Goodwill Find

 A while ago, my DH and I decided that we wanted to go yard sale shopping, but didn't feel safe going to people's homes and besides, this time of the year, it is in the 100's so it is just to hot, so we decided to go Goodwill hopping.  We have found some really kool stuff and some really nasty stuff and some 'what where they thinking?' stuff and occasionally, we run across something really great!

On one of these trips, I happened into the isle marked "Material".  Didn't think I would find anything, but was presently surprised at the finds that day.  Several yards of quilt shop fabric.  That was all it took, now we go shopping about every 3 months or so and Memorial Day was the day we choose this time.  Now, you'r saying, what about family on that day?  Well the kids had their own plans and the cats didn't seam to mind, so off we went.  163.8 miles, 12 stores and 9 hours later, we are haulin' our finds into the house.




We initially went looking for a wine rack.  I had read that someone turned a wine rack into a storage space for all of their spray bottles of adhesives and starches and the like. Sounded good to me as I had mine all stacked on a shelf.  I found one, accordion style at the 2nd store we went to.  Darn! the hunt was over, or so I thought.  We continued on, hunting and digging.  Found a stamp collectors book with all of the stamps inside, $1.98!   The stamps inside are worth more than that.  Just goes to show that they haven't a clue as to what they get donated.  Then we came across an oak CD tower, excellent condition.  My concern about the according style wine bottle holder was that it was too far apart and the shorter spray bottles would fall out, so this CD tower was great!  $7.98..SOLD



We were about to turn for home and decided to make one more stop, glad we did. For $34.84 I purchased, what I roughly figure to be about $450.00 worth of fabric at retail prices.  Some of the fabric is vintage (naturally) but most is from the late 90's to early 00's.  There was a lady there watching what I was doing, pulling all these bags off the wall and holding this armload of packages as my DH ran for a cart, (we never take a cart because we never buy anything needing a cart) just waiting to pounce on the area I was gathering from and as a mater of fact, she did when we left, but there was nothing left!

99% of these fabrics came from Keepsake Quilting, the two down front are from Ben Franklin and all are new and were in the original shipping plastic with the original care instructions.

So here is the find.. let me break it down for you and keep in mind, most package were $1.99 and a couple are $2.99.  What decent fabricholic could pass this up?!

$1.99 200 Assorted Charms	$1.99 200 Assorted Charms	$1.99 200 Assorted Charms
$1.99 100 Solid Charms Vintage Mr. Condotti Ltd 1/2 yard cuts	$1.99 2 pkg 100 each Solid Charms	$1.99 200 Assorted Charms
$1.99 2 pkg 100 each Solid Charms a shade darker than above	$1.99 Vintage Ben Franklin Charms 2 inch assorted mini charms 50 in each stack (missing picture same mini charms, different Ben Franklin Charms)	$2.99 15 Obese Eights 8 Fat Quarters
$2.99 15 Obese Eights 8 Fat Quarters	$2.99 2 pkgs 8 Fat Quarters each	$2.99 2 pkg 8 Fat Quarters Each

$2.99
2 pkg
15 Each Obese Eights

If you have lost count, that is:

40 Fat Quarters

60 Obese Eights

300 Light Solid Charms

200 Darker Solid Charms

400 Mini-Charms

800 Assorted Charms

5  - 1/2 yard cuts of Vintage Mr Condotti

2 Vintage Ben Franklin Charm packs

I think I did good!  Now to find a place to put them all.  I know you are asking because my DH did, do they smell?  Nope!  No smoke, no pet.


Happy Hunting!

The power of a photo....

A few months ago (9 to be exact) I was told that I was going to be a Grandmother!  YEA!!  oh no, I have a deadline for projects now.  Well I have a brand new Grand Daughter, a few days early, but happy and healthy and her floor quilt is still in pieces on my design wall <sigh>  guess I missed that deadline.

So I took the day and decided that I would finish the quilt.  Simple Dresden plates with a sashing and a simple border, double batted and flannel backed.  Easy enough?  That is what I thought to.. WRONG!

Now I have made Dresden plates before and, as a matter of fact, they are my favorite block to make, but this one, well, it just was not cooperating.  I started out by cutting the blades from the yardage.  I only cut enough to do 6 blocks, not 9.. so back to cutting more and then when I did, I cut enough for 6 more blocks.  Some days, it just pays to pick up the calculator and pencil, this was not one of them.  

I finally got all of the plates sewn together and on my design wall, where they hung, while I looked at them for 2 weeks. I had a weekend to do nothing, so I appliqued the plates to the background fabric and hung them back on the wall while I decided what fabric I was going to use for the sashing.  Again, looking at them for another week as they hung on the design wall, mind you, they are now appliqued down to the background fabric.

I added the sashing and took it down for my DH to look at, we both stared at it for a bit and said "pretty" and I took it back up stairs.  It wasn't until I put it back on the design wall and took a picture of it, that I discovered the mistakes!

OMG!  How could I have missed something so obvious as that, not once, but twice.  Now remember, these are appliqued down and the sashing is done and this is ready for the quilt frames.

It took me about 30 minutes for each block that was wrong to remove the applique stitches, un-stitch the blades, restitch and re-applique.  This time I was lucky as I only used a simple zig-zag stitch to do the applique and not the blanket stitch that I usually use.

So here is the closeup of the print fabric that the quilt is based off of, Cute?  I think so!




Mean while, my FW blocks are almost done.  I get a notification that the next lesson will be ready to download any day now and I don't have these done.  I am getting further behind as the days go!


So the morel of the blog:  What ever you do, take a picture of your finished blocks BEFORE you put them into a your finished top to make sure that they are correct.



Oh, interesting fact:  If you take a picture of your fabrics, you will have a totally different perspective on the fabrics before you even purchase them.

Happy Snapping! (pictures that is)