Lost & Found ~ Thanks to Bonnie

Yep ~ Bonnie Hunter!!

I've been following Bonnie on her quilt-cam ( or whatever we call it) and was deep into ironing all my scraps which are heading into the scrap-saver system that Bonnie created. When I grew tired of cutting up the scraps, I went looking for some older squares I knew I had. Lo and behold, under the pile of squares....I find the lost ! Heck, I can't even remember what the pattern was called ~ never mind ~ they have been uncovered. My eyes roll when I think of the mess I made in my sewing room trying to find them. I unearthed everything and they still hid from me ;-(

When my young niece & nephew are here, I always let them play with the older squares as I'm not fussy about what happens to them and they have loads of fun laying out their quilt ideas. Why my other hexagon stars (lets call them that!) were underneath them in a storage bin that I wasn't going to check......I have no idea....blank brain!!

 Ya....I"m going camping - all by my stinking SELF!!!!! But first, some repairs on my old tent as I'm not hauling our large family tent with me. Recycle - reuse!! The bottom zippers were toast, so I replaced them with the zippers from our mosquito curtains from the old deck canopy that was also toast!

 Ya....what a mess!!! LOL I don't care ~ I'm going camping by my stinking SELF!!! I hand basted the newer zippers in and thought - just whip it thru the sewing machine - what a mess!!! But, it's done and hopefully will keep the bears out!! LOL
The tent must be at least 27 yrs old and sooooo out of fashion!! Who cares...right?

And when I'm back at my camp site, I'll be working on these. A great little project for camping and again, I've been using those men's shirts with a few ladies throw in!!!

 I"m heading back to where I lived over 12 years ago. Visiting with old girlfriends & co-workers and just relaxing as I drive along the Trans-Canada hwy in northern Ontario. I've missed the pines, the lakes, the farms.....the peacefulness of country living. I may take a few pieces of the Lady of Lake quilt with me - just because!! ;-)

Enjoy life everyone!!! ~ Lori~

One Bow Tie = Four??

Hmmm, ya....that's the final count - I hope!

 1st Bow Tie is the Men's shirts using white sheet ( my obsession) and the left overs of all the shirts I've been using. OK! Size of blocks are 2 1/2" and 1 1/2".

2nd - Bonnie Hunters Bow Tie Cheddar L&E. I started off cutting the men's shirts again into the 2" & 1 1/4" size. The orange squares at the right of the picture are my cheddar ~ as close to that colour as I could find at the fabric store. Hmmm, not loving that colour.

3rd - As above...BUT...using all my fabrics - floral, birdhouses, everything including the kitchen sink. Tea Dyed Muslin for my solid colour. 2" & 1 1/4 " blocks.

4th - As above...BUT....using all the vintage bits & pieces that I have.  Not sure what the solid colour will be? I'll try one with the cheesy cheddar, one with the tea dyed muslin and I'll dig out some white on white and test that. 2" & 1 1/4" blocks.

 It was time. I bought a new cutting mat back in '09 !!! Finally decided it was time to dig it out and retire the old one. I'm having problems getting use to the lighter orange colour of the numbers...not good, not good!!!

 And a quilt top nearing it's finished quilt top look!!!! Need to measure it and decide if I want it for a single bed, double or queen. I have extra squares cut out to use in a border of some fashion....will let it sit so I can think on it!  Oh, painted one of the deck chairs BRIGHT YELLOW!!! Love it, just need the energy & time to sand and paint the 2nd one.

And what I should be working on. Our house is 70-80 yrs old and covered in as many layers of paint. We have a full size, walk up attic and I've been wanting to take that door off for years to refinish it. For some reason 'the man' of the house didn't want me to take it off, as he considered it a 'outside' door - keeping the attic and house separate - air wise. OK, but in the dead of summer it's OK to take it off for a few days - RIGHT??? Seriously, I was just making a mess trying to strip it in the up right position in a small hallway with plush RED carpet underneath...... It came off and is laying in the basement on the work horses just waiting for a new paint job. @*#@&^(&^!!!!!!

I just dug thru my old pictures but couldn't locate the snap of the original condition of the door. Right before we bought this house, the previous owners covered everything in beige paint. This door must have been the last one done after they had dropped the paint roller a couple hundred times in lint, dog hair and anything else that was gross. There wasn't a square inch on this door that was smooth and free of hair and lint. Nasty gross.....!!

More Vintage Fabric

Opps.....I knew I had a few more pieces of vintage material ~ hiding !! Opps.....didn't realize I had this much ~ hiding !! I have a separate plastic tub that holds new reproduction fabrics that I buy on the rare occasion. The rare occasion being a $12/yd price, now marked down to $3/yd. So..?? Was I hiding all the these LOL !!
So, more fabrics to play with. Rainy, overcast day here & the sun popped out during this picture.

 9" x 17.5' are the measurements of these fabrics below ~ a common cut (actually 'rip') even back then. The pink on the left has "Copyright #1342" in the selvage, so not sure of the vintage date for it - I like it, it's going into the quilt!! LOL (the other selvage was cut off, so no proper width size for it)

 Wasn't sure about the look, but with just a few pieces cut & laying out hap-hazard, I'm smiling.

So.....more sorting & washing. More line drying aka hanging around the house! More ironing! More smiling ~ tis a good thing!

Vintage Fabric Day

Wash day for all the bits & pieces of vintage ( & maybe not vintage) fabric.

Glad I let them soak first as I didn't realize just how dirty they were. Mind you, as I'm just as old as some of this fabric ~ I'm sure I'd be a little on the yellow side also!!!

 A tidy of the shelf holding my larger pieces of vintage fabric. Didn't realize I had that much in the solid colour selection.

And last ~ the pattern I'm going to use. I've been all over the map (or quilt patterns) do I want to use the double wedding, dresden plate or bow tie pattern etc etc and I'm tired of farting around. I just want a quilt that will showcase all the different fabric patterns and not overwhelm me. You simply can't get any easier then this one!

Small squares are 3 1/2" square and the larger is 7 1/2" x 3 1/2", the white strips are 1 1/2" wide.
I have lots of little pieces to measure and trim, hopefully to the larger size required. Coronation Street and the cutting board - here I come!!!

Log Cabin Hooked Rug

The Crazy Things I Make

Started this several years ago - hmmmm - about 8 yrs ago? Time flies!

I remember starting this while we were house hunting and we've been here for over 8 years now, gosh...time flies & projects get packed away and then found again.

Last weekend's purchase was more pre-cut yarn at the cost of $1/bag with 12 packs in each bag. Usually a single pack is just under a dollar at the retail store, so a good purchase. I had been using pre-cuts and cutting my own from stash, but it's quicker using pre-cuts, so I'm glad when I found these!

Come winter, I'll be back at it!

Waiting for DH as he shopped for a new wheelbarrow! Me, parked in the shade and taking pictures of radio towers LOL!

You will not get me inside one of those 10 football size hardware stores. Nope ~ one toooo many times losing DH & then wasting time & energy hiking the long aisles searching...NOPE!!!

And because I never can remember the prices I pay for vintage material. I bought the top two fabrics last weekend and the white fabric I had bought earlier this year at half price. All in excellent condition. Still searching for the one quilt pattern to use with my vintage fabric.

 And last - the local fall catalogue of night school courses just came out. The upholstery course was not offered this fall - CRAP!! Well, the chair & fabric will wait it out - I'm good at that also !!!

Long weekend approving and lots of things to do around the house & yard. Fingers crossed that this heat lets up & we get some needed rain. Phew - baby it's hot outside!!