I have been cleaning and organizing the attic. I found a big bin of small scraps that I forgot was up there. That bin, along with another bin in the sewing room are just too much. After finishing the Summer Sampler, I decided to use up all the scraps in every project that I made and not add any more to my stash. I had a lot of small leftover scraps from the Summer Sampler.

In the meantime, I read on a blog that I follow about making a Pandemic Round Robin. It is a Round Robin that never leaves your house. It should be a Medallion quilt. The center can be pieced, appliqued or a panel. The three borders are half square triangle, flying geese and a four patch. They can be in any order that you want. Adding a star would be a bonus. The quilt can be any size that you want.

I decided to put the two thoughts together and made a little table runner from the Summer Sampler scraps. This little quilt has all the criteria for the Pandemic Round Robin except for the bonus star. It was fun to make. I quilted it with the walking foot. It was a fast and easy project.

There were still pieces left over, so I cut them in 1 1/2 inch squares and made nine patches and four patches.

These pieces are set aside to wait for the remains of other projects. The center pieces in the box are 1 1/2 inch squares cut from the leftover fabric cut from the back of a little UFO quilt that I finished. If I feel like cutting 1 1/2 inch squares from the bin in the attic some day, I could make some more four patches and someday have enough for a large quilt.

After I read about the Pandemic quilt and made one, I realized that there is nothing new in quiltmaking. Over twenty years ago, I made a Round Robin with friends in a mini Guild. At that time, I made two center blocks. I sent one out and kept the other. As we passed the quilts around, I made a row for the quilt with the same criteria that we had for the one that traveled. It was fun to see how different they are.

The Morewood Mystery quilt has been fun to make. The instructions come once a month, so I have been able to keep up. The first month had cutting instructions.

The half square triangles were trimmed using a Clearly Perfect Trimmer by New Leaf Stitches. The block can be trimmed in two cuts and the dog ears can be trimmed at the same time.

The Strip Stick is one of the best gadgets that I have. Pressing seams open is easy. No burned fingers.

This block of the month project has been relaxing. There are a lot of blocks to make each month, but they are mostly the same. The cutting was done in the first month and the sewing is easy.

The pieces are in their own basket and awaiting final instructions.

I’m going to start a new project tomorrow. Maybe it will be another UFO or maybe, the start of another new quilt. Either way, it will be a fun day.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

This has been a busy few weeks . I didn’t have much time to sew, but when I did, it was if I had never sewn before. Mr. Seam Ripper was my constant companion. We are on a first name basis now.

I have sold my Maine house to one of my daughters. Moving, packing, and purging has taken a lot of my time. This is a good move for me at this time, but I’m glad that the two houses are finally combined into one. There are a lot of items left for a big yard sale next summer. Lots have gone to the Salvation Army and lots more to go.

In the meantime, I have gone a bit crazy and decided to refinish the office furniture and clean the attic. Half of the attic is purged and organized. I will have to finish the other half before the winter chill is up there. I’ve found items that I forgot I had. There is a whole bin of scraps and another bin of heavier fabric for making tote bags and pocketbooks. There is a bin of flannel pillowcases. Two pillow cases make the perfect size backing for a baby quilt. I’ll think about all the treasures again when the snow flies and I need something new to work on.

Two of the pieces of office furniture are finished and with only two more to go, I can see the end of that project.

My garden might have to wait until Spring. Maybe the weather will be nice for a while and I can find a day to go out there.

I have finished the Summer Splendor top. It was a block of the week Internet pattern. I finally finished the blocks and put them together. The quilt was fairly easy to make until I overloaded myself and tried to hurry and not enjoy the trip. If I had concentrated, I could have left Mr. Seam Ripper in the drawer.

Here are some of the blocks.

The original border in the pattern called for large yardage. There were several pieces of the Free Spirit fabric so I decided to make a piano key border and use it up.

When it was finished, I had just two complete fat quarters and a very small amount of scraps. The fat quarters can be used for the binding. I might be able to get a mini quilt from the scraps. Then I won’t have to add them to my never ending pile of small scraps.

I have been following several quilting blogs and have lots of ideas in my head. That’s for another day.

My oldest UFO is out to be hand quilted again. The quilt is at least 30 years old. It has had a lot of shelf life. Every stitch is progress at this point. As long as my under hand holds out, I’ll work on it in the evenings. I really need to finish it and get it on my bed.

