There is so much to be thankful for

  Thanksgiving has come and gone. During the day I found myself reflecting on what I am thankful for. Of course I am thankful for my family, a warm home, a job, and quilting. But there are also a lot of other people and things to be thankful for.
   When I moved to Massachusetts in 1986 I left my family behind in Idaho. I have never spent another Thanksgiving with them and it is hard. But I was welcomed to join the Campbell family back when Mitch and I were dating. All these years later, Emma has been born, Mitch is married to Linda, and I am still a part of that family for holidays and birthdays and it helps me miss my "real" family less. Thank you, Campbells.
     For 8 years I was a nanny for a wonderful family, the Rokoffs. They welcomed me as a part of their family and I still consider them family. I have great memories of my time with them. Thank you, Rokoffs.
    I have been working at the pharmacy for 13 years with a great group of people (most of the time). There is Cheryl who would do anything for anyone, including picking up at the airport, and taking me whale watching for my first time. Thank you, Cheryl.
    There is also Rose, who gave me a wonderful gift this weekend. She is a former quilter (I didn't know those existed, but apparently they do). She went on a cleaning binge and gave me 2 boxes of fabrics. I am enjoying slowly sorting and adding to my project boxes. New fabric just makes me happy! Thanks, Rose.
   Then there's Amanda, who drove me to my surgery, waited for hours at the hospital, and was my "person".  (She's also letting me "borrow" her daughter to take Emma's place Christmas tree shopping next week.)Thanks, Amanda.
    Then there are my online "friends". Keeping in touch with family and old friends via Facebook has been such a blessing. I miss everyone but I feel a bit like I am still a part of their lives. I love seeing the pictures of new baby great nieces and nephews and cousins. I love seeing my high school classmates reconnecting and when I got to join them it was so much fun. I enjoy seeing pictures of Coeur d'Alene--old and new. I love sending birthday wishes and reaching out with a message to old friends. And when I am in Cd'A I am already caught up on what people are doing. Thanks, Facebook.
     Recently I met a new bunch of online "friends" via the Hay Day game. I am in a great "neighborhood" with wonderful people who chat and share and help each other out in the game. We give encouragement if someone is having a bad day and instant help if needed. Thanks, Lindy, Belle, Kalimae, PowPow, Wolf, Crap, Paris, and the rest.
    Of course I am also thankful for quilting. I have always done handwork, knitting, crochet, embroidery, macrame, sewing. I love putting colors together and creating something from nothing. I love looking around and seeing beautiful things that I've made. (I only hope Emma appreciates them when I am gone! )Thank you to all the quilters who have taught and inspired me.
     I also love visiting quilt shops. There is always someone wonderful to chat with and share ideas and each shop has its own personality and ideas to inspire. Sometimes I go in for no particular reason, just for a chat. Thanks, quilt shops.
    I am also thankful for technology and the enjoyment I get from my tech toys. I love my I Pod full of the music I love. I listen when I am going to sleep, while I am sewing, cooking or driving long trips. I would be very sad coming back from Emma's college without my playlist of "songs to sing in the car". I love my Kindle Fire, full of books and the easy access to Facebook and the internet. Of course I love my phone, mostly because of Hay Day, and the feeling of security it gives me. My latest love is a renewed love of my laptop which I use mostly for watching movies and TV shows. Thanks, PrimeWire and Coke and Popcorn.
     And of course I would be a bad mother if I did not mention how thankful I am for my beautiful, smart, creative and unique daughter. Without her I would be incomplete. Thank you, Emma, for being my Pumpkin.
   I call myself the Lone Quilter, but I am not really alone. I have a lot of wonderful people and things to be thankful for who are all a part of me. Thanks to you all.

"Flashback Sunday" --Think it will catch on?

       Since I live alone at the moment I find myself looking for ways to amuse myself so I came up with the idea of "Flashback Sunday". Now I know it doesn't have the ring of Throwback Thursday and Flashback Friday would be catchier, but Sunday is my only day off so I am going with it. I decided that one Sunday a month would be a Flashback day. I dug deep into the UFO bins to find projects that had been there for years. I carried it a bit further by watching movies from the 80's and 90's and listening to old music. I even made the ultimate flashback dinner--mac and cheese. I would love to get my ziploc bag projects out of the UFO box and into the UFO Tops box! In the process of digging I found quite a bit of fabric just sitting there waiting to be used on a project. Those are the projects I went for because I want to be able to use that leftover fabric for something else!
       Anyone who has followed this blog knows there is one thing I really don't enjoy doing and that is putting on borders. Yuck. I have one top that is thousands of half-square triangles and all it needs is this pieced border and another plain border. Most of the border pieces were already cut and even started piecing. I got the pieced border on and it is going to get a plain border next Flashback Sunday.
       Another quickie project was a small quilt made from 6 southwest color palate leftover log cabin blocks. (That word "palate" looks wrong but for the life of me I can't figure out what is right)

