A couple of finishes

OK, so I've done little blogging, but lots of sewing. I finished two quilts, these pictures showing one of them. The other is a Christmas gift, so I can't post any pics yet. I also finished one of the T-shirt quilt tops, but I haven't taken a picture yet. I cut out another quilt that got added to my list. My sister-in-law needs it for a gymnastics meet. They are raffling it off to raise money for their booster club. The only problem is, I need to get the two t-shirt quilts I'm making, the gymnastics Stars and Stripes quilt, and a jacket that was recently ordered all completed by November 1st. Three weeks to make three quilts and a jacket-hmmmm, I think we'll be eating a lot of fish sticks in the next couple of weeks. I am really wishing I had the quilting machine I was wanting, but it will have to wait, and these things won't. I am having fun making all of these things, but admittedly, a wee bit stressed with the time crunch.

    I did make one big purchase this week. I bought two rolls of cotton batting. One queen-sized, and one crib-sized. I have made so many quilts this year, and I'm so tired of running to the store for batting, that it seemed to make sense. Joann's had the rolls of Warm and Natural for 40% off without a coupon, so I jumped at that, and got both sizes I wanted. This way I got all cotton batting for less than I've been paying for polyester. I think it will serve me well in the long run, now just to find a place to store it. I was joking with my husband about adding on a quilting studio to the house. It sounds like a good idea, although very unlikely.

     I have not sewn at all today, but I did a thrift store run to buy some fabric and some men's shirts now that I have Bonnie Hunter's new book, Scraps and Shirttails. I use a lot of thrift store fabric in my charity quilts. There is usually a pretty decent collection of 100% cotton fabric at a thrift store, and paying less lets me make more quilts. Bonnie's new book shows ideas using 100% cotton men's shirts to make quilts. I love plaids, and I want to make at least half the quilts in her book. I bought about 8 shirts, so now I just need to cut them up, but I may not get to that until after Christmas. I will probably look for shirts a few more times before I have a huge rotary cutting time in January. My scrap basket is full of scraps again as well, thanks to my newer quilt finishes. I will just have to work on cutting them all up into usable sizes when I have the time.