Already Sewing for Christmas / Beauties Pageant 74

Hi, everyone! Thank you all for your well wishes last week.

My husband, two school-age sons, and I are doing well here in Massachusetts, on the East Coast of the United States. We’re healthy and riding out this quarantine as best we can. I am a mom full-time, and my husband is able to work from home without a problem. He foresaw that the United States would be quarantining. As a result, he had me stock up the basement freezer and overflow pantry, and wrap up some house projects weeks ago. We’ve been in good shape with supplies.

My husband’s hobby is emergency medical services, which he has been involved with since we met 25 years ago, and he takes an ambulance shift two nights every week. He’s my family’s biggest threat to acquiring the novel Coronavirus. As the resident asthmatic, I am the family member most likely to experience complications should I become infected. We’re trying our best to be smart and stay safe.

Of course, the creature who is fully in favor of this quarantine is the dog. Rose loves when the pack is all together! She managed to mangle one of her claws right before the quarantine went into effect. (She’s just fine now.) I present to you Rose at her most pathetic ...

A note on the pictures peppered throughout this post: I have been doing a lot of cutting and piecing since we’ve been stuck at home. Here is my first flimsy finish! It’s Kate Spain’s Chalet pattern made with Juniper Berry, by Basic Grey. I have already declared 2020 the Year of the Christmas Quilt. I have five Christmas quilts in the works, and at least two or three will be staying at my house. : )

Stay good and healthy, friends. Sending my love to you all!

Linking up to Favorite Finish at Meadow Mist Designs ...

* * *

The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Pageant Highlight Reel / Beauties Pageant 73

From Bolt to Beauty World Headquarters has been felled by a virus lately—not a novel virus, just an everyday, butt-kicking virus. There has been some sewing but not much photographing, which means it’s the perfect time to look over past pageants and ooh and aah at others’ beauties ...

Look at the detailed free-motion quilting on Linda’s temperature quilt!

And Leanne’s Half Moons Afire—a free pattern—speaks to my complementary-color-loving heart ...

Then there is Chris’s long-awaited Miranda Day Bag, which has me thinking I need to wipe the dust off that pattern and make another one (see my own Miranda bags here, here, and here) ...

I wish you all happy and healthy sewing these days! I look forward to updating you on all the pretty quilt tops I have been working on. : )

* * *

The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Learning How to Destash / Beauties Pageant 72

I fancy myself an expert in organizing my life, and one of my strengths is getting rid of stuff. I do not let ill-fitting clothes, unused furnishings, or the like clutter my basement. I purge frequently. In the last week alone, I’ve sold a bookcase, donated a big bag of clothes, and recycled or tossed other items that weren’t suitable for reuse.

There is an exception here, and it’s one that likely will not surprise you: I can’t get rid of fabric. For some reason, I feel obligated to use all the fabric I have. After all, I saved it from the quilt shop; I should probably see each fat quarter and jelly roll through to its final destiny as a quilt, wall hanging, or bag.

I decided, though, that it’s time to part ways with my remnants of Blueberry Park, a collection that showcases Karen Lewis’s designs on Kona cotton. I started with a layer cake, a jelly roll, and some yardage, which provided the basis for the quilt at the top of this post.*

I enjoyed working with this collection but don’t foresee making another quilt with it. What is taking up space in my stash, however, could be the inspiration for someone else’s masterpiece, so I set up an account on FeelGood Fibers.

This new site is the brainchild of Kim Soper. (You may know Kim from her blog, Leland Ave Studios, or her award-winning quilts or the Creativity Project. She’s one of my favorite quilty humans.) FeelGood Fibers brings buyers and sellers of secondhand quilt-shop-quality fabric together on a site that also features articles about decluttering, self-care, and other subjects that may resonate with fabric lovers like you.

FeelGood Fibers is super intuitive to use. I set up my account in a few minutes and was soon on my way to posting my first listing. Yahoo!

Are you good at letting go of fabric? How do you decide what stays and what goes? Let us know how you wrangle the size of your stash in the comments below.

* This pattern, by Lynne Goldsworthy, is called Modern Medallions. It came as a standalone booklet polybagged with issue 30 of Love Patchwork and Quilting. Read more about this project of mine here. Of all the quilts I have gifted over the years, I miss this one the most!

* * *

The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter