Sunday 31 March 2013

Cleaning Up

Yesterday I went to Hamilton to shop with my quilty friend C - we hit the fabric district cause I'm looking for drapes. I found something I liked - it was $8 more a meter at Fabricland than at the textile place - so I'll be purchasing it at the textile store. I don't have a picture of it handy though.

Then we hit a new quilt store called "Needlework". It was cute and had a lot of character and not a lot of inventory. What you see on the website is what you get.

Finally we hit Ann's - a store that sells almost all stretch fabric for dance/skating costumes. C purchased some fabric there to create something for a friend and I picked up a little stretch lace.

All in all, a good day.

Today I've been doing the  housework house blessings jobs. After the main floor was tackled, I moved up to the sewing room.

These are the befores:

from the door

from the door

from the sewing table

the floor
Then I started cleaning and putting away. You'll have to wait a day or two for the reveal.
Now that I see these photos again, I have to run over to see if it looks any better after an hour or two of cleaning/tidying: yep, better but not yet done.

Monday 25 March 2013

It was a slow sewing week

I had a super busy week last week with work and life stuff. This week should be better and I'm really looking forward to Easter weekend.

I finished up I10 tonight. At first it was a frightening combination of paper/foundation piecing and applique - I was brave and it turned out great.

It's all that's on the design wall this week:
I10
My quilt guild is having a show in May and I really want to put something in. I'm going to take a stab at finishing the red and white Hunter's Star. This weekend will be the deciding factor in timing I think.

Wish me luck!

p.s.  I'm hooking up to Patchworktimes for Design Wall Monday.

Monday 18 March 2013

Monday - Design Wall Update

This time last week I was on vacation, enjoying the sun and warmth. Today I was huddled by the fireplace and it's snowing - winter's not over in Ontario yet.

I sewed one block since last week - B12.

B12

the Dear Jane part of the design wall - 1 more block done

the whole design wall - no progress on the snowmen this week
I'm linking up to Patchworktimes to see what everyone else got done. Wonder who else was on spring break last week?

Wednesday 13 March 2013

A & E Pharmacy, fabric, and appliace store

Today I went to the store the Martelli lady recommended. It's called A & E Pharmacy and doesn't have a website, so I was a little leery.

They have a lot of fabric! and most if it's on sale - sort of. I think it was definitely worth the visit. Here's some photos:


Kaffe Fasset / Amy Butler wall


I think this is Kate Spain


or maybe this is


the Kona solids section - they might just have every colour
 I need some notes for myself:
-everything brought in in the years before 2010 was 50% off
-everything from 2011-2012 was 20% off
but, there were a lot of restrictions - mostly everything I would want.
A lot of the fabric is a little dated - the newest things I could find were pearl bracelet and some Seuss - for sure the Seuss is restricted in the sale.
They won't cut fat 1/4s either - only skinny quarters or larger.

It's comparable at home to a Len's Mills store - the prices are decent but the stock a little dated.

I didn't buy anything. They didn't have what I really wanted and I'm not stash building right now. Everything I look at now looks like something else I need for my house - new floors, a new chimney, the garden, and so on - takes some of the joy out of shopping.

If I'm down here again I'd stop in again though - it's always worth a look.

Tuesday 12 March 2013

Vacation Shopping

Today I hit a new store  - I thought it was a fabric store, but that's not what they really sell. It was the Martelli store and they sell their own line of rotary cutters, mats, and rulers. I was thrown off when I walked into the store and was asked if I knew about their products - I said no. Then someone came out to give me a full demonstration.
I'm sold - bought a cutter and blades. The cutters are supposed to allow you to be more accurate and I think will reduce cutting fatigue because it uses different muscles than the usual ones.

the rotary cutter and pack of 5 blades

close up of the package
I think I saw these people demonstrating at the Sewing Show last Spring. I'll let you know how it goes.

Tomorrow (or the next day) I'm going to a quilt shop called A & E Pharmacy - that's not a typo. The owner of Martelli Notions told me to go there. There is no website but I found a blog review.  There is one other place I might try - Magnolia Quilt Company - but it's a bit of a drive and there's no website and I haven't been able to find an online review either.

I hit Joann's today but nothing there that I wanted to buy.

Monday 4 March 2013

Design Wall Monday

Here's what's up there today (well, actually on Sunday night):

Mar 3

Two of the four snowman are appliqued in the top piece - this is for  my Under the Stars quilt.
The bottom two pieces are this month's Dear Jane blocks started - I have 11 to do this month in total. We have to do 11 a month now so that we're finished piecing by the end of 2013.

I'm linking up to PatchworkTimes - check out what everyone is working on there.

Sunday 3 March 2013

More Dear Jane

I got to spend some time today sewing. I think I'm over half way sewing the square blocks for Dear Jane (there are 169 total) - there are 52 triangles and I don't remember how many of them are finished. My total number of pieces so far: 2235. That sounds like a lot more than I thought I'd sewn.

A10 - looks a little lopsided in the picture

D9 - successfully paper pieced