The Olden Days!

One of the things that was tossed out in my 2013 purge was my confirmation and graduation cards.
Before I emptied the wastebasket my friend Kris E mentioned scanning them.
My first reaction was no way.
On second thought I agreed it was a great idea.

I have opened this card flat so you can see all the signatures.
These were all the teachers at the state grade school I attended through 8th grade.

Some of my graduation cards………

More birthday cards……..

Some of my confirmation cards……..

And a birthday card that was with the other cards……

and the inside of the card. I found that one interesting as I am currently selling some Vogue patterns from my extensive mint collection on eBay.
You could buy a Hallmark greeting card for between 5 and 15 cents in the mid 50’s.
Some of the other companies in business at that time were Gibson,  Norcross, Forget Me Not, Pollyanna, Sunshine, Rust Craft, Art Guild,  Heywood and American Greeting.
I got more Hallmark cards than any others. To the best of my knowledge Hallmark and American Greeting are the only ones still in business.

My Studio Looks Emptier Today

Yesterday I had a visitor.
She will be a new teacher in a middle school teaching what we used to call Home Economics.
She had asked if anyone had any fabric to share with her so she had fabrics available for some of the 750 students she will teach this year.

Here’s Tara packing up (and counting) all the Malden Mills Polar Fleece I gave her.
Over 50 pieces from as small as 10 inches up to about 2 yards.
Why did I have so much of this? Well I bought it to make scarves and hats for charity several years ago but my intentions were bigger than my accomplishments. I did make quite a few, but the major amount was still here.
Can you believe she will be teaching this many students (of course boys and girls) in 6 week sessions that will include sewing, cooking,, and something else?

When I saw how full her trunk was I thought she’d never get it closed…..but leave it a woman…we know how to pack a car and get everything in.

and this is the back seat!
She took patterns, decorator fabrics, quilting cottons and knit fabrics off my hands.
She took almost 500 things off my hands and I added them to my list of things I’ve purged in 2013!
I’m looking forward to following her teaching career and see what her students make.
In addition to doing their own sewing they will be involved in charity projects. What a great addition to the curriculum.

Holing Up In My Studio With Friends

While looking through things on the shelves in my studio who did I find in hiding?

Yes, Barbie and Ken…………They are at the sewing machine but they’re not helping me with my work.

I’m purging and listing on eBay and sending out sold eBay things.

They just sit there making eyes at each other.

I think they may need some new clothes….Barbie’s dress is just a gauge sample I knit on my knitting machine.

I knit Ken’s sweater by hand at least 45 years ago.

But the thing that worries me the most is red headed Barbie is hiding away somewhere with brunette Ken and GI Joe!

About 50 years ago I sewed Barbie clothes and sold them. I must have made at least 800 garments – mostly of my own designs.

I have NONE of them left as I gave the last ones away. I also gave my original Barbie to a little girl who didn’t have one.

20 or so years ago I did make some gorgeous Barbie clothes for my granddaughters dolls. Maybe they have some Barbie can borrow!

While I Was Sleeping

This is what the group of patterns, kits, magazines and books I have up for sale on eBay looked like when I finished for the day yesterday.

While I was sleeping many items sold so I will be pulling them and getting ready to mail them.

Sunday is usually the biggest day of the week for eBay sales. This week I listed things with FREE SHIPPING and at rock bottom prices so many have sold with Buy It Now almost as soon as I listed them.

For those of you who asked how to find my current auctions they are at:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/queenoffabric/m.html?_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

If YOU find anything you are interested in you could BIN or put in a bid at the starting price and hope no on overbids you before the auction closes!

There are still a lot of things left. Most close within the week if they don’t sell with BIN.

There are some that have 20-something days to go.

Of course everything I sell counts toward by goal of purging 5000 things this year. If you thought my goal was 2013 I’ve upped it since I reached that number in a few months.

Tomorrow I have someone who is starting to teach Consumer Education this year coming over to pick up fabrics and patterns I am donating for her to use in her classes. Of course each thing she walks away with counts toward my goal!

I know some of you are wondering what the prize is for my reaching my goal? It’s not monetary – it’s a house with less clutter.

400,000 Views Of My Blog And Counting

Early this week the counter on my blog said I had 400,000 views since I started blogging!

I had no idea where I was heading or how long I would continue blogging when I started, but I find it’s been a great way for me to document my quilting and my life.

I appreciate the fact that so many of you have taken the time to visit and read what I post and/or enjoy the photos and the COLOR!

 

This is one of the first posts I did in September, 2008.

Monday, September 15, 2008

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again

This quilt started out as a strip pieced quilt shading from roses through blues.
It then was cut into a curve shape and sewn together to create a new design.
It DIDN'T work. It was so bad I don't even have a photo of the original.
I had put a lot of time in it and I knew it was salvageable.
Step 1: I cut it into diagonal squares.
Step 2: I added one inch black strips between each square.
Step 3: I added a plain black border and some leftover piecing from the original strata to the left of the quilt.
It needed more.
Step 4: I went to my fabric collection and found a large tropical print. I cut pieces from it and laid them on the quilt in a pleasing arrangement. I appliqued them to the quilt.
It still needed something.
I spied the leftover pieces that resulted when I cut the original strata into the curve shape.
Step 5: I laid them on the quilt and VOILA - that was it!

