And That Wheel Keeps On Turning...

I don't know how many of you are "Wheel Watchers" and tuned in last Friday to hear Pat Sajak's final farewell to the game that he had hosted for 41 years! Yes; forty one years, 8,000 episodes, a HUGE feat! Beside that fact, I'd like to bring attention to his words of departure: he noted that Wheel of Fortune was "a safe place for family fun, no social issues, no politics, nothing embarrassing... just a game. A place where families came together with friends, neighbors and entire generations."  He ended by "thanking you for allowing me into your living rooms and into your lives." What a class act! I couldn't help but relate to this mindset. Since 2006, 18 years, I've kept this blog for exactly those same reasons. Simply a diversion. A place where anyone could stop by, see some pretty pictures and join in a discussion about quilting, needlework, family or faith life with no judgement. A safe place. 

I'm not retiring. I'm going to keep cranking them on out... blocks of the month, scrap quilts, UFO's cross stitch, pets, families, grandchildren, gardening, life in general; you name it. We all have lots in common and I love hearing from you!

...and SEW it goes! Eighteen years is far from forty one but we've had a good, long run together. Let's keep it going!

As for me, I'm very comfortable right here. I hope to see you again soon.

This wheel keeps on turning; thanks for taking the time to stop by. 

Life is Good!

Summer Kick-Off

Well, now that Memorial Day has officially been observed; it's full speed ahead into summer. I'm ready! Having successfully navigated twice-a-week, post fracture, out patient physical therapy sessions I feel ready to tackle the world again! The therapist that I was assigned has been fabulous, he's young, motivated and extremely supportive of my desire to be fully healed, flexible and strong. He pushes me, and that's good. I have three levels of therapy bands attached to my longarm frame for mid-day strength training at home. This sign greeted me the other day when I checked in at the PT facility: 

              "Pain is temporary, quitting is forever". 

I placed flags in the pots outside our home this weekend, take a look at the bare-root, wintered-over geraniums on the steps. They've absolutely rebounded to full strength. Think of me as a geranium... bouncing back for all that I'm worth.

I'm slowly catching up on the blocks for Shelly Cavanna's Barn Star Sampler that's being taught, block-of-the-month style, at my LQS. This one, above, is the Carpenter Star.

And, the Tulip Star. These are BIG blocks. I'm using my own color choices and Wilmington Essentials "dry brush" line of fabrics to give mine an authentic "weathered" barn star appearance. The colors, too, put me in a happy, summertime state of mind.

Augie has a friend spending time with us this week. These two are so cute together, they play, chase, and wrestle with each other all day long; until they literally crash, in their respective beds. After napping, as soon as one raises a head, it's on... all over again!

Because summertime means vacation time, when better to quilt up this National Parks (one of my favorite vacation destinations) panel that's been hanging out in my stash closet for a few years? I already had the backing on the shelf, a super-soft, chocolate brown flannel for a cozy snuggle quilt. This pantograph is Classic Weave by Kathie James for Urban Elementz. 

Uncle Sam is once again serving as the summertime sentry to the studio. 

I'll conclude this kick-off to summer post with a laugh, who doesn't love a good flow chart?

Are you guilty? 

😉

Life is Good!

Quilt Camp, Day #2

Today's Quilt Camp session saw great great progress in the quilt block count! One of Lynnleigh's most frequently asked questions today was: "how many blocks do I have done now and how many more do I need?" She sewed up a storm and loved arranging her warm, freshly-pressed blocks on the design wall. 

I'm very proud of her can-do attitude! For the second day, we followed the same format as the day before; keeping the sewing sessions productive but not overtiring. There were plenty of other activities sprinkled in. 

The theme of her quilt is "camping". As you can see there are plenty of S'more related fabrics. 

Following that theme, "quilter's fuel" was at the ready in a "quilty" snack cup to keep her energized.

Lots of this...

Balanced with lots of this... puzzles, stories and games, not to mention lunch and dinner...

