Designing Monday

I worked on a "service" quilt this week.  These are quilts that our guild makes to supply the local homeless shelter.  Nothing fancy.  They get a real workout and get washed frequently.  I decided to clean out a closet this week and got no further than the first bag I picked up which had a bunch of old fabric.  Stuff leftover from projects.  I used to pull out this bag for my Girl Scout troop anytime we made Christmas ornaments or toys or other items for badges that required fabric or sewing.  Most of it came from my SIL and I'm sure it is from the 70's and 80's.  I used up most of it for these hodgepodge squares.  It will be done for the guild meeting next week.

Our daughter came home from Japan this week.  She has been teaching there since May and will go back for the fall semester.  She really liked it there.  She made lots of new friends and did lots of sightseeing on her time off.  She even managed to climb Mt. Fuji.  She brought us this little treat to try.  It is a package of tiny Kit Kat bars that are flavored with Green Tea.  I couldn't taste the tea. It  tasted like a regular Kit Kat but with white chocolate.  The weird green color is a bit off-putting.

My machine went to the shop last week for a minor repair.  I pulled out my MIL's old machine to give it a whirl.  We brought it home a year and a half ago and this is the first time I have used it.  It runs well, but I miss having a variable speed control.  I am always amazed at people like Bonnie Hunter who use multiple machines.  It takes me a while to get comfortable with a different machine.  I am just set in my ways, I guess.

Hop on over to Judy's blog to see some great designs.

Little Treasures

A cry for help went out from a good friend this week looking for someone to work at their rummage sale.  I gladly joined in the fun and of course, found several treasures I could not live without.  I love canning jars and they had a few left so I snapped them up.  I have quite a few blue Ball jars already, but I always get more when I can get them at a good price.  They just seem to call out my name.  I used to work at a plastics factory when I was in college during summer breaks.  The factory was bought by Ball so I feel like a kindred spirit to these little blue jars.

I don't have any of these clear ones with the diamond or rectangle pattern on the side.  I don't know if they are old, but they are cute.

Included was a small box of porcelain lined lids.  Some were the old galvanized Ball lids and some were brand new aluminum Presto lids.

Here is the box that the lids came in originally.  I am not familiar with Presto.  I have lots of Ball and Mason Jars in my stash of stuff, but not Presto.

Can you see on the box it says Approved by Household Searchlight and Delineator Institute?  I have never heard of either of these.  Guess I will have to dig a little more to find out about them.  Thank goodness for the Internet and Wikipedia.  LOL

The best surprise was this glass Presto lid.  I don't think I had ever seen one before.  It was put on the jar with a regular jar ring, but it doesn't fit exactly right.  I looked them up on line and Presto has a special top that is designed for the glass lids.  I'll have to watch for one of those now.

My other little treasure is this brown graniteware pitcher.  I don't think it is necessarily old, but it may be.  My friend and her husband were having the rummage sale for his father who has moved into an apartment.  They didn't know the history behind many of the things they were selling and sadly the dad's memory is not what it once was.

Hope you enjoyed a little show and not much tell!  

Designing Monday

I finally got busy and made some progress around here.  I finished piecing the Cheddar and Blue quilt that I started about a month ago.  I really like how it turned out and am glad I kept it to a 5x5 size.  I think it is about 65 in. square.

The Threads of Memory Quilt from Barbara Brackman has been calling me to get another block done, so I finished the block for May.  It had paper piecing and set in seams.  I usually like to paper piece, but it almost got the best of me.  It didn't help that I cut my fabric backwards and ended up making the center of the block backwards.  The set in seams were a breeze in comparison.

I visited a couple of local quilt shops this week to pick up patterns for the Row by Row Experience.  I think that's what it is called.  The patterns are designed by the quilt shops and not at all what I expected.  I'll have to decide if I have time to fit this in.  Anybody else participating in your area??

Hop on over to Judy's to see some really beautiful designs.