Wild Things

Yesterday, I stitched together 70 blocks I found hiding in the bottom of a basket. Apparently when I am not completely satisfied with something, I hide it away. You know, "out of sight, out of mind". I am really beginning to see a pattern here.

I had been collecting safari and wild animal prints for quite sometime. My oldest daughter has always been in love with anything wild animimalish. A couple years ago, I guess I had also seen some quilts with circles. I combined the two and this is what I came up with. All the hard work was done. I just assembled it yesterday.

Let it Be

There comes a time when one finally has to recognize a mistake and just let it be. Don't even try to rectify it. It's bad, it's ugly and it has no use in your life. As Paul McCartney sang, "Let it be."


What was I thinking so many years ago, when I started this quilt? It's from a pattern I did for Quiltsmart, called Pinwheel Spin. It makes a great kids quilt. It super easy and fast to make. Just the word "pinwheel" conjures up feelings of lightness, airiness, movement, kids, whimsy, fun, summer.
So what was I thinking when I made this up with Civil War prints! To me, civil war means darkness, death, smoke, dark skies, explosions, broken bodies.
I sewed one row together yesterday, made up some border blocks and came to the conclusion, that this is one unfinished quilt that I will not be finishing. I will put it in with Goodwill donations and maybe someone else will see it all differently than I do.

Hancocks of Paducah and Worms on Parade

In my quest to finish up some UFOs, I found another almost finished lap quilt. It is called Worms on Parade and is from my book Primrose. All I needed to do was add the border.

Unfortunately this quilt is not showing up very well in the photos. It really is very cute.

I bought all this fabric when I was in Paducah one year working for Quilt in a Day. Our favorite side trip (I should say our only side trip) was to Hancocks of Paducah. Some years we would shop there 2 or 3 times. We always arrived in Paducah several days before the main show started, in order to set up the Quilt in a Day shop (which got bigger every year). My boss Orion, would usually give us one afternoon off when we first got there so that he could empty the gargantuan truck without a bunch of ladies telling him what to do. And we were happy to leave! And then of course, we would hit Hancocks after dinner many a night. No matter how tired we were, (and we were very tired) it seems there was always time to shop for fabric. Luckily, we were able to ship everything back on the QIAD truck, otherwise we would have been buying more luggage!
As years passed, Quilt in a Day started selling just as much fabric as Hancocks at a wonderfully reduced price. We went to Hancocks fewer times after that.


I also finished up my Dogwood quilt. Both of these quilts, Worms on Parade and Dogwood use the Primrose fusible.

UFO Is Now WIP

Yesterday, I pulled out this UFO. I hadn't worked on it for maybe 7 or 8 years. I had offered the design to Quiltsmart, since it used a fusible that I had designed for them. No interest there at all. I think because I also used a heat-n-bond type fusible along with their fusible in the construction. They probably weren't liking that.
All the background blocks had been sewn and the appliques were all fused into place just waiting for me to come back and take an interest in it again. I used my Primrose pre-printed fusible to make the flower petals. So, I zig-zagged all the petals down with monofilament thread and sewed the blocks into rows. Then I did something I have never done before. I made yo-yos for the flower centers. They were so easy to make using the Clover yo-yo maker. I am adding 1-1/2" wide blocks all around as an inner border. I had plenty of blocks left over that I could use, just trimmed them down to size. In the picture, I have one side of inner border. I already had the border fabric, so this is close to done.

After All Is Said and Done, It's Not So Bad

My little baby size Spanish Tiles quilt top is finished. Isn't it amazing how color placement makes such a difference in how a quilt looks? After I finished it, I decided it wasn't so bad after all, just different from what I had planned.
The new quilt is on the chair.

