Gayle Bong Quilts Too

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a quilt.

2012-01-27T19:11:00.000-06:00

My Birds-in-the-Air quilt is moving right along. I finally decided what I wanted to do with it. One of my thoughts was this arrangement, but I thought the variety of colors I used made it look too busy.

I will use the plan I showed in my last post, but I'm going to arrange the colors randomly. I organized the pieces I made and took notes on what else I have to cut and sew. Motivated by my new big mattress, I decided to make it bigger after all. The additional pieces I need to cut will be in brighter colors.

It seems my quilts suffer from being from the midwest where the colors are often dark. Or so I am told. It doesn't help that my nearest quilt shop handles country/primitive styles. I like it all, but often find that I prefer the darker colors, and I definitely like high contrast. My printout from EQ6 shows a navy blue border, but I haven't made a decision yet. You'll probably help me make that choice. TIA

It's not a Bedspread

2012-01-25T20:23:00.000-06:00

I was saving this picture for when I didn't have any of my own quilting to show. Dotty Huckaby made this using the pattern "Bosom Buddies" from my book Save the Scraps. She has made several quilts from that book. I like to hear that and I like to see that! It sure is neat to see how she limited herself to just a few fabrics instead of scraps. I sometimes like a design enough to want to make it several different ways. Makes it nice for lectures and workshops to show the possibilities. Thanks Dotty. It turned out great.

I am a little frustrated today because I ordered a new mattress. They sure do make them thick now. I can't say I wasn't warned, but WOW. The new thickness will make some of my favorite quilts too small - to use as a bedspread. And I have to emphasize that because everytime our church group makes a raffle quilt, there is at least one that whines that we are not making the quilt big enough for a bedspread. SO??????????

So just scanning my scrapbook where I have noted the sizes of each quilt, I see that I have plenty that will be big enough to cover the top mattress (including the sides), and some that will cover both mattresses. I know I don't want to make the others bigger, but that reminds me of bedspreads we had when we were kids. Back then a bedspread covered the pillow, included extra for a pillow tuck and reached to the floor all around the 3 sides. The only part that was quilted on our bedspreads back then was the area on the top of the mattress and pillow. The "drop" on the sides were just matching fabric that was gathered. Interesting how styles change. Anybody want to change some back with me???

Flying Geese ARE Birds in the Air

2012-01-22T17:09:00.000-06:00

We had snow Tuesday so quilting at church was cancelled. I spent the day straightening up in my sewing room and the studio downstairs. Then I cut triangles for the 4" half-square triangle units for the Birds-in-the-Air quilt. I sewed them together and started playing with them again. First I came up with this.

The bigger it is the less I like it. Maybe I will use the leftovers in a border. I planned to put a Flying Geese border on this one. Lisa came over and suggested I arrange them in groups of color, so we played with that. I am not convinced I like that. Lisa loved it, Mark thought there was too much purple and I didn't like the red just in one corner. Sure glad I don't have to please anyone but myself, still I like to hear their opinion. It bothers me more when they don't say anything.

I'm a little tired of it now so will go downstairs to quilt.

four-patches found a home

2012-01-18T18:47:00.000-06:00

I played around with the four-patches I made and decided to put them in the corners of scrappy stars.

Then I tried this arrangement too.

Let's see, what else can I come up with. Oops, I can see I will need to be careful that I turn the four-patches the same way in each block.

I don't keep quarter-square triangles precut and waiting from scraps, so I had to cut those. I am making 12" blocks, so using 3 1/2" strips and the companion angle I cut 4 triangles for each star. Anytime I use the companion angle, I always cut a half-square triangle from the end of the strip first, otherwise that scrap is wasted. Here I am using the Omnigrid 96L ruler (The Easy Angle ruler works the same). I will finish the strip cutting half-square triangles too. If the scrap isn't big enough, then I will cut a smaller triangle or square. Those get filed for a future project.

I'll get these large flying geese units sewn up quickly. I want to get back to the Birds in the Air blocks.

binding by machine

2012-01-14T21:47:00.001-06:00

The adrenaline from quilting with Judy carried through to quilting Thursday when Margie came to quilt. The fresh snowfall kept Shaggy home. It felt good to get back on track after the holidays. The snow is sure pretty, and I am glad I didn't have to drive anywhere.

I got the friendship stars together. I remember thinking the last time I worked on it that it wasn't very colorful. It is hard to believe that this border changed it so much. It sure reads "red" now. I don't know that I am thrilled with it, but when I was playing in EQ with the block I had a hard time deciding on a setting. Then when I went back to those files while getting ready to finish it at Judy's, this arrangement struck me the most so I went with it without much more thought. I'm just loving the colors.

In my last post I left to do Lisa's binding. That night I applied it in 2 1/2 hours - start to finish. I always finish my bindings by machine, front and back. Sewing the back down by machine always leaves questions, so here are some photos.

After sewing it all around and joining the ends, and starting at any corner turn the binding to the back, lapping the folded edge over the seam. Pin or hold in place as you place it under the presser foot and lower the needle into the ditch. This step is only accomplished easily with an open toe foot. Double click photo for closeup. The bobbin thread should match the binding. The top thread can either be the clear nylon stuff (if the binding and border are two different colors) or match the binding and border (if they are the same color). Stitch 2-4 inches in the ditch.

Every several inches, turn the quilt back to check that the binding is folded past the seam before proceeding to stitch it in place.

I cut binding strips 2 1/4" wide, seam them together with a diagonal seam and attach to the quilt top with 1/4" seam. I trim the batting even with the binding, and the binding laps over the back seam about 1/8". If you prefer a wider batting, then the batting needs to be trimmed further from the edge of the quilt to fill the binding.

To finish each corner of binding, I backstitch before reaching the corner, then when I get to the end of the seam, I pivot and stitch the miter with a backstitch too. Maybe you can see the threads ending at the very tip of the corner.

And did I mention the 4 patches I was making for??? It seems sometimes I just gotta sew pieces together if for no other reason than they belong together. Busy week next week. It is Dot's 91st birthday and she has a Dr appt., there is a meeting with the church ladies and at Benny's and with our tax man. And I have to catch up with my bookkeeping. That will leave little time for quilting.

The short list

2012-01-09T21:34:00.000-06:00

Back to the retreat Friday with Judy. I did 3 of these blocks for "Ladies in Waiting". I will work on them when I am quilting with my friends. Won't take much thinking. I think there are at least 24 blocks planned with a pieced border.

On my flannel wall are the rest of the blocks I cut and sewed at Judy's. It doesn't look like much now, because they are stacked in order to sew. If you recall, the friendship star blocks I made a while back, what you see here is the border.

I was telling Judy the other day how I am lucky that I can do whatever I want whenever I want where my quilting is concerned. After looking around the sewing room tonight, I think I have to take that back. I don't think overwhelmed is the word, but sometimes it sure does feel like I have an awful lot that I want to do. I need to prioritize my projects. That's not usually a problem for me. Take a look at the other piles I have around the room.

This 1930's quilt has been waiting for the border for just a few weeks. That's when I changed my mind about how to assemble and border the blocks, but now I have to locate the muslin that I used in the blocks to make the border. Also not usually a problem.

The binding for Lisa's quilt is half pressed. I haven't gotten back to it because the table that will support the weight of it had a Christmas tree on it. Put that away this afternoon, so now I can bind. I have 3 others waiting for binding. Oh yes, a basket of socks is always waiting to get sorted.

These are my newest red fabrics that I washed and ironed tonight. Some of them I have had almost a year and they waited in a special laundry basket in my closet.

This last pile (that I am showing) is actually 2 different piles. One for an applique quilt that has been waiting for at least 6 months. Yes on the floor in the corner behind my cutting table. The other pile is some fabric that I want to move into the cabinet cause I want to rearrange some of my fabric for easier access to the batiks. I wanted to wash the reds first. Sure hope that doesn't sit for another month.

Sew, you say. Yeah, I should. Binding for Lisa first. I mean NOW, I have 3 hours till bedtime.
Wish me luck and good luck to you.

1 day quilting retreat

2012-01-06T23:52:00.000-06:00

As I said in my last post, I'd post this picture of the quilt top I finished right after Christmas. I am not overly fond of floral prints and wasn't keen on this as I finished the blocks. When I pulled them out last week and put them together I felt better about them. Then my Lisa saw it and was practically drooling over it. Kinda unusual for her. Funny after all this time, you'd think I'd know my own daughter's taste.

Earlier this week I had the lecture to give in Lodi. I was pleased with the response to my Thirtysomething quilts. And then there was a club meeting at BF. I took my hand quilted sampler for Show and tell. Sue came for a good long visit the next night. In between I got caught up a little on stuff around here that I neglected last month when Mark was home from work. And then yesterday I had to get stuff together for a mini retreat.

That was today when I retreated to Judy's for a much needed respite from everyday life. I haven't done any piecing lately and when I suggested to Judy that we get together, she asked if I'd come her way to spend the day. It's always exciting to spend the day with her because I have such a good time chatting and am so inspired and learn stuff too. She's the longarm quilter I used most till I got my machine. I sure hope she feels I entertained her enough to do it again. I know she liked that she was able to finish quilting this Irish Chain while I was there. I'd love to give credit to the designer and piecer too, but I don't have that info.

A sewing marathon like today always gets my gears wound up. Even though I put several kits together so I could grab and go, I still take some time to look at them first to make sure I will know what I am doing beforehand so that I don't have to do too much thinking while I am sewing with others. Glad that all worked out. Stuff got done that I'll show later. Judy doesn't have the same kind of flannel wall for taking pictures and apparently I should leave the camera home in the future. Thanks Judy. I had a great time.

Year end finishes

2012-01-01T19:22:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you had as good a weekend as I have. Mine was real quilty. It is not uncommon for me to finish a quilt on New Year's weekend. And this weekend I have several finishes to report.

This first one has been waiting the longest. The blocks were just orphans I made in my stash. A few of them date back over 25 years. Then about 5 years ago, I put them together. I liked how it turned out so much that I decided to hand quilt it using a wool batting. I quilted about half the blocks and removed it from the frame and put it away for a while. Then I brought it out about 1 1/2 yrs ago and finished the blocks. Then it sat for almost another year untouched because I couldn't decide how to quilt the border. Then I decided I'd rather use it this winter than let it haunt me another year so I let Lenni finish it. The quilting was all simple straight lines so I didn't want anything elaborate for the border quilting. This is how I finally quilted the border. See? That was early yesterday.

In the afternoon I loaded this quilt top for my daughter. She had recently complained that the quilt she is using is to small for 2 people. So I chose this quilt from my stash of tops and she chose simple meandering loops. What a great kid. Fast and easy. I didn't want to invest much time in custom quilting this top.

Thank goodness I took the picture. Otherwise, I don't know when I would have noticed that I sewed the star together wrong. And I remembered to fix it before quilting it. Yeah.

There was another top I finished I will show next time. Otherwise, there weren't many finishes for the year. Usually there are more, but it was a tough year again. And now my time is divided between the quilting with Lenni and piecing with Bernie (my Bernina) and...
Well, once again, Happy New Year and thanks for visiting.

It's Later

2011-12-28T20:48:00.000-06:00

Being later means it's quilting time! In between preparations for Christmas, I was able to find some time to do some quilting. So now this top I made almost 20 years ago is finally quilted and waiting for a binding.

It wasn't a very quilty Christmas for me otherwise. Not complaining as I have just about all a gal could want in the world of quilting. One quilty thing I was excited about this week though was how I reorganized my quilts in storage. When I saw Joy a few weeks ago, we traded my quilting services for a quiltrack/ladder. So I put it up in the warehouse and hung just the quilts I use on it. This might simplify things a bit for me.

Even better, after that, I cleaned out the closet and made room to hang some quilts from skirt/pant hangers. I saw this on Judy Martin's website years ago. Lord, why I didn't try this sooner I will never understand, but I love it. Hanging the quilts like this will make it easier to access them and without the weight of them being piled on top of one another the creases won't be so sharp and maybe permanent. I am sure it would still be a good idea to refold in the opposite direction every year or so. I had Mark move the pole up so I can hang up to 72" long quilts. The longer ones would have to be on a pole up at the ceiling or folded and clamped at opposite ends. Either way, I ran out of room in the closet. I will have to put Mark to work on that.

Have you noticed that my quilts are mostly folded wrong side out. I do that so they don't fade or pick up stains otherwise. I also keep a dust cloth on the piles cause I don't know when the cat may go up there and sleep or ... (ewww) and I also keep the blinds drawn in that room.

Birds in the Air

2011-12-19T20:58:00.000-06:00

I played with my Birds in the Air blocks yesterday. I usually find this sort of activity very soothing but lately these puzzles have left me feeling frustrated that I had another decision to make. In other words, I've made over 100 of these little blocks, I need to decide what to do with them next. Here are a few of my options.

My first thought was to arrange them as shown to the left.Then I tried a few more arrangements. The only decision I made was to make some large half-square triangle units to play with them. And then again, maybe I can use all these ideas in one quilt.

I decided I didn't need the stress right now and put them away and got ready for the meeting with the church ladies today. I just took in the two quilts I quilted and the two blocks I made for Mary and Rita for the block exchange.There was little other show and tell and all we did was put together kits for the next raffle quilt.

When I got home, I peeled off 30 quilts that were spread out on the twin bed upstairs and folded them with 3 folds each. My sister helped me put them on the bed a year and a half ago and I found it wasn't a good way for me to keep them. It was very difficult to pull one out to use when there were not only those quilts on the bed, but also a big pile of smaller quilts folded on top of them. I also reorganized the remaining quilts and tops. It was getting a little out of hand up there. I was looking for a few in particular. The wool quilt to finish, a top to quilt for my daughter, and another two to put on my bed. I like to swap those out every few months.

I will be back up there in a day or two because I have some tops down here that I want to move upstairs and already I need to get ready for a lecture on Jan 2nd!

Quilting through the holidays

2011-12-13T11:01:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone has been enjoying the holiday season. I don't have projects to finish for Christmas. But I have got one or two I want to start. Those gifts are for recipients that may read this, so I will share later.

These two quilts went to the women's shelter a few weeks ago with the others from church. I love the nine-patch.

Here is another one of two that I quilted for the shelter. I did freehand feathers over the whole thing. I see you have to pay attention to quilting the same size and space across the whole thing if you don't use a panto. It was fun.

Last night I visited a friend I see maybe twice a year. She had "stuff" for me. I was expecting her orphan blocks and sure enough she had a nice pile of blocks we can use. But besides this she had two small boxes of fabric from a friend's mother's estate for our comfort quilts. I took it home to sort. No wonder she didn't keep it for herself. There wasn't much good in it. The pile I pitched was mostly small, old, wrinkled poly blend scraps. A small pile went to the garage for the rag bag. Another small pile I will pass on to one of the church ladies to decide if she wants to cut it into pieces we could use. There was barely a straight edge in all the scraps. I am not so sure she was really a quilter. Maybe she did applique or other sewing. The good pile was has half yard and one yard pieces. I'm glad there wasn't more. We have so much fabric that is not getting used fast enough.
There was also a black quilt batt in her pile of stuff for me. Little did she know that it was wool. Which reminds me I have a wool quilt I started eons ago that I want to finish soon so we can use it this winter. I guess I should go upstairs and wade through the quilts to find it. I hope I will be able to report on that by the end of the year. I didn't have too many finishes this year. It would be nice to add it to the list.

Sorting Scraps again

2011-12-05T15:41:00.000-06:00

Last week I delivered 3 loads of quilts that the church ladies made this year. 24 baby quilts to the hospital, 22 kid quilts to the County Holiday Care program and 18 even bigger quilts to the Women's Shelter. I took a few pictures to share over my next few posts. Here's some.

I was anxious to get them out of the house. I am still in clearing out and organizing mode after emptying mom's apartment. So this weekend I tackled my basket of scraps on my cutting table, and rather than just sorting them and filing them away, I cut the short ends of strips into squares and triangles. My supply of those was getting low. I also spent some time deciding what to do with them all. So I hope to make a sample block or two of those and share those with you in the next week or two. Some of what I cut was for my on-going Birds-in-th-Air quilt like the purple block on the right. I have over 100 now, so I think I will start playing with those and decide what I will do with them next.

Sashed the quilt with stars

2011-11-28T20:13:00.000-06:00

It sure felt good to do some sewing again. This is the pile of blocks that the quilting ladies from church made for me. I had no idea how I was going to arrange them, or even what fabrics I would use with the blocks.

Rummaging around in my stash I found the itty-bitty gold flowers that worked great for sashing. I considered a few other arrangements, but I didn't have enough yardage for those options. Not sure what I wanted to border it with, I took a few selections to a church meeting and let the ladies decide. They chose this red paisley. I have had both the little gold flowers and the red paisley in the drawer for YEARS. I NEVER thought I would use them together.

The ladies liked this block so much that another gal decided to use it for her block exchange. She wants her blocks in white and pastel/30's prints. These are the two I did for her.

And believe it or not, they liked it so much that they decided that we should use the same block for our next church raffle quilt. So you will be seeing more of that block later, though in different settings.

Christmas will be here in less than a month, so I better get hopping. Not much for shopping anymore, but I will decorate a bit. I want to get that out of the way before next week, cause then I will need to focus again as mom's personal representative of her will. I sure hope I will find some time for quilting. I pulled out a pile of quilt tops I want to work on next. This week I hope to prep backs and plan the quilting for them so I don't have to think so hard in Dec, I can just quilt. Think it will work??? Sure, it's sorta like putting my own kits together.

I just need to make good notes and drawings. Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Mine was. Sew long,

Then in September

2011-11-19T22:06:00.000-06:00

As usual there were lectures and workshops on my agenda this fall. I spent one day with members of the Oshkosh guild. I arrived the evening before and then met my hostess for breakfast. There were over 20 ladies in class and they were really spread out. I was relieved when they found a microphone for my use during the workshop because I was developing a good case of laryngitis.

One of the members brought this quilt of my design to the meeting. I love it when they do that. Actually another gal also brought a quilt from the same pattern. Somehow I forgot to get a picture and I was even holding the camera!

Also as usual, I was teaching a Thirtysomething workshop. And I believe it was the same gal mentioned above that found this free pattern with the Thirtysomething technique on my website. What a surprise when instead of making the blocks as suggested, she produced these 9 different blocks from the same elements. I love it when that happens! Do you ever play with the pieces for a block to see what other designs you can come up with?

Playing Catch Up

2011-11-11T15:10:00.000-06:00

Things have quieted down and I've been able to quilt again. I'll show that later. First I'll show you what I put together back in August. I think I didn't show it sooner cause I was considering putting another border on it. I tend to border everything. But I guess I decided to call it done when I picked it up the other day and looked at it. I put the center together earlier this year from some old stash. Playing in Electric Quilt I came up with the pieced border. I like it, but it is darker than I'd prefer. Looks masculine to me. I have no use for it so I will stick it on my pile of quilts that are finished cause the top is done. Maybe in 20 years I will add more borders to make it a more useable size.

While I was waiting for my Edgerider Wheels to show up I quilted a few blocks to have samples of different batts that were quilted. I figured I ought to as long as I knew which battings they were. It was fun, so I think I want to put one of my samplers on the machine next.

The wheels arrived and we installed them the day before mom went to the hospital. I didn't get a chance to really try them until this week.They needed some adjusting and I think it could still be tweaked further. Not sure yet.

My sisters were a big help in cleaning out mom's apartment. We had a great time going through stuff and I was very happy that practically everything was divided unanimously. I found homes for most of her stuff and only threw away the real junk. Dealing with the will and probate is a long process, but not difficult, so things are pretty much at a new normal. It is November so that means Mark only works part time till the end of the year. I will sew as much as I can to maintain my sanity.

Cancellation notice

2011-10-13T18:58:00.000-05:00

I regret having to announce that I have had to cancel my lecture at the Genoa City Library on Monday night. I am unable to speak. Literally. If you are in the area, please spread the word. Thank you for your understanding and thank you to all that sent condolences at the loss of my mother. It's been such a comfort to read your kind words.

Time Out

2011-09-30T21:14:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note to mention that I haven't been posting - or quilting cause I had to take care of mom. As expected, she wasn't good all summer. Last week she went into the hospital. 8 days later to the nursing home. 3 days later I am planning her funeral. I don't imagine it is easy for anyone.
Occasionally, I remind myself anything I am going through is temporary.
And there is time for quilting later.
Till then,

Milwaukee Show

2011-08-30T22:06:00.000-05:00

I hope all is back to normal soon for those that have suffered the ravages of hurricane Irene.

The Milwaukee Machine Quilting Show was weeks ago, but it has been a hectic month for August. Finally, here is my belated report. I Really enjoyed the Show. Besides the class I taught, I took 5 classes. I also helped in one of the booths on several different days.

One class I took was taught by Karen McTavish. We were each to bring two quilt tops to get different custom quilting ideas. I like deciding the design to quilt on a top and I was looking forward to hearing Karen's ideas. I brought this old quilt top. I've recently added the border after using it for many years to demonstrate in classes how to finish the background of these large stars. This top (about 40" x 48") is one of maybe 7 different tops I still have to quilt from my Infinite Stars series all based on the concepts in my 1st book by the same name.

Not surprisingly Karen suggested feathers in the background and after my permission drew some feathers on a section of the quilt top with a disappearing ink pen. As pretty as they are, I'm not convinced that the background area of this quilt should be smothered in feathers. One of the questions she asked us to consider to help us decide on the quilting design was how was the quilt going to be used? Good question. I really don't have any plans for this quilt, but after I said I had used it for a class sample for years, I liked how she suggested that I might just keep it as part of my legacy. I really liked that and now I feel like I have a whole new reason to get those quilt tops finished. I was thinking that the quilt tops would be my legacy. It will be interesting to watch what influence that one little word will have on me.

One of the other classes I took was with Claudia Pfeil from Germany. Oh my goodness! I liked her quilts in the show the best and she was a really fun teacher, I'm sure in part because she was from Germany. Claudia's class was on decorative feather quilting for competition. Even though I never plan to quilt competitively I thought it would be a fascinating class. Again I was looking for ideas for the Infinite Star quilts. I am not sure I want to use many of her ideas for this quilt, but I might on one of the other stars. Claudia is a fast quilter and she quilted this sample in less than 25 minutes with many distractions. She ran out of time, otherwise she would have liked to fill in some of the areas with micro quilting. She covered everything she had intended in class, this was just a bonus sample that I got to keep. Be sure to double click to get a good look at this.

With the show so close to home it was easy to take classes. I'm glad I did. As a teacher I have learned there are many reasons to take a quilting class. Did I learn lots I can use besides that I need to practice? Probably. And it sure was inspiring, I'll have to do it again.

I have always been about the patchwork more than the quilting and it's the patchwork ideas that I want to continue to teach and sell. I want the focus to be on the patchwork more than the quilting. So for now I think I will keep my quilting on the light side while I continue to build skills with my long arm. Maybe someday...

Who are these for?

2011-08-08T19:56:00.000-05:00

I saw Jim from Quilter's Rule and Milwaukee Machine Quilting Show a few weeks ago and he asked me to quilt this for Quilts of Valor. So I quilted it with loops and stars. QOV presents U.S. veterans with a quilt as a special thank you for serving.

Lucrecia and I went to a quilting meeting at Benny's and then she stopped here and picked up some orphan blocks to make a quilt for church. That inspired me to play with these blocks. This is as far as I got and I had to take them off my flannel wall. I don't remember why. I didn't really like them together so maybe that was why. Maybe this is a good start after all.

Dealing with my people continues to be a challenge. I don't know what they'd do without me. I am not one to act like the world would end if it weren't for me. It's just occasionally I'd like it to stop spinning so I can get off. Things have settled down now, so I am looking forward to getting some more quilting time in. My new wheels are due to arrive this week!

2011 heat wave

2011-07-26T20:24:00.000-05:00

I'm thrilled I have the AC to turn on in the heat wave much of the US has been dealing with. I hope you found someplace to keep cool. I usually go to the basement studio to work a bit where it is even cooler. I have been working on 2 customer quilts that I don't want to share till she sees them.

The church ladies decided they wanted to do a block exchange like some guilds have. I was the second to pass out my directions. Each participant is to make two blocks and we're taking turns every other month. These are the first blocks turned in to me. I think I already know how I am going to put them together. I guess it wasn't too brilliant not having a plan to begin with. I guess it's the way I work.

If it gets below 80 degrees I'll go for a walk. There is a gorgeous prairie in fullllll bloom now with paved roads just a mile down the road and my route takes 45 minutes. I should think to take the camera. It is a new kind of subdivision for Wisconsin. It has about 52 one acre home sites on almost two hundred acres with restored prairie, woods and a lake for residents to enjoy. Only 7 houses built since the roads went in maybe 4 years ago. No wonder why. I can't get over what good medicine that walk is. Dealing with the people I help has been challenging these last two weeks.

The Milwaukee Machine Quilting Show is coming up soon. I'm getting excited about that. I think I want to start planning my spending. Any tips on how to do that???? Again this year between the classes I am taking, teaching and volunteering, I'm planning on spending most of the week there. I wonder how much I'll sleep.
Hope to see you there.

Life as Usual

2011-07-09T19:12:00.000-05:00

NOT. I sure wish it were life as usual around here. I have a case of insomnia getting increasingly worse. An hour or two of sleep at night makes it difficult to function during the day. I've always had trouble falling asleep and didn't call it insomnia cause I always felt rested the next day. That 's not the case now. So I got little quilting done again. I did get 30 friendship-stars finished. Now to decide what to do with them. Isn't that always my problem. I've narrowed my choices a bit already by adding the dark triangles to all the blocks. And I decided not to go with scrappy sashing, IF I use sashing. I like all my options, but one I am not showing that I like is to use them for a border. Of course, I'd have to decide on the blocks they would border and then make them. What do you think?

I've not done too much quilting in the studio either. I've been so frustrated with my longarm quilting that I ordered the new Edgerider Wheels for the machine. Nothing wrong with upgrading the equipment. They are so new (to the company) that they aren't really even advertising them yet and they are selling like hotcakes. There is a 2-4 week backlog. I can hardly wait.

I need to clean out the closet again. This time I need to get all the nooks and cranny's in the room too. Dragging everything out is a scary prospect, but it is usually inspiring. Sounds like fun to me.

Looky what I acquired.

2011-07-04T21:05:00.000-05:00

How do you like the antique quilt top I just got? Isn't it a hoot? I'm glad I don't have to 'Make do' with what ever fabrics I can get my hands on just so I can finish my quilt. I figured it's about 100 years old based on a book I have called Dating Fabrics. I counted over 40 different fabrics in it. It's got a few stains. I think I am going to check the reds for fugitive dyes before I wash it. I'd hate for the red to wash out and leave some of those patches just a pale tan. I might rather leave it stained.

With Mark off this last week I didn't have much time to myself to quilt. I started making some friendship stars. I'm not sure what I am going to do with them. Here's some on my flannel wall with some bigger triangles leftover from another project.

I don't know what came over Mark. He was off of work this week and I convinced him that we didn't have to stain the house again this year. So, instead we spent lots of time in town with everyone else celebrating the 4th. Highly unusual. The East Troy Lions Club sponsors quite a bit every year including a carnival and beer tent with live music, parade, tractor pull, fireworks and an antique car show. Also this weekend the Teal Sound Drum and Bugle Corp was in East Troy. They were here most of the week, staying at the high school and giving a presentation one evening. We also went to his sisters on the lake a few times. We had an unusually good time. Tomorrow it's back to life as usual. I can't wait. I hope you had a great weekend too.

Call for Quilts

2011-06-24T17:29:00.000-05:00

Machine Quilting Today is looking for quilts for their competition and show this August in Milwaukee. Entries need to be in by July 1st I think. Sounds like something I gotta do. I am not much of a show off, but I want the show there to be a success so I guess that means entering the show. If you like, you can enter a quilt too and we can show off our quilts together. It'll be fun. A link to the Milwaukee Machine Show is in the sidebar to the right, you can find entry forms there.

I thought I'd put a few kits together, but my scraps keep calling me and beg to be used. I didn't plan an actual quilt with them, but I started sewing anyway. I guess that means I am doing a mystery with Gayle Bong. I had half-square triangles in two sizes. The 3" I just paired light to dark in matching sets of 4. I did the same with the 2", but those I joined into Birds-in-the-Air units. It'll be an on-going project. As I acquire more triangles, I'll make more units then I will turn it into a fabulous quilt. Right? Well,that's the plan anyway.

I also started cutting triangles from my 1800's reproduction prints for a 1000 Pyramids quilt. That pattern is typically a charm quilt where by definition, every patch in the quilt (all 1,000) is cut from a different print fabric. Can't wait to see how many I have already. Since I started cutting this, I bought two more charm packs of 40 different reproduction prints. It all started cause I counted a little stack of fabric and was surprised when my guess was off by half. If there were as many as 60 in that little pile, I must have 100's in that one drawer... I might need to trade for the last 100 or so.

I started loading another quilt on the frame last night but couldn't continue when I discovered the batting was 20" narrower than the package stated. It was too late to call the customer so it was put on hold till tomorrow probably. You'll be the first to know.

Quilting Forever, Housework Never

2011-06-22T16:56:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm still quilting. In fact, I am more likely to actually be quilting with Lenni rather than piecing. Last week I quilted the Pinwheels on Parade raffle quilt for church. I brought it in with me to church on Tuesday and Rita took it home to put the binding on. Rita's Irish chain is the next quilt to go on the frame. Tonight I hope to get it loaded. Before I did the quilt for church I quilted this little piece just to try another freehand pattern. I think it turned out pretty good.

Deanna Treadway sent me a picture of the quilt she made from my book, Save the Scraps. I thought it was so nice of her to share a picture with me, especially since she won a free copy of the book in the giveaway that I had last year. This is the picture that she showed me, but there are more pictures on her blog. Didn't she do a great job? I like this quilt so much that it would be on my to do list if I hadn't already made it. Actually I was thinking of making it again and just sorting may scraps between medium and dark and not having specific colors like blue and brown. And then I think I would rather go downstairs and quilt with Lenni.

I've had a wee bit of trouble with Lenni and I found I had to clean the wheels. Who knew? And then there was still some vibration and I decide the carriage needed to be re-leveled. I'm thinking of upgrading the wheels, but trust me. I won't be going the $3000 route and getting the new track,carriage and frame. We'll see how I feel about it since I have made these adjustments.
It seems much of the USA has had unusual weather this year. Ours has not been especially seasonal, but that's fine with me. It has usually been a little cooler than normal, which makes for great weather for gardening and quilting. There was a time when I spent so many hours a day out in the garden. I was too exhausted to do any housework. I used to pray for rain so I would be forced to stay indoors and could take the time to clean the house. And then I got smart. I prayed for a cleaning lady. Well I never got her and I suppose my interests changed a bit. At least, I never let my house get out of control. What am I praying for these days? Well,why just a cleaning lady, how about a wife of my own? One that quilts, of course.

Adrenaline rush

2011-06-09T19:07:00.001-05:00

St. Peter's raffle quilt is ready for the quilter and this year that's me. 2 weeks ago I brought it home to finish. The rows just had to go together and the borders added. I don't know why, but sometimes I procrastinate and then it is never as bad as I think. This time it was the borders that held me up. The borders were all done and ready to go, but I reworked them a bit cause some of the fabrics we used in the border weren't in the center of the quilt and they clearly clashed! Didn't see that till I spread it out on my wall at home.

The pattern is called "Pinwheels on Parade" by Pat Speth from her book, More Nickel Quilts. This pattern was a great choice for a group quilt. It didn't matter that everybody sews a different width seam allowance. After the blocks were done, we squared up the blocks to 8" instead of 8 1/2". The border treatment was my idea. I don't think I could find a single print that I'd like more. I've never made a border like this before. Besides being easy to sew, it was easy to adjust the length to fit. On 3 sides I had to sew a deeper seam between 3 pairs of strips. It sure would have been a pain had they been diagonal seams.I hope to have it ready for the binding before we meet again on the 21st, cause I ain't doing that part.

While I was procrastinating about that border, I took a half-day to sew at Benny's. Instead of summer quilt club meetings, they are having an all day,once a month, come when you can open sewing session. I thought a mini retreat was in order. They're like adrenaline for quilters. So I packed a suitcase (it's got wheels) and machine and headed out. Attendance wasn't the greatest, but that just meant more room to spread out.

I cut all the strips for two lap sized quilts using the Accucut Studio Cutter. Then I made these 3 blocks. It's the start of a quilt called "Bali Sea Star" from Kim Brackett's book Scrap Basket Surprises. Also sewed some random triangles together. Now I am thinking ahead about going next month and using the Accucut again. I will have to put some more kits together.I think I will go do that now.
Sew long.

Fun is better than perfect

2011-06-02T21:14:00.000-05:00

It was sew much fun, who cares how good it is? I guess the saying goes 'Done is better than perfect" but I've been saying this quilt is done for over 10 years. And it was quilted and bound, but I'd left the big 6" squares unquilted! I was sorting through my quilts and found that this one needed more quilting. I think I felt bad about that every time I showed it. I''m pretty happy with it now with the added quilting. Even Mark said " I guess it needed more quilting". Lately instead of crowing "The quilt is finished when the top is done.", I'm singing "The quilting makes the quilt." And I still have 100 tops waiting to get quilted.

Actually I was sorting through my quilts looking for something to practice on. I wanted to try Diana Phillips "Flower Power" technique. I love that book of hers. So many variations on an idea. I think I will use it often.
The quilt is a variation on my pattern "Briar Patch" in my book, Quilts from Skunks Hollow.

Did you notice the new link on the right to the Milwaukee Machine Show put on by Machine Quilting Today.
I'm just as excited this year that it is so close to home. And I'm scheduled to teach. Check out the schedule. There are classes for everyone, even piecemakers.

I'm still digging thistle, and I haven't planted all my flowers yet either. It's not uncommon for us to have frosts this late in the spring. In between I have been finishing the quilt top for our next raffle quilt. I hope allergy season has been good to you. Adios.

Garden or Quilt? Silly question

2011-05-23T22:19:00.000-05:00

It's finally warmed a bit, so between raindrops I am digging in the garden. I have a thistle patch driving me nuts. Make that 5 Thistle patches. I don't think there is anything known to man that will kill the Canadian Thistle. If it stayed short I might not mind it so much. I don't mind the yellow dandelions, but don't want those fuzzy seedheads. I could get to like the thistle too, but it has fuzzy seedheads and prickers!

This is what I have been quilting for the last month. It's the traditional Irish Chain colored differently. I would date it around the late 60's or early 70's. If I could sell it for a few hundred dollars I would. Someone donated the top to our church quilting group, so church would get the proceeds. Any takers. This one is about 86" x 97". Our comfort quilts are usually half the size.
Also this month the church ladies got together twice to work on the raffle quilt. The blocks are in rows and I brought it home to finish. Also, I gave a lecture and workshop for a local guild and Group Therapy aka Friday Night Quilt as Desired has started up again at my house.
Sometimes it all feels so routine. Ain't that great? Some days the hardest decision I have to make is whether to quilt or to garden. Here's wishing you the same.

