Early Morning Playtime

 Every morning is the same routine...I get up, grab a glass of water, and sip it while watching the local weather on mute. Then it’s a quick scroll through emails and social media. By the time that’s done, my husband has left for work and it’s time to start chores. But yesterday, before I even finished my online check in or he headed out, I had an epiphany. Remember those Wheel/Dresden blocks from Monday’s blog post? The reason I’ve struggled to work them into a quilt is that they have too much color for my taste...it’s the background fabric! So, I cut them off!

At first, I thought the white fabric with black dots would be the perfect match for the wheels...and it is! But as a proud fabric hoarder, I know my stash is basically a treasure chest of possibilities. Time to unleash some of those options and see what magic happens.

This Lakehouse Drygoods print just about sent my little ole heart into a tap dance. I think it plays well with these blocks, but I’m not sure these wheels are worthy of such a treasure, so it’s time to rummage through the stash and see if I can find a not so treasured fabric.

A large pale yellow dot by Poppy Cotton also brought a smile to my face but it doesn’t have the same pizzazz as the previous print. Maybe I could use this and add some patchwork or solid colors in the sashing and borders to make up for what it’s lacking.

Sitting on the cold tile floor for about an hour, I dug through the scrap bins searching for the perfect fabrics to match the wheels. In the process, I came across some squares I had cut years ago when I planned start a scrap saver system. That plan was abandoned after about three days of nonstop cutting. And now, guess what? At the start of this year, I again started cutting all my newly produced scraps into usable sizes for a scrap saver system. I’ll share my progress another time.

It didn’t take long to realize the sashing plan was a dud and that patchwork sashing might look better or the Lakehouse Drygoods print.  Sigh… I was officially done playing with these blocks. There’s a quilt on the frame begging for attention and other UFOs that don’t demand this much attention. Plus, my poor tooshie was freezing from sitting on the tile floor, and all I really wanted was my morning cup of decaf.

Things didn’t turn out the way I had planned in my mind, but I made a little progress after many years of it being a UFO, and that makes me happy. So, back in the box it goes until another great idea comes along. As I sit here looking at this picture, I realized I didn’t add the big yellow dot to the box. I think I’ll keep the black dots in there too, just in case I change my mind again. 

Later this afternoon, the squares I found will be sorted by size and color and stored in my new scrap saver system and then it's back to quilting the Iris quilt.  

With my morning cup of decaf, I decided to have some fun with ChatGPT. I’ve seen quilters using it to whip up pictures and ads, so I figured, why not?  I sent it pictures of me, my dog and an applique quilt block.  I mentioned my sewing room’s white furniture and bright colors, then requested denim overalls and a red gingham shirt.  And I even gave it a link to my blog so it could see my style.

It worked its magic in about one minute.

I must say, I adore the gorgeous thick hair and eyebrows it gave me, plus I look about 15 years younger and considerably slimmer. However, I'm baffled by the random signs everywhere, the jar of salsa on the windowsill, and apparently, every quilter’s must have quilting notions are a mound of soil and filthy garden gloves on the desk! HAHA!  

And when I zoomed in to look at the detail, I noticed something strange about my finger.  What in the world is that?!  EWW!   Obviously, AI still has a lot to learn.  It was fun but I think I'll stick to real photos.

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It's Not My UFO

 If you had to name these blocks, would you call them Dresden blocks or wheel blocks? Whatever they are, they’re adorable. I can’t take credit for making them, they were sent to me years ago by Bev of Blossom and Beverly, who some may also remember as 44th Street Fabrics.  She no longer writes on her blog so reason to provide a link.  She switched over to Instagram, and we haven't chatted in years.  I'm not a big fan of the faster paced social media.  I only had it for business purposes.  I guess that makes me an old out of touch fuddy duddy.  

Oh well I like the slower pace here in blogland.  It reminds of a line from the book/movie Shawshank Redemption.

"The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry"

Anyway... Way back in the day Bev had written a blog post about these quilt blocks saying she made them a long time ago and didn't know what to do with them and wanted suggestions.  

In true smarty pants fashion, I suggested she send to me because I loved them!

As you can see, she did just that.  We had been sending packages to each other for years, so she sent them. It was a total surprise when they ended up on my doorstep.  And here I set in the same predicament for years trying to come up with a plan for using them.

Every time I've to work on them it always ended with them being put back in storage.

Well not this time.  I'm determined to finish this project.  So up on the design wall they go.  This should be a quick and easy finish. Weather I like it or not it will be finished, it's not going back into storage.

