Friday check in: the raffle that wasn't, placemats + reading

 

The rain forecast today will be most welcome. I planted tomatoes, beans, and lettuce earlier this week.  

It was great to have lunch with Pat yesterday.  She lives 60 miles from me and we don't get to visit in person often enough.   We rediscovered an Indian restaurant we found by accident a couple of years ago--we'd both forgotten about it until I turned onto that road, then we both remembered. It was a good choice.

# # # # # The quilt guild's annual Raffle Mania was scheduled for Wednesday evening.  Members bring quilt-related stuff they no longer love and buy raffle tickets in hopes of winning someone else's stuff.  I bagged some fabric (43 yards by weight) and picked up Irene at 6:00.  We got to the senior center and found a locked door and about a dozen guild members in the parking lot.  It turned out there was a plumbing emergency and the building was closed.  We missed the email because we were en route.  What to do?   We opened our car trunks and invited one another to shop, with payment to the guild.  

 It turned out better than the raffle because we -- at least I -- got some really good deals!   I pawned off sold what I brought.  In turn I paid $58 and got 55 yards of batiks and 23 yards of other prints.  That's $1.38 per yard. 

If you've been following my monthly stash report you know that I have been very, very good about NOT acquiring fabric this year.   I relish this treat!

# # # # # #In the studio:   I have 9 out of the 10 placemats (June OMG) pieced.   The triangles were in ziploc bags in the Parts Department.  

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I listened to the audio edition.

Four women from different backgrounds, newly-arrived in suburbia, come together to read The Feminine Mystique.  The book changes their outlook but as importantly the friendships they develop become a strong support network.  

My mother was the generation of these women and I am the generation of their children.  I got all the 60's references:   from the social mix of people of different backgrounds moving to a planned suburb (Reston, VA); Tang and Sunbeam hair dryers, vodka stingers, dancing the monkey, girdles, Miltown tranquilizer.   But mostly, of course, the social inequity for women (couldn't get a checking account, pregnant women couldn't/shouldn't work).  

I remember that my mother was angry after reading Friedan's book.  Not because of women's liberation but because Friedan implied that the only women who felt that way were college-educated.  My mother's post-high school education was rigorous (secretarial/business) but not college, and she valued independence and economic self-reliance.   I realize how enlightened (practical?) my parents were because my dad supported her choice to go back to work (I was 10), and she thoroughly enjoyed her career in publishing.

A literary mystery with dual timelines -- 1530's and 2023.  Informative (Elizabeth Barton was a real person) and suspenseful!  

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday

Friday check in: rafflemania

 Stevens is still in the hospital. The NG tube has been removed and he'll try real  food today.  He'll stay through the weekend (if not longer).   I toured three care facilities yesterday and found one that I really like.  

Our guild's annual Raffle Mania was Wednesday evening.  Members bring no-longer-loved quilt, textile, and fiber-related stuff (like yarn).  Each person gets free raffle tickets based on meeting attendance through the year.  Additional tickets are available for purchase.  I got six free and spend $20 for 35 more.  

I brought five 5-lb bags (100 yards total), a bag of spools of thread (decorative rayon, mostly), and some notions. 

Left: the bags I brought. The paper bags are where we put our raffle tickets. 

There was a lot on offer.  The guild made $467 from ticket sales. 

I came home with less than I brought -- but not by much!   By weight, 92 yards.  I spent $20 so that's 21 cents a yard.  

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Last evening I finished the blocks for the April top-along.  The pattern is called Sky Diamonds but I'm thinking Garden Path for the theme I've chosen.  

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday

Friday check in: some out, more in

 

Setting up

Our guild hosts Raffle Mania every year.  We bring quilt-related items we no longer need to own.  We get free tickets based on our attendance for the year and can buy additional tickets.   For me:  I brought 100 yards of fabric (batiks, green, red, Christmas, and brown/tan in 2-gal. ziploc bags and the rest of the 30's repros).  I got 12 free tickets and spent $20 for 35 more.  

 I dropped tickets in the bags for the fabric that really appealed to me.  I had tickets left so I dropped them into random bags.  That unscientific technique worked.

Look what I won!  