And the winner is...

2011-05-05T20:26:00.000-05:00

I wasn't a big winner but I did win a ribbon on this album quilt. I really didn't expect to win anything. I know I am good, but lots of the good local quilters enter the Crazy Quilter's show cause there are cash prizes for the winners and it is a good show.

I call the quilt Friday Night Special, cause I worked on the top Friday nights while quilting with the girls. It's some of the best work I've done on the longarm. Quilting with templates helped alot. I am hoping some day my freehand quilting will be as nice. I guess I just have to keep at it.

This is the other quilt from S is for Scraps that I entered in the show. It's called Midnight Express.

Saturday was a meeting of the longarm guild. Sunday I went to the show and while there I demonstrated machine quilting (on domestic) feathers. Mark met me there so I didn't get to enjoy the vendors like usual. Yes, that means I didn't buy a thing! Tuesday morning the church basement ladies met to work on the raffle quilt. We were getting a bit behind and are now on track. Tuesday night was the quilt club at the shop. The girls wore me out in the morning, keeping them all on track. Good thing I had no responsibilities Tuesday night.

We have had a cool rainy spring so I haven't worked in the garden much. I try to put in an hour or so a day when it is nice. I think that has been only 3 or 4 times this past April.

I'm just about done with the quilt on the frame. Someone donated a big old top their mother had made maybe in the 70's. I put way too much work into it. Maybe I could sell it with proceeds going to church.

I'm looking forward to the next one I quilt and I have no idea which one that will be. My birthday is next month. Should I have a giveaway of my new book?

Show Time

2011-04-22T23:56:00.000-05:00

Show time is my favorite time of year. Both spring and fall. The next show on my agenda is the Mukwonago Crazy Quilters show on April 30 and May 1. I particularly like going to the local shows cause they have real bed quilts and not all art/competition quilts like at the AQS show and Festival. I started the Mukwonago guild and might have missed two shows in the last 25 years. I don't enter often cause I am not competitive. But this year I entered 4 quilts from S is for Scraps. I still have to put the sleeves on. So after the holiday weekend, that's what I'll be doing. Here are 2 of the quilts I am entering.

It's been busy here. Since getting back from Cincinnati, it's doctor after doctor. For all my people. 10 appointments in 2 weeks. Little time for quilting, but putting a little time on the longarm. Great for stress-busting.

Always a great time

2011-04-11T20:49:00.000-05:00

Welcome to all, especially the festival goers that are visiting my blog for the first time. I hope you agree, festival was great. Always great classes, great shopping and fun meeting lots of great quilters. The quilts as usual were phenomenal. The exhibit quilts by my estimate were 95% art quilts. To see everyday quilts you had to check the quilts in the vendor's booths. The convention center seemed especially spread out this time, but then I learned that the show in Houston covers 11 football fields. The Cincinnati show probably covers less than half of that. So I got my exercise, too.

Here's a shot of my fabric acquisitions over the last month. Most of it anyways. And to think I only bought one duplicate, on purpose. 57 different pieces. Yes, most are just halves or quarters.

Mark said the strangest thing this morning. He said "You didn't show me the fabric you bought yet." HUH!
I never showed him in the past. Why would he start asking now? He knew I bought more than usual - just to make up for not shopping at the 3rd show in Lancaster when my sister was sick. He practically suggested it. But to ask to see it????

I had a great time. I highly recommend it to ANYbody.

Hard to find already

2011-04-08T17:03:00.010-05:00

The other day I told you how Martingale won't be reprinting Save the Scraps. And today a shop writes to find out where they can get the book for a class cause their usual distributors are out of it. Grrrr. Maybe if there is enough interest they will make it available as an e-book to download. Let's hope so. Here are more pics of what's in that book.

I'm in Cincinnati at Quilt Festival and you can bet I'm having a good time. Check back later for details.
Sew long,

Last Chance - Out of Print

2011-04-04T22:25:00.001-05:00

Hello World,
I hope you are all doing fine. I'm feeling pretty good tonight as I finish gathering my supplies for Quilt Festival in Cincinnati. I just realized I won't be around to post for a while so thought I'd pop off a few words - like in the title of this post.
I recently received word from Martingale that sales of Save the Scraps do not justify keeping it in stock. That means they will not be reprinting it a 5th time. It also means that if you want a copy, you'd better locate it soon. This was definitely ONE of my favorite books. So glad I don't have to pick one.
I thought I'd show you some pics of the projects in that book. I never took digital pictures of those quilts I made about 6 years ago and I still haven't. These are pictures of the pictures in the book. Much easier. There are 15 patterns in the book, here's just a few.
Oh, and thank you if you already bought it.

Mystery solved

2011-03-31T22:43:00.000-05:00

It's time for the big reveal. So here is how all the pieces go together, Well, my pieces.

I do recall that I had you cut some extra half square triangles of the light background fabric. No you don't need to correct me. I recall that I had you cut too many. Again sorry about that. BUT if you would like, and if you happen to have more coordinating scraps, (and who doesn't?) you could use them for an additional piece border like I did here. If you would like to add the extra pieced border, you will need a total of 56 half-square triangle units from 3 7/8 inch triangles, and 4 dark squares 3 1/2" for the corners.

My original plans were to simply add another plain border and be done with it like I've shown here.

Of course the center of your stars may be different and you may alternate centers if you've done both options. And because I am all about options, instead of Thirtysomething units in the corners you could just use 4 light background squares like I've shown here.

Now I just need to decide if I like it best with another plain border or not. And do I have the courage to use some jazzy thread on that white background?

Well, I had fun, I hope you did, too.

A clue with an option

2011-03-24T18:33:00.001-05:00

Do you ever feel like you are being bombarded with ideas for quilts? It happens to me all the time and I just have to share. That's what I do. I call this quilt “It’s Getting Late”. It’s from my book Thirtysomething, too! I really like these stars and always thought that I would make another quilt with these stars, but rather than arranging the stars the way I did, I thought I would alternate light stars and dark stars and use a completely different style of fabric. That quilt has been on my to do list for probably 10 years now.

The stars in this quilt were made using some of the same units that we’ve made for the mystery quilt. I was reminded of this quilt when I played a little with my pieces for the mystery quilt. I have to admit I never thought to color the stars scrappy like this.

Have you tried different arrangement of the pieces to see what designs you might come up with? I’ll give you a clue. I thought that I could follow the directions for the quilt I planned without presenting any options. I find that very difficult to do, so here are your options. You need to join 4 Thirtysomething units to make the centers for 9 stars.

Option 1 is the easiest and that is to make four-pointed stars.
Option 2 is to sew the units together with the points in the center.
Option 3 is to make 4 of Option 1 and 5 of Option 2.

I have no preference when it comes to pressing the seam allowances. My general rule is to press in the direction of least resistance, and sometimes I press the seams open. That’s what I’ve done here.

Here’s one more quick step. Sew together pairs of a half square triangles units to make flying geese units with the light background as the geese.
That's it for now. Boy, keeping you in suspense like this has been fun. Next week will be the big reveal with one more option!

Wrinkles impossible to iron out

2011-03-22T22:52:00.000-05:00

We had a fabulous time in Pennsylvania visiting my sister and her husband and seeing the quilt shows. And I finally got Carol’s quilt back to her. Our luggage was delayed, so she didn’t get to see it till the morning after we arrived. I’m pretty sure she was happy with it. I got it quilted in January, and finally put the binding on it last week. Rather than ship it out ahead, I packed it in our suitcase. That left lots of room for my purchases on our return flight.

The show was at the new convention Center in downtown Lancaster. What a beautiful building. And yes the quilts were beautiful too, of course. Most of the quilts were not in a style that I would do yet I found plenty of inspiration in all of them. I'm glad I wasn't the judge. The show was spread out over 3 floors. That was fine, but I didn’t care for the arrangement of the quilts and vendor booths. Very scattered, in fact, I think I missed a short row. Halfway through the day we went down the street 2 blocks to the quilt and textile Museum. (The photo below shows the ceiling in one of the rooms, a former bank and 2 favorite quilts from the show.) I thought it should have been called the quilt and Christmas museum. The only textiles I saw there were quilts, but I loved the Christmas display. I thought it would be a display of Christmas quilts but it was really rooms set up decorated for Christmas over the last century ...
The show at the Host by Quilter's Rule was small, but nice - couldn't get lost. The quilt exhibit by Mary Kerr was great. She challenged quilters to use an antique block in a 24" quilt. 6 different times. 80 of the quilts were there. I loved it, so I got her book, A Quilt Block Challenge, Vintage Revisited. Parts of the exhibit are traveling, so if you get the chance, try to see it. We never made it across the street to the other hotel to see the vendors or the Quilts of Valor exhibit. She decided a visit to the doctor was more important.

On Saturday, the guys took us at our request to the Train Museum in Strasburg. Then we went to Weaver's Dry Goods and Eldreth Pottery. I think we should start there next time. Maybe even next year.
Before we left, I was determined to get a good shot of our wrinkles. So we spent Sunday morning before our flight with our cameras hitting the delete button. Now, if only we could delete those wrinkles. I guess the cheapest option to minimize mine is to add a little weight to fill out my face and smooth them out a bit.

All the hassles at the airport both going and returning were nearly enough to discourage me from flying there again. Our flight from Milwaukee to Detroit was canceled so the airline sent us in a limousine to catch a flight out of Chicago on a different airline. We arrived on schedule but the luggage didn't show up till 3 am. Our return flight departed on time, but our flight out of Chicago was delayed because of thunderstorms. The flight was changed 4 times and the gates was changed 4 times. Even then we sat on the runway in the plane for half an hour . We arrived home about 2 ½ hours late. I guess it could’ve been worse. It could have been a business trip where I needed my luggage for a program.

New to you?

2011-03-17T19:39:00.001-05:00

Is the Thirtysomething unit new to you? It may look like a common patchwork unit based on a four-patch, but it uses 30 degree angles instead. If you are working on the mystery, you have already cut the pieces. The three pieces in a Thirtysomething unit I have labeled A, B, and C. The kite-shaped piece in the center (patch C) is trimmed square after it is sewn. I hope after you cut the A and B triangles you took the time to stack the A triangles and B triangles in separate piles. Trust me, it can be confusing if you don’t.

Before sewing the Thirtysomething units, check that you are stitching a scant 1/4" seam allowance. Test it by stitching three 1 ½" x 5" scraps together on the long edges. The middle piece should then measure 1" exactly. Adjust your seam allowance till it is!

Place an A triangle and C triangle right sides together, matching tips precisely. Start stitching at the broad end of the C triangle rather than at the point. This will place the smaller A triangle underneath. Don't be concerned that you will be sewing through a single layer of fabric (patch C) for an inch or so. You will notice that the C triangle points in both directions. That means sometimes you will start stitching the patch at a 90degree corner and sometimes that corner is a 60 degree angle. Remember, this is the corner that will be trimmed square after sewing the three triangles together.

The seam allowance must be pressed toward the A triangle for proper alignment of the B triangle. Hold the point straight while pressing to avoid curving the seams. Press carefully to avoid tucks, particularly at the point. Remember, do not trim the point until after the B triangle is sewn on. The point is needed to align the B triangle.

Add a B triangle, carefully matching the raw edges of all three layers at the narrow points. Start stitching at the broad end of the C triangle. The small B triangle will now be on top. Press the seam towards the B triangle. Hold the point straight while pressing.

Most likely you will want to try a few before you set up any chain piecing. After you get the idea, you will end up making 40 Thirtysomething units and get pretty good at it.

A few suggestions:
Pair all the A and C triangles right sides together, offsetting them ½". This will allow you to check that pieces are indeed RST and that you are using the correct piece. If you are not you will see the square corner of the small triangle instead of the 60degree corner.

Flip and stitch broad end in first. A lot of times in classes the gals will somehow spin the pieces so the broad end is in first with the small triangle on top and then by mistake they sew on the wrong edge of the small triangle. So, as you pick up each pair and flip them to sew with the small triangle on the bottom, check that you always stitch the long bias edge of the small triangle to the C triangle.

Squaring Up
Use an ordinary square quilter's ruler and position it on the unit so the edges of the A and B triangles are aligned with the 3 ½ " lines of the ruler. The inner point of the C triangle should be at 3 1/4". Center the broad end of the C triangle in the opposite corner of the square. (The 1 3/8" mark on the ruler should meet the seams at the edges of the 3" unit.) Trim the C triangle and any excess fabric adjacent to it. Finally trim the points.

The Thirtysomething Square Up tool was designed to trim Thirtysomething units that finish either 3" or 4" including seam allowances. IF you are using this nifty tool, simply align the angled lines marked 3" with the seam lines of the Thirtysomething unit and trim everything extending beyond the edges. Then, rotate the Thirtysomething unit and tool to square up the unit to 3 ½", trimming the points and any excess fabric.

I've only made about a million of these things, so I think I have ironed out all the kinks. Literally, I have made over 70 quilts with these units. I occasionally hear from teachers that want to make the pieces bigger somehow to allow for the gals with wider seam allowances. They invariably change the angle and things don't line up as well then. I think this is a great opportunity to learn the importance of a scant 1/4" seam allowance. I hope you agree. Happy quilting.

A pleasant valley Sunday or Monday

2011-03-14T17:03:00.001-05:00

Just another pleasant day down here in the valley known where I live as Skunks Misery. It's spring. I've heard the robins all week and I finally saw one this morning. The red-wing blackbirds are back to the marsh across the street and the geese have been heading north for 2 weeks. That's my definition of spring anyways.

I forgot. Last week between trips to the hospital for my neighbor I made this little top. The little ones sure go together quickly. No wonder they are so popular. I have a spot on my sewing room wall that needs a few little quilts. This is number 2. The Whig's Rose was number 1. We have been in this house 18 years and they finally got to the top of the list. I have space for 4 and I haven't planned the next 2 yet.

This is my busy season. Now and Fall. I have to get ready for classes coming up, especially Quilt Festival in Cincinnati in April. Also I am off to Pennsylvania on Wed. for the quilt shows in Lancaster. One by AQS and the other by Quilter's Rule. I'm really looking forward to those, cause I am not working. It's going to be great. Or at least it better be. I need the break.

Tomorrow is comfort quilting at church. Any photos from that will have to wait till I get back from Lancaster.
Look for the next step in our mystery on Thursday as usual. I understand I should be able to schedule the post to appear as desired. Like magic. Aren't computers fun?

The next step

2011-03-10T21:02:00.001-06:00

I haven’t been able to sew much this week as I’ve spent a lot of time at the hospital with my elderly neighbor. She’s home now and I hope things get back to normal soon. So I’ll get right to the next step in our Thirtysomething mystery.

Before we do any more sewing, we need to finish cutting our 2 ½ inch medium and dark strips. Keep the strips folded or paired wrong sides together. Sub cut the strips into 4 1/4" rectangles then cut the pairs of rectangles in half diagonally just like you cut the C triangles. Keeping the fabric wrong sides together when the rectangles are cut diagonally will automatically produce triangles and mirror image triangles. Separate them into stacks with 60 of each.

To help mix up the scraps take about half of the triangles off the top of one pile and move it to the bottom of that same pile.

Using the triangles from the right side of the pile shown in the photo and the light rectangles that we trimmed last week, sew together one of each as shown. To align the pieces for sewing, offset the half triangle so that it’s 60̊ corner creates a quarter inch wide triangle extending past the light background piece. Press the seam allowance towards the dark triangle. Repeat with all 24 light background pieces.

Take a triangle from the other pile and sew it to the opposite side of the light background rectangle. Offset the half-triangle in the same way so that the 60̊ corner is sticking out 1/4". I’m showing a pair of these flipped over because you want to sew them with the 60̊ corner going into the machine 1st. So this is how they will look to you.
Repeat with all 24 light background pieces. Again press the seam allowances toward the dark triangle.

After pressing, each of these units need to be trimmed to 3.5" x 6.5". I usually just measure the width, because they were already cut 6 ½" and it was the width that was altered when the triangles were added. You can measure and trim one unit at a time if you like or stack them up like I do. I stack about 4 on top of each other lining up the long edge of the rectangle and offsetting them each perhaps by an inch. Then I measure over 3 ½ inches from the long edge of the rectangle and trim the excess from the small triangles.

I hope you found that easy. I guess that’s all until next week. I have to start thinking about getting my taxes done.

True Confessions

2011-03-03T20:41:00.000-06:00

I have to admit I'm still laughing at something my husband told me the other day. He said in the middle of the night, he had jumped up to look out the window to see what was making the noise he heard. It didn't take long until he realized that it was me snoring! I have a hard time imagining that I sounded that bad, but then, he is a bit hard of hearing. Really.

Well, now I guess it's official. I quilt for hire. This is a picture of my 1st customer quilt. Rita is one of the church ladies that I work on the comfort quilts with. She put these blocks together after she won them at a Crazy Quilters meeting. One of the activities of the guild is where everybody that is interested can make the block of the month and when they're turned in, only those who have made a block have a chance at winning all of them. I don't know any more than that about this pattern, but it sure is cute. The coordinator plans the colors. I just quilted it. I would've had it done sooner if I hadn't run out of thread.

