What I Did Last Summer

     I know that the title of this post sounds vaguely like a movie time but it kept me pretty busy with a couple other ladies. I told you about it somewhat last Fall. Anyway, here is the quilt all put together and hand quilted by a bunch of us! And then one of the ladies who helped quilt took it home and bound the edges. If you aren't familiar with quilting  I will tell a little bit about this method we did... if you are.... just skip this part! The Sunbonnet Sue girls are all appliqued onto a base fabric... and then I machine stitched using a button hole stitch around each and every figure and separate piece of material to make sure that it would stay in place! Mind you if I had done it all by hand it would have looked nicer maybe... but would have taken sooo very much longer. Then each block was laid out on the floor so that we could decide which block should go where... placing a blue print piece in between. The rows were sewn starting from the left top corner and then the next piece down and the pieces going up at an angle. Anyway... the quilt was started in July 2011 by 4 women and then it was finally finished in March 2012.  Making the finale count of people who worked on it 8.  

(The reason it's standing like this is because it's on display so the ladies could see it all put together; thus encouraging them to buy raffle tickets during their meetings elsewhere.)

This quilt was made for a raffle to earn money for members of  The Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. This organization gathers together to talk about and write up the histories of their ancestors that crossed the plains to come to Utah in the 1800's. It's pretty amazing what those people gave up to come here. Most left your property, their homes and some even gave up family. Some can by wagons and if that wasn't hard enough.  A lot could not afford to buy wagons and so pushed/pulled two wheel hand carts and walked a couple thousand miles to find a place to call home. Children and adults alike walked across this country to get to Utah. Some walked thru the terrible heat; many died along the way. Several handcart companies (as the groups were called) had a very fateful trip.... They  were hit with snow and ice along the way. Many died but many made it. Someone once said that they didn't think that they (as in the company of people) should have made the journey. But, a gentleman who as a young child had actually made that long arduous journey stood and said, (and I'm not giving an exact quote because I couldn't find it) "You were not there, or you would not be saying what your saying. No one that made that journey, ever said that they should not have come! That journey, strengthened our testimonies as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And I would do it again." Amazing these people... I am humbled by their testimonies and the strength and love they felt for one another to do what they did. I know with out a shadow of a doubt that "I" could not have done what they did! The stories that these people have written down, copied from journals of these ancestors are more than amazing, they are powerful testimonies of our Heavenly Father and His love for them and us.

A Warning Every Seamstress and Quilter Should Read!

For the past week or so I've been moving my sewing room and fabric stash....which means I haven't been doing any sewing to talk about.  Since this is the case I thought I should pass this Warning onto you. Do with it what you will:  
                                                         Pheromones
A recent study has indicated that fabric gives off certain Pheromones that actually hypnotize women & cause them to purchase ungodly amounts of the stuff.
When stored in large quantities in enclosed spaces, the Pheromones (in the fabric) cause memory loss & induce the nesting syndrome (similar to the one that squirrels have before the onset of Winter, i.e. storing food), therefore perpetuating their species & not having a population loss due to their kind being cut into pieces & mixed with others.... (the fabric)
Sound tests have also revealed that these fabrics emit a very high-pitched sound, heard only by a select few-a breed of women know as "Seamstress's & Quilters". When recorded and then played back on an LP, the sounds are heard as chants:  "Buy me, cut me, sew me!"  In order to overcome the so-called "feeding frenzy effect" that these fabrics cause, one must wear a face mask when entering a storage facility (fabric/quilt shop) & use ear plugs to avoid being pulled into their grip.
Studies have also indicated that aliens have inhabited the Earth, helping to spread the effect that these fabrics have on the human population. They are referred to as "Fabric Store Clerks".
It has also been the experience of many of the older female members of this department that these same Pheromones cause a pathological need to secret these fabric purchases away when taken home (or at least blend them into an existing stash). When asked by a significant other if the fabric is new, the reply is: "I've had it for a while".
Memo
To: All Sales Associates
From: Nevada Pheromones Warnings Dept.
CC: Unconcerned Fabric Store Management
Date: 3/22/12


Hope that you enjoyed this little post;
Check out http://barkingdogsquilting.blogspot.com/2012/06/fabric-pheromones-is-at-it-again
The Author of this blog Kathy wrote it! Kathy Smith Harris 1997


 Remember to measure twice, cut once! 

Trying To Catch You All Up On My Many Endeavors

One of the projects that I've been working on is an O.P. Simplicity 3582
for our youngest granddaughter. I couldn't decide which pair of pants to make her.... cause they are both so cute! So, I made them both!

 
The shirt will go with the ruffled bottom pants, although, as a friend said, "It's not like your DGD is going to really care which pants she wears with it." Oh, and just so you know, I do have some sense of color taste!  They look better in person then in the pictures.  They went into the post last Saturday. Yeah! Hopefully they will fit her for a while b/4 it gets too warm to wear them.  Oh, and by the by... these were all made from my fabric stash! I did buy some white Velcro and then was informed by my DD that if I had snaps that that would be a better choice! Seeing as Velcro has a tendency to get all threaded up (if you forget to close them b/4 washing/drying) thus making it harder after a while to have them closer close. Nice thing was I had snaps in the stash also. So I will save the Velcro for some other project. You never know when your going to need to close something up! Hmmmm?

      My mom unfortunately had a bad fall the first part of February and broke her shoulder in three places. So being as she has to wear a brace for another month or so I thought that she needed to have a few options as to what to wear... and hopefully these will be easier to get into. I bought a couple scrub tops and unpicked the left side seam all the way up thru the arm hole and the sleeve! I sewed several pieces of bias tape doubling them over onto the tabs, that I had ironed out flat.  I enclosed them so they wouldn't ravel. Then place velcro pieces on the tabs and onto the scrub shirts so that she would be able to get in and out easier. The tabs go around to the back of the scrub which from my pictures is hard
to see. But you get the idea!

