Quilt photos

I had thought about starting a weekly post where I would share a photo of the week's splurge or fantastic thrift store find, but then I realized just how spoiled I am and that it would be too embarrassing to have to admit to how many times I treat myself during the week. I am trying very hard to curb my discretionary spending. I may have to put myself on an allowance or start giving myself a real paycheck from my business account. Anyway, enough about how I am single-handedly stimulating our local economy. Here is what I really wanted to talk about - or show you.

I had a request from Deb, of Debz Talkin' (see the sprout post a few weeks back) for a photo of the quilt that Scott's grandmother made for us. Here it is... (pardon my terrible photography skills)

I had always known that this was such an incredible undertaking (it is hand-quilted, not machine quilted) but it wasn't until I started reading about the how-to's of quilting that I truly appreciated what a treasure this textile is. It is such a treasure to us that we don't use it. Now isn't that a shame? And I am sure that this is not what Grandma intended, but how do you think we feel when the cats make it their cozy spot or heaven forbid one of them throws up on it. Well anyway, it will be really nice to have a quilt rack for displaying this treasure.

While I had the camera out, I took a photo of the quilt that Grandma made for Claire when she was born and here it is...

This was the perfect quilt pattern for Claire since we have four cats and so does her little quilt. And here is our little pumpkin back when we received the quilt from Grandma. It is incredible to think that she is four years old now. How was it that she was ever this small and this cute?

And here is a quilt that I found at Goodwill a few weeks ago. When I washed it all of the batting clumped up so I need to undo the ties, put a new layer of batting in there and I think I'll redo the binding while I'm at it. The way the quilt is constructed, the back of the quilt is folded around the sides to create a make-shift binding. I have a hunch that the quilt has been damaged or cut down for some other reason. Some of the star blocks are cut in half at the binding and there isn't a border just a truncation of the stars. I like the quilt anyway. For a thrifted textile it has a lot of character. There are some interesting fabrics and I like to imagine the quilter sitting late at night piecing the top together, trying to unwind from a long day of taking care of her family. I think I'll use the quilt on the daybed in my sewing room in the new house. It is such a cheery quilt it is sure to perk the room up and help to inspire me.

Sprouts

I don't really know why I woke up thinking about sprouts this morning. This is a bad week to start this experiment as I may have to travel to Idaho at the end of the week but I think Scott and Claire can probably remember to rinse sprouts while I'm gone. I picked up a bag of seeds last week at the grocery so I've been itching to get the sprouter out. The seeds are certified organic (seems like a good idea) and are a mix of alfalfa, radish and broccoli.

Years and years ago, when I was a vegetarian, I purchased the Northrup King Kitchen Crop Sprouter. Strangely, I found the receipt in the box. The Sprouter was purchased in 1999 at a hardware store. It hasn't been used in a while. I'm so glad I hadn't sold it at a garage sale or taken it to Goodwill. I just hate it when I get rid of stuff and then need it later. That is true pack-rat mentality peeking through. No wonder I usually keep things long after their usefulness fades. You never know when you'll want to grow alfalfa sprouts again.

So anyway, it has been so long since I've used the Sprouter I can not locate the directions. So I searched the web. I found a neat photo and some interesting links here and also a nice blog post about the Kitchen Crop Sprouter (see link below) where you can see some photos. I was hoping to find more instruction on using the Sprouter, but I guess I'll just wing it.

The seed photo mentioned above reminded me of my thrift find for the month of December.

It's a cloth bird feed bag. The logo isn't printed squarely on the bag so I've been thinking about ripping the seams, cutting the bag down and using this image as the front panel of a grocery tote bag. I have found that four canvas shopping bags are not sufficient. I end up storing merchandise returns or library books or mittens and hats in them and before I know it I've only got one or two in the car ready for carrying groceries. Maybe next week I'll whip this bag up.

Debz Talkin: Growing Sprouts and Juicing Carrots & Apples

little houses

I have spent the entire day sitting at the dining table working on a little fabric house that measures about 6 x 4 x 6 inches. I have been thoroughly frustrated by the blessed thing but now that it only needs windows and a front door, I am pretty happy with my work. The instructions can be found here, at the blog posting that I started out with. There are plenty of people that seem to have had little trouble, based on the flickr posts anyway. Well, I found my way through it and veered a bit from the instructions. I had hoped to make some to give away as Christmas gifts but I have found the pattern too late in the game to make them for gifts. They take far too long to make. Though, if I had thought about it, I might have taken some notes as I went so my next house would go together faster. Alas, the beach-side cottage, classic red barn and bird house may have to wait. So many ideas and so little time. Arg!

On a topic very far from sewing, I have also watched several episodes of Cracker while sewing during Claire's nap time. Robbie Coltrane (sadly, probably only familiar as "Hagrid" of Harry Potter fame) stars as a criminal psychologist who is addicted to gambling and is also a serious drinker. The series is a lot like Prime Suspect but I think Robbie Coltrane's character, Dr. Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald, is a more likable, if not more three-dimensional, protagonist than Helen Mirren's, Jane Tennison.

Anyway, Claire's awake and it's time to fix some supper. I'll have to shelve the little house projects until I have some of my other Christmas projects finished.

Mary, Mary quite contrary...

Late this summer, I purchased a new table-top sized fountain at a local nursery/bulb farm. Claire promptly took all of the polished rocks and glass pebbles from the fountain and has been pretending that they are her seeds for the last two months. Yesterday I had a sudden burst of inspiration; she needed seed packets! So I scanned some of the vintage seed packets that I have and printed the images out on my ink jet printer onto some prepackaged, paper-backed fabric. I made up a quick little pattern for a felt envelope and stitched the images on the top. Add a little Velcro closure and you're in business. The felt seed packets were a huge hit and I had stumbled across a really neat source of images for kitchen textiles.