odds and ends but not much sewing

I can't really explain why I haven't done much sewing since my last post, but I haven't...

The last two days, however, have had a bunch of quilty fun...spendy fun, but fun!

First, I went to JoAnn's yesterday because I had a special 25% off everything coupon and calicos were on (not a very good) sale.  I need something to set my Patchwork City blocks (from the Rainbow Scrap Challenge) and my guild's sew-in is this weekend.  There's no better place to lay out 75 blocks and have them remain undisturbed for two days, so I'd better be prepared!

I found a darker grey that looks kinda like grunge that I think will work well.  I struggled with a color choice because there are a lot of shades of grey...and white and off-white and black...mixed in with the colors in the blocks.  But I hope this sashing will allow all the blocks to shine.

Sadly, I took no photo of that.  But it's not as exciting as what I found for the back.  Just cruising around, though the also-on-sale flannels and I saw this:

How is this NOT the BEST fabric for a quilt named Patchwork City?

Of course, the quilt finishes 90x90" and they only had 4 yards.  But their handy little scanner thingie at the cutting counter told me there were another 4-ish yards at another store about 10 minutes away.  So, bribe the hubby (driver) with chocolate (very expensive checkout line chocolate) and go to 2nd store.

I bought another 4+ yards, in three pieces, and truly hope I can cobble it together well enough to make up the whole back.  I do have some longer strips of flannel in other prints left from other quilt backs, so I can make it work, but this is epic in its perfection.

While there (and at all JoAnn's stores), I checked the Christmas fabric.  Remember the Summer Fun quilt-along I did?  And how I was going to make it bigger enough to donate to Jack's Basket and then I didn't have enough of the red to make more checkerboard strip borders?  Maybe I didn't chronicle that particular snafu, but it happened.  I knew the red had been purchased to make cuffs on Christmas pillowcases and I knew it had come from JoAnn's and I knew it was in the Christmas prints.  The closest store did not have any, but guess what?  Store #2 yesterday DID!  So I bought a whole yard cause I'm not gonna screw that up again!!!  (I need like 3" to add to what I have at home.)

Now where did I put my notes on how to make it bigger...???

I was good while there and purchased nothing else.

But as I was shopping, I was kicking myself for not making this trip on a Saturday, when Hobby Lobby - just up the road and a 30 minute drive each way - is also open because I needed more grey for my tiny stars.  (Only two made since my last post, but I'm getting there!)  And I know that came from Hobby Lobby.

So today I decided I would drive down to Hobby Lobby and get that fabric.  Praying they still had some.

They did!  I bought the last 7 yards on the bolt.  And according to my semi-remembered calculations from a year or more ago, I think I need 10 yards for all the stars.  Combined with the 4 (I think) I bought last time and the scraps I had at home that started it all (maybe a yard), I should have plenty now.  But dang...washing and folding a 7-yard piece is no fun.  I haven't pressed it yet and plan to just lop off chunks as I need it - like a yard at a time - nicely - and press and cut that.

Sorry, no photos there either, but it's a boring grey.  Kinda.

While there, I thought why not look around?  They carry a different, more modern-ish selection of bold prints (my go-to for quilt backs!) and their prices haven't risen as quickly as JoAnn's.  So I perused the fun prints and when I saw this, it was like no other fabric existed until I put it on my stack.

This will go on the back of Swoon.

It's missing the purple of the front, but look close - they're kitties in there!  And I love it.

But then...

Oh no.

There was a bin of clearance fabric.  Some of them $2 a yard!  $2 a yard?  Yep.

I found this for $3 a yard...

And though there was only about 5 yards, I'm hoping it's enough to make a back for my Bikes and Flowers quilt.  I do have chunks of the fabrics used for the top left over that can mix in, so I'll make it work.  But I love it!  When I saw it it was like YES, and then I tried to talk myself out of it.  And then I was like, "self, it's $3 a yard. you can use it somewhere else if you get home and don't like it." So I bought it.

So I think I've spent more than I earned this week.

Oops.

(there's always next weeks earnings...and I have been really good for weeks!)

But I've been toying with the idea of a Halloween quilt for a while.  I found this potion label fabric on clearance last year and bought the rest of the bolt, thinking it would urge me to make a front.  Yes, that IS sound logic, thankyouverymuch!

Then I started thinking...but I just made an orange and grey and off-white quilt that doesn't have a back yet.  Will they play nice together?

Not the very best photo of the quilt, but I was going for color-matching.  Now I'm not one to worry about colors matching front to back, but if I'm going to do the same scheme on both sides, I want to at least make sure it's not neon orange matched with poison orange (yes, that's a color now. i said so.)

I think it looks pretty good, but will think on it a while before a final decision is made.  Feel free to throw in your own two cents.

We've been having cooler weather here for quite a few days (thank goodness!) and I think it's kicked my brain into gear thinking about finishing quilts.  That's okay.  This is easier than having an overwhelming urge to buy a back in the middle of a snowstorm in a few months!

While I was out running errands the past few days, I found a few fun things to share.

First is what I will call a Marketing Win:

These are batteries.  Any other grown-ups out there want to see how they taste?  Don't lie.  You know it's tempting!  (I did not buy them.)

Next up, I found these cute little (and I mean 3x4 inch-ish) notebooks (3 to a pack).  I decided, after having to run around and make sticky notes that I tried to stick to my phone, but they peeled off while in my purse and got lost, that I needed a better way to keep track of how big my quilt tops were.  So in the event I found myself, say, in the presence of a $2/yard clearance bin, I'd be able to do some math and figure out what I needed for my quilts.  Also, I'd be able to remember what quilts needed backs.  And maybe...how big the backs need to be when I cobble them together...

How cute is that?  It will fit nicely into my small purse, but seems fairly sturdy to put up with some of the abuse things take while residing in my purse.

(The hubby rolled his eyes at me, but this is what happens when you send me into a dollar store unattended!  And don't let him fool you.  I was there on his errand because he hates the store.)

And finally, after my adventures today, my car may have steered itself into a Jimmy John's...

They make the best veggie sub and my hubby hates their food.  So, since I was out by myself, I picked this up to scarf down for lunch when I got home.  It was delicious!

And with that, I think I will head back to the sewing room to make a few more tiny stars.  The hubby is on an oddball work schedule this week that has him in bed already, so it seems much later than it is.  He's probably asleep by now and says my little machine doesn't bother his slumber (except that one time he dreamed he was in the Vietnam war, my machine providing machine gun firing noises for him...he's too young to be a vet of that war (and is not of any war), so I blame that on too much television!)

Happy quilting!

Katie

PS I did sew my UFO for this month - it was just one of the Arcadia Avenue blocks.  So THAT is where my sewing time went.  Ah ha!!!  I'll share about that in another post later this month.