The Cotton Shirts Off Her Back...

...headed for Her Lap or Wall.

"I'd give the shirt off my back to someone in need."

You've heard that expression and probably said it yourself.  It's the kind of thing quilters, sewers, and generous, kind hearted folks say and do.  It's what my Mother told me to do with some of her clothes she no longer wears....donate them to someone in need. 

 

Mother has always gone for comfort and there is nothing more comfortable than cotton.  Here in Texas we wear it year round, so there were short sleeve and long sleeve cotton shirts to choose from.

That's right...To Choose from for a Lap Quilt/Wall Hanging.  I choose some of Her favorites...ones that she has worn for many years. 

Shirts with long tails for a tall lady.  Shirts made from chambray's, light denims, plaids, 70's and 80's prints and predominately blue...like her eyes.

   I mentioned not too long ago HERE that 'Waste Not Want Not' was in my DNA.

I got that from Mother...I'm sure she will know that every bit of her Favorite Shirts went into this quilt.  From the Back of the Shirts to the Back of the Quilt...the piece on the left.  From the Front of the Shirts to the Front of the Quilt....the piece on the right. 

Don't you love the Shirt Tails pieced in the bottom of the Lap Quilt?

They'll still be covering that Tall Lady....as soon as I get it quilted....that's where I'm headed right now! 

Linking To:

Judy's Patchwork Time Design Wall Monday

Smiling Sally's Blue Monday 

Just so you know I always did and still do mind my Mother, the Non-Cotton Clothes are separated for donating.  My Waste Not Want Not DNA took control of the Cottons.  There will be more quilts to make for Mother's other DNA'ers...they don't sew, but have loud DNA voices!!!

 

I must remember to Thank Her for my 'CottonDNA'.  Hmmmm...I always wondered why I prefered Bollweevils over Silkworms!

Week Ender Stitchin Post

Here it is the 'End of the Week' and I have ONE Stitched Item to show...

Believe it or Not...I didn't piece a single quilt block or quilt a single row on QuiltALottie (longarm) this week!

Why?

Because I've had a 'Pain In The Neck'...and Shoulder!

It's the price one pays for Sixty-something years of Sewing...but Hey...It's what I do!!!

You have seen these before...right? 

 If you are a 'Pain In the Neck Sewing Sufferer' you many already have one of these

for relief of 'SewCervicoArexia'.

I had one...actually two...one for bedtime and one for travel time...both disappeared while my SCA (SewCervicoArexia) was in remission.  This week, I went in search to purchase at least one at my LWM (Local WalMart) where years ago, I bought the first two.  Not even one to be found.  My next stop was to my PCM (Personal Computer Mart) and Amazon.com where I learned these pillows are medically approved and recommended by doctors, come in all colors, and cost a good deal more than a nights dose of Tylenol PM.  You know what my next thought was...right?

I CAN MAKE THAT!!!

So I Did...with a pattern from Sew4home...I tell you Sewists and Quilters are ingenious and generous!

Choices for fabrics vary from cotton to fleece to whatever.  Since I'm on a 'Use It or Lose It' campaign, I used a 'Practice Piece' I had quilted on QuiltALottie years ago, and stuffed it with recycled pillow stuffing.  I have enough of both to make several more...which I will do as soon as I'm sufficiently recovered from this latest bout of SCA.

You will find this Relaxing Neck Pillow Pattern on my SideBar Patterns&More Link List.

Along with other patterns I have either MADE or PLAN to MAKE.

Relaxing Neck Pillow 

 

Here's a dollar saving tip...make the 'loop straps' out of matching or coordinating fabric....I SERGED a strip, cut it in two pieces 7 inches long...one for each end of pillow.  They really do help in adjusting the pillow while lying in bed or napping on the road.  At least I think they will help on the road...I'll be testing that out later today.  The pattern calls for gross grain ribbon for the loops.

So, there ya go....my Week Ender Stitchin' Post!  Even though I didn't Stitch much, I was busy loading up the 1930's Reproduction Page in the BlogShop and on A Quilt Store and More ETSY Shop.  You can see the 'Stack to be Photographed' behind the Pillow Loop. 

