Fly away, Flutterby!

Tonight was the fundraising event where my Flutterby quilt (based on the Jen Kingwell pattern in the Quilt Lovely book) was auctioned off to raise money for Project Horizon, a non-profit organization in Lexington, VA (my old stomping grounds) dedicated to reducing domestic and sexual violence in the area.  I've donated items before for the silent auction and brought in a couple hundred dollars, but this year, they wanted my quilt to be in the live auction.  I was super nervous - was my quilt good enough for the big leagues?

This is what it looked like when it left my house as a flimsy.

One of my friends from my old quilt guild volunteered to quilt it on her long-arm machine.

She also added the binding by machine.

My friend who attended the fundraiser (which is a fabulous dinner and dancing plus silent auction and live auction) videotaped the auctioning of the quilt for me.  I was on pins and needles watching.

Nine hundred and fifty dollars!?!  I'll be honest - I started to cry.  I'm so humbled.  I hope that whoever won the bid loves the quilt and that it brings him/her many years of comfort and warmth.  And, more importantly, I hope that the money it raised helps someone make a new, violence-free start in her life.

Auction and Etsy

There was a local auction today.  I missed most of it because I had to work all morning, but I did manage to get there for the last hour or so.  I had my kids and one of their friends with me, and I left them on the playground outside while I went in to see what was left.  I saw a box of linens (man, am I ever predictable!), so I got a number and took a seat.  It didn't take long for that lot to come up, and I won the bid.  All the vintage sheets quilts out there have me wanting to make one for myself, and there were 3 good sheets in there to add to my growing stash of sheets

along with some more pillowcases crying out to be made into shopping totes or aprons or something.

The rest of the linens didn't excite me, so they were dropped off at Goodwill on the way home.  Along with my other purchase...

When my kids came in to the auction room from outside, I waved at them so they would come over to me, forgetting at that instant where I was.  "SOLD!  To number...ma'am?  What's your number?"

CRAP!  In waving to my kids, I accidentally bought something!  Luckily, "my bid" was only $5.  It turns out, I bought a box of records.  Lovely.  I don't even have a record player.  Straight to Goodwill they went.

I also bought two old chairs with seats that are falling apart.  You know those chairs where the seat is made with neckties?

Why is this sideways??? Image borrowed from http://luciav.tripod.com/robyn/chairsforsale2.htm

I want to try that.  So I bought these two sad looking chairs.  Let this serve as the BEFORE picture.  Hopefully there will be an AFTER picture one of these days, although I know better than to give myself a goal completion date which I will fail to meet and then feel like a slacker loser.

So that's the auction - on to Etsy.  Some of my upcycled aprons have been selling, so I made some more to post.  First, why should the kids have all the fun with the denim aprons?  I made an adult sized one, but instead of making all that binding for the edges, I sewed one long 138" tie, fed it through channels sewn up each side of the torso, and then pinked the rest of the edges for a ragged edge look.  Two roomy, denim lined pockets made from the same pillowcase from which I made the ties, and I was done.  I love it!  Definitely gonna make more like this!

And that orange pillowcase still had more to give, so I paired it with a big floral pillowcase and made yet another half apron.  I was sure to make the pocket big enough to be functional this time, instead of just decorative.  I love orange - it makes me happy!

Enough with the little projects - I want to finish a quilt!  Time to pick up the needle and find a good movie on TV.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, y'all!

Auction, martini girl, stars and freebies

My husband was out of town for a few days and the weather was wet and cold, so on Friday night, I took my kids to an auction with me. I wasn't really in the market to buy anything, but I was open to suggestion. I set the kids up in a quiet corner with their portable DVD player, pulled out my sewing, and settled down to watch another person's lifetime accumulation of paraphernalia being parcelled off to others piece by piece. There weren't many people there, and things were going pretty inexpensively. I bid on some plant stands, and won them for $2.00. Later, as I was wrapped up in my sewing and not paying very close attention, I heard the magic word - QUILT. There were a few quilts there, but nothing I particularly wanted, but this was something I had missed. A whole barrel full of quilt fabric - or so the auctioneer said. I hadn't had an opportunity to look inside, but no one else was bidding so I said, "What the heck?", made a bid, and won the barrel for $1.00. COOL!

Until I got it home and figured out how to get the top off, that is. The first thing I noticed was the smell. All the fabric was musty or mildewy - stinky. And then I started pulling the fabrics out. I wanted to give that auctioneer an education in quilting, because these WEREN'T what I call quilt fabrics. In fact, I couldn't identify most of these fabrics. Gauzy, stretchy, scratchy ick! I went through it all and found 6 fabrics that I was willing to give a try - 3 cotton prints and 3 flannels.

