Tuesday, December 14, 2010



Finished! Well, maybe. If I get a chance, I will make a ball & stick rod instead of a bamboo one. But, I like it and I hope GD will too. The globes look a little distorted but that's just the fabric lays. I actually made 12 but picked the best 9, which is what the pattern is for.

Friday, December 3, 2010



Here is Zorra who is a little complictated to get a good picture because it just depends which way her hair goes. She is a long haired Peruvian Silkie (guinea pig) and is about 6 yrs old. Her husband, Fuzzy went to cavy heaven at about age 7 so she's getting elderly...very cuddly and purrs when her back is rubbed.

Update...Zorra joined Fuzzy in cavy heaven at the end of summer. They're probably up there just chuckling away at each other again. Surprisingly, the younger Beyonce died about 3 weeks earlier.

Sunday, November 28, 2010


This is Beyonce. The only way my 2 guinea pigs will eat iceberg lettuce is if I slice it up for them. They're very picky but you know that if they were still living in Peru, they would be eating tree bark and dirt and most likely used for food themselves. Corn silk will be obselete in the winter and that's not good because that's their favorite food. I had a perfect shot of long haired Silkie Zorra but I couldn't find the camera quick enough. Will post her later.

This was a free online pattern for a snow globes wall hanging for my Grand daughter who collects them. I made her a quilt several years but was preprinted snow globe squares...really cute, tho.
I don't like machine applique but have way too many handwork projects going. I messed up on the bottom corner one but hoping she won't know the difference. Who knows...she may forget all about collecting at any minute. Worse thing could happen is she could grow up to be a quilt police which is pretty doubtful but I do regret getting her other Grandmother started on quilting. Will finish it next sewing day.

This is the first ever machine applique I did about 30 years ago. I had been given a bunch of ugly fabric (pre-stash days) and challenged myself to transforming ugliness into something useful. A good practice in almost every phase of life. It has held up very well except one fabric is fraying. This picture was taken right before it went to the Family Warming Center for a new life.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Kitchen Wall












I even painted the eggs in about 1975 when I still lived in Medford. I had the best teacher!
She was an actual artist. When we first started the class, we were only allowed to use 3 tubes of oil paint and had to learn how to produce different colors. That was an unbelievable learning experience that I have used many times on other projects, mostly restoration of antiques. I even made a painted stencil quilt but have no idea whatever happened to it. When I moved to Portland, I could not find a decent class or would have continued painting. I love samplers and have a few more around somewhere.

BUG SAMPLER


I started this one with the frame size. It needs to be stretched out again. I would not even attempt to take this on today but I still love the cross stitch.

ONE MORE BEAR


This is one of my favorite piece of sheet music....was a time it was worth close to $80. Market today is very gloomy. You can fine one on now Ebay for $8. I just love it anyway!

BEAR WALL

























These are from my bear wall. Did the cross stitches years ago....mostly 80s and 90s.

Pumpkin


This is the only "quilty thing" I have been working on. Have not finished the 2nd one but almost and will store them away together. Kind of an odd example of a JOL and I left the back open with the batting so they will stick to other fabric without attaching it. They can just put pressed onto the couch pillows. I have not found my Halloween quilts since the downsizing. I have my grand daughter's Xmas present cut out and need to dig out my sewing machine to finish it before then. It is a wall hanging of snow globes...should be really cute except I don't really like to do machine applique but that's what it will be. Will post when done.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

I repeat...who knew?





Okay, I got suckered in! I cannot believe people are actually using the selvages to make quilts. What is wrong with the world? Are we living in a 3rd world country where we are using trash to warm our bodies? Well, much to my dismay, I have found a batch of the same when packing to move. Also, directions and logos from various assorted things I have made in the past. Like I said, who knew? I am obviously as insane as everyone else.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010


I made more of these than I thought so I have several left over for me. They vary a little bit, faces decor but I found that when I got them out for the season, the felt pieces were falling off. Need to check into a better glue.


I call this the "lucky quilt" that I made for my youngest son who is 42 now. When I was making it, he had a girlfriend who claimed to do everything and I finally let her take it home so she could applique some of the fish. It started as a panel and I just added a bunch more fish.
When they broke up, I figured I was lucky to even get it back and lucky she hadn't done much work so there wasn't so much to take out and do over. She had borrowed a nice one I made in a class for her sweet little daughter that I never got back. I finally decided I was okay with that because the little girl loved it. This fish quilt is just a nice size for watching TV and I notice Jason does use it often.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Someone sent me this....it's great!
You know you're a quilter when...

