More Postage

 My first sunflower bloomed. They were not too happy during the heat waves, so I think this one chose our only "rainy" (aka drippy) day to begin blooming. 

Meanwhile Mount Stripmore was reduced to a box of two patches that I am turning into a box of four patches for the postage stamp quilt.

And as usual, I need supervision. Or maybe this is just a cat ruse.

I know a lot of quilters buy sewing machines with larger throat spaces but I don't think that will help reduce furry lump interference.

So sometimes I give up the sewing machine chair way too easily which seems to take a lot of joy out of Molly's victory.

But I am sure she will be happy again in time for the August fabric giveaway.

Feeling the Heat

 I have now sewn all of the postage bits onto strips of neutral fabric (see the pile in the background). Then I iron  them open and fussy cut them apart so I get a pile of two patches (see foreground).

When I get tired of working with Mount Stripmore, I sew two patches into four patches, 

I am only allowed a limited amount of sewing time each day. We are fully into the summer months so the heated beds and pads are turned off. Buddy has taken to napping in a chair by the window while Molly has staked out my sewing chair. When I am in the sewing chair, she takes her place by the sewing machine, flicking her tail closer and closer to the needle.

Despite all of her best efforts, I did manage to finish off the spool of thread today. 

And I get the same disrespect when I cat sit. Here I am being told to return his people immediately and that he will not sign any waivers or nondisclosure agreements for whatever prank show I am affiliated with. He also says I smell like old cats.

I suspect I never got around to showing the fabric I picked up at a recent charity fabric sale. It was back in June some time, oh yeah, the day of the fabric-filled estate sale. The charity sale began at 8AM and the estate sale began at 10AM. 

Winners Announced

 We had a bit of a heat wave, so I only got in a bit of quilting. Happily, I found a whole new bin of bits and I cut postage stamps from them. Along with the heat wave, Buddy and Molly no longer have heated beds and mats to fight over, so Molly returned to full time supervision...that looks a lot like sleeping on my cutting mat. 

I did, however, cut fabric and pack up the giveaway fabric for the four winners:

1. Anonymous (first comment)

2. Cindy F

3. Cherie Moore

4. Susan

The packages were dropped off at the post office yesterday and should arrive either tomorrow or Monday.

To make up for a lack of quilting content, I would love to show you glamorous garden photos, but these scene stealers had a melt down during the heat wave.

And frankly, my garden has an eery, demented side so that it becomes challenging to crop photos to look glamorous and not make children cry. 

Starturday Success!

 It's a bit late in the season to be starting seeds, but that didn't stop me from starting Kaffe's Seed Packet quilt. I couldn't decide whether to make the red version or the blue, so I decided to make both and have a reversible quilt. I am going to consider this a low volume quilt...meaning I'm not going to put a lot of energy into it. As I encounter Kaffe floral fabric in my stash, I'll cut 8 inch squares or 4.5 inch squares depending on the pattern.

Meanwhile, I've tinkered a bit with block placement and think I am only a few tweaks away from starting to sew it together.

I also have been making progress going through the bit box for the postage stamp quilt. This version has a checkerboard of stamps and neutrals.

I sew the bits to neutral strips and then iron them. Next I will cut them down to a height of 1.25 inches.

Meanwhile, Molly decided that there would be FOUR winners...two requesting Japanese fabric and two regular winners. Staff is not allowed to announce the winners until we have heard back from all of them. Also, Molly says not to judge her for continuing to use her heated pad during a heat wave. Apparently hot house temperatures don't quite knock off the chill. Right now she is laying on the only bit of sun I'm letting in the house during our "heat wave" (as defined in Portland, OR terms.)

We explained the new fabric giveaway plan to Buddy but we think his brain stalled out at "Four."

More Fabric Displays

 The yukata cloth and the novelty prints that I showed previously are Japanese fabric printed by Japanese companies. There is also "Japanese style" fabric that were printed by companies such as Kona Bay and FreeSpirit around 2006 and 2007. There were lots of these in the estate sale bin as well.

For those of you who mentioned that you are interested in Japanese fabric for the giveaway, if you win, I will want to know your preference for yukata, novelty or floral (or a mix of all three).

For those of you asking for Buddy's help in choosing fabric, here is his fabric from the bin. As you probably already know, extremely ugly fabric attracts laser dots, so almost everyday Buddy attacks and beats out any laser dots in these fabrics. And I know that Bonnie Hunter says that you can cut an ugly fabric smaller, but some fabrics are so ugly you would have to fussy cut a one inch square and none of us have time for that. 

If you win and asked for Buddy's help, he will want to know if you want your fabrics pre-gash or with a gash. 

July Fabric Giveaway

 I think I have now sewn enough postage stamps to cover postage for the two (soon-to-be) winners of the July fabric giveaway.

Here is some more of the Japanese fabrics that were in the bin from the quilter's estate sale. And if you would like hunks from each of these, just leave a comment on this blog post telling me that. Or maybe you want yukata cloth. Or maybe you want squares from my bin of 2.5 inch squares. Or per chance some batiks, thirties, novelty, orange, or neutral (specify white, beige, grey). We have even devolved to the concept of Buddy picking randomly from the Elfa drawers where we store 1/2 yard or less cuts. Maybe you would like Molly to randomly pick from the flat folds. 

When you leave a comment on this blog post. include your email address if you are anonymous or no-reply. On July 5, at 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time, submissions are closed. I will notify the winners by email the next day asking for addresses and clarification about fabric preferences.

Unfortunately, due to the high cost of international shipping, the giveaway is limited to the USA.

Previous winners may enter again (and by the way, no one is keeping track.)