Quilt Progress, Tatting, Lucky Finds

If you came here looking for the give-away that runs through September 4, you will find it on this post.

I spent 2.5 hours in the office of the rehab doctor on Tuesday before he managed to get to me for a 10 minute procedure, there was no time left to run errands (in fact we had to do some car hopping and driver changes in order to get me home).  So yesterday I needed to head into Albuquerque for a couple of purchases, and on the way in I stopped at Good Will.  While I realize lots of people find great bargains at Good Will, it's much more rare here, although five or ten years ago I found wonderful things.  However, yesterday I did find some sweet things.

First the quilting progress:

 I'm trying to decide which of these two threads to use in the border of Little Miss Gardener, the quilt for the new great niece who will arrive in early October.  The thread on the right is Fil-Tec Glide and the one on the left is Fil-Tec Affinity, which is the same as the Glide except it's variegated.  (You might want to take advantage of their sale on Magna-Glide bobbins, which will continue for a few days.  No, I don't work for them.  I just love their threads. I use their size L magnetic bobbins in my Class 15 sewing machines.)

Yes, I will do a tutorial on quilting a feathery border, although I've decided to make it continuous around the entire quilt, which is not the way I do it most frequently.

 Here is the quilt so far, in all it's feathery goodness.  The tutorial for how to do the feathered plumes in the snowball blocks is here.

Good Will purchases:

 Two sets of embroidered pillowcases.   They are 100% cotton, so I'm guessing the cases were purchased in the 40s or 50s. Yes, I was amazed first that something of this quality was in that particular store, and more amazed that they had to have been destinedfor the variegated size 40 tatting thread I purchased this summer from Jess! at Tatilicious.

I suspect the pillow cases were never used  and that it was because an edging was never attached.  I have decided that rather than attach these edgings on the edge, I'll attach them on the hem.  A couple decades ago when I finished a set of pillow cases and sheet with embroidery and tatting, I did attach the lace at the the edge.  Despite the fact that I don't often use that set of sheets, the lace is coming apart in some places.  So I think this lace will last longer if it's on the hem.

Both of these lace edgings are narrow and my own design, because I had no idea how far 50 yards of thread would go--and I did end up ordering more.  I was going to come up with a tatted medallion for each pillow case, and I actually have finished one and have begun another, but the embroidery colors on these cases were so perfect that I just knew they were destined to have lace made from this gorgeous thread hand dyed by this wonderful young woman.

I almost didn't see these treasures.  The frames look like pecan wood--and the framing was done by Pic Frame in Alamagordo.  Beautiful stitching with all x's made properly and thread lying nicely.  We have hummingbirds all summer in our area and even more during migration season.  I'm thrilled to have these.

Okay, there were a couple of more purchases.  One was a file to sharpen the blades of my people-powered push mower because the vintage or antique (more likely) file I've inherited from Grandpa is not doing the job.  Neither the file nor the task is at all romantic, so no picture.

This was a splurge from Sunflower Markets/Sprouts  (they're in transition).  I have not had a slice of blueberry pie for decades!  No kidding.  By the time I was 11 or 12, pie making was my task.  My mom used a recipe from Mazola Oil  (at the time we had no idea I was allergic to corn products), and the pies were more like a tart.  My favorite was blueberry, but we rarely had blueberry filling.  (And now my favorite is cherry, but they had no cherry pies.)

Among my goals for today is to get at least the widest border of Little Miss Gardener done.  I'll take pictures as I work.

I'm linking to Melissa's Try New Things Thursday, despite the fact that attaching lace in a new place has nothing to do with quilting (except that bed quilts deserve to be accompanied by beautiful pillow cases).

Happy quiltmaking......