Random Fabric ID Post & Soap

MYSTERIOUS?!?!?!?

I'm 89% done with my sister's Tangelo quilt top (pattern by Carolyn Friedlander).  Ran out of a print that was from my stash, need a bit more cause ya know, I don't math so good apparently! OK, I ran out of two fabrics, but at least I know one is Kona in Cactus.  It's horrible to need less than 1/4 yard and be clueless about what I need to get, or face starting a row all over.  It is a couple of years old, and probably in stock nowhere once I figure this out..

Lotta Jansdotter, half the print size of mystery fabric

But what  *it* is, I don't know.  I thought it was Lotta Jansdotter but it doesn't seem to be (or exhaustive searches tell me this) let me know its similar to some other fabric that I got at about the same time.  I reverse image searched from my photo, and nothing.  Posting so I can upload picture ;)

On a side note related to my sister, I'm about to delve into soap making.  It's actually something I've wanted to do for almost 20 years, with my ex-husband we always lived in places small enough I didn't want to attempt it with our three cats. In the interim between then and now I  had other things keeping me busy, but now my sister is bored and needs a new hobby and there's plenty of outdoor space to explode lye, so I got busy planning.

I love a new hobby - I have wood soap molds to make, oils ordered from a Bellingham store that I'll get to go visit in person next time I drive north.  I have winged my own recipes with the help of a lye calculator and a lot of web research, and have my safety goggles ready so I can make a test run before working on a batch with my sister. I'd really love the quilt top done before she comes over so we can work on that and the soap!

Westwood Acres Liberty Subscription

At the end of last year I joined Westwood Fabrics liberty tana lawn bundle of the month club.  They charge your credit card monthly and ship you a bundle of 10 fat sixteenth/eighth/quarters.  It was $26.30 a month with shipping for the 1/16ths, which was as much as I was willing to spend on such a luxury indulgence with the inclusion of randomness mixed in.

You see, I bought two yards of Liberty three years ago when fabric.com had it on sale for $32 a yard *gulp* finding the whole notion romantic and all.  I put in in the wash and the medium blue ran and redeposited on the fabric in light blotches.

It sits in my garment stash unused until I can find the right pattern, so you can understand why I have mixed feelings on Liberty, and consider going into therapy anytime I wade through my garment fabric stash and see it :o

Christmas Liberty

My sister in law, who as far as I knew, had no idea I'm a bit of a Liberty junkie, sent me a little bundle of it she found somewhere (for the life of me I cant find this shop online) for a Christmas present so it was like..a sign from above that I made the right choice to sign up. Or I'll take any excuse I can to do what I feel like doing.

I hadn't seen reviews for this fabric club last time I searched, so I thought I'd throw up some pictures of what I've received in case anybody is wondering what some of the adorable shipments going out in it look like.




Pros - I have a lovely little stash of Liberty,  and I really like some of the prints.  They lend themselves well to paper piecing and little projects.  I get to act like I know what's up in the world.

Cons - different colors of the same print are sent on different months, so if you dont like something, you can pretty much assume you are going to have multiple colors of a print that you don't like.  Also, there was one of randomly sized zoo animals and  I'm not really sure what to do with that. ;) 
I also spent a lot of money and yardage wise, I still only have 1/3 of a small shoebox filled with it.

Verdict: if you have the money and you don't need to love every print of a club, this is fun.  I cancelled it a couple of months ago because I couldn't justify the expense any more, but I think it's a great way to try out the options if you're in the US.
 

Marcelle Medallion Quilt

Well well well.  I have finished the Marcelle Medallion Quilt finally, the one I started last September.

back of Marcelle

One thing I just realized today  about medallion quilts is they looks odd being off center on the bed if you don't pull them all the way up over the pillows.  TRAUMA!

So, it's done.  It's king sized in case I ever have a king bed again.  The bedroom in our rental house is blue so it matches, what more could one want?.  It only took this long to finish due to the green border.  One of my cats (yes, my fat one)  had ripped a few holes in it while trying to jump up on the bed when I was testing it for size a long way back, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to quilt it without doing some major work.

I chose a random kelp like design that involved a lot of bubbles over the rips.  I think I patched them pretty securely!  We will see though.  I'm a little sad this will soon be covered with cat hair, but we make sacrifices for our children.

I'm actually on a quilting roll this month.  I've made good progress on a few quilts, made some Noodlehead 241 totes that have made me happy to play with, made a lot of clothes.. strike that.. started a lot of clothes and haven't managed to finish any of them...  

This was a fun quilt to make, and although I'm starting another medallion quilt, I have a feeling I will be revisiting this pattern at some point in the future. If you randomly stumbled onto this post and are suddenly struck dumb by the need to make one too, there's a great flickr group with tons of inspiration, and wonderful QAL instructionS and advice at the Penny Poppleton blog.