Quilting is supposed to be fun.

I always thought quilting was fun. A bit of frustration here as I practice following a line. Who knew that quilting with a longarm could be so difficult. Actually, it was probably more difficult on this piece because I used blue chalk with my new pounce pad and the chalk kept bouncing off! Now my limited experience with this tells me that if I had swiped over a stencil, I wouldn't have had that problem. But I made my own stencil from used x-ray film and stitching without a needle to mark the line with holes for the chalk. The chalk had no trouble passing through the needle holes. But it just sat on top of the fabric, so it bounced off when the hopping foot approached. Without a clear line my quilting looks like a little kid did it. So I guess I made the right choice with the batting. Or rather with drying it in the dryer. I used a scrap of cotton batting that was obviously not preshrunk. I say I made the right choice because all them puckers hide the poor stitching pretty well. ;-)

Typically I don't wash a quilt right after quilting it, but I couldn't get the blue chalk out. First I used a mini vacuum to suck out the loose chalk. ThenI took it outside to my hubbys dirty garage and used the aircompresser. Glad it was just a small practice piece. The blue was still pretty dark. No regrets here. Shrinking it was a great reminder to expect the same thing to happen if I don't preshrink my batts or if I dry the quilt in the dryer. Oh, and FYI the 36" x 46" quilt is now 33" x 42".
I'd like to hear from you about your experiences with cotton batting. Have you found one that doesn't shrink much in the dryer?
May all your quilting be beautiful. Sew long.

challenge quilts

Hi everyone.
As a member of the Great Lakes Professional Machine Quilters Association, I participated in the guild challenge. We were pretty much all to piece the same quilt top and then quilt as desired. I tend to have difficulty leaving someone else's pattern alone so I didn't follow the rules explicitly. But I saw that I wasn't the only one that had that problem. The border was supposed to be a lighter beige and I added the flat red piping between the setting triangles and the border. I am sure glad there are no worries about doing right or wrong. When I get a good look at the other challenge quilts, I will be anxious to see how well everyone else followed directions. I actually finished this almost a month ago, so I don't know Y it has taken me this long to post it, but here it is.

I am sorry that I quilted it before I took Sally Terry's Hooked on Feather's class. But I wanted to turn it in that day. I didn't realize that it is an ongoing challenge. They hope to display them at area quilt shows to promote longarm quilting I guess. I don't intend to quilt for hire, but thought I ought to particpate for the sake of practice. Maybe more of the quilters would join in then. Many of our members do not do custom quilting and just quilt edge to edge. I think many of them haven't participated. Great that they have that option. Who needs another obligation. Overall, I don't think I did too badly considering I have only had my machine since Christmas time.

I have issued design challenges in the past at quilt shops that were actually held as mystery classes. That's how I got a bunch of samples using my Thirtysomething technique for the first book. I ought to put more challenges together for the next Thirtysomething book. Anyone interested? Well, maybe next winter? I'd love to hear how well you follow challenge "rules". Do tell.
Sew long,

Hooked on Feathers

I took a great drawing class with Sally Terry. The class was on her Hooked on Feathers technique. I imagine that was the name of the class, but I am not sure. Sorry. I wasn't convinced that just cause we could draw them that we could stitch them. But I practiced a bit on paper when I got home - must have been during breakfast.Well, sure enough I could stitch them. I recognize that I need to slow down a bit so that I can stitch more detail. That is the hardest thing for me with the long arm. Or maybe it's following a line. OH, I do need the practice. And I need to practice my starts and stop - for any line of stitching as well as the feather design, obvioulsly. Anyway, this little piece was made just for practicing on the longarm, so I may not bind it. Do you think a 5 year old would like it for her dolls?


I suppose it seems silly to make a piece just for practicing the quilting. Well, for someone with over 100 quilt tops it does. Maybe I should have the attitude that if the quilting doesn't turn out I can always make another one. It's not like I am making them for competition, so I don't know why I think I need all the practice. One thing is for sure, I do my best practicing on a legitimate quilt and not just scraps of batting and muslin.
Either way its the most fun I have had quilting in a while. I hope the quilting shows up so you can see it. Enjoy!

