Road Trip Quilt Along a GO

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aka: Let’s DO this thing

aka: I finally found a little time to sew

aka: I’m starved for sewing interaction, please play with me?

The Road Trip Quilt Along, which was going to start the first Friday of June will BEGIN THIS FRIDAY, July 5th. Hooray! This week, I managed to make notes for the first 4 blocks, and I’ve already finished making the first block, Virginia Reel. I’ll post the tutorial Friday.

I will continue to post a tutorial of one state block every Friday for 12 week as we travel through 12 states on our hypothetical road trip from Virginia, up through Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and New York. Then we’ll travel through the New England states and back to Virginia by way of Pennsylvania.

Road Trip Quilt Along: block 3 Delaware plan

Supplies

This is a sampler quilt composed of twelve 12-inch blocks with sashing.  The nature of a sampler means it’s tough to give you exact amounts of fabric that you will need. I recommend 2 yards of background fabric, and 2 to 2.5 yards of other fabric. So 4-5 half yards, 8-10 fat quarters, you get the idea.

I will be using all solids for my version of this sampler, in the color palette below. The dark gray is Kona coal and that will be my background.

Road Trip Quilt Along: solids color choice

The first block that we’ll be making, Virginia Reel, works equally well with 2 or 4 fabrics. I will be using 4 (and consequently, ending up with 2 blocks).

Road Trip Quilt Along: first block colors

Please join the Road Trip Quilt Along Flickr group to share your fabric choices and blocks. Hope to see you Friday!

Sunday stash: My first Liberty

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People love Liberty of London. They rave about how awesome it is. But it is so damn expensive!! Seriously, we’re talking $30-$35 per yard. Ouch!

I finally decided I needed to find out what the hype was all about so I ordered a very small bundle from Alice Caroline supply. Each piece is only about 9×12 inches or so, but it’s enough to use in a small scrappy project (I have one in mind, which is the reason I finally ordered some of this). I haven’t sewn with this yet, but I’m interested. It feels light and smooth so I’m wondering if it will be slippery in my machine.

Liberty of London

I ordered this rainbow bundle so I could get a good array of colors and prints. The style is much smaller scale and “busier” than I typically gravitate toward, but I think by mixing it up with some solids, these fun additions will bring a great little “pop” to my project.

My favorites of the bunch are these cute little birds:

 

Liberty of London

And this green print with pretty white flowers.

Liberty of London

 

If you’re interested in adding some Liberty of London style to your project, the quilting line is now available for around $16/yard. Not cheap, but half as much as the tana lawn!

What do you think: do you love Liberty? Not your style? Never tried it? Want to try it?

button_sunday stash

The perfect parting gift

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“Ms. Rob,” as she is affectionately known, as been like a surrogate grandmother to my girls during the five years we lived in Virginia. She is the switchboard operator at the school where we lived and after lunch in the dining hall, we would often go by the switchboard and Ms. Rob would have crayons and paper for the kids, and often a sticker or lollipop as well. She loves all the children at the school, both the students, and all the children of faculty. She was sad to see us go, but she gave me something that I always remember her for.

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A long while ago, I was telling Ms. Rob about an antique sewing machine that my grandmother used to have in her basement but was no longer there. I wished to have one and was looking around online. The night before we moved away, she brought me this:

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She had originally brought it home for her husband, but he preferred hand sewing to machine sewing, so it stood unused in her house. Inside one of the drawers, there was a well-used manual and a “sewing secrets” book, which I have yet to look at in depth.

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Another drawer contained this Yardley’s lavender soap box…

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…with the accessories to the machine.

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Inside the cabinet, is this absolute gorgeous Singer treadle sewing machine. I have never attempted to sew with a treadle, but wow, I am so excited to try it out when we have a new  place and I can unpack my sewing room.

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As best I can figure out from the serial number, this machine is close to 100 years old!

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It is a treasure and I am so grateful to have a little piece of sewing history!

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Thank Goodness THIS is Finished!

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In honor of Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday and Finish It Up Friday, I am not going to share a sewing finish. Because I don’t have one. Because my sewing room looks like this:

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That’s right friends, my big girls watched as our second 16-foot moving container was dropped in our yard and we filled it up (seriously, how do we have so much stuff?!).

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Along with a little U-Haul because we have no idea how long it will be until we find a house and are able to close on it and move in. We hope not too long, so think happy house-hunting thought for us! By the time you read this, we will be well on our way to St. Louis. We will crash with my in-laws until we have our space, and while I welcome their hospitality, I don’t want to overstay our welcome. We are a lot to take in with our nine bodies (if you count the furry family members!).

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I hope to be back to sewing soon and have something to show you. Of course, my sewing machine is in the little trailer we are pulling along with us!

 

Reality

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Oh, reality. She really has a way to surprise you, doesn’t she? Despite the fact that we have a newborn, and despite the fact that we are in the midst of a cross country move, I somehow thought that I would still be able to begin posting tutorials for the Road Trip Quilt Along. Apparently, I’m delusional. Turns out I can’t do it all, and I’m okay with that. But I do apologize that I told you I would.

Here is the current state of my sewing room: IMG_8176

 

The desk with my sewing machine on it is getting packed in a moving and storage container where it will remain until we find a house in our destination. The small dresser (and the actual machine!) are coming in our small UHaul trailer so that I might actually work on some sewing and quilting projects while we live with my in-laws for an undermined number of weeks.

That blank wall used to hold most of my fabric, which is now packed away in boxes and already loaded on the moving container (sniff, sniff). The photo below is from the Sewing Room Clean-Up Along. I think I’ll have to have another clean-up along when we have a new place as I figure out just how to best organize my new space (how I wonder what it will be like!).

 

 

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I’ve got my black-white-gray fabrics ready to go so I can do a little hand sewing on our drive and increase my collection of monochromatic rose stars. I actually have seven completed, but they are only 8 inches across, so I’ve got a lot more to go!

 

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One project at a time

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I am working on one project right now. This is very strange for me, as I am usually one to have many irons in the fire. But this I want DONE! Though, when I say I’m working on one project, I really mean one sewing project, because the truth is, the MAJOR project around here right now is packing up our entire lives to move half way across the country.

I am flying out tomorrow night with the baby to spend 2 days looking for a house. Oh, I’m just going to go by a house. No big deal, right? (Please note the sarcasm as I am totally freaking out!) I’ll be back Thursday afternoon. My parents will arrive Friday. Meanwhile, we are having a birthday party for my almost 5-year-old Saturday (we really need to do this as it will be her last chance to see her Virginia friends. Sad.), moving container arrives Monday, is picked up Wednesday, and Thursday we load up and GO! HELP!!

Anyway, back to that sewing project: the top is DONE! I started out with 496 little squares and sewed on 496 little triangle. And now, they are all together as one happy little quilt top.

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With borders!

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And a couple nights ago, I actually got up out of bed to go downstairs and baste the thing. Ridiculous. But probably the only time I could have had the space in the kitchen to do that. There are boxes EVERYWHERE! Now to quilt and bind. Might be shooting high to finish before the move, but that’s what I’m shooting for!