Catch as catch can...

I'm having one of THOSE summers...disjointed, complicated, on the road, life changing...it causes my inner troll to be unhappy about not having enough creative time in the quilt cave.  My cave-anchored projects are on hold and I can only work on things that travel, catch as catch can, when I have a few minutes.

I talked about one of my favorite shops to visit while on the road between Michigan and Alabama in my last post, The Quilt Box of Dry Ridge, Kentucky, without sharing my purchases...bad, bad blogger!

Blacks, browns and blues...oh, my goodness!  The blacks are from the "Inkwell" collection by Marcus.  It is so hard to find repro blacks, and these are gorgeous!  I bought a few things with which to pepper my repro stash and enough to share with my buddies.

I am a "bag lady" at The Quilt Box, which means I faithfully return with my bag as I pass through the area and enjoy 20% of my purchases.  I've been a bag lady so long that I've forgotten what I did to earn the bag...I think I had to spend $75-$100...that wan't a problem.  Then, every time you spend $100, they stamp your bag.  After a certain number of stamps you get free stuff...I can't remember how much.  I'm always excited about the 20% off.  There is nothing more tempting than 20% off...I just leave the tote bag in the back of the car so I don't forget it!

I dare anyone to visit this shop and not be tempted by all the shirtings she carries!

My buddy Ola visited this shop for the first time a few weeks earlier and brought me THIS lovely bundle.

I
 

Fat 1/8s of pure joy...pink and brown repro fabrics.

The variety carried by this shop is amazing.  I spread them out below to see them in all their glory...

...then I opened them up to wash them and just wallowed in them for a while.  I also received the lovely new tote bag and my daughter/photographer suggested  me put it on my head to get it in the picture.  Since I am a silly cave troll, and a little camera shy...why not?!?

Since I need portable projects for the next month, I am hard at work on my Blackbird Design applique baskets.  I started these in 2010 and have about 60 done now.

When I have some prepped, they are the perfect thing to work on while away from the quilt cave.

I carry the prepped blocks around in one of my "magic boxes," a small box containing everything I need to sew away from home...silk thread, needles, beeswax, scissors, thimble, and prepped blocks.

While doing laundry last night, I prepped a few more baskets using the gluestick method (freezer paper pattern adhered to the right/front side of the fabric, turn under allowances glued to the wrong side) and a few of my new fabrics.

I have a stack that have been appliqued and are ready to soak and trim to size.  I started out making brown, cheddar, gold and black ones thinking it would be more like the quilt in the Blackbird Designs book.  But now I'm thinking color and have decided to expand the color pallet to include red, green, blue, purple and pink...all repro.  And I am using a ton of different shirtings for backgrounds.  I love scrappy...it keeps me from having to make fabric decisions.

I also managed to cut a stack of shirting fabrics 6 1/2 inches square on which to glue-baste these lovely baskets.  

After the applique is done, I will soak the blocks to remove the glue, press and cut to the 5 1/2 inch block size that I need to make the quilt.

Don't get me wrong, it is a good summer...time spent with my 14-yr-old daughter and husband and time spent in the sunny south visiting/helping my extended family is always wonderful.  Then there are the necessary lifestyle changes that come with losing almost 40 pounds since the second week in May...yippee for me!  My inner quilt troll will get back into the quilt cave in a few weeks and go nuts with my sad, neglected, lonely stash.  At that time, I need to spend some sewing time with my sad, neglected, lonely quilting buddies.  Until then, I am happy to make some progress on hand projects, maybe get to visit more quilt stores on my journeys, and work on some original quilt design projects.

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)