I popped them in the wash, and put the rest back in the barrel to dispose of. Oh well, it was just a dollar. Besides, while sitting there, I was able to finish embroidering this block:

I am currently in the process of quilting it to make it into a small wallhanging.

I've also finished the rest of my stars for Jason's karate quilt, but I'm waiting for inspiration to strike before I assemble anything. And I'm pretty annoyed at myself because the blue and the purple fabrics are so similar that it is hard to tell which is which!

Prior to the quilt guild meeting on Saturday morning (which I couldn't stay for since I had to work, but I did make a brief appearance) I made another star for the Just One Star project. I have already sent my first star, but I wanted to make another because we had encouraged members of our guild to make a star to contribute so we could send them all in together. I was thrilled to learn that our guild made over 30 stars to send!

I meant to take this book to the guild meeting to see if anyone wanted it - my friend, Nancy, sent it to me since she already had a copy, but it turns out I already had a copy, too. Do any of YOU want it? If so, just leave a comment to let me know - first come, first served.

The same goes for this Vera Bradley travel planner. It was a gift from a student, and while I love the colors and I love the paisley, I know myself and that I will never use it. I would rather it go to a home where it will be put to use. If you want it, leave a comment letting me know - again, first come, first served.

Finally, we are headed to Atlanta as a family later this week, so I've been gathering hand projects to work on. I will take:

• Donald's quilt off his bed to finish the binding (I've only sewn one side down)


• Feb, Mar and April Birdie Stitches BOM blocks to embroider


• My 4th of July Table Runner that I got to within inches of finishing the hand quilting and then just lost all interest


• And the little yellow gal wallhanging that I've been working on.

I also picked up 4 paperbacks from the library this morning. I envision long hours in the car, and long hours next to the hotel pool while my children wear themselves out swimming. I'm hoping that means lots of progress on my hand sewing projects for me!

Fun, fish, feet, finds, farts and an almost finish

I don't want this weekend to end! Fun, fun, fun! It started on Saturday morning with the crossover ceremony for the cub scouts - my wolves are now bears!


The ceremony took place at a local lake that I've never been to, but I will certainly be going back. It amazes me how many games kids can think up with just sticks:

Once everyone else left, the boys and I got fishing poles out of the car and went looking for some hungry fish.

They love to fish; me, I'm not so enamored. However, it did give me a chance to sit in the sun and contemplate my feet (am I the only woman who doesn't paint her toenails?),

and quilt.

Next was an estate auction. Man, I miss having a pickup truck! I could have come home with lots of nice furniture for our basement. However, I restrained myself. It helps to be hand quilting during an auction - keeps your hands busy so you don't bid on absolutely everything! I brought home just two rocking chairs, a huge toy chest for the kids, a boy scouts mess kit for Jason, 4 drinking jars,

(I LOVE drinking jars! I made some sun tea today, and I swear I thought I was my mother, sipping tea from a sweating jar on the porch. Aaaahhhh!)

and a popcorn popper for our campfires!

(Can't wait to use this. Can you make out our little firepit just in front the kids' clubhouse?)

Then, once I got the kids home and bathed, we stayed up late to watch the Nutty Professor on DVD. Um, way more bad words in there than I remember - oops! But my kids are at the age where they think passing gas at the table is hilarious, despite all of our admonishments about how inappropriate it is. We finally decided, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em", and rented this movie for the hilarious (and inappropriate) family scenes.

I guess I wore the kids out because they didn't wake up til 8 and 9 AM today. Me, I woke up motivated to spend another day outside, this time doing yardwork. I'll be sore tomorrow, but the score is now "Erin - 1, Weeds - 0". The rest of the day, I did laundry (including my orphan top - I haven't sandwiched it yet because some of the orphan blocks that I inherited were stinky, and I didn't want the whole quilt to be stinky, so I washed it on delicate and prayed that all my seams would hold - they did!) and spent hours on the porch, alternately quilting and reading. The center of my Bright Future Quilt is done, and now I just need to tackle the borders.

Big thanks to Em for recommending The Art of Racing in the Rain. I am LOVING this book, although it is taking me for an emotional rollercoaster ride. If you pick it up to read, be sure to keep your dog at your side; you will find yourself compulsively petting and loving on him/her while you read, I guarantee.

Short week this week - 3 days, and then hubby and I are off to San Francisco and Palo Alto to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary (and 17 years together) while I work a conference. I'm thinking I'd like to prepare a little embroidery to take with me, something small. Hmmmm.....

