Santa Ana Sniffles

 

Hi everyone! 
                          Anyone who lives in southern California is familiar with those Santa Ana winds.  They blow warm, sometimes gusty winds from east to west, through the mountain passes. Then they fan out over so Cal,  cleaning the trash out of gutters, whipping dust into the air and leaving palm fronds hanging precariously from tall palm trees.  Where I live, the wind doesn't whip very fast most of the time.  But when you have to go out for shopping and you have to have the window down as you drive, the dust in the air is awful.
         Where is this leading?  I got up this morning after a horrendous night with terrible sinus problems.  Now, I could just play this off with, "Oh, it's just the dust in the air....no need to make my lunch for me, I'm not sick!"  I'd be considered a martyr with my family.  "Oh, Mom, she just goes on and on even when she's sick."  And I'd get small, sympathetic glances all day and have a lot of things done for me that I could do myself. 
        But for those of you who are moms, you know a good thing when you see it.  And you have to pluck the fruit while it's ripe.  So to all family members:  Mom has a COLD.  Yes!  I'm SICK!  I may be hungry, but I'm just toooooooo sick to make myself lunch.  ("Oh thank you.  No, don't go to any trouble.  Oh, weeeelll....if you insist.)  I have to take naps. (Oh....thank you so much for taking care of the laundry.  I felt sooooooo miserable.")  I can't cook because I'm too weak to stand in the kitchen for very long. ("Thanks soooooo much for making yourselves sandwiches tonight.")
      But after a while, the guilt sinks in and you have to start in with...."Okay.  I think I feel good enough to come to the table for dinner. Yes, my strength is returning.  Tomorrow I may feel back to normal."  See, that buys you the rest of the day and maybe tomorrow if you want it.
      For me, this whole thing is the closest I get to a vacation.  I mean a real, bona fide vacation where I actually don't have to do anything but relax.  You gotta make hay while the sun shines.  Strike while the iron is hot.  You get the drift.

        Onward to the day.........yesterday I re-opened my shop with a number of great fabrics. Much of it is David Textiles and Kaufman.  Here's a sample of a few of them.  Pop on over to the shop and see the other stuff.  Remember....if you see something you like, contact me and let me know you read about the shop on my blog and I will sell you the fabric at my cost---$3.00/yd. + shipping.  I can ship next day and I try to ship the cheapest way possible.  This is just something I offer for the friends that read my blog.  Some quilty friends are way out there in remote locations (or Canada, where fabric is expensive), and this is just a little way to help them.  Well, that's all for now.  Have a great day!

 

Hi Everyone!
                        Fall is really in the air!  For so Cal, it's been pretty mild, beautiful and cool at night.  We've had to move the bird cage to the front room because the bedroom get pretty chilly at night.
     
     Well...this blogging thing is a bit new to me, so I'm shuffling things around, trying to find a comfortable place in my blog nest.  I was trying to post in the mornings, but things are pretty hectic and crazy around here in the morning. So I think I will chat with you in the evening when things are slooooowwer and I've got dinner over with and we're settling down for the night.  I can collect the days thoughts in a big pile and sort through everything....like I do my fabric stash now and then! 

     I'm not sure if anyone has had a chance to view my other blogs, but if you like poetry or art, please feel free to check out my other blogs.  I'm not very good at either, but maybe there's something in there you'd enjoy.
   
     Ta for now....will post more later!

         Well, it's the evening.  Dinner is over, and the house has quieted down.  So I'm back.....

           There hasn't been a great deal of interest in the fabrics I'm posting here on the blog.  And I'd much rather post tutorials and ideas, sooooooooooo.............I've decided to list the wonderful fabrics I find on my Etsy shop.  They're still a good bargain, especially for people that live in more remote areas and can't get to a quilt shop very easily!

       So, here's the link to my Etsy shop.  I hope you not only go over there and check out the fabrics I have listed, but compare my prices to the same fabric on other sites.  I think you'll like the bargains!

            I guess that's all for now.....everyone....have a great night!

