Another round of the stay at home round robin is finished. This round was the flying geese block. At first, I made a row of geese with red geese and different colored sky.

When I laid it on the quilt, it was too busy. Four rows were made. Should I add them even though I didn’t like them, or should I go another way? I decided to cut my losses. I can use the four rows of geese in another project at a later date. I could even piece them to the back of the quilt.

This was much better. It brings in the fabrics from the center and is much calmer. I’ve enjoyed working with the Kauffman fabric line. I’ve hardly made a dent in the fabric drawer. Even making the block of the week, Blue Baskets, doesn’t make the drawer less full. I’ m a week behind on Blue Baskets. This week’s pattern was the same as last weeks. The only thing changed is the color. It won’t take too long to catch up.

I’ve been cleaning out quilting files. It’s amazing what I have saved over the years. I did find a great easy pattern that I have used before. The Guild retreat is in May. I may use this pattern with the Kauffman fabric at the retreat. I have a few months to decide. Maybe, as I go deeper into the files, I may find something that I like better. An easy, no thinking quilt is best for a retreat. I usually have all the pieces cut so I can just sew.

I found a pattern for Escher stairs in the file. The Guild quilt show is coming up. The theme is Illusions. I couldn’t resist making four blocks.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The community quilts have been put aside for a little while. I will get back to them later. I do have one on the basting frame to baste. I baste while watching TV. Then they go into the ready to quilt pile. There are still a few left to baste.

I am back on the track with new quilts.

The “Are You Crazy” quilt has over 2000 squares. That is about half of what I need to make a decent size quilt. I have piles of 1 1/2″ squares on the sewing table to put together when I want to do some sewing without thinking. The seams are all pressed to the dark side, so they go together effortlessly.

It will be an awesome quilt when finished. This may be my last little piece quilt. After it is finished, I will put all my little scraps into a flannel pillowcase. I knew there was a reason that I saved the pillowcases. It makes a very comfy dog bed.

The third row is on the Stay at home round robin. The block selected for this row is the hourglass block. At first, I made multicolored hourglass blocks. It was too much color. Then, I made navy and white hourglass blocks. I needed to pull out some white from the center. I surrounded the blocks with red fabric. Half square triangles with a red stripe in the middle was made for the corner squares. The multicolored hourglass blocks are set aside for another quilt at a later date. They will find a home sometime. My orphan block box is filling up fast.

It’s important to take a picture of the block. I thought that the piece was finished and took a picture for the blog. it was very obvious that one of the hourglasses was turned the wrong way. I unsewed it, turned it and it is fine now. It’s a much better picture.

Instructions for the second week of the Blue Basket Quilt have come. They are the same as last week, except they are made with a different blue fabric. The instructions are for making two baskets each week. Where I’m using the Kaufmann Japanese fabric, I’ll use a different fabric for each basket. They are easy to make, and I only have to make two blocks a week. Eventually, I’ll have a nice quilt.

Along with basting while watching TV, I’m hand quilting a nine-block star quilt. The blocks were hand pieced also. I started quilting by hand piecing and hand quilting. It’s going back to the beginning. I am on the fifth star. Before I started hand-quilting this one, I hadn’t hand-quilted in a while, It’s very relaxing.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The stay at home round robin 23 is in the third week. The Robert Kaufmann Japanese fabric is perfect for it. I chose one of the small blocks for the center. The first row is the spool block. I set the small block on point and placed the spools in the corners.

The second row is a star block. I made four little Ohio stars for the corners and added three strips to the side.

Between the spool and the star block, I placed an inchy. An inchy is an inch strip of fabric. When placed between two blocks, the size does not change. It is a nice accent. The fabric is the back side of this fabric. After all, we pay for both sides of the fabric.

The color is exactly the same as the background of the front of the fabric. There is no problem in matching colors. I will probably make inchys in several places during the construction of this piece.

So far, the piece is small. and doesn’t use much fabric. In order to use all that I have I’ll have to make a few more quilts before the bin is empty.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

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January is almost over. It has been a busy month in the sewing room. I decided to slow down on making community quilts for a while. I will have the completed tops on the basting frame to baste in evenings while watching tv, but the actual quilting will be on hold.

A baby quilt is finished and will be heading to Florida for a friend shortly. The blocks and pieces of blocks were won at a teacup raffle many years ago. I just had to complete the unfinished blocks and put the quilt together.

