turkey feathers: Ties That Bind

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It's a bit soggy here this morning with more spring showers. I went outside between downpours and found this little corner of the yard looking so pretty. The daisies planted themselves here with the clematis and next to the lupine. They've popped up all over the yard and even make the weedy patches look presentable.

The Mister's been cooking all the meals this whole entire weekend and I couldn't be happier about that. (His idea and gift to me!) He usually makes breakfast on the weekends and in fact is making French Toast as we speak. The kids all got their first kitchen experience from him. As soon as they were old enough to stand on a stool and hold a spatula they were at his side flipping pancakes or stirring the waffle batter every Saturday & Sunday morning. It's great when the whole family participates together and makes a contribution toward bringing food to the table, whether it's the planning, shopping, cooking or clean-up, with the acknowledgment that it's not just one person's "job". I do the bulk of it without too much whining, but it's really nice to have supportive helpers.

Not having to think about meals really frees up my time for other things... like um...driving all over town yesterday to find enough bias binding for this quilt. I only needed four little packages for heavens sake. Resources are often limited in a small town and that can make it near impossible to find all you need in one place. A simple outing turned into a quest. I ended up with two packages from Joann's, one from a local craft store and one from the drug store. The last two weren't from the same dye lot and didn't match, but I bought it anyway because by that time I just wanted to get home. No wonder I have such a hard time finishing things--ha!

And speaking of that, I'm pleased so many of you are getting into the race with 'Finish What You Have'. I'm setting up a flickr group over here so we can share the projects we've dug out. Seeing what others are doing will help inspire us. A big thank-you to Justine for making a button for this. Actually, I think her hubby made it which explains the racing flags thing. I would've never thought of that, but he did and I think it's very clever. I love the colors! Feel free to use it on your blog. Finishwhatyouhave I'll be adding it to my sidebar once I figure out how to do this again. (I have the code, but it doesn't seem to be working, nor is my email to Justine going through to Australia, so if you happen to be reading this dear...help! ) This should be fun, I don't want anyone to feel like they're under a deadline or anything though. Quilts for instance, may probably take longer than a month to complete. And we all know life happens. The main idea is just getting the stuff out again and committing to finishing it. I'll most likely start a new project here and there in between, even though I'm still pushing to get my older projects to the finish line.

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Hi!
I have just emailed you :) Yes my husband designed it!!!! I gave him the fabric pattern and he did the rest...... :)

me: Thanks so much Justine, and please thank your hubby too!

Posted by: justine | June 04, 2006 at 02:39 PM

It's always good to come back here,to your wonderful place!
The quilts you have to finish are lovely and this idea of "finnish what you have" can also jump from the craft world to the real life. We all have our big or litle projects to finnish, but sometimes some of them can get stucked in the drawer! This idea can give us the push to get them done and accomplish our forgotten projects other than just craft projects.
So lets make real something (or somethings!) we are planning to do but because this and that, we haven't done it yet!

Posted by: Suzanne | June 04, 2006 at 03:37 PM

When I read your entry about the bias binding the first thing I thought of was continuous bias binding.

I'm sure you know you can make it yourself right?

I had my first experience of making my own a few months ago for a quilt and I am *so* not ever buying any again.

There's two advantages: you can choose any colour you like and you can have it any thickness you like.

It's stronger than regular bias binding if you use the double thickness. Best of all, you can get yards and yards out of a FQ.

Here's a link to the instructions I used for mine (even though I had to call my mom a few times to make sure I was doing it right!).

http://pir8.freeservers.com/quilting/CBT/ <-- that's the tutorial I used

http://www.savvyseams.com/techniques/biastape.php <-- photos of the process

I'm sure you know all this anyway, but I thought I'd share :)

Posted by: Ash | June 05, 2006 at 12:28 AM

Lovely ~ your whole blog is delightful and I must say your quilts look divine :)

Posted by: kali | June 05, 2006 at 04:23 AM

I love the Finish What You Have idea. Personally, June for me will be Organize What You Have. Then maybe July will be Swap What You Have. I need to do some fabric housekeeping. Thanks to you and Toni for the inspiration!

Posted by: jean | June 05, 2006 at 05:13 AM

Ah ha! Finally something I can do with all those oodles of bias tape I have no idea what to do with! Seriously, I have waaay more than I will ever need in lots of different colours and widths, so next time you need something, just give me a shout :)

Posted by: misplacedpom | June 05, 2006 at 11:01 AM

I have a few things to finish up. I'm so glad to have found this!

Posted by: carolb | June 05, 2006 at 01:50 PM

Sorry I'm late, but I am definately into "Finish What You Have" I will be sure to sign up with your Flickr group. Thanks! I love the second quilt too! It's so pretty! I have been refraining from buying new fabrics and such because I have been trying to use what I have already. Good idea!

Posted by: Michele | June 05, 2006 at 02:01 PM

Vicki, I LOVE both your quilts.....so much work, they are true treasures!

This may sound bad but it is kind of good to know other people have to go on 'quests' to get their stuff too. I truly thought it was just my 'bad luck' even if I don't really believe in luck.

I also was thinking maybe if you soaked all the bias binding in the sink in some hot water maybe the colors would mesh together better? I don't know if this would really work but I thought it might be woth a try.

And as someone else mentioned I am also bringing 'finish what you have' into other parts of my life. We are finally unpacking and hanging the pictures in our house. It's only been 1 1/2 years that's not too bad is it? :)

Posted by: Kathie | June 05, 2006 at 03:18 PM