Lost But Not Forgotten (I Hope)

Remember me? Hell-o!

I got a little drunk (figuratively speaking, not literally..at least in this instance) on the long weekend last week...3-1/2 glorious days of no work, and then a day spent working from home in my jammies. 2 days of cookouts, so no sewing to speak of (though I did sit poolside and do a little applique on Aunt Millie's Garden)....and then it was my birthday (more debauchery) and a last minute plan for yet another workless day off to go to a quilt show with Becky (Sarcastic Quilter). Anyhow, I'm still reveling in the fact that it is ONLY FRIDAY (woo hoo!), and I've got two more days with no plans (other than a morning appointment at a bridal salon) to actually accomplish some sort of sewing.

First, a couple orders of business we need to clear up...

The finished Winding Ways table quilt...a May OPAM finish. Still needs a label, but it's done and will be out of here (and yes, I am still not fond of it....AT ALL..can ya tell? (It's on the floor for it's photo op,).

Second order of business...someone needs to win this  pincushion:

and that would be Joanne in New Hampshire. I've sent you an email. Yay!!! Congratulations, and thanks everyone for playing.

We'll have something cute to give away in June, so stay tuned.

Becky and I had a lovely time at the quilt show today. We just about shut it down, so not only did we get to see some lovely quilts, meet each other, enjoy a little shopping (and strangely enough, it was an unusually controlled 'shop' today--wait, I like that....'controlled shop', sounds like the Crocodile Hunter or something on Animal Planet....we've got a voiceover..."the ladies are sniffing about the vendor booths, nonchalantly scoping out the lay of the land, while others in the herd are pawing through the bins of fat quarters with random abandon...will they become aggressors and make their move and charge into the midst of the herd to establish position? Or will they pass up this opportunity and move further into the uncharted plains of the Expo Center to sniff out a more bountiful selection, with lower prices?")

...but we got a good bit of exercise walking around for seven (7)  hours (I must tell you that Fit Flops are not the best choice for 7-hour hikes).  While I would love to just go put my feet up, suck down a second glass of wine, and open one of the new quilt mags that arrived this week, I've got a daughter and a slew of her friends down in DC at the Verizon Center attending the NKOTB (for those of you that are pop culturally challenged, that would be New Kids On The Block) / Backstreet Boys concert. They parked their cars, got a ride to the Metro and were planning on hitting some bars in DC before and after. Guess who gets to drive to the Metro at 3:00 a.m. and pick them up? Trust me when I tell you that it isn't going to be the hubs, who was the one who agreed to this plan in the first place.

And gee, who's got an appointment to try on wedding gowns tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. 45 minutes north of here? Sucks to be my daughter and her bridesmaids tomorrow.

I'm going to leave you with one of the quilts on display at the quilt show today. More tomorrow. Have a lovely Saturday, and be sure to have some fun!

Let's Get Ready to Pinwheel (Which...bonus...is also an OPAM finish for May)

Saturday the make and take project at the quilt shop was fabric pinwheels. Easy, quick and fun. I've made these out of

paper before, as you may have, but the fabric ones are fun and longer lasting. And hey, we're fabric people, right? I've had a few people ask me how to make them, so here you go.

I started with 1 yard of Heat n Bond Ultra Hold and four fat quarters, which I cut in half. I cut the fusible into 4 pieces and ironed it to one piece of each fat quarter.

Then I peeled back the paper and fused a coordinated piece of fat quarter to one that had been fused.

 Now I've got 4 pieces of double sided fabric.

Which I then cut into various sized squares. For each pinwheel you need two squares of the same double-sided fabric. I wound up with 19 pairs of squares ranging in size from 6" down to 2.5". Anything over 6" is going to be rather 'floppy', so I'd suggest you stay under that. In fact, I think 5" was an ideal size (as was 2.5").

Before you go any further, take a minute to check the fusing on your squares. If youv'e got any edges or sides that you can peel back, hit them with the iron for 2 seconds to fuse them.

At this time, sort out all you squares by size, keeping the pairs of matching squares together. Grab your pencil and ruler and measure the width of the square, divide it in half and add 1/8". Take a ruler corner to corner and draw a line from the corner to the center as long as the measurement you calculated above. For instance, if you're using a 4" square, you would measure in 2-1/8" from the corner and draw a pencil line from the corner to this point. Do this for each corner. Then carefully cut on each of those lines. (Use your scissors, it's a simple one-snip process). You can snip a couple at a time, but be sure you adjust between cuts to line those corners up. The bottom one will tend to slip during cutting.)

Lay two matching squares side by side and flip one over. Starting with the upper right hand corner,  apply a small dab of hot glue from your glue gun and fold the corner to the center of the square and hold for a second until it sticks. Note: it is very important that you are turning in the same corners of each piece.

Do the same with every other corner, bringing it to the center and gluing it down.

Now you've got two contrasting pinwheels. 

Place one on top of the other, arranging so the blades of the top wheel are placed over the spaces on the bottom wheel. Use a bead of hot glue in the center of the bottom wheel to stick them both together. If it's a bit off, as long as you're quick, and the glue hasn't dried, you can simply give one of the wheels a twist to line them up properly.

Once I had them lined up how I wanted, I just folded down the top one and applied the glue, holding the two firmly together with my thumb and forefinger.

I like to work 'production line' style, so I did all my cuts at one time, and made all my pinwheel tops before moving on.

You can use lollopop sticks, straws, or bamboo skewers, which you can usually find in the grocery store.  Apply a generous line of hot glue to the back of the pinwheel and hold the non-pointed end of the skewer in it until the glue is set.  

I saved the scraps I had left from cutting squares and cut them into appropriately sized strips to use them to cover the stick (apply a little hot glue to the edges and place it over the stick and smooth it down). Don't worry about lining up your fabric pattern, it's not critical--it's the back, and really, we aren't trying to win any contests with these, it just looks nicer to have the stick and glue covered should someone happen to inspect your backside :).

To finish them off, hot glue a button or two (stacked) to the center of the pinwheel, and you're done.

  

 

In a couple hours, you too can have a pile of fabric pinwheels. Stick them in plants, fill a vase, use the little ones on cupcakes. Make them in Christmas fabrics and use them as ornaments (omit the stick), decorate packages with them, glue one to your straw hat, glue one to a hair clip....yada, yada, yada....you get the point.

 Have fun!



Saturday's Finds

You might remember these neat little stamped metal charms I found a couple weeks ago in a shop near Jinny Beyer's?  Well, yesterday I took my neighbor to a quilt shop in Frederick and she in turn took me to this neat little once a month antique/shabby chic kind of flea market place in a barn in Buckeystown called Chartreuse and Co.

Here's a link to photos of the  merchandise offered this weekend:

http://gallery.me.com/vacrum#100584&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=25 

Of course, she went Friday morning and noted that by the time we got there on Saturday afternoon, a lot of good stuff was long gone, but I did find these:

which will be adorning something of mine as soon as I can figure out what. And I'll likely ask my daughter's jewelry making friend, Scarlet Robin (be sure to check out that link...her stuff is fab-o) to stamp me some sterling so I can add it to my jewelry collection.

I also picked up a couple of cute gift items (guess who they're for :) )

This one's a magnet. Love it! :

Looks like I'm going to have to take off June 17th so I can be at Chartreuse and Co. on opening day. Thanks Ann, for the enablement.

I'll be back later today to share my afternoon making fabric pinwheels. Enjoy yours!