2026 Christmas Drawing

 Attention all clients!  I have a set of tools from Missouri Star Quilt Company I'd like to give away at the end of 2026.  Everyone who brings a quilt for longarming gets an entry, 1 entry per quilt brought during 2026. This is a high quality set of tools all stored away in a metal tool box.

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!

Christmas Rush is winding down

 It's been a busy couple of months for me what with all the quilts needing longarming before Christmas!  Here's a photo of one quilt for a client.  She chose the Bossa Nova pantograph for her quilt.  This is one of my favorite designs.

New WIP

 I spent some time this morning, Small Business Saturday, and bought some patterns from Etsy.  This is one of them, and I pulled fabrics from my stash to make it.  I hope to get some time during December to make it.  It's a pattern I found on the CottonBerryQuilts sales page and the pattern is called Pumpkin & Bloom Applique pattern.

Triangle Star Quilt

 I'm busy working on a quilt top that I made. I'm doing custom stitching on it and I've been working on it for 2 days and I hope to finish it tomorrow night. I have about 7 hours work left on it, not counting breaks. I'll start early tomorrow morning!

The pattern is called Triangle Star and it was created by Edyta Sitar.  

Grateful quilt pattern

 This quilt is called Grateful.  I fell in love with it the minute I saw it.  I began collecting the fabrics for it a couple months ago. I plan on making it scrappy, but will use the same coloring as the pattern photo.

I started cutting the fabrics a couple days ago and I plan on cutting as I go along.  I am sewing the pinwheel blocks first and I have half of them done already!  Click on the photo and you'll see how scrappy the blocks are.

I found the pattern book at this website:  

https://www.cottagelanequilts.com/shop/p/grateful-book

How to avoid twisted binding when joining the edges

This video has a very good tip for joining the binding.  She folds the binding over at one point and this tip has certainly helped me.   I used to end up with twisted binding about 50% of the time, but with this folding idea, no more twisted binding!

UFOs: UnFinished Objects

I don't make a good retired person.  You know the feeling you have after handing out the chocolate cake, only to realize that was the last piece and you didn't get one?  Or the dream where you're walking down the aisle at church, with no clothes on?  There's something seriously wrong at my house and I finally found out what is causing this unsettled feeling....

All my UFOs are done.

I'm seriously in need of therapy.

I finished my last UFO 5 days ago:








The photo above shows the detail in the outer border.  It's a large throw size quilt I made for my Aunt Louise. I chose this fabric because of the childrens book illustrations from the 1950s.  She is a wonderful mom, and does so much for her family.


I MUST CUT FABRIC BEFORE I GO NUTS!

Quilt of Valor finished!

Before...

... and after

I finished a quilt of valor, and have one more to go. 

You must be a Master Gardener if...

What the finished quilt will look like.

My finished blocks.

I started piecing a new quilt today.  It's a Patchwork Party quilt.  This one is for my mom.  I've been using the Singer 201 sewing machine to piece this week.  What a wonderful machine!

Singer 15-91 affectionately called "the tank".  I use this to sew leather, heavy canvas, etc.
In this photo you see leather I used to reupholster my chiropractor's table.
It was 1/4" thick and this machine went through it like it was butter.

 (The blue bin you see in the above photo are my worms.  .... What?  You don't keep worms in your dining room?)

Mid-Atlantic quilt festival

Small wallhanging

small wallhanging

Once again the quilt festival was faaabulous!

Stunning in person, the photo doesn't do it justice

I didn't take as many photos as last time, here are a few! I met some wonderful ladies, ate too much, and spent too much!  We stayed at the Best Western, one of the nicest hotels I've been in!  I was impressed.  I can't wait until next year!

These two are my favorites from this year's festival:

The quilting is stunning, the photo doesn't do it justice. 

There is an antique doily attached at the bottom.

Quilt basting sprays are fabulous!

There is a great discussion on the quilting board today!  I've learned so much from this great group of women.  It's a wonderful place to visit with other quilters.  I've really enjoyed reading the thread about basting sprays.  I thought I'd add a blog post to recommend using the basting sprays according to the directions on the can.  It'll save you money this way.

The ladies on the quilting board were discussing Patsy Thompson's Basting Spray How-to Video  which explains her quilt basting spray method. You'll need to fast forward to the 6 minute mark for the spray tutorial.

