Keeping Busy, Part 2

Yesterday I shared that searching for bargains on craigslist has been keeping me busy while out of town…but that’s not all.  Fabric shopping, a mini quilt class and sewing (now that I have a machine here) have all been part of the mix.

The fabric shopping is amazing here.  There is a really nice “super” JoAnn about 20 minutes away and a quilt shop just down the street.  Those are pretty typical though.  What is AMAZING is SAS Fabric.  I don’t have anything like it in Cincinnati but I suspect other Really Big Cities™ like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles might have something similar.  It’s basically a warehouse type setup with remnants of any kind of fabric you can imagine including brocade, upholstery, vinyl and silk just to name a few.  Some are cuts that you buy by the pound, some are on big bolts and rolls and some are by the yard.  The prices are fantastic even cheap, depending on what you get.  The only downside is it can be overwhelming and you have to be willing to dig through bins and stacks of fabric to find what you want.  There are three locations in the valley, each a little different.  My favorite is the closest to me and also happens to be the largest (19th Ave).  Any of the locations are definitely worth the trip if you are in the area.

While I was out one day, I checked the class schedule at JoAnn’s to see if there were any while I was still in town.  The only one that looked interesting was the mini quilt and at only $10 for a four hour class seemed like a bargain.  They’ve been making a different mini quilt each month all year and I was lucky enough to be in class with a woman that had them all in a portfolio.  So.  Cute.  I never really thought I would get into quilting, but this class really opened my eyes to how much fun it could be.  Even if I never get into making large quilts, I can totally see myself doing minis.  They’re fun, addictive, can be completed in just a few hours and make great gifts.  I can see them being used as sort of a doily type thing under lamps, bowls, etc. or better yet, they’d make great hot pads/potholders!  Plus, they’re the perfect way to use up scraps and try out new techniques.  My first mini is a little sad…this particular technique of sewing circles then turning them at this size does not make for precision.  I tried it again when I got home in a slightly larger size (the one on the right) but didn’t have much more success.

The mini quilts and the associated class chatter about previous projects led me to a web search where I learned about paper piecing.  That was my next experiment.  It’s fun because you don’t even cut the pieces to a pattern.  You just cut pieces bigger than that particular part of the pattern and then trim as you go.  You then sew the seams through your pattern paper.  It too, was so fun and easy.  I always wondered how quilters made such perfect points with tiny pieces and now I know!   I was surprised that my google search didn’t bring up many tutorials on this technique.  Maybe if anyone is interested I’ll do one.  Oh… and please don’t make any judgments about my fabric choices.  I just used the leftovers from the quilt class and some super elcheapo fabric I bought at Walmart.

Tomorrow…my new top and a handbag technique I tried.