Me & My Stitches

Me & My Stitches
Click on the picture to go to my website. These are 1 1/4" pendants.

Monday, December 8, 2014

In search of fabric!





If you've seen my stash, you would think I'm nuts for needing more fabric!  But...do you remember The Cotton Club quilt from a few years ago?  It was a really popular block-of-the-month, and of course, I jumped on the bandwagon!  Here is a picture of the finished quilt.  As usual, I stayed caught up with the monthly blocks, but then didn't ever put it all together.  It seems that I am the Queen of making blocks, then doing nothing with them!  One excuse is that I was intimidated by the mitered border.  Evidently my Aunt Nancy got tired of me not finishing this quilt and volunteered to do it for me (isn't she nice!?).  I quickly packaged it up for her, before she changed her mind!  Here is a pic I found online of the finished top.  Do you remember it?  I still love it - what's not to love about red?  And brown?  NICE!




As promised, Aunt Nancy finished all of the piecing, and yep...I still love it!  I wanted to get the binding made right away (you know...a couple of years after the end of the program...) but quickly discovered that I don't have enough of any of the fabrics for binding!  ACK!!!!  I love 2 of the browns in this fabric line and swear that I had purchased yardage of both of them, but I sure don't have any.  I think that one of the browns would look best, but...I have ALMOST enough of the red...just maybe 6" short.  Here are the fabrics...

I have searched online, but have not come up with anything - since the name of the fabric line is Cotton Club, searching comes up with a lot of other stuff.  If anyone out there has any of these fabrics, please contact me - I really want to finish this quilt some day!  I need a little over a half yard.

I did finally buy a new Christmas tree - I decided that I was being too picky about it.  The trees that I really liked were so expensive, but really...is it worth it?  Not to me.  Once it's decorated, how much do you really notice the tree itself?   I found a cheaper tree, it's pre-lit, and it is up and I am happy with it!  Callie was her normal helpful self, and we had to chase her out of it several times, but it's still standing, so all is well. I wrapped some gifts yesterday, so now it's really starting to look like Christmas around here.

Speaking of gifts...did you give yourself the gift of Charming 3?  If not, here is what you are missing out on.  This is the second charm in the program.


I know this post is jumping all over the place - sorry about that!

So, next up is a kit that I bought (in MAY, I think!!) at The Woolen Needle in Williamsburg, IA.  They have a great shop with so much amazing wool.  Love it there!  I prepped all the pieces and have stitched a lot of it now, but of course have not put it all together (wonder if Aunt Nancy is up for another challenge?).  This will look good outside the door of my sewing room - I want to start hanging different seasonal things there.

Speaking of seasonal...I know I said it before, but I really have very few seasonal quilts.  Seriously...the only Christmas quilt that I have is a watercolor wreath (remember the watercolor quilts?) wall hanging.  And guess what?  Aunt Nancy put it together for me!  Wow...do you see a trend here?  It was a class that I took as a very new beginning quilter.  At class, we learned very little!  We didn't sew at all...just kind of learned how to lay out the pieces.  It definitely should have been more than a 1 day class - at least for me.  So...the pieces sat in a box forever, and one day I shoved them in Aunt Nancy's car as she was leaving!  And it came home to me like this...(it's like magic!)



I have patterns and fabric for 2 Christmas quilts that I would really love to make, but just never seem to get them done.  One of them is Home for the Holidays, by Primitive Gatherings...


Guess what?  Aunt Nancy bought the kit last year at a show and she has hers finished!  Yes....finished!  Quilted and bound!  I didn't buy the kit, because I have tons of these fabrics - I did buy some yardage for borders, binding (yes...I have fabric for THIS binding!), and backing.  And...I haven't started it.  BOO!

The other Christmas quilt that I really, really want to make is called Merry Christmas Quilt by Heart to Hand.


I LOVE this quilt so much!  Again...no kit, but I have been collecting black flannels for the backgrounds and probably have plenty of wool in my stash too.

So...does anyone else have these 2 quilts on their HAVE TO MAKE list?  Maybe we could choose one and work on it together?  Break it down into sections and have it done by next year?  Let me know if you would be interested - it may be the only way I ever get them done (unless I send them to Aunt Nancy, but I would really like to make something myself!)

Well, this post has gotten way out of control.  It started off as a plea for some fabric - nothing more...was just going to talk about that, and it turned into an "Aunt Nancy saves the day" post, and is ending with me trying to coax you into jumping on a Christmas quilt sew-a-long with me!  I better go get busy!

Hope you have a great week!



14 comments:

  1. I like your way of finishing quilts! Gotta love Aunt Nancy! lol
    I do not recognize the fabrics you are looking for. If you get in a pinch I bet you can find a similar color and nobody except you will notice. I love the Heart to hand quilt!

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  2. I would suggest searching under Paula Barnes fabric when you are on the internet , Sorry I do not have that fabric or I would share it with you . How lucky you are to have Aunt Nancy finish your quilts for you. I made all of my blocks for my Hampton Ridge but still need to sew the quilt together .

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  3. Aunt Nancy is a keeper....glad the play yard is up for the kitties!

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  4. Everyone needs an Aunt Nancy. I have the Primitive Gatherings Christmas kit - I just need to find it:)

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  5. I've had some fabrics from this line, but not the two you show. Most of mine are small bits now. Check out this link. They have the red you show.
    http://www.happyvalleyquilting.net/shop/category/all-collections/cotton-club-1/?showall=1&page_num=1

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  6. I was about to say I don't have any Christmas quilts but then I remembered the twister wreath I made with the itty bitty ruler. It's about 12" and just needs quilting and binding. It's already sandwiched so I don't know what I'm waiting for. I am making great progress on my EPP tree skirt. Maybe by next year I can say I have 2 Xmas quilts!

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  7. Fun that your aunt shares your love of quilting - I have no relatives to do that with. Sorry I can't help with your fabric search - you might try posting your request on missingfabrics.com and see if someone can fix you up! Thanks for all the eye candy today!

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  8. Ugh...I have a partially finished Cotton Club quilt too...I'll probably end up with the same problem. Good luck finding the fabric...I hope you do!

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  9. I so wish I had an Aunt Nancy, because I suffer from the same malady: unfinisheditis! I can't help you with the fabric for your binding, but I've read about a technique to use a second fabric pieced to the main binding fabric. When folded, the second fabric is hidden inside and you use half as much of the outer fabric. It probably causes more bulk, but desperate times; desperate measures! I hope all that makes sense!

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  10. Pretty sure I have the red. What is the name of the browns? I'll check on those too

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    Replies
    1. The fabrics in the picture are all from The Cotton Club line. Please let me know if you have them, but I will need your e-mail address - you are a "no-reply blogger"

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  11. They have some of the Cotton Club Fabric on the Quilted Crow Site:

    http://webstore.quiltropolis.net/stores_app/Browse_dept_items.asp?Shopper_id=49961125517584996&Store_id=186&page_id=17

    Also, you might want to email Paula Barnes at http://www.redcrinolinequilts.com/index.htm. There's a kit that still uses that line of fabric, so she might still have some available.

    HTH,
    Rita S.

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  12. http://www.happyvalleyquilting.net/shop/category/all-collections/cotton-club-1/

    Check out Happy Valley Quilting

    Mary

    (linesmary1@2gmail.com)

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  13. I wish I had an aunt Nancy too! She's a treasure. Your little charms are just amazing!
    I hope you found your fabric.

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