My sister's dirt and Congrats to Karen

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

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

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

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

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,

Measure twice, cut once

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.