First Granny's Garden blocks

Does it count if I am thinking of blogging? I didn't know I could be so busy. And yet I found time to make these flowers. They sure are great portable projects. I am surprised how much I am enjoying it. It also helps to relax me while I am away from home. Otherwise I feel antsy that I am not getting to do any sewing. I try not to think about the sewing I need to get done - Like the quilting on another 8 quilts for my next book. Oh well, the quilting is definitely going faster with the longarm, so it shouldn't be a problem.
More soon. Sew long

Sew many quilts, Sew little time

Wow, I can't believe it has been two weeks since I have written! I wonder what I have forgotten about blogging. I wish I could report that I have been busy quilting, but there has been very little of that. My 90 year old neighbor died last week and we have been busy with his widow. I also had a trip out of town last week and I found a few hours to work in the garden.
The church ladies have just about finished the Christmas/raffle quilt. They decided to add another row. So that means we put off cutting the scraps for another month. Here is another picture of a scrap quilt one of our gals made from squares someone else had cut out and donated.


The only quilting I can report that I have done is that I finally started a grandmothers flower garden. I can't believe I have because I have seen very few of them that I like. I hope I will be pleased with mine. As it progresses I will show a picture or two.
I haven't put any time on my longarm either. Every time I am away from it for a few weeks I fear I will need to Practice all over again. Then I hear very experienced longarm quilters still practice before starting an important project or when they try new techniques or designs, or maybe just warm up a little before beginning work on a "real" quilt. I have even heard that hand quilters "warm up" on a practice piece before they move to the "real" quilt - each time they sit down to quilt! I t must be the competitive award winning quilters that do that. Sometimes all I have time for in a day is the time some people take to practice.
I hope to be quilting a bit more soon so I will have something to blog about. Otherwise I may have to continue to show more charity quilts or some of my old pieces. Or maybe I will give you a sneak peek at one of the quilts I am working on for a future book. Till then, sew long.

Scrap Central

So I got out all the scraps that belongs to church to organize them for the ladies. I keep them sorted pretty much like I have my own sorted, except I don't cut or keep triangles for our comfort quilts. Actually we can use any strip width and I just adjust all the pieces in the quilt accordingly. To keep cutting at a minimum, I use widths in 1/2" or full inch increments 2 1/2" through 6 1/2". I have a collection of patterns that I can use with all these widths. After the ladies cut the scraps into strips, I assemble kits. The quilter is responsible for the rest of the cutting. Occasionally I do some fussy cutting. Anything under 2 1/2" can be used for string piecing. This picture shows one variation of our simple scrap comfort quilts.


We inherited quite a bit of fabric this year. Our scraps alone fill two 18 gallon tubs. And they are all kept flat and stacked! It would have been nice if we were given yardage for backs. We usually end up piecing them.
What did I have to do to organize them? Well, first I had to gather them. I had to sort through 4 other tubs of fabric. Generally as I acquire it I toss it into a tub. If we are given sleazy thin fabric I only use it for backs, if at all. The stuff just frays too much to be cut into small pieces. I also collect orphan blocks for samplers. Sometimes I sort the scraps by character. I usually call it by "generation", because it is not uncommon for us to get some older stuff. But I will separate the stuff by style for more pleasing quits. Good light background fabric is a rarity so I keep that separate and choose for quilts carefully. Under 1/2 yard is usually considered a scrap, unless it coordinates really well with a difficult fabric.
I sort, organize and kit our fabric about every 8 months. Then I am at it for a week straight. At one time I belonged to a guild that had a committee that made charity quilts. I don't know that they ever organized their scraps. They just collected fabric and had a pile of patterns. It was up to each quilter to choose pattern and fabric. That seemed to take more time. I organize most of the quilts. The ladies love it, particularly when it's mostly cut out. Occasionally I also bag up coordinating fabric with no pattern. Some of the fabric is difficult to find complementary fabrics for so when I find them, I bag them. This way the gals that want to be creative and choose their own design can do so. I do keep most of the fabric at my house.
I will call a few of the gals to be sure we have enough equipment at the meeting. Some of the gals will be finishing up the raffle quilt. There are always 2 or 3 basting quilts. Maybe 4 or 5 will cut.
If anyone is looking for suggestions on how to organize their scraps or ladies I'd say start with gathering fabric and patterns. For patterns we generally use designs with just squares and rectangles. If triangles are needed we usually use the folded corner technique. There are lots of common designs that can use the standard 2 1/2", 4 1/2" & 6 1/2" strips. It might be best to start there. Then sort the fabric, lights and darks. Mediums will depend on the design. AS for getting the gals to volunteer to get involved making comfort quilts, well, good luck. It isn't for everyone. I do it because I love every aspect of it : the fabric, cutting, kitting etc. Can you tell?
Here is another one using 2 1/2" strips and 4 1/2" squares.
That's it for now. Sew long.