The Great Lakes Professional Longarm Machine Quilters Association met this week. There wasn't much of a program, but I had a good time anyways. 2 of the new members that day were in the 1st quilting class I took 29 years ago. After the meeting we went for all long lunch. As usual, they were after me to re-join the Crazy Quilters guild.
There was also a quilt club meeting this week at the Ben Franklin quilt shop. I don't participate in the block of the month, but I still enjoy going. Most of the talk was about the upcoming retreat. I sure wish I could go with them. Maybe next year.

Now for the mystery quilt.
I have another confession to make. I made a boo-boo when I listed the cutting instructions. I was trying to decide between two patterns I wanted to offer for the mystery and by mistake I copied the cutting directions from the wrong file. The 2 patterns were related so I am able to make the adjustments needed and will make a note in that post that I've edited it. The only thing that you should notice is that you have a few extra pieces and there might be a few extra seams. Very Sorry. So let's continue with cutting the rest of the light fabric.

From your remaining light fabric cut 4 squares, 6 1/2 inches.

From the 3 1/2 inch light strips, cut just 24 rectangles, 3.5" x 6.5". 2 corners of these rectangles need to be trimmed at a 30-60° angle. There are 2 ways to accomplish this. 1st is to use the Clearview triangle 60° ruler. Warning: Not all equilateral triangle rulers measure the same way. Position the square corner of the rectangle along the center line of the ruler as shown below. Measure and cut off a 30 - 60 - 90° triangle 3 1/8 inches tall from two adjacent sides.

The other way is for those of you who do not have the ClearView triangle ruler. You'll need to make a cutting guide to attach to the bottom of any straight edge ruler. 1st mark perpendicular lines on a piece of paper. From the intersection of those two lines, measure up along one line 3 1/8" and mark a dot. Use the 30-60° line on your triangle ruler to draw a line from the dot back down to the horizontal line. The length of the short edge of the triangle should be between 1 3/4 and 1 7/8 inches long. Use your scissors to cut out the paper triangle. Next align the long edge of the paper triangle to the edge of an index card. You can use tape to hold it in place while you cut along the other 2 edges of the triangle. Tape the edge of the index card to the edge of your straight edge ruler, as shown. To use this system the corner of the rectangles should fit inside the cardboard edges of the triangle. Simply butt the fabric against both edges of the cardboard and cut along the rulers edge.

If the corners of these rectangles are cut correctly, you'll notice that you have a blunted tip at the 120° angle.

Also from the 3 1/2 inch strips, cut only 8 rectangles, 3.5" x 6.5". The corners of these are NOT trimmed.

One more fussy cut from the 3 1/2 inch light background strips: Cut 20 rectangles, only 6" long. Cut these diagonally to make what I call C triangles. These triangles have 30-60-90° angles.

You can check the angle as you cut these rectangles in half by using the Clearview Triangle or the 60° line on your straight edge ruler. It's not a bad idea either. Often when I teach this, the rectangles are cut longer by mistake, and that changes the width of the angle. You'll need a total of 40 C triangles.

It's my guess that it probably took me longer to write this than it will for you to cut the pieces. Many interruptions tonight. Yes, I checked it over.

For those of you playing along, thanks for joining us. We'd all love to hear from you. And, please write if you have questions.

A new quilt shop & step 2

2011-02-24T19:40:00.000-06:00

Well, not exactly a new shop, but it sure looked like it. Sawdust And Stitches, the quilt shop in our little town is in a very old building. They have needed new light fixtures in that store since day one. They finally got them over the holidays. What a huge difference! (Yes, it's been that long since I have been there.) I always enjoyed that store before. Now I'm afraid with the new lights I'll enjoy it more! (read: spend more) Wish me luck. Actually, I was pretty good when I was there the other day. I went in for some thread and only picked up 3 half yards to go with it.

My scrap box of A, B. and C triangles was stuffed. These are the triangles I use for my Thirtysomething technique. So I sorted through all the pieces to see if I could come up with anything I could use to make a few more blocks. I guess this was just for fun, because I have no use for these blocks. They were added to the pile of orphan blocks. Oh yeah, I remember why I went through that box. I was preparing for a class, and made the 6 inch blocks with the equilateral triangles. I call them the Fancy X block. I made 3 of those and 4 other blocks.

Before I put the new orphan blocks away, I dug out a few other 12 inch blocks and placed the Fancy X over their centers to see if I could come up with some ideas for some new blocks. What do you think?

I put another quilt on the frame and I was sure I had enough thread on the spool. I was really surprised when at the end of the 2nd row, I ran out of that thread so I had to place an order and have been waiting for it all week. So, while I have been waiting I made myself an apron using my favorite chicken fabric, and a new tote bag. I made the bag I have been using all these years about 25 years ago. It's my favorite and I still have the pattern. So I made another one. And the apron has only been on my to do list for over 10 years. So I'm feeling pretty good about that

Now to begin sewing the Thirtysomething Mystery.

Step 1. Sew a light triangle to a medium or dark triangle. Press the seam away from the light triangle. Make 24 half-square triangle units.

I'm going to bet that won't take you long at all, so here's the next step.

Step 2. Make 12 Square-in-a-Square units. There are several ways to get the pieces lined up correctly for sewing. hopefully these pictures show that. One is to finger-press a crease at the center of the edges to be joined. Then match the creases, and sew. Another way would be to trim the pointy seam allowances using a trimming template. This should make the triangles fit the squares perfectly.

A 3rd way would be to center the triangle and make the little mouse ears sticking out the same size. This is easier to see when the triangle is on the bottom.

Either way, sew a medium or dark triangle to opposite sides of a 4 3/4" light square; press away from the center. Sew triangles to the opposite sides; press. Repeat to make 12 Square-in-a-Square units. They should measure 6 1/2" square.

I'm curious. Would any of you rather make these units with over-sized triangles that are trimmed to size after sewing? Would you rather see directions telling you that? IF so, how much bigger?

Take care and sew long,

The mystery begins

2011-02-17T21:36:00.002-06:00

I'll get to the mystery in a minute, but first I will catch you up on the last weeks quilting activities. I got the Whig Rose wallhanging quilted and bound; and I love it. There was quilting at church. We missed last month due to snow so there was lots of show and tell. This comfort quilt was one turned in. Most of the blocks are actually leftover from one of the raffle quilts we did for church. Most of the other show and tell was just tops.

Only 5 of us this time and we never set up a machine or got the iron hot. Some cutting and organizing of the next raffle quilt and layering and basting. Still, it was good to get together again and we got stuff done.
I'm planning to get back to work on the next book soon. I have mentioned this one before. I am calling it the Thirtysomething block book. I was organizing my Electric Quilt files yesterday and today. All 75 of them!. Cleaned out some duplicates, renamed some etc. Still have a ways to go. I have about 150 blocks I intend to narrow down to no more than 100. Don't ask me how. Tell me instead. Please. I've had a hard time deciding how I want to do this book. I've not done a block book before. It'll be great for anyone that loves to do samplers.

My mind is always racing with quilts I want to do. I have probably 9 piles of fabric for 9 different quilts just sitting around this room waiting for me. I will pack away all but 2 or 3 now so I can focus on the next book. I am also doing a new class at Spring Festival in Cincinnati in April that I have to prepare for. So putting those things away will mean less distraction. But Maybe I can kinda kit up those piles first. Sound good?

Now for the Mystery.
At this point I intend to post one clue a week. Normally that would be agonizingly slow for me, but as I just mentioned, I will have plenty to do. I don't intend to delete these directions either, so at anytime, even after the mystery has been solved, anyone will be free to get them for free and make this quilt. If you would like to print the directions, I would suggest that you simply highlight what you want to print then just "print selection".

Today, we will just cut some of the light background fabric. The medium and dark fabrics needed are the triangles and strips listed last week. I showed you the fabric I planned to work with, but before I cut any fabric for a scrap quilt, I go through my scrap boxes and find any that will work. I found a bunch of triangles.

So from the 1 3/4 yards light background fabric, cut:

2 strips, 4 3/4" x 42". Crosscut just 13 squares, 4 3/4". Trim the remainder of the last strip to
3 ½ inches and cut 4 squares, 3 ½" x 3 ½".

2 strips, 3 7/8" x 42". Crosscut 12 squares, 3 7/8" x 3 7/8". Cut each square in half diagonally to make 24 half-square triangles.

10 strips, 3.5" x 42". We will cut pieces from these later.

I hope nobody needed a picture for that. Happy cutting.

Announcing a new Mystery

2011-02-10T15:07:00.002-06:00

My 1st cut-and-paste wall hanging is ready to quilt. If you've been following my blog for a while, you should recognize this. It took me a while to get this far because I wasn't happy with the 1st red that I chose for the appliqué in the center. Too bad that meant I had to go shopping for more. The appliqué block is a variation of the Whig Rose. Most quilts that I saw with this block have that jagged zigzagging red piece colored green, but it didn't look very organic to me, and I didn't think that the block needed more green so I used red there. I've got this one basted and I'm going to quilt it on my domestic. It's only about 28" square.

I have decided to post the next quilt that I'm going to be working on as a mystery! I have conducted a few mysteries when I 1st started teaching quilting. I ran those differently than most teachers would have. Basically we all worked on the same components for the quilt, but how you decided to arrange your pieces in the end was entirely up to you. I did not provide a final plan for those mysteries. They were fun because everybody's turned out different. I won't do that to you this time, I have definite plans.

There are Thirtysomething units in the mystery quilt. If you're not familiar with those you can follow this link and print off detailed directions on how to make Thirtysomething units. You could make a few before you decide if you want to participate in the mystery. The quilt will finish 48" square. I'll post a new clue once a week. If your friends like mysteries, invite them to join the fun. Use your medium and dark toned scraps for this one, or do what I did and pull a range of co-ordinating batiks from my stash. Here's the requirements.

Light background - 1 7/8 yards
Medium and dark scraps - 18 strips 2.5" x 20". Not cut with a zigzag like in the jelly rolls.
And 36 squares, 3 7/8" x 3 7/8". Cut each square once diagonally to make 72 triangles.
Border - 5/8 of a yard for 3 1/2" border. You can select this when you're through piecing if you wish.
Binding - 1/2 yard
This is what I'll be working with.

Winter wonderland

2011-02-06T12:50:00.000-06:00

More snow. We are lucky we haven't been dumped on too much this winter. I love it. Just hate driving in it. I'm kinda keeping it to myself around here lately cause Mark is having trouble with his snow removal equipment. Just what he doesn't need. He does 4 driveways.

One thing I like about the snow is that it keeps me home where my sewing machine is. Those quilt seeds I mentioned last week were the inspiration for this quilt I'm calling Snow Trails. Most might see it as a Jacob's Ladder variation. I rummaged around for old bright scraps to use up to add to that pile of seeds. Below is the block, just different enough from the World's Fair quilt even though they use the same pieces. (Yes, more triangles in this one.)

Yesterday I was called away from the longarm just as I was about to finish a quilt. Just two 4" flowers left. I am going to go do that now. Then it is off to a Super Bowl party. The Packers are playing.
Coming up next : bright batiks in a Thirtysomething design.

Quilt Seeds

2011-01-31T14:23:00.000-06:00

It didn't take long to get the World's Fair quilt top finished once I finally sat down to do it. I am happy with it even if it is a little dark. It gives me a cozy feeling with the snow blowing outside. Were expecting our 1st big snowfall of the season, and I'm looking forward to being snowed in. I usually can find lots of time for quilting during a snowstorm.

A lot of times when I make a quilt I just cut and cut and cut some more. Then I end up with lots of extra pieces. They are usually just filed away in their proper places with my scraps. Sometimes I have enough similar, left over pieces that I feel it would be enough for the start of another quilt. That's when I call them quilt seeds. After working with those dark colors and it getting dark early in the evening I need a little something brighter to work on next. Rummaging around in my closet I came across this pile of quilt seeds.

I am not sure but, I think they were leftovers. I remember the quilt I planned them for. I made them in a workshop I took. They're nothing but 4" half-square triangle units and 4" four-patches. I know there were other units made for that quilt, but I don't remember that I ever finished it. If I made it, I'm sure I passed it on to church for a comfort quilt. But if I made it, then why don't I have a picture of it? It couldn't have been all a dream if I have these leftovers. It might have been that at the time I was questioning 'Why am I taking a picture of everything I make?'

I actually have quite a small pile of leftovers, more than this photo shows. These are the same units that I just got done playing with in the World's Fair quilt and I don't want another quilt that looks too similar. So I will have to come up with another different block. That shouldn't be too difficult. There are a number of Jacob's Ladder variations. Maybe I will check the Jacob's Ladder images on the web to see if anything strikes my fancy. I am going to sit by the window and watch it snow while I sew. It's so peaceful, I just love it. Sew long.

Go Figure

2011-01-28T21:23:00.001-06:00

I have hardly had a chance to do any quilting. I thought by now the border would be on my World's Fair quilt. I added the 1st plain border, arranged the blocks for the border and they didn't fit. I checked the plan that I drew up in EQ. Sure enough, I figured wrong. There weren't enough blocks in the plan. So the program stretched them to fit. This was my fault because my corners turned out just the way I wanted them. I didn't stop to do the math. I've been doing too much of that lately.

In reality, it didn't work. So I had to reconfigure the border. The solution was simple enough,but I did have to rework a few blocks. They're all lined up ready to sew together. Nothings going to stop me now. Stay tuned and you'll see that I'll get it done this weekend.

Time to celebrate

2011-01-18T21:47:00.000-06:00

Please consider this a thank you to everyone that's bought my latest book. I just heard from the publisher that they are already ordering a second printing of my new book, just 2 months old. How great is that? To keep it going I'd like to see more reviews on Amazon. So if anybody has a few minutes, I'd appreciate that too. One gal wrote a wonderful, very detailed review. WOW. Wish I had the time to check out her other reviews.

You can kinda tell by my e-mail that it is January after the release of another book. Tis the season that the requests come in for lectures and workshops and there is always an increase after a new book. So paperwork and responding to those e-mails has taken a bit of time from my quilting.

I hope you all watch the sidebar for new additions. One I need to add soon is a list of corrections to my books. Few have been reported and I hope you can all understand how they happen. I only wish I had the opportunity to check over the page proofs one last time before each book goes to press. Sorry for the inconvenience they caused.

One day last summer Lucrecia came by needing an airplane pattern. So I showed her Electric Quilt and how to draw up a block with it and this is what we came up with. She did a great job. Now I want to make an airplane quilt too. Isn't it cute? Uh Oh, what is happening to me? I don't do cute.
Well, thanks again everyone. Haaaaaaaaaaappy Quillllllllllllltig.

A typical week

2011-01-12T15:49:00.000-06:00

I must be dreaming. I thought I posted yesterday. So here is what I thought I showed you. This is the quilt I did a month ago. I finally got it washed and put the binding on. I see now in the light that I have a few areas that need a little more quilting. I will have to go back and add a few tendrils. It will be easier on my domestic machine. Gee, will I remember how? The quilt top dates back at least 15 years. Up close you can see how I still need the practice. Best to do that on an old little top like this. Those feathers are sure darn fun to quilt. Good thing I don't like them more. They'd be everywhere.

Tonight is the guild meeting in Mukwonago. I'm finally free on a Wednesday night, and the roads are good, so I think I will go. I haven't been a member for years.

I've been plugging away at a few big quilts. One to piece in the sewing room and one to quilt down in the studio. Sure would be nice if I had a wife to do all the housework and cooking and quilt with. Gee, maybe the Mormons have something there.

The contract has arrived for teaching at the Milwaukee Machine Quilting Show in August. I'll sure be looking forward to it, especially being so close to home. I'll go every day. Mark your calendars now. August 9-13. Sew long,

2010 Studio Stats

2011-01-06T18:57:00.000-06:00

My record-keeping skills aren't the greatest, so I wouldn't be able to give this report if it weren't for blogging. Looking back over the year, I see that in 2010 I have:
quilted 8 tops for church
quilted and bound 4 of my tops
finished 11 quilt tops or PhD's, new and old
enlarged 7 old top

That leaves me with 100 tops and 24 kits/PhD's.

These numbers don't match with my last report because I have sold and/or given away a few tops or quilts. I've also reclassified a few tops as PhD's, because I decided to enlarge them. I don't generally like to have quite so many PhD's, but I was in the mood to kit some of my own projects. I find I really like going to grab a kit when I'm in the mood to sew, and I don't have to think about it too much. And clearly there are times when I am in the mood to plan and cut quilts.

I just took a load of quilts over to the Transitional Living Center and found that I didn't get a picture of this one I made sometime in 2010. I made this comfort quilt from the orphan blocks at church. I'm going to be play with those orphan blocks again soon. First I think I need to work with something a little brighter. It seems every winter lately I get tired of my dark scraps.

I still haven't decided if I want to weigh all my fabric and figure out how many quilts I could make with it all. Laurel suggested that if she knew what she could do with hers, it might make her feel guilty. I don't think I would have that problem because I feel no guilt about the hundred quilt tops that I have. It might however deter me from buying much more. Don't know that I want to ruin that fun. Would you? You know I'll keep you posted.

Resolutions, Goals, & Challenges

2011-01-03T23:02:00.000-06:00

Well I met my quilting goals for the last couple of weeks. Plan C is now together and I'm pretty happy with it. And look at that red border. You don't see that too often here. I'm enjoying it on the flannel wall for now, so I think I will leave it there for a while.

