Nothing recharges my quilting mojo like a trip to a real quilt shop. Shopping online just doesn't have the same effect. I'll admit 99% of my fabric purchases are online. The reasons being is I collect out of print fabrics and the truth be told convenience plays a big role when you live out in the boonies. It's a 30 minute drive to the local shop and I can't go to town in my jammies with my hair not brushed. Well I could and I have, bug not to the quilt shop. I'm sure if I lived in town I would spend more time in our local shop. So much so they might tire of seeing me.
I'm convinced the fabric manufactures are adding pheromones to fabric dyes because as soon as I open the door to the shop my heart starts racing, I take a deep breathe and sigh like a school girl in love.....This is the dimension of imagination. It's area we call The Twilight Zone..... Before I know it an hour or two have passed and it feels like 20 minutes.
The picture below is what I saw when opening the door. Stunning isn't she? What's the pattern? Who made it? I was in such a daze I didn't even think to look for the answer to either of those questions. I floated through the shop giddy like a kid in a candy shop.
The Back Door Quilts carries a little of everything. Here's a little corner dedicated to Edyta Sitar.
And some yummy new Flea Market by Lori Holt. Her panel prints are a must have. I'll be going back for one or more of these little cuties soon.
They normally don't have any space left on the shelves for more fabric. But our current pandemic has caused some shipping issues. This 30's reproduction area used to be full of the cutest fabrics.
Do you hear angels singing? Isn't this gorgeous? I need them all!
They have one of the largest selections of English paper piecing I've ever seen. This isn't all of it there's more to the right of this picture. I'm not a big fan of handwork but if I ever change my mind I know where to go.
The wool selection is also impressive. I've been toying around with the idea of working with wool. It's a new to me medium so before jumping in I'd like to do a bit more research. The pretty blue wool on the right made my quilty wheels start turning.....these would make adorable little bluebirds.
The picture below was not taken by me. I borrowed it from their Facebook page. They recently did a little rearranging of fabrics and posted the results. All of the reds caught my eye and I had to share the rainbow.
I forgot to take a picture of the ENORMOUS selection of civil war prints. The Back Door is known for its civil war reproductions and it's huge samples of quilts throughout the entire store. Every nook and cranny of this shop has samples. It's quite impressive, a must see if you visit Central Indiana. I also failed to picture the huge classroom/longarm room. Yes they quilt quilts in the back. This really is a one stop shop for quilters.
This quilt shop has been in business for about 45 yrs. They have been featured in quilting magazines and when things are normal they set up as vendors at quilt shows. During normal times the shop will bring big named quilters for trunk shows and classes. The one that stands out the most was Edyta Sitar. I love Edyta's quilt designs.
I can't say enough good things about The Back Door Quilts. One of my favorite things is how they always greet me as I come through the door. A quick "Hello, is there anything we can help you find today?"
I like to look around without being followed or bothered. They have a good sense of what every customer wants. On this day they had a couple new quilters in the shop needing tons of help so they had 2 different employees jumping through hoops to get these gals all they needed. I loved watching the staff helping the gals to find just the right fabrics and tools. You could tell they loved quilting and helping those who wanted and needed it.
As soon as I went to the cutting table another staff member popped out of nowhere ready to cut my fabrics. A very pleasant experience every time.
In the past year they have also started doing more online. Facebook and Instagram is a good way for shops to stay connected when we can't be in the shops. Terry has a weekly Sunday video called Sewing in My Jammies. Each week it's something different. She has shared free projects, new projects in the shop, new tools or techniques. Here's one of the free patterns she shared on Sewing in My Jammies.
They have an online store but like most brick and mortar shops it does not have all that they carry in the shop. You can find it here.
Did you know I'm an April Fool's baby? Yep that's right. My birthday day is April 1. So I decided to have a my biggest sale of the year to celebrate my birthday.
40% OFF
No joke! This is a great time to stock up. I may have other sales throughout the year but none this large.
The Notting Hill quilt is moving along at a fast pace due to the large amount of background. However with all that background space the process may slow down once it's on the quilt frame. White space = quilt it to death, right? Only time will tell since I really don't have a quilting plan, I'm still in the quilt stare phase of the process.