Bev and I discussed these a few times over the years.  We both thought that adding a black and white polka dot might be the best option.  I've had a black with white polka dots on hand for a few years and have been keeping my eye out for a white with black dots for quite some time.  Finally last week I found it at Love It Sew our local quilt shop.  So up on the design wall they went for inspiration.  To be honest, I was not inspired.  

Plan B was to take the blocks into EQ8 and start playing with options.  And I quickly realized that this might take longer than I thought.  EWW...I don't like the dots.

I played around with a lot of ideas, and each one produced the same reaction...EWW.

This seemed a little better but still... EWW.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.  Maybe it's the black that is so yukky to me. After about 3 or 4 fabric auditions in EQ, I found a fabric I think will work.  Gingham of course.  I love ginghams!  I love dots too but not the black and white ones.

What do you think? The yukky dots, green or something totally different for this quilt.  Design options ideas are welcome too!

For now, they will stay on the design wall while I finish up the Iris quilt that has been neglected for days.  I often come up with my best ideas while working quietly on something else.

See you soon!

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Happy Easter

Happy Easter to my lovely family and friends, may your day be filled with laughter and joy. 

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Meeting Corey Yoder

 Once again, time seems to be spinning out of control, and I’ve lost track of the days. Maybe it’s because I turned 57 this week. Whatever the reason, here’s my sewing update a day late. The Iris Quilt? No progress to report. But honestly, who cares... I met Corey Yoder!

She did a trunk show at Love It Sew one of our local quilt shops.  Normally I would never pay to meet fabric designer.  But when I saw that she was going to be here the day after my birthday I said what the heck.  I almost always buy fabric for my birthday and had planned to buy from both of the local shops why not just go on the day that Corey is in town.  It was only $20 or in quilter cash one yard of wide quilt backing.  

I've been following Corey since around 2011 or 12.  Back then she was a Moda Bakeshop designer, that's how I found her.  She had posted a quilt pattern in the Moda Bakeshop website and there was a link to her blog at the end of the pattern post.  Here's a link to the Candy Scraps Quilt I remembered from way back then.  Why was it so memorable?  Linen!  That's right she used an unbleached linen in the quilt and I was in awe.  So I went straight to Joann's and bought some linen that looked like what she had but wasn't designer fabric.  I didn't use it for another year or two, you know how it is...SQUIRRELL!  

Anyway, back to Corey, she was in town for a trunk show featuring her new fabric line, Fruit Salad. I had already come across it online since I often browse manufacturer websites for upcoming collections.

Of course, she brought all the sample quilts for this line and a lot more from other lines.  

I took pictures of some of the quilts just for show and tell here on the blog.  But I didn't bother to write down the names of any of them.  So, if you like any of them here's a link to her pattern shop.  It's rare that I buy a pattern, but when I do I prefer to buy directly from the designer, if possible, they make more profit when you purchase from them.

She shared a good 20 to 30 really cute quilts.  This one below was my favorite.  Again, I have no clue what it's called.  It reminds me of the traditional quilt pattern called Grandmothers Flower Garden.  Y'all know I'm s sucker for posy quilts.  Did I buy the pattern?  No.  I forgot about this one when it came time to shop.

What did I get?  Let's start with the goodie bag put together by the quilt shop.  In the bag was 2 FQ's, scissors, a wristlet and 3 pieces of candy.  The candy is not pictured because...well...it was yummy chocolates. HAHA!   We also got to choose one Corey pattern free of charge.  The goodie bag more than paid for what we paid for the trunk show.  Let me just say I love this quilt shop, they carry all the pretty stuff I love.  Thank goodness it's about a 40 to 50 minute drive.  If it were closer, I'd be in big trouble with hubby all the time.

Of course, I bought a few things while at the shop.  Some half yards of the blue prints in the Fruit salad line and the black dot on white is also a Corey Yoder fabric but not from the current line. We'll talk more about that black dot fabric next week.  Some must have low volume prints came home with me because one can never have too many of those.  And last but not least Corey brought new patterns for her next line of fabric, Joysome, it will be in stores this fall. I chose a pattern that looked like it would be good for scrap busting small squares.

Corey had a YouTube Channel.  She posts a new video almost every Saturday.  Her channel isn't just for plugging her new lines of fabric and patterns, she also does Q&A, free block of the months and the occasional tutorial.  I watch it every week without fail.  Below is her video for the Fruit Salad line. Click on the image below to watch or click this link to watch it on YT and help her YT channel grow. 

 See you soon!  Monday is the plan, but you never know!

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