Sorting Scraps

I finally got my basket of scraps sorted. The scraps have been slowly piling up for several months now. I usually get around to it sooner but this was an unusual winter. I've never been happier with my organized scraps than this winter when I had surgery and couldn't cut fabric for months. But I could still sew. All I had to do was pick a couple of boxes off the shelf, choose a pattern and start sewing. Actually, choosing the pattern is the hard part, but that hardly required the use of my arm.

My scraps are now all sorted and stored in boxes in the closet. I have boxes for 6 widths of strips and 3 sizes of squares and 3 sizes of triangles. And a few more besides, like 1930's. The boxes on the upper shelf are mostly PHD's (Projects Half Done).

I still have a bag of little scraps I was given at a retreat this spring. What a mess. Mom is willing to sort, iron and organize them all. And I am going to take her up on the offer. What fun to use someone else's scraps. I am going to plan another odd width log cabin. This time I will use smaller pieces, though not miniatures! I fear that would drive me over the edge.
I think I will pull out all the church's scrap fabric and get it ready for the ladies to cut next week. That should be a project.

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.

Document it!

It seems you can tell spring is here. many of the blogs are quiet. I imagine everyone is out in their gardens, like me. We finally have had some pleasant weather and I feel "caught up" with my gardening. My mind never wanders far from quilting. I have gotten a little quilting done too. In fact, I started a new PHD. Then I realized I don't really know enough about applique to start this project. So just for the sake of documenting when I started this project, here is a picture of what I have so far. Kinda silly I know, but things like this blog can be quite motivating and I thought it would help me if I showed you that I finally had an idea how to use this fabric I got probably 12 or more years ago. So I have some strips cut, I have an idea and now I have to plan to learn how to applique.
I want to do the cut and past type of applique for this project. I can do needleturn, but don't want that. I have a few books on the subject, so thought I would experiment with technique and make a few small pieces - sorta like the journal pages. I don't know when I will fit this in the schedule. I have a pile of quilting that needs to get done for the next book and of course, I have to write the patterns for it. I know I prefer WonderUnder and I want to do raw edge for this, not the zigzaggy finish. There, now that I put it out there for the world to see, it will be interesting to see how long these items are on the long list. I am tryng to tell myself that those little journal pages take no time at all. Is that true?

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.

Williams Bay Workshop

There is a good chance that if I haven't been blogging, I have been quilting - or in the garden. I had a workshop with the Scrappers Quilt guild in Williams Bay on Saturday. They sure were a fun group. I was looking forward to this class because I taught a workshop for them before and new what to expect. Or so I thought. There were lots of new faces there! I did get one picture of some of the blocks the class worked on. They were learning lots of new techniques that day and did a great job. Probably my favorite comment of the day was "It will be fun to see all the quilts with these stars at the County Fair this summer." This was the first time I used a window for my flannel design wall. They have a great meeting room with lots of windows and natural light- even when it's raining.

Jeanette Gillespie took my class again. She has a clever way of keeping her precut strips organized for class. She uses clothespins to label and separate the strips. She writes with a pencil that can be erased later and reused. I wonder if I even have clothespins anymore.


I also had quilting with my friends at church this week. I will share more on that later. Sew long for now.

oops, I did it again

The lecture went pretty well last night. It was well attended by the guild of over 220 members. I have been to this guild several times in the past so it was great to see so many friendly, familiar faces. I was reminded that the very first time I taught a quilting class was for this guild at their retreat 15 years ago. There were 32 in that class and it was not an easy project. Boy was I nervous. I knew my material, but didn't know if I could teach. Well, that was then, this is now and I wasn't nervous at all last night- till I realized I forgot my notes! But apparently I don't need them. Guess what? I know the material. It was a fun group with lots of show and tell and as usual I forgot to use the camera. They have a show coming up May 16 & 17 at Rock County Fairgrounds. If I am around I will plan to attend. Maybe I'll think to use the camera then.

Forgetting to use the camera isn't the only thing I did again. I have this tendency to make a quilt and then rearrange the values and/or colors and make it again. Okay, I do it deliberately - usually, but not this time. You saw the start of this a week or two ago. This blog may be just the motivation I need to get that pieced border done sooner rather than later. Oops. I see that I have a quarter block in the wrong orientation. Aren't photos great for showing mistakes?


