Recovering............

I don't know why I thought I would have any energy to sew last night.  The garage sale ended at noon, I did 2 loads of laundry and then I made the Goodwill run late in the afternoon. I stopped at Kohl's on my way home to buy these $65 shoes for $34 with my 30% off coupon combined with the sale price.  I was simply exhausted when I got home and went to bed way earlier than usual.  Today I need to bake 2 batches of cookies and clean off the tables in the basement for my art quilters who are coming Monday.  I plan on some mindless sewing sometime today.

I got my combination storm and screen windows for my main floor studio installed last Monday and it was so nice to have the north window open and get the cool breeze through the house.  I have 3 windows in the 11' x 15' room and previously only one window had a screen on it.

Last day...........

I couldn't decide whether to show you my tired swollen feet or my hideous hairdo from all of the humidity, so I resorted to a garden photo I took a few days ago.  It is the bed where I planted all of my potted hostas at the end of the summer last year.  There are spiderwort, violets, lilies, coneflowers and heliotrope in there also. 

The garage sale was a huge success yesterday, lots of $$, the most I've ever made on a garage sale.  Today is the last day.  Standing on the cement for so many days preparing and then yesterday had me so exhausted last night that all I could do was sit and read.  I miss my sewing machine, my fabric, my die cutter, etc.  It will be good to get back to them, hopefully this afternoon since the sale ends at noon.

Today is the day......

Once again the camera has a different idea of how something looks.  I think the shine is the culprit.  This is really a black purse, and according to the label a genuine corde.

My friend and I were trying to decide if this was one of those pouches that women had tied to their belt or waistband to carry things with them.  I don't know what the proper name was for them.


The garage sale starts today and the weather sounds like it will be good until mid afternoon and even cooler tomorrow.

One more day......

I will stop talking about the garage sale soon.  The sale starts tomorrow morning at 8 and will continue Sat. morning.  Last night after I mowed my front yard I put price tags on the vintage linens.  The camera doesn't like the shine of the velvet so the designs look slightly different in person.  I think these belonged to my great aunt.  She and my grandma were sisters and their husbands were brothers.  This aunt didn't have any children so my mother and my aunt inherited all of her things.  The fringe looks like a silk thread.

These are totally different in color than they look here, again because of the shine of the velvet and my camera's job of capturing it.  These 2 look like tie dye.  I think these were made back in the early 1900s.  They might have even belonged to my grandma's mother.  They are edged with a stitch that looks like a serger stitch.  I did a search on the internet and found that the first overlock machines were made in 1881.

For my local readers, my sale is 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m.- noon on Saturday.

I hate to keep harping on this subject, but......if you ask me a question and you don't have your email enabled, I can't answer you.  I have an email link on my right side bar and another on my profile page.  Please email me with questions.

My day..........

I was feeling a little frazzled yesterday with the Florida heat and humidity here in IL.  It was a long day of pricing (with the help of a friend) and marking.

After a spa treatment I was feeling a little better so I sat in my favorite chair and read my book.

Can you believe that neither my children nor my grandchildren want these little pals as part of their inheritance?  I'm not ready to part with them yet.......unless a collector comes by and offers me more than I paid for them.  These are from the 1990 vintage.

Still working on it.........

I decided yesterday was the day to back the van out of the garage and start setting up tables.  Then we had a wicked storm come through and the tornado sirens went off again.  Luckily we didn't have any hail here but it was only a couple miles away.  On the right in the photo is all that remains of a day of the week towel set that I embroidered 50 years ago.  On the
left is a new set ready to embroider, the same designs ironed onto Indian Head cotton.  I even have the bottom edges stitched and fringed.

Last night I opened a small cedar chest my aunt gave to me and there was the bottom apron finished and the top one still waiting for its waistband.  I know my aunt did a lot of hand embroidery so I'm guessing she did these in the late 1920s or early 1930s.  There are age spots on the top one.

This dresser scarf has a dirty spot along the crease on the right edge.  I wonder if I dare try to wash it out.  I don't want any of the blue transfer to disappear.


