Relaxing and re-creating in fabric stores

I just returned from a family vacation, and my fun money was all spent on fabric. I hit the big sales at JoAnn's last week and got some of this Kona yummy-ness in greens, grays and cream. On top are three tone on tone whites that I'm going to overdye. Stay tuned for that.

Here are some of the prints that jumped into my shopping bag-- a fun cake one, one with script, a cute paper-doll one for a baby quilt back, and various prints that may or may not have a plan. I think I counted 14 yards in total, and I did feel restrained. On the last full day of our trip, we split up and each spent hours browsing in bookstores, electronic places, or in my case, fabric stores.

When I got home, this package of goodies was waiting for me from Wendy Hill, who offered to send me some selvages and some fast2fuse in postcard size. Thanks so much Wendy!

And I did get to the sewing machine a bit today, ignoring the unpacking and tidying up. We came home a day early, so really, I could spend the day sewing and no one would be the wiser, right?

So I finished these two needle cases, one with a pieced interior felt page for the needles.

Pixie Dust baby quilt

 I sewed with a friend for an afternoon and finished this little baby quilt measuring 36 inches square. I used up large scraps from Victoria's Pixie Dust gather she held last year. Last fall I won a box of her scraps and these are among the last significant pieces in it. I started by making large four patches and then rotating them to come up with this simple design. There's lots of room to practise my machine quilting. When it's done, this baby quilt will warm a preemie at my local children's hospital.

Done like dinner

I'm ready for drinks or dessert on the deck with my new summer placemats. Anyone want to stop by for a little refreshment?

 I finished these selvage placemats a few days ago, butI had total computer failure a week ago and I'm slowly rebuilding my system. and no, I hadn't backed up everything, especially my photos (!!!!!!). The computer tech at the shop asked innocently: "Is there anything on this you don't want to lose?"

I tried not to scream back at him "Yes, just my whole professional and personal life." But the other tech called Lucas (an angel in my books) saved everything on my almost-corrupted hard drive and all I lost was some of my programs and formatting. Note to self: back up, back up, back up.

Here's the reverse side in case someone spills their strawberry shortcake on the bright side. I used four swirly b/w prints on the reverse and bound them all with a long b/w selvage.

A belated thanks to Myra for the four fat quarters I won in her PhD giveaway last month. I blame my tardy response on my computer failure.

Placemat process

The weather has been sizzling hot here lately, so I've been hiding out in the AC with a little summer sewing. I'm making selvage placemats in citrus and other summery colours, using some really wide selvages from Bumblebeans scrap giveaway last winter and some of my own. I'm sewing the selvages directly on the batting, mostly in diagonals, but not always. Each one is a bit different. The top left one has two strips on it from cutoffs from two placemats that got a bit big. The beauty of selvages is one can just cover more raw edges with selvages. Often when I play with selvages, I focus on the writing or the colour windows, but on these I want to see the fabrics. Some of the selvages are 2.5 inches wide, so lots of fabric is visible. I also wanted to use up the last bits from Bumblebeans's box for me -- I've given away tea cozies and needlebooks made from that box of goodies, but I haven't kept anything. Now I can enjoy some of these lovely fabrics with my supper. And a bit more process: I'm using my b/w stash for backing these placmats. I love the white and brights on the selvage side, but placemats do get dirty, and it's nice to have a darker side too. I'm planning to quilt the back to the front with a white serpentine stitch, and bind them with a b/w selvage (its four metres long cut from a quilt backing.)