Like I expected, I've begun work on one of the kits. The block is called World's Fair, it's a Jacob's Ladder variation. Actually, all one hundred of the blocks are done. I like to arrange them on my flannel wall before I put them together,but I want to enjoy Plan C for a while. Meanwhile I'll do some quilting on the frame in the studio. I know how I am going to finish it so it will go together quickly when I get back to it. And it's going to be a big one too.

I don't think I have made New Year's resolutions more than once or twice, and I'm not really too big about setting goals, but I do respond well to challenges. The other day my mother made the comment "Oh,you'll never use all your fabric." That sounded like a challenge to me. I just have to get that notion out of my head because for some reason I'm thinking I'm supposed to do it in the next year,when I am sure she meant the rest of my life. Perhaps she would take that back if she knew that I have already made over 350.

Well, my mind wouldn't allow me to let it go and so I have been curious as to how many quilts I could make with my stash. And I thought of a way I could actually estimate it. I'd like a volunteer to come and help me though. How does this sound? Using a baby scale I weighed a completed queen-size quilt top. It weighed 3 pounds. I could assume that is the average and weigh all the rest of my quilting fabric,do the math and then I would have a good idea. I'm not sure how I would want to factor in estimates for the quilt backs. Any suggestions? Any volunteers?

And why am I thinking this way? Probably because I know that there are some gals that actually measure and/or track how much yardage they have or use. And some keep a database of their 104 UFO's. I think I would rather make another quilt. But still, it could be fun. I think I know what I'll be dreaming about tonight.
Sew long and sweet dreams.

Plan C

2010-12-21T22:06:00.000-06:00

Years ago I made these blocks and even added a border, but it was never my vision for the quilt. Later I removed the border to use on another quilt. It was just perfect for another quilt, even the size. This first bunch of blocks was called Plan A.

Then I made another quilt that better fit my first idea and called it Plan B. I put the pattern for this one in Save the Scraps

.

Then I decided to make Plan A more to my liking and, of course, had to call it Plan C. I had to separate the blocks, but that's no big deal. I just put the speaker phone on and let my friend entertain me. I guess tv would work, too. I had it all cut out and sewn - even the border was cut! Then just before I was about to add the border I decided to add another row of blocks. Can you tell I'm still in that "bigger is better" frame of mind? Actually, Mark liked this one too, so I thought as long as it's a keeper it oughta be useful.

Life can be stressful at Christmas time so I want to be able to sit down to sew when I NEED to. This is one top I hope to finish. And I will probably start work on one of the kits I put together a few months ago. Sure glad I did that. Now is not the time to concentrate on sewing. That mindless sewing will do tons to keep me relaxed. I hope you can find some time to relax by quilting this season. Happy Holidays.

Tis the Season

2010-12-13T18:18:00.000-06:00

Yeah it's Christmas time. Don't you love it? I s'pose many quilters are scrambling to finish up some quilt projects for gifts. I don't make quilts for gifts, but occasionally I make a gift of a quilt I've made. Less stress that way. I am not done with shopping yet,so I haven't started any wrapping yet. I don't do the cookie thing but I do like to decorate. Not doing as much of that this year either. Christmas will be here and gone before you know it. Don't know if I like that or not.

I've not done much sewing, but I have made these blocks. Not as colorful as I like. I started this one a little differently than I do most. Usually I set out to find fabric for a pattern I designed. This time I started with the gray tones in the quilt and looked for a pattern to use them in. I had sorted my drawer of fat quarters and once again came across this pile of medium gray toned fabrics. Much as I like them, I never found a use for them and they have been in that drawer for too many YEARS. I think this might be as big as this portion gets. I might add a round or two of other blocks or a pieced border.

Instead of quilting I was working for one of my people doing some serious deeeeep cleaning. WOW! 27 hours later, I quit cause they came home. Kitty missed me and I am glad to be home. Going down to the studio to finish up a lap quilt with a feathered border. Tomorrow is quilting at church. Here's hoping you get all your gifts done and under the tree in time for the big day.
Sew long,

2010-12-01T19:01:00.000-06:00

I decided to put an end to this PHD. There wasn't a pattern for this sampler, and I was tired of it sitting on the shelf so after these 12 blocks I decided it was time to finish it. And as has been happening lately, I am almost sorry already that I didn't make it bigger. But I didn't want to add an elaborate pieced border and I am out of the print I used in the sashing, so that's as good a reason as any to finish it.

Now with so many tops finished, I feel like I can get on to starting something new. I just put 6 kits together in the last month. Yesterday I pulled one off the shelf and saw that I already forgot that I started a kit for it. I don't know what anybody does with dozens of UFO's. With Christmas on the way, I think it will be a while before I can really put some time into piecing again. I want to focus next on some quilting and before you know it I will be working on comfort quilt kits again.
I am convinced- Whoever figures out how to bottle time will become very rich. Sew long.

Retreat report

2010-11-23T16:06:00.000-06:00

Welcome to all, especially my new followers.
My re-treat didn't go quite as planned because I was kind of called to work. I still got a bunch done in spite of that. I put the extra border of squares on this quilt top, bringing it to 92" square.

And I got the last border on this quilt top, too. It fits a twin bed now and looks great when it's on the bed. I was thinking of adding blocks on point all the way around this one, but the math wasn't working in my favor. This pattern is called Quilter's Dream by Judy Martin from her book, Scraps Blocks and Quilts.

I also got another UFO just about done. It just needs the last 2 borders. I hope to work on that tonight.
The comfort quilt that was on the frame downstairs is finished, and I've got another one loaded and a quarter done. I think if I had done anymore I'd be pretty sore from sitting at the machine sewing all day. This retreat didn't come with a masseuse.

I haven't said much about work, because I don't like to think of it as work. I guess I'm what you might call a caregiver. There's 4 people that we care for. I don't do it all alone. My husband is a big help with all 4 of them. One is my 82-year-old mother, 2 is my adult daughter with Asperger's, 3 is a mentally ill middle aged man, and 4 is my 89 year old neighbor lady. They don't all need the same help. Some days, they simply need company. Otherwise, depending on the person it's me/us that takes them to doctor appointments or manages their meds or their money or helps with their house/work. I usually refer to them as "my people". You would be correct in assessing that it is a full-time job, and it would be if I did it alone. You would also be correct if you guessed that I quilt to keep my sanity. Isn't it a wonderfully soothing past time? Amazingly, my blood pressure is just fine. Well son of a gun, I hear my sewing machine calling again. Thanks for visiting.

Retreating at home

2010-11-19T11:14:00.004-06:00

Hi everyone,
I've had a busy 10 days since the last time I wrote. For starters, I finally put the additional borders on the Kings beauty quilt. So glad I did.

Then I cut more squares to add another border to another one of the quilts. I hope to get that done today.

Got another border ready to go on this quilt top.

I also assembled 3 kits for myself.

And I dug out 3 PHD's to see what they needed. And a lot of cutting is what they needed. So I rummage through my scraps to find what I needed and cut the pieces to finish those 2 quilts. I just made a little mess and another pile of scraps.

I've got the house to myself this weekend and plan to get a lot done. Not the same kind of fun as a retreat away with your friends, but I will be smiling. I gotta enjoy it while I can. Mark is off of work the next 10 days and I never know when I will get a chance to quilt when he's around. Speaking of quilting, I think I should hide down stairs in the quilting studio when he is home. I am just about done with the comfort quilt on the frame. I'll try to get that done this weekend and another one loaded before he gets back. Also on my list of things to do this weekend is finish the binding on 2 quilts. It will be interesting to see how much I get done. Well I'm going to go, I hear my sewing machine calling.

Orphan Block Tutorial - Part 2

2010-11-09T17:39:00.001-06:00

Step 4 - My rows decided to be columns instead. Now, that they are the same width, it is time to make them the same length. This is where I incorporate spacer strips. Personally, I figure it out mathematically, but I like math. They can be pieced (think rows of triangles or squares) or plain. Sometimes I like to use a busy print here. Finalize the position of the blocks in the row based on color. Insert the needed spacers randomly in the rows. In other words, don’t add them all at the end of the row.

On this quilt I determined that the two rows of 8" blocks would finish at 64". The center row needed an extra 4" so a row of flying geese was made. The first row needed an extra half inch so the pink frame has wider top and bottom strips than it has on its sides. I was lucky with the last row. I was able to make up the difference with the frame for the two 5" blocks.

Step 5 - Now I need to decide how I want to sew the rows, together. Do I want a light or medium sashing? I kind of like the darker gray sashing. I'm not interested in making the pieced sashing for this so the only other option is to set the blocks side-by-side. I like the blocks side-by-side the best but think I might prefer to add a border to the quilt with the dark sashing.

Step 6 - Once the rows are together, it's time for the border. And as usual, I don't know what I want to do about that, so I'll let it sit for a while. Who knows, maybe in 5 years I'll add another row of blocks, and then a border. And why not?

To see photos of some of the other quilts I've made with orphan blocks for church, click the "orphan" link in the sidebar.

Orphan Block Tutorial - Part 1

2010-11-04T21:07:00.003-05:00

I was really surprised at all the orphan blocks I've got. I shouldn't have been. I remember making the decision to collect them. They have accumulated rapidly from classes, leftovers, experimentation and publishers requirements. I decided to use some in a quilt maybe because I enjoy the challenge of getting them to fit together. Here is how I do it.

Step 1. The more blocks to choose from the better. That way you can choose blocks that coordinate. The 1st thing I do is sort the blocks according to character. I have a pile of 1800 reproduction blocks, and one with 1930's. I also have a pile of scrappy blocks, a small pile of brights and one of batiks. And then there's the rest of them. I sorted those into piles by color, basically, jewel tones or earth tones. So does this count as 5 PhD's?
Step 2. Apparently I have enough jewel tone blocks to make a quilt. Next sort the blocks into piles by size. Oh my goodness! I came up with over 10 different size blocks. I put the blocks on the wall grouping same size blocks in columns.

Try to arrange the blocks either into sections, in columns or in rows that will finish roughly the same length. A few rows usually have blocks all the same size, perhaps one row will have 8" or 10" blocks and another row 12" blocks. In this collection, there are quite a few six-inch blocks that would fit in nicely next to each other in a row with 12 inch blocks so those shouldn't be a problem, except there is only one that is 12".

I found I had quite a few 8" blocks that could be used alone in a quilt, but decided to incorporate them into this quilt. I was able to pick out some that blended in nicely - enough for 2 rows. All that remains is the odd sized blocks.

Step 3. The next goal is to focus on building rows where each block in the row is the same width. Don't worry about the exact length of the rows at this time. Each row in the quilt does not need to be the same width, just the same width from top to bottom of each row. The photo below shows some of the blocks I was considering and the rows I've started to form.

To get the blocks the size I need I enlarge blocks to match the biggest block in the row. There are several options.
Option 1 - Enlarge a block by building the smaller blocks up to the size of the biggest block in the row. This option works great for turning 6" or 8" blocks into 12" blocks or 10" blocks into 14" blocks. I don’t worry if I still have matching fabric. I enlarged the blue block on the left in this way in the bottom set of blocks. You don’t need to follow an actual pattern. Just play with same sized squares and triangles to come up with a plan. In the teal block I found the same background fabric and added a round of triangles. Compare these blocks to the original in the first photo above.

Option 2 - Add a frame to all sides. Either matching or contrasting fabric will work. I make the frame an extra ½" wide and only trim the block on two sides to match the width of the row. The extra length may come in handy when getting the rows to the same length in step 4.

Option 3 - Set a small block on point by framing it with setting triangles. They can be plain half-square triangles or pieced from smaller squares and triangles. I generally plan for oversized triangles then square the block down to size after sewing.

I never forget that I can make another block from scratch to get the color and fit I want. Also, on occasion I have been known to cut a block down to make it fit a row. Do Not sew the blocks in the rows together yet, just focus on making the blocks in the row the same width.

Stay tuned for part 2. Sew long.

eventually it gets done

2010-10-30T15:11:00.001-05:00

Formerly titled "Self-Diagnosed ADD". Lots of traffic to that site tells me that this isn't what they were looking for. I hope they enjoyed it anyway.

Lately it seems I have a very short attention span. I can't seem to start and finish anything without moving onto something else 1st. I still have a few of those borders to get back to. Here is one I finished a couple of weeks ago when I had lost my camera. Ain't it a beaut? I'll tell you how I came up with this original design when I dig out the other pieces to illustrate the story.

Rather than work on the border project, I worked on those floral pinwheel blocks you saw a few posts back. While getting ready for a class I started rummaging through my orphan blocks and scraps. I pulled out a few boxes that I knew had odds and ends from a few quilts that I had made for the new book. I found the triangles for the hourglass blocks I put together (see the last post). Now that project is on hold. Yes, because it involves appliqué. I also found enough pieces for a few more Lemoyne stars. Had to make those.

Then I dug out my orphan blocks with 1800 reproduction prints. It's a small but growing pile. All the orphan blocks are kept together. I decided maybe it's time I work with the orphan blocks because I have a pile at least 6 inches high. These are my orphan blocks. I have almost as many in the pile for church.
I guess I am getting stuff done, but I don't feel very productive because it is little bits here and little bits there. It's better for me and I am feeling pretty good. Hope you are too. Sew long.

Time Found and Time Lost

2010-10-26T15:02:00.000-05:00

Well, October is always one of the busiest months of the year. Usually the teaching and show schedule is quite full, and to top it off I have another life outside of quilting. Imagine that. It's times like these when I'm glad I have put some of my projects aside to pick up when I have a few minutes. This time I picked up scraps of 1800's reproduction prints. I had a small pile of 1/4 square triangles and so I made these 3" hourglass blocks. Here we go. Another mystery. My 1st thought was to set a pieced block in the center of 2 rounds of the hourglass blocks. Naturally. It is rare that I even think of applique.

Then I went to Electric Quilt and this is what I came up with. Seeing as this will only be a wall hanging, I won't mind using the cut-and-paste method of appliqué. Now I need to decide if I want to have a strip of plain border fabric between the 2 borders of triangles. And if I do, should it be a light medium or dark color. So far I'm loving it, and I think I will keep it small.

I did get another border on an old top, but didn't take the picture. My back was sore and I couldn't reach up and spread the quilt top on the wall. Then when my back was feeling better, I'd lost the camera. That wasn't fun cause just the day before I'd lost my cell phone. Of course, both were simply misplaced in the house. I don't like loosing hours to searching for misplaced items. Sure hope that doesn't become a habit any time soon. Picture taking is on the agenda for this afternoon so with any luck I'll show a picture or 2 tomorrow.

I could babble on and on, so I better go get some work done. Sew long.

S is for Scraps

2010-10-14T22:29:00.000-05:00

You almost wouldn’t know that I’m a dedicated quilter. We’ve had such a glorious autumn this year that I’ve spent little time at the sewing machine. It’s been a week already and I can’t believe that I haven’t announced this, but I have in hand an advanced copy of my latest book, S Is for Scraps. It will probably be in stores the 2nd week of November. Click the green link below the cover photo in the side bar for a preview of all the projects in the book.

I have not gotten back to the borders on the 6 quilt tops I want to enlarge. But I have made a few more blocks for the quilt I started last week. I can’t say I’m real excited about it. These prints are just too busy for me. I've been adding a few more blocks with the darker more solid background. Naturally that is what I'd add. I like high contrast. A few more blocks and I can call it done.

I wanted to show you how I cut them out. In Kim Brackett’s book Scrap Basket Surprises she instructs you to place 2 rectangles at right angles to each other and sew them together on the diagonal to make the 2 trapezoid unit. I prefer to cut and sew trapezoids.

I already knew the strip width was 2 ½ inches. Then I use a half-square triangle ruler like the Omnigrid 96. This ruler requires that I use the 3 inch line. The hardest thing about cutting trapezoids is to always remember to cut with the fabric right side up and not folded. Otherwise you will get the mirror image, and with trapezoids pointing in both directions your pinwheels will spin in 2 different directions. Usually when I cut boo-boos like that, I make the blocks anyways. But then those blocks are donated to church. I guess I’m really only concerned if I’m short on fabric.

Another session of Quilt As Desired is about ready to start, and I have room for one more. If anybody local to me is interested or knows of anybody that would be interested in joining me in learning to quilt, give me a call. These classes are handled a lot like classes at quilt shops where you work on what you want, and the teacher helps you. Sessions usually start with show and tell, then I give a demonstration of some technique or pieced block. Then you are free to make that block and do a sampler quilt or work on your own project after that.
It's back to the borders for me. Sew long.

A new project

2010-10-02T18:44:00.000-05:00

Thank you to everyone that commented on my last post. It was unanimous to go with the brown border. It should be on soon.
I hold classes here at home sometimes and while I was waiting for the last class to begin I began another quilt. My fingers were itching to start something new. How I decided so quickly is beyond me. I've been wanting to do something with a few multicolored florals I have. I must have gotten them in some bundles I bought, cause typically I don't buy them.

I like a simple 2 fabric block for those busy prints. So I chose the pattern Mocha Swirl from Kim Brackett's book, Scrap Basket Surprises. I think it will work out great. I haven't been happy with that one pink rose print. Can't seem to find the right green to go with it. But now I see that maybe the way to go is to use it as the background.
Typically when I start a quilt, I pick out just about all the fabric and have a cutting frenzy. I think I might approach this one a little more slowly. Not sure how big it will get with the florals I have. And I am not sure if I want to be selective in which blocks are next to one another. Once I have made up the blocks with these fabrics I just might add some with more blue in them. I can always audition them too I guess. Sometimes I have to remind myself that is what the flannel wall is for.

Just the same, I can see putting this one aside to work on with others around. It won't take much concentration. See how that happens?
Thanks again and sew long.