Wanna See More 1930's REPRO's?

~Here are the Links~

1930's REPRODUCTION Fabrics CITx BlogShop

A Quilt Store and More ETSY Shop 

 

Have a great WeekEnd ... Relax your Neck...Make a Pillow!

Linking To....LINK A FINISH FRIDAY #90

Promoting QUILTER BLOGS and 1930's REPRO's

Here are the 1930's Reproduction Fabrics I've been promising to add to the Quilt Store and More ETSY Shop. 

These may be the hardest yet to part with....they are my FAVORITES....and as far as I know

 most if not all of them are out of production.

~~~For those of you that are new to CollectInTexas BlogShop~~~

 I owned a 'Brick and Mortar' quilt shop from 1996 through 2005, and now I've joined the online Quilt World with A Quilt Store and More ETSY Shop. My 'Niche' in the ever growing and competitive online fabric shopping world is my 'Inventory and Stash' from the years of buying and selling quality quilt fabrics from top designers and manufacturers.  Now it's time to reduce my Stash again by offering these hard to find fabrics to you for below the 2005 market value and certainly at great savings based on today's prices per yard.  I hope you will browse my BlogShop Pages accessible via the TABS under the Header or the BlogShop Page Photos on the Sidebar. 

Here is another NEW addition to the Sidebar! 

I'm excited and pleased to have been accepted to QuilterBlogs.com,

a World Wide Quilters Community on the www.

This is my first post to be posted there

...so if you have clicked in from there...

WELCOME!

Click on ETSY Link to view this 30's Playtime Series by MODA in A Quilt Store and More.

It's the first of the 1930's Reproduction Fabrics I will be listing...check back often for more.
You also might be interested in the Vintage Fabrics....Flour and Feed Sacks.

As I mentioned, these Reproduction Fabrics are hard to part with.  However, I have many examples of Original 1930's Fabrics like these in the photos of  a 'Rescue Quilt Top' from that era.  I posted about it on From Flour/Feed Sacks To Quilt Treasure.  It is rare to be able to keep a Rescue piece all in original fabrics...that's when the Reproductions come in handy.  Such was the case with Sue To The Rescue of Sunbonnet Sue.

 

Linking To:

How Sweet The Sounds BLOG SHOP

627 Handworks THURSDAY THREADS

Quilt Infatuations NEEDLE AND THREAD THURSDAY
Colorado Lady's VINTAGE THINGY THURSDAY

Design Wall Monday...60 Degree Corpus Collusm Pain

There's been some 60 degree weather issues here in Texas with Texas Mother Nature giving up the summer temps for cooler Fall weather in the high to mid sixty's.  While inside, my 'Design Wall' has had a weekend of 'On and Off the Wall' array of 60 degree triangles.

The strips were pieced months ago and have been hanging around while I decided how to either use them in a strip quilt or slice and dice them up for a Thoroughly Modern Mess.  As you can see,  I went for the 'Slice and Dicey' option.

Scrap Stripping for me has to have at least one common color denominator.  It has to do with my 'Quilt Comfort Zone' between being a 'Traditionalist' and a 'Wannabe Modern Abstractionist'.  For me it's a challenge to balance the two to suit my 'Right/Left Brainy-arexia'.

At any rate, the common color denominator was strips of dark teal blue which were sandwiched in between every third or fourth scrap strip.  Had to work on that fourth strip option...left brain analytical rule of 'Three's'...what a 'Corpus Collusm' pain in the brain!

After several days of flipping, flopping, adding, subtracting, matching, mis-matching, stitching and un-stitching....this is what 'Split Brainiac Sue' settled on....

....The SixtyDegree Corpus Collusm Project!

It's going to hang there while I recover from NeuroverTaxation and am able to analytically (left brain) or creatively (right brain) decide to add traditional borders or to break out the Tylenol and set the left over strip to the bottom.  Then I'll have to deal with stripped triangles up...points down...or flipped over...or offset on the left side...which makes my left brain needing a dose of Pepto and my right brain getting off on the Pepto being PINK.

