Black-and-white cat on a black-and-white rug

A concerned follower has suggested I stray from my topic (Deb Rowden's Thrift Shop Quilts).
Au contraire! Besides quilts, some days we'll focus on thrift, and occasionally just something interesting to the first 2 words of the blog title.
Today, thrift. Namely, the toothbrush rug. I learned how to make these rugs from a friend in 1991 and haven't stopped making them since. I enjoy the color play and mindless fun.
My friend Georgann commissioned this black and white one for her bathroom. She supplied the fabrics, an attempt to lessen her fabric stash.
This is also a chance for you to see our handsome friend Oreo. He's the best.

Thrifty collaboration and more.....

One of the best things about editing quilt books is the people I get to work with.
I love working with Maggie Bonanomi. Her creativity is exciting. We met yesterday about her upcoming book and wow! does she have some inspiring projects under construction (nearly finished!).
Here is a little pillow she gave me during our last collaboration, on her cool first book With These Hands. Maggie is all about using found objects. I had a quilt that was old and rustic and a good fit with Maggie's colors. She made me this little pincushion from it. Best of all, when she opened the quilt up, she found vintage toile inside. It became the back. isn't it wonderful?
We talked about blogging and how we notice projects on blogs sometimes aren't credited (this is by Maggie, etc). Its good to keep that in mind: give credit where credit is due.

Garage Sale Remnants

Scraps! I save them: several of my hoarding friends will also confess to doing this.
The tub pictured is full of vintage scraps, leftovers from Barbara Brackman's garage sale. You could fill a paper sack with them for just one dollar.
Now I've got them. Some will go into a new quilt with an Anna Williams-inspired pieced border for some colorful vintage blocks. Some will go into postcards I owe in an exchange.
I can always use scraps. I use very little ones to decorate my business cards and to make cards to send friends, like the one shown.....

Just finished quilt for the show

I just finished binding it this morning: a new quilt for the Kaw Valley Quilter's Guild
Quilt Show next weekend. This is another rescue quilt (see March 25 blog). Compared to that humble prize, this is a Cadillac.
My sister-in-law Shirley bought the top at a garage sale years ago. She decided she would never get around to hand quilting it so she gave it to me last fall. It needed some repairs: a few pieces replaced, some hand-stitched seams restitched.
Lori Kukuk did the machine quilting. She is a master of patience with older imperfect quilts and gently finesses them into beautiful finished pieces.
Come to the show to see it: Saturday and Sunday 10-5 at the fairgrounds.
By the way, Lori is the featured quilter. All the exhibited quilts she has quilted will be marked with a special flower so look for them.

G Day

it's G-Day for us, Garden Day. Seeds planted,
April 11.
we decided to try a vegetable garden this spring.
our goal is modest: to give it a go, see what we can grow and who we can help: mainly our kids and friends. Fresh vegetables this summer. turn packets of seeds into good food.
we planted: lots of lettuce varieties: green salad bowl, black seeded simpson, buttercrunch and ruby, along with swiss chard and collard greens.
we also planted scarlet nantes carrots, french breakfast radish, squash, peas, lima beans, yellow beans, zucchina, and california wonder peppers. Beans and tomatoes (being started by
Dad) are to come.
I'll keep you updated on our progress: will these seeds sprout?

Win this Quilt--at our show!

Mark your calendars, a great quilt show is coming soon: the 32nd annual Kaw Valley Quilters' Guild show. Admission is $5 but for that, wow! besides getting to see a huge display of very wonderful quilts, you get:
a ticket to win our (gorgeous) opportunity quilt
a free talk each day by our featured creature, Lori Kukuk. she's vivacious, talented and one of the more creative machine quilters around...
a FREE workshop each day, with free instructions so you can make your own New Age Five Patch quilt. And a chance to win our sample quilt (left)!
bid on quilts in our mini-quilt auction, with all proceeds going to charity.
and much, much more..........garden decor, women in hats....
Be there! Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26, 10-5 at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, just a few blocks north of K-10 on Harper. lots of free parking!

p.s. my Darling Dumpster Quilt, a.k.a. My Polyester Prize (lovingly chronicled below on March 25), will be on display....

"a married couple"

we are fascinated by our local paper's use of the phrase "a married couple" in a recent caption.

perhaps because the pointing man is labeled "a doctor", that is why they felt compelled to label the other two persons.

but...
a married couple? why not... soulful partners? longtime lovers? bigtime partiers? a darn cute twosome?

if we must label, let's be adventurous.

michelle obama photo-rama

I know, I'm veering off my blog topic of thrift shop quilts.
I'll get back to it soon.
in the meantime, in spring thoughts turn to clothes--new clothes, lighter, more colorful.
some of us are lucky have friends to have clothing swaps with or friends that like to pass on their clothes or like to go to thrift shops and can't stop finding gems there.....
but the weather here has not been conducive to wearing our new spring thrift shop finds lately.
SO
we must turn to the inspiration of Michelle Obama. ah! her clothes are cool, such a breath of fresh air, a sweet departure from the usual duds of political spouses.
check out this web site--you can enjoy photos of Michelle's wardrobe choices........

What about the bias tape birds?

I collect linens decorated with bias tape birds--look at these newest birds I found in an antique shop last week. I'm searching for information about them: patterns, magazine articles. If you know anything about them, I'd love to hear from you.