Quilt Guild Auction Finds

Here's my take from last Saturday's auction at my quilt guild meeting:


1) a sewing machine for Jason and Donald to share! It seems they always want to sew when I am sewing, and while I want to encourage them to sew, I don't really want to share! This will help solve that problem! Now, two of us can sew at the same time. You should have seen their faces when I brought it home - definitely a Kodak moment (of course, I didn't have my camera ready)

2) Lots of fabric! First 10 1 yard cuts of various quilt shop quality fabric, including a Jinny Beyer:

Then lots of plaid scraps and yardage - I've done two plaid projects in the past month, so I'm excited to replenish that which I have just used.

Some random scraps up to about 1 yard pieces:

Plus lots of pre-cut squares from 2" up to 4.5". Those went straight into my scrap tins. (no photo)

3) Some books

the one I really wanted was the one on the left - there are two quilts in there that I absolutely love - this one, that I am not nearly brave enough to try to make, (sorry for the lousy photos)

and this one, which I definitely plan to make, but am trying to hold off until I finish some other projects.

4) A whole slew of orphan blocks! I can't wait to put these all together into a free-for-all type quilt, much like V at BumbleBeans made, probably for charity, but possibly to keep.

While at the auction, I kept my hands busy quilting so that I wouldn't bid on absolutely everything. I finished this frayed edge quilt, and threw it in the washer when I got home.

I love the way it frayed. I dried it on my new clothesline, and it smells absolutely lovely. I just wish it were bigger so I could snuggle up in it!

I've washed all my new fabric and dried it all on the clothesline. I hope to get a chance to use some of it this week.

Weekend fun

Finally, some time to relax! (Well, for the most part - we had a leak in a pipe for which we had to place an emergency call to a plumber because it was flooding our NEW, FINISHED basement, but I'm only focusing on the positive in this post.)

My mom arrived on Friday evening. We had a lovely candlelit dinner, and then watched Rosemary and Thyme while the kids watched a Mickey Mouse movie downstairs. We went to bed relatively early so we could get up and go to the auction first thing. What fun! We were there from 8:45 AM until 5 PM with a short break to meet the kids at karate to take a class and eat some pizza. Then, the kids came back to the auction with us. While we were in the gym buying things we didn't need, the kids had a ball playing on the playground in the sun. Since they were so good, I had to buy something for them.

Here they are with their new (old) Lincoln Logs, which they have combined with their 2009 version so they can build even bigger buildings. They played with them for hours when we got home yesterday, and are up there playing with them now as I type. Some toys are classics that hold generations spellbound.

I also bought some furniture for my quilting studio. I wanted somewhere for visitors (kids) to sit if they wanted to be with me while I'm down there creating, plus a place for me to sit and read, or hand quilt, or dream up new quilts or even nap when my creative activity wears me out. This little set fit the bill nicely, cheap and cheerful.

I have been wanting a wrought iron cafe set for my porch, but they are so danged expensive. This little set was a steal!

I have a twin bed that needs a frame. I thought this little wooden frame was too good to pass up. It turns out, it wasn't - the side rails that came with it must have come from a different bed because they don't fit. I've put it aside for now, but I'm determined to find a way to make them work.

Last year I bought a ceramic salt box to collect my counter-top compost. When I saw this enamel one this year, I had to have it, even though I have no purpose in mind. What do you suppose I could do with it? Any ideas?

Finally, my mother's birthday was this week, so my hope was to buy something for her at auction. She has everything she needs, so it had to be something whimsical or decorative. Unfortunately, her tastes are expensive, and everything she wanted, all the antique dealers with deep pockets also wanted. They won out on most stuff, but I did hang in there long enough to score this cute little frog and wheelbarrow for one of her flowerbeds. (Ignore the auction stickers on his nose and in his wheelbarrow)

I felt a little bad about it, because the person I was bidding against was my neighbor/babysitter's grandmother, but I was running out of options for what my mother actually wanted.

Anyway, it was a fun day, but also tiring, so after dinner and bathtime, I sat with the kids to watch Eddie Murphy's latest family movie, Imagine That, with them. It was cute, but I recognized myself in there a few times when he would only half-listen to his kid or tell her to go play when he was busy working. Gotta be vigilant about not taking my time with them for granted!

Today, I napped, I cleaned, and Jason and I prepared for his lesson that he is teaching tomorrow for his cub scout den - how to tie your own tie. I have a whole bag of discarded ties that were given to me for quilting that I haven't dismantled yet, so first he taught me how to tie a tie (actually not that hard once you know how to do it!), and then we made an illustrated handout for him to give to his cub scout colleagues after tomorrow's lesson. I'm so proud of him! Of course, Donald was not interested in learning how to tie a tie, but rather spent the time intimidating us with his best Hulk impression.

Never a dull moment in the Hutchinson household!