Seeds

I went to an amazing quilt show a week or so ago.  I can't show you the photos of the quilts I saw (against the show rules, of course), but I can show you some of what I bought.

Here's what my pile of loot looks like out of the packages.  I bought all this at a part of the show called "Granny's Attic".  The members of the guild that puts on the show donate fabric, which is then packaged, priced, and sold.

Most of what I bought is quilting cotton, either as scraps or yard goods.  Above is an interesting set of samples of flannel fabrics.  These will be great in a scrap quilt.   (Did I mention I have tons of flannel?)

In addition to the quilting fabrics, I bought some materials for other projects.  This is oilcloth, and I got a huge hunk of it for $1.

Here's some heavier cotton.  I'm thinking about making a couple of grocery bags out of it.  Cost:  $2.00.

Take a look at the price tag on this one!  They had lots of bags like this of scraps, for terrific prices.

Here's what it looked like, dumped out on the table.  One whole dollar, for all of this!  I haven't decided what exactly to do with it yet.

This is another item from the show, that happens to be completely free!  The guild hands out two free patterns at every show, and invites participants to make quilts from them to show next year.  They call these patterns "seed packets".  Isn't that a great idea?

Seed packet patterns from past years are available for free online, at the following address:
Shows--It's a Stitch Quilt Guild  Scroll down the page to find links to the patterns.  As of today, the 2016 patterns are not online yet.

I go to this show every year, and I usually just look at the seed packets, think about the patterns for a while, and then forget what I was going to do with them.
Not this year!  I started this quilt when I came home from the show.

This is my adaptation of the Cabin Steps pattern.  The original is a 12 in. finished block.  Mine finishes at 9 inches.  As you can see, 3 of the 9 squares are plain white, while the other six are made of 2 rectangles each.  The rectangles are cut at 2 in. x 3.5 in.

I'm sewing the rectangles together as leaders and enders, while piecing baby quilts for charity.

We had a family party here yesterday for Mothers Day, and my granddaughter Evie and I spent a little time playing with my fabrics.

She went through all the strips in this bin, telling me which ones she liked.  She's the most adorable four-year-old ever.  Her mother is giving her a good start in sewing, helping her make Barbie clothes.

Long, long ago, in 1959, my baby brother was born.  When my mother came home from the hospital, she brought two dolls, one for my sister and one for me.  The doll above is mine.  My daughters played with him when they were little, and what clothes he had were lost.  Yesterday, my granddaughter and I found him naked in the basement.

We took pity on him.  My daughter sewed a shirt for him on my electric machine, while my granddaughter got her first lesson in treadling.  We broke the top thread right away, of course, so we weren't really sewing, but it was just as much fun for Evie just putting the fabric through.  She kept her fingers away from the works, and learned to raise and lower the presser foot.
Evie named the doll Dave, no one know why.  We made a bed for him from a crate fruit came in, and cut some more flannel scraps for covers.
I think Dave needs a quilt.
But I think everybody needs a quilt.  Don't you?

Keep smiling and sewing this week.

I'm trying some new link ups this week.

Click Here to go back to Em's Scrapbag.

Click Here to go back to Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt.