A Linen Table Runner - The Joy of Creation and Repurposing Found Treasures

I was recently at a thrift store when I spied some really lovely linen jumper. They were not my size, but I love the look at them and touch them. They reminded me of my Aunt Kathy who frequently wears linen with style.
There were so many to choose from. It seems that retailers had sent in donations. I gathered a whole pile of linen jumpers, most of them brand new. I picked out four of them to make into a table runner. I have a very light oatmeal color, two more that are darker shades that carry hints of gray and offer a bit more texture. I also picked up a blue jumper with a blue jacket with a sparse floral print. It all came to a grand total of $12. I was thrilled. Even if I was willing to pay the usual price for linen I could not have found such a selection in any of our local fabric stores. I bought one of the dresses more for the buttons than the linen, but came to love the linen, too. I

I wanted to be sure that the table runner would be fully functional and not fussy so I ignored the usual instructions for linen and washed them all together just as I would wash our regular table clothes. Much to my amazement, I found that they did not shrink or become unruly.

I spent an evening cutting them up so that they would be easy to handle. I spent a morning pressing and starching them, figuring out the coloring sequence and cutting them into strips. I spent the afternoon putting the top together. It was so nice to lift the image I had in my head and lay it down onto the quilt.It is one of the joys of creation for me. I would make some parts and then lay other pieces down to audition them.

Moxy had to give his say, too. If he did not like it, he would use his paw to swipe it onto the floor where his brother Toby would trot away with it. Luckily, this did not happen too much this round.


As the late afternoon light was streaming into my workroom I was finishing pressing and starching the finished top. I ironed on some WonderUnder and placed the batting for the middle. Some time soon I will do a bit of hand quilting and finish it up. I can't wait to see what I decide to do. I am considering whether it should be all straight lines to echo the Frank Lloyd Wright spirit of the design or if I should introduce a few partial circles into the open areas to offer a bit of energy.

Quilty, Color Inspiration and a Bit of Unexpected Free Time

I ended up with some unexpected free time today because the race this afternoon was canceled. As we were driving over to the park we noticed the beautiful but dangerous lightening and hail. I am faced with the choice of cleaning that pesty bathroom upstairs or maybe sneaking in a bit of sewing. I have not had a chance to do fun sewing for a while. I checked my blogs and found a wee bit of inspiration over at Simply Robin Blog. Here's some of her stuff from Flickr.


1. Untitled, 2. Quiltlet #3, 3. Quiltlet #2, 4. Quiltlet #7, 5. Quiltlet #9, 6. Quiltlet #10, 7. Quiltlet #11, 8. Quiltlet #13, 9. Quiltlet #14, 10. Quiltlet #15, 11. Quiltlet #6, 12. Quiltlet #5, 13. Quiltlet #4, 14. Quiltlet #17, 15. Quiltlet #16, 16. Quiltlet #19

You can also visit her new blog over at Robin Ferrier.

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Monday evening I had the pleasure of taking Ethan to his PreProm Dinner Etiquette Party that took place at the Boulder Country Club.

We arrived at 6:00 and I went in with Ethan in the hopes that I might be able to watch the class. However, we found that there was a greeting party and table assignments. I bid Ethan a good night and headed off to find somewhere to hang out for about three hours. I arrived just before the party was over and able to watch my boy in action. I was struck by how different the high school group was from Ellie's middle school group. They were clearly less sky and had a different, fun kind of energy.

The evening began with an elegant, simple salad. This was followed by a palette cleansing bit of sorbet that had been decorated with a bit of orange rind and a sprig mint and another of parsley. The kids at the table really enjoyed each other's company. Before the next course came they had a chance to get up and dance a little. The main course was a breaded chicken with a sauce on top of mashed potatoes, with a side of yellow and green peas. Ethan thought this was a wonderful dish, much more tasty than he had expected. There was more dancing, which was rounded out with a dessert of decorated fruit and custard tarts. Some of the students won prizes and everyone enjoyed more dancing. It was fun to see how energetically he dances. Many of the girls were wearing long gowns and had fancy hair dos. The other looked equally lovely. Ethan thought that his was the best table there. The organizers seemed to have done a wonderful job of planning the seating arrangements. With just one class to go, Ethan hopes that next week he will remember to ask some of the people for their phone numbers so they can continue the friendships they have begun.

Quilts I Love - Valentine's Day Themed Quilts

The Great American Quilt Factory is across town from where I live. It is my favorite quilting store. We have many others that have wonderful folk who staff them, but this one has all of the bright and fun fabrics I love. I can't get there often because of the hours they keep, the distance I live away from it and the rush hour traffic that lies in between. It is both a good and bad thing. Anyhow, I had planned to visit the store for about two months. I was dieing to see what new fabrics they had gotten in. I finally made it to the store last Sunday. I am posting a few of their Valentine's Day quilts. I love them.

I will call this first one "Purple Hearts." What I love about this one is the calm use of color, the two tone stripe next to the hearts and the occasional bit of yellow here and there. Without it this quilt would have a totally different feel. I think this might be one of their own patterns. Great American Quilt Factory is also home to Possibilities, the quilt pattern and book company.

The next quilt we will call "Plaid Love." My daughter would love this one. I think they did a masterful job of using lots of patterns together. I love the use of golden yellow and fuchsia in this one.

The last one, my favorite of the bunch, I will call "Radiant Sun Hearts." I am ALWAYS drawn to this pattern. I am not sure why. I have the pattern and plans to make one that is similar to this one, but done in shades of blue and purple. The triangles on my pattern are longer and more pointy. I am not even sure why I am always drawn to it. It is just one of those consistencies in my life.

On another day I will share more images from that fun trip. And oh, by the way, I had amazing self control and only bought tiny bits of fabric to may small hand sewn hearts as part of a Valentine's Day gift.

Borders Book Store: Teacher Event & I Win a Prize

This picture is another poster from the Dog Tooth Coffee Shop in Colorado Springs. It is a bit too cutesy for my house, but I really love the design elements present. I like how the background was dissected and the combination of stripes and polka dots. You gotta love polka dots! I included it because I thought you might enjoy it, too.

This evening I went to the special event Border's Books was hosting for teachers. You could get anything (except magazines) for 25% off. They also had fun samples from Seattle Coffee and some raffle prizes. I won and got to select something. It was hard to pick. There were posters, a jelly belly dispenser, a neat Harry Potter book bag with books young kids would like, some informational books on things like space travel or Egypt. I select the lovely gift bag from Seattle Coffee. I won a big bag of coffee beans, a really nice travel mug, a ceramic mug, chocolate covered espresso beans, coffee house mints and a really fun container of gum. I thought it was the best gift. I am actually (okay well, mostly likely) going to save most of it as a present for my mother. She loves good coffee, but never buys it for herself. I am very tempted to keep the travel mug. In the winter I have tea on my way to work. Right now I use my Celestial Seasonings cups. I am very happy with them, so we will see what I will do. Maybe if I leave all but the gum and mints in the bag, I will be less tempted. I am going to have the gum. It comes in a really fun tall, round tin that has a fun graphic on the inside of the lid. You see I have this silly love of containers. I sometimes buy mints just for the box. If you sat at my desk at work you might think I was a gum and mint freak. They are actually filled with paper clips (plain, colored and striped - each in their own box, of course). A few have other odds and ends. I was also oh so very tempted by the wonderful Halloween cards. They had two that I almost bought. Now I really wish I had. My absolute favorite is one with long elegant witchy legs wearing striped leggins, fun boots and a black cat. She has a great skirt on that is glittered. You can see it at the Papyrus Online shop. I does not look like much in the photo, but it is so much fun in real life. I think I would display it at school and make a quilt in its likeness at home, complete with layers of tulle and glitter. If you follow the link you will also find a fun cat made from a patterned paper. As I write this, I think it was sort of silly to not get them. At the time it seemed kind of silly to buy myself some cards. I usually get one or two great ones in the mail each year. We will have to see what happens this year. Oh the temptations.

Okay, enough chatter - I have to go cook now. Happy prehalloween plotting and dreaming!

Quilting Class with Melody Johnson - WIPs

While it rained, hailed and thundered outside, I sat happily in my class with Melody Johnson. Okay, actually, I was a little late as I had to help get the kids off to a hill climb bike race, and I wondered how they were doing while I watched and listened to the Powerpoint slide show part of the class. I had a blast in the class. The little items you see here are what I got done during the class. They are WIPs since they still need the quilting added. It is all fused, so I could go fast. I think three of the four here lend themselves to a small series. I bought extra fabric from her so that I could work more with the exact palette and add to my series, should I want to.

Melody was a lot of fun. She was pooped at the end of it, having taught for three days straight while she was already sick. Still, she had more energy and enthusiasm than many people. I will most definitely take her classes again, if I can.