Thank goodness it is Friday

I sat down to catch up on Project Runway and worked on pieceing the names for the I Spy quilts. I did get one done. I used Red Letter Day in the pink and gray stripe. The name came out rather large so I am thinking I may change the layout of the quilt a bit. I was suprised I finish it as tired as I was.

Tonight one of my quilting friends is coming over so we can put the binding on the baby quilt she has been working on. My nephew is playing tonight with an older long time local musician, but he doesn't go on until 10 P.M. and I have to get up very early Saturday to get my haircut and then head to Dover to hang the drapes so I don't think I will be able to see him play tonight. I may stop at The Material Girl quilt shop in Dover as they are having an anniversary sale. 20% off fabric, books, and patterns plus if you buy 5 yards of more or finish the bolt you get another 20% off. I wish I could go today, but I have to work. I sure hope there is something left tomorrow for me!

Have a great weekend!

How I design

Many of the quilts I make are designed in my head. I go right from the concept in my head to fabric and then the design wall. On occasion I make a quick sketch. Here is my sketch for the I Spy quilts. I spent some time last evening playing around with the lettering. I need to go over to Tonya Ricucci's blog Lazy Gal Quilting because I need a visual on making the letters a and r.

I will leave the giveaway open to anyone who would like to send me a novelty print for these I Spy quilts until Friday, Sept. 9 - see my post on 9/2 for details. I will announce the winners on Monday along with a new giveaway to celebrate my re-do bedroom being as done as it can be at this point in time.

What cute novelty fabric

One of my blog buddies sent me some cute novelty fabric for the I Spy quilts I am working on. There are Mardi Gras masks, Bob the Builder, LSU tiger, and shopping bag fabric to name a few. Thank you Glen! All of these will look great in the I Spy quilts and they are fabrics I have never seen before.

Another blogger buddy from the Yukon is also sending me some novelty fabric scraps. I will post a picture when I receive them.

What a weekend!

I don't know what has gotten into me, but I have this new energy and a need to get stuff done. Friday night I cleaned house, because company was coming. My company came, we went to dinner, and my friend's husband checked out my big sewing table. We never made it upstairs where I had spent the majority of my time cleaning, but I didn't care. It was all straightened up and looking good.

Saturday I started working on this

What is it? A pile of drapes someone had given to me. I remodeled them for a family member and by Monday I finished the last of them - two pairs of pinch pleated drapes, a door curtian, and a pair of tie backs.

If there is anyone out there in cyberspace that wants to know a great easy method for making pinch pleated drapes let me know. I took a bunch of pictures and I could put together a post on it.


Saturday I did take a break from working on the drapes to go see my nephew's band play. My goodness it was hot - 91 degrees. One of the families had brought a open air tent, so we all huddled in the shade. The kids did a great job and were happy with the icy towels I brought them.

Sunday was all about the drapes. I decided to replace the lining. The lining with the drapes was cheap and very discolored. I had some lining in my storage room that I had bought years ago for my still unmade living room drapes, so I thought I may have enough to do these. I was a foot short of having enough - darn! JoAnn's had lining 50% off plus a coupon for 10% off your total purchase so I ran to JoAnn's and bought the lining I needed plus enought for my living room drapes. I also started a batch of homemade yogurt and made the dough for pizza.

Monday the electrician came and fixed up my re-do room. Here is the before:

and the after:

I am so glad this is done! While he was working the electric was off so I switched projects and trimmed all the blocks for the I Spy quilts. I am making two so you can see that I am a little short. I have two of my blogging buddies who are going to send me some prints to help me out. Thanks so much!

Here is my to list from Monday. I always think I can get more done than what is possible! The drapes just took longer than I thought, but they are done and that to me is huge. Now I just need to find the time to install them.

Hope your holiday weekend was great!

Need help/giveaway, a shout out to Brandon, and e-bay posting

After sewing the novelty patches onto the Kona strips I realize I do not have enought novelty prints for two quilts. SO, I am having a giveaway. There will be two prizes! If you are interested in sending me a few patches at least 3 1/2" x 4 1/2" and you will have a chance to win a bundle of four fat quarters of my hand dyed fabric in either a gradient of pink, yellow or purple.

I will also giveaway another bundle to the person who sends me the most unique, strange, odd, weird, offensive?, or bizarre fabric. I like strange so suprise me! Leave a comment and E-mail me at pattynubs at gmail dot com and I will send you my address. I won't have computer access Saturday, Sunday, or Monday so if you leave me a message, I will respond to it on Tuesday.

I have to give a shout out to Brandon at the Apple store in Fairlawn, Ohio. I was in the store last evening with my son who needed to get his iPhone looked at and purchase a computer. While my son was getting his phone checked out, I was hanging out by the iPads wondering to myself "What is the deal with these. Why would anybody want one? What is all the hoopla about?" Well Brandon came up to me and we got talking. Next thing I know we fired up one of those iPads to look up the Walter Tool site so see if the Fein Multimasters were still on sale - we were talking about home improvement projects. Next we went to my blog so I could show him the windows I trimmed out - he thought I did a good job. Then the conversation led to quilting and he said he has some t-shirts that his wife doesn't like him to wear because they have holes, but he can't get rid of them. I said "T-shirt quilt". So I maybe making Brandon a quilt. I gave him my blog address, so if you are reading this - Hello Brandon and the iPads are pretty darn cool!

I am going to post these books on e-bay today Yvonne Porcella Magical Four and Nine Patch Quilts, Dye it! Paint it! Quilt it! by Joyce Mori, and Hand dyed Fabric made Easy. The item number is 330609320700 if you are interested.

Yeah, it is Friday and I have a three day weekend. My plans are to work on the I Spy quilts, get to some of those pesky alterations, remodel some draperies for a family member, and complete the final touches on the bedroom re-do so that I can have the giveaway on Tuesday to celebrate the 95% completion of the room. I hope it is not too hot this weekend so that I can get some weeding done and maybe get to gathering more stuff for the garage sale. I am having company tonight and Saturday I will go watch my nephew's band play at an outdoor festival, but the rest of the time I will need to stay home and work. Have a great Labor Day weekend!

A new sewing project started

I wandered around looking for the parts I had started for a couple of I Spy quilts. With everything moved and reorgaized with the bedroom re-do, I was having trouble remembering where I had put the pieces I had already cut for these quilts. Eventually I found them along with a piece of Kona snow. I cut the snow into strips 3 1/2" wide. My novelty pieces are cut 3 1/2" x 4 1/2".

I sewed the pieces on the strip of Kona

The pieces were cut apart, trimmed and this is a sampling of how I plan to arrange them. Simple, but I like the space to rest the eyes between the prints. I have no idea what size these will turn out. I am just winging it as usual and will just put blocks together until I am happy with the size. So at this point I have no idea if I have enough prints, but I guess we'll find out!

Soup and what's bugging me

I made a big pot of vegetable beef soup for lunches. Even with my cold it smells good.

What's bugging me - Public schools wasting money on stupid stuff and then wanting more.
There was another murder about 6 blocks from where I work in the middle of the afternoon. The guy had "at least six children". WTF! Nobody knows how many kids this guy had? He had a rap sheet 5 pages long including non-payment of child support.
The government giving out free cell phones
The IRS making deals with people who own more taxes than they can pay. This is what is bugging me - you don't have to agree or disagree - I just feel like I am living in a world gone mad.