Honest Scrap

Deb over at A Quilting Journey bestowed this award on my blog a few days ago.  I’m not sure exactly what it means, but it sounds fun, so I’m all over it.  Be sure to go by and visit Deb – she has a wonderful blog.  And I discovered that Deb and I have a few things in common:  no broken bones, flying, soggy stuff, roller coasters, and Stevie Ray Vaughan (only I never got to see him perform).  The rules as Deb explained them are:

• First, you have to tell your readers 10 things about you they may not already know, but are true.
• Second, you have to tag 10 people with the award.
• Third, you have to let the people you’ve given the award to know that they’ve received it.
• Finally, make sure you link back to the person who awarded you.

So here goes: 

1. Santa brought me a grown-up sewing machine for Christmas when I was 10.
2. I don’t know how to cook.  Fortunately for me, my husband does.
3. I don’t use a cell phone.  I own one, but it stays turned off, and in the bottom of my purse.  When it occasionally rings, I look around to see where the noise is coming from.
4. I snore.
5. I have never Twittered.
6. Lizards terrify me.  I don’t like those little green frogs much, either.  Let’s just go ahead and say that any creature able to cling to a vertical surface makes me scream like a twelve-year-old girl. 
7. I hate shopping.  Seriously.
8. I attract stray cats.
9. Brown is my favorite color.  Or so I’ve been told.
10. I don’t know if I’m tone deaf, but when I sing, dogs howl.  Okay, they don’t howl.  They probably would if they were within earshot. 

Even though I haven’t been blogging very long, I’ve stumbled upon lots of blogs that I enjoy reading, and I’d like to present the Honest Scrap Award to these guys.  If you haven’t visited them before, stop by and tell them I said hello!

• A Quilter Awakens
• Cats on My Quilts
• Cornfield Quilter
• Humble Quilts
• North Winds Quilting
• Polka Dots and Rick Rack
• Quilt Hollow
• Quilts and a Mug
• Want to “Bee” Quilting

I would have tagged others, but I noticed they had already been tagged.  And I didn’t want to double-tag.  I hope I haven’t done that.  Wonder what happens if you receive too many Honest Scrap Awards? 

Hope you’re having a good week. 

Kim

Double-Take

That's what I did when I saw this ruler. This very odd-looking ruler. Then I discovered that it's designed to cut half-square triangles from 2 1/2" strips. That was all I needed to know. The best thing about it is that you can place the ruler on the strips and slice 'em all up without moving the ruler. The bottom half of the ruler can be used to cut the 2 1/2" strip. Then you just place the triangle part of the ruler on the strip and cut away. The triangles are spaced so that whenever you cut around the triangle, the fabric that's left is also a usable triangle. So there's no waste. I snapped a few pictures to show you, but if this doesn't make sense, check out Creative Grid USA's website here. You'll find it under Specialty Rulers. There are downloadable instructions (that I haven't read, of course).

In just a few minutes, I had cut, sewn and pressed 24 half-square triangle units!

And now if you'll excuse me, I have a stack of 2 1/2" strips waiting for me.

Happy Stitching!

Kim

Still Distracted

My rotary cutter and I have a very close relationship. We're the best of friends. Cutting is probably my favorite part of quiltmaking. I know -- very strange. Give me a new blade and a stack of fabric, and I can keep myself occupied for days.

I recently fell in love with Moda Lissa's Carolina Courthouse quilt featured in the June issue of McCall's Quilting. (You can read about it in her blog post here.) It's a great quilt with a unique setting, and she used 1 1/2" strips of Moda fabrics. Having a ton of tiny scraps left over from cutting a million 2 1/2" strips, I saw a perfect opportunity to share some quality time with my rotary cutter! Unfortunately, my wild excitement caused me to cut sizes of my dark fabrics I didn't need, so I started cutting a different quilt. (I'm sure I need therapy, but I'm having too much fun to stop and make an appointment!) Here's a picture of what my rotary cutter and I accomplished. Some of these Moda fabrics are very old (from the mid-90s), and some of them were just barely 1 1/2" wide.

And since I was already cutting . . .

I'm back to 2 1/2" strips now. The fabric on top is from the Kiwi collection by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures. I've been thinking about a quilt using black and white prints for the background, but couldn't decide what else to include. Until I saw this adorable print.

So now I'll have to spend a little quality time with my sewing machine. I hope my rotary cutter doesn't get jealous!

Fun Weekend

The Azalea City Quilters' Guild sponsored a quilt show in Mobile, Alabama this weekend. I worked (okay, okay -- played) at The Quilting Station's booth, signing copies of my book. I had so much fun hangin' out with Ellen (the shop owner), and Ren, Carolyn and Cathy (the shop cheerleaders). I neglected to get a picture of all of them in the booth, but I did get a couple of shots of the booth with customers. There were lots of beautiful quilt kits, Jelly Rolls, and fat quarter and half yard bundles.

And this display of Laurel Burch bags. I wanted all of them, especially the cats.

My mom, Linda, and my Aunt Bonnie came from Montgomery to visit, and I had sooooo much fun with them. My husband refers to them as Crazy 1 and Crazy 2. They're not really crazy -- they just like to have a good time. I snapped a picture of their arrival. They weren't very thrilled about it, but they got over it. I wish Crazy 3 could have been there, too.

I met Evelyn who owns The Traveling Quilt Boutique. She's from Montgomery, too. She tried to convince me that color is my friend. My quilts tend to be a little "quiet." Hers are bold and very colorful. She had some amazing quilts and fabrics in her booth, and I promised to try more exciting fabrics in some of my next projects.

I was so excited to see the Kudzu Girls from Kudzu Blossom Quilt Shop. Also from Montgomery. Must be a trend. Paula is on the left, and Sue -- I mean Janice -- is on the right. Janice reminds me so much of someone I know named Donna, so I've tried really hard to remember that her name is Sue. But it isn't. Her name is Janice. And she's probably really tired of being called Sue! They were so sweet to pose in their cute little aprons! And what a nice booth they had.

Hope your weekend was totally fun, too!