Road tripping + petting fabric

 The hubster and I were road tripping this week. We went to Elkhart, Indiana with our fifth wheel. Going through Chicago was not fun, but we went through on Memorial day so there was no rush hour going on at least. And we went through yesterday after the morning rush hour.  The reason to go was to get a new suspension on the fifth wheel and disk brakes, then of course new tires were also needed. We could stay on the Mor Ryde campus Monday night as they had electric hookups. Then they worked on the camper on Tuesday so we had to be out of it so we went to Ligonier, IN to Zinck's fabric. I had a little fun getting a few pieces of fabric there. Next we went on to Shipshewana, IN. That was fun to see all the Amish buggies coming and going, a lot of them were on bicycles too, some were Mennonites. There we visited Yoders Department store, this photo is the side of their building with lots of barn quilts. Inside was two quilt shops, a very large hardware store, and a clothing store.

One of the quilt shops had soooo much fabric, I enjoyed petting a lot of it, LOL.  We also walked the flea market there and visited the bulk grocery store.  Another quilt shop stop was Lollies, OMG a ton more fabric to pet!!  This was in mall type building with three floors and several businesses in it. There was also a store with just Minky in it-I didn't remember to go in it after being in Lollies!  Come back on Monday and I will show you what all I bought at the shops.  

After returning to the fifth wheel at the end of Tuesday we could stay in the camper that night too. However it was still in the building so we camped indoors! There were two other campers and their owners in there too so we had a chat fest with them that evening. Wednesday we had to get out of there again so we went to the RV Museum in Elkhart. That was fun to see some of the first campers ever made. The first one we came to was actually a covered wagon... I had never thought of them as a camper!

Another early days camper 

A line of some from the 40s and 50s.

A very small Airstream!

I think this was inside the Airstream. It was just fun to see all the different years and how things have evolved. 

Our camper was all fixed and ready to go on Wednesday afternoon. So we pulled out to a campground for the night. At the plant there was a train track across the road and we heard whistles and train noise all night long and hardly got any sleep. The campground was very quiet and we slept great!  Thursday morning we headed for home but stopped at the Indiana Dunes National park and walked down to Lake Michigan and did a little hike before hitting the road. It was a long day but we were glad to get back home.  If you read to the bottom of this, I appreciate you!  I just thought you would want to know why I hadn't posted all week!  Now I need to get back into the sewing room and unload the camper, which won't take long as we didn't take much for the four day trip. 

Hope to see ya here again on Monday! In the meantime lets go get some more inspiration at these linky parties...

TGIFF, Finished or Not, Off The Wall

Repeats

 The past few days had me remaking the same designs, sometimes with different fabrics.  Another cupcake runner in patriotic used a different backing fabric. It wasn't wide enough so I added another star piece to the middle. 

Another of my original stars and stripes runner. This was one that was pieced last summer and leftover. I like finding leftovers from last year because it is a quick finish!

And it's backing

I had the fabrics picked for this one last year and didn't get around to cutting it out. That also speeds up the process when I don't have to hunt for all the fabrics!

I pieced the backing to use up some fat quarters.

And this one is giving me fits-I can't for the life of me get the colors to photograph right. The dark greens are supposed to be a dark sage color and everything I have tried just gives me a dark forest green. If anyone has any suggestions please tell me! I want to get it listed in my shop and without the right colors I can't!

I intended to write this post last night and time got away from me. I did start something new yesterday and hope to have it finished over the weekend, we'll see. 

Hope you all have a good and safe weekend.

Linking with Friday parties- Finished or Not, TGIFF, Off The Wall

Wedge Swirls

Not done with Patriotic fabric yet! 

 

Love using the 10 degree wedge ruler for these swirl table runners.

 

Trying to get true colors to show when photographing sometimes just doesn't happen. I could not get the white background to show nicely.

Fun backing fabric!

Same style, using some different fabrics in parts of it.

These run about 48" long so I always have to piece the backing.

Yesterday I decided to work on a donation quilt I had cut out sometime last year. 

This pile of 2.5" scraps🠝 became these four patches🠟

Today I hope to be back at more table runners I have two rounds to quilt and then need another stars and stripes one to make from scratch.