Popcorn 101

Hi everyone!
                  Oh, popcorn for Christmas...it's not just for eating!  I decorate with it every year.  It has 3 attributes I love: It's cheap, it's easy, and it's light as a feather.  Oh.  And one more thing...I don't have to pack it up after Christmas!
        The thing I like the best about it is the great contrast it makes no matter what I put it on!  On the tree or on an evergreen wreath, the white just pops!  When you buy your Christmas tree and they remove those spindly lower limbs, grab 'em and take 'em with you.  Hose all the debris off the limbs and let them dry outside where it's cool.  If you won't be decorating inside for a while, find a bucket, add water, and set the limbs up in it in a shady spot.  They'll keep for a while!
        Now, back to the popcorn.....
        As I mentioned, I string yards and yards of popcorn to trim with every year, so here's a few tips for you if you want to add this great decorating feature....

       1.   Try to pop the corn with as little oil as possible.  Even though the ultimate thing to use for popping corn is a hot air popper, don't give up!  I've used a little oil in the bottom of a covered pot and just shook the pot over my stove burner until it was all popped.  You might want to get someone to spell you on the shaking, but it works just fine.
      2,   Let the popcorn sit overnight before you begin stringing it.  The white fluff will absorb just enough of the moisture in the air to make the stringing a lot easier!
      3.  Many people say to use dental floss for stringing because it's strong, but I have used simple thread and quilting thread and even embroidery floss (2 ply).  You aren't stringing baseballs, you're stringing something that weighs nothing!  And you won't be using the strings for jump rope, so don't worry about strength very much.
      4.  If you see those lovely strings combining popcorn and fresh cranberries, don't do it.  By the time you're ready to decorate---and especially by the time you take the decos down----those berries are MUSH.  Besides, when you string the two together, the strings are heavier.
      5.  You don't need any special needle.  Pick the smallest needle you have that you can comfortably thread.
      6.  Work with lengths of thread only about a couple feet long.  It's easier to handle.  Why?  Because the best way to do it is to grab a handful of popcorn---3-4 kernels---string and slip them onto the thread, and then grasp the 3-4 strung kernels and gently push them down to the end of the thread, leaving about 6 inches of thread loose.  Repeat.  Don't try to string a long bunch on and then push that long bunch down to the end.  It will sprag and you'll wind up with popcorn crumbs!  Push them down only a few at a time.  When you have a couple down on the end, grasp the loose end of the thread, wrap it around and tie it gently to the last popcorn kernel as an anchor.  Now continue to string and push the kernels down the thread a few at a time.  From time to time you may want to reach down and gently push the kernels downward and together.
     7.  Another reason for working with shorter lengths of thread is that it makes it easier to decorate with.  You can place a length at a time on your tree and tie on additions as you need them. 
     8.  Now here's a little something that many instructions don't tell you:  Insert your needle through the PUFFY part---not into the hard kernel part nor the narrow part BETWEEN the puffy and the shell.  Your stringing will go soooooo much smoother.
    
      9.  If you have kids old enough to wield a needle safely, this is a great "gather round the whatever" and string and munch party!  Put together a few medium large cardboard boxes, and as you string, let the strings fall into the box.  I usually put a slit in the top edge of the box to put the thread end into so I'm not pawing through the strung popcorn for the other lengths.

       A few ideas for decorating....
       If you're having a Christmas party, surround your punchbowl (okay, SOME people still use them!) with the evergreens and sprinkle popcorn over them.  Lovely!  I also make merengue mushrooms every year.  I add a few to the evergreens around my punchbowl and people can munch and sip!
     If you have a mantle over your fireplace, there's nothing prettier than evergreens, a few white taper candles, and mounds of popcorn.  But then, I love "simple."
     If you can suspend anything from the ceiling, popcorn makes great "snow."  String several varied lengths of popcorn onto fishing line and suspend the strings to hang in front of a window, or if you're REALLY daring, suspend them from the ceiling over your dining table for your Christmas dinner!  What a conversation that would start!