The black with hand-dyes I call "Wish on a Rainbow". Look closely and you will see that both of these use the same piecing. I must have 15 pairs of quilts where I have made a second version. That sounds like the start of a new program for a guild.
Well, I better get sewing. Sew long.

Rotating Quilts

Busy day. I finished the quilting on the border of that 10 year old quilt, added a sleeve and hung it on the wall. It doesn't photograph well. I also switched 4 other quilts on display in the house so I am showing two of them, one on each of two balconies.
I am giving a program for Rock Valley Quilt Guild of Janesville Tuesday evening. so I have to go prepare. Also coming up is quilting with the church group and I am in charge. I will take my camera, but seem to have a hard time remembering to use it!
Sew long

Park City Girl: Quilt Festival - Spring 2009

Park City Girl: Quilt Festival - Spring 2009
Oh I have sew much to learn. Well, I did post a favorite, but I don't know the first thing about linking. I have been blogging all of 2 weeks more or less. Help! TIA

Current Favorite

Remember when you were a kid and you thought that favorite meant that there could be only "one best, most liked". I remember how glad I was when I discovered you could have more than one favorite in any category. This sampler is my current favorite quilt. And believe it or not after 27 years of quilting it is the only sampler I set out to make. All the other samplers I have made were from orphan blocks I eventually joined together.

The blocks in this sampler all use my Thirtysomething technique. There are a few designers around the country that have discovered my Thirtysomething Square Up tool and have designed quilts for classes using it. That led me to play with the concept more and since then I have come up with another 100 blocks. So I plan to do another Thirtysomething book eventually. Life has a way of throwing you a curve ball sometimes and I have had to postpone those plans. You can try the basic technique and free pattern at my website.

I posted this picture for the Online Quilt Festival. I don't know if I will be able to figure out how to set my options to link correctly. Thank goodness for all the friendly quilters out there that can point me in the right direction.
Excuse the interruption. Sew long.

My Festival Report

Hi everyone,
Quilt Festival was great. Imagine that. It was nice to have such a big show close to home. I have been to Fall Festival in Houston several times - usually to teach. So, I have seen some of the quilts in the exhibits before, but that is fine with me. And all the vendors adds to the excitement. Chicagoland guilds have hired me frequently over the years, so it is not surprising that I ran into old acquaintances. That was fun.

The 19th Century Divas is always my favorite exhibit at Festival. I think this is an online group. Could be wrong. If anyone knows anymore, do tell, please.

DH messed up my plans to not buy any fabric. Before I left he told me he expected I would buy some. So I did. (Oh, and he says he never thought I was obsessed with buying fabric! Seriously.) Apparently there was a big Longarm show this weekend out east somewhere. So I was disappointed there weren't more longarm supplies there. But I did manage to find a few things.

And I did get all the thread I wanted. So guess what I was doing tonight. I put a quilt on the frame this afternoon. I quilted this quilt about 10 years ago, but I never quilted the border. So I am doing it now cause I want to take the quilt off the stack and hang it on a wall. Maybe I'll get a picture of that later.
Today's picture is of my flower garden from last year. Spring has finally sprung so I have been busy in the garden rather than behind the camera. I sure don't know how I find the time to take care of them. This is about half of them.
Sew long for now. I have to get the quilt ready to do the side borders.

Mixed Feelings

Hello everyone,
Okay, I am so new to this, I don't know where to start. I want to thank everyone for welcoming me to blogland and their nice comments. I'd like to respond to each of you, but I am pinched for time tonight. Boy, can I lie. Really, I don't know how to do it yet except for here. I intend to visit each of your blogs though.

Thank you Wanda for spreading the word. And was it Carol that wondered about my departure from the quilting world for other business? (That was 9 years ago already.) My retirement lasted 2 years. I think I was feeling a bit burned out after self-publishing 3 books and then all the teaching and promoting and shows.... But quilting kept calling me back.

Since then Martingale & Co. published my book Save the Scraps and just recently, Twin Peaks. Isn't it interesting all the twists and turns in life. I am really glad I did those 3 books myself, but am sure glad I am not doing them alone anymore. As we go through different phases of life our priorities change. I could not devote the time to it now. I am happy with Martingale's part in my books and hope to continue with them for a while.

