Simple Saturday

Isn't this one of the prettiest cups of coffee ever? Showing off my new coffee cup from the Liberty of London collection at Target. It doesn't take much to make me happy! This brings back fun memories of our trip to Europe a few years ago, not sure which year, maybe 2003? It ws the last big trip that our family of 4 made together, so very special. Dan was in college and Brita was working at Methodist Hospital, I think. Bob and I went to France (Paris and Avignon) for a week, then met up with the kiddos in London. We spent a week motoring along the English countryside on a longboat, it was absolutely one of the best things we have ever done together! While in London I went to Harrod's department store and drooled over their Liberty fabrics, choosing a couple little pieces for my mementos. I also was given a some of this great fabric for a gift from my sister, Jan, she shares the fabric-lover gene! Funny how that happens, I can trace it back to my mom and Grandma (mom's mom) but I don't know about the generation before that.

Thought I would share a couple more of my favorite things with you from my sewing room---

I try to never be far from my seam ripper, and this Clover brand is the best I have found. It has a perfect tiny point and sharp cutting surface along with a handle that feels nice in my hand. Once I tried this brand I threw out any other seam rippers, it's that good. I use my rippers plenty, and I figure I better make the best of the aspect of sewing that I like the least!

My humble little 1" x 6" acrylic ruler from Omnigrid, I also have multiples of these so they can be in whatever sewing bag or area that comes along.

Yesterday brought plenty o' time at the helm of my big machine, it was glorious! I finished up a customer quilt-Yay!- and then quilted 2 tops that are donations for Quilts For Kids resulting from Debbie's archeological dig in her sewing room. Thank you, Debbie, it is much appreciated! It is so nice to have the ability to mount up those small quilts and quilt them with ease. Just simple quilting designs, but one step closer to bringing some comfort to someone instead of languishing in a closet!

Last night I started working on a new sample of my MN Mixer pattern. First it was made in the 2009 MN fabrics,

then reincarnated in baby fabrics,

and now heading towards florals!

With the first 2 versions hanging side-by-side at Bear Patch, it is fun to get peoples' reactions when they realize it is the same pattern. I hope to get them to go outside the box a little more with this new version. This row is pinned out on my ironing board to benefit from a little re-shaping. It is probably the hardest row in the construction of this quilt to get to exactly the right size, this type of triangle is hard to get just right. This time it turned out to be about 1/2" shorter than I would like it to be and since I had actually done a good job at getting all the points correct with the requisite 1/4" seam allowance to be attached to the next row, I didn't want to use my trusty seam ripper to make any modifications. So I am putting to use the simple action of moisture on fiber to give me a little length. I pinned out the border straight on the ironing board, misted it with my spray bottle and let that soak in a little. Then I gently smoothed out the fabric, repinned, and gained what I needed to make this work. I guess the water helps the fibers relax a bit, easier to shape. Seems too simple, but it works! I think I have mentioned here before that I have learned to use my spray bottle to remove wrinkles in quilt backs instead of ironing, same principle.

Today I have decided is going to be a day of silence. I am spending the day at home alone (Bob is on a golf course somewhere in Missouri) and I realized last night that I had TV, radio, music and podcasts on most of the time throughout the day. Too much noise. Not nearly as bad as a day in TNICU, where the alarms sometimes drove me nuts, but still too much noise. So I will have a day of quiet for a change. It's nice!