It's been fun, but...

I haven't sold anything via Etsy in a long time, so today I finally decided to close the shop.  I've been thinking about it for a long time.  I give away many of my quilts and sell more items at the local florist's shop on consignment anyway.  Selling can sometimes be stressful - finding a box and getting things in the mail ASAP.  I don't like to make quilts with an eye toward what will sell anyway.  And lately I've been producing fewer quilts, perhaps because I've been making more complicated ones most of the time.

Paul's sister Pat is due here in the middle of the month, and we have a family gathering a few weeks after that.  I'm going to ask her to help me figure out which quilts might be good to give away at that time.  I think some of the folks will be driving up so I won't have to mail them.  I do want to send one to California after Paul's nephew, who has a new job, moves.  

Here is one of my unsold favorites from the shop.  I remember making these star blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every month in 2023 (or was it 2022?).  It will make a cozy throw for someone's couch or dorm bed.

Farewell, my lovely

I was surprised yesterday by a message from Etsy telling me that I had sold a quilt.  I made this quilt years ago, sold it last year, and had it returned to me.  The buyer said the person she'd bought it for didn't want it.  Imagine my disappointment.  I loved making this twin-sized curved log cabin with a bundle of florals!  And Marie's quilting couldn't be beat.

Finding a mailing box wasn't easy, but I settled on one in the basement.  I will need to find a large sized priority box, just in case I sell something else this year.  Luckily, the parking lot at the post office was clean(ish) so I had no trouble walking.  Otherwise, I would have recruited Paul to carry the box.  

I'm happy to have reduced the inventory by one good sized quilt, and hope this buyer will love it as much as I do.

Options and a sale

I forgot to show the three "Options" blocks for this month.  Aby Dolinger has designed a scrappy block of the month with variations, and I have made at least three blocks in a black/white/red colorway all year.  This month's blocks are "Birds in Flight," which is very appropriate.  We've heard lots of Canada geese honking away on our daily walks lately.  

I'm looking forward to putting these blocks together, although it won't be soon!  I am a little behind on my blocks of the month because I've been putting my Harriet's Journey blocks together.  Hope to get the center done today.  My pineapple blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge will just have to wait, and I'm sure I'll be doing them in 2022, too, in order to get a quilt of any size.

This morning, I received news from etsy.com that a small, fall tabletopper has sold, so I'll be packing it up and mailing it to Washington state.  

Fall colors aren't usually my thing, but I did like making these wonky flying geese with a gray-tan background.  It's Are We There Yet? from a book by Sew Kind of Wonderful and uses their mini-curve tool.  

I quilted it modern-style and am glad someone else will enjoy it.  The back is a blue sampler made with swap blocks, so it can be turned around or used as a baby quilt.  My first order of business today will be a trip to the post office.  It's a rainy, gloomy day, but it will be nice to get out of the house.  Maybe I'll stop by the bakery across the street for treats?

Another sale!

This is the year of mail order, I guess, and I've been doing quite a bit of it myself.  My etsy shop has been busier than ever, too.  This summer I sold a blue and gray Civil War sampler quilt that had been on there for several years, and before Thanksgiving my Ohio Star sampler sold.  

The buyer of the Ohio Star quilt wondered if she could return it if it didn't fit her bed.   I labored over a response, hoping to sound encouraging and not negative.  I have been worrying ever since I mailed it, but so far, it has not returned to me.  I especially love the scrappy green border on that quilt which includes blocks from a swap in my local guild.    

Earlier this week, I received an inquiry about my Modern Ohio Star challenge wall hanging.  The person wanted to know if  I could make one just like it, only "a little" bigger.  It is 21" x 26", and she wanted it to be 36" x 48", not even the same proportion.  The inquiry caused another diplomatic dilemma for me as I absolutely had to decline.  I used "Quilters Linen" for the navy blue and know that my local shop no longer has any because I liked it so much that I tried to get more for another quilt.   

Luckily, someone else likes it just the size it is, and I mailed it to someone in Colorado a couple of days later.   I hope it arrives there before Christmas.  Everything seems to be taking longer to mail these days.  I really liked this little quilt which was a guild challenge to "modernize" a traditional block.  The back has one large, strippy Ohio Star, making it reversible.  It's so gratifying when something sells!

A sale!

I have had an etsy shop for some years now and have only sold a table runner... until yesterday!  

My lovely Blue Orange Peels quilt sold to a lady in Washington state, and I am, of course, over the moon.  It is all wrapped and ready for mailing later this afternoon, ahead of yet another snow storm.

This is one of my very favorite quilts, and I'm a little sad to see it go.  But I can't keep them all, and it's nice to have a little "pin" (ahem!  "fabric") money come in.  Maybe I'll make another one soon, perhaps in lavender or pink.  I love appliqueing those orange peel blocks.  You may not be able to tell from the photo, but the border is made of small tumblers.   I quilted a grid in the open spaces which turned out really nice, too.  The plain muslin back shows the quilting really nicely.

Yesterday, I finished putting the piano keys border on the orange and yellow quilt.  I sewed all the way around the outside edge so that it won't stretch while quilting.   It's going to show and tell at guild next week, and when we get back from Virginia, I'll start quilting it.   I have the yellow binding all cut out and ready to sew and iron.  Maybe I'll do that tomorrow while I watch the @#$%^&*!snow - 12" expected in the next two days.  Everyone is sick of it, except the skiers.

Little purses, etc.