Feather quilting makes my little ole heart go pitter pat but I'm trying to get out of the quilting comfort zone. Should I go a little more artistic? This would mean I would need to much more marking of the quilt design before loading the quilt on the frame. Maybe a pantograph? I've never used a panto on a quilt so that too might take a long time since I would need to learn a whole new way of quilting.
More quilt staring is needed before I take this girl off the wall.
Staring at the quilt made my brain feel like it's on a hamster wheel. I need a break to let my mind reset and find inspiration on it's own. I've found over the years my best ideas come when doing mundane tasks or sleeping. This is a good time to get outside, soak up some some sun while walking and training my girl Khaleesi.
Today is the first day of being barefoot in the grass after YEARS of never being outside without shoes. The grass feels so good on my feet but its the things hiding in the grass that are of concern. You know rocks, thorns and BUGS! My feet are not used to being without shoes. So I tread lightly and become quite vocal with each step. OOh! Ouch! Ugg! How did I ever run on a gravel driveway as a child. This is going to be a long process of toughening up the feet.
When I look up at my girl she has this look on her face as if to say "What's the big deal? I go barefoot everyday. Why are you making those weird sounds?"
Humans are strange.
Did you know I'm an April Fool's baby? Yep that's right. My birthday day is April 1. So I decided to have a my biggest sale of the year to celebrate my birthday.
40% OFF
No joke! This is a great time to stock up. I may have other sales throughout the year but none this large.
I've been a little quiet on social media in the last couple of weeks. There's just not enough hours in the day to get everything done. So social media takes a backseat, especially blogging. Instagram and Facebook are a quicker option so I post there more often but still not everyday. You can find links to both in the sidebar of my blog. I'm pretty sure you don't need an account on either to look at them but don't hold me to that. Let me know if it won't let you see them without an account. I might be able to tweak some settings.
So what have I been up to? Spring cleaning, dog training and playing with pretty fabric! When I first saw the Notting Hill fabric by Amy Smart I knew it was a must have bundle. Amy's fabrics play well in my color pallet of bright and happy. Just look at these gorgeous prints. The large florals are OOOH-LA-LA!
The quilt pattern I will use for this bundle was designed a few years ago I just needed the right line of fabric. Now to find the right background fabric. Normally plain ole white is my go to but I thought I'd live a little outside my comfort zone and choose a low volume print. The powers that be were not happy with my choice. But I'm not going to let them keep me from my plan. Two things happened....
#1..There was a burn in the fabric.
#2...I under calculated how much I would need and I could not find more of the red dot print.
In my stash is a full bolt of plain ole white but I really wanted to use a low volume Riley Blake. So I went to my favorite online shop, Stitches and Giggles 4 U. I can always find what I need at this shop and the shipping is fast.
While I waited for the fabric to arrive I made a couple of test blocks from my scraps.
Then I starched and cut out my blocks so I would be ready when the fabric arrived. During this time I also cleaned out my quilting tools drawer. In this drawer I found a set of churn dash block pattern labels I made years ago. How fun! I had forgotten I made these, might as well put them to use.
Oh my goodness how cute are these blocks? Florals and plaid....SOOO YUMMY!
Amy knows what I love.
I would love a bolt of each of the large florals....Gorgeous!
It didn't take long to put my quilt top together when working with such pretty fabrics. I'll be showing a few more sneak peaks over the next couple of weeks while I wait for the patterns to arrive from the printers.
Did you know I'm an April Fool's baby? Yep that's right. My birthday day is April 1. So I decided to have a my biggest sale of the year to celebrate my birthday.
40% OFF
No joke! This is a great time to stock up. I may have other sales throughout the year but none this large.
Hello Quilting Friends! Yes, removing stains from quilt blocks is a piece of cake. Almost weekly in the quilting social media world I see a quilter who is at their wits end trying to remove a stain from a quilt. Quilters being kind and generous people for the most part offer up their best advice. More often than not the advice requires a deep pocket...$$$$. Well I'm here to tell you specialty products aren't always the best. Ever heard of Occam's Razor? In laymen's terms it means the simplest solution is usually the best solution.
Marketing experts do an amazing job convincing us of our need for their products. Not just in the quilting field but in every field of our purchasing.