1. You pay more attention to the quilts in the movie than what the actors are saying.
2. Meals are an interruption
3. you see a nice shirt, skirt or dress, you mentally go through your stash to see if you have coordinating fabric and figure out what block the garment would look best in.
4. you rewind or pause a movie to get a better look at the quilt in the background.
5. you stop driving or walking to dig out a camera, cell phone, or paper and pen to capture an image of something for a new quilt idea.
6. You wish quilters got credit in films like actors and tech staff do.
7. you go to bed, you think about what you want to sew in the morning instead of what you plan to make for breakfast.
8. you trace a design in a hospital waiting room.
9. you look at the tile design on the floor and figure out how to piece it in fabric.
10. You pick threads off your clothes every time you walk out the door.
11. You pick threads off your spouse, the dogs, the cat...
12. You see quilt designs everywhere.
13. You dream about quilts
14. You are districated by the carpet pattern underneath the buffet table.
15. You color your small square window panes in a nice 9-patch design
16. You plan your vacations around the locations of fabric stores.
17. You realize the fabric you are sitting on at the fast food joint would make a great quilt.
18. You copy tile patterns from hotels, churches, old government buildings...
19. Nobody eats in the dining room because your "project" is taking up the entire table.
20. You buy antique quilt at the swap meet even though it has too many holes.
21. Your dog has a coat made from an antique quilt.
22. You are covered with threads all the time.
23. you can't just sit and watch TV; you have to be sewing or quilting at the same time.
24. Your car is trained to turn in to every fabric store parking lot it passes.
25. You come home to find a purple bin filled with fabrics at your door that "a friend" bought at a garage sale and knew you would like it.
26. A neighbor says he likes the humming sound of your sewing machine late at night.
27. Your friends' clothes remind you of quilt blocks
28. you can't leave home without your sewing machine
29. You are thrilled to find a shirt, skirt or dress at the thrift shop that will work great in your next project.
30. A friend hands you a giant bag of her husband's old silk ties.
31. you go to a well-stocked quilt store and you can't find any accessories that you do NOT have
32. You miss your sewing machine more than your family
33. you disappear for the weekend into your sewing room
34. You save greeting cards and pictures from magazines for a future quilt design
35. you look for fabric that's based on ancient tile designs
36. you lay out floor and wall tiles based on a quilt pattern.
37. you are attracted to a man's tie because the fabric would look great in a quilt.
38. you tell your kids/spouse "Just one more row!"
39. you tell your family "whoever finds thread in their food wins a prize" at dinner time.
40. you find the stair railing in the courthouse has a very interesting pattern
41. you cut up carpet tile squares into triangles for the floor.
42. you bore your non-quilting friends with endless talk about quilting
43. you run out of storage space for fabric and unfinished projects.
44. you would rather spend money on fabric than new shoes or clothes.
45. you are directionally challenged, yet you can find quilt stores that are hidden in the woods
44. you quit volunteering at church because they threw away some antique quilts.
45. you sit down at your sewing machine at 7PM and before you know it, your neighbor is banging on the wall at 11:30PM and he wants to sleep.
46. your vacation consists of attending quilt shows and fabric shopping.
47. You decorate pies and cakes to look like quilts.
48. you go on vacation, you bring a list of all the quilt stores within driving distance of your destination.
49. you hear that someone sewed through their finger and your first thought is "That's awful! Another broken needle!"
50. You prepare to paint your barn or garage by looking at quilt block patterns.
51. your automatic response to any request from any family member is "just let me finish this one seam"
52. you observe that the quilting in the toilet paper could have been done better.
53. you wake up in the middle of the night and wonder if you can sneak out to the quilting room.
54. your husband automatically turns the car around because you spotted a quilt shop on a side road
55. you meet another quilter for the first time and chat for an hour before either of you realize it
56 you seriously consider stealing your best friend's shirt because it's just the right color.
57. when your granddaughter brings the picture she drew in art class home from school and you want to turn it into a quilt.
58. you wake up earlier when you're on vacation than when you're working so you can have more quilting time
59. you get into the car and you realize you are still wearing a thimble.
60. you try to surprise your kids with a "fun new place to visit" and they reply "let me guess - a quilt shop?"
61. you take your sewing machine on a 10-day road trip.
62. you want to re-create the stained-glass window from church as a quilt.
63. The first place you visit in the library is the new display quilt.
64. you envision all the horses in the pasture wearing quilted blankets.
65. you make the dog wait to go out so you can finish a seam.
66. you ask to trace cardboard butterflies hanging in a florist's window.
67. your machine is out for its annual tune-up and you clean your house for "something to do"
68 you don't iron clothing, but you do iron scraps of fabric
69. you delay surgery to attend the state quilt convention
70 you "borrow" a napkin from a fancy restaurant so you can make a quilt designed like it.
71. you can't stay out of fabric stores, even though you already own enough fabric for a lifetime.
72. you redesign your kitchen to include an island large enough to baste a queen-size quilt.
73. you start sewing at 2AM because you have a lot of blocks to finish.
74. you don't remember the names of the towns you visited, but you do remember how to get to the local Quilt Store in that town.
75. you can measure a block from a computer image.
76. you can't stand the heat, but will sew in an unairconditioned room for hours, sweat rolling down your face.
77. you are in an airplane looking out the window and see many many quilt patterns on the ground.
78. your children/grandchildren refuse to go out with you when they find out you are only going to a fabric shop.
79. the ONLY shopping you like to do is for fabric.
80. you must stop at the fabric store before going to the grocery store (when you are out grocery shopping)
81. you practice quilting feathers and other designs with the lawn mower.
82. you are trying to figure out how to reproduce the light and shadow on the ceiling tiles in a quilt while laying back in a dentist's chair.
83. your spouse is trained to call you to the computer when he sees a quilt in a house listing photo.
84. you impress people with your ability to know the dimensions of something without a ruler.
85. someone says "what nice points", you take it as a compliment.
86. you offer to take your neighbor's donation box to the drop off so you can root through it for clothing that would make a nice addition to your stash.
87. you photohgraph brickwork for a future quilt design.
88. you select gift wrap because the pattern would look good in a quilt.
89. you cut a nice looking tie off someone's neck to use in a project.
90. sofas are for quilts to sit on, not people.
91. you think it's entirely normal to find needles in the bed.
92. when you see something pretty, your usual way of expressing praise is, "That would make a lovely quilt!"
93. you ignore the main portion of a painting because you're too busy looking at the potential quilt designs in the border.
94. when you hear that someone is pregnant, it takes you no more than ten seconds to offer them a baby quilt.