Maybe by the next 'Design Wall Monday' I'll have made a decision.

In the meantime, I'm linking to Judy's Patchwork Place

Design Wall Monday

YO MAMA...How's Your CRIB?

I'm rappin' talking about a Baby Crib of course. 

It's the first thing to get ready for the arrival of a new member of the family.

Unless....that Sweet Baby arrives before the Crib!

Then a Dresser Drawer is where you keep that Sweet Baby warm!

Such was the case when my Baby Sister was born in September 1957.   I was ten years old and even though I was a TomBoy, I did love baby dolls and was quite excited that a real baby was on the way.  It didn't matter if it was a boy or a girl....back then it was always a surprise...unless of course you believed in the 'Swinging Ring Test'.  Here's how it was done...

...take off your wedding ring, tie it to a piece of string, and hang it over your belly. 

If it swings in a circle, you are promised a boy;  back and forth indicates a girl. 

 

I remember my Grandmother Minnie making the trip from Iowa to be with my Mother for the birth of my third sibling.  I already had a younger brother and sister...yes, I was #1....so it really didn't matter to me if the new baby wore pink or blue. 

 

 Mother was prepared for either one with saved baby clothes from us first three, and new baby things were yellow.  After three babies and twice that many moves,  the first crib didn't make it for baby number four.  A new Crib was on order from the Sears catalog.  It was late and 'Baby Sister' was early.  

 

Thankfully, Grandmother Minnie's solution of a Dresser Drawer worked out perfectly.  Especially when you wanted to muffle the crying baby...close the drawer...just kidding!  She didn't cry all that much, and when she did I was right there. 

 

Here we are 56 years later...and I'm still right there...playing dress-up and keeping her CRIB warm with Quilts.  Thank-you Minnie for this memory, and Mother...I'm so glad your 'Swinging Ring' swung back and forth.

New Listings in Nana's Blankies and A Quilt Store and More ETSY Shop
~YO MAMA and GRANDMA these CRIBS are for Ya'll~

1987 Household Hints Almanac From Mom's Kitchen Table

SAVE TIME, WORRY, WORK AND MONEY

Twenty-six years ago this 1987 Almanac was sitting on Mom's kitchen table.  I imagine the only time it moved from the table was for meal time, and then it most likely was set over to the side and stacked on top of the once weekly papers that accumulated...just in case she or Dad would want to read them again in the coming months.  See where this is going?

It is going here....Mother was a Keeper!  She kept things like this Almanac because she valued it for it's content without a thought to it's collectability.  I know this how? 

Mom was an Iowa Farm Girl raised in the 1930's when saving time, worrying, work and money were on the top of every households list of making it through the day, week, month and year.  Throughout her life she adhered to, valued, and passed on her Almanac Philosophies, not through a lot of talk, but through 'Spatter Free Bacon' and 'Homemade Biscuits'.  More about that in a minute along with how I know my Dad made use of this Almanac, too.



How comforting it is to reminisce about my parents kitchen table.  It is easy to picture Mother sitting there with her cup of  Golden Coffee...my grandmothers term for coffee with cream.  Like my Mother and Grandmother Minnie, my coffee is Golden and the 'Super Sewing Solutions' is an Almanac favorite.

 Mending KNITS...lol....keep in mind this is the 80's when Polyester Knit was Queen for the Decade and a seamstress' dream material.  Yep, cut it out, sew it up, wear it and wash it...guess that's when 'Wash and Wear' became a Household name.  But you know, I never knew that a bristle brush was an essential notion to have in your sewing box....until now!  I will put one in my Sewing Box....you never know when 'Polyester Double Knit' will come back in style....yikes!