     Did you see that beautiful wreath at the top?  That's from this website:  http://www.hometalk.com/695721/popcorn-and-cranberry-wreath  

     I didn't check to see how it was made, but it sure is beautiful!  Unless I was making this for birds, I probably wouldn't put any popcorn decos outside, but over a fireplace...oh yes!  I think if I were to make it, I would purchase a white styrofoam wreath from Michael's and put the popcorn on with hot glue.  It would be together in no time.  I'd probably place the bow first then glue the popcorn on around it.  You could cover the whole wreath or just the front and what showed.  The Styrofoam is white anyhow.

     And last but not least, there's lots and lots of things you can add to popcorn then set bowls all over the house for munching!
     All righty then!  I'm popcorned out!

Turning now to fabric.....

Just letting everyone know....the fabrics I sell on my BLOG are fabrics I get at my favorite fabric store. They have a section of fabrics that are $2.98/yd.(I call it $3.00 for simplicity) and much of it is good quality/good brand name fabrics. Occasionally, I see a particularly nice piece and I pick it up and put it on the blog AT MY COST (plus shipping of course) for anyone that wants it. I'm not making any $ on this, it's just a nice gesture I offer for fellow quilters. If no one is interested in what's here, in a few days I will list it somewhere else for a few dollars more to cover my travel expenses. I just like to offer it first, at cost, to those that read my blog. Many times, it helps people in remote parts of the country to get in on a few fabric deals that they can't get locally. That's the story, and I'm stickin' to it!

here are two new ones I picked up yesterday.....

This first one is a David Textiles...a gorgeous allover horses.  Note:  It's a directional fabric!  If you know a little about David's fabric, you know it's lovely, smooth and buttery.  I have 2 yards of this.  It's $3.00/yd. (+ postage) If you want it, let me know.  I'll leave it up on here a few days and then I'll be putting it on Quilters Virtual Yard Sale, Quilters Classified and my Etsy shop for a dollar more a yard....

The other one I found is also a David Textiles....a beautiful allover eagle heads....also a directional.  Would be great for a Quilt of Valor!  I picked up 2 yards of this.  Again, it will only be here on the blog for a few days and then I'll let it go elsewhere.....

 

Well...that's all for today.  Happy quilting, sewing and decorating!  And for all my quilty friends who are in FMQ mode today.....remember to drop those shoulders!  LOL!

    

Hi Everyone!
                   Have you begun your plans for the holidays?  I TRY to begin early.  I make a notebook with two sections: Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The Christmas section is always bigger and Christmas is my favorite holiday!
          Once, long ago, I wrote up a little book on Christmas decorating on a shoestring thread.  And let's call that silk thread.  I love to decorate "DYI" using materials that cost as little as possible.  Even though that may sound cheap, it simply leaves me more $$ for things I don't want to skimp on---like the food and the gifts!
     Now, don't get me wrong....I don't like to make decorations that look like what they're made of!  For example, I make very few things from cardboard toilet paper cores, because I don't want people making comments like, "How creative!"  When I know they're thinking, "Toilet paper cores!"  And they aren't thinking, "Sure wish I had thought of that!"
    That being said, there is ONE project that does not scream, "Toilet paper roll!"  There's these big snowflakes you can make....they're light as a feather, and very pretty! You can make these as simple....

Or as complicated.....

....as you like.  You can find lots of directions for these all over the net.  But it's as simple as this.  Use a sturdy pair of scissors to slice the toilet paper (or paper towel) rolls into strips the width you like and then glue them together as you like.  That leaves a lot to the imagination, huh?  That's the idea!  And that's the basics.  Simple, yes.  But they CAN be elegant as well.
   A few observations...
                        When I made these, I came to a few conclusions.
 1.  There are countless configurations you can come up with for the loops. 
2.  If you make it big like this...

....you get a lot of skewing and it gets pretty flimsy to hang, if that's what you're going to do with it.  Plus....when you make it this big, people are more likely to ask you, "Hey!  How did you make this big snowflake???"  And then you have to admit it's made of toilet paper cores.  On the other hand, when you make them small and elegant like this...