95. you recognize yourself in this list.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Butterfly Hankies Pattern



I have been besieiged by requests for the butterfly hanky pattern. Unfortunately, I have accidentally deleted them so will offer it on my blog. Start w/13 and a half " squares, press or pencil lines for corner to corner..x shape to center. Should be fun!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010


This cat quilt is nothing compared to the Let Seleping Cats Lie pattern that I am currently working on. I was traveling then and did a lot of hand piecing (which I never would do again). I loved working on it but grew weary of it and didn't make it as large as I normally would have. It's great for Halloween, tho!


This is one I did many years ago from squares from Daisy Kingdom. At the last minute, I was influenced by a child and added the bear in the bottom corner. It took me forever to do the prairie points but they were precut and I probably got lucky that they ended up the way they were supposed to. Was before I switched to only cotton batting and obviously before I had learned chain stitch yet. I don't care...am happy w/it. Good size and it comes out in the summertime. Colors are much brighter than pix.

Here is the revised pix after I added red buttons gathered from here and there as originally planned. I like it better but jut so the quilt police know...my corners are very square.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

I have had to spend some time in hospitals & other waiting places lately so have been taking little projects to work on. I call it my therapy bag because it can make you forget some of your problems. Have my cherry quilt (see earlier blogs) in good position to have some hope of finishing it. Lots of little cherries to applique but it's going to be great when it's done.

Well, I finally finished this one...almost anyway. It seems there is several little errors. Okay, a lot, but that is what invisible thread is for. It was a great plan and I love the bear which is actually a 1930s feedsack. I had most of the trees done before I started it but had forgotten some were trimmed down to an exact size...just some so I had to work around it. I have more of the bear and recently acquired one with a lighthouse which is cool. It was at America's largest antique show last Halloween and the dealer actually had 2 but one was red and blue and one was red and green so the bought the blue one because the other one looked to much like Christmas. Later I thought the red & green one would be great w/an embroidered Santa & the reindeer flying above the lighthouse but, of course, she sold it before I could get back. Don't have that one planned out yet but will eventually post it.

