Sewing Sunday Morning

Good Morning Gibby Kitty!

Doesn't he look terrified?  He's fallen in love with a shirt that I bought at a church rummage sale yesterday.  We were quite worried that he'd suffocate inside the plastic bag it was stored in, he simply could NOT get enough of this stupid shirt, so we wrapped him in the shirt, and oh my!  THE LOUDEST purring ever.  What a weird cat.

Up an at 'em early this morning.  I finished six more blocks for my Black & Bright quilt.  It's now coming off the design wall for the time being.  And I've pieced an uncountable number of HSTs for the border of my Black & White quilt.  So, it's going back up on the wall, so I can figure out what my intentions are with the border.

I've been sewing!

In honour of (inter)National Quilting Day, I decided I'd better sew something! I made six more blocks for my Black & Bright quilt. I only have six more 'brights', so this project will soon be on hold until I stumble on some more brightly coloured nickels - - I don't want to repeat any fabric. I also pieced some 3" units for my Black & White quilt, but that wasn't exciting enough to take a photo...

What I AM excited about is the two new books I got last night!  BQF Gail did a bulk order for a few of us in the local quilting group for the latest Bonnie Hunter book "Adventures with Leaders & Enders".  Since I didn't have the first book "Scraps & Shirttails" I asked her to order that for me as well.  I am so excited, because I'm a huge Bonnie Hunter fan, and I love scrappy quilts.

There was a rummage sale at the Presbyterian church a block up the street this morning - - I was there bright and early and snagged four shirts to 'repurpose' a la Bonnie.  I think my favourite quilt in either book is Virginia Bound. 

I intend to do some more sewing this week - - I have a couple of sewing 'dates' on my calendar! Even just the little bit I did today makes me feel more like "me".  It's the creative time that I carve out for myself that I was missing these past couple of months.  I really should put this important item on my 'to-do' list.

Blacks & Brights

I have been working away at this a little at a time.  I added another five blocks this week.  The colours in this photo didn't come out as bright as they are in real life though:

It's time for things to get back to "normal" (a word I would hardly ever apply to THIS household, however...).  Back to school tomorrow for me and Itty Bitty.  Sailor Boy will be with us for another week though.  I suspect we're going to be recovering from this week for a very long time.

Time for a photo or two, eh?

I've got 20 blocks done in my Black & Bright quilt top, and I'm not sure how big it will go - - but I have 8 more blocks cut and ready to sew, so it could go on for some time. :

I managed to go out to ONE thrift store this weekend.  I'm really pleased with the 'cutter' shirt ($2) - it's brand new, XXL, and probably some man got it as a gift and thought....ya, like I'm gonna wear FLOWERS!!!  I don't know what I'll ever do with the little pink vase, but it called out to me (50¢) and a couple of little embroidered napkins (25¢ each) which may just get turned into quilt labels - particularly the hand embroidered one with the flower basket.

I also did a little shopping this morning, and can now add another $7.35 to my coupon ticker!  A little closer to my $1000 goal.

Here's a (Canadian) tip - - there's a BOGO (buy one get one free) coupon that's printable from the SC Johnson website for Pledge furniture polish or multi-surface cleaner.

There's actually several good printable coupons there, so take a look. AND Pledge is on sale at Canadian Tire this week for $4 (reg. $4.99).   2 for $4.00 is a nice savings from the regular price of $9.98, and I was allllllll out of furniture polish (from all the lively dusting I do!).  Plus, I used $2.35 of CT money, so that was an even bigger savings.  I wish I had had some Royale bathroom tissue coupons today - - 12 double rolls for $3.77 is an awesome deal, but would have been even sweeter with a coupon!

I hope to do some sewing tomorrow - - once I get some HOMEWORK done!!! - - hope everyone is having a GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Holiday are coming to an end...

So...it's time to get some things DONE! I sewed together all of my Black & White blocks, and added a narrow border. Unfortunately, I haven't got enough HSTs to do all four sides yet. I'm ALL OUT of black and white scraps.

Also, did some more work on Black & Brights.

This is what I'm currently reading: "Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America" by Bill Bryson. While I was surprised to see that it was published TWENTY years ago, there's nothing DATED about this book. It's not nearly as funny as Notes from a Small Island , which was absolutely HYSTERICAL!!!

"A travelogue by Bill Bryson is as close to a sure thing as funny books get. The Lost Continent is no exception. Following an urge to rediscover his youth (he should know better), the author leaves his native Des Moines, Iowa, in a journey that takes him across 38 states. Lucky for us, he brought a notebook."

no...seriously...holidays ROCK!

I've made 14 of these Black & Bright blocks, but no more Black & White (even though one snuck into this photo!