...most people think you just bought them at the Dollar Tree.   (Especially if it's painted, which this one is not!)

 

3. If you use white glue, you will be sitting and holding each component until the glue sets, which gets mighty old, mighty fast.  I used hot glue and it worked fine!  (I think you can get one of those mini hot glue guns at discount stores for a few dollars.)

 

4.  Paint them!  I used spray paint for mine.  It's fast and easy!  Put them into a box to spray them.  I also found that I had to "touch them up" after they dried, as a bit of the paint sinks into the paper.

 

5.  The best way to conceal what these are made of is to coat them in some sort of glitter.  I didn't use the sort that shakes out of the bottle like regular glitter.  I used the stuff they sell in bags to resemble snow.  It's "granulated" for lack of a better term.  I think it's just thin plastic cut into tiny pieces.  You put it around decos on tables, etc. 

     Toss a bunch into the bottom of a box.  Spray one side of your snowflake with spray glue and drop it immediately, face down, into the box.  Shake the box a bit to make the flakes stick, lift it out and allow it to dry.  For a heavier coat of "snow," repeat the spray glue process.

 

If you want to make something like this...

....just cut the rings up and use a small shaft curling iron to curl the tips. 

6. It's best to cut the rolls as narrowly as possible.  When you do, it looks.....

....just like paper quilling!  One more art you must try!

 

Have a wonderful day my friends!

 

 



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Hi Everyone!
                     TGIF!  It's no-cooking day!  Yay!  I can quilt up to the time we leave for Denny's!  Or maybe Marie Callenders!  Or maybe just good old Polly's Pies.  Old fashioned comfort food!
                Anyhooooo....I have a ton of pictures to share!

 

 

                         I'll post pictures from this store now and then when they get in a huge load of fabrics that I think someone may be interested in.  For those of you new to the conversation, this is my favorite fabric store, about 10 minutes from me.   If anyone reading my blog sees something they'd like a few yards of, please let me know with an email, or give me a jingle on my FB page and I'll pick it up for you.  The cost on any fabric I post pictures of is $2.98, which is what I pay.  I'm going to round this up to $3.00 for simplicity.  I don't think anyone will mind paying an extra 2 cents to cover my gas.  LOL!  All I ask is a reimbursement for the yardage and the postage, whatever it is. If no one is interested after a while, I will be putting the fabrics on Quilters Classified for a dollar more, but my blog pals get first chance at cost.  No strings....just a nice gesture.
          Right now, they have a huge assortment of ginghams.  Now, these are not heavy duty fabrics.  You won't have that heavy, "buttery" feel of a high dollar brand.  But they're ginghams, nevertheless.  I know they are 100% cotton, but I don't know much more about ginghams.  Maybe it's their nature to be a thinner weight than most fabrics.  Anyhow...if anyone wants some, let me know.

 

 

They have quite a little bit of this right now.  It's an allover moose collage....a David Textile fabric.  Very nice weight and hand...nice and smooth.  I didn't pick any up, but if someone wants some, let me know and I'll get it when I go down there next time.  (I go very often!)

 

Here are several 4-block panels that I picked up.  I'm calling this one Autumn Deer Head, just in case anyone wants it.  I only picked up one panel (which is about 1 yard).  If you want it, let me know. $3.+ postage.

 

 

This is what it says on the selvage edge of the panel below:  Lookout Peak Pillow Panel, Wild Wing, LLC by Ron Van Gilder for Springs Creative Products.  A nice set of elk images, with a nice hand.  I was thinking what a nice wall hanging these would make if you cut them apart and added your own sashings and border!  I'm calling this simply "Elks," in case someone wants this panel.  I only picked up one of these.

 

 

 

 
 



       This next set I'm calling "Jumping Deer." I picked up  one panel.   I think they're white tails. (I'm originally from Pennsylvania, sooo....)  This is a Cranston fabric....nice and smooth. 