There was a small box in the corner of the sewing room. When I finished a quilt, I cut the scraps into 1/2″ strips or small square pieces. They went into the box. One day this month, I decided to work on these tiny pieces. They were jammed in and pressed down. My sewing machine has been working hard to put these pieces together.

This is just a small image of the mounds of small squares. I sewed two together. Then, two twos for a four patch.

Four of these squares will be sewn together for a 4 x 4. I’ll keep sewing until I have a bed quilt or two. There are a lot of tiny pieces in the box. This is a no think quilt. Just a dark and a light. While sewing, I was thinking about what people would say when this was finished. They would say “Are you crazy/”? It’s a good name for this quilt. There are times when you just have to sew and not think about what you are doing. The seams are pressed so that they nest. There are so many fabrics that color doesn’t matter.

I follow a blog that is called Daily Fiber. Laura Kate is the ultimate artist. She belongs to a group that does Stay At Home Round Robins. The SAHRR has started for 2023. I have never met a round robin that I didn’t like. I’m going to follow along after Laura Kate gives the clue of the week. The center block is a found item in the sewing room. I have auditioned several pieces. At first, I found two blocks that were made with Robert Kaufmann Japanese fabric. They were both too big. Then, I found some blocks for thread painting. They would take too much time. Down in the bottom, I found a strip of three small blocks made with the Japanese fabric. Perfect. I’ll use one of them for the center. It fits into my plan for purging all the Japanese fabric. The next row is a spool block. I’ve already thought about how I would attach spool blocks to the center. I’m not sure which block will be the center.

There is also another block of the week pattern on another blog. It’s supposed to be blue baskets on a white background. I have lots of white scraps. They don’t have to be the same white. I could also use some of the Japanese fabric for the baskets. If there is any fabric left after that, I could cut the remainder into a Potato Chip quilt. Or two. You can’t make just one. Then, there is a pattern for strips that I found on the internet this morning. That Japanese fabric will be gone by the end of the year.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Miss Molly is 13 years old today. She is doing very well for a dog of her age. Because of her age, she had to have a blood test which showed everything was working well. Her saddle is turning gray and red from a very dark black, but her energy is the same.

Miss Molly when she was a baby.

Miss Molly’s hole.

Miss Molly’s best friend, Mr. Max.

Miss Molly inspecting a quilt.

Miss Molly’s beauty picture.

There are days when I call her “that dog”. It’s when she steals my thread, pencils or anything else she can find. She likes all things that are mine.

I have gone back into the sewing room. A friend has graciously long armed 10 community quilts for me. They are back and the bindings are on most of them.

I have also quilted others. All the unfinished community quilts are organized in four piles. Pile #1 is the quilt tops that need a batting and backing cut to fit. Pile #2 is the pile with the backing and batting cut, ready to baste together. Pile # three is quilts that are basted and are waiting to be quilted. Some of the quilts are machine bound after they are quilted. Pile #4 is quilted quilts that the binding was sewn to the front and will be hand tacked to the back. Pile #4 is in a basket in the living room. It contains anything that needs hand sewing or hand quilting.

When I go into the sewing room, I can decide what I what to do for the day. I can even start with a pile #1 quilt and finish it in the same day.

When I decided to make quilts from all the unfinished blocks and cut scraps in the bin, I didn’t think that it would be such a large job. Now that I have had help in the quilting and are organized, I can choose to either work on this project or go on to something new.

Some of the finished quilts

Miss Molly inspecting the quilt.

Made with quarter square triangles that came from someplace else.

Cute rabbit fabric. Also, from another person’s sewing room.

Pinwheels from who knows where.

I did sew this one. Many, many years ago.

I have been following the justgetitdonequilts blog. Karen Brown is doing her second sewing room declutter challenge. I did the challenge last year. I’ve realized that I didn’t clutter much this year. Most everything is where it’s supposed to be. When I get around to declutter, I’ll do it my way It will be area declutter, not item declutter.

There is a new block of the week challenge that I may do. It’s supposed to be blue, but. I can make it in any color that I want. Instructions are coming soon. 2023 will be a fun year to quilt.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

When I receive a package from one of my daughters in laws, I run back into the house and open it before I take my coat off. She is an artist in so many fields. I have many beautiful earrings that she made. She is also a master beader. This week she sent a beautiful big Christmas card. Each page has so many little objects in it.

