In the Groove

It's been feeling real good to do some sewing. I don't feel like I am getting very far though. But since there is no hurry that's ok. I have about half the blocks done for my latest. I'm only showing what fits on the wall at Studio 3 here. I'm going to need a name for this thing. Any suggestions?

I also dug into my drawer of Civil War prints. OOhhhh that felt good. No concrete plans yet but they're formulating.

I've also finalized plans for our next raffle quilt. I will share the plans later but for now I'll just say it will be blue and cream and use this star pattern. I had the gals at Studio 3 try out my directions. I've chosen this star cause the way I make 'em the points float so we can trim the blocks to all the same size if needed. And since as many as a dozen ladies may make the stars there's a good chance we will need to do some trimming

Tomorrow is quilting at church. Our local nursing home has asked us for muffs for the residents hands. We love the idea. Basically all we need to do is make a little quilt lined with fleece and sew it into a tube. Okay, just not in that order.  I wouldn't be surprised if we make a few extra for ourselves!

Time to join the linky party at Judy's. Guess I will be blogging for a while.

Another Raffle Quilt

I can't believe I nearly forgot to show our next church raffle quilt. The quilting is finally done and tomorrow I take it in to the meeting for everyone to see. I am quite happy with how this turned out. It looks kinda 1980's, not surprising, considering we used so many old scraps. Someone there will volunteer to bind it and it will be on display in another month. I'm always glad to see the latest raffle quilt finished. I wonder what they will do for next year. It's never too soon to start thinking about it. Probably something with our scraps again. Yippee. Actually it doesn't bother me that the scraps are ripe. I think scrap quilts always look good. Some of us in the church group don't think we would sell many more tickets if we used new fabric so we don't. Too bad the quilt is too big for my wall.

It's starting to heat up outside so I worked in the sewing room today. Studio 1 as it's been called lately. Things are getting a bit messy since I have spent so many hours outside and/or getting ready for Quilt Festival later this week. It looks like my scrap basket is overflowing and needs attention. I will see to that after Festival.

I also got things together for church quilting tomorrow. I think now is the time to start the girls on making scrappy 9-patches. Once those are made we can use them in a bunch of quilt designs. The strips have all been cut. Hopefully everyone will sew a nice quilter's 1/4" seam and were all set.

Also after Festival I think I will clean out my closet of church fabric and haul it across the street to Studio 3. Some of the gals coming to class there are learning/making their blocks for church comfort quilts. With the fabric there they will be able to use church stash for their quilts. There is more room there to spread out and make kits, too.  I will still keep backings and church battings here for quilting downstairs in - you guessed it, Studio 2.

I am actually looking forward to it heating up outside so I will stay in and do some quilting. We have put in many hours in the woods trying to get the Prickly Ash and Garlic Mustard under control. There is still plenty to do, but I will limit my time to work in the mornings before it heats up. For the most part I plan to poison the brush threatening to take over the 3 acres of oak savannah. Since I in instructed Mark to stop cutting it down several times every summer, the wildflowers have gone bonkers. Just beautiful if the deer wouldn't eat them. The young tree and bush seedlings have always been mowed down up till last year and now they are seriously threatening. So we will poison them and then hopefully burn it all off next spring. Come to think of it, Mark didn't even go work there this afternoon cause at noon we watched mama deer walk across the road towards the woods with 3 bitty babies. That was a real shocker considering how harsh the winter was. Perhaps she adopted a fawn or two.

Oh yes, off to Judy's Design Wall Monday.

2013 raffle quilt

I did it, I did it! I finished all the quilting I am going to do on the raffle quilt. My deadline is tomorrow morning when the quilt is scheduled to arrive at our church meeting for someone to bind. OOOhhhh, maybe that was supposed to be done by tomorrow. I guess I will find out soon enough. Well, I hope they like it.

The weather has cooperated nicely this summer. It rained plenty in June and now we have heat and humidity just like you would expect for July. But along with that we have the mosquitoes from June's rain. They haven't been this bad in a long time. As a result. you can figure that I have retreated to my sewing room.
After neglecting it for the last several months it needed a good cleaning. It doubles as my office and the desk and cutting table were buried under piles of paper. So I caught up with that now and am looking forward to spending more time at the sewing machine. And yes, that means more blogging.

I am planning on spending a few extra hours at church tomorrow to do some serious sewing. With any luck I will have something to share.

Back at it

Almost three weeks ago I brought this top home from church with just the borders to add. It has taken two weeks to do that much. I had the backing and batting already. I'm actually glad I didn't have to stop to go shopping for it.

I like deadlines and I have about 4 weeks to do the quilting on this Dresden Plate quilt for this year's church raffle. Four weeks is plenty of time and it is supposed to be hot, muggy and stormy for the next week so it's the perfect time to get 'r done.

I have been busy in either the garden or the woods across the street. I've been helping Mark cut a trail through the thick brush. Was I delighted to find so many wildflowers there.

Mark and I are still adjusting to his retirement. He is very helpful for sure, but it would be nice to see him relax. I keep looking for his off button and can't find it. It doesn't help that our house guest is still here - maybe just another week of that.

Miscellaneous Monday

Today I straightened up the sewing room and found a pile of miscellaneous projects hiding in every corner and hogging my cutting table. A few just needed a dab of glue, others are projects that were waiting for a decision on my part. The most recent addition are these antique Dresden Plates. The church ladies decided to use them for our next raffle quilt., but we only have 15. I'll make one more with my antique scraps. Then I'll show the ladies how to blindstitch applique the pieces to muslin.  I hope we choose the right color for the sashing.