I will share some more of this Almanac's Sewing Hints with you another time.  For now, I want to tell you about my Mother's famous...among her children, anyway...homemade biscuits.  If you measured the success of biscuits by fluffy, Pillsbury Grands, melt in your mouth standards, my Mother's biscuits were a miserable failure.  Have you ever tried to fail at making biscuits?  I have, and I tell you it is not easy.

If you ran out of clay pigeons at a Shoot Off, mother's biscuits would be a good substitute.  They would make a perfect 'Pitchin' Puck' at the Carnivals 'Break the Plate' booth, and as for a 'Puck', well, you get the picture.

But....let me tell you, those rollin' pin and wax paper, flour dusted glass cut outs, bacon drippin' greased, burnt bottom, gravy covered biscuits made the best breakfast I have ever, ever eaten...to this day!  My siblings will tell you the same thing.

My Dad was a Doodler!  He doodled on whatever was handy while sitting at the kitchen table drinking his TwoTeaspoon Sugared coffee.   The Household Hints Almanac must have been handy on the morning he was subtracting 100 whatevers from 54362 whatevers.  I love it that there are no decimals, commas, or dollar signs to indicate what the numbers stood for.

And that is how I know my Dad was a Household Hints Almanac kinda guy!   Thank-you Mother for being a Keeper and a Puck Perfect Biscuit maker.  We would not have had them any other way.

What was a good Hint 26 years ago, is still a good Hint today.

Here is how you are assured of getting just the right shade of Pink Thread!

Linking To

How Sweet The Sounds Pink Saturday

Where you are assured of getting 'Many Shades of Pink'.

Hoo's There and How's About Hearts and Flowers?

I give!!! Hoo's There?

QUILTMAKER magazine is Hoo's There with this Big Block Baby Pattern from the May/June issue.  It's been on my ToDo List, but it's taken this long to decide on what fabrics to use. 

 

After 'Auditioning' several stacks of fabrics, the decision came down to 'Hoo's Year' fit best...1930's Reproductions or 2013 Moderns. 

 

You know this collector has a 1930's Stash to die for!  You would think this decision would be a no brainer.  My 'OverDoSue' often morfs into 'OverThinkItSue' which occasionally blows up the whole project and I find it months later in a basket on the top shelf in the deepest, darkest, corner closet.

 

Not so this time.  I relied on my high tech modern, 21st Century decision maker strategy and as quick as I could say, "Eeeney Meeney Mineey Mo" I went with.....

...a compromise...old fashion hearts and flowers and modern prints and solids!

I think this Quilt Top will fit in nicely with the others in A Quilt Store and More ETSY Shop.

I mentioned in my last post, Braggin' It Up and Backin' It Up, that I really love to piece tops,

and that these Tops were specially made for those of YOU who are Finishers...here's the menu!

ARE YOU A FINISHER?

Then these...Quilt Tops Pieced on ETSY Shop...are for you!!!

ARE YOU A TADAist?

Then these...Finished Nana's Blankies on ETSY Shop...are for you!!!

ARE YOU A PIECER?

Then these...Children and Baby Fabrics on ETSY Shop...are for you!!!

No matter your choice....I've Got You Covered!

Braggin' It Up and Backin' It Up

Here's to a bit of patting myself on the back...

"It ain't bragging if you can back it up".

I am pretty sure that the guy who said that was not talking about a 'Quilt Backing', but I am! 

 

In the 'Quilt World', and in my way of thinking, one is NOT FINISHED with a quilt until it is backed, quilted, bound and labeled.  In other words...the fat lady has belted out the last note of La Boheme...or on my 'Sewing Studio Stage' it gets' a fanfare of 'TaDa'.

 

You know I'm bragging through my teeth...right?

 

My only excuse for 'bragging through my teeth' is this...."I LOVE to Piece".  Back, Quilt, Bind, Label....NOT So Much!  That is why I have more of THESE....

....than THESE....

TaDa Nana's Blankies in A Quilt Store and More ETSY Shop.

ARE YOU A FINISHER?

Then these...Quilt Tops Pieced on ETSY Shop...are for you!!!