The cover has sticky notes, post cards and another single Christmas card tucked in the slot.

Second page

This looks like a quilt. I may copy the quilting pattern on one of my quilts. Under the little quilt are more sticky notes and another Christmas card.

A little guest book tucked into this one.

The little kitty is a diary to be filled in.

Little items tucked into this page.

More little things.

A writing pad tucked into the back page.

I’ll keep this card intact on my memory shelf. The shelf contains artwork from my friends and family. Also on the shelf is a piece that she gave me on Mother’s Day.

It’s beautiful and I’m so very thankful to have it. Thank you V, Pw.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

My Miss Molly blog website has just renewed. They suggested things that I could do to improve the site. I have accepted the challenge and changed a few things. I know nothing about working with a website. It’s hard to push the last button and make it live. The sidebar with archived posts looks ok. Maybe, I can make a few more changes in the future. I’ve printed a list of tutorials that sound interesting., but this is enough for now.

Winter has finally come. It’s been snowing all day, but there is not much accumulation. It’s still snowing so maybe there will be more in the morning. It gave me a day to spend in the sewing room. I worked this morning on the Ugly Quilt. There is still a lot more quilting to do. It’s queen-size. It’s a medallion quilt and I have four more borders to quilt.

I have three quilts back from the long arm quilter.

This one was made with scraps left over from a mystery quilt challenge. A friend also did the challenge and gifted me with her left-over pieces. There were enough to make this quilt. It will be a Christmas present. The binding is almost finished.

This was all 2 1/2″ leftover scraps. The binding is on and ready to tack down. It will also be a Christmas present.

This is a mile a minute quilt with a poor color choice for the sashing. The picture actually tones it down. Orange was not a good choice. I haven’t decided what to do with it yet. I can take my time with the binding and work on other things in the meantime. Someday it will find a home.

My class is going well. The ladies are still excited about quilting. My class sample blocks are all pieced, and I’ve hand quilted four out of nine. They are hand piecing their blocks, but I machine pieced mine to keep ahead of them. They are learning the lap quilting method. In the next class, they will learn how to bundle the backing, batting, and top. Then, they will learn how to hand quilt. Their fabric is beautiful. After a lesson on color and fabric choice, they went to the store by themselves and picked out their own fabric. It’s nice to teach when the students are having a good time and are excited about learning.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

October and the first part of November was a busy month for Miss Molly and me. She had her wellness checkup and several necessary shots. Also went to the spa for a day. She came home beautiful and well-trimmed. She is very healthy for an almost 12-year-old dog. I had all my necessary medical appointments. Just regularly scheduled appointments. We are both set to go for the next six months.

In the meantime, I have been giving quilting lessons to two ladies. They wanted to piece and quilt by hand. This has been fun. It’s how I started quilting, As I prepare each lesson, I remember how hard it was for me in the beginning. The ladies have learned how to read a block. Also, color and how to choose fabric. They are excited. Last week, they went to the fabric store, without me, and picked out the most beautiful fabric combinations. They had several quarter square triangle block components pieced at their last lesson. Next week, at least one block should be finished. They should be ready to layer the block, batting and backing. and learn how to quilt. I am teaching Georgia Bonesteel’s lap quilting method. They will quilt each block and then put the quilt together.

While I was preparing the lessons, I showed the ladies the first sampler quilt that I made. They chose one of the blocks and want to repeat it for a baby quilt. I made three-star blocks in different colors. The blocks do not play well together so I have to make three different quilts.

One quilt will be a reproduction of the original sampler quilt in much different colors. I’ve finished two of the twenty-four blocks in the quilt. This should go faster than the original. I’m using a sewing machine this time.

The second one is a pretty green, with red star points. I fussy cut the center, The ladies also fussy cut their centers. I have a baby that will be born next year in mind for this quilt.

The third has fussy cut triangles. I have cut enough triangles to finish this quilt. The rest should be easy. I’ve been hand quilting this block in the evenings. The dragonfly section is finished as are all the white corners and outside triangles. I should finish quilting this block tonight. Then I have eight more blocks to piece and quilt. I’m not hand piecing. I am using the machine. It’s much faster. The other blocks will be hand quilted because I hand quilted the first block.