Auditioning borders

2010-09-28T14:01:00.000-05:00

So now I can't decide on which border to use on this Kings Beauty quilt top that I made about 25 years ago. I ran out of the light peach for the setting triangles. OOOOps what a liar. I just remembered that I cut them too small. That is why I added some of the last border fabric to each triangle and it appears that the green corners overlap the narrow rust border a bit. A mistake?? no. Let's call it a design opportunity. I have other rusts, but narrowed it down to this top one. I have plenty of matching light green, but won't use that very wide cause it doesn't work. I like the last one with light green middle border and plain dark green final border because the quilting would show up nice with it. I didn't get the proportions just right and that can make a difference, but this helps too.

This top is 82" already and I love it so I want to make it big enough for my bed (as opposed to my balcony).
I've had the quilting planned for years and just may move it from the dormant phd pile to the actively waiting pile. Okay, not a pile, a list. A list in my head AKA a fantasy. I have lots and lots of those. Don't we all?

3 down, 6 to go

2010-09-22T22:11:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I don't know where I find the time and other times I know I am addicted to the Internet. I need to try harder to balance my time better. At any rate, I put another quilt on the frame and started it. I am finding that while it is nice out I like to work on my quilting after dark. We live 2nd shift here, so I will often go to the studio after 9pm. I guess it rained or I wouldn't have gotten the new borders on these old tops.

This first one is called Friendship Chain. The blocks were from a block exchange in the Crazy Quilters guild I belonged to at the time.Each block has 12 set-ins. The girls didn't like me much for that, but they did a great job. At least it didn't have 50 pieces. Linda Bohling had the foresight to date her block 1989. Thanks, Linda.

I'm not so sure I like the dark green, but it's not going anywhere. I didn't audition the green on the wall first cause there was stuff in the way. It's sure hard to get nice pictures with the quilts on the flannel wall when flannel doesn't cover the whole wall. The big ones are hard to get up there as it is, especially when they are too big for the space. That pile of stuff is gone now, so I intend to audition several options for another top. I will be looking for input from all of you about that.

This next one was a sample for a magazine article I wrote years ago. I never named it, but I recall that I set 6 little arrow units in a 9-patch with 3 blue squares. Does that help? I know how everyone tries to decipher how the pieced quilts go together. I've given plenty of lectures where everyone looks at my quilts kind of perplexed. Now this one I like better with the new brown border. And now it's a decent twin size. Sure beats a gazillion lap quilts.

Well, it's 10pm, time to work in the studio for an hour. Sew long,

If Only

2010-09-18T18:17:00.000-05:00

If only I wasn't too lazy to add another pieced border to this quilt when I first made it. Wouldn't that have been pretty? I mean, if only I hadn't run out of fabric when I was making this quilt, I could've made it bigger to begin with. I mean, if only I had bought more fabric in the 1st place. Really, let's get it right. That's the real problem. I tend not to buy large enough pieces of fabric. Lesson learned? Probably not.

I'm pleased with the addition of these 2 plain borders in this quilt top. At least now it's big enough for a twin or double sized bed. This is Alien Star Flower and was originally shown in my book, Infinite Stars. I just checked the publication date and that was 1992. That means this quilt top is 20 years old. I'm still not in a real big hurry to get it quilted. I'm waiting for my doodle quilting to get better.

If only I got more of the borders done in that pile of 9 quilts I decided to enlarge - I could be starting another top. But I just got one done. And I did go shopping and find the fabric I need for the border of one other quilt. And it's washed, pressed and ready to go. I also finished 2 bindings.

I think that's enough sewing upstairs for a little while. Now I think I'll rummage around in that pile of tops and see if I can't find one that I have a back for and put something on the frame downstairs. I will save the other borders to work on when I am on the phone. I use the speaker phone feature so I can chat without holding the phone and can get lots done at the same time. I find it helps to plan ahead, and will probably have figured out how wide I can cut the strips from the fabric available before I even pick up the phone.
Sew on and sew on.

Staying Organized

2010-09-14T23:47:00.000-05:00

I guess in order for me to get anything accomplished, I like to keep things organized. My mother seems to think that I am very organized and could put my fingers on things in my sewing room rather quickly. I wonder what she would've thought if she had seen me yesterday. I spent nearly 5 hours organizing again. When my sister was here just 2 weeks ago, we spread out all the quilts on the extra twin beds upstairs. My quilt tops were left in a drawer and a pile and I knew I would get to them soon. My thoughts were that I would go through them to decide which ones I would want to quilt next. But recently there was a discussion in the Yahoo group, Stashbusters, about what size quilts we make. The discussion made me realize something I've known for some time. I have not been making many quilts big enough for beds.

So yesterday I ended up pulling out 9 quilt tops that I decided I could still make larger. I rummaged through all of my fabric, and I mean all, looking for any remaining matching fabric or other fabric that I might want to add to these quilts to make them larger. One of the great things is I think I will only need to buy border fabric for one of the quilt tops, and binding for one other. I guess I'm glad I hadn't quilted them yet.

I also organized my binding bin. I was dismayed to find many of the bindings were not labeled and there were perhaps 8 quilt tops that I had not set aside binding fabric for. So I'm glad I took care of that.

I don't particularly enjoy adding borders, but I want to take care of these soon. Most of them will probably just get a plain border, but 3 of them will get pieced borders. I've always wanted to participate in a round robin and now's my chance. Here is one quilt top I'm thinking of setting on point, and making it larger with additional blocks and borders. I only have one of the original fabrics left, but I don't really think that matters. These fabrics look pretty good with it. I'm sure I can find more.

I got a few bindings done, and I have a few more ready to sew on. Also, I really enjoyed getting acquainted with Karen at the quilt show in Madison. It turns out we enjoy pretty much the same kind of quilts. And if that wasn't enough. I went into the Whitewater shops today with Lucrecia. There was a sale I just couldn't miss. Well, I'm glad it's never ending. I hope your glad too. Sew long.

My sister's dirt and Congrats to Karen

2010-09-08T18:45:00.014-05:00

Well, my sister has come and gone. I would never do this on my own, but she gave me permission. So here it is - her dirt! 27 years of it.

The Mothers Fancy Star quilt top I'd made her that long ago was on display in her home this whole time. There was some yellowing due to aging and possibly stains from wood. I asked her to send it to me as is. When I saw just how dirty it was, I knew it needed a cleaning before quilting it. I did not want it to agitate in the machine though, because I did not want the seams to fray. So in the bathtub it went with hot water and Borax and a little detergent. I gently squeezed the water through it. I couldn't believe the dirt and ran for the camera. Then I called Mark to see it and his 1st comment was "Did you take a picture?" It came fairly clean. And perhaps had I soaked it a while all the stains would've come out. Quilting it and binding it will be quite a chore and I don't intend to start for a while because I want to get some work done on other projects before the holidays.

While my sister was here, she helped me rearrange my quilts in storage. This was a very rare opportunity for someone to see my quilts here at the house, and I knew she'd be interested. It is recommended that once a year you refold your quilts, folding it in quarters in even years and in 3rds in odd years. Of course the best way to store quilts is flat, but most people don't have room for that. but I happen to have a spare twin bed up in the quilt storage room. So we spread out about 30 quilts on that bed. We left 2 big piles of quilts folded for trunk shows, and draped perhaps another 20 over a couple of simple quilt racks for wall hangings. I had also sorted out quilts and tops that I'm willing to part with. The quilt tops that I'm not using in lectures or classes will get stored in a huge dresser until I am ready to quilt them. It sure felt good to get those things organized. Now, I think I'll be able to set some goals for getting some of those tops quilted and perhaps sold.

Imagine how excited I was, when I went to our county fair and saw that a quilt made from one of my patterns was on full display. It is often a bit of a disappointment to see the quilts at our fair because unlike a quilt show, they do not have the space to hang every quilt open all the way. I knew right away that the quilt must have won something, and as it turned out it was won a blue and the grand champion. I was so excited for whoever had made it. As it turned out, a neighbor of mine, Karen Walters made it. It was a surprise to her as well because she had made it for her granddaughter,Megan and her daughter, Nikki entered it in the fair for her. I thought for sure, I had a picture of this quilt from the fair. I didn't think to bring my camera and never expected to need it, but golly gee, I have a new camera phone. I guess I need to read up on how to use it. Congratulations, Karen! Karen lives just 4 doors away, but here in the country, it's a good half a mile and with our busy lives, we never got to hanging out together.

I got a few lap quilts bound and got these 3 ready for binding. (that means I quilted them) I've made each of these two several times for church. Dorinda donated the tulip blocks
(below)to our efforts at church. Another gal put them together and I quilted it.

That's it for this week. Friday I will be going with Karen to the Madison Quilt Expo. Should be fun getting better acquainted with my neighbor that quilts.
Sew long,

Two too big

2010-08-30T19:37:00.004-05:00

Yep, you read that right. I've got two quilt tops to show that are too too big for my flannel wall.
The first is the top I started at retreat last spring, inspired from the book "One Block Says It All". I didn't get any further because as usual I had to add the borders. I already had the pieced borders pieced, but I wanted to get a different tan fabric. Once I did, it still sat in the pile. I'm not too sorry it's too big for my flannel wall, because that means it'll be a good sized quilt for my bed. Someday. I think these are great stash busting quilts because it uses a lot of fabric quickly. I hope to make more but I think before I do that I ought to quilt one and see how I like doing that.

This other quilt top is called Mothers Fancy Star, I made it for my sister about 27 years ago . She was always going to send it off to get hand quilted and never quite got that far. It sat in the corner of her bedroom on display for who knows how long and gathered dust. Now with the long arm, I am happy to quilt it. So I washed it this morning in the bathtub, and hung it on a line to dry. This one measures 104" x 128"! I would like to convince her to remove a row and make a quilt 104 inches square. This would not only make it easier for her to handle and launder and me to quilt, but also, if it were square she could rotate it on the bed for even wear. It's her decision. And I would be happy to instruct her how to use the same ripper. She is lucky she has a choice, because if it were 128 inches square, it wouldn't fit on my frame!I'll probably quilt this one now as soon as I get the batting and backing for it. I've already planned the quilting for it and there will be a minimum of marking to do. Thank goodness!

I also sent a small box of small quilts and quilt tops to an Amish auction. I don't necessarily expect them to do very well but I am hopeful that I will still be satisfied. I think that's the same outfit will have another auction again in November. If I am pleased this time around I might very well send some more for the November auction. Sounds like a great time of year for a quilt auction - just before the cold and before Christmas.

Well I guess that's about all the Quilty stuff this week for me.
Sew long,

Since last week

2010-08-24T10:45:00.007-05:00

Another busy quilty week has passed. Last Tuesday was comfort quilts at church. We didn't work too hard that day. This sampler Lois put together. It was her first effort at putting all those assorted sizes together. I wish she had called me. It might have been easier for her. I brought another top home. It is on the frame and already half quilted.

Wed. I went with Judy to the Milwaukee Art Museum and saw some someones collection of antique quilts. Who's collection it was doesn't matter to me cause they didn't make them. Oops, I guess I ought to try to remember so I won't accidentally see them again. There were some awesome quilts there and of course most were made completely by hand cause they were mostly pre-1850. The 240 hours that gals put in their quilts using machines doesn't seem so daunting now after seeing those quilts.

Friday and Saturday the GLMPQA met in Elgin, IL. I only went down on Friday for classes with Diana Phillips. Now I have a few more ideas for freehand quilting. It's been interesting to take all these classes and compare teaching styles. Again disappointed in the teachers lack of samples. She had some glorious quilts, but they didn't support her morning class. And as usual, I couldn't sleep for thinking about how I would have taught those classes. This is a corner of her single Irish Chain and my thumb.

It will be nice to have a few weeks at home before the busy fall quilting season starts. This week I see my cousin and uncle. I haven't seen her since I was 14. We were penpals after that for a few years. Should be fun. Next week my sister will be here from PA. In between I'll quilt when I can. Wouldn't you?
Sew long,

Another quilty week

2010-08-16T14:14:00.004-05:00

Well, the inspiration from the Milwaukee Machine Quilting Show has lasted. It certainly has helped that I have had other Quilty events on my calendar. I did a bit of practice,as you can see here.
I'm also just about done with another comfort quilt. I took the quilt off the frame to turn to quilt the other borders, and then it'll be done. I believe Rita donated this quilt top. She won the pieced blocks in a block exchange or drawing or raffle and put them together with the Snowball blocks. I was fairly pleased with how these feathered circles turned out.I've been wanting this stencil for some time and I finally got it from Pam Clark at the show last week. Pam likes to use the blue chalk, and then uses some special spray solution that she wipes across the quilt top. Well, because I'm so cheap I didn't want to do that but how was I to see white chalk on a white fabric. Then I remembered what I'd heard quilters used a century ago. So I used their little trick, anybody want to guess? I know I should've been able to quilt this with the laser light, but I don't like to work from the back of the machine. And I have trouble using the laser light from the front of the machine. I guess that's just one more thing I ought to practice.

I also had a lecture and workshop scheduled up north. And went to the Lutherdale quiltfest quilt auction on Saturday. I was mighty disappointed in what most of the quilts were going for. I feel bad for the gals who made them. But funny thing, I think I still am going to send some off to auction for myself.

This'll be another Quilty week. Tomorrow is comfort quilting at church, Wednesday, I hope to go to the Milwaukee Art Museum to see some antique quilts. And I have the classes in Elgin on Friday, should be fun.

Poor mom. I was so busy with my quilting, that I never stopped to see her all week. She thought I was mad at her. When I finally saw her on Saturday after the auction, I explained what I'd been doing and reminded her that I'll be busy yet again this week. The following week should be kind of slow so I should be able to see her then and she'll be happy. The week after that we are starting to see company from out of town. I'll have to remind myself then that I can't quilt every week.I guess I'll have to be satisfied with dreaming about quilting.

PPP

2010-08-05T21:43:00.005-05:00

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
I took 3 classes at the Milwaukee Machine Quilting Show in the last 3 days and that is what all three of the excellent teachers emphasized. My experience tells me they are right. To get good, you gotta practice, both on paper and at the sewing machine. I know this and tell my students this as well. It applies to both the quilting and the piecing. And yes, appliK too. I guess anything.
My problem is I wanna do it all and I should really be focusing on just a thing or two.

I took a swag class with Mindy Wylie Caspersen. Love swags. She has developed a set of tools with Quilter's Rule to make some nice swags. What's nice about them is that the set makes a variety of sizes too. I have seen several other swag templates around and I like these best. So I'll probably get them at their next Warehouse Sale in November.

I also took a classs with Dawn Cavanaugh - on Git-R-Done type borders. Some were easier than others. Good thing I liked the easy ones the most.

Jammie Wallens class was Cottontracks2. Lots of great ideas I hadn't seen before. I am anxious to try some of them, particularly on my OLD Infinite Stars quilts still unquilted from 1992! Okay, I have made a few since and they would be perfect in those too. That big star in the last post was a fairly new Infinte Star. And for those of you that don't know, that was the title of my first book.
I will be back to see the rest of the show tomorrow and shop the vendors, of course! Sew long,

mystery solved

2010-08-02T09:55:00.005-05:00

I finally got another UFO done. It's this red and purple thing that I had no original plans for. I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out, though it is a bit bright. Mark couldn't believe that I actually had all those fabrics on hand. I don't particularly get excited about making a quilt completely from stash. With the amount of fabric I have on hand, I would expect to be able to do that easily.
When I started this quilt at the retreat last March, I simply stitched red strips and purple strips into strip sets . Then cut my triangles. I had no further plans. Then I searched for a background fabric, and I found this light blue fabric that was in my basket of new fabrics waiting to be washed. After I made that decision, I found the multicolored fabric hidden in my stash. I don't know that it was the wisest way to approach making a quilt, because I think it took longer this way. I think in the near future I will plan my quilts, in a little more detail before hand, and they will probably get done a little more quickly.

Summer is in full swing and I have been busy quilting, thanks to the AC and Lenni in the basement. I've gotten too small quilts done that I will be sending off to be auctioned. There is an Amish quilt auction in Amherst, WI where I sent quilts before. I don't send my best or those that scream "made by Gayle Bong", because you can't set a minimum bid and you never know what kind of money you'll get. You can always tell when I'm feeling overwhelmed with the number of quilts on hand, because that's when I start sending them off to be auctioned.

Last week I was busy volunteering for the Milwaukee Machine Quilting Show that's going on this week. This is the 1st year for the show, and I thought they would be busy in the office. I really want this show to be a success because big shows like this are so inspiring and one that is close to home saves the expense of transportation and lodging. I'll be helping out a little bit more this week, besides taking 3 classes. I got a sneak peek at some awesome quilts. And if I go to the convention center this afternoon to help I'll get a closer look.

I do not entertain thoughts of ever quilting so well. The quilts entered in this show are clearly made for competition. That's just not my idea of quilting. That's not to say that I can't get some wonderful ideas and dabble at some of the techniques used in the show quilts. Someday anyways. Yes Judy, I had hoped it would be this year. But the year is not over yet.

No doubt I won't have time for personal quilting this week. And I won't be posting pictures from the show because I won't have gotten permission from the designers. But perhaps I can show pictures of what I did in my classes, so stay tuned. Sew long.

Measure twice, cut once

2010-07-20T17:31:00.004-05:00

I guess it's back to the drawing board for a quilt to hang on my balcony. One would think by now that I learned the lesson to measure the space where I want to display a quilt, and plan accordingly. I finally got the border on the log cabin quilt that I made last winter. It looks like the quilt was too big even before I added the border! I did make sure though that the quilt was big enough for my bed, so someday I'll use it there. Unless of course, I could convince my husband that with a little creative carpentry we could make it fit.

