What did you do with that extra hour????

For some reason, I had WEIRD dreams last night. No wait - I REMEMBERED my dreams last night. Normally I do not. And I had TWO that I remember - the first one I was some place weird with shady characters - I've been there before. Don't ask my why!!!   Anyway - this girl was going to SEW a tatoo on my leg!  Oh yeah - she had this HUGE needle and she jabbed it into my leg - just under the skin. It HURT a LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    I think I woke up at this point.

Then back to sleep and this time my dream was about someone who made a mess inside my car. Now this was probably because it looks like someone threw something at the back of my car. I was quite upset because the inside was a mess.

Then I woke up. And now my sinus was killing me and the only way to make that better is to get up and let gravity do its job. I look at the time - 4:30 AM. Almost time to get up anyway so I get out of bed. I get downstairs to the studio and turn on the radio. OH CRAP - it was the night to turn the clocks back - but I did NOT turn back the clocks in our house. Oh well - I am up - I am pumped. Let's just get to work.   You'll see in a minute what I did this morning.

Yesterday we had our workshop and it was amazing. Everyone was so pumped and ready to sew!!!!!!!!!! Have a look at what they did............   (now the big problem - but also the benefit of seeing the other colourways is that I want to make one of each!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Maria - Christmas theme - I just LOVE it

Some finished blocks

Flo with brights (I have those same brights!!!)

Some finished blocks

Mary with New York City prints

Some of Mary's finished blocks

Elly did an autumn theme

Some finished blocks

Sybil did Asian themed - I did NOT get pictures of her blocks

Joyce W did batiks and got lots of strips done

A couple of her finished blocks

This is mine (on the design wall at home) - my flannel from that scrap bucket!!!!   Pretty neat!

Daphne was working on the diagonal quilt

Joyce R also worked on the diagonal quilt

This is Judy's little box of treasures!!!!!    Pre-cut 2 1/2" squares. Oh boy - Maybe I need one of those??????

Judy's blocks in progress - WAIT A MINUTE - what's that little thing on the right of the picture?????

It's a MINI iron. It was so cute!!!!!   I want one - HEY - I had one!!!!   Where is it?????

Oh shoot - I searched in my ironing supplies and there is NO little iron. I know I had one and I probably said - OH this is too small so I gave it to a guild for a door prize. I know I did!!!!!    Well - it was perfect for ironing those small seams on those blocks. Matter of fact - I don't think I saw Judy leave her chair ONCE all day. That is her secret to getting lots of sewing done!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These are Judy's blocks - all 9 patches for the quilt they were working on - DONE!!!!!

Some of \Karen's finished 9-patches

Callie - excited that her block measures 6 1/2". And she should be bursting with PRIDE as she has never sewn before!!!!!   Oh yeah - I think she went home hooked!!!!!    Way to go Callie!!!!!!!!!!!  

This is her fabric - I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alas - it was time to come home. BUT - I had work to do!!!!!   I did manage to get ANOTHER bag of scraps, BUT it was teeny tiny - how could I resist????

Teeny tiny bag of scraps!!!!!!!!!!!

Community project quilt - DONE

Quilting detail

This is my helper. Just so I don't forget her - she likes to lie EXACTLY where I need to walk in order to quilt!!!!   I try stepping over her!!!!   

Then we popped out for a quick dinner. And when I came back I saw my project bags from the day strewn on the floor.  Hmmmmmm - why would that be??????

OH YES - there was a box of muffins in there - see the box at the top right of the picture????

Well either the packaging was so well done or we arrived just as she was getting into it - she didn't get into the muffins!!!!!!!   That Sparky is just such a scavenger!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK - so you want to know what I did with my extra hour this morning?????


Well - it goes like this - I have an article that I need to submit to the magazine - A Needle Pulling Thread. This article is on baby quilts. And YES - I decided that in order to show some of the details/features I want to talk about  - I need some baby quilts. Soooooooooooooooooo...................   I am in the process of making not one, not two, but THREE of them and I need them done ASAP.

So at 4:30 AM - I am loading a baby panel and digging out the batting

Then I start with this bundle of flannel FQs that I had in my "TO DO" basket

And three pieces of yardage

Well - it required a bit of calculation, but obviously I am NOT good at math regardless whether I use an envelope or a calculator. I was going to cut a LOT of pieces for one - way more than needed.

Which is batter - the envelope or the calculator

Fortunately, I was careful when I cut and didn't go ahead with the number of pieces I had originally calculated. I got a Hopscotch cut (The Quilt Patch). 