 

This panel has beautiful fall colors.  There's no brand ID on the selvage, but the fabric and the image is very nice.  I picked up one panel.

 

 

This is a David Textiles fabric.  I picked up 1 yd., 22" of this.  It's probably an odd size because the gals cut generously!  So I'm calling this 1 1/2 yds.  So how about $3.50 (+ shipping) for this piece.

 

 

Isn't this beautiful???  It's a David Textiles fabric and has a nice buttery hand!!  The images are plain and not skewed.  I picked up 1 yd, 25" of this.  I'll let this go for $3.75 (+ shipping).

 

 

This is so pretty! A collage of exotic birds.  I DID NOT BUY ANY OF THIS.  But, if anyone wants some, they have a lot right now.  Let me know. 

 

 

I was only able to get one yard of this, but isn't it cute?  It's a Kaufman. Let me know if you want it.  $3.00 (+ shipping).

 

 

 

Well, that's all I have for now.  If anyone wants any of these fabrics, again, they're $3.00/yd. + any postage.  I will mail the fabric to you and then email you with what the package cost to send.  Paypal is the best for me, but if you don't have a paypal, you can send me a check---we'll figure it out.  It's lunch time, so I'm off to the fridge.  Will talk to ya'all later!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Good Morning!

Hi everyone!
               Well, it's about 8 AM here, and dh has taken it upon himself to set up the dishwasher with the breakfast dishes!  He spoils me rotten.  Many times I ask myself what I ever did to deserve him.  And then a day comes along and he says something so aggravating that I ask myself what I ever did to deserve THIS!
              LOL!  Just kidding!  When they made men like my husband, they broke the mold.  So they stopped making them in 1958.  He's right there to help me with all my projects, no matter how little he understands about them....
             Like yesterday when I was trying to figure out how to sandwich a large quilt....
             Let me preface all this by saying, we are moving.  Therefore, all the furniture is gone, including the entertainment center from the front room.  So we had to move the TV and it now graces about 1/3 of our kitchen table and is sooooo convenient for watching while we dine! 
             Anyhooooo......in the past I used boards and our huge pine kitchen table to sandwich my quilts, but now it's impossible.  So I have everything spread out on the floor in the living room as I contemplate how I'm going to do this because I cannot use my knees.  So we set up a small foldout table and two TV trays and I try to use those.  The air begins to look very cloudy over my head as many, many off color, unladylike terms come to mind and begin to mumble out of the corner of my mouth.  Finally, my dear, dear husband says, "I'm going to set the TV down and you can use your boards to quilt it on the table."  I want to cry I'm so happy.  And he's won my heart all over again.  He's managed to do that at least once a week for 30 years.  So I think I'll keep him.

             So today I'm going to throw the fabric into the washer that I purchased day before yesterday.  Put it through it's paces and see if it's worth purchasing any more.  I don't mind using no-name fabric if it's fairly decent.  This fabric is saturated with sizing, which to me spells trouble.  But...hope lives eternal, so se will see.  I will post the results.

            Meantime, pancakes are over, dishes are over, both the boys are off to work, and I'm off to the shower then into the studio for some power sewing.  I will post a bit more later on the fabrics.  Have a great day everyone!
        

           HEY! I forgot to mention something in yesterday's post regarding the fabric store.  I will be posting pictures of fabric from this store from time to time.  If anyone reading this post sees something they'd like to have a couple yard of, please email me about it. I will pick up the yardage on my next trip and send it to at cost + any postage.  If you do have me pick up fabric for you, please let me know you read about this offer in my blog.  Thanks!

         In regard to the collection of fabrics I purchased at M & L day before yesterday, I finally got around to processing them and want to give you the results.  *Happy dance* 
         I put them into a hot wash with Tide.  This is what I do with all my fabrics.  Into the washer then.......

......into the dryer, just until damp-dry.

I like to roll them onto my long ruler and then stack them.

The ironed results were wonderful, I am happy to say!