Yesterday, I finished making 8 "run around" bags using a pattern by Lazy Girls.  I've made several before, include a couple for Paul's sister Pat.  She wanted some to give to friends in Florida who keep admiring hers.  When I asked her what colors or styles, she said, "Florida."  I hope she likes what I picked out!

One of hers is a little less busy than "Florida" because I thought perhaps she might have a more conservative friend, and I kept two others very similar to the above to give as gifts myself.  They're going in the mail today.  Pat and her husband have been living in a camper in their driveway since the recent hurricane pretty much gutted their house.  I hope these little gifts brighten her day.

And speaking of brightening a day, when I go to the post office with the purses, I'll also step across the street to deliver some quilts to a lady who is getting an apartment ready for her niece and small great nieces.  They are re-locating here in the frozen North from Puerto Rico.  Apparently, Elizabeth lost five relatives in the recent hurricane there and doesn't want to lose any more.  I have been looking for people to give quilts to as my etsy shop doesn't really get much action.  I'm so glad to be able to do this for them!  Here are two of the quilts.

The other is a teal and purple child-sized quilt I made before we got the new computer and lost some of my photos.  My quilt rack still has plenty of quilts on it, just waiting for homes, and during 2018 I hope to keep giving them away until there's a manageable number!

A new outlet

I have had an etsy shop for some time but have only sold two items, one to a friend privately and a table runner via the site.  I keep adding and subtracting this as I make them, but feel it's a bit futile.  Still, what else can I do with the growing pile of quilts that aren't suited for the Parkinsons Comfort Project or the hospital's children's center?  Etsy's charges are so low that I just keep at it.  I made a Facebook page to link to the shop also.


Thursday I went to a new flower and gift shop downtown and saw a baby quilt and some other crafts by local people for sale.  I asked the owner, Alexis, if she'd be interested in trying to sell a few of my quilts, and she encouraged me to bring them down.   She said Christmas is a good time.  This morning, I took these two baby quilts to her shop and am hoping they will sell.  Alexis takes a 25% commission, which seems reasonable to me.   I don't really care about the money, but it would be nice to have a little "mad money" to buy more fabric!  😊

A finish and a sale!

Yesterday, I finished sewing down the binding on this traditional lap quilt:

I bought the "brown" fabric on sale, thinking that it was purple, but in different light, it looks purplish brown with a hint of burgundy.  So I went back to the shop and bought the coordinating gold polka dots, for a double whammy of buyer's remorse!  I shuffled it around for a year, trying to figure out what to do with 3 yards of each.  I used it in just about every small piece I could think of, mostly on backs of things.  I still had quite a bit left.  One day, I was playing around with my "BlockFab" app on my phone and spotted a nice setting - Nine patches alternating with Shoo Fly blocks.   I like the way the two go together.  I quilted it on a grid, and now it is fore sale on my etsy shop.  I STILL have some of that fabric which I will probably use in various scrap quilts til the day I die. 

But as luck would have it, I actually sold a quilt that was on my etsy site, my first sale in a year although I have had a few inquiries.  Actually, a friend bought it as a baby gift, so I just deleted the quilt from my site and mailed the quilt out yesterday.  She had me make a baby gift before, for her stepson's new baby.  This baby is on her Canadian side, and I hope they like it.

Now to figure out what to do with the green and red batiks and the coordinating red on cream print - I have about 3 yards of each, too!

Another quilt for the etsy shop

I finished this last week but didn't get around to taking pictures and listing the quilt on etsy.  Here is my Disappearing Nine Patch Kitties quilt!

I love the pink batik binding, but I don't know that I'll ever do a Disappearing Nine Patch quilt again.  It's too hard to get the colors spread around the quilt in a pleasing way.  I spent forever rearranging them!

I haven't done any sewing today - just errands, laundry and reading (The Light in the Ruins, Chris Bohjalian's latest).  In a little while, I'll head to Sandy's for our Monday afternoon get-together, and then I'll go to the Websterville playground for a neighborhood meeting to plan the new equipment.  Tomorrow we hope to give the dog a bath, I'll clean house a bit, and then there's a meeting to plan the Democrats' summer BBQ.  Maybe I'll get some sewing time in in the afternoon, although there's a terrific sale going on at my local quilt shop...

Woven Strips

I signed up for the "strip club" at A Quilter's Garden, beginning in December.  Every month, for $10, we receive a batch of 2.5" strips from a particular line or type of fabric.  The January batch was super bright, and the February one had a bunch of solids and blenders.  Together with white, they made a very cute baby quilt!

I got the pattern from the Moda Bake Shop which has loads of ideas for fast, easy projects.  I quilted it on a diagonal grid and used scrap strips for the cheerful binding.  The back is a cozy flannel.

My English Garden

It's another sunny day, perfect for taking pictures.  Here's the "one block wonder" I just finished.

At first, I thought it looked like end papers, but as it came together it began to have a garden quality to it.  The fabric I used for the back has landmarks of England - Stonehenge, Parliament, Shakespeare's cottage.  Hence, the name.  I'll be putting it up on my etsy site, Cobble Hill Quilts, shortly.

Etsy shop

I took a baby step into selling the other day.  After several months of consideration and some advice from Samantha, I opened an Etsy shop.  I agonized the most about a name and finally settled on "Cobble Hill Quilts," since that's where I live and I like alliteration. 

I posted two quilts for sale:  last year's throw-sized guild mystery quilt, and last year's guild challenge quilt which is baby-sized.   This is the front of the challenge quilt.  The back used the challenge fabric in a modified Blooming Nine Patch with brighter colors.