ARE YOU A TADAist?

Then these...Finished Nana's Blankies on ETSY Shop...are for you!!!

ARE YOU A PIECER?

Then these...Children and Baby Fabrics on ETSY Shop...are for you!!!

Linking To

 

It's SEW Monday...

...and I have Sewing/Piecing to Show from Saturday and Sunday's Stitchin'.

On my 'Sewing Studio Design Wall'....the backing for...

This scrapped out and pieced from blocks, embroidered Redwork, and fabrics intended for TWO other projects is finished.  I posted about how it messed with my mind last month on Mind Messin' Scarecrow Stitchin'.   I've been a pieced back maker for years, as 'Waste Not Want Not' is in my DNA.  I see pieced backings these days in the 'Modern Quilt World'.  Who knew...I was a 'ModQuilter' before Mod was cool!  There's a Country Song in there somewhere!

 

I have always thought of myself as a 'Traditionalist' with a Twist...probably that should be Twisted...yeah...Twisted Traditionalist! 

Speaking of Traditionalist, have you heard of Sharon Newman?   I imagine you have, especially if you are student of quilt history, quilt fabrics, quilt appraising, and quilt shops.  Sharon Newman was a pioneer in all of those quilt areas, as well as a lecturer and quilt guild workshop instructor. 

That's where I met her....at a Quilt Guild meeting where she presented a program and Trunk Show which included her 1930's Reproduction Prints.  I have a nice collection of those which I carried in my own Quilt Shop until it closed in 2005. 

It was a surprise to find her name in the scraps used for piecing this quilt as I had always associated her designs with the 1930's Reproductions.  Didn't this large scale print of hers work in beautifully?  I will definitely add this fat quarter left from a whole bolt to my Sharon Newman collection.  Sadly, she passed away in 2005, and many of her fabric designs are now out of production.

Also over the weekend, I finished posting fabrics in

 KIDS PRINT Fabrics

Click HERE for a LookSee and follow the ETSY Link for Details!

Thanks for visiting on SEW Monday....What did you SEW on Saturday and Sunday?
Linking To
Design Wall Monday 

QUILTMAKER Mag and DIANE Made My Day!!!

Last night I told HiHoney...husband...that my CollectInTexas' BlogShop had 'Gone Quilt Virus'!!!

"I think you mean Gone VIRAL", said the one of us who still licks stamps and has the teeny tiny first ever flip phone.

Yeah, that!!! said the one of us who really knows that when you get over 200 hits on a post with only 1 comment in less than six hours that some sort of contagious thingy is the cause.  After checking and rechecking my 'Stats', I finally came to the conclusion that the Blogger Techies had finally had enough of my messing with their html and hacking around on my blog to suit myself.  Really, Sue, like they have time to keep up with your one in a kabillion blog.

Maybe the answer is in 'The Comment' on Finally, Some Time To SEW...Hi, this is Diane Harris, Interactive Editor for Quiltmaker. Thanks so much for the shout-out on your blog today. It's great to see that people are using the Big Block Baby quilt patterns from Quiltmaker. We think they are perfect for quick baby and charity quilts, and they're attractive too. Yours looks terrific! Thanks again~
Kind Regards,
Diane Harris

The 'Shout Out' was a quick post and picture I posted on QUILTMAKER's Facebook page about the quilt I was making from their Big Block Baby Quilt Pattern. 

I read through the comment several times in total surprise and AWE that this very busy Editor would take the time to notice my post on Facebook, much less follow the link to my Blog. 

Still, that was just one tick on the Stats...where did the rest come from?  My answer was on QUILTMAKER's Facebook Page. 

Oh My Stitchin' Stars!!!

Diane had re-posted the Pic...Shouted Out about my Big Block Baby Quilt and posted links to Finally, Some Time To Sew and Hey Diddle Diddle I Don't Fiddle Around.  And there were over 200 Thumbs Up Likes and half a dozen comments.  Wow and Wow!!!  

