Purchases....and a little quilting, too!

Over the last month, between quilt shows and golfing, I've been doing a little purchasing of sweet and fun stuff!  Mostly my buys have been from garage sales or thrift stores, but a few items have been found at antique shops, and of course, the quilt shows!

Here's some of what I've found!

 I picked these up at the Maine State Quilt show last month.  Bottom right is a mouse pad!  Yay!  The fabric rolls and yardage I got at The Busy Thimble booth!  I'll be using the yardage for a stripey quilt.  I've been pining for that piece of fabric from when I saw Cindy use it as borders on her 9 Patch Quilt in her booth at the Chickadee show (seen on her blog HERE).  This is in the chocolate color-way of the print.  Gorgeous!

 This is a sweet little baby's slip/dress picked up at an antique shop.  It's perfect, pristine, and lovely.....and was a steal at $1.50!  The owner was shocked!  One of her vendors had just filled her booth again, and she hadn't had a chance to check it out......before me!  Ha!  My plan is to frame it for the wall of a bedroom.

 I just picked these up at an antique shop......$1 a piece.  I love anything tatted.....and these are in great condition.

 I got the two dress pot holders at the same shop as above......sweet!  I collect vintage pot holders, and if I ever get my kitchen restored, they will all be on display!  And the knitted lace doily was a steal at just $1!  I can't pass up a beautiful piece of handwork, especially when I know I couldn't do it myself.  I have knitted in the past, but this would probably take me weeks, and a lot of swearing!  lol

 I got these at a local garage sale......the set of 4 for $1.....yikes!  I've been searching for vintage linens like these ever since being mesmerized by Cindy Needham's amazing work on her blog.  Check it out!  I have beautiful family linens that I'd like to try her techniques on.....but wanted to practice on something less heirloom......so these will be perfect!

 This is a closeup of the beautiful design on those linens!  I can't wait to get started!

 These came from the same garage sale, at a whopping .50 a piece!  LOL  I'll be using them on the backs of some future mini quilts I have planned!  FUN!

 This is recent finish!  Woohoo!  It's 9.5 inches square!  I used the last mismatched hst's that were gifted to me from my buddy Pat!

 A closeup of the quilting texture.....love it!

 I've been feverishly prepping the pieces for my 8 pointed star quilt.  It will have 363 stars, so there was a LOT of prepping!  I'm nearly there, just a few more to trace and cut.  What a great handwork project this has turned out to be.....and very portable!

This is what's on the design wall right now!  It's inspired by Julie's header on her blog.  I have, since this pic was taken, sewn all the blocks into rows and have just 4 seams to join the entire quilt.  I keep getting distracted, though!  Hopefully it will be the next thing under the machine's needle!

My goal of machine quilting twice a week has not been met.....at all!  I had such hopes for completing some quilts this summer, but all I keep doing is shopping!  :o)

Oh, and canning, too!  We've put up 36 pints of green beans, and 28 pints of pickles.....and the garden just keeps on giving!  Yay!

Hope you're having a great day!  I'm so happy the humidity has finally gone down a bit!  It now feels like a normal summer day!  Whew!

regan