Dog on Quilt

Does your dog like your quilts?
Mine sure does. Tess could care less if it is finished.
As I was pinning rows together, she kept snuggling up to the quilt top hanging on the floor. Silly dog!! Good thing I took the pins out of that section!

Sewing rows together is one part of quilt making that I procrastinate about.
And because of that, I haven't had many finishes lately.
But yesterday, I finally completed this lap top.
On to the blocks for the baby and doll versions.

Welcome Home Evie Jo

We got a new addition to the family on Thursday! Isn't Eveyln Jo adorable? She is the daughter of my youngest daughter, Carol and her husband Doug, and our first grandchild. All are doing well.

Spanish Tile, Again, and Done

I finally have a finish to show you. I put this Spanish Tiles quilt away for awhile. I was so disappointed with my quilting, I had to take a break. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know I always say I don't like the actual quilting.

Let me design, pick out the fabrics and piece the whole shebang!

After that, I am wholly incompetent at any decent quilting. Sometimes I can get an OK meandering design using my Grace frame and Juki. But, just as often, I can even mess that up.

I decided to do some straight line stitch-in-the-ditch quilting on this quilt. Fine! Until I started to get major migration of the fabric. Even with the even-feed foot!

Remove 1 mile of quilting!

Then I tried a built-in serpentine stitch. Same problem.

Remove 2 miles of stitching.

Oh, I don't mind removing quilting, but this was ridiculous! I removed enough thread to wind up on a whole "nother spool. Over and over again!!

Finally, I decided to do free motion stitch-in-the-ditch, in the black, with black thread, where it wouldn't show. That worked OK. And besides, I can't see much on the back either.
I followed up with straight line quilting, but not stitch-in-the-ditch,..........a good half inch away from the seam. That worked.

I did make a little change to this pattern. I added the little triangles to the corner of each block and I made the outside sections of each block the same. I think I will write a variation for this pattern as I kind of like this look.

I love this little birdie print.

The quilt is done and I am OK with it.


I've been busy with another design, but, people near and dear to me say it looks like a swastika!
So I guess I need to change something.



Hah, did you think I was going to show it to you, before it was finished!!!

Padded Notebooks

I finished up two new purse size notebooks yesterday. I wish I could find the dimensions each time I want to make one. I spend more time searching for that little scrap of paper each and every time. And since I had moved sewing rooms since last I made one, I knew it was a lost cause.
So, of course, it took me three times as long to make one. I had to re-figure it as I went along.
I knew there had to be a better way!

And then a light bulb went off! Why not write down the fabric dimensions in a small padded notebook, kind of like a pattern!! Can you say DUH!!!

I really wish I was a more organized person. At my age, though, I don't think that will change.

A Coffee Break

A pretty white empty bowl.



A pair of scissors.

A large stack of un-trimmed half-square triangles.

Coffee break begins. Sit back on the sofa. Turn on the TV. Put the bowl on lap.

Start trimming dog-ears.


Partly finished.


Only a gazillion more to go!

1930's Doll Quilt

Today I am showing you my mother's doll quilt. She was born in 1925, so this fabric is right out of the 30's. Although, I have never been a fan of 30's reproduction fabrics, I sure can appreciate how authentic the repro's are. I don't know what my grandmother used for the filling, but it is all lumpy and has shifted all around. It's machine pieced, and very lightly hand quilted along some of the seams, which I only discovered today. It really needed more quilting to stop the shifting of the filling.


I wonder how my grandmother acquired all the little prints. There are 38 prints and non are repeated. I know she wasn't buying Charm Packs. LOL She must have exchanged scraps with her friends, as I can't believe she made that many dresses for my mother, an only child. Although it doesn't show well in my photos, the colors are still pretty vibrant and not worn.


Maybe my mom didn't play with it or drag it around very much. Who knows.

Quilt Storage

This last weekend, I spent some time moving around furniture in my loft/office.
For years, my computer has been housed in a computer cabinet.

I even made a quilt depicting it. It's a free pattern on my website. You can see a photo of it here.

It is a very pretty piece of Mission style furniture. We bought it years ago when our extra computer was downstairs in the family room.
It was perfect.
I could close it up when not on the computer and everything was hidden away. Then one child moved away and freed up a bedroom for my sewing room, so my loft became my "office" and we moved that heavy, heavy piece of furniture upstairs.
You all know what " musical furniture" is. I am good at it!!

Anyway, as things were updated on my computer, Dave started hating my computer desk. He couldn't get to the back of it for the cords. I wanted drawers, which it didn't have. I never closed it up and the desk top was always a mess.
In the meantime, I have made a gazillion quilts with no place to store them.
Light bulb moment!


I emptied all the computer stuff, set up a new desktop with some file cabinets and turned the cabinet into quilt storage.




I still have more quilts to put in here. There won't be enough room for all of them.
They are everywhere in this house.
In the closets, under the beds, over the banister, on top of quilt racks.

Do you know, I don't have any on the beds! LOL