Just Havin' More Fun Than Monkeys!

Dear me!  Where do I begin?  There's so much fun to report that I may have to do it in two posts!

First I think I'll give an updated report on the little church quilts.  I now have five totally completed, and two more in the mill that are looking pretty good.  The first three were incomplete in my last blog, so I'm going to show the full series again.  All of them really need more quilting, but until we get 75 together, there won't be time for more quilting!  With the quilt-as-you-go method (plus a little more in places), at least they will be held together fairly well.

(Don't even ask about those outside borders!  Remember, for the most part, these are quilt-as-you go, and I got confused!   *wink*  If that excuse is not good enough, I'll use my standby:  I had a stroke!  *giggle*)

I wish I had taken a picture of the scraps I had for this one!  The borders and backing are from my stash, and as you would guess, this one is MY favorite so far, but I do like the black/green floral too.

Bindings were applied in the usual manner and whipped down by hand on the red/blue and black/green quilts.  On the other three I pulled the backing to the front and machine stitched it; those are my first times for that procedure; just so you know, I don't like doing that, but it is faster (maybe!).  With so many to make, I have to keep trying to perfect that!  Also I tried a little free motion quilting on the deer and on the patriotic panel.  I'm glad the pictures can't be enlarged any more; I did an awful job, but.......we were told.....use these for learning experiences.   I'm getting lots of experience, but not much learning!  But I must admit, it has been lots of fun so far!  Working with scraps like these surely calls for lots of creative juices!  (And lots of sweet iced tea and Hershey Chocolate Drops!)

Also since my last blog, I helped a friend a little with an estate sale; she is in that business, but is not a quilter.  She had no idea what a lot of the stuff was.  The lady who died was a dedicated quilter for many years and had everything quilty you would ever imagine, and fabric to excess!  (Is that possible for a quilter???  --- Yes, after seeing that stash, I'd have to say it IS possible!)  In the sale was everything from a Bernina 440 QT (sold the first hour at a terrifically low price!) and cabinet to quilty refrig magnets!  Literally!  I've never seen so much stuff in all my life in one home!  Because I helped my friend a little bit, she allowed me to choose (and of course, pay for) whatever I wanted before the sale, which began the day I took new DIL to the quilt show in Fort Worth. 

Then I went back to the sale on Saturday because she asked me to "work the sewing room" for five hours, which was a blast!  Watching ladies (and some men) dig through all that fabric and stuff was hilarious.  When the husbands came in the room with the ladies, I'd ask the men if they were quilters, and of course, they would say no.  I told them if they stayed in that room, we'd make a quilter out of them; if they didn't like that idea, I suggested they go out back to the shop where all the hand tools were, but to leave their checkbooks with their wives.  When my work time was up, I did a little more shopping.  I think I bought about 40 yards or more of fabric (including two 6-yard pieces of Moda at $2 a yard!  One will be a perfect backing for my Underground RR quilt I think; by the same designer as the striped border), and lots of other stuff I probably didn't need, but just couldn't pass up, including a nice adjustable office chair that is perfect for my sewing situation.  I didn't shop at all in any of the other rooms, but a quick walk through proved the lady had beautiful things all over her house; I just didn't have enough cash to get into those things!

Here's the "loot" (I think that's all of it!)  I may have to rob a bank to pay the electric bill tomorrow!  I've never done anything like that before in my life, and I enjoyed every minute of it!  (Remember, I've hardly left town all summer, so this was my vacation!)



 I've been really staying at home this week, sewing up a storm, or plotting and planning how I can create something from that big pile of little scraps I brought home from the church.  I've dug into my stash (or Hobby Lobby) pretty deep for backings, etc.  I did go to the church quilters' meeting this morning.

Now for the rest of the fun!  I think I'll include it in this post rather than a separate one.  The DIL and I enjoyed the Trinity Valley Quilt Show in Fort Worth so very much;  there were lots (about 300) of beautiful quilts, machine and hand quilted!  As usual, I took way too many pictures, and I'm not able to give credit where credit is due, but I want to show you just a few more pictures from that show, in no particular order.  If a reader recognizes a quilt that belongs to her, just know I thought your quilt was fantastic!  Can you believe I didn't buy a thing at that show??!!  DIL, not a quilter, was ready to come home by the time we saw all the quilts, so I didn't visit many vendors' booths; after the estate sale, I certainly did NOT need to! 

(Be sure to double click to see the quilting detail better!)

One more thing:  I've been invited to hang a couple of my quilts in a small one-day nearby show in November.  Now I have to decide which ones!  That will be fun too.  I haven't done that in the past few years, and I'm looking forward to it.

Now I'm done!  I promise not to keep so much fun to myself for so long again!  I just couldn't find time to get all this together before now. 

Tomorrow, I quilt again! 

---"Love"