In the meantime, I saw a pattern for a quilt that I just had to make. The original pattern was for a full-size quilt. I wanted a baby quilt, so I made only nine blocks. The center is finished. The borders and binding are cut and ready to be sewn. It is a baby quilt, so it won’t take long to quilt. Hopefully, I’ll stick to my new plan of quilting every new quilt that I make. I don’t want it to go into the pile of ufos and never resurface. If you look closely, you will see that the center of the block in this quilt is the same star block as above blocks. It has sashing that is flying geese, squares and half square triangles. It is made differently. There are just squares and half square triangles.

My sewing room is an absolute disaster. I need to spend a full day organizing and getting things in order. There are too many projects going on at the same time. Maybe tomorrow will be a good day for that.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The class with Laura Rosenspan was wonderful. She is an amazing teacher. Before we went to the class, we had to make a landscape.

My landscape was made from scraps from my stash.

During the class, Laura suggested that I make trunks and branches on the trees that are on the hillside. She told me to use red thread. That was a great beginning.

Trees partially stitched

Finished trees

The sky and water were stitched in wavy swirls. A large tree was added on the side. It was fussy cut from a tree fabric. The leaves were cut from different green fused fabric. Later, the veins were stitched to hold the leaves in case the fusing failed. With the edges loose, the tree was more realistic.

In class, we wet fabric and scrunched it.

The fabric didn’t dry in time, so I added it to the piece after the class. At first, I made a beach on the further shore with a large piece of the scrunched fabric. It was overwhelming. Then, I cut it up and made three rocks, two on the further shore and one on the near shore.

The green scrunched fabric was placed on the near shore. All the scrunched fabric was hand sewn down. Pieces were cut off and the fabric was rearranged as it was sewn down.

There was something missing. I googled landscapes and came across a YouTube from an artist who was explaining how he painted a picture. He said that if you have water, you must have a reflection. That was what was missing. I thread painted a reflection with the color and shape of the land above the water. It was too bright, so I thread painted over the reflection with green thread. That color toned it down.

The top of the piece was finished. The bottom was a challenge. The green grass was large. My daughter had texted a picture that she had taken on her morning walk.

This is what I needed. The large grass portion could be divided with a path.

To further divide the bottom section, I machine embroidered red flowers across the piece. Then, I thread painted thick green grass over the flowers to make them more subtle.

The grass in the fabric was thread painted using the fabric pattern.

The bushes that I originally cut were discarded and replaced with other bushes. I had sewn them down using green thread. There was something missing. They looked like a blob of green. Then, I remembered Laura’s instruction on the trees. A little red thread made the bushes come to life.

The piece is finished.

Did you notice the owl in the tree? Every landscape has to have a critter.

This project was fun to make. There was no advance planning. Everything was added as I saw it at the time. It was serendipity. I usually name all my pieces and that name seems right. I will call it Serendipity.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

There are days when I think that I haven’t accomplished much. I think that the problem is that I plan far too much for each day and some things just don’t get done. I love to stop for telephone calls and my door is always open to unexpected visitors. There is progress with the community quilts. I took four quilts to the guild meeting last week and I have three more finished, and one ready to bind. It seems as if I finish one a week.

The doll clothes are finished for the craft fair.

I may make one more dress. I’ve been thinking about a fancy wedding dress. I might just make it before the fair.

One hippo is finished. I have two more finished and ready to stuff.

Last week, I went to a class taught by Laura Rosenspan. Her work is beautiful.

The class was amazing. I learned many new techniques for thread painting. We prepared a landscape before the class.

I’ve been working on the project a little at a time. After I sew for a while, I leave it on the dining room table. While walking by, I audition the next part. In my next blog, I will tell you all about my journey. I’m pleased with what has been done so far. Laura’s tips and tricks have been great.

I’ve been asked to teach two women how to piece and quilt by hand. They have never quilted before. The class will be given on their coffee breaks once a week. This means 15 minutes of teaching at a time. I’m not sure how that is going to work. This will be a new way of teaching for me. A class has usually been an all-day affair. I’ve never taught hand piecing. The outline has been made and changed several times. A dictionary of quilting terms has been prepared and I have a week to plan the first lesson. I’ve always wanted to teach a class called Four Pins and a Needle. It’s a class that uses none of the expensive gadgets that quilters think they have to have in order to quilt. The pins and needles are the only supplies except fabric (scraps) and thread. Maybe a ruler, pencil, and scissors. Things that one has on hand anyway. That is the way that I started quilting at the beginning. It will be fun.

Have a great day and happy quilting.