We're in for 2 more days of hot sticky weather and possible severe storms.  The cool front can't get here soon enough for me.

A lazy day.......

I didn't have as much energy to work on the garage sale yesterday after I got home from church.  I concentrated on two containers in the fruit cellar which is the storage closet in the basement.  About half of one of them was filled with embroidery transfers and linens from the 1950s and 60s.  The two on the right are flowers of the month quilt iron on transfers and state bird transfers.

Lee Wards used to be in Elgin which is about 30 miles from here and we made trips up there from time to time.  Sometimes I would buy a surprise bundle and it had all kinds of things to embroider.

I can't imagine using hand embroidered linen napkins in this day and age.

Here is one where I ironed the transfer onto Indian Head cotton and even threaded 2 needles to start embroidering it, probably in the late 60s.

There are iron on transfers in both of these packages.  The pink tint on the one on the right is from the red ink in the transfer.

One of the pillowcases in this set was sitting on top of the package above and has a slight pink tint in one area.

McCalls had a lot of transfer patterns available in 1960 too.

I think my aunt or great-aunt started doing the buttonhole stitch on this cutwork pattern.

All of this needs to find a home.  I don't know whether to package it as one lot for the garage sale or let people paw through it.

We lost power for an hour and a quarter last night after a storm so I grabbed my battery operated reading light and had some guilt free reading time.

Knitting and packing............

One of the things I will have in my garage sale is my set of dishes.  I have 12 place settings and many, many extra pieces.  I had the original boxes for almost all of it.  That is the advantage of a huge walk up attic.  Or is that a disadvantage because it allows you to keep so much.  Yesterday I was packing it all up and had to empty and wash out the 2 sets of salt and pepper shakers.  My son stopped by and carried the doll house up from the basement and got down all kinds of dishes for me from the cabinet above the refrigerator.  I was also vacuuming the garage.

When I needed a break I turned to my knitting and reading.  I always have at least 2 in progress.  This 2 of the 4 I have in progress right now.

I finished this patriotic dishcloth a few days ago.

We're in for some hot and rainy weather this week.  The humidity sticks around even when it cools off after a storm.  It sounds like Friday will be cooler.  The sun shines into my garage early in the morning so I'm hoping for cool when I open my doors for the sale.

8 rows sewn........

Several people have asked what size my triangles are.  I am cutting them with my Studio die.  It looks like if you were doing them manually, you would be cutting 4" strips and cutting on the 60 degree line with your ruler.

I can cut 10 triangles at a time, 12 layers thick, so 120 triangles with one crank through the cutter.  I spread the pieces out here so you can see the shapes better.  I started out in my quiltmaking drawing around a cardboard template and cutting 1-2 layers at a time with scissors.  I have paid my dues.  50+ years later I am doing it an easier way.

This may not look any different from yesterday's photo, but the top 8 rows are all sewn together now.  8 rows = 25".  13 rows would make a 41" square wallhanging, 299 triangles.  Just figuring out loud here.

Rows 5 and 6...........

I finished designing rows 5-8 from Wed. night and then designed one more row.  After I took this photo I sewed the rest of rows 5 and 6.

You have to pay attention when sewing these triangles if you want nice sturdy rows with no bias at the top or bottom.  Each triangle has one side on grain and 2 bias sides.  The straight grain edge must be at top and the bottom of adjacent pieces.

All seams need to be pressed to the left (or away from the last piece added) to have points at both ends to match. 

I continued working on garage sale stuff.  I have one more week to get it all together and marked.

Positive thinking...........

I only got 4 half rows sewn yesterday because I spent 6 hours on preparing for the garage sale.  I decided that rather than agonize over the time spent on the sale that I should think positive and know that I am simplifying my life and downsizing, something that has needed to be done for awhile.  The garage sale is just the byproduct of downsizing and some dollars toward my real estate taxes.

Both of my hydrangea bushes are looking good.  I think the blossoms will be big this year.

 They start out white and then turn a lime green for the rest of the summer.