Led to this conclusion for Day #2. Fifteen (of twenty) blocks on the wall and one very happy camper!

Life is Good!

Quilt Blocks to Placemats

It's a short jump from quilt blocks to placemats; and much more user-friendly than having quilt blocks stack up in the stash closet! I chose the tiny gray dot background for this years' BOM classes at my LQS; we're using Studio 180 tools this time: Wing Clipper, V-Block and Corner Beam; I love the sessions and the techniques but quickly realized that I can only make SO MANY quilts! Our son and his family have a newly renovated kitchen with a neutral gray palette and an idea was hatched. With the first four sessions done I had four 12" blocks with which to work.  These mats finish at 16" X 19". The pattern that I came up with is included below. I loaded them all onto one backing and batting and quilted them all at the same time using Keryn Emmerson's "Double Plume" pantograph-- quick and easy!

I'll bet if you searched you might have a quilt block or two that you could press into table service. There will be more placemats coming as this year progresses, maybe even a table runner to match!

Placemats from Quilt Blocks

These placemats were made from 12.5” (unfinished) quilt blocks.

Finished mats measure 16” X 19”

For each placemat, from border fabric:

Cut 2 pcs. 12.5” X 3.5”

Cut 2 pcs. 19.5” X 1.75”

From accent color fabric (also used for binding):

Cut 2 pcs. 12.5” X 1”

Cut 2 pcs. 19. 5” X 1”

I attached the narrow, accent color fabric to the border fabric first, using ¼” seam and then attaching these units to each quilt block; sides first, then top and bottom with ¼” seams.

Quilt as desired (that phrase always makes me laugh!). Square up mats.

Bind* with accent color.

* I used Quilter’s Dream Poly batting for these and cut my binding strips at 2.25”.

Enjoy!

Life is Good!

Keeping It Quiet?

 It all started innocently enough (don't all great adventures?), I was having lunch with Quiltkeemosabe and she mentioned to me that she had been playing with Deb Tucker's new Shaded Nine Patch technique sheet. "Do you have it yet?" she asked. That's all it took. No, I didn't have it, but now I knew that she did; and, of course, I wanted to play too!
I had one of these technique sheets in my hot little hand that afternoon before returning home. "I don't need to start anything new-- I don't need to start anything new", I kept repeating that over and over to myself on the drive home. As are all things Deb Tucker (Studio 180 Design), this sheet was quite compelling. "How bad would it be to just quickly work up one block. One teeny, tiny, 6" block"? I have an ever-growing collection of low-volume prints. I cannot force myself to stop collecting them! And, I must say, for low volume prints they can get mighty boisterous when they want to be used; I was powerless to ignore them. Yes, there's a pattern of loss of control here, I am aware of that! 😉 Well, as you can see, one block combined four of those teeny-tinies into a usable 12" size block. One thing led to another, as it usually does.

"I wonder how two blocks would look, side by side, with scrappy sashing from a jellyroll that I  just happened to have on hand?" Hmmm... in my own humble opinion they look twice as nice. 

Oh, yeah; you know where this is leading. This Shaded Nine Patch technique is a winner. If you would like to watch Deb demonstrate this herself in a short video click here.  Don't say that you weren't warned. Even though I am using soft, low volume fabrics it's hard, for me, to keep this one quiet!   

Life is Good! 

Customer Service!

