Glorious, gracious gifts

      One of the super cool things about blogging is the people. I have met such wonderful people over the years. Sadly, some have stopped blogging and communicating. Boy, do I miss them! Because some readers know I make comfort quilts almost all the time, they have sent me fabric and quilt tops to finish. What a delight that is! I have been able to back quilts, finish quilts and quilt them with the generosity of others. Recently, I got a boxes of fabrics and I received tops from across the ocean. Can you believe it?

A big load from Gwen!

Loads of strips from Quiltdiva Julie and some great blender yardage! I have already picked patterns for most of the strips and sorted them.

 

     These two phenomenal tops made it across the ocean from Maureen ready for quilting!

     I also love, love vintage sewing machines. Except for my long arm, I piece on vintage sewing machines. Don't ask how many. I don't count my husband's sneakers/shoes and he doesn't count my machines. Anyways, I am always looking out for some great ones to fix/clean and pass on to others as you cannot beat the vintage machines for sewing anything consistently and solidly- Metal machine innards.
     Recently, I found a Kenmore 158.1304 reasonable on ebay and bought it to rehab for a friend whose had a non-functioning plastic Singer (what a surprise) and needs to do some home dec/repair sometimes. Unfortunately the seller packed it very poorly in just brown paper in a poor thin box and it arrived damaged. It was so sad because it was a pristine machine. I went and pleaded for some parts on the Vintage Kenmore sewing machine groups.io, and a woman told me she had the parts for that one and another I had bought locally not noticing that the bobbin door was broken (it was dark, in the garage, and the guy was rushing me- not a good combo). So, she sent me all the pieces from a donor machine and would not take payment for the parts or shipping when she learned what I do with the machines. Because of her generousity, I have 2 machines that have been given new life and one has already been given a home.

These few parts gave 2 machines a new lease on functioning life! Thank you, Marsha!!

 

 

     I am so grateful that people trusted me to make good on their donations and I received such wonderful things to support the comfort quilting efforts!

Flowers and Fabric, oh my!

      Two things I just love, fabric and flowers, have made an appearance around here lately. Two friends sent me fabric to help with making comfort quilts. Julie sent me some large pieces to help with backing and a whole load of 2 1/2" strips- some colors and a lot of low volume (yum) ones. I am trying to determine what quilts to make with them, paging through my collection of printed out ideas. Of course, then I had to rearrange two massive folders of printed out/purchased patterns. I arranged the strips by color and style for the photo. I usually put strips in a drawer by color.

     Also, I had a box of gorgeous fabrics from Gwen, who has supplied me over the years with big backing pieces in addition. I arranged the piles by type of fabrics (batik, florals, novel, kids) to figure out how to store these away. Lots of wonderful batik pieces to help augment the batik collections.

     One of my orchids is blooming. Every year for 5 years, it has sent out a shoot of blooms. They last so long and I am so happy to have some color around on these gray days.

     And, some of the Christmas cactus have shot out some wonderful blooms!

Fabrics and Finish

      I did finish the 3 Dudes quilt with a border. Rosie is inspecting and wrecking the design wall, multi tasking. I think it came out great, thanks Julie for curating and cutting all that fabric.

      Also, I made sure I visited Fox's Sew and Vac in Meadville, PA when visiting my daughter the Saturday after Thanksgiving as their email showed great sales. I got 20 fat quarters for $20, I chose. I got 5 yards of fabric for $5 each. And I bought some funky Benartex fabrics 20% off- 10 fat quarters and three- 1 yard pieces. Now to what quilt to make with it. Something star like maybe. Hmm.

Building the Stash

      I am reporting proudly that I am building my stash as an ongoing process. I never know what fabric I will need to use and I build most of my quilts shopping in my own studio. There is only 1 local quilt shop left in the Buffalo area and they concentrate on novelty fabrics. I know it is not the popular thing to do, but I enjoy building the collection for quilt usage and I use fabric every week . People do give me quality scraps and send me fabric that I am grateful for also.
     Autumn fabric was almost half off and I needed to replenish what I used.

     After working on those Kindred Pinwheels, I fell in love with Tilda fabrics, and after seeing the Hibernation series on Maureen's blog, I bought a fat quarter bundle and another small one of the blenders which I did not photo.

     To keep me going in making comfort quilts, Vicki augmented my stash by gifting me some awesome hand dyes. Yes!!