I bought some tiny coleus plants in two 6 packs.  I planted some in my variety pots and planted the remainder all together in one pot.  I just love them.  They are every bit as pretty as flowers.

Cutting............

Yesterday morning I finished sewing a QOV quilt top that I had worked on the night before.  I forgot to take a photo though.  I went to the sew in and did some cutting in the morning.  In the afternoon I cut the sashing strips and corner squares for the star quilt (hand dyed, Kaffe, and black/white).

Here are 5 more paisley Liberty of London prints to cut for the equilateral triangle quilt. 

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The first rows........

I sewed the first 4 rows together.  It will be about 41" wide after trimming. 

This shows the variety of black solid and black/charcoal prints better.

It was a hot one yesterday.  I waited until late afternoon when there was a breeze to mow the grass. 

Sew a row, design a row...........

The rows on the left are sewn, the ones on the right have just been designed to continue the rows.  I have to decide how big this quilt is going to be.  Right now I'm leaning toward a center of a medallion quilt or a small lap quilt with all triangles.  I will be working on this as my creative fix as I continue to find things for the garage sale.

This bunny was on my front sidewalk a couple nights ago.

 He (she) sat there and ate the weeds that grow in the crack of the sidewalk.  Some bunnies are nice.  Last year one ate my flowers in the pot on the lowest step.

Some variety..........

The black tone on tone type prints are hard to photograph.  They are much deeper color than they look here, but this is the group I chose to add.  In the photos below, the one on the left is the same as yesterday's post and the one on the right has 8 new fabrics added into the black positions.  I like scrappy quilts and all plain black is too predictable and stark for me as well as being boring to sew.  The pieces are on a small 30" x 40" design wall so I think I'll start sewing the rows together and then transfer it to a large design wall.

Nothing happening here......

I was looking for a photo of these pieces on my design wall to send to someone and couldn't find one so I took one.  I had cut the equilateral triangles about a year ago from the Liberty prints recolored by Kaffe Fassett.  I also cut solid black.  I have a bunch of black/charcoal prints that I may try as alternates with the solid black.  I worked on garage sale related things all day yesterday and didn't sew a thing.  Last night I went over the list of my quilt tops waiting for borders and/or quilting and decided which ones I will work on over the next few weeks.

Testing a new die..........

I went to our twice monthly sewing group yesterday morning and took cutting to do.  I didn't feel like hauling a machine.  After I got home I tested a new die that I got for my Studio cutter.  I will start cutting for a quilt or 2 with it soon.  I need to get ready for a garage sale at the end of this month so I'll spend a couple hours a day on that.  I'm also reading the next in line Sara Paretsky book and got about half way through yesterday afternoon.  Hopefully I'll make some decisions on a few of the 'in progress' quilts today.

Yellow/green comparison......

I know that fabric looked yellow yesterday but it is really yellow/green.  This comparison helps to show it a little better.

I have 2 pieces of that fabric so I put it up on the design wall and put the piece in progress on top of them.  If you compare the center and the edge, there is definitely a difference.  I'm still undecided so another day of it hanging on the wall.

My son is possibly making patterns for some parts for the restoration of a historic building in downtown Chicago.  He had only seen photos of it so we took a drive down to see it in person.  This is on the way back to the tollway as we passed the Tru*mp tower on the right.  I took this photo with my phone while we were stopped at a red light.  I couldn't get at the right angle to get the whole building in the photo.

We passed the Art Institute where the lions were wearing large Chicago Blackhawk helmets.  If you don't follow hockey, they are in the playoffs.


The afternoon turned stormy with our tornado sirens blaring.  That is the first time I have heard them in years.  We got lots of heavy rain but missed getting any of the hail that fell in towns around us.

Am I done yet?...........

 I have added 3 rounds of green and am not sure if I'm done.  It is about 37" square right now.

I have 2 pieces of this yellow/green which I have contemplated adding on all 4 sides and then I can trim this into a squarer shape.  I will be gone part of today and part of tomorrow so I think this will simmer for a couple days.