I Love Library Book Sales!

I live in a lovely town 'where everyone knows your name', or at least they recognize your face. As someone that is on a low income, my town has two places that I especially love to go to. One of them being our thrift store where I have found many terrific deals. I've picked up spare pieces of silverware that even if they don't 'go' with my silverware, they coordinate. My set of silverware is an Oneida brand, and buying replacement pieces is expensive, so finding more Oneida spoons, forks and knives in great patterns for 10 cents a piece is a huge deal. And yes, I meant 10 cents a piece! Anyone that has tried buying replacements from Oneida knows that they are costly. I buy clothing there both for me and my husband. After seeing a neat apron project using men’s shirts at Embroidery Library, I found some shirts in plaids that I liked, I bought them and hope to have those posted here soon. I find books and magazines at reasonable prices as well. My biggest thing at the thrift store is all the crafting supplies I have found. At this point I can do just about any needlework project from the supplies found at that store and I have mentioned some of those deals before.

The second place that I love to go is my library. I have spent a great deal of my life in libraries as either a patron or as an aide. From 8^th grade through college and then while in nursing school, I worked part time in all my school libraries. With the arthritis, I have in my hands, reading books is getting more and more uncomfortable for me, so unless it is truly a favorite author, I use my Kindle to read regular books on. However, when our twice a year Friends of the Library (FOL) Book Sale takes place, unless I am dying from pain, I’m there. If I can bring Steve to help so much the better. Some years I don’t find much of great interest and then other times I feel like I have struck a gold mine. This was one of those years. I found stacks of knitting, embroidery, quilting books and magazines in like new condition. Even though it wasn’t bag day ($1 a bagful of books) I bought all that I could find.

Because of the subject matter and the condition of the books I figured such a donation was due to one of two things. The crafter had either had to enter a nursing home or had died. While looking through the books I found the receipt for when she bought them and then looked her name up. She had died the year before. I hope that she would be happy to know that her donation made many excellent books available to someone like me that doesn’t have the funds to pay full price for those books and magazines. I have had the opportunity to buy a woman's crafting refernce libraries prior to this and I remember these women that I didn't even know fondly, knowing we would have found plenty to talk about.

I’ve spent a happy week going through the books/magazines. Some of the knitting magazines made me wish I could knit but I must be stern with myself and not take up any more hobbies, although I thoroughly enjoyed reading them, especially the Downton Abby Knitting magazines as well as a Harry Potter knitting magazine. Those I put up for sale at competitive prices on Amazon, as selling on line is part of how we literally pay the bills. I have been trying to learn more about embroidery and so to find some excellent books. One book I had bought to resell years ago and averaged a sale price of $70 per books (the price has come way down now). That, by the way, is MORE than I spent on all the books I got last week. Not only did I get that book, I got 3 others in the same series. I found books on stump work. I found old sewing and quilting books that included a lot of history of quilting and sewing over the centuries. Many of the quilting magazines had quilt patterns that would be suitable for Project Linus quilts or a quilt that would use a particular fabric stash that I have.

You never know when something is going to drop into your lap and solve a problem for you. I have seen a photo of a scrap quilt that had been on the front cover of BHG Patchwork & Quilting. I’ve never run across the actual issue or pattern, but I did find a good enough photo of it that I scanned and made it large enough to see which types of blocks I needed. Without knowing for sure what size the original blocks were, from what I could tell an 8” finished block would do the trick. That is until I got to one block that had a 9-patch section in the middle of where a 4” finished piece would go. And then I had to get out the calculator and try to figure out what size I needed to cut these squares of strips for quick piecing. Then I was looking at one of ‘new’ magazines and what did I find but a 9-patch that went where a 4” finished piece would go. My math hadn’t been far off, but it was enough that it would have never looked right. So, with that puzzle answered for me, I have continued piecing the quilt.

I’m not sure how some people function without books in their lives to help provide inspiration and knowledge. I know I couldn’t get along without them! I’m so happy that I could go to this sale, help support my library, help support myself, gain a lot of inspiration and knowledge about the things I’m very interested in.

Free Machine Embroidery Designs

Yet again we are happy to tell you about some Free Machine Embroidery Designs that Embroidery Library is giving away this week-end through March 28, 2016. They are three lovely wreath designs and in 5 sizes each, for a total of 5 designs. They also have some new, beautiful spring designs with lots of flowers. Even though we have had a fairly mild winter as winters go, I'm ready to see my daffodils blossom. I've already seen some crocuses in bloom as well as three robins, so as far as I'm concerned spring is definitely here. It was even 73 degrees in town yesterday! We won't talk about the fact that it is currently 32 degrees.