Hopefully, I can slow down and start finishing some of the many quilts in my “waiting to be quilted” chest. At least, most of them are in the same place. I also want to play with the many tools and accessories that I bought because they looked interesting. It’s time to move on and enjoy quilting again.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Today was the first day in a few weeks that I have used the sewing machine. It was not really a vacation from quilting. I have spent the past month purging and packing the Maine house. Then trying to combine two houses into one. I made the first of many runs to the Salvation Army last Tuesday. A big yard sale is ahead for next summer. One of my daughters now owns the Maine house and she is doing the same. The transition went well.

Now that I am in the purge mode, I’m going to continue with the New Hampshire house. I’ve found a lot of things that I forgot that I had. I really don’t need a lot of the objects in the attic, so they will be boxed up and taken away. In the meantime, I have found so many ufos. They are being gathered in one place so I can either finish them or dispose of them. It’s amazing how many duplicate quilting tools that I have. Maybe I can get all the supplies in the sewing room if I cut back.

Today’s sewing consisted of sewing the binding on a Dear Jane block. It is five inches square and didn’t take very long. One more block and Row C will be finished. There is hope that I will finish this quilt soon.

The second month of the Moorehead Mystery quilt is finished. Last month, we cut squares and rectangles. This month, we made lots of half square triangles and trimmed them to size. I made the half square triangles and pressed them. I put the cutting mat on the kitchen counter and trimmed a few at a time when I walked by. It didn’t seem like a big job by cutting in five or ten minute increments

The Summer Splendor quilt is four weeks behind. I’ve saved all of the instructions to a file so I can catch up at my leisure.

I don’t have any new quilts to show. While organizing and putting things away in the sewing room, I came across several log cabin quilts. This is such an easy pattern and is very versatile.

This quilt is on the bed in my sewing/guest room. It was made in the flip and sew method from a Womans Day pattern. Each block was made separately and then sewn together in the lap quilting method.

This is a memory quilt. The Wire Fox Terrier is not Miss Molly. It is Scruffy, her predecessor. The Schnauzer is Max. The log cabins are tipped on purpose.

I had made a larger wall hanging with this pattern and gave it away as a gift. I enjoyed making it so much that I made this smaller one for me.

This log Cabin is twelve inches square. It was paper pieced.

This is also a small wall hanging. It was paper pieced.

The log cabin block is versatile. It could be a plain log cabin block, a pineapple log cabin block, or a court house step block. Changing the fabric colors makes the same pattern look very different. Adding applique enhances the block. Changing the orientation of the blocks will result in different looking quilts. I once saw a log cabin quilt that was made with velvet and lace. It was beautiful. There was no visible quilting on it so It must have been made with the flip and sew method.

I hope to get back to sewing and quilting soon. Some of the ufos are small. Maybe I should start on the little ones first.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

It’s amazing how, when you’re not looking, life works itself out and comes together like pieces in a picture puzzle. I had been asked to teach a class at the New Hampshire Guild in November. It was supposed to be Landscape Gaa-barge class. That is a technique where you can make a wall hanging from a photo that you have taken. It uses scraps and small cut offs that would usually be thrown away. It is a fun class and everyone has a memory picture.

All was well until I was asked if I could do a virtual class. I have done Zoom meetings, Skype, and Facetime, but am not set up with the proper equipment to show the procedures. This was a problem.

In the meantime, the Maine Guild had it’s Christmas In July party with a Yankee swap. We wore gloves and masks and social distanced. I made a small wall hanging for my gift.

It went to a good home. The Guild members wanted to learn how to make the blocks. I said that I would make a tutorial and present it at the next meeting. It was a “what if” moment. What if I made a four part mystery quilt tutorial. I called the program chair at the New Hampshire Guild and she thought that it was a wonderful idea. So, starting in November, the New Hampshire Guild will have a mystery quilt for four months and Landscape Gaa-barge will be taught at a much later date. Problem solved.

The Maine Guild members had a fun day learning the block which can be made in several sizes.

My gardens in N. H. are dried up. I checked around and did find quite a few tomatoes and a zucchini.

I had some free fabric and decided to use it for the Moorewood Mystery quilt. The clues come once a month. The first month was just cutting, so it was finished quickly and put aside for the next clue.

Summer Sampler is on week six. I am two weeks behind. The last two need a printer to print out the patterns and mine is in New Hampshire. I’m in Maine. I’ll catch up later.

