Friday, June 4, 2021

Progress on County Fair Quilt

You may recall I'm putting this Debbie Mumm County Fair quilt kit together.  It was a UFO sent to me via Jo's Country Junction to finish and donate.  A couple weeks ago, I started looking at what all this kit contained and found that a couple of the large blocks had been started.  The first block I finished up was the big barn, which I mentioned in the previous post.

Block 2 was sunflowers.  I cut and sewed this one from scratch per the instructions.  I love how it turned out.


The instructions for each block include the option of making a wall hanging, table quilt, or lap quilt from that block.  If I have enough scraps left over or can find something suitable in the stash, I may go back and make another one of these for a wall hanging.  So cute!


Block 3 was apple baskets.  Some of the apples were already pieced, but I took them apart and resewed them.  The thing about these big 24-1/2 inch blocks is that if one portion of the block turns out too small, it throws the whole thing off.  Ah, the importance of the scant 1/4-inch seam on stuff like this.


I skipped Block 4 temporarily and went on to Block 5, which was the corn.  About that time I remembered to take some process pictures.  Here are the ears of corn sections.


And the final block all sewn together.


Block 4 is what I'm currently working on, which is a beehive block.  Some parts of this block are pieced and others, including the beehives themselves, are appliqued.  Some of the pieced sections were already done, but I'm in the process of redoing them due to the variance from what they should measure.  Sometimes you just know you won't be able to fudge it enough in the seam allowances no matter how hard you try.  

It doesn't bother me to unpick or recut and redo when there is enough fabric available.  I think this is a really neat quilt that deserves a little TLC where it's needed. 

* * * * *

I was baking cookies yesterday and went to find a piece of newspaper to put underneath the cooling rack on the counter to catch crumbs.  I happened to pick out a page from the classifieds section and glimpsed the title of one ad that read, "Selling Sue's Stash!"  Well, that got my attention!

Dear Sue, rest her soul, had apparently gone to the great sewing room in the sky, and her family and friends were now selling the contents of her earth-bound studio.  Fabric, thread, notions, books, batting, cabinets—you name it, it sounded like Susie probably had it.


I looked at the clock.  The sale had started six hours ago.  Would there be anything left?  Only one way to find out.  Forget the cookies (they never even made it onto the cooling rack), I was going to this sale right now!  I grabbed my purse and my trusty companion (hubby) and off we went.

Friends, I could have spent some serious money and time there.  I don't know how much stuff they had begun the day with, but there was still loads of it left, taking up an entire two-plus car garage.  From the vehicles parked up and down both sides of the road, I imagine they'd been doing a hopping business all day.

As it turned out, I spent not quite all of the $30 or so in cash I happened to have in my purse.  Didn't want to get too carried away (but I could have!), since I'd just gotten an inflow of donated fabric recently.  Something about bringing the hubs along helped me stay focused (even his patience has a limit for this kind of thing) and within budget.

While I riffled through the fabric, he spied a like-new June Tailor 60-spool wooden thread rack for two dollars.  I needed one! Good eye, dear!


Among other fabric, I bought several yards of a perfume bottle print fabric to use as a backing.  


I also picked up a quilt kit for $5, which I'll probably finish and donate.  There were quite a few kits, but this one caught my eye with its mini sampler blocks scattered among the chevrons.  It would lend itself to being scrappy, if any of the fabric is missing from the kit.

The estate sale runs through Saturday morning.  What do you think, should I go back then to see what's left and if they're entertaining offers? ;)

5 comments:

Sarah Craig said...

Good golly, yes - go back!!! Sounds like a great sale! (And I loved the idea of going to the great sewing room in the sky - it's going to be fun meeting up with all my long distance sewing peeps there someday!)

Louise said...

Oh, yes! You must go back and add to your great finds :)

Anonymous said...

That sunflower block is so happy! It’s a really cute quilt. And ooh! What a cool haul at the quilt sale. You probably need to go back and check it again. 😉

Michelle
https://mybijoulifeonline.com

Gretchen Weaver said...

Yes, I'd definitely go back to the sale. The price of new fabric in the stores is a whole lot more expensive than this estate sale. You should be able to buy a lot for quilt backing if nothing else, happy shopping!

The Joyful Quilter said...

When you make that kit quilt, send it to me! I want to see how it goes together and I'll donate it along once it's done. (You can even name the charity, if you'd like!)