What is 196? (pt. 2)

...the number of completed HSTs!

And for those of you who requested a sneak peak at what a block will look like....

The units are not sewn together but you can get the idea, yes?

What is 196?

...it's the number of squares cut to make HSTs for the Cowbunga Florabunda quilt.

Question of the day:

I ordered the same amount of each fabric for this quilt.  I've cut the same number of strips and cut the same width for each strip (3" and 6" strips).   

How come I have two inches more of the "Blue Floral" Hoopla fabric than the Bella Solid "Sunshine" fabric?

 

And did I get 2" more of the Blue Floral than ordered?  Or 2" less of the Sunshine?   

Inquiring minds and all of that...

What is 245?

...the number of 4-patch blocks for the king-size Cowabunga Florabunda quilt!

Now... on to the 196 HST blocks!

Drumroll Please!

Today, five lucky people will win 4 delicious Citron/Gray FQs by Michael Miller...

As selected by Ms Random Number Generator and in the order selected:

#32:  Catskill Quilter, a smart lady who has white dinnerware and wants to make a(nother) table runner!

#10:  SuperMomNoCape, who will make herself a tote!

#39:  Bev C, who will be using the FQs for her Christmas sewing!

#26:  Carla with plans to make a quilt!

# 4:  newly retired Sheila, who is going to make a stylin' purse for herself!

Emails will be going out to the winners and FQs will be shipped as soon as I receive their addresses!

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I chose this day for the give-away drawing because it would have been my parents 63rd wedding anniversary.

Mom made her wedding dress and taught me to sew.  She even let me use her sewing machine all by myself long before my 10th birthday.

Hurricane Photos

Flooding in New Bern NC...

Flooding somewhere on the coast of NC...

The ocean at Nag's Head, NC...

A couple who live aboard their sailboat in Norfolk VA tried to ride out the hurricane but were beached.  Thankfully, they were rescued...

Flooding and damage has occurred inland as well.  In Wilson NC, two backyard trees fell, slicing thru the roof...

A tree fell onto a car in Hillsborough NC...

Flooding...  notice the car lights are on.   I wonder if the driver escaped...

 

Civil War Block 35: Star of the West

Love this block and changed the directions a bit so I could use the wavy fabric as one piece rather than two HSTs sewn together.

Took a bit of math but it was worth it, I think!

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I'm fine here in south central NC... rain and a little wind but no damage.  My son and his family in Wilmington NC got power back mid-morning and only have limbs and debris in the yard.  There are trees down in town but not near them.

Watching Irene's path as the hurricane visits family and friends further north....

Weekend Visitor

Irene is coming to visit...

...and I have family and friends up and down the east coast...

Although we'll get wind and rain here, we're out of harm's way... unless Irene decides to wander off the projected trajectory.

Stay safe, everyone!

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Edited to add photos of my niece's home in Elizabeth City, NC, boarded up for Irene's visit...

In Love with my Shape Cut Ruler

I've started working on my Cowabunga Florabunda quilt...  it's going to be a KING size quilt/coverlet.  There are a LOT of pieces to be cut and sewn for this size quilt.  So....  I'm using my Shape Cut ruler for the first time...

Moda Bella Solid "Sunshine" (washed out in this photo)

The lines are easy to see and line up with the fabric and the Shape Cut ruler doesn't slip or move on the fabric like my regular ruler tends to do.   Zip, zip, zip, zip...   and you have four strips cut!

Even on the printed fabric, the dark lines are easy to see so you can get the ruler and fabric all lined up...   

 Moda "Hoopla" Blue Floral

...zip, zip, zip, zip!   And you have four more strips cut.

Once you have the strips sewn together.... zip, zip, zip, zip!

And your 2-patches are cut and ready to sew into 4-patches...

...with the cute little 4-patch at the seam intersection!

 

Seventy 4-patches down, 175 left to go!   Thank goodness for the Shape Cut ruler... it's making all the cutting so much easier!

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Disclosure:  I was not paid to endorse this product nor was I given the Shape Cut ruler by anyone (other than my sister) or promised one.  However, the Shape Cut ruler is making life so much easier... especially when I get home from work and cutting fabric precisely is more challenging...  I wanted to share how much fun this ruler is.

Bloggy Fun!

You may be aware of the Wantobe Quilter Campaign over at Stash Manicure...  where both newbie quilters and experienced quilters can win fab goodies... which includes brand new sewing machines!   It's not to late to jump on board... there are FIVE... count 'em ...FIVE give-aways per week until October 29th!

Suz, one of my Wantobe Quilters, won a sewing basket stuff full of all kinds of goodies...

 

...and I, her faithful sponsor, also won some goodies, which have just arrived in the mail!   I love the day-glo red-orange mailing envelope... it certainly lit up my dark mailbox, let me tell you!