Also on the list are a rooster  apron and hotpads and bonding together scraps of cotton batting using a fusible tricot lining fabric. The forecast through August is calling for drier and warmer than normal. I guess I will be getting lots of quilting done, cause working in the garden in this heat is the pitts.

For more inspiration, check out all the posts at Judy's Design Wall Monday.

2012 Raffle Quilt

I guess my wall needs to be a bit bigger! I put this quilt top on the frame today. It's the raffle quilt for St.Peter's Fall Festival. I need to get it quilted in the next week so Rita can get the binding on and we can get it on display.  I'm afraid I'll run out of thread before I'm done with it so I better go order some more.

If you recall, this is the same block I used for my block exchange, shown here. It sure was a good choice for a group project. Floating the star allowed all the blocks to be trimmed to the same size so adding the sashing was a breeze.

My crumb blocks are done. I made them 12" instead of 10", so I ended up with only 20. I hope to sash those next.

Welcome to everyone that's stopped by through Judy's blog. She has a great thing going with her Design Wall Mondays  where you share  a link with her.  But I guess you already knew that. Check it out if you haven't.

Quilting Forever, Housework Never

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

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.

always on the go

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.

Old fashioned charm

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,

Fair/Show Season

I can't believe it has been 3 weeks since I have written. It's been a good 3 weeks. My sister came for a visit. We made it to the County Fair to see the chickens and the quilts. Well, that is why I went. I just love the chicken barn. Unfortunately the quilts are not on display as in a quilt show. I do not enter, but I like to support my students that do enter. Still, I had a vivid dream that I entered and forgot to pick up my entry when the fair was over. That cracks me up.

I got a bit of quilting done in the last month. Just a little bit. This four block sampler is a class sample for a new Thirtysomething class I am calling "Fancy That". Also quilted only 1 comfort quilt.
Last Friday I went to Quilt Expo in Madison. I haven't been there in a few years. I don't really care for the way the show is set up, but everything else about it is good. I managed to rest my feet and sit in on a few afternoon lectures. I won't tell you how much I spent. Not much to look at; I ordered a bunch of batting. It's a pretty big show. I went with Judy and we didn't run into each other ALL day. It was very enjoyable to attend a big show like Quilt Expo and not have to work while I was there. I won't share photos because I didn't get permission from any of the quilters. I hope I get to another show or two for fun this fall.
Also, I have been busy working on the next raffle quilt for church. The ladies will be surprised tomorrow to see all the prep I have done. We are making the Delectable Mountains quilt shown here. I did this with Electric Quilt. With quilting at church tomorrow, I will close now. Let's hope I remember my camera and have more to post later this week. Thanks for stopping. Sew long.

That time of month

That time of month - for quilting at church! I picked up the Christmas raffle quilt from Judy our longarm quilter. You can check out her quilting on her website - if I was successful linking to her. She did a great job on the quilt, as usual. It still needs a binding and I am only showing half of it cause it is so big to handle. But it looks pretty good compared to the last time I posted a pic. Raffle tickets anyone???



In preparation for our meeting tomorrow, I spent 6 hours today putting together 15 more kits for our comfort quilts. It always feels good to put these together and get that fabric out of my closet. It was getting crowded in there.


After assembling the kits, I spent another 2 hours sorting the rest of their fabric at my house. That includes the scraps that we cut at last months meeting. They were quite the mess too.  I will put all those precut scraps into kits some other time. I will let the ladies sew up some of these kits I just put together first.

Next time I sit to work on comfort quilts I will put together a bunch of orphan blocks into sampler quilts. I think I have enough blocks to make 5 or 6 quilts.
And if I remember my camera tomorrow, I'll have show and tell for another day.
Wish me luck.
Sew long

Wedding quilt plans

I helped a student plan a medallion quilt today using my Thirtysomething technique. The pattern for the central portion is in my book, Thirtysomething. I suggested in the book that I thought it would make a great center for a medallion. I guess Rita thought so too.  It turned out pretty good. This is an Electric Quilt drawing. What a great piece of software. It saved me at least a full week of work on the book I am working on compared to the software I used before.

Our church Raffle quilt is coming along slowly. It happens every year when four of our members fly south for the winter. That is okay. There is plenty of time to finish it. I have it all spread out on the flannel wall so A: I can show you the progress and B: so it is easier to organize it to get finished later.








My scraps are piling up, so I'll plan to work on them next.  I will have to show you how I organize them and get back to you on that.

Thanks for stopping by. Sew Long.

Seeing Stars

Well, I have been busy as always. I have been spending alot of time quilting on a Lemoyne Star quilt in 1800 Reproduction prints. I'm just loving it. It will be a little while before this one is done. Good thing I enjoy it.


This is the start of the next raffle quilt for my church the ladies are working on. We have quite a collection of Christmas prints. I think most of the blocks are done. Sashing is next. I think I will plan an extra meeting at my house with 1 or 2 other ladies to get the blocks and sash put together. I will pass it on to someone else at next months meeting to add the pieced border.
We had a full house at the meeting last week. Several of our members have returned from their winter residences and 2 new gals joined us. This is great. We have so much fabric to sew into quilts. Next month everyone will have returned and I like to get things organized so we can get lots done in those 3 hours. Probably only 3 will work on the raffle quilt.

Well, I am going to go check out a few new blogs and then quilt some more. Sew long. Thanks for visiting.