color value and style of piecing creates the most interesting quilts.

One last thing to mention is that Bonnie, in a room with easily over 200 people, was just as nice open, friendly, and funny as on her blog.

Here is Brandon just getting home from a drive up to see University of Portland with his friend Carson. Carson has been thinking of transferring up there and wanted to see the area. They slept in Carson van in chilly chilly weather, and surfed at Santa Barbara on the way back. Brandon was happy to be back in a warm soft bed. He visited Voodoo donuts since we saw in on the travel channel and he said it was really really
weird!