I have never been so happy to be the recipient of something contagious. 

Yep, I had 'Gone Quilt Virus Viral'. 

Thank-you QUILTMAKER, Diane, and all of the Quilters who took the time to visit.

Ya'll Made My Day!!!

I finished the Buggy Cuteness Quilt last night.  Here's the finished Big Block Baby.

Pattern...January/February 2013 QUILTMAKER, page 56

QUILTMAKER on Facebook...Like It...I Do!!!

CollectInTexas BlogShop on Facebook...Like It...I'll Like YOU Back!!!
Linking To
How Sweet The Sounds Pink Saturday
Show Off Saturday

 

Finally, Some Time To SEW

What's with this 'No Time To Sew' lately?

Well, I'll tell ya how it has been with me for a couple of months....yes, it has been months since I clamped on the quarter inch foot and pieced a quilt. It's been one Re-something or another after another.  First there was a shoulder thingy that needed Re-adjusting and Re-covery time, then there was Re-turn trips to visit Mama.  Next I decided to Re-vamp CollectInTexas Gal to include one more 'Collection', and without a doubt the most 'No Time To Sew' came with the Re-Opening of A Quilt Store and More ETSY Shop.

 

Re-Opening with Nana's Blankee's was a good move, or so I thought.  Turns out, I need more Blankee's, and with Re-establishing and Re-stocking the Bags, Fabrics and Quilt Sections there's been 'No Time To Sew'. 

 

You might Re-member the post Hey Diddle Diddle from back in February when I was making Baby Blankee's from Quiltmaker's  Big Baby Block Series that started with the January-February 2013 issue. 

 

Such easy patterns and so quick to piece together.  So, when I had a special order for a 'Girly Nana's Blankee', this pattern popped into my head. 

 

I didn't fiddle around this time either, and quickly put together these fabrics, sharpened up the Rotary Cuff Cutter...oops...shoulder thingy...and snapped on the quarter inch foot. 

 

Funny thing about these Fabrics...they were next in line for the next Fabric Section on the ETSY Shop called 'Youth Novelty Fabrics'.  No worries if you like it and want to make a Blankee with these fabrics and this pattern...there's plenty more which will be listed soon.  I say soon, but not until I've finished this one and pieced one more for NANA'S BLANKEES.

Here's Hey Diddle Diddle....click HERE to view details on A Quilt Store and More ETSY Shop.

Okay, I now have Some Time To Sew...finally!

I'll have 'Show and Tell' when 'Buggy Cuteness' is finished...watch for it!!!

Calling All Quilters...Here's YOUR Kinda FABRICS!!!

Introducing CollectInTexas BlogShop's Quilting/Sewing Motif Fabrics

I have been 'Under The Influence of Fabric' for much of my life.

Never so much as when I owned a Quilt Shop. 

 It was a fantastic way to be totally immersed in the 'Sewing and Quilting World' and to share with other Quilt and Fabric Lovers an aspect of creativity and friendship found in that realm of amazing people. Another of my Favorite Fabrics besides Vintage 1930's and 1930's Reproductions, are Sewing and Quilting Motif-Themed Fabrics.   As with the Vintage Fabrics, the time has come to De-Stash the Sewing Themed Stash.

So, here they are...

the now out of production, hard to find, 100% cotton, QSQ (quilt shop quality), hoarded, and petted fabrics that will surely put YOU Under The Influence of Fabric, too!

In the quilt fabric world Hoffman is known as a top quality designer, manufacturer and producer of Quilting and Sewing Fabrics. 

Here's a small wall quilt I made with Needles and Pins fabric. 

It's for sale in A Quilt Store and More HERE.

Click on ETSY Link for the Fabric

Quilters know that coordinating fabrics is key to a successful quilt. Here are a few Quilt/Sew Motif Focus Fabrics and their Coordinates now listed in A Quilt Store and More.  Click on ETSY Link to view each collection.

Thank-you for visiting CollectInTexas BlogShop and taking a look at A Quilt Store and More ETSY Shop. 

You can Browse all the Pages by clicking on the Home Tabs or at ETSY Shop Home Section where all the categories are listed with details on all the inventory.

Linking To