Even better - all the blocks are completely made (20 blocks). They are laid out and ready to sew the top together 

Quilt number two is all cut - just 3 1/2" squares

Still have some yardage left (well I barely used the yardage - that will be for borders, bindings and one backing). What to do with these leftovers?????   Oh yes - don't worry - I already have a use for them. 

I knew my four (OK - so I push it to five) bobbins were almost done. And when they are done - then I have to clean the machine, change the needle and rewind five bobbins.

My "prewound" bobbins

I have it down to a science now. While the bobbins are winding, I take the bobbin case out and using tweezers, Q-tips and a brush - I clean out all the lint. Then I change the needle. And by the time that is done and the supplies are put away (ONE must stay organized), the bobbins are done and I am ready to sew again.


And what a difference it makes to put a new needle in the machine. Yes - FOUR bobbins or if you are pushing it - FIVE. THEN clean that machine and change the needle!!!!!!!!!!


Oh yes - was at Ruti's the other day and saw this BORDER print in the sale bin. Because I want to work on the border print box soon - I couldn't help but buying this. I know - defeats the purpose of using up the scraps. OK - so it was a weak moment!!!!

Border print with quilt stores and quilts on it!!!!!!!!!!!

OK - so if ANYONE has that little iron and wants to get rid of it - think of me!!!!!!


And on that note - I MUST get back to work. I have to put all that ironing stuff away. There is a box of dryer sheets in there and it stinks!!!!!

Have a great day!!!!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Days!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy to report that my "cold" or whatever it was is finally starting to disappear. For the first time in over a week, my sinus were more or less clear!  Yeah!  I shouldn't say anything - don't want to jinx myself, but I wasn't really sick, but yet I was. Stupid!!!

What can I say? ANOTHER amazing day yesterday. So happy with my progress. I know there are many people who MUST work on ONE project at a time. And I applaud them. I wish I could be that focused. I CANNOT imagine what it would be like to have NO UFOs (unfinished projects!!).  Personally I like to have LOTS - then when I get bored of working on one - I can move to the next one. But not even that - sometimes there are projects that need something that I don't have at that moment or my brain just can't wrap itself around that - well then I can move to something else. Still being productive and psyching myself up to do whatever it needs to advance the next one.


Here's a peak at what got accomplished yesterday...................

Oh Yvonne - this is for you! We were chatting the other day about joining batting and I just so happened to have to join batting (not for the customer quilt, but the other one - just wait for it!)

Two pieces of batting that need to be joined

I use lightweight fusible interfacing to join them. You can buy the pre-cut strips from a quilt store OR you can buy yardage of the lightweight fusible interfacing and make your own strips (I cut mine to about 1 1/2"). Make sure there is a clean cut on both sides of the batting, then lay the pieces on the ironing board - side by side. Lay the interfacing over the two edges (fusible side down) and iron them together!!!!   It is FAST and works like a charm!!!!

Customer quilt - DONE

Detail of quilting

Then I got ambitious and also looking at what needs to be done. I almost fainted!!!!   Well not exactly, but there are a LOT of quilts to be quilted. Both for customer and for our community projects. OH DEAR - I had better bump up to 1 1/2 quilts per day!!!!    So I dug out this quilt from the community project bucket, found TWO pieces of batting that were JUST the right size, joined the batting and loaded the quilt. Got half of it done last night.

Next quilt on the machine!!!!

Got my article for A Needle Pulling Thread put together. Needs some major editing and of course pictures. But before the pictures can be done - I need to do a bit of work!!!   Oh yes - nothing is ever easy!!!!


Just in case you are thinking that I have abandoned my $10 Quilts - remember those seasonal samplers?????  I am still working on the TWO winter ones.

My forest of trees!!!!!

Marian came over for a bit and while she was busy texting and stitching!, I was busy making more blocks for my scrappy quilt.

Scrappy quilt

Oh yes - it is coming along nicely, but of course I ran out of fabric. Remember I only cut HALF the darks that I needed to finish the quilt. Got the rest of the darks cut and ready to sew. Obviously I can't count or do simple math because when I was counting my pieces left, I noticed that I had FIVE of the centers left so I needed MORE lights as well. I am sure I am going to need more pieces but I will sew what I have and then go from there. I am taking the remaining blocks to the workshop today. In the event I have to wait for a cutting table (the backgrounds are NOT cut on our projects), I will still have something to sew.

It is so sad and pathetic that I CANNOT be wasting a single moment!!!!

On that note - I have ONE thing I must finish before I leave this morning or Linda is going to kill me. She knows what it is!!!!!


Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I need THERAPY!!!

SCRAP therapy that is!!!!!!!!!!!!   Oh dear - my obsession just gets worse every day!  And I just can't seem to control it!


