Aqua

   I sewed up some hanging dishtowels using some of the pretty fat quarters from the Riley Blake Bake Sale fabric collection.  These three hanging dishtowels are going to live with dear daughter.

   I love these patterned buttons.  So cute.

 






   

I Love This Fabric

   I mentioned that I bought a fat quarter bundle of Bake Sale by Riley Blake.  Well, I actually ordered two of them, even though I didn't know what all the fabrics looked like, I fell in love with the background colors and some of the obvious designs, like the gingham.  The other designs include flowers, mixing bowls, cake stands, recipes, cherries, and some stylized dotty fabrics. I took pictures of all the color groups and fabrics in it.  I had to share. 

This fat quarter has two color designs on it.  I had never seen that before.  So fun.

More colors.

    Some of these fabrics will end up as hanging dish towel toppers because, hello, kitchen scheme.  I don't know where the rest will be used but these fabrics will be used carefully and thoughtfully because I am in love with this collection.

Fat Quarter Time

    I did some fabric shopping on Etsy.  I finally found a fat quarter bundle that I couldn't live without.  I bought two fat quarter sets of Bake Sale by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet for Riley Blake.  Those colors and prints are perfect.  I'm planning lovely napkins and hanging dish towel toppers with these fun kitchen prints.

 

Planning Another Quilt Top

     Uh-oh.  I went on the Connecting Threads website again and found some fabric that I just love.  I thought that these fabric would make a very pretty pinwheel quilt.  They were on sale for $3.56 a yard.  I couldn't resist.  I purchased a yard of each of these.

   I also bought 3 yards of the same fabric in white.  The white was not on sale but it still was a very good price at $5.96 a yard.  All of the fabric plus shipping was $37.11.  Not bad for a quilt top.

 

My Favorite Cotton Quilting Thread

   I buy my favorite cotton quilting thread from Connecting Threads.  The 1200 yard spools of Essential Cotton normally sell for $2.79 but it's on sale now for $1.95 which is a 30% discount.  Nice. When I want to use cotton thread, I don't hesitate to use this in any of my sewing machines.  I'm now using to hand sew all the the hexagons for my current project.  I love this thread.

   I bought six more spools of the Cream colorway so I would have enough for my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  I started this quilt top with a brand new spool of the Cream colorway.  I have used over half a spool on the two rows of the quilt and flowers I have already put together and I wanted to stay with the same thread all the way through the quilt top.

   I haven't decided how I'm going to quilt or bind this top yet so I have not decided what color thread I will be using quilting or binding.

   Here are my new spools of thread.  I should have plenty to finish piecing the quilt top.

   Here's a new spool compared to the spool used to make the flowers and two rows so far which means that six more spools should be more than enough for the five rows I have to finish.

More Sale Fabric On Order

   Found these pretty fabrics at Connecting Threads and ordered some for three more new nightgowns.  Now I have to make five new nightgowns.  That should be enough to last me a long, long time.

My Christmas Present From Me To Me

   I finally found a Singer Model 221, commonly called a Featherweight, on ebay with a price I could afford.  I have been shopping on line for a Featherweight for a while now.  I've had a hard time finding a decent machine for a good price.  I've spent a lot of time reading seller's descriptions of Featherweights for sale.  I found a lot of sellers that have this type of machine for sale, they know that this machine is sought after, they price them high, but they can't even tell you whether the machine works because they don't know anything about them.  I wanted to buy one that was being thinned from the herd of a collector or to get one where the seller took the time to have the machine serviced, could tell me it worked and wasn't overpriced.  

   I had to go on line to find my machine because there is no market for vintage sewing machines in my area.  I've been checking my local Craigslist and I even checked with a sewing machine repair guy in town to see if he had any vintage machines but he only had one, it was a Singer 404 without any extras.  I didn't want it.

   So this is the machine I bought from the ebay seller.  It was made in 1949 and has the striated face plate.  I love how shiny the presser feet are because lots of times they are kind of rusty and need cleaning, there is also an owner's manual, a buttonholer, and a cool screwdriver.  The seller said they recently had it serviced and oiled, and that it runs well.  I requested that the seller double box the machine for shipping which they agreed to.

    I ordered some extra bobbins and a 1/4" patchwork foot for the machine.  I will use it for piecing quilts and simple projects.  This machine will be kept set up on my sewing table.  Estimated delivery of the machine is December 2.

The Quick Curve Ruler

   I bought a Quick Curve Ruler by Sew Wonderful last week (it was on sale at Connecting Threads) because I saw this super cool video tutorial here.

  Here's the link to Sew Wonderful's free pattern pages.  I love this pattern and I can't wait to try my new ruler out.

Fun Fabric Package

       I almost forgot that I ordered this fat quarter collection from  Craftsy on February 3rd.  They were having a great sale and I think I got these 50 fat quarters for about $56.00 (not including tax or shipping).

    This collection is called Free Spirit.