Monday linky parties I am joining:

Monday Musings

Sew and Tell Monday 

Design Wall Monday

Cupcakes

 I'm staying busy, which is a good thing:)  This past week I made some time to remake my cupcake table runner. 

Lots of cutting, sewing and appliqueing. But I love the end result.

Cute backing fabric in the right colors to make this runner more festive.

While making this I got the bright idea that I needed to make this in patriotic colors, you know for the 250th celebration! So a couple days later this was finished.

While I was in the patriotic bin again I figured I should get another of these done. This time instead of a white background I used more of a beige one.

Thanks to all who stop by to check out what I have been up to!  Now shall we go check out some more inspiration that has linked up at these blogs...

TGIFF

Off the Wall Friday

Finished or Not Friday 

Beauties Pageant

Stars and Stripes

 Playing with my patriotic fabrics is still going on. This first one I had pieced last year and didn't need it in the shop so it was waiting for this year. That makes for a quick finish, and it is gone already. I have one more I can quilt and get listed and then I will have to start making them from scratch.

The backing is from the bolt I bought at Marshall Dry Goods.

This one I made from the ground floor up this week;)  It's one of my original designs I did a couple years ago and forgot to make more for the shop. So we'll see how this one goes. 

I quilt the blue piece and then applique the stars and stripes. 

Won't you join me in checking out what others have been doing over at Finished or Not, Beauties Pageant, and TGIFF

Swirling Stars

 Two swirling stars were pieced, quilted and bound over the weekend.

This is a free pattern from Krista Moser using the 60 degree Diamond ruler from Creative Grids. You strip piece and then cut and sew back together. It might look a bit complicated but it is not!

And before long you have two halves ready to be assembled into a finished topper.

I used some squares that were given to me plus some I had precut myself for the backing.

Both table runners were quilted with the hook swirl that looks good on everything!

I had the perfect blue backing fabric to match the shade of blue in the star.  I better get cracking on sewing/quilting the next runner.  Hope to see you at these linky parties...Monday Musings, Sew and Tell Monday. Design Wall Monday

Three finishes

In my last post I showed two table runner UFOs that needed done ASAP. Well here they are all finished. I had to sew on their borders, quilt and bind them. 

A quick hook swirl quilting was perfect to get these done fast.

Photographed and listed in my Etsy shop.

The pattern is in one of GE Designs books.

Not only did I finish these two but also quilted this morning star table runner. Cut using the Morning Star Accuquilt die. This was pieced over the winter, I have one more identical to quilt. 

I hope to get a few more quilted over the weekend as we have no plans as of yet. We created an opportunity to see our daughter, SIL and the three grands earlier this week so that was good since we hadn't seen them for quite a while. 

Linking with Off The Wall, Finished or Not Friday, TGIFF and Beauties Pageant

 

Finishing patriotic topper

 Yes I am back to my regular sewing/quilting room and it's now time to kick it in gear and finish things. It's getting to be Patriotic season so I need to add items to the shop. First up is a round wedge topper which I pieced on Friday and quilted and bound it Saturday.

I thought maybe you would like to see it on the longarm with the quilting progress. I pin the backing fabric onto the longarm leaders and lay batting and the topper on that. Basting around the edges of the first half of the topper holds it in place.  Do you see the large bar type magnets on the right side of the photo, they hold the unbasted top in place while I quilt the top half of it. 

I bought a bolt of red/white print fabric from Marshall Dry Goods. I love this for backings for my red table runners.  Buying a bolt from them is very inexpensive, but you do have to pay postage but it is still a very good price.

Sara inspired me with all the cleaning/sorting she has been doing so I cleaned up a little area that had leftover bindings scattered about. They are now all corralled up into one container. Just perhaps I will use some of them up.  While in the process of that I uncovered some patriotic UFO runners.  Putting borders on these didn't take long and they are now on the longarm getting their quilting treatment.

Linking on Monday to Melva Loves Scraps, Small quilts and doll quilts, and Songbird Designs

Twin Starstruck runners and new pineapple

 I rarely work with blue unless it is patriotic, however I pieced two blue Starstruck runners recently. These are from my tutorial.

And then in a desperate attempt at using more scraps I started another scrappy pineapple quilt. Another 3 or perhaps 6 blocks will be made and then I will sash the blocks and add borders.

Linking with Finished or Not Friday, Beauties Pageant, Off The Wall