Hodgepodge

 Hodgepodge-- A heterogeneous mixture:  Jumble

Yep that is my life in one word some days.

About a month ago I was looking for my rotary cutter blades.  I had purchased a 10 pack of the titanium ones in January.  I looked all over my house and could not find them.  So I ordered a new 10 pack.  I know I had seen them most recently in the month of May.  Hmmmm.....

I cleaned off my 301A machine.

Can you see it?

Yep there they were sitting under a pile of Jeff's shirts which were prepped to be made into quilt blocks and other miscellaneous detritus.  Now I have at least 18 new blades, as long as I don't nick a ruler the titanium last quite a while.

That my friends is a pool noodle.  What is it doing laying on the floor in the house?  I want you to know that finding a pool noodle in mid September is a fete of mammoth proportions--at least in Michigan.  I finally found one at the dollar store on the close out table for 75 cents.  Now I can understand close outs, but if it is a dollar store, explain to me why bread is $1.25?  Just wondering....how can everything be a dollar if it is $1.25.  Is it like the old 5 and dime stores?  Was there anything that was really just a nickel or a dime?  Sorry I digress.....can you tell I am procrastinating?  More on that later--maybe even in another post.  Anyway back to the pool noodle.  Recently I watched a video on quilting on a mid arm and how to handle larger quilts.  There was a suggestion to use a pool noodle.  Cut it in 1/2 or 1/3, take a portion of the noodle and center it along the top edge of your quilt in relation to where you want to quilt and roll it down.  Do the same thing for the bottom edge of your quilt and roll it up.  Now take your sides, and just loosely roll them in and secure with a large straight pin, like a corsage pin or something similar.

Tada, make the quilt easier to handle, nope haven't tried it yet, been a wee bit too busy.

Sweet, lovely Kris at Kris Loves Fabric shared that she loved the Awesome Ocean pattern by Elizabeth Hartman--so of course I had to send her a little surprise.  The little minx (Kris) made her first Octavian Octopus, and showed him off on Instagram.....then challenged me to make one too!  I thought well I can't let that happen, I have to go make a fabric pull. I should be able considering my  SABLE (Stash Beyond Life Expectancy).  But then I had a couple of off days and couldn't choose.  Fat Quarter Shop to the rescue.  Did you know that Robert Kaufman has a line called Reef?  Did you know that there is a coordinating bundle of Kona solids and Essex Linen (not shown, it hasn't arrived yet)?  I do!  Lets just say it takes the thinking out of the equation right now. 

 

Half yard bundle of Reef by Robert Kaufman fabrics, and Moda Concrete textures in Pearl for the background. 

I also chose some Sale fabrics from Thousand's of Bolts, a couple of these won't work, they have been culled from the herd, appropriately contained on comic book boards to find their way to the "stash".

Then I had a Batik Bundle of Surf Squirt by Island Batiks from Claudia Pfiel that I had won a while back.  I added that to the mix.

Throw in some scraps.

 I think I have a pretty awesome collection of fabrics for the Awesome Ocean quilt, especially when my reinforcements of Kona and Essex linen.  I don't have a lot of solids, maybe I can forage something from the dreaded stash until it arrives. 

As of Thursday Kris was ahead of me 2 Octavian Octopi, and 2 Puffy the Puffer fish and an Angelica.  I haven't checked today (Friday) , I was too disheartened.....:D..... just....can't....go....on.

Oh look my Kona solids/essex linens arrived!

Some of it is sparkly too!

This is where I am going to end this tale....I got side tracked with life...which will be shared in the next post.