This is a true scrap quilt top! I traded a lifelong friend for one of mine because I was hoping to get a different pattern that she has made a lot of. I don't have much interest in the scrappy ones, but, she is a beloved friend and I am happy to get one she made.
She is one of the smartest people you could know and she used to say if you have an affair with a man, be sure he is married! Which she did.


It's actually not quite finished because I have been collecting red buttons to put where the corners join. Now if I can only find them! I bought the embroidered Sunbonnet girls from someone on Ebay who has one of those great machines that can do that all by itself. I actually bought 2 sets and I have the other plans in a previous blog.

This is a panel in the center which I love! This one even had a label to put my name & year on the back, hopefully 2010. I've been trying to do that more. Colors are actually burgundy and I'm going to get a brown backing for it to match the brown surrounding the Santa.

Here's a few more boxes...love the possum fabric I bought and used it all for boxes. The star shape box is Noah's ark.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Addicted to covered boxes!



Cool out of print or new fabrics and/or trims, are turning up more and more at Antique Shows or Flea Markets so I am exposed to them even when I don't head out the door to Fabric Depot. I never buy fat quarters like a lot of people I know because I can buy a full quarter yard for about the same price. But, in the end, I have too much fabric no matter what it cost. I have finally come to understand that I cannot possibly live long enough to use it all for quilts so covering boxes with said fabric is an excellent alternative and I love it! Anyone who gets presents from me might be obligated to give a covered gift box a home but that is their problem. B K Howell has great low prices on nested boxes and all the trimmings.

Sunday, May 2, 2010


Man! I can't believe how long it has been since I came to my blog. I am, as usual in a big muddle of unfinished projects but have been plugging along on a few hand projects...cherry quilt mostly. I have 6 or 7 tops that I consider worthy that need to be put together. Unfortunately, once you use cotton batting , there's no going back so it's more expensive and I need to get a bunch. Fabric Depot will be having it on sale soon but I can't afford to stock up like I used to. I had some nice new large flannel blankets I was was thinking of shrinking and using but ended up donating them to a safe house.
Here is a pix of an old 1976 Blazer logo when they won the one and only championship game. I am thinking cross stitch maybe, for my daughter in law who works there. Problem is (besides ever getting it done) is that I really don't think she appreciates stuff like that and it is a lot of work. It came from an actual newspaper from the 76 victory and I would have rather transferred it right onto a piece of fabric but it's discolored at the fold and I couldn't scan that out. I have not tried freezer paper for that purpose yet but what I bought for my printer is too hard to peel off the fabric. Freezer paper would be MUCH cheaper so I need to try that. Plus the unlimited fabric choices! Don't get me started thinking about that. Anyone want a copy of this?

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Another one finished!! Went pretty well but had small pieces and pattern you had to pay attention to. Made a mistake right in the middle but was easy to fix. It's almost inevitable that I would not get away one small fix. All I had left was the border and the hem so it should have been relatively easy.
But....when I measured off 5" for that from point A to C, I cut one length A to B which put me 3" short. dhhhh! So, had to piece it back together at which time fabric decided not to cooperate. But, I finally won and had it finished at 3 AM this
morning and am basically happy with it.

Saturday, February 6, 2010


I actually made this one for my oldest son (he's been gone 10 years) but saw the way his dogs had ruined a couple of other ones so decided to wait until he moved into a better situation. That never really happened so I never gave it to him. I did make him a gorgeous green & gold one w/lions (for Richard the lion hearted, I told him) shortly before he died but it disappeared. So, I wasn't totally neglecting him. I can't believe it's been 10 years....seems like a couple of days ago! They say you never get over losing a child and it's sad but true. Rich was 39 so not really a child. His youngest brother now uses it for a bedspread.
Anyway, here's a tip...if you make a large quilt with heavy corduroy, it doesn't need a thick batting. I only found that out when my washing machine told me.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Not keeping up very well, am I? Have been having camera problems and I wanted to get a pix of my grandson's Michael Jordan quilt before I gave it to him. But not. It consisted of a poster size panel of M J's Looney Toons movie w/matching fabric + basketball fabric. Turned out great and, of course, it had a secret pocket w/Michael Jordan sports cards. I still have a couple of the poster panels but cannot find the same fabric that matches. If anyone has that overall fabric and wants to trade, I would be happy to do so.