Ugly Quilt Number Two

Here, at long last, is the second quilt I made from other quilters' so-called ugly fabrics, fabrics I thought were actually quite pretty. These were Gloria's uglies. I immediately thought the striped fabric would make a good wallpaper, and the streaky white and lavender looked like whitewashed wood. The diagonal rose fabric looked like tiles. So I created a still life on a "shabby chic" table against a background of two coordinating wallpapers separated by white chair rail molding. I quilted circles in the corner blocks on the border to resemble the circular designs carved into old moldings at the tops of doorways.

Ugly is in the eye of the beholder- or is it?

I've posted here several times about my penchant for using other people's fabric. I've even told about using other people's ugly fabric. But what I've never done (until now) is use other people's ugly fabric to make a present for the giver of said ugly fabric.

Let me start by saying I have a lot of ugly fabric. Or, more accurately, a LOT of UGLY fabric. So when Listmom Linda of Fairiegoddessmothers asked for suggestions for a new swap or challenge, I rose to the occasion. I'm hosting an Ugly Fabric Swap. The rules of the swap are simple. Participants are paired off. Each person sends three pieces of ugly fabric to her partner. The partner has to use those three fabrics, plus no more than five other fabrics from her own stash, to create a small quilt, one nice enough that her partner would display it in her home. She then mails the finished quilt to her partner.

We are far enough along in the swap, that several of us have completed quilts. Luckily for me, I think most players are enjoying the challenge. I know I am.

Because we wound up with an odd number of players, I took on two partners. Both my partners promptly mailed their fabrics. Chris's fabric arrived first, so I made her quilt first. Let me start by saying I thought her fabric was very un-ugly. Not only that, two weeks previously, I had sketched a vase of moonflowers. I planned to appliqué this design in the near future, and tucked the sketch away in a safe place. When I saw Chris's fabric, it could not have been more perfect for this quilt. So, here is "Moonflowers Bloom at Midnight". Click on the photo for a larger view. Come back again soon to see what I do with Gloria's uglies.

Election Day

DH and I got up early and were at the polling place at 6:30 a.m. It was much quieter than I expected for a state that does not have early voting. Polls opened at 7:00 and I was the first person in my precinct to vote; by 7:12 I was back in my kitchen making coffee (no Starbucks here for my free cuppa Joe).  We both have Tuesdays off- I spent the morning doing 3 loads of laundry, running errands (grocery shopping, picking a couple things up at the Family Dollar, and going to the bank), helping replace the rotten boards on our back steps, and working on some quilty projects for sale. Now it's after lunch, I'm home for the rest of the day, and it's back to the sewing machine for me!

Pack up the candy, Halloween's over

I had hoped to have October go out with a bang, at least a few good photos from last night, but the sad truth was, Halloween was a bust! We both worked late enough to miss any little little trick or treaters who may have come, and only had two older kids. This is the one day a year I envy those people who live in housing developments where parents drop off their kids by the van full.
I did get to see a family all dressed up in coordinating costumes get out of their car and go into the restaurant next to where I work- Santa, Mrs. Santa, and elf, and even a tiny reindeer! Well, Halloween IS the beginning of the holiday season, isn't it?

To Market, to Market

When we last left little Barbara, she was a mere stripling of a girl, only 53 years old. Now she is a grown-up lady of 54. Not only has she polished off her share of her b-day cake, sadly not chocolate, as her husband is allergic, she has some news. But we'll let her tell it in her own words...

I celebrated my birthday morning by being the first "official" customer at my LQS's (Local Quilt Shop for any unfortunate non-quilters who may be reading this) new location- they moved from the other side of the next town, to 1.3 miles from my house, literally down the street. I didn't buy anything- just wanted to say hi and fondle some fabrics. I'm on a mission to use up at least a tiny portion of my stash before I buy more, but I DID have to go back two days later (honestly, my car just swung in there after work) to buy two quarter-yard pieces to be able to finish some projects. You know how that goes. Having the shop so close means I can probably just kiss my paycheck goodbye, which may not be Spooky, but is definitely Scary!

My newest patterns, the ones that will from here on be published by Quiltwoman, rather than myself,  are on their way to the International Quilt Market in Houston. While I'm impatiently whiling away the time waiting for the results, I've taken a brief break from creating new patterns to concentrate on making some finished pieces for some holiday shows. I just was invited to another one this morning, an open house/craft sale hostessed by a teller at my bank (if you go back into last December's archives, you will find a cute reindeer ornament I bought there last year).  Last week's show was poorly attended, but it did get my patterns into two more shops - one in MA and one in NH, so I can't complain too much.

Quilt Dash has begun!

Come one, come all, and join the fun at the Quilt Dash. Register to play and you may just end up winning some great quilty prizes.

Finally Posting Spooky again!

Okay, so when I last posted, the batteries in my digital camera had gone dead. No problemo, just recharge them for a few hours and we'll be good to go. Yeah. Right. The bleeping batteries wouldn't charge. A day and a half later they still hadn't charged. So, rather than scavenge two batteries from the miscellaneous clocks and radios in this house I bought four more new rechargeable batteries. Here is the picture I promised the other day. The second picture is a tablecloth (not shown are the eight matching napkins) I bought yesterday at a local consignments shop. I have lighter green candles to match the stripes in the cloth, but I have to trim down the ends to fit into the candleholders. I love my antique candleholder/bowl thingie. You can also see it on the cover of my Double Pinwheel Table Runner pattern, bedecked with satin Christmas balls.

My Halloween quilt top is stitched together and I found a piece of purple, black and white camo fleece at the Remnant Shop this morning for backing. Finishing it up will be my project for this afternoon. Oh yeah, I also found a sparkling orange and black wreath for the front door. Pictures later.