That's a custom-designed kit at the bottom. Two bags of batiks (different from those I contributed).  A bag of metallic/pastel yardage (kit left over??).  Two stacks of interesting vintage VIP panels (cut-sew-stuff bears, Mr/Mrs Santa, an apron, etc.)  A bag stuffed with black and white prints.   Two 2-yard pieces of 36" vintage paisley prints.

Thai silk. 

By weight, 140 yards.  So on the first of the month I used 100 and gained 40!

..........Still haven't decided on OMG.  I'll post on Monday.

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday

Friday check in: ins and outs

 Car update:  the right control arm had failed.  I had never heard of that part and looked it up.  The control arms are one of the core components of a suspension system and serve as the direct connection points between the front wheel assemblies and the vehicle's frame. The control arms allow a driver to steer a car while also guiding the wheels up and down with the road surface. Although they are simplistic in appearance, control arms have a vital role in a vehicle's overall stability and drivability.    $943.95.  

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IN

Our dear Magpie friend Ellie loved ethnic fabrics and bright colors.  She passed away in March.  The estate sale was at the end of May at her house in Maine.  $5.00 per pound -- what a deal!   

Ellie's and my mutual friend Bonnie (whom I know because she's a librarian) planned to attend and I asked if she could go shopping for me.  I authorized her to spend $100 (plus postage) and asked for any shweshwe indigo and African wax resist.  "I trust your judgment," I told her.   The box arrived last Friday, just before I left for the convention.  I've washed and ironed it all.   Thank you Ellie, and daughter Jennifer, and friend Bonnie!

The descriptors on the selvages are interesting.

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OUT AND IN

The AAUW summer luncheon was Tuesday. Betsy was the high bidder for the quilt that I donated. (This is the third quilt she's won.  I am flattered.)  

We have the luncheon at Lambs Farm , a vocational agency for developmentally disabled adults. The thrift shop next door to the restaurant is always worth a visit.  

My $14 purchase:  never-used souvenirs.  Two batik runners, a batik tablecloth and twelve napkins [card table size so why twelve?], all with the Balinese product labels still affixed.   A set of Scandinavian table linens (real linen) --placemats and three runners.  

I have acquired a number of batik tablecloths, placemats, and napkins. I've used precisely one as a quilt back.  

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OUT

This month's guild meeting was the annual Raffle Mania fundraiser.   Members bring no-longer-loved quilting items including fabric, notions, and patterns. We get free tickets for the number of meetings we attended this year (11 for me) and could buy more (I spent $20 for 30).  It's a bucket or put-and-take raffle -- put tickets in the bags next to each item for those you want.  

I contributed 200 yards of fabric from my stash, culled without anxiety (really!) and bagged by color (plus Christmas).   I also bagged 80 patterns from Dorothy's destash.  

IN   

At the guild rummage sale a few months ago there was a books-for-sale table. More people brought books than bought them.  Three or four of those leftover books were placed under each raffle mania item. The winner had to take the books as well as the item.

Here's what I brought home.  

The fabric weighed 27-1/2 lbs, so 110 yards (remember, I contributed 200 yards).   There were five packages of ink-jet printer fabric sheets.  Some of the take-these-home-or-else books are new to me.  

And, SQUEE!  I got the fabric I really, really wanted.  Australian aboriginal prints -- 27 FQs and 32 F8ths!   

They were all packaged together. Wonder what happened to the 28th FQ.

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OUT

Last evening (Thursday) I began playing with the African prints.  Here's the work-in-progress.  

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?     Peacock Party

Weekly update: Newton's Third Law applied to quilting

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."  That's a brief version of Isaac Newton's third law.  I learned this week that it applies to quilting -- at least to my stash.

The guild had the annual Raffle Mania at this week's meeting. That's an opportunity for members to fling no-longer-loved quilt-related stuff and, perhaps, get some new-to-them stuff in return.  It's a bucket raffle where each item has a paper bag where you put tickets for what you'd like to win. If you really want it, put in many tickets.  Members get free raffle tickets based on our attendance (one ticket) and nametag-wearing (one ticket) for the past year and we can buy more tickets for .50 each. Proceeds go to the charity fund.

There were over 100 items put out for sale, mostly in bundles (multiple books; bags of fabric). For my part I took 40+ books, a thread rack, and other notions. I took 61 yards of fabric (I weighed it: 4 yards to a pound) that I bagged by theme (30's, Christmas, etc.) I got 18 free tickets and spent $10 for 20 more tickets.

