The Gift

I had been looking for someone to help me with a quilt rack I fell in love with. After searching I found the pattern on a woodworking site. I am handy with tools but unfortunately I didn't have the needed saws, etc. This is the rack I fell in love with.

Enter my handy neighbor. Terry is retired. He reminded me of my dad because he is always working around his home. He also has the neatest yard, removed a tree because he was tired of raking leaves every fall.

Anyway, here is the quilt rack Terry made for me. He did a wonderful job. It still needs to be stained and hung, but it looks great.

 

 As a thank you I quilted a small throw for him. I used a panel. Terry is very patriotic so I used an eagle panel and the colors red white and blue. The throw is made up of double hour glass blocks - which always look as though you are an expert quilter, and four-patch blocks for the border. Terry and his wife loved it - was surprised that I made it and immediately put it on the sofa.

We met Loralie Harris

My friend Carole and I wait impatiently every year for the annual quilt and craft show at the fair grounds. We have a number of crafts in common including embroidery. We love Loralie designs, I made a quilt from some of her designs ( it's posted in an older post), and have more fabric for more quilts. While browsing around the show discovered a whole booth with Loralie designs and fabrics - imagine our surprise when one of the women in the booth says, "I'm Loralie." She had not attended one of the shows in about ten years. She was very gracious and patient, sharing both information and time. We got some wonderful ideas, of course using her designs and purchased enough fabric and embroidery designs hopefully to last until next year - maybe she'll come back and see us!

One More . . .

For Parker -

I finished the latest baby quilt - my family took the "be fruitful and multiply" to heart. This one is for my husband's nephew & his wife. Parker Armelia was born in October. The blocks are small log cabins. I stitched them using a new strip method. Makes sewing them really quick. Anyway, hope her parents like it - I'm sure Parker won't care. The next quilt is for a little boy, which is fun - the last three babies have been girls.

Here's the label.

A Very Nice Gift

I have a lot on online friends from quilting, crafting, & embroidery groups. I am in contact with them so often and know so much about their lives, husbands, kids, etc. that it seems strange that we have never met in person.

Another one of my hobbies is striving for self-sufficiency. My goal is to downsize, use less; packaging, paper, power, everything. I would love to put solar panels on the house, but they cost WAY too much.

Anyway, I am collecting and learning to use appliances that use no electricity. Which is why I am so thrilled with this gift. It is an old Singer sewing machine, the motor has been removed. You operate it using a hand crank. Now I just have to keep practicing - it takes a bit of getting used to. Thank you to my online friend, Lisa.

What the Heck is a Mug Rug?

I have discovered a new passion. This one is great because it uses up my scraps (I have a LOT of them) and they are very quick to make. They also make a big impact. In need of a quick gift? Add a mug a snack or two and a mug rug. Voila!

Here some of the first samples I made.

See what I mean about fabric scraps? The largest piece is just 4x6. It's also a good way to get rid of batting scraps. A quilter never wants to throw anything away. You never know when you will need it. Even scraps as small as 2x2 (you can always make a scrap quilt).

Here is a good definition of exactly what a mug rug is:

“A small, mini quilt that is mostly there to look pretty on your desk and soak up drips and condensation, larger than a coaster, but smaller than a place mat. Just the right size for a drink, spoon and perhaps a little snack.”  

There is such a craze that there are mug rug swaps - seamstresses and quilters make mug rugs and then "swap" them to other seamstresses and quilters.

Several years ago, new to machine embroidery, I sewed a test sample of the design before I stitched the final design on my project. I put the samples in a box. I discovered that I could combine some of these samples with my mug rugs. Here is a set I used with sample dragons.

The more I make, the more I like them. So, Off to make more!

Rocking Chair, Indeed!

A long time family friend of ours called the other day. I had not spoken to him in several months, actually closer to a year. He recently had some health challenges so naturally I asked about his health and how he was doing. We chit chatted for a few minutes; I was trying to politely end the conversation and call my husband to the phone, he is more his (my husband's) friend than mine. He (the friend) asked, "So, what are you doing?" As I had stopped sewing to answer the phone, I answered, "Quilting." He let out a huge cackling laugh and said, "In your rocking chair?" Well naturally our conversation ended much sooner than he anticipated, and I no longer worried about how to politely end the conversation. He probably didn't even realize that I took issue to what he said.

After I calmed down, his comment got me to thinking. Is that the popular opinion? If you sew, quilt, bake, etc., are you just a little old retiree? Sometimes I wish I had the time to sit in a rocking chair. I still have a whole lot of life left in me and a whole lot that I want to get done.

Anyway I digress, I finished two more quilts (from my rocking chair). Have a look and tell me what you think.

The pattern for this quilt is called a log cabin. If you look closely you can see the white center blocks. It's fairly simple because you just sew differing lengths of strips around the block. Generally the block is sewn so that there is a light side and a dark side. I used a new technique and as this was my first time sewing the block I was more concerned with getting block right and less about the light/dark contrast. Again I used African fabrics. I had some left over flying geese blocks from the previous quilt (I sewed 240 of them!) so I used the rest of them on this quilt.

I belong the several online quilt blogs and groups. It's great because you get some really good information and if you have a problem the wonderful women (and men) of the groups are happy to help. I also have several favorite websites and during one of my online visits I discovered this fabric. It's by Moda Fabrics, don't bother looking for it that was my mistake I looked for it after they stopped making it and the fabric stores no longer carried it. But not to be sidetracked, I searched all of my favorite sites, EBay, etc. and I found some of the fabric. Of course I had to purchase it from several places which made it way more expensive than it needed to be. I love the quilt, I love the quilt, I love the quilt. I have also learned my lesson, next time I will just choose some other fabric, won't be looking for out of print fabric again, no matter how pretty it is.

The pattern for this quilt is called a double hour glass. The quilt was again fairly simple. It looks more complicated than it is. A year or so ago I purchased a Creative Grids ruler. You can't imagine how simple that makes the blocks or how quickly them come together. This is queen-sized quilt which I pieced in a couple of weekends.