Swaps all mailed out and the tile floor is done!

The tiling is all done except for sealing and trying to find the transition thingies for the tile to the carpet. We need a four foot and a six foot piece. We have not been able to find them at Lowes, Menards or our hometown carpet dealer's storefront.

Despite all the construction going on I managed to complete three swaps. Here is the back of my Explorer all loaded up with 46 packages. What you cannot see are the Priority boxes behind the row of totes.

I swapped red 2 1/2" strips, 1 1/2" squares and recycled sleeves this week.
WHEW!!! Talk about job security for the Post Office.
I was a real courteous customer and had the clerk total me out 4 times so the lines did not get too long. Small good deeds will always come back to me. Another reason I did that was I could not carry it all in at the same time! HA!!

It felt so good to get my kitchen back yesterday that I made a real nice pork chop dinner for my Hubby. I also made some whole wheat bread and a double batch of banana bread (with the new mixer). And then I had to do four loads of laundry! Construction can sure make a lot of dirty clothes and towels.

XOXOXO Subee

I am back!!!! Shirts galore!

I am the hostess on Yahoo's Quiltvilleswap.
We are swapping shirt sleeves from 100% cotton mens shirts.
I was not playing as I already have a large stash of fabrics.
I was sure I did not need to start a collection of cotton shirts.
But after half of the players' packages arriving, and me drooling over the wonderful variety, I had to play a little.
So, I bought 10 shirts and packed them up to play.

Then Lynn D.'s package arrived with 60 sleeves...oh my such beautiful fabrics...
So I went back to Goodwill today and bought 20 more shirts.
And here are all 30 shirts totally "de-boned". The sleeves are all packaged for the swap.

I made sure I only picked browns, grays and rust colors as it seems the majority of the sleeves arriving have been in the blue family.

But I did buy a wild blue paisley shirt that reminded me of John Travolta. HA!

I have the cuffs all gathered in a separate bag. The collars all together and the plackets all together.

The collars were in a nice pile before I took the picture. But Lucky wanted to play in the fabrics so I let her plow through the collar pile. She is so fabric oriented. But then so am I and she is my constant companion. I guess some of it is bound to rub off on this newest addition to our kitty family.

In my spare time when I am not sewing and not knitting I turn to my favorite thread hobby. Crochet...this doily is almost done. Just need to weave in the thread ends.

Each one teach one!

A friend who had been missing from my life for 30+ years returned to Indiana last year after her husband died.
She has always been a seamstress. Has worked in very high end fashion stores doing alterations. She showed some interest last year in quilting. Then the "bug" bit her bad a few months ago. I started gifting her all my little triangles and leftover blocks. She has been on a roll making quilts from these fabrics.

A totally wonderful quilt made from black and white fabrics. See the staircase on the lower right side? My hubby really likes this one.

Not only is she piecing blocks but she is also doing paper piecing with the little leftovers. This little bit is just the start of a quilt for one of her doll collections. The block is 4" small!!!!

Lucky Lucy keeps making friends with all the big kitties. Here she is sharing my sewing chair with the alpha cat Macy. I cannot believe it. Macy is so contrary. She wants to be the only cat in the house. But Lucky has won her over too. Look out Macy. Lucky wants the #1 spot!

I did the last swap in the quilting room. I was not sure how Lucky would be with the baskets. She is quite a rambunctious kitten. I did not want her to tip over the baskets and have me pulling my hair out.

Maggie Mae sucking heat from a lamp over the ironing board.

XOOXOXXO Subee

My definition of a neutral.

It seems as if I get a sleepless night once a week. I used to hate them. Now they are great! I can play in my stash. I mean really deep digging and sorting.

I am currently making lots of Bonnie Hunter's spool blocks. Then I was getting bored with the neutrals I was sewing with. Enter one sleepless night and I have 30 new neutrals to sew with.

I went through and tore 20" from each fabric. I will get them washed as I plan on making a new swap on the Quiltvilleswap Yahoo group. We have already swapped spool fabrics but not the backgrounds. So I asked and got  favorable replies from nearly all the swappers. They are up for an extra swap this summer.

And the definition of a neutral seems to be a personal preference. I agree with Our Bonnie on what she considers a neutral. It really does make for a more interesting quilt. But I know that is uncomfortable for some quilters.

The photo below is what I/we will be swapping.

Aren't these fabrics great? I included a few of my precious conversation prints.

And there is a method to my madness...I have made 4 Log Cabin quilts using only creams and browns with pale pink centers. I have been feeling the call of making a Log Cabin quilt without being color controlled. These neutrals will fit in perfectly for this future project.

Here is an example of a pale pink fabric being a neutral in one block and the spool in another block. It all depends on the spool color.

I now have 646 spool blocks made. If memory serves me, Bonnie said she wanted 800 spool blocks for the design she is working on. I am almost there!!!

I went through one swappers yellow strips. I cut them down and made these yellow spool blocks. Light to dark. Aren't they precious?

And since I always do a Leader/Ender as I am sewing I am using 1 1/2" squares that were extras cut from whatever.

XOXOXOXOXO Subee

washed fabric quiltvilleswap Hostess

In the pink and brown rejoice!!!!

Once again I cannot thank Our Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville fame for her inspirations!
All it took was one look at this post:
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/03/celebrate-pink.html

And I was off and running sewing!!!
In two days I had 152 blocks made using her streamlined method. I made 20 with the browns in the corners and 132 with the pinks in the corners.
Looking at the antique quilt it seems I only needed 110 blocks. And since at the beginning of the cutting marathon I was cutting duplicates, I can set those aside and still have enough blocks to copy this beauty!!!

I was not sure I would like Bonnie's sewing method. But it is so fast!!! The only complaint I have is when I used a striped fabric. The block ended up with one fabric rotated incorrectly. Oh well....that will just add to the wonkiness of the quilt. I am totally in love with just the blocks.
Now I need to find 2 yards of a nice brown for the setting blocks. WHOOHOOO!!!

Here is the box of parts I started off with on Friday night. It only took me two days to make all those blocks.

And above is a sampling of the grays I am swapping on the Quiltvilleswap group on Yahoo. I sure love gray fabric. Someday I am making a gray/pink quilt. I can feel it churning in my head!
XOXOXOXOX Subee

Subee's strips packaged for mailing

Here they are all side by side. I have 10 different neutrals in two sizes 1 1/2" width and 2 1/2" width. I have 10 bags of each size with one each of each strip packaged with my mailing label and e-mail address all stuffed into a "snack" sized baggie. I think packaging this way makes it easier for the hostess of the swap.

This photo is of the 1 1/2" strips. My newest fabric is the bottom strip. A nice off white background with roses done in tans and whites. There are two paisleys in my selection. I love them.

The sun came out and I got a truer color photo of the strips. You are going to love one of these strips. It is a Marcus Bros. conversation print of little kitties on a tan background. It is the third one from the right. I moved it to the number#1 position when I packed the baggies. It is so beautiful.

Can you see the cat tail on the upper left of this photo? I swear these cats know when they can "mess" with their Subee. They tried walking across the strips....dragging their tails on the strips...I had to chase each of all my 5 cats off these strips. I apologize if any cat furs made it into the bags.