Shopping Instead of Sewing

 I knew the next month or so was going to be iffy on the sewing front. I haven't gotten much sewing done, but I did do a bit.

I finished piecing the sashing for the last wedding quilt of 2021. It's all directional, so I had to keep track of vertical sashings vs. horizontal sashings.

This morning I put it up on the design wall. You can't see all of it, it's five rows down, and the last row of sashing is actually lying flat on the floor. It's a superhero themed quilt, but I threw in a few Easter egg fabrics in the small squares. I slipped in some video game fabric, some Star Wars, Star Trek, and even a bit of Harry Potter. All the big squares are superheroes, and for the most part, they are alternating diagonal lines of Marvel and DC. The corners got a little weird, and one square is the Incredibles which is Disney, so... I did what made sense to me when I was laying it out, and I'm not sure the recipient will ever notice the pattern. 

I've got the first block finished for the leader/ender quilt project I've got going while I'm working with black. I also sewed up a bunch of black HST's for a table runner. 

I spent a lot of my week Christmas shopping. If you think it's early I'm telling you this year it isn't. I ordered a spring horse my two grandkids in Kansas, and it looks like I ordered the last one available, and it won't arrive until late October. I ordered them both cowboy hats to go with it, and one of those won't arrive until late November! If I had waited much longer, that wouldn't have worked at all. For all the other grandkids I went with books. I'm buying used books when I can, because I think it's better for the planet, not to mention it saves me money. DH and I went to so many thrift shops over the last week, and I got what I could there, then filled in the holes in book series on ebay and Amazon. Some of the books I was hunting are out of print, so used was my only option anyway. I'm now finished shopping for the grandkids, and I just have the adults to do. I'm going to go with gift cards and food for them, so I can wait on that. 

I did a bit of fabric shopping as well, but very targeted shopping. The kid quilt I need before Christmas now has a theme, they chose Star Wars, and I'm out of Star Wars fabric. I ordered a panel, and some fat quarters. I don't have a plan for that yet, but when the fabric arrives, I'll see what I can come up with. If I need to buy more fabric I will, I didn't buy any yardage and I'm probably going to want a border on that quilt. We'll see, if I do something modern I might be able to do without a border. 

Looking forward to 2022, I realized I need to make a big girl bed quilt for my youngest granddaughter. I make all the grandkids a twin sized quilt for their second birthday. Her birthday is in March, so getting an idea of what I'm doing now would be helpful. I talked to DS the Younger, and he said Miss X loves big brother's I Spy quilt, so they wanted one of those for her as well. I ordered a couple fat quarters with that quilt in mind too. I have lots of I Spy squares already cut, but the variety isn't what I'd like it to be. The only vegetable squares I have left are carrots, and I want to make sure I have some squares in hers that brother doesn't have. I may look for a few more novelty fabrics with that quilt in mind, but I'm trying to buy the smallest amount of fabric that's practical. I always use 6.5" cut squares in my I Spy quilts, so most of the I Spy assortments I see available on Etsy or ebay aren't large enough. I did order a novelty scrap bag, and we'll see what I can get out of that.

In case you are wondering where I buy so many novelty fat quarters, I shop here. I've ordered from this shop several times and always get great service. A lot of shops that advertise fat quarters either sell mostly bundles, or don't have a lot of novelty fabrics. I love this shop because I can pick and choose individual novelty fat quarters, and not waste my money on a bundle that has a lot of prints I don't need. I've made so many themed quilts, that buying novelty fat quarters is a perfect way to get a variety of fabrics without adding a bunch of yardage to the stash. Fat quarters also give me more options than 1/4 yard cuts. For I Spy quilts I always use 6.5" squares, but for themed quilts I might do something completely different. The superhero quilt above uses both 10.5" squares and 2.5" squares. You can't get a 10.5" square out of a traditional 1/4 yard cut, but you can usually get two from a fat quarter. 

Today I'm planning to start assembling the superhero quilt. I also need to get my hour of FMQ in, something I've not been consistent about this week. DH doesn't know it yet, but he's taking me out to dinner tonight ;-) That way I'll have extra sewing time while he works on his magazine!