Patsy's video is good, and the method she uses will work.  But it's important to note that she is using 505 incorrectly.  She calls it "505 basting spray", but if you're looking for it online it's called 505 Spray & Fix Temporary Adhesive.

1. In Patsy's video, she holds the can only 3-4 inches from the fabric surface. (The directions on the can state you should hold the can 10-12 inches from the fabric surface)

2. She states "you WILL get a glob on your needle", and she shows you what the glob looks like in the video. Yet, the can states you will NOT get a glob on your needle. The reason she gets globs is because she is holding the can 3-4" away from the fabric. When you hold the can this close, of course you get a thick, concentrated amount in a small area.  In fact, as you watch her spray the quilt in the video, you can see the adhesive turn white on top of the fabric, she really puts a lot on there.

3. Patsy says the sticky "will last up to 5 years". But the can states it is TEMPORARY. The reason she gets 4 to 5 years worth of sticky is because she's spraying a thick, concentrated amount on her fabric. When you spray a ton of adhesive on the fabric it WILL be permanent, not temporary.

My take on it is this: If you want the thicker sticky to last forever, spray the adhesive 3 or 4 inches from the fabric. You'll use the whole can up on a queen size quilt that way.  If you want the spray to be temporary follow the directions on the can.

Since 1999, I've used 505 for quilting and KK2000 and KK100 for machine embroidery.

When used as directed on it's label, 505 will stay around for roughly 2 months, but you can wash your fabric and it will disappear in the wash.

KK2000 and KK100 only lasts a few days.   Note: DO NOT under any circumstances wash fabric that has KK2000 or KK100 on it until it has dissipated. It WILL become permanent.

​

Cooling off

The quilts are in the mail!  My sister will be able to move back home this weekend and I wanted to get the tabletoppers to her by then.  She knows I made one for her friend, when she opens the box she'll find out I made one for her too.
Whew, I was a stitchin' machine over the weekend! My machine needs to cool off this week (smile).  Here's a photo of the second tabletopper.

I'm excited about a trip I'm planning with a friend.  We're going to the Mid-Atlantic quilt festival in Virginia. I went to this one a few years ago and had to pick my jaw off the floor more than once.

Comin' and Goin'!

This is one of the tabletoppers I made this week, they went together fast!  It's a pattern I came up with after getting ideas from quilting magazines.  I call this pattern "Comin' and Goin'".  The pinwheels look like they can go any direction!

Here's why I chose this design... My sister's house caught fire January 12th.  Enjoying a day off from work, she was sitting on the floor of her 2nd bedroom, filing tax paperwork piled on her lap and around the floor. Then “someone” told her to go get something to drink. She thought she was going crazy for a minute, and didn’t want to move because she had just sorted things. So she decided to say back ‘I’m not thirsty, I don’t need anything to drink.” And the voice said, “Yes, you do.”

So she moved everything she had just sorted, went to the kitchen and saw puffs of smoke blowing past the kitchen window.  She ran to wake up her son, grabbed her cat, and the tax papers.  As she was headed outside, on the phone to 911, a man in a red truck pulled into the driveway. He yelled out the window “are you on the phone to 911?” She yelled back “yes!”. He nodded, pulled back out of the driveway and left. She still doesn’t know who it was.

I said "Isn’t it cool God sent back-up just in case you decided you weren't going to get up?  He's got you comin' and goin'!"   And that's what I decided to name this design.  I made 2, one will go to her friend who is taking care of Sushi (the cat).

Civil War

The kids are in bed, dh is working and the house is quiet.  I love scrapbooking during this time.  A friend and I are visiting a new fabric store in the morning so I should get to bed but it's sooo nice and quiet right now.

I'm honoring my great, great grandfather James Monroe.  James fought in the Civil War from start to finish.  He enlisted on 6 Jul. 1861 in Company D, 4th Iowa Infantry. He fought in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou; Arkansas Post; First and Second battles of Jackson, Mississippi; Champion Hill; Siege of Vicksburg; Brandon, Mississippi; Chattanooga; Mission Ridge; In the Atlanta Campaign and in the battles of Jonesboro & Savannah. He was wounded in the head by a piece of shell at Chickasaw Bayou and was shot through the clothing at Vicksburg. Honorably Discharged at Davenport, Iowa 6 Aug. 1865.

I'm off to bed now... thanks for visiting!

Using fabric in a whole new way

A woman in Oregon makes these using chairs from a garage sale.  They're beautiful!