The fabrics washed out without the sizing, and pressed out nice with almost no tweaking of the warp and weft.  The thread count turned out nice and small, but not TOO small (like sheeting)....soft and beautiful.

 

Yes!  The red fabric went in with the others!  I guess I just don't have enough excitement in my life!  LOL!

So there you have it...just goes to show, you can't judge a fabric by it's sizing!  Of course, this fabric is not the heavy, "buttercream" Kaufman we all love.  But I wouldn't reject them either---no way!  These are nice fabrics at $2.98/yd!  I will be picking up more of them, probably a nice set of blues.

Now off to the studio for some fm quilting on that Christmas quilt!

Back in the Saddle Again!

Hi everyone! 
     Well, I've been gone waaaayyy too long, poking around on another Facebook Page where I hang out admiring all the beautiful quilts others have created when I should be in my OWN studio creating!  Ah,well, I feel I need that morning inspiration sometimes.
     Anyhow, this is what I've worked at over this weekend.  Red and Green for Christmas.  It's only sandwiched---quilting is tomorrow. I think I will free motion quilt around the paisley-like shapes.

 

 

I got the fabric for this quilt at M & L Fabric store on the corner of Ball and Knott in Anaheim California....only about 10 minutes from me.  Let me tell you a bit about M & L...a store I've been shopping at for years and years.

M & L is a huge store---it used to be a supermarket!  I like to think of the store divided into three distinct parts:  The front, which takes up 2/3 of the main floor space holds the newest, most current prints of cotton and many other fabrics from silks, satins and velvets to canvas and tapestry.  The second part of the store (and my favorite) is about 1/3 of the store and consists of about 10 aisles with shelves on both sides.  The shelves hold cotton fabrics which have been removed from their cardboard bolts, refolded neatly, and stacked so you can lift and browse through the fabrics....

They have a nice supply of wildlife scenic prints....

even bears.....

lots of fabrics for making tablecloths and stuffed objects.....

 

  This is an entire shelf---upper and lower---of Kaufman fabrics, however you can find Kaufman and other big name fabrics all through the stacks....and it's all $2.98/yd.

a wide selection of shirtings......(although these are not always plentiful)...

.....more shirtings......

....stripes....

.....lots of this stuff......

and lots of dots!

New shipments come in every week, and this is a new collection that came in the past week.  You can see from the edges of the fabric what the predominant colors and shades are.  Very country, "ground" colors, olives, greys, grey-greens, violets, blues.....

 

Check out this nice blue collection!

As I mentioned before, here in the stacks you can find many very nice fabrics---Kaufman, VIP, Concord, David and other great fabrics.  Many of the fabrics have no ID on the selvages, but they're still very, very nice fabrics.  I've used many of them.  Then there's some fabrics that challenge quality a bit.  You can spot them from the amount of sizing that's in the fabrics and the thread count.  However, I have purchased many of THESE, washed and dried them, and found they were just fine for everyday quilts.  I wouldn't use them for anything that I'd put a lot of time into (something with many units to the block), but for simple patch piecing, they work fine.  I picked up a couple yards of each of these as a set to "see how they do." 

There's even lots of zebra fabric!

And peace signs!

 

The whole left side of this aisle is flannels,  and then there's another gigantic selection up front!

They have a wide selection of white on white, white on grey, white on cream, etc.

 

This last picture is a shot of the store taken from the back of the store to the front....this store is so big, it's foggy by the front door!  LOL!

And the third part of the store is an ADDITIONAL room(s) at the back of the store holding a HUGE selection of knits, corduroy, vinyls, and other fun stuff!  Call for their hours.  They're even open on Sunday starting at noon.

 

Well, that's it for tonight.  I'm sitting here yawning and typing.  I have this thing....whenever I see or hear someone yawn, I have to yawn.  Every time.  Every, every time.  So the DEAR husband (who's 56 and should have more respect for his loving wife) and the DEAR son (who's 21 and should have more respect for his Mama) sit here and quietly yawn, watching and giggling every time I follow suit.  I think I will go to bed.  Oh my.  There goes their entertainment!