More Bow Ties and Shopping

Sixteen more bow tie blocks done.  That's 52 out of 140.  Not too shabby of a beginning for a perpetual holder upper of the slowest. 

I kitted up the blocks into 8 batches each, enough for 140 for me and 140 for Ruth, my quilting buddy.  She pitched in some scraps too, but she doesn't have nearly as many as she is fairly new to quilting.  She has 3 quilts under her belt now.  These were all from scraps, and I 'think' that all the bow tie fabrics are different.  The lighter background fabrics are scrappy, but there are a lot of repeats.   I was more than happy to share, as I need to get the scraps down.  I can hardly notice a difference, except that the trash cans have lots of tiny scraps, and I have these bags to show for it. 

Some fabrics from the shop hop that Ruth and I went to Friday, instead of sewing, which we had intended.   The top 4 are for pillowcases for my nieces little ones, each will have the top fabric, and the next 3 will be for the cuffs which will be different, and have names if I get myself busy.   The bottom 2 are for a pillowcase for her oldest girl, and she has another girl who I will pick fabrics for soon.   Their mama, my niece is expecting number eight next month and I need to do a baby quilt for their new baby boy, and I thought I'd send each of the others a pillowcase.

More shop hop fabrics.  The 3 on the left are just because I don't have many oranges or reds, and the light lavender for backgrounds.  The middle two, more pillowcase material for my nieces youngest son, until next month, lol.  The right top just because I liked it, and the bottom right is a panel that I thought would be good for a quick baby quilt some time.

These I got last week when we made a dry run for the heart cath that DH didn't end up having.  The blue is for a pillowcase for my nieces oldest boy, and the green for when I need more scrappy greens.  The purple, just because I really loved it.   It seems like a lot of fabric, but it was all half price and will be largely gone in pillowcases soon.   We went to several doctor appointments this past week, and DH is having another blood test Tuesday.  If his levels are down to his normal levels (his are always elevated) then he has his heart cath the following Monday.   Then, it looks like for sure one heart surgery and maybe two, but the doctor was very reassuring, and it seems like the right thing to do.   Hope you are having a good weekend.

Basting and Shop Hop

I don't know if you can tell, but the 2 quilts on the bed are basted (whoopie). I have all the parts for the other 2 in this group, and hope to get them basted in the next two or three days. I hope I'm on a roll now and can get these four quilts finished, packed up and shipped to the great nieces and nephews that they are intended for. Maybe in a week or so I'll have pictures of the four of them to post.




DH and I put about 120 miles on the car today going to 3 of the 4 shops in this shop hop. the first shop was giving away the Flouncy Skirt pattern (may be cute for the smallest granddtrs) and since we were the only ones there at the time we won the little giveaway of the glue stick and little cloth wallet. My purchases there? The basting is killing my finger and so I am going to try the finger cots to see if they help. I got 2 kits for $1.00 to make some very cute travel makeup rolls, and then as I was driving away, I went back in and got 5 more of the little kits. They will make cute little thank you gifts for some ladies I know. The blue star fabric is for a tutorial that I loved and want to make before next fourth of July. It's from "and Sew on" "Bust an Flag It!". (See PS at bottom of post for a picture of the "Bust an Flag it!".)
















The second shop was the farthest away, and a really nice shop. The owner is very talented, she has the shop and a line of patterns and fabrics of her own. The three patterns were freebies from her line, and the red print is a little sample of the new fabric crinkler, not sure what it is really called. My purchase there was the ruler, I have the shorter one and it is one of my very favorite rulers. Wish they were closer as they have some interesting classes.
















The last shop was giving away the pattern for the beach bag, very cute, and again we were the only ones there for the drawing so we each won a fat quarter. They also were giving each person a state thimble. My purchase there was the red fabric, again for my flag.














Just one shop left, the one here in my town and we will go tomorrow and turn in our cards. It was a fun way to spend the day, and DH and I enjoyed the drive, the music on the radio, and each other's company.

PS Lola from "and Sew On" has graciously allowed me to share a picture from her blog. This is a wallhanging she made from her tutorial and what has inspired me to start collecting a little fabric.

First Shop Hop

The first picture below is my "free" booty from the 4 shop shop-hop that I went on a couple of days ago. It was $5.00 to go and you got the lanyard, then at each shop you got a pin, and if you spent $25.00 you received the free foundation panel. The little notepad was just a bonus from one of the shops.
The last shop of the day had thimbles of all the states which was great as one of the bloggers that I follow, Highland Quilter, has requested to exchange thimbles from different areas. That's why there are 2 Florida's, one for her and one for me.

A few months ago, when I took a class at our local quilt shop, I bought a Creative Grids ruler and it has become my favorite. It's a 24 1/2 by 6 1/2, so at 2 different shops I got a 7 1/2 square and a 12 1/2 by 6 1/2. Sometimes the long one is just too long to work with, and I got the square one with the idea of using a method that I found for quick 9 patches.

I thought that these fabrics would be a good start for some boys quilts. If I go through with my good intentions, I will need 4 or 5 of them to go with the 2 girl quilt tops that I have made. My niece has 4 more children that would like quilts, and if I do those I have a nephew and possibly two grandsons who will feel slighted without one too. They would be simple ones, but that's ok as they would be given no mercy and used a lot.