Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Pics or It'll Never Happen

The funny thing about not blogging regularly is that I still take pictures as though I were.  Maybe not as many, but I still do some kind of photo documentation on a regular basis.  


Then every so often (like this evening) I'll be looking through my photo archives and wonder why I couldn't get my act together and just write a blog post.  

(Table runner made for a friend)

When and if I ever figure that out, I'll let you know.  In the meantime, how about I share a few pictures from the past several months.

I love a good thrift shop fabric score, which will come as no surprise to many of you.  




One day, I bought a bag that I thought was fabric scraps and one completed quilt block in it that I could see.  It was sealed with tape so I couldn't inspect the rest of the contents, but I took a chance.  


Turns out it was a whole bag of orphan blocks!


I put them up on the design wall and left them there for a week or two while I mulled over whether (and how) I might put them together into one quilt. 


Ultimately, it just made my brain hurt so I nixed the idea (for the time being), and they all went back in the bag from whence they came and then into my own orphan block box.  But when I opened that box to put them in, some orphan squares of my own caught my eye and I pulled those out to play with.


I ended up making hourglass blocks out of those leftover squares and it turned into this baby quilt.

(Back of hourglass block baby quilt)
 So I guess the bag of orphan blocks was worth it insofar as getting me in the headspace to create something from (my own) orphans.

Here's something I left behind at the thrift store recently, but I had to take a picture.


This sewing machine reminded me of the one I learned to sew on.  My mom bought a second-hand machine for my sister and I to use.  I don't remember the brand, but it looked an awful lot like this one.  I really, really liked that machine.  This one was only marked $15, but goodness knows I don't need another vintage machine.  It sure was pretty, though!

This post is getting a little long (or I'm just getting tired), but I have more pics to share, so look for Part 2 soon.  I'll leave you with a couple non-sewing related photos from the summer. 


My husband I were biking along on a country road, blasting Led Zeppelin from a portable bluetooth speaker, when I noticed cranes in a field out of the corner of my eye.  Not just sandhill cranes but also a pair of whooping cranes!  


I quickly killed the music so as not to scare them away, and we got off our bikes to watch them for awhile.  How exciting!

~Paulette

3 comments:

Nancy said...

Oh, all that wonderful fabric from a thrift store! Gosh, I wish we had local thrift stores with fabric. Lucky you. And those blocks! I'm sure you'll find a great way to use them.
I love your hourglass quilt. The colors you used are delightful together. I'm sure this will become a much-loved quilt!

Michelle said...

The baby quilt is so pretty. I like the way there are so many different colors but the value is consistent across all of them. (I hope that makes sense.) You have such a good eye for color. Great thrift store fabric scores. I love the pics of your wild life!

Michelle

Quiltdivajulie said...

The hourglass quilt is just delightful! And those orphans - I can see a quilt coming out of them (I would border each block with a mix of companionable fabrics in order to bring them all up to the same size and then sew them edge to edge). I would have gotten off my bike (IF I still rode one) and stood to watch those cranes, too!