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.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace Quilts

My quilt guild supports a ministry called Sleep in Heavenly Peace - NC, Durham and the guild has a quilt drive going on through July 20th. A friend and I are collecting all the quilts being donated. This is a quilt made by 93 yr old Margaret C. from Kansas. She is the mother of my friend Kimberley. It was given to a 4 yr old who had no bed to sleep in and was on the floor.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace builds twin beds and donates them to children who have been sleeping on the floor. Lowes donates all the wood used to build the beds, SHP volunteers build the beds and various ministries, companies and individuals donate the bedding.

I made the following quilt at a retreat I attended with friends.  I put the binding on it this morning and it's now ready for a deserving child!  

Celebrate Jolly Bar Day

 I joined the Fat Quarter Shop in sewing a Jolly Bar today!  A Jolly Bar is half of a layer cake.  It consists of a complete fabric collection with 42 pieces of fabric each cut 5"x10".  Each Jolly Bar package comes with a free quilt pattern that will work with the fabrics in the package.  My Jolly Bar was the Pastel Prairie fabric collection and I'm using the pattern that came with it to make a crib size quilt for my new granddaughter who will be born within the next few days.

Here's what I have finished so far...the blocks are finished and I have 

them laid out on my design wall. There are 2 borders I need to add yet.

12 inch Treasures

 I started a new project April 4th, a Saturday.  It's a pattern called 12 inch Treasures - Dresden Pattern.  I found it at ConnectingThreads.com.  The pattern is from Bloom Creek.  

It uses 2-1/2" squares so I bought a charm pack and cut it down to that size.  It worked out great doing it that way. Here's what I finished that weekend...

I finished the top today!  May 5th.  I very slowly machine stitched the dresden applique in place.  I think it turned out great!

Uncle Eli's Quilting Party - a 95 year tradition

How Uncle Eli’s Quilting Party became a 95-year-old Alamance County tradition

by Laura Brache, NCLocal
April 6, 2026

One day a year, the typically stark walls of the Eli Whitney Recreation Center are draped in colorful quilts with vibrant geometric patterns and patches of soft flowy florals. Quilt blankets aren’t the only ones on display. Garments like coats, jackets and bags of every shape and size, each their own intricate designs, hang alongside the decorative textiles on metal and wooden frames.

Every year on the first Thursday of April, Uncle Eli’s Quilting Party is held at the former Eli Whitney School gymnasium. Late historian and master quilter Erma Kirkpatrick believed the gathering was the oldest continuously running quilting event in the country.

In the 1920s, Ernest Peter Dixon, a local teacher and a Quaker, spearheaded the consolidation of five rural single-classroom schoolhouses in southeast Alamance County. Before an actual school was built, students met in the only local building large enough to hold them: An unused cotton gin. Hence, the name Eli Whitney School, honoring the inventor of the cotton gin. In an effort to get the newly joined rural communities to engage with each other, Dixon proposed a social gathering centered around the craft of quiltmaking.

And so, Uncle Eli’s Quilting Party was born.

Under my needle

I am longarming a fantastic quilt for a favorite customer of mine. She does exquisite work! Look at the hand stitching! And the quilt lays completely flat.

8 Fun Mini-pincushions

I found a book called Pin Pals by Carrie Nelson and had to have it!  It has patterns for 40 mini pincushions and they are adorable!  The first pin cushion I ever made was over 30 years ago.  It was lopsided but I was proud of it.  I stuffed it with poly-fil.

This book helped me hone my cushion making skills I will say!

        

I decided to use Civil War theme fabrics on the first one. It went together quickly and I'm happy with it!

The second one took 4 hours to sew all the tiny half square triangles.  Each was 1-1/4 in.

Filling for all the pincushions is crushed walnut shells.  TIP:  Buy walnut lizard or bird litter at the pet store instead of the walnut shells sold at fabric stores.  It's much cheaper that way!  This 5 lb. bag was only $8.00!  

I placed all of the pin cushions in a basket and they sit on my desk.

A True Story with 12 Million views

 I put this post on the blog in 2016.  It is a true story that is so good I had to repeat it!

My granddaughter Agatha

 Agatha, 18 months old, is my third grandchild. I am babysitting Agatha 

and Sammy, 3 yrs old. I have never disciplined Agatha 

before, until today. I told her no yelling and this is the face she gave me.

"What's wrong with Grandma?"

Bernina L890 Serger review

My birthday is today!! I turned 66 and I've been sewing for 53 years! I bought this machine as a birthday present to myself.  I bought the Bernina L860 serger a year ago and regretted not buying the L890 almost immediately. I didn't think I would use the coverstitch feature though so I went with the L860. But I sew for my toddler grandchildren and I really want that coverstitch now. So I traded up and I'm so happy I did.

This is what a coverstitch is... 

My goodness is this machine awesome! Right away I was stitching away on my first pair of toddler pajamas. All due to the on board touch screen and the features called "Expert Mode" & "Guided Mode". I learned how to use these features on the L860 but I need the help of the new machine's Guided Mode to learn how to set up the machine for coverstitch. This is a dream feature! A video right on the screen to show me what to do.

Cute Fabric Box Tutorial

I found the cutest tutorial online for these handy little fabric boxes.  They can be used next to your sewing machine as a thread catcher, a holder for wonderclips or maybe even in the bathroom to hold cotton balls. All it takes is squares from a layer cake and an 11" square of batting!  Pull 2 fabrics from the package, choose 1 for the lining and 1 for the outside. You can follow along with the tutorial found here.  The author is a wonderful gal whom I had the privilege of meeting 3 years ago at our local quilt guild.  She was the speaker for the evening.

It is possible to get into the tight fit to sew down the flaps on the outside.

 Tutorial by Tina Craig of Seaside Stitches.  She lives on the coast of Rhode Island

Celebrate National Serger Month part 2

 Learn how to make this Clever Coverstitch Bag–designed by Pam Mahshie–completely with an Overlock/Coverstitch Combo Serger! Stitch this beautiful bag while learning serger settings. Note: If you don't have a coverstitch feature on your serger you can use decorative stitches on your sewing machine instead.

The Stitch It Sisters show you how to make the bag in this video!!

You can buy the fabric kit, which includes everything you need 

to make this bag, by click the link below!

Exclusive Clever Coverstitch Bag Daisies on Black Bundle Box - 506288

Celebrate National Serger Month

I used my Bernina L860 serger to make both my grandsons pajamas. Serging the seams makes them feel better when wearing them, there aren't frayed threads that tickle the skin this way.  I thought I would include the pattern photo for reference.  It's a fairly easy pattern to make.  I used snaps to close the shoulder placket. And you'll notice a cute little tag I found so they know how to put the back of the pajamas in the right place.  

I found a cute idea, this one from Sue O’Very, owner of Sookie Sewsis.

Take a basic pair of sneakers to the next level with a quick and easy pair of serger shoelaces! They are a quick, super cute make.

Click the photo below to find the pattern!

Aren't they adorable?