Under my needle

 I have 7 quilts to longarm this week/weekend.  This is the one on my frame today!  It's a lovely Jelly Roll quilt and I'm stitching a design on it called Seamless.

Edit: Saturday, June 20th.  This is my first one on the frame this morning!

Perfectly

I found a fabulous new song, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Double Aster Barn Quilt

 I've always wanted to paint a barn quilt.  When we replaced the siding on our house I decided to put a cheater barn quilt above my front door, only because I didn't have the time to paint a barn quilt.  My plan was to replace the cheater when I was able to paint one of my own.  That day came yesterday!  Cary Quilting Company held a class for painting a barn quilt and I signed up right away.

It was a one-day class and the teachers, Deanna and Georgia, were outstanding!  Deanna's Delightful Barn Quilt Designs is the company that taught the class. They are located out of Clarkton, NC.  They travel to locations all over the eastern USA and if you have the chance to take a class I highly recommend them.

Brandyvine Tote Bag

 I started a new project over the weekend.  I'm making a Brandyvine Tote Bag from a book by Vicki Bellino called Bloom Creek Quilts. 

If you make this tote bag, you will want to use a scant 1/4" when sewing the 10 strips together.  The directions don't say to do this but it should have.  The strip sets came out 1/2" too short width-wise.  

I made one addition to the pattern because I wanted a sturdier bag that would stand up and not flop over.  After step 7, I quilted the outside pieces to Soft-n-Stable foam stabilizer.  After that I continued on to step 8.

Here's my version of the Brandyvine Tote Bag.  I'm happy with the addition of the Soft-n-Stable.

Nantucket Mini-Charm Bag

 It's a great weekend for sewing and quilting!  I made another mini-charm bag today.  They go together quickly!  While the fabric collection used in the photo is most likely gone now, you can use any number of mini-charm packs to make this bag.  I recommend this pattern...

There are 3 versions of the bag to choose from in the pattern. 

I chose the scrappy version.

I did make one change as I put the mini-charms together.  I used a product called Bosal 2.5" Watercolor Grid to assemble them.  It is a lightweight fusible that has a grid on it outlining where to place each square. It is a wonderful way to assemble the top for this bag.  Place the squares and you can see at a glance which squares to move for a more pleasing layout.  Then iron them in place.  You will want to lay a piece of cloth on top as you iron to keep the fusible off your iron.  One plus for making the grid this way is all your intersections will match. The package has complete directions for sewing the squares together.  

There is enough in the package to make 4 bags!

Here's the finished bag!

4th Grandchild has arrived

 She arrived this morning at 4:04AM.  She was 13 days past her due date.  6 lbs. 11 oz. was all she weighed even though she had extra time to pack it on.

My daughter had complications though.  She had mild hemorrhaging.  After Kathryn was born it took about 5 hours to get the bleeding stopped. It was mild thankfully.

We are so glad Kathryn is finally here! 

She joins 6 yr old Joshua, 3 yr old Sammy and 20 month old Agatha.

Casserole Carrier

 My husband and I are joining a new church called Shady Grove Church in Raleigh, NC.  Our Sunday School class features breakfast early on before the teaching begins.  Each of us volunteer one Sunday to provide breakfast, which is usually donuts, a warm casserole or perhaps chicken nuggets from Chik-fil-A.

I want to start bringing something baked from home so I searched online for a pattern and found one from Missouri Star Quilt Company that would work great!  I put a link to their video at the bottom of this post. Note: MSQC has a pattern for sale to make this carrier with 2 pot holders for purchase. I chose not to use the pattern, the video shows how to make the carrier and the pot holders I made on my own.

To make the carrier you need 1 charm pack and some yardage for the lining and binding.  I used a charm pack called Aloha Sunset by Artisan Batiks from Robert Kaufman. The yardage came from this line as well.  I used 2 layers of Quilters Dream Request batting and 1 layer of Insul-Bright batting for the innards of the carrier.  And I put all the layers on my longarm to quilt them together.

My binding will be the green batik and the lining is the orange one.

Click "Read More" to see the final photos.

Have no doubt

I studied at Faith Baptist Bible College in the 80's. During my first year, a brilliant man named David Powell was one of my instructors. His class on Old Testament Theory was, by far, my favorite class. He taught in a way that made you think outside the box, to dig deep for the answer. I loved his class. After each test, I found myself striving to get a better grade than the one before.

In 1985, I was 25 years old. 7 years earlier, I almost flunked out of high school. I received a 1.42 out of a possible 4.0 grade average. While enrolled at FBBC, I worked 50 hours a week, drove an hour each day to classes, and studied when I could. I worked full-time as the owner of a small business with 5 employees. I also worked part-time as the manager of a 64 unit residential facility. I could only attend FBBC part-time, it was all I could afford at the time.

In David Powell's freshman class, as we studied each book in the Old Testament, one of his assignments was to create a graph of the book. We were to break the book down into events and chart each one as it progressed to the next event. In the evenings, I dove into each graph with gusto. I learned things about the Old Testament I'd never thought of before. I started out the class getting a B, or 80%, but by the end of the semester I received 100%+ on my graphs and tests.

In the middle of the semester, mummering started on campus. At first, I tried to ignore the whispers that reached my ears, as I studied in the campus lounge above the cafeteria. But the whispers became bolder as time went on. Freshman who were in the class with me began to grumble about how hard the class was, Powell was a bad teacher, he did this and he did that...mur-mur-mur-mur. And I began to wonder why am I doing so well if he is such a bad teacher?

Once, I nearly stood up in class to ask them what was going on. Mr. Powell was late to class that morning and the little rebel inside me wanted to ask why someone who nearly flunked out of high school 7 years earlier and worked 50 hours a week was getting A's and they weren't? I chose to remain silent. Instead, I chose to make my sentiments known in Dr. Houghton's presence. 3 decades later I still regret my decision.

As each decade has passed, I've often thought of my time at FBBC. I love my school and pray for the students and teachers to this day. Dr. Walton and Dr. Shipp changed my life through their kind and loving example. They loved us, truly loved each student. It was an honor and privilege to attend FBBC and I look back at my time there with fondness. Today, I look forward to reading the alumni newsletter and always look for people I knew in the pages.

But I'll never forget how gossip took away a brilliant teacher. A few students wanted mediocrity. They wanted an easy road and they received it. He was let go at the end of the semester. He was replaced by someone, I don't remember who they hired. Through the power of gossip, a truly great teacher was sent away.

Gossip destroys. It should be hated by more than just One Person.