SEW, SEW SUNDAY - June 2, 2013

Good afternoon everyone.  Come on in!

Today's weather is warmish and a bit overcast, as you can see by the lack of sun at the front of the house.  So I have been spending my day indoors, working on bits and pieces of things that need to be accomplished.  I have finished all of the laundry, although I have not folded the clothing yet.  That will be done slowly as the day progresses. 

Yesterday my Dear Hubby took me to Lancaster, PA to visit a few fabric shops.  I found a WONDERFUL shop where I bought four yards of material.  The top two materials (light blue and button material) I hope to use to make myself a sewing kit.  I had made one when I first retired back in 2011 and, while I am pretty happy with the way it turned out, I don't really like the material much and would like to make another one in a material that is more "me", while ironing out a few of the areas that didn't work out quite as planned in my original version.

The bottom two materials I hope to use to make a wallet for holding my gift cards and coupons.  I am currently using a small zippered pouch.  It works well for my gift cards, but coupons are quite frequently bigger than fit nicely into the pouch, meaning I have to leave it unzipped.  Not necessarily the safest idea when I have several high balance gift cards inside.  I can just imagine me dumping the whole contents out at a register while searching for the correct card!

The ties that are holding the fabric for each project separately were made from the bottom hem of an old blue t-shirt I had in my closet.  I pulled a total of three t-shirts to be made into "tarn" (t-shirt yarn).  I have only cut up the blue t-shirt and made it into tarn.  The peach colored t-shirt has had the bottom hem removed in order to tie up some more material.  The purple t-shirt has not been cut into as of yet.  I also have a trunk full of old t-shirts that DS outgrew ages ago.  Hopefully I can find quite a few shirts that I can use.  Isn't that ball of blue tarn adorable?  I can't wait until my batter bowl is filled with different colored balls of tarn, ready to crochet into something cute and useful!

 

In between tying up material I took several breaks to read my newest Quilt magazine.  Oh there are tons of things I want to make in this issue!  My mom laughs as I keep adding to my "ToDo List", saying I will need to live to be at least 150 years old at this point, lol.  

I do believe I have forgotten to show you my recent purchase.  I desperately needed something to store my magazines in, and something to toss my recycling in until I carry it down to the big bin once a week.  I have been checking in at the thrift store for a few months and couldn't find anything.  On Friday, DH took me to Ross and I found two material baskets, the bigger one I'm using for magazines next to my rocker and the small one I am using to hold cans and bottles next to my desk.  I love the teal and white material and the blue lining. 

 

Throughout the day I have trimmed and cut a few 5" blocks for my guest room quilt.  I've been having pretty bad tremors for the past few days, so cutting precisely is a bit of a problem.  I have only done a few blocks over the whole weekend. This quilt is taking FOR-EV-ER!

 

These orange materials are the fabrics I bought while we were on vacation in North Myrtle Beach (in addition to the material I purchased to finish my aunt's apron).  

 

These blue materials are the fabrics I bought during our November vacation in North Myrtle Beach.  

 

The pink and gray materials I have had for some time, purchased when I saw a fat quarter bundle on sale.  I can't remember where I found the bottom three prints to use along with the bundle!

The brown set of fat quarters and matching thread were given to me by my Dear Aunt for Christmas.  It is an adorable set from Connecting Threads!

Finally,  a bundle of Bake Sale by Lori Holt.  This is probably the most expensive bundle I have in my possession, but I used the change I had been saving for just this purpose, so I feel absolutely NO guilt, lol.  

I still have a fat quarter bundle on order from Cut To Pieces.  It has shipped as of today, so hopefully I will have it in my hot little hands shortly!  

 

I decided that since I purchased these fabrics either as a set from a particular line, or as a set of materials I felt went well together, I should store them away from all of the "scrap" materials in my sewing room closet.  Since most of the materials stored there have been acquired through Freecycle, they are not necessarily matched sets and any quilts or sewing made with those fabrics will be of a scrappy nature.  I had the perfect shelf to store all of my bundles in the storage cabinet in my expansion sewing room.   I will continue to keep my "new" material in this cabinet.

Do you separate your "good" material from your "scrap" material?