Thoughts

It’s a cold rainy day. We are supposed to have a Spring snow storm later today. I start my day by asking the lady who sits on my kitchen counter (Alexa) what the weather will be. She is usually accurate. She’s a very knowledgeable lady, although I have asked her questions that she couldn’t answer. The weather had been very nice and warm and I was able to go outside and start cleaning up the gardens. The best part of going outside is to visit with neighbors. Life is a bit more normal when you can do that.

I’ve been working on Dear Jane in the evenings. Row K has been completely pieced and quilted. It won’t take long to trim the thirteen blocks to size. bind them and sew them together. I saw a YouTube post of a different way to sew English paper piecing blocks together and will try to sew them together that way. I’ll try any new techniques to see if they work for me. The YouTube video showed how to piece curved seams. They were held together with painters tape on the front and sewn on the back. It’s interesting to find “new” ways of quilting. The patterns and technique sheets have been printed for the last two rows. It’s time to choose the fabrics. I like to stay close to the color that Jane used in her quilt.

Speaking of You Tube, I was scrolling down You Tube videos and saw one that said the correct way to fold quilts. I didn’t realize that I was folding my quilts incorrectly. It says that this method eliminates the creases and preserves the quilts better.

Start by laying the quilt out flat. It doesn’t matter which side is up. When all is done, the side that is on the bottom will be the side that you see. It’s a matter of choice.

Pick up the bottom left corner and fold it to the upper right, keeping the top seam even.

Flip the quilt so that the point is towards you.

Fold the point to the top fold.

Fold it again.

Fold both ends in towards the middle.

Fold it in half.

The quilt is then stored on end, not stacked on top of each other.

The quilt’s folds are on the bias and are loosely folded. That would eliminate the creases. I did find that the quilt that is folded this way is about double size of the quilt that is folded the old way. I refold all my quilts twice a year and am working to fold them this way for now.

I finished my 3-D mini quilt early this month. They are so much fun to make. I’m looking for a pattern for the May 3-D quilt. There are so many on Pinterest.

Kimberly Einmo designed a row of the month quilt for the American Quilter magazine. Mine just came back from the long arm quilter. It left here as an o.k. quilt but came back a dazzling beauty with absolutely beautiful quilting. The quilting made that quilt.

The backing on this quilt is a piece that I received as part of a prize at the Maine Quilt show two years ago.

A friend of mine is redoing her bathroom with a humming bird theme. I saw this small panel and made this for her.

I’m still doing the 21 day sewing room declutter. There is no way that I can complete each assignment in one day. The last assignment was threads. I worked for three days, part time, to just gather all the threads to one place. I found spools all over the place. They are all neatly, (no thread tails hanging out) placed in drawers and bins. I have a spot for regular sewing and basting threads, quilting threads, embroidery threads, specialty threads and cones.

My next assignment will be rulers. I know that I have duplicates and some that I just had to have and I’ve never used. This might take longer to organize because I’m thinking of making a block from each of the specialty rulers and placing them in a sampler quilt. I could use the basket of leftover fabric from the quilts that I made this winter. The rulers are in four places in the sewing room so maybe I should just organize them first.

The 21 days may go into 21 weeks. It will be brutal when the assignment is fabric scraps. I haven’t seen the video on the scrap organization, but maybe she means to just put them in their proper places, not use them up.

Have a great day and happy quilting.