Hmmm, let's see what else? 

Oh, I weeded out a tub full of patterns I felt I didn't need any more. Guess I told you that in the last post; I've had  a bunch of gals from Church come thru and look and take home at least 3or 4. Then again there were a few that managed a good haul! LoL... I was tickled to see them go out the door with them!

We have a friend who was recently married; and because we are always a day late and a dollar short (mostly just time wise) the project/gift is now getting to the near completion point! 

 Actually its farther along than this, but I'm just too lazy to go take another picture then wait for it to download and well... ahem, you get the picture right! These are blocks that are made from a pattern called "Turning Twenty" by??? (Guess I had better go check,) Tricia Cribbs. Normally it is made from 20 fat quarters that you cut 4 different pieces from (there is also a border piece) but, we went with denim pieces due to the fact that this new bride wanted a camp quilt. We (and I say "we" because one of the DD's will be helping with this; and you know who you are don't you!!!!) will be putting the same red/cream print on the back (that is on the front)  with possibly a few other pieces to fill in the blanks... there isn't quite enough of that print to do it so I will have to dig into the stash to see what I can find that is similar weight. I may have to look for some navy blue corduroy to do the trick! Maybe red! (I know Missy... but it would look good!) All of the denim came from old blue jeans! Yes... I managed to whittle down the denim pile too! You should see I can actually get into the closet I keep them in again!

I've also been working on making some bias binding for several fleece quilts. One winter one for us.... it's a pretty Red Berber Fleece, I've appliqued White Snowflakes onto it.... and the bias binding I've made for this is a white with a print of winter scenes. DH can hardly wait for it! I had the bias put on and I started to hand sew it... but I wasn't happy with the way I had first sewed on the bias... so I un-picked the entire side I had done! Then I have 2 for a cute little set of twins I know.... and one more for a humanitarian quilt. Nothing to elaborate but I wanted to get these done and out of the way! Oh, and out of my sewing room! Oh, and all these items have also come from my sewing stash... except for the batting for the insides of the quilt, which is coming from DD#3's stash!  Oh... one more quick story concerning the quilt! A long time ago I bought the print for the quilt.... it sat and sat in my stash and then DD#1 used it for chair covers, one color (the prints  are a blue/cream and a red/cream) for each chair. When she was done... (she likes to change up her decor, more often then her mom.... that's another story... I like to move furniture! Ask her DH!) I got the fabric back! It sat for a long spell... until now! So nothing like recycling to add to the history of the quilt!
All right, this post is way long and I appreciate your patience.... I had to get a lot off my chest and catch everyone up! I will post  final pictures of said quilt and the blankets I get bound!

Don't forget to check out the fabric store/on line ads b/4 you go to make purchases... you'll be surprised what types of sales they have each month! Patterns at the brick/mortar stores (i.e. Hancocks/Jo Ann's) usually have their patterns on sale every month for around $1.99 or so for some of the Big 4 pattern companies. It pays to watch these ads! I sure don't pay full price if I'm looking for a pattern!

Spring Stash Cleaning

     This will be very short... not sure how sweet... but it will be a line or two!  I've been trying to clean, clear out and organize what's left... (it's not like what I removed really made much of a dent in the fabric and or patterns department) but let's just say some of the bins are easier to put onto the shelves now. They slide instead of having to be jam-packed in order to get them on the shelves. I pulled patterns that I have never used, some slightly used and some I thought.... (what was I thinking?) and offered them up to some of the sewing newbies I know. So far 3 or 4 gals have come by dug thru and basically helped themselves. I mentioned that "if" they change their minds about some of the patterns that they took.... to find someone else to pass them along too! I thought about donating them to our local Deseret Industries... but apparently they don't sell well there so the only thing that they use them for is to wrap breakables in. A girl wants to at least think that someone is going to get some use outta some of the patterns that have taken up residence here for a time at her home. And I really don't want to put them into the land fill! So... being as I don't have a huge readership... I figured I would see who would like them in my area. If I had more people who looked at my blog and sewed I would paste them up here so everyone could have a good look. But this is not the case, but,  if your interested let me know and I can put a few at a time up on the blog and send them your way... you would have to pick up the postage but other than that I will probably get rid of them in the next few weeks.
I also went thru my fabric stash and weeded out some items that I have been hanging onto for a number of years.... let's be honest now... I found some fabric that was dated 1997... yeah, gulp! Can you say fabriholic!!! I'll admit it.... there was a time that it was hard to pass up a pretty piece! If/when I do go to the fabric shop .... I very rarely purchase fabric.... mostly I just shop my own shelves, drawers, bins! So, I'm happy to say that I just carried a large box of fabric plus one large Ross bag over to a sewing neighbor! Honestly.... it barely seemed to put a dent into my stash! She told her DH that it was just Jean.... ahem, her enabler! Too funny... though I did tell her that if she decided that she didn't want any of it... to please find someone else to pass it on to. I think he rolled his eyes! Probably thinking, she won't be passing it onto anyone! She is keeping it all! Nice to know that that I'm not the only one! LoL.....
In a while I will post some pic's of some of the sewing that I have been up too.
In the mean time.... hope it's nice where you are.... it's somewhat Spring-like today... although, last week we had snow and cold! LoL.... guess March isn't sure whether it's a Lion or a Lamb!
Don't forget to clean your machine... we all work a lot better when we are clean don't we?