We've only recently returned from yet another epic road trip-- this one was loaded with adventures and firsts for me; but that's another post for another day.  Today I want to focus on customer service; you know, that concept that we all want to experience on the positive end but usually don't respond to unless it is negative. Sadly, there are many too many bad customer service experiences anymore!  This is a different story, it's all good; this story is what the definition of excellent customer service is all about. While we were away I shopped for fabric for Gregory's Quilt* at each and every quilt shop along the way (there were many!). On the 17th of August we found ourselves driving across Kansas and stopped in Hays at Quilt Cottage Co. Here I found two pieces of fabric to add to my collection for this project (the plaid pictured in the large triangles of those shaded 4-patch blocks, and the dark green triangles of those flying geese-to-be units). When we returned home a week ago I began cutting out the quilt and piecing all the sub-units for the main blocks. Somehow, I mis-cut over half of the large triangles for those shaded 4-patches, instead I had erroneously cut up that pretty plaid fabric into the smaller triangles needed for the flying geese! (Who, ME???) I wasn't in a total panic; not yet. I kept thinking that maybe I had enough and that I had caught my mistake in the nick of time. That did not prove to be the case. I recalled being in that shop where the fabric was purchased and remembered being asked at the time if I wanted to register my email address with them, just in case I needed to contact them for more fabric after I returned home. Of course, I declined; no, that never happens to me! (ARRGGH!) When the seriousness of my error became apparent, the day before yesterday, I was left with no identifying characteristics of this fabric (I had cut off and discarded the selvages the week before, they were long gone!) other than a photo. I also had the business card from the shop. I Facebook messaged the photo to the shop and called them on the phone (dialing was difficult with my fingers crossed!) at the same time, hoping against hope that they still had some. Kari, one of the owners, answered. As I described my situation she simultaneously looked up the photograph and asked if I had registered my email address with them. "No", I replied, "I didn't see the need at the time"; we both laughed. She was quickly and efficiently able to locate the fabric there in their shop, and find my purchase too, through their electronic inventory system. She cheerfully told me that she would be happy to cut the yardage that day and get it in the mail as soon as she could. I was grateful and relieved (plus, I ordered a little bit more than in needed, just in case!), I assured Kari that she had just saved my life! A few minutes later she FB messaged me to let me know that it was already being mailed. Wow! Just WOW!! Is that the epitome of customer service or what? Isn't this what every Quilt Shop, every store, every business, should strive for? Yes, of course it is! And to that end-- from now on, whenever I encounter EXCELLENT customer service I am going to publicize it. I will make it a point to let the business know and all of my friends too. Top-notch service deserves all the recognition that it can get. Join me. Where have you received service that is above-and-beyond? Let's promote those positive experiences!

*So, back to Gregory's Quilt. I blogged about it here back in February. At that time I was planning to make it totally scrappy with blues, greens and tans. As time wore on I realized that I couldn't cobble together enough scraps to make this look at all planned or cohesive. I recognized the fact that even for someone as addicted to scraps, and in love with multi-fabric quilts, as I am; there came a point where it was okay to give myself permission to go shopping (away from my bins) for what I needed (plus, there will be left-overs, which means-- MORE SCRAPS!).

Now, all of the blocks will look like they do in this layout; with natural-colored linen sashing between the blocks and blue cornerstones. This will be his bed quilt. 

Because this quilt, his Picture Play quilt that has been on his bed for the past five years, is growing threadbare and wearing out. It is currently undergoing binding replacement at Chez Goddneedle. You can see the new fabric for the binding folded over the top in this photo. Nothing, not one thing, gives this quiltmaker more joy than knowing that a quilt is well-worn and well-loved.💗

It's why I quilt.

Life is Good!

Playing With Pieces

These are 4" sub-units created in two sessions of Tucker University at my LQS. I absolutely love Deb Tucker's Studio 180 Design tools (they're not rulers, they're not made for measuring). I have quite a collection of them, having acquired them over the years. These sub-units are the result of using the Tucker Trimmer and the V-Block Trimmer. Here you see stacks of Half Square Triangle blocks, Shaded 4-patch blocks, Combination blocks, Quarter Square Triangle blocks, V blocks, Sidekick blocks and Hi-low blocks. They are all precisely trimmed to 4.5"and will finish to 4"; they can all be combined with each other interchangeably to create innumerable combinations for larger block layouts as shown below. Tomorrow I will attend the third session of Tucker University where we will use the Wing Clipper tool to make Flying Geese sub-units and variations, these will soon be added to the mix; I can't wait! Yesterday afternoon I played with the stacks shown to imagine just a few of the pretty  12" blocks that might be in my future; as you can see, missing in all of them is a center square-- I am dreaming up all kinds of exciting possibilities there! How much fun are you having in your sewing room these days?