Southwest colors 

I found those blocks the same day I hit the pile of peach fabric in the bottom of the tote, which went with it. I kept staring at those peach fabrics and they didn't really look familiar. Some of them were quite sharply creased! It occurred to me that I hadn't thought of the color peach in ages. It is a nice size pile from a long ago peach trend and I hope peach comes back some day!

Leftover sample blocks

       The other project is a real trip down memory lane for me. I used to teach beginner and intermediate quilting classes at the Fabric Place and had decided to make all my sample blocks from the same color palate-bright purples, pink, blue, and green and black with lots of florals. I pulled out the blocks and couldn't believe how much fabric was in the bag. The blocks are a few sizes so I am doing a scattered setting. I have 2  small tops done and the 3rd is on the design wall and every day I walk by and put together a bit of the units. I really want that leftover fabric in the stash!
       Speaking of the stash--for the last month or so I have touched every piece of fabric in my stash. My totes are a thing of beauty which I would gladly show off to anyone who wanted to see! I cut a 6" square piece off every fabric which will eventually be made into

Flashback pic of myself, Emma, and the charm quilt

a charm quilt. One of the first quilts I learned about when I first started quilting was the charm quilt. I have made a bed sized apple core style, and Emma's baby quilt was a hexagon. I've also done a couple wallhangings. A charm quilt is made with just one shape and no two fabrics the same. A real challenge. This time I am doing a tumbler and every day I cut a few tumblers from the pile of pieces. I keep getting the itch to start sewing some together but I don't have enough colors cut yet. It is a real flashback project.

Emma's baby quilt. She called it Tweety because Tweety
was on the border.It's a hexagon charm.

So shall we rally around the idea of Flashback Sunday? Sounds like fun to me!

When are you finished?

        I definitely have a type of ADD when it comes to doing any project. I like to do one project for a while and then switch to another one and maybe another and then go back and repeat. I really can't just do one project from beginning to end without sometime going nuts, which I realized when I have done commissions. As a result I have an unbelievable number of UFO's.  BUT the thing I love about my method is that week when things all get finished. YAY! Big payoff.
        But are they really finished? What criteria should we use to determine when a quilt is finished and ready to move on? Is it when the binding is finished? Or is there something else we should do? I think there are a couple more steps after the binding is done.
    1. Final inspection
It is important to put the quilt under bright lights and go over it carefully checking for any puckers, skipped stitches, toe-catchers, hanging threads,  loopy stitching, missed areas. 
I have mentioned the pucker problem previously and that is something that needs to be checked out as you go along. Nothing worse than getting all done and then having to tear out!
The skipped stitches problem may only be my machine but for some reason it occasionally will start sewing and then skip an inch or two then keep going. HUH? You need to really look for this because you don't want the next problem.
Toe-catchers--These are loops of thread. I don't know if this is just quilting Urban Legend or what but I was told a story when I first started out about a baby getting a toe caught in one of these loops and he ended up losing a toe because it got caught and circulation was cut off. I don't know if it is true, but it could happen! So I go over the top with my hand going every direction looking for any loops that could be dangerous.
Hanging threads--They all have to be cut off at the end. No more needs to be said about this!
Loopy stitching-- Sometimes the tension gets messed up and when I look at the back entire areas are loopy and have to be torn out. Another reason to check as you go along
Missing areas--I've had this happen a couple times but the worst was the quilt I made for Kristi and Sam that I took to Cd'A as a gift. I had to finish the binding there and as I was binding I realized there was an area that still had basting pins! CRAP! I had to go to my sister-in-law's and borrow her machine, thread, and walking foot to finish it.
       2. Label it
Every quilt should have a label. You don't want your work to go out into the world without any identification. It may be just your initials in Pigma Pen hidden on a charity quilt or a beautiful sewn on label. I've embroidered on the quilt, embroidered a label to sew on later, made the label one of the blocks, but usually I print the label on muslin from my computer. I make my own "fabric paper" by pressing the fabric very smooth, then pressing to the waxy side of freezer paper, and cutting 8 1/2" x 11". After printing, I press again to set the ink and let it set a day before sewing onto the quilt. As far as I know these labels have survived!
I feel that each label should include: Name of the Quilt, who it was made for, if it is a gift, who made it and when and where. Then any other important info like maybe the birth weight and length if for a baby, or wedding date if a wedding gift. I make a lot of I Spy quilts so the I Spy poem is part of the label. The one I did for Jackson is a bug quilt and includes a cute poem about bugs. 
        3. Clean up
After I am completely finished, I run it over with a lint brush to remove all batting fuzz, and loose threads.