     I forgot to photo some lovely blenders that I picked up at Hobby Lobby to go with the Hibernation fabrics. All of these just get my creative juices on high alert which is good because it gets dark so early now and we are entering grey sky season here.
     Let the cutting begin!

Special fabric delivery!

      One of the joys of life is receiving fabric in the mail. Knowing someone trusts you enough to make comfort quilts with it and sends it to you is an awesome humbling position that I have blessed with. Gwen has sent me fabric, especially backing fabric, before and it has so helped me to complete quilts to give away.
     Her latest box had all kinds of goodies in it. How exciting! I sorted by size and type, color. It got my brain thinking.

      An absolutely gorgeous group of batik colors were in the box also. However, they are flannel and I don't know how or what quilt to make with them. I have made lots of pillowcases in flannel, but never a quilt. I do not like rag quilts and will not make one. I will not tie a quilt either. So, please, if you have any ideas from your experience, please send them my way so I can transform them into an adorable quilt. They are about a half yard apiece. I washed it and it is a nice heavy flannel.

Fabric enhancements

      Over time, I have made my comfort quilts bigger so that they cover a person and can be tucked under the feet and chin. This means I need more backing fabric. You all know what the price of fabric has done. So, on a recent May trip to Berlin, Ohio- Amish country- I made stopping at Zinck's a priority. Over the winter, they had big wind and storm damage and redid a lot of the store in a good way. The day I was there, they had their considerable flat folds a dollar off a yard if you bought the whole piece. Ok then, if I must, I must. I was able to get a lot of 5-6 yard pieces for between $3-$5 a yard. I made sure I washed all of it when I got home because when longarming, if the back is washed, it goes a lot better. I do not wash the front fabrics as a lot of them are scraps. Julie from Pink Doxies recommended I wash backing fabric a long time ago, and it has really helped in quilting.

5 yd pieces for $3 a yard- $15 for a back!

Some smaller yardage

     I also found some great animal fabrics for my I Spy quilt, some black and white prints to replenish my collection, more white on white pieces, and some stripes for bindings. A very good haul of fabrics to use. I also bought clearance fabric from Millers Dry Goods in Charm.

ADK Stash Enhancement

     While in the ADK, I always shop at a small quilt store. For a small store, they have a very nice selection of outdoorsy flannels that I buy every year to make pillowcases for Christmas presents. I also buy a selection of batiks and choices for border fabrics. I spend a chunk of money there. The owners are capable and nice, but are always silent and you can only get one word answers out of them. No music, no friendly atmosphere. I try to look past that and keep them in business. This year, having little outside contact with quilt people, I tried engaging them in conversation about anything. Nothing. All the time during two visits while cutting all the fabric, no talk. It drove me a bit nuts. I crave small talk from shop owners about what they are up to. Here is the fabric.

Batiks and some border fabrics as well as some neutral batik for mask linings

Pairs of flannel fabrics for pillowcases- cuff and body, photo muddied the colors

Hoffman water ombre fabric, just had to have after staring at lakes all week.

Very quick trip

     A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I did a quick overnight trip to Berlin, Ohio to look at wood and fabric and the awesome scenery. We are not going again in November because we hit wet, heavy snow from Erie to Akron on the way down, the days are too short and thus it is dark way too fast in Amish country, and the ride back was in the dark and, again, some snow from Erie to Angola, NY along Interstate 90 (or the 90 as we call it in NY). 
    Despite the conditions, the land is so beautiful. We stayed at an Amish B&B and it had a room that I chose, called The Quilters Room. It had a treadle, decorations, quilts, a quilt wallpaper border and neat little wood houses and shops displayed. The B&B was on a big hill, so I was able to take some phenomenal photos from there. Beautiful landscapes get me all the time.

If anyone knows where to buy these little houses, let me know. None in giftshops there, just China junk.

The start of the road up the hill.

Near the top of the road. A real treat coming back at night from dinner with no lights at all.

    We went to Keim Lumber in Charm, where my husband drools more than me in a fabric store. I went to Millers in Charm and Zinck's in Berlin where I found some things I could use.

The stripes are for binding, the black and white for a block exchange, and the others, because. I did not get a shot of the RWB fabric I bought at Zinck's before I cut it up for the Mystery Quilt by Alycia.