Life is Good!

Bible Block Day!

Today is the day! Quiltkeemosabe and I have been at this for several years now; working our way through Rosemary Youngs' book: the Quilt Block Bible. Our get-togethers have been few and far between of late, life has gotten in the way. Somehow, even with a litany of other commitments between the two of us, we have managed to prioritize and get a Bible Block Day back onto our calendars! Our days together are much more than sharing our tips, tricks, construction directions and progress with one another; we also catch up, make plans and eat lunch (alternating homes each time). I have prepared a slow cooker beef roast this morning for French Dip sandwiches (the house smells heavenly right now) and a batch of Dr. Pepper cupcakes for dessert. We need to make room in our lives for what is important to us; those obligations and commitments will always be there, clamoring to clutter up our calendars and push other tasks to the bottom of the list. I have to take special care to guard against that. The latest ten blocks, pictured on the left, bring me to 141 completed out of 202, I am almost 70%  finished! These blocks will finish to 6" square. If you are familiar with the book you know that there are no instructions included, it is a book of beautiful quilt block pictures and an accompanying CD with each block diagrammed in black and white for printing out. Quiltkeemosabe and I have written out directions, and proofed each other's, at every step. The bonus, in addition to our our burgeoning quilt block stacks (and holding each other accountable) has been our enriched friendship, new recipes from meals shared together and a whole lot of fun and laughs along the way.

My own Quilt Block Bible blocks as of June last year.

What do you need to make room for in your life today? 
Find a way to make it happen, you won't be sorry!
Life is Good!

Simple Math-- It's A Process

The simplest of math functions: addition and subtraction; I've been occupied with both when it comes to putting together blocks accumulated over the last several years. Most of these are blocks made in two separate block-of-the-month sessions at my local quilt shop, with a few orphans thrown in for good measure. The bin that held these, plus all of the other trial blocks and odds and ends made up in reds and lights have been kept together for someday quilts. Well, someday has arrived at long last! The bin's contents were emptied and everything was placed on the design wall at one time.  
There were too many disparate elements; from this point plenty of subtraction took place-- the eliminations went back to the bin. After that, slowly, blocks were added back in; one at a time until they all fit together (above, left), some coping strips were added as needed.

The first border was attached. A neutral "floating" border, a place for the eye to rest.

I wanted to bring red back to the outside edges, but not another single shade. I began a half square triangle border, equal in width to the first border and incorporating many reds and backgrounds for variety. I liked it.

This is where I ended up. Simple math: adding, subtracting, adding some more. The solution to the problem is pictured above. I have enough blocks still remaining in the bin to begin this process all over again; plus, I still have four more months to go with this years' block-of-the-month sessions (can you guess the colors chosen?)! A friend told me a while ago that when she tests blocks she always makes them in the same color family, I listened and followed suit. Oh, for the record, I have a bin of blues and lights too; I keep tossing them in and they continue to add up. How's that for simple math?

Life is Good!

The Auditions Continue

Last week I posted photos with 121 blocks up on the design wall from Rosemary Youngs' The Quilt Block Bible. I auditioned indigo as well as red sashing strips between some of the blocks to try and decide how I will set this quilt; I asked for your opinions, you offered them and I am grateful. Among one suggestion was a soft gold color. The above photo shows twenty five blocks sitting on top of a yarn-dyed linen fabric, the color is called "leather"; I absolutely love this piece of fabric, but it it right for the sashing between these blocks?  I am coming to you again for your opinions.

In all honesty, the fabric pictured in the top photo isn't entirely different from the color of my design wall; which means, that the overall effect would look much like this when it's all said and done. Thoughts? I've mocked up a section with the soft gold sashing and indigo cornerstones as one more option; yay or nay? Weigh in and let me know what you think.

Life is Good!