Chocolage & JBM's fabrics

This is block #5 from the Chocolage Quilt booklet which I finished on 11/6/07. There are a total of 16 block designs and so I have 11 more to go. My backstitching is getting faster and I have been doing these in the evenings while watching tv. I do not plan on making "my chocolate quilt" the same as is shown in the booklet. I am going to frame each block with the fabrics shown above my finished block #5. I will frame each block with strips of the pink and green fabrics and perhaps use the chocolate brown fabric either as cornerstones or fill ins/sashings. I just couldn't resist buying it. I loved how it looked like melted chocolate. The bonbon fabric will be the borders of the quilt.

ARE YOU READY?

As I promised below are the Judith Baker Montano fabrics from her new line called "Ornamentation". I just love these fabrics and after seeing a few fat quarters at a nearby fabric & craft store called Beverly's, I vowed to treat myself by buying a half yard of all of them. I actually didn't buy ALL of them, but I bought MOST I think, only passing on the extreme pastels. I placed the order just before we traveled to Arizona and when I got back the package from http://www.fabricshack.com/ was waiting for me. It took me a couple days to get it all laundered and pressed. Below are 5 pictures of the ones I bought. Aren't they gorgeous?

I've seen the ones in the 4th picture down referred to as faux silk ribbon prints. I can't wait to start using these beauties. I have been unable to find a lot of the colors of the Kaufman Radiance line that are a silk/cotton sateen and coordinate well with these JBM prints. I may have to go back to Beverly's and just get the other colors in fat quarters. I already have one project in mind. When I visited the hospice shop last week, I found an interesting lacy doily intricately woven into asort of a 4 pointed star. I am thinking of making 4 blocks from these fabrics at least 12" square or more. Where they meet I will piece with the same color of the sateen in all blocks so if I put this lace piece over the center where the blocks meet, it will show that one color through. I'm not sure I've explained that well, but I can see it in my addelpated brain and hopefully will show you the reality soon. I've taken classes from JBM in the past in Omaha at the CQ Society's Yearly "do" and so would like to make this a piece to honor my experiences in her classes.

Stitch On my friends!

Chocolage Block #4

Chocolage Block #4
Originally uploaded by lasassone

MOO!!!!!!!!

Last evening I finished this Chocolage block which I started while on vacation in Arizona. I think it's my favorite one so far. It's a cute cow! Also the backstitching for the wording isn't so much of a chore anymore. It seems I am getting it more even and it is going faster now. Practice-practice-practice is what always works, right?

I've traced off a few more blocks to work on in the evenings while watching tv with G, but during the days I need to get busy on Christmas gifts for my daughters and grands. The youngest is a girl and wants clothes for her Bitty Baby doll.

Since I don't own that particular doll (G says it must be the ONLY doll I don't have in my collection), I borrowed a Bitty Baby from my friend's granddaugher. They brought her over today, so now I just need to find a pattern.

I got the shock of my life yesterday at JoAnn's Fabrics when I found the PERFECT pattern with several outfits and by the description it was obviously designed for this 15" baby doll that is from American Girl-Pleasant Company dolls. I about fainted! When did patterns go up to US$15.95? That is just plain crazy.

When I worked at JoAnn's years ago there were always sales on patterns every week or in every sale flyer for like $1.99 each. Next week I noticed in their current flyer that Simplicity patterns will be $1.99, so I guess I'll wait and make sure I get down there on the first day of the sale. At that cost, I could buy 4 or 5 for what it would have cost me yesterday even with the 40% coupon!

The Judith B. Montano fabrics? I haven't forgotten. I'll take the picture tonight, ok?

Stitch On!

Building a Backup Stash

Building a Backup Stash
Originally uploaded by lasassone

The other day we spent 4 hours moving our stored "stuff" from a 10'x15' unit to a 10'x10' unit and by doing this, my stash is now close to the front of the unit. However, it's all so tightly packed in, I can't access too many things. We had to bring all our Christmas decoration boxes, tree and the reindeer for the yard home and G plans to put them back into the attic. Or maybe we'll just sell them - who knows - we thought we'd be moved by Christmas!

I managed to snag a few things while we were moving boxes - like some supplies I had to make Christmas gifts for my grandkids. Silly me, I thought we'd be moved by now and would be making gifts in my new studio.

So, a crazyquilt friend, former student and member of our local stitching group asked me the other day if I knew that our local Hospice Shoppe was having a "Vintage Sale". She told me briefly about some goodies she found and I was intrigued. So, the next morning I managed to get to the shop soon after it opened.

Gathering all the laces and trims you see hanging there in the picture after their Oxyclean soak was a long process as most of them were buried in bins filled with doilies and other things like ladies gloves, etc. I don't believe I've ever seen so many hand made doilies in one place before. My Mum used to make fancy doilies and whenever I see large numbers of things like that I remember how many hours and how much concentration she used to spend on her crochet projects.

One of the best treasures I found was a little crocheted dress that you can see kind of laying over the top right hand side of the rack. It's ecru with pink trim. It was obviously not an actual doll dress, which is what I thought at first. It IS 2 sided but has no opening, only a little hanging loop on the back side of the neck. It must have been made as a kitchen decoration. As a hot pad, it wouldn't do very well; it's very lacy! I plan to save it for embellishment on my planned doll-themed quilt. I saved some of my daughters' doll clothing in a box SOMEwhere, so I'll add it to that eventually. (If you'd like to see closeup photos of the little dress and some of the trims, click on the picture of the rack and you can see 2 additional photos in my Flickr pictures.)

A couple days before my trip to Hospice, the couple we do our morning walks with returned home from their month-long vacation. Diana, who used to work with me at the doctor's office brought me back a packet of awesome tatting that she and her daughter found in an antique shop in Seattle. Such a lovely thing when you see something like that and realize you know exactly who will love it SO much. I've done the same for her on trips as she is one of our Katie's "other mother's" and cares for Katie when we travel if she can.

So I am sort of tatting & crocheted edging rich! Now if I could just find some motifs! Perhaps I need to go out to the storage place by myself and see if I can manage to reach some of my stash. The other day when I had to go pick up something non-cq related, I actually was able to pull a couple of my embellishment drawers open and fondle some ribbons & such before I to leave.

Did I tell you that I ordered a half yard of most of the new line of fabrics designed by Judith Baker Montano? They were waiting here for me when we returned from Arizona. It's time to make dinner, so guess I'll leave that for tomorrow, okay?

Stitch On!