So go to Embroidery Library and get your free designs now and if you haven't picked up your free monthly ones, be sure to do it now.

In other news our local library, McCord Memorial Library had their semi-annual book sale. I hit the jackpot as far as I was concerned and was very glad that my younger son was their to help tote my purchases out. I found stacks of quilting, sewing, and knitting magazines plus quilting books. I paid $29 for what was at least $500+ retail value. On Saturday, which was bag day ($1 per bag of books) I found even more. Yesterday I had to stop into the library to find something and found 12 more magazines for 25 cents a piece. Some might wonder why I needed to buy these as I have plenty of books and quilting magazines already, but I love keeping my brain active and on days when I'm in really bad pain, I can't focus in on reading a regular book, but looking through magazines actually helps get my mind off the pain.

Since I'm slowly changing my focus of what I do in my sewing room to smaller projects that are more easily accomplished, I put a Post-it(R) note on articles that have quilts that would be perfect for Project Linus quilts or making something special for charity fund raisers as I'm able. And I still note any quilt in my colors in a design I like as they speak to me. I know most of the things I will never do, but it is nice to make them in my head. Here is a peek at SOME of what I got. To make things even better I got my latest issue of Stitch magazines, all the way from the UK, with some great but easy looking hand embroidery designs.

Pressing Quilt Block Seams

For years I have read in every book and magazine along with discussions with other quilters, that when pressing seams in a quilt block to press BOTH seam allowances off to the darker side or to one side that will help keep all the seams aligned correctly for sewing all the blocks together. So I pick up a magazine yesterday (sorry can't remember the name off hand) and while I was looking through it, they had an entire page devoted to pressing the seams in quilt blocks open and why, including preventing two seams from getting off kilter when you sew over both of them where you might go from two layers of fabric to six within one stitch length. They had a lot of good reasons for pressing them open and pooh-poohed the idea of it leaving the seams with too much thread tension to hold up. As a garment sewer first before being a quilter, I know that I'm still wearing skirts regularly that I made up to 20 years ago with nary a popped seam. So how can the seam pop out so easily on a quilt when they don’t on garments which actually would get rougher use and lots of trips through the washer?

Anyhow I was looking for ideas on whether any of you have tried and/or routinely press your seams open instead of off to the side. It 'seams' it would help those of you that have trouble with intersections on your 7700 not get thrown off so easily.

Have the books and references been wrong for all these years? As part of my quest to be the best I can be with quilting, I have been trying hard to follow the rules, but is the this a rule that needs to be updated and broken?

Here are some great quilt magazines that I have enjoyed over the years. The one that I found the information about pressing quilt blocks was in the premier issue of a magazine on using pre-cuts. I don't buy precuts, I make my own. At the end of every project, with the leftover small pieces of fabric, I cut out 2 1/2" strips, 2 1/2" squares, 4 1/2" squares and 4 1/2" x 2 1/2" rectangles. If I still have odd shapes left over I will cut them into something that is a fairly common size, such as if I have enough to make a 3 1/2" square, that is what I will cut it into instead trimming off an inch of fabric on both sides and thus wasting part of it. If I wanted to, I could also make 5" and 10" charm and cake squares and fat  quarters, but instead if I have that large of piece of fabric leftover, I fold it up and put it back in my stash. But I've been thinking about rethinking that process. Stince I started working on hexagons for quilting, I am also always looking out for  leftover fabric shapes that I can use for different size hexies.

Frogs for Project Linus

Several years ago I was given a box of juvenile quilting fabrics including yardage of frog prints in different sizes and in pink and blue color ways. As my last few, well actually most, of my Project Linus quilts have been in the red white and blue color families, I was ready for something with a change of color palette. In February 2014 The Quilter Magazine had an article on making a child's quilt called "What a Hoot". It was the perfect size for a Project Linus quilt and as it also used fabric in varying sizes of the main print, I decided this would work for my newest quilts using the frog prints. However as I started setting up the blocks and seeing how it would look, I realized that some changes were in order since the background of the prints was the identical blue or pink background and so I was having too much of a good thing. Still basing the quilt layouts on the owl quilt, I did some adjusting and swapping fabrics in places and got a pink frog and then a blue frog quilt top finished including the borders. Also when sewing the pink quilt together I mixed up the blocks and for the life of me couldn't figure out how they were supposed to go together so I did my own thing. I have also set aside a length of yardage for backing for each of the quilts.

