Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are a few holiday things around my house.

Pumpkins on the porch.
We will take out the seeds and roast them.

...tea towel


Flag in the front yard.



Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

manic monday

No art today...

...no art this week.

Lots of cleaning and baking.

Family coming for Thanksgiving!

Have an artful week for me.

weekend update

...quilt update...

I worked on this sucker for five hours yesterday.

It neatly covers the top of my table...

...all 1000 sets

That is 1000 sets of four squares.

So there is 4000 squares of fabric on my table, ready to be put together. And I am ready to start sewing them up. I didn't get to all the bins of fabric yet but I have to stop and get going on this. I noticed a few duplicates but after a while I couldn't remember them all.

That's it.

Have an artful weekend!

good news

Doing the happy dance today...while I can....before I get another painful shot in my still bruised foot from two weeks ago...ugh! BUT...Art Quilting Studio magazine has published a couple pieces of my cloth art.

They put Danita's cute Frida on the cover.

I love her work.

I entered the "What's in your fridge?" challenge.

If it's summer there is always a watermelon in my fridge.

I knew in advance that this was going to be in there...

...but....

As I was having my coffee this morning I was reading thru the rest of the magazine and I found this on page 130. Here is another piece in the Patchworks section. Total surprise.

The bee and the buckle inchies were from a swap and I forgot to give credit to my inchie swap friends...oops...sorry. It was an oversight...but don't they look great on there.

Busy day today...

...dreaded shot at 3:45...

...have all day to (dread) look forward to it.

Hope you are having a dread free-shot free day!

random this and that

Playing with stamps...

Stampotique has some new stamps and I love that they are heads. They are cousins to the other stamps I have designed by Daniel Torrente. I gussied up this girl with a crown and funny glasses.

These are the vintage earrings I purchased at the Girlie show a couple weekends ago, from my favorite vendor...Skip to my Lou. These are made from rosaries. And the finishing touch...she always attaches her jewerly to an old photograph.

Tomorrow I will show you where this little gem has shown up...

Hope your Tuesday is going well.

new junque

Happy Monday. This week has barely started and I will be glad when it's over. Doctor appointment today, dental tomorrow and another doctor on Wednesday, and then my car also goes back for another recall.


Last week whilst rummaging through my many stacks of fabric, I managed to add this little item to my junque journal collection. I taught my class last Thursday and wanted to add something new. It is made of those pesky postcard thingy's that always fall out of the magazines. The front and back covers are made from cardboard.

...closeup..

I glued 4 or 5 of the cards together to give the page some strength.

I stamped this image onto a piece of soft interfacing then sewed it onto the page. I really like the look and feel of it.

I used my newest tool...the corner rounder.

...it's made by the Crop-o-dile people...
It gives you the choice of a quarted inch or half inch corner.

And like the crop...it's so easy to use.

I guess that's my plug for the day.

Have a great day!

final fabric frenzy

She who dies with the most fabric wins!

I have a "shewhodi" card at Oklahoma Quiltworks. When you buy fabric, they stamp your card and you get free stuff when your card is filled. Actually most quilt shops have these cards and I need a filing system in my wallet to keep them all in order.

These cool prints came in the mail this week.

Click on the photo to enlarge and see details.

I was leaving the quilt shop yesterday...empty handed...

...until this pattern reached out and grabbed me.

The green is more lime green but for some reason (lighting) it appears to look muddy.

...then I had to add the sister prints.

That's it.

No more new fabric ...

...until next year.

Can I do it?

Sure gonna try!

This is the black/white/purple wall hanging from yesterday.

back and label

...no artful weekend for me...I am cleaning up the fabric mess I created this week.

collections

Ah, day four of fabric frenzyness.

...there is a method to my madness...

I'm a collector.

And these are some of my fabric collections.

...cherries! they make me happy.

black and white

I am a huge collector of black and white fabs.

My quilt guild in Maryland had a challenge every year and one year it was to make a wall hanging in black and white and one other color. I used purple and did both sides. I'll show it tomorrow.

beach prints

I stock up on these when I find them. My peeps back home are always wanting a bag in beachy style prints

...cupcakes in the making...

These are prints resembling cake and rich frostings. I have started this cakey quilt but have a long way to go. But the material is there.

...did someone say cake?

Yep, have those too.



And then there are my favorite fabric designers...



I love...

Kaffe Fassett

Tina Givens

Martha Negley and all those yummy rich Westminster prints.

The above photo is also a quilt in the works using the desiner prints of those I mentioned. It's a drunkards path pattern.
I shouldn't single out my favorite designers because there are many more.

In case you are a non quilter and are wondering why so many quilts are just started and in the works at the same time....I can't really say why...but it's what we quilters do.

These are a few snippets of collection fabric's. I have bins of these.

Other collections include...building materials (pun?) bricks and others that resemble building in a city. I want to make some city scapes.

Prints with text and writing on them for a journal quilt book in the making.

Polka dots...who doesn't love these?

Flowers in larger scale to cut out and use on my rag bagz.

The list goes on but you get the idea...I do have some structure here. I just need more TIME!

So needless to say that I am never bored...and that's a good thing.

Tomorrow...

selvages and what to do with them...

Have a terrific Thursday!

day 3...fabric frenzy

First of all I must give a huge shout out to all of our Veteran's!!

Thank you all!

Now back to the material business. Hi! I'm Suze and I am a fabriholic....a real material girl.

Now I am being told that I need a 12 step program for my problem...and my DH agree's.

Today I am touching on the subject of why we buy this beloved fabric.

Is it really an addiction?

I buy what I love... it might be the color...

...I collect greens.

It may be the print...