After all these things are done, THEN IT IS FINISHED!

There are a lot of fun tools out there for quilters--and they aren't in quilt shops

    I was in the sewing room the other day and looked around and saw several things I use a lot that aren't even "quilting tools". Thought I'd share a few---

2 sizes of clamps

****Clamps from the hardware store to clamp down the fabric for layering. I also have smaller butterfly clamps from Staples to use on thin tables.

****Ziploc bags in all sizes to hold pieces or whole projects. (I get these really big ones from work sometimes and they're really great)

****Skirt hangers to hang giant ziploc bags full of stuff

Giant ziploc bag hung from
skirt hanger

****Hangers to hang binding to keep it from wrinkling until I need it

****Masking tape. I have it in every width and use it for quilting parallel lines. Just stick it down and sew along the edge and you're all set.

Masking tape in 3 sizes

Contact paper stars placed
then quilted around

****Contact paper. I use it to cut out shapes to quilt around. Just stick it down and sew around. No marking necessary!  The stick-um lasts for a lot of uses.

Peanut jar full of ribbon, Cool
Whip garbage bowl, magazine
rack for rulers

****My Sizzix die cut machine that I use for scrapbooking. I have a great star die and use it with the Contact paper to make stars. I can stick them around the quilt and get the placement just right and then just quilt around them.

****Cool Whip containers to hold pieces for the current project (sure beats piles all over the counter!). They are also my "garbage bowls".

****A magazine holder holds my rulers

****An old peanut jar holds ribbon scraps

Lots of plastic shoe boxes hold
squares,strips, triangles, projects

****A desk caddy holds scissors, pencils, markers.

****Plastic shoe boxes hold my strips, squares, triangles, and UFO projects.

So next time you're at the dollar store, hardware store, Staples, the grocery store, or in your kitchen look at things with a quilter's eye and see if you can use anything!

I've Embraced the Jelly Roll

      One of the big trends in quilt shops for a few years has been the jelly roll. I see them and walk by because the quilts I see made with them are really not my usual style. I'd see the selection of fabrics from a line of fabric and I'd like them but hadn't jumped in.

AC Moore Birthday jelly roll

      Well, last week I took the plunge. I had a $10 gift certificate from AC Moore for my birthday and instead of buying scrapbook stuff I found myself in their little fabric section. They had 5 or 6 sets of jelly rolls. One sort of called my name so I bought it with no idea what to do with it. So I Googled images of jelly roll quilts and scrolled through hundreds of images until one quilt jumped out at me because the fabrics were so similar to the ones I had. I confess I printed up the picture and went with it (please don't tell the creator!). This is one quilt my daughter likes because she likes things realistic and graphic, and this one looks like a stained glass window. I haven't done a border yet because I used all the fabric. Emma thinks it just needs a black border and she is probably right.She is the art major after all!

JoAnn JellyRoll

Not really a jelly roll but is made with
2 1/2" strips left over from another project

      Then the other day I was in JoAnn Fabrics looking for red,red-violet,purple fabric and ran into a bargain bin.There I found this sad, bedraggled jelly roll for $6. The fabrics were fun and wild and nothing I would ordinarily buy so I went for it. Then I went to the pattern books and found a couple jelly roll books and browsed for ideas. The one I came up with is sort of done like a huge log cabin and I have been doing a round of this in between the steps of the 4-patch blocks. It is fun and bright and won't even need a border when it is done.

 This last picture is a quilt I just finished quilting. It is made from 2 1/2" strips left over from another project and the border is the end of the triangles and border fabric. (Recognize it, Cindy?) I kind of like the way I separated the strips randomly with pieces of the pinks.

I apologize for the quality of these pictures. Took them with my camera and it is too much trouble to do them over with the camera right now. Next time..... Oh, just remembered the incandescent setting on the camera and was able to retake the blue one. The other are too much trouble.