The applique wall hanging is ready to baste again for hand quilting. I had basted it already and used a wool batt. Every time that I picked it up, it seemed very heavy. After thinking about it, I decided that the wool batt would be better in a bed quilt. It took just fifteen minutes to pull out all the basting threads. It will be better with a thin batt. Miss Molly has inspected the quilt and says it’s ready to be finished.

Everything works out if you wait for a little while.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

A group of quilters has started a virtual quilt show on Facebook. Each quilters has been nominated by another quilter to show one quilt a day for ten days. There is no commentary about the quilt. Then, that quilter nominates another quilter to show ten quilts in ten days. This has been an awesome show and tell from a number of quilting friends and friend of friends.

There have been so many beautiful quilts shown and talked about. It’s hard to decided which one I like best, but I have seen some patterns that I would like to make.

My ten days are over. I did miscount and posted two different quilts on day 5, so I posted a total of 11 quilts. Many of my blog followers are not on Facebook, so I will show all eleven quilts here.

Day 1 This is a small wall hanging. It is a miniature of a larger quilt found in a magazine.

Day 2 Frolic is a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.

Day 3 This is a block of the week bed runner. Miss Molly is showing her favorite block.

Day 4 This was made in Sue Pellon class at Vermont Quilt Festival. It is fusible applique with machine blanket stitch around the applique.

Day 5 #! This is red work flowers and hand quilting. It took longer to get around to doing this than it took to do it.

Day 5 #2 Shadows. I made this at a quilt retreat.

Day 6 Canadian 150 It was made in celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary. It is hand quilted. This quilt was supposed to be red and white but I used blue fabric.

Day 7 Vermont Windows was made in a class at the Vermont Quilt Festival.

Day 8 This was Blockhead block of the week. I have finished the blocks of a second blockhead, but haven’t put them together yet.

Day 9 My hand dyed fabrics were used in this quilt. It is heavily hand quilted. I changed the name of the pattern from October weekend to October Madness. It was hard to get all of the pieces in the right order. Some are not, but it’s hard to tell where they are.

Day 10 Basket and Butterflies. This quilt has won several blue ribbons, a best hand quilting ribbon at VQF, and viewers’ choice at Maine Quilts 2019. It is retired from shows. It is hand appliqued and hand stipple quilted.

I hope that you have enjoyed this virtual quilt show.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

When I came to Maine this summer, I bought only a few projects to work on. I’ve been working a little on each one and don’t seem to finish anything. Comfort and Blessings is together in rows. It is set on a diagonal. It needs to be sandwiched with batting and backing so that I can quilt each row separately. Maybe I’ll do that on the next rainy day. It’s much more fun to sit on the porch and read a book while the weather is good.

I have finished eight blocks in row c for Dear Jane. Of the other five, four are paper pieced and one is an applique. Another rainy day for sewing. I can sit outside and quilt and bind so I should get busy and piece a few.

The applique wall hanging top is finished. It has been sandwiched and ready to hand quilt. My thread came from Superior Thread so I can start hand quilting any time. When I basted the quilt, I noticed that I forgot to add two buds. The stem ends in mid air. I’ll add them when I get to that spot in the quilting.

I needed a piece for A Christmas In July Yankee swap. I have an easy nine patch pattern that when cut and resewn looks very hard. It’s not. I had made this pattern before with 5 inch pieces. This time I used a stack of 2 1/2 inch Moda samples that were given to me as a gift. It is partially quilted. I’m not sure how to quilt the next section. It won’t take long to finish when I decide what to do. I still have a lot of small fabric 2 1/2″ samples. Also some mini paper patterns for paper piecing. I should put them together sometime.

I had decided to take the 25 week machine quilting class with Lori Kennedy. I thought that one lesson a week could be added to what I already do. The lesson came on Monday. And Tuesday. And Wednesday and Thursday. There was so much homework that I got way behind in everything. Years ago, I read a book by Elizabeth Zimmerman. It was called “Knitting without Tears” It taught the European method of knitting which is much faster than American knitting. At the beginning of the book, Elizabeth stated that if you didn’t like knitting and it wasn’t enjoyable, don’t do it. Do something that you enjoy. Taking Lori’s classes wasn’t enjoyable, so I’m taking Elizabeth’s advice. I’m not going to do the classes anymore. I will download and save the lessons and read them, There might be some tidbits that I need to learn.

In the meantime, I have a new book by Angela Walters. She says that if you want to learn how to machine quilt, just start. What a wise woman. If I want to finish any of my projects, I just have to start and work on them until they are finished.

