March's Package...

My hope this year was to put together a 'quilting' package for my mom each month.  Sort of like the secret sister program I participated in last year on the HGTV Quilting & Needlework Forum.  She always been a sewer and made a log cabin quilt probably 20 years ago, but recently she's started to become more interested in quilting (and I'm encouraging that interest).  I hand delivered her March package to her on Thursday (April 1st). 

And now that she's seen it, I can share it with you.  Included in this month's package was block #3 of JoAnn's Imperial Splendor BOM and 2 magazines - The Quilt Life and Threads.

And this month I wanted to teach her how to make HST's (Half-Square Triangles).  It's a very basic quilt block and is used in so many quilt patterns.  To help her, I printed out instructions for making these units and included some tools that make things simpler.  First is the 'Quarter Inch Seam Marker' by Fon's and Porter which is a tool for marking your sewing lines.  Then there's a 4.5" square ruler by Omnigrid which is the perfect size for squaring up HSt's made from 5" charm squares.  And finally, there's the 'Summer Thyme' quilt pattern by This & That.  This pattern uses a lot of HST's so it'll be good practice and the finished quilt is small enough to make pretty quickly.

And what good is a pattern without the fabric?  So I included all the fabric to make the quilt - 80 5" charm squares from Indigo by Timeless Treasures, 2 yards of Navy and 3 yards of Snow Kona Cotton.  And she should have enough left over to use for another project!

And I think no package is complete without something handmade.  I finished 2 small quilts - both with a winter theme.  Here Mom is looking at Mr. Snowman and I also included Snowflakes.

I'm away from home this week - pet sitting while my family travels to Disney World.  (Who has the better end of that deal?)  Actually, I'm glad to do it.  I think my days of amusement parks are long over and pet sitting is more my pace. 

I'm watching 3 dogs and 2 cats while I'm here.  They're all older pets so mostly they just eat and sleep.  But like all animals, they have their quirks.  My sister's dog, Abby, is an American Dingo.  She's 12 or 13 years old but looks much younger.  She's missing my sister and her kids pretty badly and is crying a lot.  She also woke me at 5:30 this morning howling.  Every so often she breaks out in this mournful song.  I wish I could just explain to her that eventually they're coming back.

And then there's my parents cat, Cricket.  She is actually the mom to my Jack and Sam.  She refuses to drink out of a water bowl and has my dad trained to pick her up and put her in the sink whenever she's thirsty.  (I'm so glad mine haven't inherited this trait.)

She lets the water drip down her face before drinking...

She gets all nice and wet by the time she's done...

We repeat this scenario about 3 times a day.

The other 3 pets are fairly camera shy so I don't know that I'll get any pictures of them.

Until later...

'But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us!' Romans 5:8

Busy little bee... (but not sewing)

I feel like I've been SO busy since I returned home. I went to Selma on Monday. Grocery shopping, cleaning and Drs. appointment on Tuesday and hosted quilting at my house today. But the rest of my week is pretty easy (I hope) and I should be able to catch up on some rest and sewing. I intended to post the pictures of my purchases from Whistle Stop earlier but couldn't find the time. I received 2 packages today with some great fabric, but I'll wait until tomorrow to share those with you.

Whistle Stop Quilt Shop in Selma, NC is having a great sale on all their fabric for the 4th of July. I had never been there before and found it to be a beautiful quaint little quilt shop. She had a pretty good variety of fabrics from batiks to CW to 30's to novelty and so on. She had a nice selection of fabric on clearance too. Usually when I see a fabric on clearance, it's immediately obvious why. Not so here! She also carries Triangle Paper! I thank Jan for introducing me to this paper for making HSTs (half-square triangles). Each package lasts for a very long time. I bought 3 sizes to complement the ones Jan picked up for me a while ago. It turns out I already had the 2.5" ones, but that's the size I usually make so they won't go to waste.


I've been collecting fabrics from the Williamsburg Heritage collection by Windham. I first saw them in Plain and Simple and fell in love with them. I picked up a few more at Whistle Stop.


Here's a picture of the ones I already had. Aren't they beautiful? I was so pleased to see that I didn't buy any ones I already had. Sometimes it's difficult to remember. However, if I buy a fabric twice, I must REALLY like it and so need more of it. Right???


She had a pretty nice selection of batiks including this one that I found on clearance (the bottom one). I don't know what I'll use it for, but I love the color variation in it.


And here are the tan/brown and black batiks that I'll use in a quilt together. Susan bought some first, then I picked them up and finally Jan bought a couple as well. The fabrics are actually much richer than appears in the picture.


Well that's it for my purchases in Selma. I spent a lot less than it probably appears because she had really good prices and I tended to buy 1/2 yards of most things. I'm off to pet them for a little while and hopefully to sew in the morning. Until later...