Ribbon Junkie

I have a confession to make.   I am a ribbon junkie.  I can’t help it.  It’s all so beautiful, and you can do so many things with it.  I can breeze through most any store making a beeline for what I need without being waylaid for any reason, unless I spy ribbon!  If I see ribbon, I always have to stop and look.  Thus, I have plenty of it (and it doesn’t hurt that Costco’s ribbon is priced so well!).   I keep my 3 tiered basket full of spools in the closet…

3 tier basket of ribbons

And another small collection on the desk (stacked on my favorite paper towel holder) spools of ribbon on paper towel holder This holder is where my favorite ribbon of all time is kept.

It’s the leaves ribbon from May Arts
.  I have it in both white and olive green.  For some reason, a few weeks ago I headed over to the May Arts website for some info about that very ribbon.  Imagine my delight to discover that they have a ribbon blog !  Oh, how I wish they had a ribbon STORE!

They were currently running a little contest, so I typed the first thing that popped into my head and what do you know… I won!  I swear, I’ve never won anything before!  It was kind of fun.  The prize was 3 yards each of six different ribbons, my choice.  I was so excited when they arrived!  It was very generous of them!

bowl of ribbon

I have big plans for the black and white one in my guest bathroom.  The others I’m excited to play with.  All of them are beautiful.

Then May Arts announced a Valentines craft challenge.  I submit an idea, they provide the ribbon, and I get to create my project.  I joined in (and talked my two sisters into joining me).  So, another box of ribbon arrived in the mail.

red and white ribbons

How pretty it all is!  It sat like this for a while, so I could see it and consider how to use it.

red and white ribbon

I’ve been working on my project, and now it’s finished.  I’ll share more in my next post!   It was a fun exercise in creativity.

Kona Cotton

One of my goals this year is to make some quilts with solids.  So, I ordered a Kona Cotton sample card, which is a 6 page fold-out with a one inch swatch of every color on it!  I was so happy when it arrived!

Kona sample card

221 colors.  Wow.  All so pretty!  I’m liking #200.  Pond.

Kona sample card 2

I can’t decide if I like chartreuse or lime better.

Kona sample card 3

In addition to adding new colors, Robert Kaufman Fabrics is also selling strips of these colors, jelly roll style.  SO fun!

Kona sample card 4


This is the roll I would choose!

True Up is hosting a giveaway
for one of these rolls.  All you have to do is leave a comment sharing which set you prefer.  So hop over there and enter.  They’re throwing in one of these sample cards, too!  The giveaway is open through Wednesday January 27th.

Kona cotton 5

Hope you win!  You can’t go wrong with these awesome colors.  I’m off to drool and plan some more….

Courage!

I pieced the back to my Rouenneries quilt yesterday, and I like it.  It’s two large panels of one of my favorite prints in the collection.  Between them is a strip of prints in the beige color.  I like the way it turned out, and the way it echoes the quilt top a little bit.

Rouenneries fabric

I decided to use the little border near the selvage as a miniature border lining the strip of patched browns.  I really liked how this turned out.

Rouenneries fabrics

To save money, I decided I’m going to try and quilt this myself.  I laid out the backing, the batting and the quilt top and got it all pinned.

pins in fabric

200 pins sounded like a lot when I bought them, but I used every one and could have used more.  So it’s all set and ready to go.

I just need courage to try it.  I really love this fabric, and I really want it to turn out, but I also know that I’m inexperienced at this and that my machine isn’t really built to quilt  something this size.  I’m a little afraid to start because I really want to like it and not be disappointed.  (And I’m not savoring the idea of a bunch of time with my seam ripper, either!)

I’m also having a hard time choosing thread.  Should I use red or brown?  Which would you choose?

Deep breath.  Courage.  I can do this….. right?!?

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