Inside were 24 Citron/Gray FQs from Michael Miller... and a scrappy notepad and a lovely quilty card!  Also enclosed was a very nice card from Madame Samm with birthday wishes!   All these goodies would have brightened my day even if they had arrived in a plain brown envelope!

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If you would like to participate in the Wantobe Quilter's Campaign, all you have to do is go to Stash Manicure...

...and YES, I would love to sponsor more Wantobe Quilters!

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In order to celebrate going over the 20K page view mark, I would like to share a little bloggy fun.   

 

 

I have six sets of 4 Citron/Gray FQs by Michael Miller.  If you like a set of your very own, leave a comment about what you might do with a set if you win.

On Sunday, August 28th, I will draw numbers for five of the six FQ sets... I would like to keep one for myself, don't you know!

"No-reply Bloggers" - Please provide a way for me to contact you.  If not, I'll draw another number.

 

 

 

Tea Cosy

My sister Carol of the blue-and-white Kaleidoscope quilt...

 

... has the same blue-and-white dinnerware I have.  In fact, she gave me a matching tea pot years before she got one for herself.

Carol emailed that if I had nothing better to do than make notebook covers for the granddaughters, I could make her a blue-and-white tea cosy for her tea pot.   I think she was teasing me but what's that old saying... be careful what you ask for...

...you just might get it!   I used Insul-Brite for the interlining and sewed together remnants from the backing of her Kaleidoscope quilt for the lining.

Never made a tea cosy before... hope she likes it!

Civil War Block 34: Rosebud

This week's block, Rosebud, came with some interesting information about Rose O'Neal Greenhow, who was arrested by Union troops in 1861 for spying for the South.

 Rosebud by Becky Brown

Interestingly, this is a block that I'm familiar with because I have been reading Sylvia's Bridal Sampler from Elm Creek Quilts in preparation for a QAL this fall with Mama Spark. 

You don't need to buy the book to access the block patterns; 

all blocks are available on the SBS site.

Being the rebel I am, I elected to use the SBS rosebud block where it looks like 4 nosegays of rosebuds rather than the bold pinwheel in the middle and I'm-not-sure-what-the-rest-is of the block.

Doing this over, I would use a lighter red for the rosebuds and/or a darker green for the nosegay holders.   But this will look well with the rest of the CW blocks.

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Cool Give-away!

Karen of Lisnaweary Quilts is having a give-away for some cool stuff from Creative Grids!

The give-away is open to international entries and I know there are two of these prizes that I very much want to try out...  especially the rotary blade sharpener!

Made Fabric Project

Miki Willa of Miki's Fabric Creations does some pretty cool stuff!  One of the things she does is to make fabric where she sews scraps together and then makes blocks and appliques from the made fabric.

Made fabric by Miki Willa

While clearing my cutting table of all the fabric scraps yesterday afternoon, I had an IDEA!  Of course, the IDEA had nothing to do with what I had planned to do... but you all are familiar with my quilter's ADHD, yes?

I pulled out fabric scraps from Grandbaby Quilt #5 to make fabric...  and started sewing the scraps together...

...trimming selvedges as I went.

Then, I pulled out some batting remnants and zigzagged them together...

Next, I did a little simple quilting to hold the two layers together...

...then trimmed the quilted made fabric to be appx 1/4" larger than the composition notebook on all four sides when opened out flat.

I found a letter "C" online and printed out a copy to trace.  I did not have any "Love U" fabric large enough to use so pulled an orange print from the scrap bin.  I cut the letter out using my pinking shears and, and after ironing the letter onto the cover, I top-stitched the "C" down.

Using more of the scrap fabrics, I made two panels to make inside pockets in which to put the cardboard covers of the composition book.

I pinned these pockets to the cover and then added two small strips of fabric on the top and bottom in the middle to create a lining so the raw edge would not show once the cover was on the composition book.

After everything was pinned down, I sewed around the outer edges appx 1/4" from the edge.

I sewed at an angle on the corners and, once finished sewing, clipped the corners.

Turned everything inside out...

...stuffed the cardboard leaves of the composition book into the pockets...

...and pulled the pockets all the way onto the composition book.

The fit is snug but not tight.

The open section is covered but, if you prefer, you could just stitch this down so that the raw edges won't work themselves out.

Of course, I had to make a composition book cover for C's sister...

...using an orphan block from E's Grandbaby Quilt #4... the largest pieces of fabric I used was for the initials on the cover, the rest were scraps.

School starts later in the coming week so these will go in the mail on Monday.

One good thing about these covers is that they are, of course, machine washable.  

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Made fabric BOM at 15 minutes play!

 Photo from 15 Minutes Play - BumbleBeans Inc.