Blocks + Parties

Is it Friday?  Again?  Sometimes these weeks just get away from me!  I have been spending most of my free time working on a very large not really sewing project.  I say “not really” because it doesn’t involve sewing exactly, but it is going to change the way I sew….. sounds cryptic, doesn’t it!  It should be all done and ready to share in a few weeks.

[ image found via we heartit ]

This week I stumbled upon this blog post and decided that I had to do something to help her out.  (I’m adding this to Sew&Tell at Amy’s.)   I’ve never sewn any triangles before, or followed a quilting pattern before, but I have plenty of scraps and even if it’s not perfect (which it’s not…. more about that in a minute) at least I can make a few blocks and learn something in the process.  I started with four blocks, and the first two require a lot of unpicking…. so they are in a heap under the dining room table and I am just going to pretend that it never happened.

These two are a little better.  None of my points got lost and despite my lack of super fantastic color combination’s I like them.  Each block is supposed to be 10.5″ square unfinished.  For whatever reason (perhaps my ponytail was too tight or my feet were too cold?) these ended up being perfect 10 inch squares.  How did I end up 1/2″ shy in all directions?  No idea, I’ve retraced my steps twice and I can’t figure it out.   I just recently purchased a 1/4″ foot for my machine, so that wasn’t the problem.  I cut each block’s pieces out separately, so that shouldn’t have been the problem.  I measured them again after they were sewn together and they matched up with what the pattern said….. anyway, I’m at a loss.  I think I am going to make them into practice blocks to try out some machine quilting.  And I’ll try again to make some blocks for Victoria at  BumbleBeans Inc for her charity quilt project.  Only this time I hope to get them to a size she can use!  (If you have any scraps that need using up you should consider making a few blocks for her.  They only take a few minutes to do (if you don’t have to unpick them a million times).  She could use all the blocks (or backing fabrics or bindings) that she can get.  You can find all the information and her email address here.)

So sewing didn’t really fit into the plan this week, but shopping did!  Last night I went to an afterhours party at this cute little store.  For a few weeks now they have had a deal going on where you earn auction bucks for every dollar you spend.  You spend $10, you get $10 in auction bucks.  Last night they had the actual auction and you used all those auction bucks they gave you for free to buy real stuff in a silent auction.  It was a party I tell you!  They were auctioning off fabric bits and bobs, patterns, fat quarter bundles, scrap bags and kits and sample quilts that have been hanging in the shop for a while.   I didn’t have enough auction bucks to get a kit or a quilt or any of the larger bundles of fabric, but I did get a bunch of things that I think are cool.  And even cooler because they didn’t cost me a cent.  There isn’t much better than free!  Here are my winnings.

I’m not sure what I am going to do with all of it, but I am excited to find out!  The green polkadot and minkee is already earmarked, and I think I’m going to use the minkee and samples in some sort of quiet book for Creamie.  I don’t know, we’ll see!  And as if that wasn’t enough cool free stuff for one day, on the way home I stopped by Walmart to grab a few things and I happened upon a clearance section where I found these baskets.  They also had a lime green one, which was priced at $2 (originally 12).  These brown/black baskets didn’t have a price on them, so i threw them in the cart and found an employee to check the price for me.  If they were $12 I didn’t want them, but $2 would be a steal, right!  Amazingly I found an employee after 8:00 pm that could help me find a price.  Do you want to know what it was?  Do you want to guess?  You’ll never in a million years get it!

These little beauties rang up at $.02 each. Two cents each, two pennies a piece!  AMAZING.  That’s right folks, I paid six cents total.  I worked in retail for a long time while I was in school and I know that sometimes at big companies computers and people join forces to make accidental mistakes that happen to be in the customers favor.  And when that happens you don’t apologize or try to make it right, or pay a “fair” price.  You just snap it up as soon as possible before anyone at corporate figures it out.  One day I’ll do a post dedicated to the nearly free items in my house that I owe to the computers and/or people in corporate America.  Man, I love free.