September is National Sewing Month

How will you celebrate?
Visit the National Sewing Month website
Check out Barbara Brackman's Quilt 1812: War & Piecing blog
Dream about the arrival of Rouenneries Deux
Participate in the Moda Country Fair blog hop
Solve the Mystery - Quilting is Murder

Fabulous Free Finds:
Another idea to celebrate sewing ~ make a scrap quilt based on value. It's remarkably liberating to forego all rules and place fabric only according to whether it's light or dark. C'mon, give it a try! Here are a few patterns centered on that principle:

Cindy Carter's Scrappy Maple Leaf
Log Cabin (and Courthouse Steps, a variation)
Curved Log Cabin
Any of Bonnie K. Hunter's patterns (Scroll down, patterns are listed on the right side of the page)

Aren't they lovely? Most importantly, enjoy the process.
~~Lisa

Holy Smokes!

Have you ever come into fabrics that smell of smoke? Recently 12 gorgeous fat quarter-sized scraps found their way to me sealed in quart-sized zip bags. When I opened the gift to admire the contents I was left with a sore throat after just three or four minutes of unsealing the bag. Whoa ~ strong stuff! Mr. IQ gets migraines from the smell of smoke, so it's not an option to have the smoke-scented fabrics around. What to do?

The good news: How I got rid of the odor:

I sealed them in the zip bags and sprinkled approximately one tablespoon of baking soda in each bag, then filled it with water to cover the tops of the fabrics. I then added a bit of 'odor eliminator' (Febreeze, for example, just unscrewed the top and poured in a bit) and zipped them up, agitated them (turned a few times, gently shook) to be sure the additions circulated around the fabrics and left them overnight. In the morning I opened the bags and poured out the yellow/tan water. I then filled the bags half way with fresh water and added enough white vinegar to cover the tops of the fabrics. In the afternoon I emptied the water/vinegar mixture out and squeezed the excess from the fabrics, then laundered them. The smelled great to me and they passed Mr. IQ's sniff test too.

Give this a try if you need to remove smoke smell from fabrics. Now I have lovely fat quarters to add to a scrap quilt or two.

~~Lisa