I also got the border on this Infinite Star quilt. I am undecided, about what I want to do in the background area of the star. I don't know if it'll just be the quilting or if I want to do some couching of some colored yarns or what.

We had comfort quilting at church today. I had so much to bring, I packed my big suitcase. It was heavier than when I travel on the plane to do lectures. I brought the raffle quilt back in and maybe eight kits I was returning after cuttings strips for them with the studio cutter. I also brought this big Sunshine and Shadow quilt that I had on the frame this last week. Someone had donated the quilt top to church.

I still have borders to add to 3 quilt tops that I listed three weeks ago. But I changed my mind about one of them. It's maybe 4 feet across. And rather than just border it I think that I'll add some smaller stars around and make a medallion quilt with it. So I've moved that quilt top to the PhD pile. Another top waiting for a border is a comfort quilt and I'll add the border When I prep the back before I quilt it. The 3rd is on this weeks schedule.

It is still amazing to me how motivating it has been to get my projects organized. I would like to reward myself for getting so much done, and start another quilt, but I think since I'm on a roll, I'll wait another week and see how much more I can get done. So that means I have to go now, sew long.

always on the go

2010-07-19T19:32:00.004-05:00

I had a busy week last week and I didn't even have any classes. I went to Fox Lake, Wi to see my friend, Ellie. I had no idea she had made so many quilts until she opened a closet to show me it was stuffed with quilts. That was a shock! I guess 2 hours is just too far away for us to keep up.

This quilt hanging in the guest room inspired me a few years ago. I spent a few days with her one summer, and she worked on another strip quilt while I was there. I have made several of my own since.

I also saw Judy last week and picked up the Delectable Mountains raffle quilt she had quilted for us. She did another great job as you can see. Maybe next year I will feel I'm doing well enough on the long arm to quilt the raffle quilt myself. I will have tickets if anybody is interested
and I'm sure Judy would be happy to quilt for you too. Judy always inspires me too. When I got home, I planned the quilting for another quilt on Lennie.

I have to get ready for quilting at church tomorrow and then I'm going to go quilting in the studio tonight. Thanks for stopping by, sew long.

They call it applique

2010-07-14T11:08:00.003-05:00

I tried raw edge applique the other day. It was too easy and would have been even easier if I had put it on the longarm. I was concerned that raw edge applique might not hold up, but I did my research and learned that as long as I stitched a 1/4" or more away from the raw edge, it'd be fine. I did two row of stitches. I could call the security row - embellishment, I guess.

It's a comfort quilt. The dark purple background fabric was prequilted, so it didn't take much time at all. The leaves are lime green. Funny how some colors don't photograph well. I think it needs a little more, though. I didn't have any fabrics on hand I wanted to add, so when I take it to church next week we will see if anyone wants to contribute to the quilt in any way.

That is one great thing about the church group. Many hands go into one quilt sometimes. Different person for each step. Kitting and precutting, piecing, basting, quilting and even binding and the label!

Still a Mystery

2010-07-11T11:30:00.003-05:00

I have gotten some more sewing done on the red and purple mystery quilt, this is the setting that I want to use. Except all of the pinwheels will use the purple segments, and all the corners will be red, but I need to make another decision. I'm thinking I might use some of the units for a pieced border rather than making more blocks with them, but we'll see, one step at a time. Sometimes I wish I could just follow a pattern. Instead of always coming up with something on my own. I think that's what slows me down.

I have several comfort quilts here that I want to finish up soon. I want them out of the way so that after I take the quilting classes at the machine quilt show in Milwaukee I will be ready to practice what I've learned. I am pretty excited about this show; I never have been to a show that focuses on machine quilting.

I'm going to post a few more quilts and/or tops for sale on the other page on this blog and then I think I'm going to go quilt. thanks for stopping by. Sew long,

Can't compute all day

2010-07-07T15:57:00.005-05:00

As much as I enjoy the computer, I just can't do it all day. Sure wish I could sometimes. One thing I'd like to do is finally post some of my retired sample quilts and tops for sale. If I have this thing figured out right, I should have a new page with the first quilt top. I also plan to add the terms of sale and return policy to the sidebar. This morning I took photos of a dozen quilts/tops to post. One step at a time, I guess.

This is one of the tops I just finished and will be posting it for sale right away. It was one waiting for a border. It is a Random Four-Patch, but I call it Roadkill Rag quilt. It is made from flannel. That stuff is soft and cuddly but I am not interested in using it in quilts. I started a small collection when I was given a small charm pack of flannels. But then I decided I didn't want to use them because I don't like the way flannel ages. I call it Random because there is no rhyme or reason to the placement of the colors, but the four-patches do alternate with the plain squares. It is one of my favorite comfort quilts to make.

I also got the border on this Thirtysomething quilt. This is the one that I started 12 years ago to be a wallhanging. I didn't like the way it was going and ignored it for a long time. When I pulled it out again I decided to add an alternate block, made the blocks and put it away again. When I pulled it out this spring I decided to make the half-blocks to make it bigger and look for something to border it. No way was I going to find more of the same stuff 12 years later. Sure was surprised to find this green the first time I looked. Glad it's finally done.

More later. Sew long,

Loads of Progress

2010-07-06T21:54:00.006-05:00

I have had lots of energy to sew lately and I am getting lots done. Yet, I feel like I have to get "caught up" with my sewing. I don't know where that is coming from because I have no deadlines or commitments. I haven't had this kind of energy for a while now, so am glad for it.

I got the borders on this Swizzle Sticks quilt finally. I made the top at retreat last November and didn't put the border on cause I wanted to change the cornerstones. They were a coral pink and didn't give it the look I was after so I ripped out the pink ones and replaced them with the dark gray. Glad I did. I wasn't sure I wanted to put the blocks together at retreat without a design wall to spread out the blocks and audition the color of cornerstones. I learned from that mistake. This is one of my newest and favorite Thirtysomething quilts. I still can't believe all the designs you can make with that little unit.

I also got Brian's big log cabin quilt done. He took it home today and at 9pm when he called it was still out in his van. I can't imagine he will be needing it tonight anyways. It has been hot and muggy this weekend and promises to be the rest of the week. Okay with me, I will stay in and quilt.

I got a few other simple borders done, but didn't take pics yet cause the sun was shining on the wall. I also assembled more kits with the fabric cut with the Studio cutter. I still have to put some directions together for those. I also loaded another big quilt on the frame and it is 1/4 done already. It's hard for me to believe I got so much done and Mark was home on vacation. Makes me think his retirement won't be so bad after all.

Here is hoping all you quilters find a little time each day to get some quilting done. I know, it makes my day!
Sew long,

Try it, you'll like it

2010-07-01T21:13:00.005-05:00

In between all my gardening and quilting I have been gathering St. Pete's scraps to cut using the Accucut Studio Cutter. It is available for rent at the Oconomowoc (WI) Ben Franklin Quilt Shop. You can see here I set my sights high and packed this whole tub with fabric. I was betting I was going to like it, and like it I did.

Lucrecia joined me to help make better use of my time. Here she is placing fabric on the 3" strip die. With the big studio cutter, we could cut 10 layers of fabric with one pass. The 3" die cuts 4 strips across the width of the die (dies accommodate folded 44" fabric like it comes off the bolt).

After you crank the die through the press the trimmings around the edges are dumped and you stack the good stuff. I cut 2 1/2" strips. We also cut some 5" squares, but generally we don't use this size at all.

This is the trimmings that I trashed. I am sure someone that does miniatures would love them. I would have saved them, but I am swamped in scraps and the church ladies have minimums so they get their quilts done quickly.
Did we get the tub full of fabric cut??? No, unfortunately. We were warned a number of times that it goes quickly, but apparently not as quickly as I'd imagined. WE got about half of it cut.
Here it is. This pile was cut in 2 1/2 hours.

Will I rent it again??? Absolutely. Even though we didn't get it all done it saved tons of time and energy on my part. Most of my 70 year old ladies don't enjoy cutting out the quilts. I don't know if its cause the ruler slips or the ruler is hard to read or they just get sore shoulders, arms and backs when they cut, but they will appreciate this much precut for them.

I don't know if it is really efficient use of your time or fabric to cut using some of the other dies. And it is expensive to own. I just thought I had to experience it once. I'm glad I did and I am glad I didn't have to own it to try it. Funny, that is just what I said when I rented the longarm I just had to try. At any rate, I feel it freed up some of my time for more quilting! Have a good one.

Studio Stats

2010-06-27T19:44:00.007-05:00

So the last thing I wrote was that I was going to go get my sewing organized for the next opporunity I had to sew. I never thought that would entail cleaning and organizing my sewing room. I feel so rejuvenated! It didn't take much to go through my stuff, but I work best if things don't get toooo out of control. I have no priorities or immediate plans for my quilting right now, so I just thought I'd survey the workload. Next thing I knew I was actually dusting. This is the situation:

quilts needing binding 5
tops needing borders 8
tops needing quilting 103
tops in progress- PHD’s 15

So, I really got organized. First I removed two chairs from the room and moved a table to a better position. That alone made me feel great for 2 days! Next I put away a few piles of fabric then stacked up some of the work waiting to be done. In a little while I could see that this pile of tops waiting for borders is the first I'll focus on. Ripping, pressing, tea-dyeing and designing are required on some of these which might just be why work stalled.

As I was working I came across this red and purple print that just might be perfect with the red and purple stripped triangles that I made in March and April. I never had any real plans for those triangles, so now I'll come up with a plan to incorporate the print. Sort of my own personal mystery. What fun.

So did I actually get any sewing done? Yes, actually I quilted more on Brian's extra long log cabin quilt and I cut background triangles for the red and purple mystery quilt. I also put blocks together to move it from the PHD pile to the needing pressing and borders pile. I think I will take the ironing to the basement this week. Even with the A/C on I'm hot all the time. Ask Mark!
Sew long till next time.

Mending, piecing and stitching, oh my

2010-06-22T20:57:00.005-05:00

And quilting, too. What a busy day sewing in so many ways. I had mending and alterations that had been sitting here since winter. And I finished up the last two logs on about 50 log cabin blocks that the church ladies started and quilted more feathers on the big quilt on the frame and made up another 6 of the 12 pillowcases here for the million pillowcase challenge.
It sure feels good to get all those things off my list.

On the wall in the photo is another comfort quilt turned in by one of the church ladies. It's waiting for me to add borders and quilting. I'll add the borders cause all the blocks were from her stash and I have the church's fabric here. The piecer is betting that we have something suitable.

Here are a few more of the quilts turned in last Tuesday. The sampler I put together from the orphan blocks that I collect. Occasionally I make a block or two from leftover pieces. I think I needed to put together 3 for this quilt.

The quilt below Lucrecia put together starting with a pillow panel in the center.
Now I am going to organize my next day's sewing. I hope that's tomorrow. Sew long,

A quilty June

2010-06-21T14:25:00.004-05:00

Well, I'd have written sooner, but I have been having some trouble with the new modem sent to me by my ISP. They are taking it "to the next level" and hopefully can find a problem to fix.

I did happen to get Spring Dance together a few weeks ago. Now I feel I can move onto other things. I am surprised how long that one was on my design wall. Once it was this far I debated borders and decided just to go with a flat piping before the binding.

More comfort quilts were turned in last week at church. We had quite a few quilts piling up and decided we needed to make a distribution. I took in 13 quilts to Love Inc. They were thrilled to get them. It is always nice when the gals in the office are excited when we come in with quilts. Sometimes we make a delivery and you wonder if they really want them.

Here are just two of the quilts turned in. Both double-four patches. Amazing how they can look so different.
In the last two weeks I also attended a 25th anniversary party for the guild I started. It was great fun to reminisce with other past presidents that were invited and some of the charter members. I also gave a program to a guild in Illinois, delivered the raffle quilt to Judy to quilt and quilted one last Friday night with the girls. All this quilty activity has motivated me to do even more quilting. I can't wait to see what I get done. My to do list keeps getting longer. It must be time to post that. That's it for now. Guess where I am going.
Sew long,

Lovin' the Rain

2010-06-08T14:02:00.004-05:00

Am I strange to like rainy days. When I had a huge garden I used to pray for rainy days so I could take a day off from working in the garden and clean my house. Then I got smart. I just prayed for a cleaning lady. I like the rainy days now. I think it is the quiet sound that I like and I tend to get lots done then.

It's been raining several days now and I got some real quilting done. This was a top I had sitting around for almost 10 years.

Since I still have no plans for it, the binding will probably continue to wait patiently in my tub o' bindings. I really don't mind doing bindings cause I do them completely by machine, but I'd rather do other things right now. See? I know how to prioritize. Now I am down to 103 quilt tops. Doing good I'd say. Sew all the long rainy day.

Old fashioned charm

2010-06-04T21:47:00.003-05:00

Time sure flies when you enjoy your work. I planted all my annuals. My peonies are finally opening, just as we are getting a week of rain. Just like every year.

The raffle quilt top has been in my possession for a week now and I finally took a picture. I had Pam's challenge on the wall the whole week and didn't get far enough on it to take it down without getting confused! Dear Mark thinks it will appeal to the aging population of our church just fine. Uh, that would be him. What does he expect from almost a dozen golden girls?

Lily's cuddling lessons are not going well. This is the cat that never liked much to be held more than 60 seconds without her cardboard box. With a box, she has been known to go 3 hours!
Well, I am going quilting. Sew long,

Challenge progress

2010-05-27T22:36:00.007-05:00

Hello everyone in blog land,
Progress has been slow with the challenge fabric from Pam. I have finally made a decision and it is almost together. But I wanted to show you, with the aid of Electric Quilt 6, what my favorite mistake would look like side by side versus what I intended. So here they are. Note that I did not take the time to add all the variations between pink and yellow. Yes, I mean orange. At one time I thought I would arrange the stars from yellow to orange to pink. So if you are wondering what I decided, it won't be long now.

I wasn't able to put as much time in the garden last spring as I would have liked so I've been putting in lots of time out there this spring. Sometimes it is a toss up, which I'd rather do, quilt or garden. And of course May is prime time to work in the flower beds in Wisconsin. Thank goodness I didn't have any quilting that HAD to be done. Even though I will be glad when this top is finally done.

I'd like to focus on machine quilting next. If it is hot, humid, rainy or dark this summer I will spend time in the lower level quilting. Well some time anyways. Mark works nights and I always had energy till midnight to work in the sewing room so I am hoping to do that. Besides tv is all reruns, isn't it? I know that's the way it used to be. Please don't tell me if it has changed. I wannna quilt.

However, I will have to wait a while longer yet. My annuals aren't all in yet. We get late frosts here sometimes so I wait till the end of May to plant the tender ones. AND Tomorrow my Page Proofs are due from the publisher for book8. Don't you love life?
So, enjoy your gardens or your quilting and life! Sew long,

Farewell Sweet Pepper

2010-05-27T11:18:00.003-05:00

A while back I showed a picture of my cat Lily, promising to show her pal Pepper someday. So here he is, a typical cat loving anything resembling a quilt. We said goodbye to Pepper last Wednesday. He was 15 years old and his arthritis took a turn for the worse. He was my all-time favorite cat and he Loved cuddling. I'll miss him tons. Thanks Pepper, see ya on the other side.

Lily was never one for cuddling, so we started cuddling lessons and she is getting better at it. If not the cuddling at least she is asking for more attention. I'm so glad to have her. Of course, she is not the same, but she's better than no cat. Lily would probably say she was always the better cat, being a girl and all. Man did Pepper love her.

Well, now back to the garden and quilting.
So long.

My Favorite Mistake

2010-05-14T18:11:00.011-05:00

Greetings everyone,
Maybe mom was right the other day when we visited she said I had a lot of things on my mind. I was rattling off a list of things I am working on. It sounded like the usual to me. Spring cleaning, gardening, bills, computing, charity quilts, quilts for classes, personal quilting, etc. I prefer it when I have lots to keep me busy. I just wish I could work for several hours at one task. I have learned the hard way to balance my life better. Yeah, that sounds better than it is. What I mean is working at one task for a shorter duration. I can't seem to get as much done that way, evident by the fact that I haven't completed any tops or quilts in the last month or more.

I have made some progress with the spring challenge fabric I bought from Pam's. In the left stack in the photo are the 6 fabrics I am planning/allowed to add to the 12 on the right.

This photo shows how easy it is to design a new block. I call it "My Favorite Mistake". After the units were made, I put them on the wall to take a pic for the blog. I almost didn't catch that I arranged them incorrectly.

Below is the correct arrangement of the units. However, I am not sure I am going to arrange them so they are colored as suggested in this pic. It's Friday. My girls are coming to quilt and I hope to get more blocks done and make a decision about how this will go together. Wish me luck.

Busy with my stitching

2010-04-26T21:20:00.006-05:00

It's been a great spring here, but I haven 't been outside working too much yet. I haven't been quilting much either. After I realized I had a few shirts in my closet that were more than 12 years old, I cleaned out my clothes closet for summer, went shopping and made a new shirt and new shorts. Making a little dent in the stash of fabric for clothes felt good.

Pam's challenge has to wait till I find the fabric to go with the design I have planned. I intend to find it in my stash. I tend to jump around from project to project so I finally got back to the red and purple strip tease quilt that I started at retreat. I finished the purple units.

