In the Mail

Today's post is all about mail.  Sending and receiving.  Mail - mail that is NOT bills, that is.  The kind of mail that is inherently good.  WH has even begun commenting on the fun little (and sometimes not so little) envelopes and boxes that come in the mail.  Today he greeted me with a big smile and "You got some more fabric in the mail today!"  Fun, fun, fun!

First, the outgoing mail.  I mailed the 27 A Blockwork Orange blocks to the swap mama.  I can't wait to get my 27 different blocks back!  How cool is that?  But, I do have to admit that I liked the blocks I made a lot...  I may have to make some more of them, since I didn't keep any.  I wonder if Elizabeth's pattern works in multiples of 9, or if 27 is optimum?  I'll have to check it out.

I also mailed BD#2's finished Sugar Rush quilt.  It is such a good feeling to finish a project and get it off to where it is supposed to go.  I hope she likes it as much as I do.

And I mailed these little guys, but I can't say where they went just yet.  Let's just say they are now winging their way all over the world.  Literally.

And in today's mail, I got my first two Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks for my GMFG quilt.  Aren't they pretty?

And I received the fabric for the blocks I am supposed to make for spontaneousthreads in the Christmas Fabric Bee.  She wants us to use the mod mosaic tutorial by Elizabeth Hartmann to create her blocks.  I've been wanting to try this, so it sounds like fun!

And a week or two ago, I received the fabric for the other two QBs in the CF Bee.  This one is for Fairly Merry.  Check out the pretty fabric for the center square.  The photo seriously doesn't do it justice.

And this package is for Singings - and has real silk in it.  Oh-so-elegant...  Just lovely!

And I thought it was amusing that when I put the three packages all together, they were in identical envelopes.  Funny, huh?  No wonder WH can tell when I get fabric in the mail!

And I've been neglecting telling everyone about the other cool mail I got.  BD#! sent me the most wonderful package the other day.  It was an assortment of Freebird by MoMo and Garden Party by Anna Maria Horner.  YUMMY!!!  And she also sent me a complete set of templates for my Single Girl quilt.  I really have to get going with that one.  I am so far behind....  It is awfully nice to have the templates cut though.  That much less work to do!

I also received my next-to-last set of charm squares in the Chronic Seamstress charm square swap.  So pretty.  The last ones were supposed to come from Louis in the UK and be Liberty fabrics, so I hope they come.  He said he mailed them way back in February.  I don't know of anyone who got squares from him, though.  Hope they're not lost!

 And I think I mentioned I got my order from Pink Chalk fabrics.  So fast.  And isn't it a great collection???  They were all on sale.  The Spirit charm squares were $4.48 and the other fabrics were all about the same per yard.  I could have bought more (oh yeah!) but I exercised a great deal of restraint and stuck with adding to my collections rather than embarking on something new.  In this lot is the Weekends by Erin McMorris, It's a Hoot by MoMo, and one piece of Central Park, because my LQS doesn't have any of the Lawn Zoo, for some reason.  To me, it's the piece de resistance of the entire collection.  Go figure.

Finally, I "won" this ugly fabric in the Save the Uglies giveaway.  I don't think there were many entrants, but I'm going to go ahead and try to make something beautiful out of this.  I actually think the dark brown is kinda nice, but the orange-ish fabric has Halloween words on it.  I decidedly do not want to make a Halloween quilt.  Do you think I can cut pieces small enough that the words are just random letters, and not words like "trick or treat" or "pumpkins"?  We'll see...

Garden Party Tote Bag - FINISHED!!!

BD#2's Garden Party Tote Bag is finally finished.  It is very long - much longer than I would have liked it to be - but it had to be long to accommodate the knife case.  The main fabric is Garden Party, by Anna Maria Horner.  Pretty, huh?

The interior pockets and side gussets are Happy Go Lucky, by Nell Whatamore.  So pretty!  (Don't you think it is just a joy to work with pretty fabrics?)  There are pockets for cellphone and pens and pencils

and a seriously large pocket for her chef's coat, which was the other requirement for the bag.

and here is the pocket opened

I honestly used every scrap of fabric of any size that I purchased for this bag.  I think the largest scrap I have left is 2" by 6" or something ridiculous.

I am fairly pleased with the quilting on the outside.  It seems to give it a feeling of motion.  It was kind of fun to make the bag.  The only thing I am not so happy with is the bottom of the bag.  It turned out OK, but I had to hand stitch the exterior bottom, and I am always worried that hand stitching on something like this will tear out.  Oh well.  There wasn't any way to get it under the sewing machine needle.

So now that this one is ready to pop in the mail, I'll move on to some of the projects for my Flickr swaps.  I have 3 or 4 things that have to be done by the end of the month.  

Happy week!

Fabric Therapy

So, the last time I blogged, I mentioned that I was glad BD#2 had come home for Pres Day weekend and that she arrived at the end of a t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e week.  I work for a bank and we were laying people off, most of whom were my friends.  In addition, I had to move my workspace after 9 years at the same desk.  Many tears shed, many late nights, much anxiety about friends gone and new responsibilities and a tired, sore body on top of it all.

