My brother bought a house!

My brother just bought a house and we're all pretty happy for him. He's 40 something and it's about time he settled down! Now it might not be the house we would have picked for ourselves but I think it suits him. It's a small bungalow, with a decent sized property that backs on the river and a park. It has a large detached garage/workshop, one of the things that makes it perfect for him. He's very talented and designed a lot of the fixtures we have in our store. So it's great he will have his own permanent workspace. The former owner was a mechanic and the place was filled with cars and car junk! I'll spare you those before photos! The former owner had until the end of May to clear out the garbage! As of yesterday, the vehicles were gone an the garage cleared, but still there was quite a bit of junk on the property; he is supposed to get the junk removal people in today to clear the last of it! Cross your fingers!


Above is a photo of a steel rail from a railroad, that is actually one of the beams in the ceiling of the basement in his house! There are 2 or 3 of these rails in the house used as beams. We find this ironic, since my brother is an avid model railroader, so another reason that this is his "perfect" house. :P


My brother is a notorious collector of speakers and stereos. Above, a turntable or some call it a record player....these predate CD's for you young folk(hehehe), he buys them from garage sales, Goodwill, auctions, and yes he will even pick them from garbage. Amazing what people will throw out that still work!

Anyway, what has this got to do with quilting? well of course I must make him a quilt for his new home. I originally thought I would make a psychedelic quilt based on his favourite TV show The Prisoner, going as far as designing 13 different versions on my EQ5! but then I rediscovered Bonnie's website and was admiring all her scrappy quilts, and thinking I really should have a go at that Scrappy Bargello quilt....but do I really have enough scraps? It turns out I do! I call them "scraps in waiting".

Bonnie says even your ugliest fabric looks great in this quilt....I don't usually make scrappy quilts, so Bonnie, I am putting my trust in you! I dug down deep into my stash to find stuff I've never used, haven't used in 10 years and stuff other people have given me that I didn't know what to do with. I've reacquainted myself with my Debbie Mumm, Thimbleberries and even some pieces of old clothing. So, now I am thinking a scrappy quilt, is perfect for my brother the recycler! And so it begins....stay tuned!