In return I won 8 books (all discards from the guild library, it turned out), a box of ribbon (why did I put a ticket in that bag?) and a LOT of fabric. I weighed it:  99 yards.  Not so equal but definitely an opposite reaction!

This was the gem.  65 FQs of African prints  (16-1/4 yards) -- some from AQS (dated 2011) and a bundle from Vogie's in Nebraska.  Plus the book Quilt Africa by Pat Parker and Jennie Williamson with great ideas for using these colorful prints.







On Friday I stopped at an estate sale (I was intrigued by the architecture of the condo/townhouse). There wasn't much of anything left but there was a bin with fabric.  I took all the cotton that looked promising and asked the price.  "How about $5?" he said.  Sold!  Back home I measured:  11-3/4 yards.

110-3/4 yards for $15 = .135 (thirteen and a half cents) per yard.  I may not be able to avoid acquiring fabric, but I do try to get bargains!

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I didn't sew very much this week.


Frolic, Part 8 involves sets of units.

The 16-patch/Ohio Star blocks are still on the design wall. I have 16 more to make for a 54" x 60" lap-sized quilt.

Progress is slow on my OMG which are the favors for the Magpies' meet up.  I've finished three out of fifteen. As I get the hang of the pattern I'm getting faster.  I'm not revealing what I'm making but here is some of the stash going into them.





I'm linking up with other quiltmakers:
 Oh Scrap!
  Monday Making
 Design Wall Monday

Weekly Update: winnings, fireballs, dots, and Good Fortune

Raffle Mania was the main event at Wednesday's guild meeting.  Members bring quilt-related stuff they no longer love. Raffle tickets are distributed based on the previous year's attendance (1 ticket per month, 1 ticket for wearing a name tag). Additional tickets are .50 each.  I got 17 free tickets and bought 20 more.  I contributed 10 5-lb bags of fabric sorted by color (20 yards per bag), two smaller ziploc bags with fabric, and four bundles of 10 books each.  (I was ruthless when I selected the fabric to donate. How many years have I had this? Does this really go with anything?  Will I ever use this?) (You need to remember that in 2018 I was *given* 470 yards in addition to what I bought.)

I did not return empty-handed.   There were a dozen big bundles of books and magazines donated by the family of a guild member who passed away last month.  I won three of those stacks.  I also won two ziploc bags with, yes, more fabric -- just 27 yards!

In the studio this week:

Nine 6" fireball blocks for the January Block Lotto.



This month's wonky house for the guild BOM.









I have assembled the rows (shown here as columns) for Good Fortune.  Borders to come!  I really like the design and when the four borders are added it will look smashing.
Thanks to Barbara in Germany who noted the two four-patches the wrong way (second in, third up from the bottom). I managed to sew half the 4p-orange units the wrong way around. I ripped them out and re-sewed them -- but I missed that unit. I've corrected it (as of 2 p.m. Monday).


Monday link ups:
Design Wall Monday
Monday Making
Oh Scrap!
Quiltville Mystery Monday 

Rafflemania

The guild's annual Rafflemania was last night.  It's a fun fundraiser and an opportunity to discard what we no longer love and take a chance on acquiring new stuff. 

I took books and fabric. Some of the books were bid on but others came back home with me.  The scrap bags (40 yards total) were snapped up.  I bought $10 in tickets (.50 each) and won all of this.

It works out to 16 yards. Not bad for $10!   Do you see the large ziploc at the upper right in the photo? When I took a closer look--after I won-- I realized that the fabric was what I'd donated to last year's Rafflemania.  There's a message in that . . .

Raffle mania and the Piggy Bank Challenge

Our guild's July program is Raffle Mania. It's an opportunity to offload no-longer-loved quilting stuff and a chance to take home someone else's in a bucket raffle. (Bucket raffles used to be called Chinese auctions -- here is an explanation.)   Each member gets tickets based on attendance and participation during the year and additional tickets are for sale (.50).  I got 18 free tickets which was enough to "spend."

I contributed a specialty ruler I won a few years ago and never used, 24 patterns that I never got around to making, a shoebox with 16 yards of Christmas fabric, and a ziploc bag crammed full of 8 yards of Christmas scraps.



