Serious Stash Enhancement and the Winners Are...

Thank you so much for all of your comments on my 100th post. It was really helpful to hear your favorites. I won't keep you in suspense. The winners are....

Quilt Crazy Gal Jenna who has a wonderful blog showcasing all sorts of quilting techniques and

Jackie's Stitches, a knitter and a new quilter. She has some lovely pictures of a recent trip along the Appalachian Trail. I've always wanted to make that trip.

A big thank you to everyone that turned out for the Fabric Sale yesterday.

Here are my purchases, made in the afternoon after most people had come and gone. There are 4 sets of purchases in the photo above. The assortment of oriental prints fanned out in the front is the most expensive group on the table. The other 3 groups were bags of 2-3 lbs each (or 8-12 yards each) purchased for $5.00 a piece. On the left is a group of silks that include a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired fabric. The bag in the center holds strips sets of light and dark hues of brown. (I always need more of these in my stash.) The last on the right are generous scraps of different African prints. I've always wanted to add these to my collection.

This sale is on two levels of the home. I worked in Jeanne's quilting studio where all the fancy fabric are located. Oh... there is still so much left to choose from. I don't think it will matter what day you come to shop. You will not go away unhappy.

There still many large pieces of African print. Some are mud cloth, some with shells and still others are appliqued. There are a couple of bins full of hand dyed cotton sateens, print cloth and hand painted fabrics. Other items on this level include fancy garment fabrics, wool, overdyed wool, fleece, oriental fabrics (both silk and cotton prints), velvets and upscale batiks.

I came home with yards of Laura Wasilowski's cotton sateens, lovely hand dyed flannels and some of Wendy Richardson's overdyed velvets. Scrumptious!!!

The upper level of the home houses the traditional fabrics. There are cottons, flannels and even courduroy fabrics to choose from.

There are three more days left to this sale. Look for details in the upper right hand corner of my blog. I borrowed some of these pictures from Patsy's blog. You can see more photos here.

Leonids meteor showers peak tomorrow night November 17th in the late evening. I hope your skies are clear.

Getting Re-Organized

Here is my latest find in the long battle to get organized. I found this metal bucket in the picnic section of the local discount store. The pail is split into four sections. The largest section made for napkins fits my treasured box of colored pencils. The pin cushions pictured are gifts from quilting friends and family. My latest came from Alaska when my mom and stepfather traveled there in June. The pin cushion is called a spice baby and boy does it smell good!

I live in an old farmhouse. The age is unknown but local county records show a building at this location as far back as 1876. The house had no closets until the late 1990's when the last homeowner added an addition of two large rooms and two measly closets. We have added a walk-in closet and many other storage ideas over the last few years. I use lots of storage boxes for my projects. My girlfriends have even started to give me boxes as birthday gifts. Another gift was the beautiful metal pail. I use it as the trash can next to my sewing machine. I love those gals.

Have I ever mentioned my love affair with Ikea? Let's just say I'm just glad the closest store is four hours away. Every time I travel to Chicago I find a reason to stop in either to browse or purchase something. Last time it was curtains, storage boxes (almost always on my list) and a fabulous colander that hangs from the edges of the sink.

One of my favorite items from Ikea is my cheese grater. If you have one of these I'm sure you agree with me. It has a rubber foot at the bottom of the bowl and a lid to seal up the leftovers. I live in Wisconsin and we eat a lot of cheese to support our local industries.

My other favorite buy is this group of shelving units. They were sold as modular units with a choice of doors or drawer inserts. They do a great job of hiding my clutter. Ikea marketed these as entertainment units. I think they totally missed the mark and should have sold these as storage units. I'm sad to say these were discontinued a month after I purchased them. I spent yesterday moving all of my inventory and shipping supplies to one location. I hope this will stop me from walking circles around the house trying to find what I'm looking for now. Wish me luck. Ever since I hit 40 I can't remember what I did 5 minutes ago. I hear it gets worse at 50. Yikes!

My Favorite Colors of the Week

I love to dye fabric. The results are so satisfying. I have tried to choose a favorite color to no avail. I love every color. This lot is my favorite color of the week.

I start the dye process with unbleached muslin. The use of unbleached muslin is a conscious choice. I have not used bleach in my household for the last 20 years because of the impact chlorine has on our environment. The muslin is a good quality product with a 78 x 76 thread count. This fabric works well for needle turn applique and hand quilting.

This time I combined Golden Yellow Dye and Hot Pink in various dilutions. The darker fabrics have 4 times more dye in the solution than the pastel fabrics. I usually let the dye sit for 24 hours although it is not neccesary to wait that long. It is always hard for me to wait to see the finished product.



I ironed 33 yards of fabric last night and boy can I feel it. Does anyone have a favorite lightweight iron? Mine works wonders but weighs a ton.