Now I need to decide on the background. I already decided I don't want boring beige, and I don't want to go scrappy. So I tried these out cause I really don't want to have to buy anymore. Can you tell I tend to like fairly plain fabric? Maybe a shopping trip is in my near future. And maybe you can tell, I have not totally decided on the setting yet either.

I had an uneven width log cabin class. It's always kinda fun watching the lightbulb go on in everyone's head. The idea is to use up all the little scraps that you don't want to toss, nor do you want to cut specific sizes or shapes from them. These go fastest if all the scraps are sorted lights from darks and then organized by length and of course chain piece. To see a few of these, click on log cabins in my list of posts at the left. Okay, my other left.

Also, I took in 15 more kits to church. Lucrecia had helped me with 10 of them and I did another 5. Nine attended last Tuesday, so many of the kits went home right away. And we had 1 new gal and I am expecting another new gal next month. Should be fun.

Spring challenges

2010-04-14T21:46:00.007-05:00

What a beautiful spring we have had. I was really torn between going to the Crazy Quilter's
annual quilt show and staying home and working in the garden. I hate missing the show. I see so many old friends there. Of course I went to the show. I figured the garden wouldn't sprout too many weeds in one day.

I am always so inspired when I go to a quilt show - to buy more fabric. I was doing a pretty good job too of resisting until I ran into Pam. I haven't stopped by Pamella's Place for quite a while now. I told her how I enjoyed it a few years ago when I had her pick out fabric for me to make a couple of quilts for class samples.

These were the class samples for a 5 session class covering all the Thirtysomething units. We made sampler blocks in class, not these quilts. I really enjoyed the challenge of working with fabrics I wouldn't normally choose. I like to claim that I LIKE ALL fabrics, I just don't buy or use it all. I haven't the time! Ok, That is probably not the whole truth. So, at the show I suggested she pick out some more for me. And in less than a minute she picked out the two bundles of batiks shown below.

I am kind of stumped now with this new challenge. I have an idea or two. I don't have to use them all, and I can add up to 6 more fabrics. Should be interesting.

Are you up for a challenge? I could send you a bundle of fabric from our Church stash if you'd like. Let me know.
Here's hoping you get to enjoy spring in between some quilting stitches. I know - it's a challenge. Sew long.

Giveaway winners announced

2010-04-10T12:07:00.003-05:00

As promised, I have two winners to announce.

Save the Scraps goes to Deanna at czereyna@yahoo
and Twin Peaks goes to NannaBonnie in Florida.

Ladies, you need to get me your address if you want to claim your prize.

Save the Scraps seemed the more popular of the two books, though many would have been happy with either. I'm kinda glad to hear that, because I have another scrap book due out late this fall. Thanks everyone for participating. It has been fun checking out your blogs.
Stay tuned for another giveaway this summer for my Birthday!

I haven't had a chance to quilt all week. But I did get my taxes done, visit with my sister from PA, and review the editors changes to my manuscript. With all that out of the way, I will be anxious to get in the garden in good weather. I will have to be sure not to overdue it so I am tooo tired for quilting. Wish me luck, and the same to you.

Master Textile Coordinator

2010-04-04T16:10:00.005-05:00

There is still time to enter my Giveaway!

Textile Management Specialist or Master Textile Coordinator? Call me what you want, but Shelly did have a cute idea over at her blog post on Monday. What job title would you give your quilting occupation?

I liked Master Textile Coordinator for me. Just a half hour after I got back from retreat a few weeks ago, I got a call from one of my church basement quilting ladies. Lois said she had 7 trash bags full of fabric from Donna's house. Her family wanted it to go to charity after she died. Mind you we only got about a fourth of it. The photo here is from before Donna's contribution. If we get anymore soon, church will have more than I do!

As the official kit coordinator (or Master Textile Coordinator) for our group, Lois wanted to know where I wanted it. Before the contribution I would have said half our stash is here and half at church. Now I clearly have two thirds. I was thinking we could use a few more volunteers when Lucrecia called. She'd been back less than a week from her winter home in Panama (yes, the country) and offered to help me assemble kits. She was here Friday afternoon and we put together about 10 kits. I was pleased with what we got done. There is another 6 or 7 kits that I hope to finish coordinating before we meet on the 20th. It was kind of nice thinking I didn't have to do it all myself. Lucrecia is a fairly new quilter and did a fine job. I was glad for the help.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday weekend and enjoying their friends and family and has great weather. I don't expect I will be quilting much this week; I am having company from out of town AND spring is here. Sew long.

Weekend report

2010-03-29T11:27:00.007-05:00

If you like quilting books, you won't want to miss my giveaway. You have till April 9th to sign up.

Friday night Shaggy didn't come to quilt with Margie and Sue. She came with her boyfriend to visit though. I love it, but we don't get any sewing done then. I enjoy it when she comes to sew too, and not just cause she brings this candy bag she made for when she comes.

I also quilted a comfort quilt for Quilt club. They go so quickly on the longarm. Maybe too fast. And I worked on some pillowcases for the pillowcase challenge. I don't really know what it is about except I guess it has something to do with a magazine and the fabric companies and either the sick or the poor. They are collecting them at Oconomowoc Ben Franklin.

I am using a new coffee cup this morning and realized I never shared with all of you the wonderful door prizes I won at the retreat a week ago. Do you believe this is my first sewing basket? I sewed lots of doll clothes and my own clothes since junior high, but I don't remember ever having or using a sewing basket. So I am thrilled to have won it. It had a few notions included. In a second drawing I won the coffee cup. Pretty good haul I'd say.

Today I am going to tackle my taxes. With any luck I will be sewing again tonight.

2 x 2 Giveaway

2010-03-26T14:57:00.005-05:00

I just had to get in on the fun and host a giveaway! My first year anniversary blogging is coming up and I wanted to celebrate and thank you all for blogging along with me. I am calling this the
2 x 2 Giveaway because I am giving away a copy of my two latest books (2 winners), you will have 2 chances to enter and I'll keep it open for 2 weeks. Here are the rules.

1. Post a comment to this blog telling me which you would rather win, either Twin Peaks or Save the Scraps. Be sure to check out the above links to my website and to preview all the projects click the link to Amazon.com. You can only win one of the two books, so there will be two winners.

2. For a second chance, post a notice and link on your blog, then comment again here. I am anxious to see your blogs and see some of your quilts.

3. For those of you that don't blog, just send me an e-mail. I will include your name in the drawing.

4. Drawing will be the old fashioned way. I will announce the lucky winners on Saturday, April 10.

Now, back to quilting. Sew long,

Spring Retreat Report

2010-03-24T14:04:00.004-05:00

Good day everyone in blogland.

I am happy to report I recovered quickly from last weekend's retreat. That doesn't mean it was less wonderful. I just took better care of myself. I got a walk in every day and didn't overdo it. Also, a massage therapist was there this year. I was long over due for a massage so signed up for half an hour. So many of the other ladies did too, that she came back the next day. Instead I got a 5 minute mini chair massage on Friday night and half hour on the table on Saturday night. Amazing how much that 5 minutes helped.

I had hoped and expected to get more done. But it isn't a big deal cause I didn't have any deadlines. I first had planned to finish this applique. But I only brought the one bobbin in the machine and it had the wrong color.

So I worked on this star first. I didn't finish it because I wasn't sure I was going to like how the light golden inner borders looked. We didn't have a flannel wall at our disposal so rather than be unhappy and want to rip it, I brought it home to study. Still undecided that it is dark enough. I am thinking of tea dyeing the border first. Yes I realize the fabrics for the 60" star are rather plain, but won't the quilting show up nicely?

Then I started making red strip-pieced triangles for a mystery quilt like Sharyn Craig's Strip Tease or Margaret Miller's Strip's That Sizzle. I often call a quilt I've started a "mystery" because I don't have definite plans for it yet and it is a mystery to me what I am going to do with the blocks I have started.
After that I worked on some nine-patches for another mystery. Not sure if I will set them with half-square or quarter-square triangles and won't even think about it till I have made many more - someday.

Well, I am sure that all the inspiration from this retreat will last me a while. I should have thought ahead and gotten my taxes done before hand. Now I have to stop and take care of those, and just when I was on a roll. Thank goodness they have gotten easier with the computer.

Stay tuned for a report on progress on these 3 new projects. Sew long,

Tis a season

2010-03-17T23:10:00.004-05:00

I hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day. It was glorious here. I am all fired up and ready for the retreat this weekend. I managed to come up with a few more projects to work on. I realized I won't finish Gayle's Flower Garden. I thought I was further along than I am. But I will take it and 5 others. That way I can work on whatever I am in the mood for.

Yesterday I met at church with the ladies. Lots of comfort quilts were turned in. The scrap Contrary Wife Quilt was made years ago by a deceased member of our group. The family included it with a contribution to us of some of her fabric.

It's show season around here. I hope to see a few this spring. I don't usually enter shows anymore, but it is fun to go and see old friends and support the quilters. Spring and fall are the same around here. Shows, retreats and beautiful weather. I couldn't pick a favorite. Have a good one and sew long.

Preparing for Retreat

2010-03-10T13:47:00.003-06:00

Last week I realized I was going on retreat next week and thought I better get ready. It has been difficult because I can't decide what to work on. I always like to take lots especially for this retreat cause it is 4days and I sew fast. I want to keep in mind that last Nov. retreat wiped me out pretty bad so I better plan some down time. This retreat is in the Kettle Moraine State Forest -Northern Unit so there are hiking trails nearby. If I use them will depend on the weather. Last year we woke up to snow.

So far this is what I have planned to do.
1. Blind stitch applique the swag on the red and green applique quilt.

2. a big one block quilt like this one. Different design, different colors and a pieced border.
I love these for using up old fabric fast. I have already made two and plan on doing more.

3. some pillow cases for whichever magazine that challenged all of us to produce a million pillowcases this year for the needy.

4. Maybe I will finish up the Gayle's Flower Garden hexagon quilt top. I don't want it much bigger and hope eventually to make one with black and dark colors instead. This is how far I am now.
5. I have to plan more, so will rummage through my scraps or books till I am inspired. Maybe I will take along another PHD.

I love the energy generated by these retreats. Even getting ready has me all fired up.
What motivates you?

My own mystery quilt

2010-02-25T08:46:00.008-06:00

Greetings fellow bloggers. Do you blog more than you quilt? Seems I do.

It also seems to me that I have been jumping around alot from project to project. Maybe that is because I am attempting to finish up some PHD's. I jump when I don't have what I need or know what I want to do or have to think about what I need to do next. All good reasons to have more than one project in the works at a time. I think I would get bored if I finished each project before starting the next. And likely very little would get done.

I finished this top with the exception of the green border I still need to buy. I started this about 15 years ago, so it will be a challenge to find fabric that goes with it. The border fabric wouldn't be an issue if I had planned this quilt from start to finish. Seems I rarely do that. But I had planned an entirely different quilt with the Thirtysomething star blocks and didn't like the way it was turning out. So I ditched the plan and 12 years later came up with this idea. The half blocks around the edge were also an afterthought. I didn't want just a plain light border and it was all the fabric I had left. I guess it doesn't really need another border, but right now it is only 72" square. I wonder if I will ever find suitable border fabric. Looking tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Sew long,

Super Students

2010-02-17T09:00:00.005-06:00

I love it when students share the completed quilts that they have made from my classes. Especially since I am not too good about remembering to bring my camera to classes. Sue stepped out of her comfort zone when she chose the fabric for this quilt. She did a super job as always.
Rita designed this quilt after taking a series of Thirtysomething classes with me a year and a half ago. Rita enjoyed the techniques so much she also made this Thirtysomething medallion as a wedding quilt for a granddaughter.

I'm glad to show their quilts especially since I haven't taken any photos lately. I keep forgetting to get new batteries for the camera. I did decide to add a border to the log cabin quilt. So once that is washed and attached I can show you that. My history suggests that could be a few years though. It's was kinda hard for me when I didn't need it for anything. Maybe now with the blog I will be better at completing the tops.

Quilting at church yesterday. Lots of great show and tell and no camera as ususal. Some of those pieces will surface again when the quilting is done. Maybe I can get a shot then.
Thanks for stopping by. Sew long for now.

What is your perfect Quilt size?

2010-02-05T18:33:00.004-06:00

How's everything in quilt land. Do you have cabin fever, or don't you get it cause you quilt? My visit with Judy 2 weeks ago was just what I needed to jump start my enthusiasm for quilting again. Since then I quilted two tops for church comfort quilts. Here is one. I guess I never took a pic of the other one.

Then I went with Judy to quilt club at Ben Franklin and that inspired me to finish the logcabin I started when we went to quilt retreat in November. Only I forgot to take a picture of that too! I did get three pictures of other settings with the quarter-quilts that I made. I must say it was much easier handling a large quilt by putting it together in quarters. You will have to wait for my next post to see what setting I chose.

I am undecided about the border. I border nearly everything and I am not sure I want to add one to this. It now measures about 88" square. I like that size for a bed and realize the quilting will take up several inches. So I might just add a narrow border. I am really curious what size quilts you like to use on your beds. This information probably would have helped me more earlier when I wrote the last 8 books, but I am curious now cause my gals are coming over for quilting in a few minutes and we always pretend to argue over the perfect size quilt. So, please, do tell. More later.
Sew long

120 tops and counting

2010-01-27T20:16:00.004-06:00

January dreams
First thing Monday morning, January 4th I sent the quilts and manuscript to the publisher. The feeling of relief lasted several days till it switched to burnout. I did practically no sewing. I did clean my sewing room and closet pretty well though and it felt good to get most of it organized again. At one point I counted my quilt tops. I don't virtually count them all as they are scattered about the house. I usually go though my photo album and count. Yikes! Was I shocked to see it was up to 120. Last time I counted it was at 88 and I thought I was keeping it pretty steady since I got the longarm. I think I need to track them in some other way. That should help inspire me. I see some gals post on their blogs all the fabric used/bought, quilts finished etc. So I am going to think about that. Watch the sidebar for that. I also gathered, organized and counted all my PHD's and came up with around 20. Again that is higher than ever for me. Typically after a manuscript is done I work on finishing up some of the phd's so that is a small goal for the next month. I wanted to post that theme, but again I had issues with the new computer and now want to redo it. So watch for that too.

I found one of the pictures of the comfort quilts that I couldn't find yesterday. It was just an uneven width log cabin. I'd made the blocks long ago and turned them in for someone else to finish the quilt and this is what was done with them. Of course, I turned the blocks in to me. But I bagged them and labeled them a kit and put them in the kit bin at church. And then some little quilt fairy took them home and made them into a quilt. I am not sure if I'd like those fairies visiting my quilt closet. They'd take the fun out of quilting for me. I know a few quilters that wished there were basting fairies. If you know of any, let me know.

I quilt with Shaggy a few times a month and she finished her top with a hunting theme for a friends son. She used one of my Thirtysomething patterns. It turned out great.
So what are you working on? A quilt I hope. Sew long,

Still on November

2010-01-26T21:43:00.007-06:00

I got a real dose of inspiration over the weekend when I visited Judy at her studio. It was exciting to see all her show and tell. By the time I was ready to leave I told her that I was jumping up and down inside with excitement. By the time I got home I realized that it was the caffeine from her coffee. I am not used to 4 cups in 2 hours. Actually, in all fairness it was great to see her and very stimulating. I have been sewing bunches since then. Thanks Judy.

Before I cover what I have been working on, I'm going to catch up with my quilty news from the last few months. I did a bit more than just finish work on book 8. I will be brief.

In November, the church basement ladies sorted their quilts and decided how to distribute them. This year we made almost 60 again and always take them to the same places 2 or 3 times through the year. We are starting to make them bigger as requested. It helps that I and another gal have longarms to finish these bigger quilts easily. Seems I misplaced the photos I wanted to show. New software and computer, ya know.

Also in November is the Quilter's Rule annual warehouse sale. They invite a few other vendors and I always participate. Quilter's Rule manufactures my Thirtysomething Square Up so I usually demonstrate that and end up booking a workshop or lecture or two.
It is also fun to see everyone. They are local to me so lots of familiar faces show up. Quilter's Rule makes lots of tools especially for longarms and quilters come from all over for the sale. This picture shows part of my booth. In half the booth I hang class samples and in the other half I show old quilt tops for sale. (not shown)
Nothing in December besides Christmas and finishing up the book. That brings us up to January, but I will save that for later and see if I can't figure out these photos. Wish me luck and good luck to all of you with your quilting. Sew long,

Quilting - What's that?

2010-01-22T22:18:00.005-06:00

Surprise, Happy New Year?!
I can't believe it has taken me this long to get back to blogging.

I was beginning to feel the pangs of withdrawal from quilting when I attended a meeting at church the other day. I was the first there and determined to get something done. All but one star block remains to be completed for our next raffle quilt. Everyone was pleased with how it is coming along. I will be able to show it before long.

As you can imagine, I was busy with Christmas, until New Years anyways. I also finished the manuscript and 18 quilts for book 8. I had to send it January 4th. I was relieved to be done, but all that quilting and computing and I was suffering a bit from burnout.

This quilt top was included in the proposal, but it wasn't included in the book so I didn't quilt it. I think I am going to take the edges apart and add half-blocks before the border. What do you think? Then of course it would sit on the to-do pile for years.

The Christmas tree is down, but the rest of the decorations still needs to be put away. I didn't want to do that till I did a thorough cleaning of the shelves in that corner of the basement. Then I got carried away and cleaned a few closets I haven't cleaned in YEARS. I only found 6 BIG boxes of junk I didn't want anymore. That is all finished and I am again anxious to get back to my sewing and blogging. Well, this felt good!