It was time for some fabric therapy, and I was very glad BD#2 was home and glad to have a playmate.  She and I went to A&E and I thought we exercised a great deal of restraint there.  We only bought enough fabric to finish the 2nd McKenzie pillow, the fabric for my PP6 swap (Hideaway in aqua),  and fabric for one other project she asked me to make for her.  And we even shared half of the AMH Garden Party and selected coordinates (A&E didn't have much AMH left) with BD#1!  Wasn't that generous?
 
BD #2 is taking a culinary arts class.  What she asked me to make was a knife case and a tote bag for her CA stuff.  Hmmm...  I've never made a knife case before.  Just what are the requirements?  How big are the knives?  Are there patterns out there?  Not that I could find.  So, I did what I always do when I'm really stumped - I made it up from thin air.

Oddly enough, while I was at quilt guild last Monday, someone donated some home dec fabric on the giveaway table that was perfect for my purposes.  And I just love the outside fabric.  It is so bright and cheerful.  Anyway, here are some pics of my creation.

Here is the knife case folded closed into a neat, tidy bundle.

The case rolls together and ties shut.  I forgot the handles, so will add those before it is mailed.

Here the case is open with the cover folded up.

Here are the pockets for the individual knives.

In this one, the knives are covered and safely stored.

I thought it turned out OK.  I hope it will be functional and make BD#2 happy on those COLD, no make that FRIGID Idaho mornings (it was -7 there this morning when I checked).  Farenheit.

So, my kind sister got me two books for my birthday.  This one, that I've been oogling forever:

And this one, which is just the ticket for my next little project:

So here are the beginnings of the tote bag.  The outside is mostly done - sewn and quilted.  It was mostly fun to quilt.  I am not a great free motion quilter and frankly, my machine doesn't like it.  I broke several needles in the process, but I am fairly pleased with the results.  The flowers look kind of cool quilted.  I'm not so happy with the quilting on what will be the sides.  It is kind of funky, maybe because the pieces are so long and narrow.  Overall, though, I'm ok with the results.

I am currently working on the inside pockets.  The requirement is that at least one pocket has to be able to hold BD#2's chef's coat.  Now that I have the quilting done, I am thinking I should have put a couple of pockets on the outside.  I may add a pocket for a water bottle to the side, but frankly, the flower is just too pretty to cover up with a pocket.  I may just have to put all the pockets on the inside.  This is a WIP, but I hope to finish by the weekend.

Anyway, so the Tuesday after Pres Day, I head in to work thinking that the layoffs are over, the worst is behind us, and things will get better.  Not so.  In the next 2 days, 6 officers leave to go to work for another bank in town.  THIS required major fabric therapy.  Friday night, I went to A&E and treated myself to the above selection of yummy fabrics.  When I came home, I arranged them, and rearranged them, and petted them...  WH laughed at me.  He just doesn't understand.

So the next week has to be better, right?  Nope, my boss retired suddenly and we have a whole new management team.  Whew!  That's a lot to happen in 3 weeks.  It required even more fabric therapy.  The picture above is the selection from last Friday night.  It is also the selection for the charm square swap I am in.  (So, if you are involved in the swap and you are reading this, I just spoiled your surprise when you get your little package....  Sorry.)

This selection includes:

Weekends by Erin McMorris
Dancing Paisley by Amy Butler
Monaco by Dena
Kites by Felicity Miller
Picnic Plaid by Joel Dewberry
Daisy Chain by Amy Butler
Freshcut by Heather Bailey
Paperweight by Kaffe Fassett
Kumari Gardens by Dena Designs

Speaking of the charm square swap, there are 18 members (including me) who are swapping 8 unique fabrics each.  That's in the neighborhood of 144 charms (of course I kept a set for myself - I just love those fabrics!)  That should be enough charms to make 2 quilts.  I think for one of them, I will do the Square One quilt from Camille Roskelly's book.  I really only expected to have enough charms to make one quilt, so I haven't really thought about the second one yet.

So far, I have received two of the packages of charm squares.  It is turning out to be a wonderful selection of fabrics so far.  And getting these little non-bill envelopes in the mail has brightened my less-than-stellar-but-better-than-the-last-three-weeks days so far this week.  Here are pics of what I have received so far from Val and Lucinda.

Charm Square Package from Val in Indiana

Charm square package from Lucinda.  I'm not ready to untie it yet, but it has "chairs" in it!

It is so much fun to get these little packages in the mail.

Also yesterday and today, I have gotten 2 books from BD#1 and her family (for my birthday? - she had already made me some hand-knitted dishcloths for my birthday!)  Anyway, I have had 2 great mail days in a row.  Here are the things she sent.

 I have been eyeing this book since I first saw it at BD #1's house.  Yummy projects and ideas.  I can't wait to try them.

And I hadn't seen this book before, but it has some great modern twists on traditional quilt patterns.  Can't wait to try some of them. 

AND today is February 1 and I signed up to be in the Mini QT swap.  My partner is Valery Anne.  As I understand it, you know who your partner is, and you only give sneak peeks of your project until your partner receives it.  So here is my sneak peek.

I just love this fabric.  It is going to be so much fun to play with.  The theme is 3D, and I think there are wonderful possibilities.

I think this blog post should have been 3 or 4 blog posts.  If you have made it to the end of this, you are uber stout hearted, and I wish you a wonderful week.  Meanwhile, hopefully, this week there won't be a need for so much fabric therapy.  On the other hand, if something good happens, we could go fabric shopping to celebrate....