Monday, February 15, 2010

** Up-DATED***Where did the week go??

Wow I can hardly believe its been a week since I last posted!! Well all I can say its been a busy week here on the Oleo Ranch. I had to go purchase a reconditioned wash machine.. because mine went out right before I went to CA for Grandma Peachy's Birthday. I should have done that on the last days off .. but I was sort of waiting on the snow to melt and the yard to dry out a bit. You would squish up to your ankles in the mud around here. I almost made it until the soil dried a bit..... But oh no the silly horses ran out of hay and I had to have some brought in... My yard and barn yard look like someone turned it into a dirt track.

The ruts are about 8 inches deep. I am so up set. I will have to either have dirt hauled in or have my brother bring over his little Bob cat and do some leveling work. It's so bad ..... if you wanted to get a riding mower over the ruts you couldn't. They are just too deep. Its that bad. Maybe I will have to take a photo tomorrow and post it here on this entry.

I did do one fun thing this week....I figured out my owl block for the block swap on Pins. I also sat down and designed a new sewing tote that I want to make for my self. It will be awesome!! So awesome I am going to try and make a pattern as I go along ;)Speaking of Pins there is an Annie Doll Challenge up there right now in the Fun with Annies Group. If your not a member and want to play along.. run over and join in on the fun. We would love to have you ;)

Ok now for the good part of the post. I went to the discount fabric shop and purchased some fabric scraps. I love getting those.. you purchase them by the pound. These are left over bits from the quilting classes. Some of the bits are just shy of a fat qt but most of them are strips and tri-angles. I find they are perfect for working on those patch work items ;) This way you get a lot of different fabrics for those small projects that you need only and inch or two piece. NO one wants to cut up a yard of fabric or a ft qt for that small amount.
Here is a photo of all my bits that I purchased. I even purchased one of those shoe holders to put them. I posted a great way to store your scraps a while back and it was using this method of storage ;)

Ok now here is the really really good part of the post.


Raise your hand how many of you have purchased one of these for your Quilting rulers???
This is known as a Gypsy Gripper.. cost about $19.95.These are very nice ;)



Well being the frugal shopper that I am... I decide not to purchase this sweet gripper.. it's just a tad out of my budget. Instead of purchasing a Gypsy Gripper..... I was standing in the isle at Wal-mart ... what did I happen to spy...

This
I said to myself I wonder if this would work for a handle for my ruler???
So I purchased one and low and behold...
here it is...


It works perfect.... and it only cost me a small sum of $2.73. Now that's a bargain that anyone of us could afford. It was a tad tricky getting it on the ruler. I don't know you might have to have some man help.... It was very difficult.... you had to moisten the suction cups :) Other than that it was easy peasy. If you spent the total cost of the nice Gypsy Gripper on these...you could have one of these grippers for each of your rules :)

8 comments:

Melissa ;-) said...

Great tip! Thanks!

Doris Sturm said...

Even though I'm not a quilter, I love improvising and saving money. I'm finally back online, but with a cheaper and much, much slower internet connection. A lot of the photos on the blogs load very slowly and I have no patience for that.

I just wanted to check in with you to say hello and hope you had a nice Valentine's Day yesterday inspite of your messy yard. I did enjoy the spout of snow we got the other night. It wasn't much, just enough to snap a couple of photos and let Gizzy check it out (pictures on my blog)...how's your pooch? Did she see the snow too?

By the way, I'm having a President's Day Giveaway on my blog for a crocheted patriotic rooster potholder in case you would like to participate. Tell the others too ;-) I will try to join in your Saturday night chat sessions ... bye for now,
Doris and Gizzy :-)

luv2quilt2 said...

I bought the small size of the Gypsy Gripper when I was making a Tennessee Waltz quilt. The triangle ruler was so difficult to keep in place because it was so small, the handle gave me something to hold on to while I cut.

CC said...

What a wonderful idea on the Gypsy Gripper..and how I wish I could find the fabric by the pound from quilters. In my area,I can find bags of fabric pieces,but not often. You know though,it may be a blessing. I have more fabric than I can probably ever use, and I just can't resist buying more. :), Maybe I'm just a fabric collector..

Holly Days Closet said...

OMG I saw the same thing at wal-mart and wondered if that would work but never bought one. Guess what I'm doing tomorrow wal-mart here I come. Thanks so much for the tip.
Holly

JudyCinNC said...

Love your innovation for your ruler handle. I have always thought the gypsy grippers were way over priced. Way to go APP !!!

Unknown said...

Now ladies don't get me wrong.. I think the Gypsy Gripper is very nice product.. but just out of my budget. I just had to figure out a different way of doing it ;)
Isn't that what life is all about ... being different?
M

Becky said...

Dangit! A big ol smack to the forehead! I have a couple of those around here somewhere but never thunk to attach it to a ruler. DOH!

Thanks M!