Why Have I Been Missing From This Blog?

There are many reasons:

I have been purging and selling some things on eBay.

I had company for a week.

I lost a dear friend in Florida.

I decided to sell some of my vintage fashion patterns, books and magazines on eBay.

Since eBay allowed me to sell as many things as I could this week I’ve been very busy listing (and sending out the sold items).

My friend Shelley arrived about a week ago.

Shelley had moved to Michigan and came back to our area to see many friends and relatives. My instructions to her were to use my house as a motel and come and go as she pleased. That worked well for both of us and it also gave us plenty of time to catch up. She also is a fabulous cook and cooked more meals than I did while she was here. The perfect houseguest.

 

Our dear friend Ralph Antes passed away last Sunday. He and his wife Jean were the first people we met when we moved back to Wisconsin almost 48 years ago. We now live within 6 miles of each other in Florida. When we built our house in Wisconsin Ralph and Jerry spent their summer literally building the entire house. When we needed extra help Ralph always found volunteers among our friends.  I took this picture at one of our Kentucky Derby parties in Florida 2 or 3 years ago.

Jean and Ralph had a real knack for making everyone feel welcome. You could not find two finer people anywhere.

RIP dear friend, I will miss you.

Y’all Know How Fascinated I Am With Palindromic Numbers!

Well, today my age in days is a Palindrom………….I’m not giving it away…………

Yes, I also do keep track of my age in days!

I often send friends cards wishing them ????? days old!

One of my friends wanted to know how I did that so she could too.

Then on second thought she said if she did that she might not have any friends left!

Which one of these ages would you prefer to be if today was your actual birthdate?

You are 50 years old.
You are 600 months old.
You are 2,609 weeks old.
You are 18,263 days old.
You are 438,328 hours old.
You are 26,299,681 minutes old.
You are 1,577,980,871 seconds old.

Where Have I Been?

In addition to purging a lot of things from my house, I’ve been working on getting Jared’s room finished.

I had the two big cabinets on each end of the couch taken out.

I had this dresser (which matches the wall unit) moved into place.

I was able to find the perfect mirror and the perfect lamp on line.

At the other end of the couch I am using a sewing machine for an end table. If Jared can’t sleep he can always get up and sew!

I found this lamp locally and I’m happy with it.

I’ve made the selection of the quilt I’ll hang on this wall. It is layered and ready to quilt.

I believe the only other project will be framing a piece of art Nicholas made for me. The frame is on the wall, so all I have to do is take it down, insert the art, matt and backing and put it back up on the wall.

Do You Know What This Is?

If you do please tell me since I don’t know what it is going to be!

Last night I spent a LOT of time trying to get my serger threaded and working. I finally got it after two sessions that were each over an hour. It was a very frustrating task, but I am so glad I persevered.

I decided I’d just play and sew some of these embroidered silk dupioni scraps together.

It did come unthreaded a few times while I was sewing and I was able to rethread it with no problem.

It is currently unthreaded so I stopped for tonight.

I felt I deserved some fun sewing as I am making such good progress on my purging.

I started in March with the idea of getting rid of 2013 things in 2013. I have made such great progress lately and only have to get rid of 46 more things.

Long May She Wave!

I made these flags with polymer clay.

Using the same palette I also created these hearts.

Yeah, Yeah, USA!

RIP - Jeffrey Gutcheon - Talented Genius

This was a class exercise I did in a class I took from Jeffrey at our Land Of Lincoln Quilt Symposium.

While others are telling stories about Jeffrey I have to share a few of mine!

His books were my first real solid information about quilting when I became a quilter in the 70’s.

Later I got to know him and considered him a friend, a mentor, an mentee and a brat!

Now how can I call anyone with his talents a brat?

Some said he had an abrasive personality – it was only his way of trying to make one realize what he was sharing and never forget it.

He had a strong dislike for coordinated fabric groups, especially when they were done by famous quilters. He also had no use for cutsey calicos, the most readily available fabrics at the time.

Knowing that, my bratiness also came out and I brought the fabrics I thought would get a reaction from him to the workshop.

The workshop started out by his telling us to get out our tracing paper. We all said “Tracing Paper? That was not on the supply list”.

He said his secretary or “our people” must have forgot to type it on the list.

I was in charge of speaker hospitality for the Symposium and had to go down and take care of some business during the class. When I got to “our office” I asked if they had a copy of the supply list he sent. Of course the list was right there and tracing paper was NOT listed.

When I got back to class and told him this he said HE must have forgot to add it …quietly so I was the only one who heard him say it!

We had enough tracing paper to draw out blocks by sharing among the class.

After I drew my 60 degree diamond design I took out my fabrics and said “Now what do you think of these Jeff?”

Expecting a negative reaction from him,  he suggested where I could use each one in the design.

Earlier he had given other class members hard times about their fabric selections, but I guess he knew me well enough to not do that to me.

I had great respect for him and his talents and he respected me.

I could go on and on with other stories about him, but I can’t conclude this “story” about him without saying he was a multi-talented man: an architect, a musician, an author and a quilter.

So rest in peace dear Jeffrey, we miss you.