For some reason, I decided to get out that BIG box of scraps that still needs to be gone through...........

The BOX - definitely BIGGER than a shoe box. This is going to take a BIT of time

Part of the problem is that I was the recipient of ANOTHER bag of scraps the other day. I felt "sorry" for them so I had to accept them!!!!!

Let's open the box. Hmmmm - there is a bit of stuff that I recognize as mine. But what is in this bag right on top????

Oh my god - it is more batiks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Empty the bag - sort out the NON-batiks........  They go back in the box and I managed to shove the new bag into the box and it is in the middle of the floor. Oh yes - it is going to get cut up. 

Managed to cut 238 squares. That brings me up to something like 1,324 squares. I KNOW - enough is enough!!!!   I have enough of those squares to make TWO of the quilts that I am going to make on Saturday. BUT I will likely only make one and then pick one of the patterns that were in the batik strip box. 

So here is the batik strip box - looking all spiffy. 

As I was putting that box back on the shelf in the stash room and removing the big box of scraps, I spotted something on the floor. Hmmmmm.........................


I did have my flannel scraps on the shelf with the rest of the scrap boxes, but then the lids exploded and there was no longer room for them. There are THREE boxes of flannel scraps and they reside on the floor.

Scraps of flannel

HEY - I am looking for some scraps for the SECOND quilt on the list for tomorrow.

The flannel had been sorted and this was mostly floral/burgundy. There is a LOT of fabric in that basket!!!!!

Sorted out the bits of binding (top right corner of the basket), the half square triangles (bottom right) and the yardage

That left a bunch of squares and strips and this little bit in the front that is sort of a match, but not really. 

I got busy cutting and sorting and look what I came up with.....................

These are the rectangles that we need for the second scrap quilt, but have I cut them evenly - lights and darks?????

When I sorted them - yep - I have pretty much the same amount of lights as darks!!!!   How about that!!!!    I still need to cut some more rectangles and squares, but I wasn't able to buy as much background as required, so I may have to make the quilt a bit smaller. I think I will wait before I cut more of this. 

BUT - there was a LOT of scraps so I decided to start cutting for another quilt as well. This is the second quilt we received at our monthly meeting..............

Here are strips - 1 1/2" by 6 1/2" - all sorted in my cutlery trays!!!!!

And YET another quilt - these strips are 2" by 7"  (don't worry - you will see the construction as it happens)

And my little bits - not sure what I will do with them yet. 

Still have these strips to cut and then have to deal with the yardage. 

And this is the more pinky stuff that I left out of this project

YES - I may have to buy a bit of backgrounds to go with them, but if I am careful in how much I buy - I won't be adding to the problem!!!!   AND I get rid of that basket of flannel - it was right by the door and with it gone - it feels so much more open in that stash room. I have to think of those flannel scraps for the next couple of quilts so I can get them all used up or at least get them back in ONE box that will go back on the shelf!!!!!!





Yesterday was a crazy day at our house....................

Not only was it Halloween, but we had a special birthday..................

I think that signs says it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!   And M wrote a beautiful letter to her Dad. It was a nice touch!!!!

While I was digging out my batik strips - I came across this lunch pail. My Halloween decorated lunch box!!!   And in the background you can see my Halloween cup!!!!   (Thanks Ronda)

We even got the girls in the act

Wait! - oh god - Sammy's tongue is LONG!!!!!   Is she flirting with Berke????

So cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sparky loved dressing up and she looked cute

Sammy - not so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The cake! 

A very RICH chocolate fudge cake!!!

M on her way to a party

Love those lashes!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lest you think I got nothing done but cut scraps - that is not true.

I did manage to get a customer quilt done. 

And because those bright bits were 3 dimensional - I had to stop at every edge and get the foot over the lip without it flipping back. Takes a bit more time, but I got it done!!!!!

Also finished a book. Has anyone read this author????   Diane Mott Davidson????   I have read all her books. Now I have to say that the main character - while I like Goldy - she is a nervous wreck and worries about WAY TOO MUCH. A real parent like that would be dead with all the worry.

Well - I wasn't that thrilled with this latest book. The book itself was not bad - a good story - very complex, but the ending was very weak. Anyone read it???


Well, I am finding that the more I read, the more "sophisticated" my reads need to be. That may not be the right word, but reading fluff just doesn't cut it any more. Now I don't know that I will ever get into the classics or even stuff like Ken Follett, but there has to be some substance or I don't enjoy it. I wonder if it has to do with me? or the fact that these series books are HARD to keep the reader interested?????  


On that note - I must get to work. I have a bit more cutting, some designing to see how much cutting I have to do, more quilts, more sewing, more, more, more, more, more....................



Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!