Red to Purple- a different color triad

     A few years ago I did a quilt using just the colors from green to purple on the color wheel. That included green, turquoise, blue, blue-violet, and purples. I went through my entire stash and cut strips off each piece of fabric in these colors. For this project I cut 2", and 3 1/2" strips. I used this basic block and did 4 quilts in different layouts. One of them was even a maze with a mouse hunting for cheese at the end. After I cut a couple ziploc bags full of strips I was surprised to see that the level of fabrics in the totes didn't even go down! After a couple years using these pieces they finally were used up.
       Now I have decided to do this challenge again with red, red-violet, purples with light pinks and lavenders. I found a pattern that I love so went through the totes again and pulled out every piece. For this project I cut 1 1/2", 2", and 3 1/2" strips. I had piles of fabric all over the room for about a week!
       This quilt will take me forever to finish--no kidding. The 1 1/2" strips are cut into squares and made into 4-patches. I need hundreds of these 4-patches. Then they go with the 2" squares to make a double 4-patch, and then these blocks make a triple 4-patch. I love this kind of challenge with lots of scraps because it is fun to combine all the different fabrics. I always make myself a rule with scrappy quilts and this time the rule is the same as usual--don't repeat a fabric in a block and use each color in each block. To be honest, the triple 4-patch blocks by themselves aren't too pretty, but put them all together and it is beautiful. I can't wait to do this pattern.

I found a border fabric but can't decide
on the inner border. I kind of like the stripe. 

       I do have a problem though. I didn't think about a border fabric to tie it all together. I have perfect fabrics in the stash but they are years old, and about the size of a fat quarter. WHY didn't I think of this in Spokane while I was visiting 8 shops?!
       If anyone knows of a great fabric, please post a picture or send a link. I did find one fabric and and am using it right now but I would like another, since I will probably end up with several quilts from this pile.

Well, it is less than a month since I started this project (and this blog page) and the top is finished! It is bed size and I thought I would never finish squaring up those 4 patches but I did it! Now it needs a border. During the cutting process I found this border fabric in the local fabric store and it is scattered throughout the quilt  and I like it. I didn't find a single other fabric in this color combination in the 4 stores I visited!  Now I can't decide on the inner border. I think I like the stripe but there is not really any white in the quilt. Actually considering dying it a pale pink. What do you think? It just seems fun and less boring than a red or burgundy. So for the moment it is hanging on the wall waiting for a final decision.
    I actually didn't have all that much fabric left over. Probably enough for a small quilt but I want to find another border fabric to finish that one. You know what that means--FIELD TRIP!

Shop-Hopping is FUN--especially with friends!

We started out here. This is the only
shop I had ever visited, but not in this
location. 

    This post is dedicated to my longtime friend Susie Long in Spokane, Washington. A couple weeks ago while I was on vacation she took a personal day from work to take me shop-hopping all over Spokane. We visited 7 different shops and bought something in each one! I haven't done this in years and it was a lot of fun. Each shop was very different and had its own personality. They had different lines of fabrics and each one had a different way of bagging up your purchases, which was fun. The one way they were alike, however, was that each one welcomed us with a big smile and friendly conversation! We took pictures at each one so please indulge me. We even had to hide out in one while a massive storm came through. We learned later on the news of the huge amount of damage the storm caused in some areas.

                                                                     

This is my vacation stash. Lots of novelty
prints with words and lots of reds.

      I learned a little something about the latest trends in fabric. Big right now are big, bold, geometric prints, which I have a hard time with because they really have to be used in BIG pieces. Another trend
continues to be batiks, which I am not really into. The big surprise to me was the trend of OWLS. Really? I thought we let them go back in the 70's.Another big trend is flannels, which I have also not gotten into.
      I was looking for any fabrics with words on them. That was fun because Susie had never even noticed these types of fabrics and was just as excited as I was to find one. I was also looking for REDS. True red, like the color of a red crayon. Believe me they are very rare! I also found a couple retro novelty prints that I couldn't resist. They were in a shop that had that retro vibe and we loved it. I also was looking for red-violets and purples for my next project which is scrappy in the color range from red to purple. (More about this in my next post.) Now that I have started this project I realize I missed a HUGE opportunity. I need a border fabric in just those colors to tie it all together and I didn't think to look for one. Now I am frustrated! If anyone sees something with red, red-violet, purples and not much of any other color please let me know. Another fabric I found was one I was looking for several years ago to finish a quilt. I didn't buy it because I ended up using something else and to this day it bugs me. (The quilt was made with reproduction fabrics from Olde Sturbridge Village, which I had bought there and had given up my online search for them.)

      My favorite day of my vacation was definitely Shop Hop day. If anyone is in my area and wants to shop hop in southeast Massachusetts, let me know. We can do it!