Red & White Fabric Swap

I recently stumbled across the website http://craftgossip.com/.  If you haven't been there yet, be sure to check it out.  Lots of free tutorials!  One of the feeds I found was for a red & white fabric swap at  http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/.  I was really lucky and made the sign-up cutoff for the swap, which involves buying a quilt shop-quality red and white print fabric, cutting it into the designated amount of 5" squares (which happens to be 125 for this swap), mailing it to the coordinator and then waiting to get your set of 125 different 5" squares back, from people all over the world.  The coordinator also is including a selvedge drawing for those of us who submit the selvedge from our fabrics as well.  Not really sure what I'd do if I won those, but I'm always up for learning a new skill.

Many years ago, many houses back, before kids, I used to be in a quilt guild.  I was by far the youngest person in it, but it was still fun and I learned a lot from those ladies.  Back then machine quilting was almost taboo--my, how times change!  Anyway, in the quilt guild we used to do an annual fabric swap with a theme and then we had a year to make a quilt that included pieces of each fabric we received, and at Christmas we would do a potluck/quilt show and there were prizes.  It was a lot of fun.  I even placed one year, for the purple challenge.  So when I saw the red and white swap, I was excited to maybe participate.

Here is a photo of my charm squares and selvedge ready to be mailed off to Karen.  The selvedge reads:  Delilah by Tanya Whelan Grand Revival for Free Spirit Westminster Fibers TW43 Dots.  The dots are around 1/8".  I feel a little unoriginal just sending dots, but I went to two local fabric stores and there were slim pickings in the red/white category.  

I should be getting back the assorted squares in a month or so.  I can't wait to see what the fabrics look like!

Pitiful Musings

I am cutting up fabric for a quilt, which gives me plenty of time to think.  I am also doing laundry, and the washing machine and/or the water are stinking up the whole main floor of the house, which makes me wish for a new washer and dryer.  A set that I selected, not just what came with the house.  One that does not stink up the whole house with a nasty sulfur smell that turns my stomach.  One that does not shrink our clothing on even the lowest settings.  Ones that are actually energy-efficient.  I am thankful that I do not have to go to a laundromat though.

I also wish that we had our own house again.  I have been very lucky to have four houses that were custom or at least partially custom and had nice kitchens, were efficient (didn't cost an arm and a leg to heat and cool), and had things done to my taste.  I miss having a functional layout and I totally miss having my own dedicated sewing space where all my things are at hand and I can just walk away and close the door and no one will see my mess.  I have been spoiled.  While this house is nice, and by far the nicest house we looked at for the cost, the layout is not efficient and the heating and cooling costs are ridiculous.  And the finishes are not really to my taste.  Like I said, I've been spoiled with nice houses that were built to our specifications.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss having projects to work on in the house.  For several years it seemed like all we did was work on houses, and I swore that we would not build again, but now I miss it.  We've done a few things to this house, like paint some of the rooms and fix the garden, with our landlords' blessings, but it's not worth putting a ton of money into it since it is not ours.  Sometimes we discuss what we would change if this were our house, and then we laugh and say that with all the changes we would make, it would be cheaper and easier just to build a new one.

So in my perfect little world, I would have my own house with lots of storage, nicer appliances, energy efficient heating and cooling, space for a dedicated sewing room, cheaper cost of living, more land, and while I'm at it, world peace and a money tree!  One can dream, right?