Sunday - Not a Day of Rest!

Today was a really, really full day.  I intended to sleep in, but after a 6:30am call from John, before he went out to the fire line, I was really cat-nappy.  I kept waking up and at about 9:30 I gave up?  Sunday, a day of rest? Pssh.

I completely forgot the Silverton Art Fair was going this weekend, so I called Mom up and to see if she wanted to come with me.  She, Dad and I ended up going, and wow...Sorry guys, but this year was disappointing!  Usually it is such a great fair, but this year it seemed like there were fewer vendors, and among the vendors that were there, a lot of them had similar stuff...lots of metal garden decor that was similar, lots of jewelry that was similar, lots of similar style paintings...only one booth stood out, and she was a doll/jewelry make that had a lot of spooky themed stuff.  I wish she would have had a business card available!

But once we got back, I got to binding a few samples that I needed to finish for the shop.  I got the Thanksgiving quilt done, and I'm just about finished binding the Halloween panel.  When I got home, I got the Generation Q quilt from my last post ready for quilting, as well as a Fall quilt and a Christmas quilt that have both been waiting to be finished in my backlog.  Looks like we'll have a change of the guard in the shop pretty soon...it may be August but it's time to get ready for Fall and the holidays....Already...Despite all the samples, I am NOT ready for the season to change yet! Wah.

I need to get pictures taken of the quilting-ready and 100% done quilts...I promised Isabelle I'd have them posted on Facebook tomorrow, so I have no excuse to not have them posted here.  Until tomorrow~!

Finally a Reason to Learn to use the 45 Degree Line on my Ruler!

I've been at this quilting thing for 4ish years now, and all this time I've stared at my 6.5"x24.5" ruler at the 45º mark on it and wonder what on earth I'm supposed to do with it. I know I'm not the only one, I've heard time and time again about people getting intimidated or confused by how or why to use that line. Well, I found a reason to use it and you know? It wasn't difficult. Like, at all. Once you get the hang of the first cut or two, it's cake!

So I decided to do the Spirals Tabletopper by Designs to Share with You. It's looks way more complicated than it is, and it doesn't require a ton of fabric to make...so, perfect!

Here in Oregon, Summer has been an elusive beast this year. And even though it's just barely starting to feel summerish, the tree in my front yard is already donning it's fall colors. Yes, in July, and no, the tree isn't sick. And at the shop, fall fabrics are starting to arrive and people are gearing up for their fall projects, so I decided to (even though all of me wanted a bright, summery tabletopper) go for a more fallish theme. These are the fabrics I chose:

 

The turkeys are a lot more vibrant than they appear here, and that dark fabric is actually a very deep black-green, with a hunter green speckle. It doesn't photograph well, but it matches up with the turkey's feathers very well (in real life). 

So until after I got my basic pieces cut, I didn't realize I'd need a little bit of 45º know how. I don't know what I was thinking I'd be doing method-wise to put it together, but I guess it just didn't occur to me that a 45º cut would be a possibility. Siiiiiilly me. 

 See? When it's broken down (the above is the first round) you see the definite need for a 45º cut. So, how on earth did that work out using that line? Because, I mean, I'll be honest, my method was to just eyeball it until I read through the instructions. Imagine that. But all you have to do to guarantee your cut is on that 45º and correct for the next round is get that 45º mark on your ruler lined up with your seam, and then line up the corner of the rule with the edge of the fabric the cut will need to equal. Then all that's left to do is hunker down and take the cut. Easy peasy. See?:

 So here's Round 2. Maybe I'm one of those "looking for faces in clouds" people, but uh, is it just me, or at this stage does it look like a swastika? The pattern stops here with a note that says if you want it bigger cut a few more strips. ....I went out into the living room after I got to this part and asked JOhn what he thought of it. He said he liked the colors, and I asked if it reminded him of anything else, perhaps...and he immediately said, "Swastika." Soooooo....there you have it:

So I went ahead and added the third round. I like it MUCH better. I wish the colors photographed better, but I assure you, it's very fallish and it really does match.

The pattern itself leaves a little to be desired in terms of instruction, it's not always clear as to how to put it together, but on the other hand, it wasn't difficult to figure out. Once I got my fabrics cut, piecing the whole thing too all of maybe an hour, hour and a half. So it's a quick and reasonably simple pattern to make, so if you need a quick bit of decor to freshen up your seasonal home or a quick gift for someone...this is a good bet!

Fall Tablerunner

My fall allergies dang near have me down for the count, but at least this fall tablerunner won't make me sneeze...unlike the changing season...

This little beauty goes off to the quilter tomorrow and then up as a sample at the shop. Now it's time for a heavy dose of Nightime Benadryl and a good long sleep.