Here are my winnings.

This kit came in a vintage plastic box (remember styrene?). The pattern is dated 1985.  I only wanted the fabric. Another guild member was delighted when I gave her the pattern.




 More patterns.

In all, 11-1/2 yards of fabric, four patterns, and a bag of M&Ms for the price of attending guild meetings this year.

And now, on to the Piggy Bank Challenge.  Last July Val (Val's Quilting Studio) announced the 4th annual PBC.  The idea: save your change. A year later report the total and what quilty purchase you'll use it for.  My rules for my version, the Change Game, are detailed in this post -- basically, I save spare change, $5 bills, and $1 bills with Federal Reserve B and H designations.

The result, after a year:  $119.21 in change and $589 in currency.  That's $708.21.  This morning I placed an online order for a 40-yd roll of Warm and Natural batting for $321.99.   I still have money in the bank!

See how other quiltmakers have done in Val's link up

Rafflemania: kit quilt

Our July quilt guild meeting featured an ice cream social and the annual Rafflemania. That's a bucket (or "Chinese") raffle for quilt-related stuff.  We bring what we no longer love. We get free tickets based on the number of meetings we've attended in the last year and we can buy more tickets for .50 each. The tickets are our chances to win new-to-us stuff.

Fabric went out....and this came in

I didn't take pictures of my contributions, but I flung 60 yards of fabric. (I weighed it: 4 yards to a pound.)  I also filled two baskets with miscellaneous notions.  In return I won two fabric bundles (28 yards) and what I really wanted:  a mint-in-bag kit quilt.

Here's information about Progress kits, from Vintage Kit Quilts  

"...The Progress quilt kit company...produced some of the [best-known]full sized quilt kits....All were done on various colored backgrounds from white, yellow, green, pink and blue with prestamped appliqués of flowers, leaves and swags in many colors…..All blue quilt lines were prestamped too. Some 135 kits including embroidery quilt kits that were produced from 1923-1994 have been document. A great deal sold thru Lee Wards and other catalogs and stores. Progress was bought by Tobin, Sporn and Glaser Inc. in 1944 when they were in business in Chicago. They are still in business today but out of New York."

Raffle Mania!

The Northern Lake County Quilters Guild has Raffle Mania at the January meeting. Members donate quilt-related items for a bucket raffle.  The items are displayed on tables with a paper bag for each one.  Members get free tickets based on their attendance and participation in the past year and they can buy tickets for .50 each. They can then drop their tickets in the bags for the items they most want to win.

I took a box full with two dozen patterns (the kind that come in plastic bags), assorted quilty gifts, and two bags of selvages.  I had a string of free tickets and I spent $15 for 30 more tickets.  I won more than I brought!   Here's what I got:

Panel prints, pieced.

2001 Joann's BOM. Four blocks made, the rest in the packages, including all the fabric to set the quilt. (IMO it's not a very interesting design, but the fabric is usable.

 Fabric!  I won five lots of fabric -- totalling approximately 21 yards. (Yes, I measured it when I got it home.)  There's white-on-white, cream-on-cream, FQs, strips, and some larger pieces.

102 3" 9-patches. A hand-piecing project, with squares cut for more 9-p's and muslin setting squares.

35 vintage Lemoyne Star blocks, hand-pieced. The woman who brought them said they're from Kansas.






What will I do with all of this?  My standard answer:  Own it!  (For now, at any rate.)

Raffle Mania!

The quilt guild had Raffle Mania at this week's meeting.  We brought quilt-related items we no longer wanted which were raffled bucket-style.  Chances were fifty cents each.  I brought two boxes of stuff (books, a box of woolly nylon thread, some q-snap plastic frames, two hoops), bought $10 in chances, and came back with three boxes of stuff!

Here's the entire haul arrayed on my cutting table.  There were five 2-yard pieces of plaids  that turned out to be poly/cotton (not suitable for quiltmaking).  You can see the bright yellow corduroy print (bottom right) that will be great for Care Bags.  I also scored several books and patterns and a roll of upholstery-weight fabric (more Care Bags).  I estimated that I got 60 yards of fabric for $4.00.

Lynn R. brought two bags crammed with scraps. Once I opened the bags the contents burst out!  I spent last evening sorting through the pieces which include strips, squares, and even some fat quarters.