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Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Thank goodness for Bloglines!

I see the links to the rings are still acting up. I am so glad I subscribed to Bloglines and registered all the sites on the rings before this happened. I know I'd be going through severe withdrawal if I couldn't see the updates all my blogger friends have been posting.

Still not quite done with the Broken Dishes quilt. The heat has delayed me a bit because I didn't want to add to it by turning on the iron in the sewing room. Last night I did get the body of the quilt put together and the first set of borders cut, but then had to go to quilt group. Tonight there should be no stopping me. I'm really looking forward to posting a picture of the finished top.

Melanie from Covered Porches asked me how I got a top with so many little triangles to look so flat, even and symmetrical. I thought it might be a good idea to do a little tutorial on pressing so this morning I tried to take a couple pictures of the back of Broken Dishes. Every picture I took came out way too light with the flash, so I'll try again when I have the top finished and can hold it up. I'd like to have some pictures for illustration. It that doesn't work I'll just stitch more triangles together and choose darker fabrics - I certainly have enough!

Here I said I would be good and put another payment on my longarm with my sale proceeds. Well, when I patted myself on the back this weekend I guess I was premature. I fell off the buying wagon - just a bit. I've been eyeing the Rocky Mountain Collection at Z&S fabrics for several months now, so I decided to indulge myself. I've also been waiting for what seems like forever for them to post Jo Morton's new Lexington collection. I promised myself several months ago that I'd let myself buy this one for use in all my Jo's Little Women's Club quilts. That collection was finally put up on the website this morning, so I ordered it. I also couldn't pass up Jo's Oxford Blues as I have a hard time finding good dark blues these days. I rounded it out by ordering a couple books I've been wanting for awhile from Quilt Books USA where they have good discounts. Now that I've written it all down I'd say I fell off the buying wagon more than a little bit. I guess I'd have to say I took a flying leap off the wagon and landed in the mud! I guess the only excuse I can use is that I've been looking at all these things for at least 2-3 months, so they weren't impulsive spur-of-the moment purchases. And I did clear enough space on the shelves for all of it. I also earned enough between my sale proceeds and my customer quilts to pay for all of it, so no money left the family checkbook. But now I must call it done for several months now - and I must make very good progress using up stash and scraps and finishing UFO's. If I can do that then I won't feel so badly about falling in the mud!

11 comments:

  1. Patti, we all fall off the wagon now and then, i actually "have a date" to fall off this weekend when I go to a local quilt show. Those Oxford blues sound good to me. i think i will check them out.

    I too have my bloggin' gals in my favorites so i can check in every morning to see what's new!! can't wait to see the broken dishes complete

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  2. falling off the wagon isn't a problem, as long as you get back on! Sounds like a number of good purchases though... :-)

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  3. Patti, consider it an investment in your time and talents. As you said, you made an informed choice and didn't just start grabbing madly without a goal in mind for the purchases.

    Guess that spot on the shelf won't stay empty too long after all?

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  4. You made a wise investment. Sometimes all we need is some new fabric to get us going again.

    My art teacher once told me that my fabric and notions are the equivalent of an artist's paints and brushes - only the fabric takes up more space than paint!

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  5. I LOVE the Rocky Mt. collection! I bought the fat qtr pack and hate to crack into it. You have been doing a great job cleaning out, so treat yourself! That's what I say!

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  6. Don't worry, the wagon will still be there for you to climb back on. I checked out those fabrics you linked and the website. Lo and behold, the store is less than 3 hours from me. That may not be a good thing.....
    Would the Little Women quilts be along the lines of Civil War era repros? I've fallen in love with the Civil War repro fabrics, but I don't know a lot about them yet.
    Enjoy the new fabric, you know it won't go to waste.

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  7. All I can say is now you have me wanting to take a trip to PA... (I am still consoling myself over not going to the quilt show in Hershey this weekend... At least my purchases would be less expensive at Z&S...)

    Maybe in October - Pa is beautiful in the fall...

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  8. Oh those are great fabrics.. Thanks for the link to Z&S..great prices!! Bad news for me!

    Jennifer Sampou has 4 new patterns coming out and I will be dead meat when they arrive!!

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  9. I've been like constantly quilting lately. I started a trip around the world, put it away then made a quilt from my scraps for my son, then I made a lap quilt for me. And I'm pretty close to finishing the lap quilt, I just need to choose a new quilt design now. :)

    BTW thanks for your help. I got it working!

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  10. you have been busy - I loved all the links you gave in your post - hope it is cooling off this weekend where you are

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  11. I just ordered a bunch of the Rocky Mountain collection about a week (ok maybe 2) ago and can you believe it, I bought this fabric from Jo's Lexington line for fun backing on my mystery quilt! It was so fun, but a large print and decided I needed something surprising and fun on the back of the amish looking quilt!
    http://zandsfabrics.com/item.asp?PID=5148

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