Finally Fall

Last Friday Susan and I went to Charlotte and visited Just Sew Happy

It was great to see Sheila and Pam and of course shop.  Having just re-organized the fabric stash, I was careful to buy only three yards of fabric for more charity quilts.  The picture below is one of two made from this delightful animal print.  Because I am constitutionally incapable of following directions, I made improv quilts.  I started with some half square triangles and made it up as I went along.  I was able to finish both charity quilts and avoided adding to the stash.

 

Saturday, Reed and I went to the Lee County fair with Riley.  It was so much fun.  It is a small, local event but has all the things required.  Farm animals, rides, hotdogs, games and a blueberry pie tasting contest.

 This Saturday, Susan and I headed to a local guild quilt show.  Put on by The Sandhills Quilt Guild, it was very inspiring with dozens of quilts.  I was thrilled to see wool applique represented.  Below is a quilt based upon a pattern by Sue Spargo.

Fall is my favorite season by far.  Along with going to our local fair the other thing that is a must for me is doing a dye bath with goldenrod.  As the goldenrod starts blooming along the roadways, I feel compelled to get the dye pot out.  Saturday afternoon I gathered a bucket full and got busy.

I dyed some wool fabric, some commercial cotton fabric and some Perle cotton and wool yarn.  The wool fabric came out a beautiful buttery yellow.

I prepared a piece of the wool for stitching by backing it with SF 101, an iron on interfacing and trimming it.  I saw this demonstrated by Anna Bates on Quilt Roadies.  She explained, this helped keep the wool from raveli

ng or stretching out of shape.  This will be traveling around with me so rather safe than sorry.  My plan is to try to execute many of the more complex stitches outlined in Sue Spargo's 

Creative Stitching.  Stitch on my friends.