How to Make a Mistake 40 Ways

I've spent the last couple of days making Spanish Tile blocks. I have made this quilt so many times, I didn't even need to read the directions. After all, I wrote it. You would think I would know what I was doing. Right? WRONG! I made a simple little mistake 40 times! The blocks all have the same fabric for the center with two different fabrics for the in-between part and the outside. (This is the quilt making up the background on my blog page) Well, I made the centers of the blocks from a bunch of different fabrics. The outside became all white. It changes the whole look of the quilt...........not what I wanted. It should of looked like this.
Now it is a predominately white quilt....really not what I wanted.
So, I am turning it into a baby quilt. I could probably make two baby quilts with all the blocks I made the wrong way............OH YEA....I DID SAY I MADE 40 SQUARES WRONG!!!

Tessy and the New Block

First off, I have to show you a picture of the "Big Puppy, Tess". She's not exactly a puppy anymore at 4 years old and 65 lbs. But since she is littler than me, she's a pup! I have never been able to lift her up on my lap, but she is more than willing to land on Andy's lap............for a long time. Isn't she cute?



This week I have added another block on my website to my free Computer Desk Quilt pattern. It's called "Computer" and is another extremely easy block to make. Only a few blocks left to complete and then I will be putting them all together. I need to find some fabric for the wood cabinet and the "wallpaper" background. Oh well, sounds like another trip to a quilt shop!

Computer Desk Free Pattern

I spent a few hours yesterday writing and illustrating my next installment for my free Computer Desk pattern that is on my website. I apologize to anyone making this pattern. I have been late almost every month in putting up a new pattern. I have no excuses.......just lazy I guess. I will test it today and hopefully Andy will get it up for me this weekend. This time it is the Computer block.
I also brought back my Above the Buffet free pattern. That was very popular and now I have the actual quilt to show. It was really simple to make.

Triangles and Pizza

I have been diligently working away at my Half-Square Triangle quilt. This is the one where I use all the sample half-square triangles I make when I demonstrate my Stitching Lines at quilt shows. Well, the Long Beach Quilt Festival was a very long show, so consequently I have a whole lot of HSTs. I have added 5 more rows so far. I have sewn together 8 more rows and I have blocks for 12 more rows. That's 25 rows. Plus I have a whole day's worth of squares that came from my neighbor's stash. Don't tell her, but I plan on sewing something up for her also.


I really like how the quilt top changes from predominately reds and greens to blues. I haven't decided what the next color will be.....maybe yellow and golds and then browns and back again to blues.

Andy took me out to pizza for lunch today. Since I found out I was lactose intolerant a few years back, I have shied away from pizza. But this may sound really strange to all you cheese lovers........I don't miss the cheese on a pizza. I think it is usually so mild that it doesn't add that much flavor anyway. That would be because I never liked strong flavored cheese.
To me, it's the pizza sauce that makes it taste like pizza. And was it ever good today! We went to Urban Pizza in Vista. It is the best..........nice thin crispy crust. Just the way I like it.




And, no, we didn't eat it all!

A Sleepless Night in My House

It's late, after midnight, and once again I can't sleep. I guess I can't stop thinking about my next quilt show and the new booth layout that I hope to have.

Since I started demonstrating my Stitching Lines at the shows, I have been unhappy about sitting at a low table and having to look so far up at all my customers. So I decided to raise my table up about 6 inches with bed risers. Now that meant buying new skinnier tables that had straight legs. I have bought one and still have one more table to buy. And with that, I needed taller chairs than those supplied by the quilt shows. Ikea had folding chairs that will work, I hope, and not be too uncomfortable on the backside. Plus, I don't want to have to depend on someone else helping me out all the time, so I needed to get my cash register closer to my sewing machine. I also wanted to hang my patterns on hooks and get them off the table. I found the free standing grid I wanted today, so I won't be needing the standard table that the shows always supply.

As I was laying in bed, I was thinking of which quilts to hang and where. Does all this need to be decided now, in the middle of the night? I think not!

These are the ramblings of one wide-eyed quilter at half-past 12. I apologize!