I still have a good amount of yardage left and also some precut squares and strips in various sizes, so now I get to do what I really love, making up scrap quilts that looked planned but are basically 'happy accidents' depending on what I have to work with. I once read a letter to the editor of a quilting magazine that asked why anyone would want to make scrap quilts as she hated them. All I could think was why would anyone want to make a quilt with two fabrics and 12 identical blocks when you could use 100 fabrics and have twelve similar and coordinating blocks? The joy of quilting is we all get to do what we want to do! I'm hoping to be able to make at least three more quilt tops before I run out of the frog prints and coordinating fabrics.                                                        

Quilting organization.

Interweave Press is having a contest and wanted to know about tips for organizing your stash. There will be a random drawing for the prize winner, so I figure there is no chance I will win, but thought I should post some of the things I do for those that might be interested.
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I have to agree that you need to use the system that works for you. Mine is storing fabric in boxes that paper came in. They fit on my shelves just great. I do not sort my fabrics by color, but I try to keep some by fabric theme such as juvenile prints so it is easier to grab what I need when making a baby or Project Linus quilt. I also keep all Christmas fabrics together in one box so that I don't have to root through boxes to find what I'm looking for. Otherwise I love going through my stash looking for just the right color and falling in love with my fabrics all over again. That is part of the joy of quilt making for me.

My best organizational tip, is whenever you are finished with a project, cut the scraps down into workable size squares and rectangles and now that I'm into making hexagons, those as well. I cut up as much as I can into 2.5 " x 2.5" squares, 4.5" x 4.5" squares, and a 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles. I call these my 2 by 4's as to me they are the same as the 2 by 4's that constructions workers use to frame out a house. I can make hundreds of styles of quilts with these three shapes. Anything smaller goes in the trash and pieces that are bigger get folded back up neatly with the rest of the fabric unless all that is left is a strip and I cut that into a 2.5", 2" or 1.5" strip. So I have been ahead of the jelly rolls, etc. for years!

Whenever I get a new quilting magazine, as I look through it, if I see a project that can be made out of my pre-cuts, I will flag it with a Post-it note and the same with easy baby quilts I will flag as well. That way when I need a new idea I don't have to look at the whole magazine, just the pages that are flagged.

I have a disabling chronic health problem so anything that I can do to make things easier truly benefits me, such as I have a Janome 7700 with an automatic thread cutter (much easier than picking up and manipulating scissors to trim off threads), an acrylic table that allows me to rest my forearms and hands on while piecing and I always do chain piecing, push 'buttons' to set my settings so no manipulating dials (I never use the jog dial on the machine).

No matter what the world is doing in their sewing spaces, do what makes you comfortable. I love the look of all those fabrics that are setting open on the shelves, but I also know what dust and sunshine can do to fabric, especially on the folds. So mine is packed away. Oh yes, fashion fabric is in boxes separate from quilting fabric.

Magazine 'Jackpot"

On Friday, I had to run some last minute errands before things like the library and bank closed. when I got to the library 5 minutes before they locked the doors, I returned my library book and checked the shelves of items for sale. I found 17 magazines on quilting and other topics, paid and was on my way. Not only do I love looking through magazines to get ideas, I have found that they are great for taking my mind off of pain in the midst of a major flare up. God is good. He knew the flare-up was coming and provided for it. All told I got 13 quilting magazines, only one of which I had ever seen before, a jewelry magazine, a crafting one and two magazines called Where Women Create. These books are more than just how to set up your sewing, crafting, painting, etc. space, but they also tell about the women that work in them. They tell what inspired them in their work, how they built their business, websites to learn more etc. I suspect I will find them to be good resources for many reasons.

I'm currently in the midst of one of the worst rheumatoid arthritis flare-ups that I've had in a long time. I get them often but not usually to the extent that I feel like I've been run over by a couple of Mack trucks. But if you can imagine that, this has been my last two days. I'm so glad for the provision of new 'picture books' for me as I get over the pain. I've also got a few more books on  my wish list, now that I have seen her magazines and that is Jo Packhan and her books and magazines on Where Women Create .

Now off to a little Pinterest pinning, since I only have to use one finger, and then back to my nest and my pile of 'treasure'.