Vancouver blogger meetup

My first blogger meetup was a resounding success.  The mom and I were ready for our first road trip with Vancouver being our destination.  

There were plenty of events to choose from.  We chose to spend one day at Granville Island greeted by these painted cement fellas.  

There were even pirate ships trolling in the harbor.  

The best part was meeting the other bloggers.  

Pao of Projectminima

Anne of Spygirl-amb.blogspot

Louisa of Damselflys.blogspot

Wendra of Lookingglassnecklace.weebly.com

Suzanne of Suzannecarillo.com

Melanie of Bagandaberet

Sheila of Sheilaephemera

Patti of Notdeadyetstyle

These were just a few of the attendees.  They are all even more delightful in person.  This will definitely be the first of many meetups I will try to attend.  We couldn't have asked for better weather on the Saturday Granville day.  

These hats were representative of the amazing artists of the area.

Ciao!

Hallejuah for the Hawaiian Shirt Hoarder

The estate sale was on again this weekend where surfing Garfield and 25 more Hawaiian print shirts joined my fabric collection (total $20).

I will process the shirts as before with first laundering, cutting out the shirt sections from the seams, salvaging the buttons into the great thrift shop beyond, saving the labels for another project, and cutting the fabric into strips and squares. 

Links to my Hawaiian shirt quilt series
UpcSycling-and-hawaiian-shirt-hoarder
The-first-of-hawaiian-shirt-quilt-series
Summer-jumble-patchwork-quilt
The-mom-quilt-and-fresh-blackberry-pie

Hospice thrift shopping resulted in the book, NWT (new with tag) t-shirt, thread, pin cushion, colored pencils and other miscellany for $14.50.

I had retail sticker shock the other day when I bought a spool of purple thread $2.29 retail, that and a bag of quilting batting for $9 on sale.  So when I do find sewing items in the thrift shop, I go ahead and buy them.  Kind of like stocks on the stock market - buy and hold. 

My new-to-me t-shirt will come in handy as I am heading for the Pacific Northwest and Canada.  

Look-out-vancouver-the-bloggers-are-coming

If I could, I would wear a dress from the 1962 Pattern of the Day.

I may not be Hawaiian or royalty or Hawaiian royalty but I know I will do my best to represent for Sacramentans in Vancouver!

The Mom Quilt and fresh blackberry pie

Continuing with the Hawaiian shirt quilt 4th in the series, the next project is The Mom Quilt.  

Finished quilt top

I appliqued flowers from remnants of Hawaiian shirt material. She is partial to black accented fabric. The squares I chose are in the bottom right corner.  

I have processed the front panels of the shirts and still have all of the back panel material (shown upper left). 

I used a decorative stitch but it kept skewing like it was on psychedelics.  Once I was committed to the stitch though there was no turning back.  I wasn't going to rip out heaving stitching from a quilt sandwich.  

Luckily, a trip to see the mom resulted in her being able to pick one of the fabrics for the sashing and borders.   One piece of material from a $3 thrift shop package of scraps fit right into the quilt scheme. 

Links to my quilt project series:
UpcSycling-and-hawaiian-shirt-hoarder
The-first-of-hawaiian-shirt-quilt-series
Summer-jumble-patchwork-quilt

Thrift shopping produced more quilt publications.

The 1963 Woman's Day Book of American Needlework also had this section - How to Do Hawaiian Applique.

Now that I have started quilting, friends and relatives are requesting my creations.  The first quilt for the expectant co-worker was a big hit at the baby shower with a unicorn Ty beanie baby tied atop it with a pink ribbon. 

I celebrated a birthday last month but didn't get the chance to enjoy a homemade pie or cake. Now that blackberries are busting out all over, I was able to make one of my favorite pies.

For at least one of the quilts in the series, I want to tackle the bear paw design.  Here is the basic pattern.

Image via www.classicmetalcompany

I am finishing up the last week of my Oceanography class, finally able to enjoy a few weeks of true summer.