I did get a chance to get back to my other retreat project. Not sure I like it enough to make it much larger. Maybe it needs a pieced border. I will leave this on the design wall a while and think about it.

Tomorrow I am off to Quilt Festival at Rosemont. I hope they have vendors there with longarm supplies. I think I have enough fabric for a while. I need to think about thread for finishing some of my tops. Doesn't that sound like fun? And of course, I have to buy a souvenir book. No, they don't have a show book to buy. I just use it as an excuse to buy another quilt book. Anything that appeals to me. Luv books. I will put my theory on control over fabric shopping to the test, too. It doesn't help that my dh doesn't care.

The comfort quilt I showed on my first blog is almost done. I haven't been able to quilt as usual this week cause dh is off and he always cramps my style. However, he was a real gem this afternoon and helped me in the garden with some huge clumps of perennials. It was finally a nice spring day.

that's all for now, sew long

Controlled Fabric Buying or an Obsession?

Friends were over the other day as I was ironing some fabric I had just washed. It was a red load. I told them that I thought if I got caught up with washing and ironing my new fabrics I would become familiar with them and wouldn't buy the same fabric again. I really enjoy my stash and don't feel a great need to "use" the fabric. Once they were all ironed and folded I tried to find room in the drawers. They all fit pretty well after some creative folding.



I had just finished telling them how I feel I always have pretty good control over my fabric shopping sprees. They didn't seem to agree and hinted that I was obsessed. We had some good laughs over that. So what do you think? Are we obsessed? I know I have lots of fabric. These four drawers are probably less than half of what I have. But I have seen others with far more.
Yes, I know many of us would like to use our stash more often. That is why I wish for all to Sew Long.

Scraps - A Favorite Theme

This holiday weekend I thought I'd get a chance to get some more serious sewing done. But I wasn't sew lucky. I decided to put "clean the garage" on the agenda for Saturday. And Sunday was spent with family. Neither were planned, but I am sure glad I did both.
When I saw Mom for church today she had some more scraps ready for me. Mom likes to pick at things and sort and organize them. I knew the scraps I was offered at the retreat would be something she would enjoy ironing and sorting. The were given to me sorted in two huge laundry baskets. One basket for lights and one for darks. I pulled out all the long strips under 1 1/4" wide and all the little bits. I'm slowly turning the rest of the scraps over to mom. She is pressing and sorting them for me. I will let her decide how small a piece she will putz with. My church group will use these with little additional cutting. We'll make crazy or crumb quilts and string quilts.

I made this odd width Log Cabin from similar scraps. If you look closely at the blocks you will see that the strip width varies from log to log. As the blocks get larger it is usually evident if you need to add a narrow or wide strip to keep the blocks kinda square. For the last round of logs I usually add wider strips(2 1/2" or wider). I keep a ruler handy as I add the last 2 logs to be sure I add a large enough piece. After the final pressing, I square them all to the same size.
I have only made 2 other log cabin quilts before, and that was fairly recently.

This is one of them. I'd almost abandoned it entirely as I'd only made 12 blocks and I didn't like the direction it was going. It had been a PHD for probably over 15 years before I picked it up again last year. I like pink now. I think I didn't for a while.





I sure enjoyed making the log cabins, so I think I will be doing more. How many have you made?
Sew long.

Best Retreat Yet

I love whoever it was that started the whole concept of a quilters retreat. I am still feeling the effects of the retreat I took a few weeks ago. Having been to them before, though never often enough, I knew to pack plenty to work on. I packed 6 projects and never touched 3. But I did get a good deal done. One of the PHD's (Project half done) I packed was for this star quilt. I'd made these Golden Years stars about 10 years ago. I never finished the project because I didn't like the gold fabric I chose. In fact, I hated it with the green so much, that I threw away the pieces already cut and sewn for a pieced border. I did that cause I didn't want to be tempted to change my mind. That left me with 8 blocks. Duh! Why I didn't finish a 9th is beyond me.



Well, I enjoy a challenge like this, so I came up with an alternate block to use and simply made more green and yellow stars to go with it. Now I need to decide on which setting and what to do for the center block if I choose this version. And I haven't got a clue what I will do about a border. I'll probably sew the blocks together than put this project away again till I come up with something for the border.



That seems to be a pattern with me. One time I counted that I had 17 projects waiting for borders! And Yes, I already know they don't all need one.

This weekend I am going to get back to another project I worked on at the retreat. With luck you can see that soon too.
Sew long and thanks for visiting.