Cutting fabric for the upcoming retreat.

I still cannot decide what to sew on for the upcoming retreat in Shipshewanna Indiana. The last time I was there, so was Bonnie Hunter and Mickey DePre.
Sigh...yes I am name dropping. HA!

Anyway, I love pressing fabric. I really do. I love the smell and feel of fabric when it is pressed. I have gone through three collections of Civil War Reproduction fabric. They are not becoming quilts sitting in the containers. And leaving them all folded makes the pressing harder.

So even though I love pressing I cannot waste my time doing it all over again. So I have developed a system of making rolls of the fat quarters and tie them with the straightening strings. When I want to cut again I simply unroll the log. They may need just a tiny bit of pressing to calm the curves but the fabric stays great.

And of course the ever present quilt police kitty Lucky Lucy. She seems to have stopped growing. She will be a petite 7 #'s and is full grown. She sure is not as smart as of beloved Macy but she has moments of brilliance. Sometimes she fetches. And almost all the time she sings her part with James when he plays a Mellencamp tune. She meows on the breaks. Too funny.

I also went through my CW fabrics and cut 1 1/2" squares. Love these little things!!!!!
XOXOXO Subee

Scrappy Nines quilt is now a flimsy.

Scrappy Nines quilt is now a flimsy. I am so lucky I have a TALL husband!!!
All fabric was from my stash. Very deep stash. So deep that the modern fabrics were way short when I was making strip sets. So short that I had to add fabric in order not to waste the neutrals.

What a wonderful journey. A wonderful sewing journey. I love everything about making tops except the joining of rows. But using the Leaders and Enders makes this task much more rewarding.

My favorite size of 9-patches. 3 1/2"!!! I made way too many but I wanted a good selection of scrappy nines.

Love this pattern. In fact I love it so much I want to make another one!

XOXOXOXO Subee

Loving on my neutrals

What is a better task on a cold winter's day than steam pressing beautiful fabrics?And with my Reliable Digital Velocity iron it is a steam bath in the cutting room. This is not a task for a summer's day. The sweat (sparkle) is rolling down my face. Hey! People actually pay to get a steam facial!!!

I dug deep into my stash. The earliest date on a selvedge was 1997. I ripped 1/2 yard pieces from 27 fabrics. Another 15 were almost a yard only so I just pressed the entire chunk. I have been collecting this paperbag shade of neutrals for eons.

And I am thinking it was a statement by Alex Anderson I remember very early in my fabric collecting to always buy extra neutrals. Even with no plan in mind, buy neutrals. I have never regretted doing this.

And immersing myself into Bonnie Hunter's version of neutrals is so easy to do. I use the backs of many prints for subtle shadings. Hey I bought both sides!!!

I also unfolded and pressed a 40 piece collection from Moda Little Primitives. Dated 2004? maybe?
The book there is by Pat Wyss  Spotlight on Neutrals.
A book after my own heart. I want to make all of the quilts in this book.

Here is a long view of my cutting room. Yes I have a lot of fabric. And yes I use it all all the time!!!!!!
Again a great way to spend a sunny cold winter day.

XOXOXO Subee
p.s. my bread came out perfect yesterday!!!

Postage Stamp cartoon

We all understand this!!!!

XOXOXO Subee

bread baking and supplying my pantry for the next year.

I cannot help it. I am a major hoarder. I hoard fabric, thread, yarn, useless plastic containers and food stuffs.
I actually sit down and figure out how many garbage bags I will need for the winter months. The same thing with dishwasher detergent and anything that is heavy or large. It is so hard for me to push a heavy cart across a snow filled parking lot with 30 mph winds. I had a package of batting blow out of a cart. I had to chase it across the parking lot.

I have decided to really keep a good supply of bread baking products by buying in larger sizes. I still have 4 jars of yeast in the freezer and 6 boxes of vital wheat gluten. I go through bread flour very fast so I am hardly ahead with this item.

So I ordered and have received a 32 oz. container of vital wheat gluten.
(the little boxes have only 6 oz.)
And a pound package of yeast. The first package had an expired use by date. I e-mailed the company and the next day I received a package that is good for 2 years!!!
The company I decided to use you ask??
http://shop.honeyville.com/

I cannot say enough good things about this company.
The yeast I bought:
http://media.honeyville.com/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/s/a/saf-instant-yeast-sideview.jpg

The vital wheat gluten:
http://media.honeyville.com/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/v/i/vital-wheat-gluten-can-honeyville.jpg

XOXOXOXOX Subee