Two years later...

Back in July 2010, before I gave serious thought to ever making a quilt, I came across this quilt when I was merely fabric shopping at Oklahoma Quiltworks. I was in the midst of becoming enamored with poppies. This was one of two quilts I fell in love with. Only recently has its colors reminded me of Italian giardiniera—simply lovely pickled vegetables like carrots, cauliflower, and peppers. Did I mention I loved bright greens and oranges together? I bought fat (22" x 18") and linear (44" x 9") quarters of each of the fabrics with the idea of making little fabric yo-yo discs, but with no final project in mind. Those pieces became the beginning of my now-sizable fabric/fat quarters stash.

Fast forward a bit. I came across a pretty little quilt pattern called Lemon Pepper from Madison Cottage Design. What attracted me to the pattern was that it was made of fat quarters, and I have lots of those on hand. I made the crib size one, with a bit of variation. It called for 35 blocks (five across by seven down), but I made 36 blocks and arranged them six-by-six. That total helped me mathematically as well. Oddly enough, I did NOT build this in Photoshop first. That said, it meant I organized the fabrics differently.

The instructions for this quilt were not exact. It said 'mix it up.' Random order? How does one make order so it appears random? That took my brain on quite the hamster wheel ride. Each block contains nine fabrics. Nine. Like Sudoko. I can find a solved Sudoko puzzle and assign each fabric a color number and arrange them accordingly. Ouch. It started out as a good idea but wound up searing my brain. So I ranked the fabrics and noted/classified the nine as three greens, three reds, and three grays. I let the greens dominate the order. Oh, did I mention in this strip quilt, each row is made of three widths of strips. Sorting strips to make the 36 blocks was another short course in random order. 1-2-3, 2-3-1, 3-1-2, 3-2-1, 2-1-3, and 1-2-3. It made sense to me. Once I arranged each three-strip, nine-piece block, I knew I didn't want them jostled. I got the idea to lay each block's components within a 'page' of a filing sorter—31 plus 12 slots (below).

I got it all pieced together and wound up taking the top with me to Prairie Quilt where I'd gone for a demonstration, but I hadn't really thought about what I wanted to use for a backing. Loved the demo on hexagon piecing. (I absolutely love the folks at Prairie Quilt! If I ever need to buy another sewing machine, I'll get a Pfaff from them!) The demo was upstairs which is also where they display their sale fabric. And from across the room, my eyes lasered in on the same orange lantern pod fabric used on the front! Okay, to have a real appreciation for this amazing find, consider this: I found this two years later, in a completely different shop, AND on sale for 30% off! Divine providence for sure!

The last trial for this quilt was in the quilting. I still have not gotten comfortable with free-motion sewing. It's kind of like 'random order'—very foreign in feel and uncomfortable to do. But maybe I could build up some muscle memory and power through it. So I did. I used my Bertie's BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) to stagger, swirl, stutter, loop and curl my way over my quilt's surface. I told a friend it looked like I had Tourette syndrome spasms—and I probably inappropriately cussed a few times, too! Sigh. I finished up the binding and now it's done! Haven't a clue what I'll do with it, but think I will use some of the left over strip pieces for some gifts. I glad to have another project done, especially because it goes back to the beginning of this fabric journey of mine.

Are YOU prepared?

A couple of weekends ago, I was checking out some thrift stores around the city. I’d seen a couple of electric typewriters at a few stores but they didn’t work properly. I finally said out loud (hmm, was it a prayer?), “I’d really like to find a good, cheap electric typewriter.” The next shop we checked, there was a candidate, but on its lid it said “NO CORD.” Dang, it’s usually difficult finding the right cord—especially for older electronics. I lifted the cover to look at the typewriter’s works, and voilà, a cord! Dude! Found an outlet to test it and it worked very well; good action; corrected well; roller/platen worked fine. Wow, and only $9.99! Well, there ya go! Thank you, Jesus!

Here’s where the story starts getting weird—that is if you don’t think buying a 25+-year-old typewriter a little strange. I started pricing replacement typewriter ribbons/correcting tapes. A couple dozen years ago, my last typewriter had identical ribbon cartridges and they were sometimes hard to find back then. What am I gonna do? Searched online. I found a few ribbon sources, but the prices were pretty steep. Then, like a good obsessed shopper, I checked eBay. Remarkably enough, there were not only ribbons, but TWO of the same model typewriter on sale. One was $200 and with a full warranty. The other was only $25 and came with MANY ink ribbons and correcting tapes. Ooohhhhh. I waited for about 48 hours until the auction’s end and made the only bid for $25. And won.

Well, I received my package. Ooh, aahhh… And even though my thrift shop and eBay typewriters both have the same model number, there are some subtle differences. Interesting. Ooh, and I’ve got ALL these supplies, too!

A friend asked what I needed with ONE, not to mention TWO typewriters. That’s a reasonable (sane) question. Uh, Tom and I can have typing contests?  I can open a typing school? Bookends? Anchors? Earrings? And now that I think of it—how  am I going to run through ONE ribbon cartridge and correcting tape, not to mention 13 ribbons and 11 tapes?!? Uh, hmmm—didn’t think this one out all the way—but, dang it, I AM prepared!!!