A blast from the past

Yipeee - it's a FREE day today. I have one thing on the calendar and it's totally my call if I go or not. It's a used book sale - of course, I'm going!

I bailed from the meeting I was supposed to go to last night. After the three classes and all the stuff that went on in the last couple of weeks, I was tired. So I came home, had dinner with DH and then sat and read my book. It was glorious! I even ignored my alarm this morning. Well, after I shut it off, I decided that I didn't need to get up yet so I just lay there for a while and contemplated life.

I'll be editing some pictures later today so I'm ready for the upcoming week. Lots and lots of pictures but that's what keeps us both entertained. Right?

During our show n tell yesterday, one of the participants brought in the most amazing show n tell. I'll share it in just a second. And I received a show n tell from a past participant. It was fun to see both of these projects.

This is Suzi's Dear Jane quilt. It's STUNNING. She hasn't decided how she'll quilt it yet, but the top is completely done! There were a ton of different techniques in this class. Hand piecing, paper piecing, applique, curved piecing and a whole lot more. We did that as an ongoing class in 2012, 2013 and half of 2014. It was a LOT of work. I was thrilled to see the top finished. How would you quilt it? By hand? By machine? And how??

Suzi's Dear Jane quilt top

The second finished quilt top is from Andrea. This is the Dragon Star by Judy Niemeyer. It's paper pieced. We did this class in 2013 so it took her 6 years, but that doesn't matter - it's done!!!!  She's sending it off to be quilted in a couple of weeks.

Andrea's Dragon Star

I just had a peek at the list of classes (our ongoing classes). I started teaching them in 2003!!!!!  We started off with ONE class per year and then went to two and sometimes more. Over the years, there have been 39 different quilts. THIRTY-NINE!!!!!!!  That's just insane and I have to admit that many of my versions are still not done. And they are BIG so that's a huge problem. I'm working on them. I should take a recap of them all and see where I stand. It would be nice to get all of them finished. Thinking about the other ones I taught at a different store (s), I'm thinking there are over FORTY of them.

If you go back to this blog post from 2013, there's a partial list (and pictures of some of the ones that we've done in the past). I'll compile a complete list at some point because it's a superb reference. We quickly forget the year!!!!  But I need help. I cannot for the life of me remember which quilt we did at The Hobby Horse in 2017. I know we did Kaleidoscope as one quilt, but what the heck was the other? I haven't had a chance to check my fabrics and I didn't write that one down.


So the other day when I was walking the girls, I noticed this sign still sitting on a neighbor's lawn. Hmm - the old me would have plucked that thing out of the ground and squirreled it away. Nope - not now. I have way too many. They are neatly stored in the garage and I don't need more. Why do I covet those signs? Because they're made with corrugated plastic and make wonderful bottoms for tote bags that prevent saggy tote bag bottoms. Here's a link to my tip.

Election sign up for grabs

Back to the pillowcase challenge. I thought about it on my way to class yesterday. Are 100 pillowcases even possible in one day? Well - if one person could make three in an hour (this method of making a pillowcase is called the 20-minute pillowcase), then in 6 hours, they could make 18. And if you had 6 people - you would have 108. Yep - we can make a 100 in the day. We're not making the french seam but going to use the serger so that step will make them even faster to make. We'll have time for lunch!

I had a quick peek into the stash room. Oh boy - there's a LOT of fabric that would fit this category. Here's a basket of licensed characters - Barbie, Winnie the Pooh, etc. Perfect for kids pillowcases. There are a few that have metallic on them so they are out, but this basket is going to be severely reduced (I hope).

Basket of licensed children's fabrics

PLUS there are THREE more baskets with bright fabrics that would work. Now some of the pieces are NOT large enough. So the first cull will be to sort out the pieces that are too small and then sort out any metallic. Then I can match up the fabrics to get the main body and a band. And there's also the question of directional prints. You can make the pillowcase with directional prints - you just have to cut it slightly different. I have written instructions for directional prints and once I figure out how to post that, I'll share it with you.

Three more baskets of bright fabrics

Seriously!!!  What the heck am I going to do with these four baskets of fabric? I haven't touched most of that stuff in years but it's all good quality and fun stuff. It's perfect for this charity program. I certainly can't take it with me and I would much rather it be used on a fun day with friends than donated to a guild so they can use it. No way - this is my stuff and I'm determined to make good use of it. It's time to get it used up!!!!!

Here's how the day will work. The date booked to make pillowcases for Ryan's Case for Smiles project is Tuesday, December 3. You do NOT need to bring a sewing machine. I'll have three sergers set up and three sewing machines. We're going to make a sweatshop. Someone can do the pressing, someone can sew the first seam on the sewing machine, others can do the serging and others can finish off the seam ends. Someone can be cutting although would be nice to have everything cut BEFORE the day starts. If you can only come for an hour, then you come just for one hour. If you can stay longer, great. It's going to be loads of fun!!!! 

Keep in mind, this is NOT a race. We want good quality work on our pillowcases.  If you have some time on that day to spare or some fabric to donate, e-mail me so I can get everything coordinated. I'm going to start sorting those baskets later today.

Things to remember if you want to help. Check this link to see what kind of fabrics are acceptable and what are not. This is EXTREMELY important. There's no sense in making a pillowcase if they won't accept it. We're going to be very strict about this. Although it's easy. No flannel, no metallic. And make them bright and cheery. Yes - winter-themed or even Christmas will work as there are children who will spend Christmas in the hospital.

Go to this link to get the instructions for cutting and sewing. If you want to make some on your own and add to our stack, then do so. I see a photo op for blog posts, quilt magazines, the local newspaper. Let's make this BIG.

The more places that I find to use up stuff that I have acquired the more excited I get. This is why I accumulated a huge stash over the years. Now I can actually use it!!!! I didn't buy it to give it away as I've seen many people do. What's the point of that? I might as well stand at the door and hand out money to people who walk by. This way, we get to have FUN days as we use up our stashes.

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a great day!!!!


Ciao!!!!