But today we're going to focus on products for stains on quilts. In the past I've used 3 different products claiming to safely and effectively remove stains from my quilts. Stains like yellowing, blood, grease and bleeding dyes. All have failed me in one way or another. They either didn't work or worked so well they ruined my fabric. All were expensive.
I'm not mentioning brands because it's political. I don't want to ruffle any feathers, you understand, right? Do what you like, spend what you want. I'm here to tell you what has worked better for me and is cheap. It all boils down money and effectiveness. If I can get the same or better results at less cost it makes sense. Why pay $500 for a hammer when Lowe's sells the same hammer for $25? I'm sure most of you remember this being uncovered in our government back in the 80's. But lets not go down the slippery slope of politics.
In a previous post (HERE) I shared my yellowed UFO blocks and the start of a test for removing the yellowing. Well it worked and for just pennies. No bleeding or fading of the fabrics. In the image below you can see the test block on top is whiter than the one on the bottom.
This method of cleaning them was an idea from Kelly Kline on live Facebook video. Kelly specializes in quilting vintage quilt tops and linens. In the video she had some discolored vintage linens soaking in ammonia to remove mold. The finished product was much whiter. She then laid them out in the sun to dry and bleach them out even more. The old wives tale of this whitening fabrics must be true because Kelly does it all the time with great success. I was willing to go that far to fix these blocks but luckily I only needed to do the first part of soaking the blocks.
So it was time to soak all the blocks in a 7 to 1 mixture. That's 7 parts hot water to 1 part ammonia. Then I added 1 tsp on Dawn blue dish soap. Dawn was my idea. Both of these smell horrid. I think Dawn dish soap smells like a sour dish cloth but I keep it on hand for tough jobs like stain removal from clothing. It works better than any stain removing laundry product I've used in the past. Just a little dab and a little elbow grease and like magic stains are gone.
Anyway back to my blocks. The magical stain removing mixture was mixed up in a Rubbermaid container. Then I folded each block in half, layering them in individually. Gave them a little squishing action. By squishing I mean pushing the blocks down into the mixture, pushing them from side to side just enough to make sure the mixture was touching every part of all the blocks. Being aggressive with the squishing would cause fraying so I was very gentle. The blocks were left to soak overnight.
The next day I was shocked by the results. Look at the water! Sure the Lemon scented ammonia made a slight yellow tint to the water but this is brown....EWW.
The yukky water was poured off and the rinsing process began.
Here I've removed them from the plastic container and added about two inches of water. Gave them a very gentle squish up and down in the water. Then I drained the tub and repeated the process 2 more times.
To neutralize and remove smell of the ammonia I added some white vinegar to the 3rd tub of water. How much? I just dumped it in, maybe 2 cups of white vinegar. And again with the light squish to make sure the vinegar had saturated every fiber. The tub was emptied and filled again to remove the vinegar. Of course there was more squishing.
When the water had drained from the tub the blocks were rolled up and squished several times. Then I carefully unrolled them.
One at a time they were removed. I would hold them up for just a little bit to allow some of the water to drip out.
The blocks were gently placed in a stack on top of two old towels that had been folded in half separately. Another folded towel was placed on top. Then I rolled them into a jelly roll, leaving one towel unrolled. It was just there to help absorb any excess water. Once rolled it was time for another gentle squish to help remove the water. Excessive squish/squeeze will cause excessive wrinkles so be careful. The jelly roll was left to work it's magic while I cooked super.
About 2 hours later I transferred the jelly roll into the Studio. My pretty blocks look as good as new but they need to hang to dry. If I were to iron these right now with them wet it would shrink the blocks. And if I were to toss them in the dryer....oh what a mess that would be.
Thankfully quilt frame makes a great clothesline. They should be dry by morning.
By the way here was very little fraying, if any.
A few days later I finally took the blocks of the makeshift clothesline and gave them a press with no steam. They are as good as new and it was as easy as pie.
And the best thing, it was cheaper than water pie! Water Pie? Yes ma'am there is a water pie recipe from the depression error. It might be recipe we need to keep on hand. I found this awhile back when looking for a recipe of some sort. Check it out, Water Pie, Paula Deen approved. It was her first time making the pie suggested by one of her followers.
(in my best Paula Deen southern accent) ......
Thanks Y'all for stoppin' by my little ole spot in Podunk! HA!HA!HA!