...or it may be what I know I will need in the future.

I make rag bagz and I collect for that. Crab fabric and ocean prints, things that people are into.

I have a long to-do list of things I want to accomplish and I think I have enough supplies to last me until I die and I hope to be able to use it all before that happens.

The thing is that you have to buy the fabric while it is being printed. Don't think you can come back six months later and still find the print you loved but didn't purchase.

Ways to purchase...

You have to love today's technology. You can buy fabric in your jammies...and I do. It's as easy as pushing a button on your computer.

These on line companies have my number and they use it. Always letting me know when there is new stuff and discounts.

Last week at lunch, my friend Jan asked me if I knew that there is New York City subway fabric.

What?! Where?

Here it is and it didn't even take a week for me to score it.

...and in three colors!

Whilst shopping on line at the City Quilter I also found this fat quarter bundle of New York inspired prints. Had to have these too. (Love the taxi print:)

My favorite quote...every day that I buy fabric is a good day.

DH's favorite...what are you going to do with that? Or ...you already have all that material at home!

Yes, I do. BUT I don't have this material.

Are you understanding now?

It's a good thing.

I tell him I am not out drinking or on drugs.

And I am always prepared for projects when they pop up. I don't have to go out and search for the perfect fabric..it's here...I just have to find it.

Tune in tomorrow for "collections"

stashing your stash

The definition of stash is to put away for safekeeping or future use.

Today I am showing some of my fabric hideaways.

Baskets!

....a good source of storage ...

I found this metal one at Target.

It's good because it lets the fabric breathe.

Color coded for easy access.

...hanging from the rafters.
This is a bag of selvage edges.
In certain circles I am known as the selvage queen.
I will touch on that in a later post.


...bins in the attic.
Sorry for the low quality photo...poor lighting in the attic.
We have two attics and both contain bins of fabrics.

When we moved here a little over three years ago I had 49 of these large bins of fabric.

I have since weeded out and donated a good amount of it.

...another basket.

Guest room closet.

...and the garage.

We have two garages and yep, both are storing more fabric.

There are a couple more places...not so picture worthy. I have the slide under the bed bins under all of the beds. These serve as a double duty. They keep the cats out from under the beds. For some reason they like to get under there and lie on their backs and claw the bottom of the box springs. Crazy cats.

Tomorrow's topic...

...Why we buy.

Have a great Tuesday!

fabric hoarding 101

I have been challenged!

It seems that not everyone believes that my fabric stash is real.

Soooo...this week I will be devoting my blog posts to fabric and what I do with it.

So on Friday I was wondering if I could squeeze out 100 more different prints for my quilt.

I did that in the first hour. The laundry basket (above) is what I got out of 8 full hours of rooting around in the studio closet. I lost count but believe it has to be 300 different prints or more.

They are paired up to make one block using 2 different patterns per square. And some left over for the other quilt.

...a material explosion!

Yep, I took a perfectly (semi) organized closet and created this mess.

And what fun it was.

I found so many patterns and prints that I had forgotten I had.

...and Harley, the studio cat approves.

Tomorrow....where to stash your stash.

weekend update

After a long painful week (multiple mouth x-rays and giant needles in my foot) I am ready to have a fun weekend!

It's once again time for the Girlie Show.

It's not what it sounds like.

It's a fun art show put on by all girlies.

I believe there are 44 vendors this year...

I can't wait to see what they have in store for us.

Last year I had to have this one of a kind bracelet.

It's one of my favorite vendors called Skip to my Lou.

She makes amazing new jewelry designs from old vintage bits and pieces.

...then there is my other project.

...the ever growing quilt in progress.

The table is filling up and I want to completely cover the top.

My goal for this weekend is to seek out at least 100 new fabric designs.

I have to find these in the house...no new purchases.

Think I can do it?

We'll see on Monday.

SP out!

Have an artful weekend!

kitty playtime

Yesterday whilst getting ready in the bathroom, Miz P was torturing my plant. A favorite pastime for her.

....the sunlight was pouring in....

I like Autumn in Oklahoma.

It stays pretty sunny whereas back home on the East coast it gets very cloudy and dark and then so does my mood.

...trying to hide?

...don't even think about it!

Quilt update:

Yesterday I cranked out another 178 different squares.

Today I will add some more.

Then over the weekend I will scavenge some more packed away goodies.

It's like opening your stocking gifts on Christmas.

I love simple pleasures!

Happy Thursday wishes!

a new challenge

My newest project was sparked by our President's challenge quilt for this year. We are to make a 40 by 50 inch quilt using what we already have on hand. No buying anything NEW. Well, I have been going through my fabric stashes for the last month and I must say that I do have an impressive amount of yummy material.

I plan on making the challenge quilt (two sided) BUT I also want to make a king size quilt for my bed. So for the last couple of days I have been arranging my squares in color combinations.

...so far...

...I have put together 244 blocks...
...using 488 different prints.
...no repeat patterns.

And I thought my memory was failing me. I know by the end I will have a couple repeats here and there but it will be hard to spot. I keep finding more fabric here and there in boxes and under beds, it's like finding a hidden treasure. DH found two big plastic bins in the attic last weekend...more fun to be had!

...sew something pink today!

Halloween treat

My treat for Halloween came in the mail from a friend.

A box of assorted art goodies...way better than any candy!

....and calorie free...

Thanks Debbie!!

...one of my favorite things in the box?

Bulbs! Vintage Christmas and flash bulbs.

So I needed a box for them ...right?!

Right!

Like my new lunch box?

It's the itty bitty size that tootsie rolls come in.

I put my crayons there to show the size.

...and this is the back.