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

Zig Zags Are Finished

I have quilts to show. And they are all finished!
I have been very busy quilting this week!
And enjoying it! Which isn't always the case.

These are the three quilts for Carol. There is a lap quilt, a baby quilt and a doll quilt.
And I only made blocks for the lap.
The other two quilts got their blocks from the not-needed left-overs or the throw-aways.
That made the two smaller quilts really fast and easy.

I had fun shopping my stash.
I only bought fabric for the border and a couple of 1/8 yard cuts.

Here is the lap for Carol.


Here is the baby quilt for Evie Jo.

And here is the doll quilt for Evie Jo's dolly. (Hope she plays with dolls!)


The quilting was so simple. Just straight lines.
With the baby quilt, I followed the zigzags.
Even that took more time than I wanted, plus I had to keep turning the quilt with each zig and each zag.

So, on the lap and the doll quilt I did a cross hatch, and I really liked that.

Here is the last time I will show you this quilt. It is all quilted and bound and it is just for ME!

Now on to quilting my Spanish Tile. Hope to show that next week.

Spanish Tiles Progress

Remember how I once told you to save the inside strip of the Stitching Lines to use latter when you only need to stitch once.

Well, that's just what I did when I needed to add snowball corners to my Spanish Tiles block.
These were left over from making the blocks.


I trimmed them to size. With these, I was able to get three smaller strips out of each. And just sewed on the solid line.



My Spanish Tiles is coming along. Only a little more to do.

Spanish Tiles Update #1

It's a dreary day in sunny San Diego. We are getting the last storm of the season. Or so say the weather men!
My photos reflect the lack of sunshine streaming through my dirty windows!!

This is the Spanish Tiles variation I am working on. An addition of small snowball corners is all I am changing. Plus, I am making the third fabric in each block the same.
Still need to add the "grout" between the blocks, plus finish a few more blocks.