I have a few wall hangings in the Maine house. The birdhouse wall hanging was made several years ago when I was a member of the Tuesday Night Quilters. It was a small group of ladies from the area where I lived at the time. We did round robins, challenge quilts, mystery quilts, and had a wonderful time.

The fish wall hanging was made in a small class of retired women. We met twice monthly and had a great teacher who taught us many things. The day that we made this piece, a reporter from the local paper joined us. She wrote a weekly column about senior citizens. We didn’t think that we were senior citizens at that point, so she called us active senior citizens.

The fish were stuffed; They had beads for eyes. The weeds were built in and free motion embroidery.

I made the third wall hanging for my husband. He had it in his office until he retired. He tied fishing flies and I asked him one day if I could borrow four. He asked if he would get them back. I said, Yes, eventually. The flies are tied to the quilt with real fishing line.

So, you see, he did get his fishing flies back.

My raspberries are outdoing themselves again this year. I’ve frozen several big pails full and there are lots more out there for tomorrow. I will enjoy them next winter. Raspberries twice a day for dessert are wonderful.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I finally arrived in Maine a few days ago. Our states now let us cross the border without quarantine. It is definitely different coming up two months late. The gardens in Maine are overgrown and impossible to clean up at this point. I’ll have to cut everything back when I can find time. I’ll be careful and leave the good stuff. I’m thankful for the gardens in New Hampshire. I was able to keep them up until I came up here. This year, I planted vegetable seeds and tomato plants among the flowers. Hopefully, they will still grow while I am gone. I’m going back for a few days at the end of July to check on them. We are having a much needed rain, The grass is crispy and brown. One of my grandsons had mowed the lawn until it turned brown. He did a great job of keeping the property tidy. I noticed lots of raspberries that will be ripe soon. The garlic scapes are ready to cut. They are so good in a stir fry. My neighbor’s peas are ready. I should buy my supply and freeze them for the winter. They are so much better than the frozen peas in the store. The farmer’s market is open on Saturday afternoon and I will get fresh vegetables there.

Some of my New Hampshire Flowers.

Yippee!!! I’ve just received notice that Crafsty/Blueprint has been acquired by TN Marketing, They have agreed to honor previous customer purchases for classes and subscriptions. Now, we just wait for instructions on how to do this.

I’ve only brought up a few projects this year. One project is Row C of Dear Jane, I have a few pieced and can quilt and bind them when I sit on the porch and do handwork.

The applique wall hanging is ready to baste. I want to hand quilt it so thread has been ordered from Superior Thread. It is supposed to come by Monday and the quilt will be basted by then. It’s not as if I don’t have enough thread. I didn’t have the right color and I wanted cones to make sure that I didn’t run out before finishing.

I’m taking an online 25 week machine quilting class with Lori Kennedy. The class is in the third week and I haven’t started yet. All the lessons have been saved to a file and I will start as soon as I get myself organized. Lori says that we are going to work hard and I believe her. There is a lot of information to learn and practice, practice, practice. My quilt sandwiches are made and my doodle pad is ready. Someone on her website told of a free app on an I pad that can be used to doodle. I’ll look it up and see if it is something that I can use.

The Comfort and blessings blocks are finished. I have the instructions for finishing the sashing and borders. I’m thinking of machine quilting each block and putting it together the lap quilting way. It would be easier than putting a big quilt under the bed of the machine.

I have a couple of other small projects to finish. It’s difficult to decide which project to work on. On rainy days, I like to sew in the house. On sunny days, it’s much nicer to hand sew on the porch. Hopefully, I can finish most of the projects while here.

The New Hampshire quilt guild has not met since March. The Maine Guild met last week for the first time since March. We sat outside and social distanced. It was so nice to be together again.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I’m still in N. H. The Governor said yesterday that he was coordinating with Maine and Mass, and the stay at home order might be lifted June 15th. We’ll see. In the meantime, I’m enjoying working in my gardens, doing Spring cleaning, and some sewing and quilting. Friends keep in touch by phone, e-mail and chatting from the correct social distancing. One of my daughters made three masks for me. They are awesome. Thanks so much. I had made two, but they are not as nice as my new ones. My daughter made them with fabric showing three of my favorite things. Quilting, gardens and Miss Molly.

The flowers are beautiful this year. Usually, I’m in Maine and only see pictures of the Iris and Lupines.

Craftsy was sold a few year ago to NBC Universal. The new name is Blueprint. While it was still Craftsy, I bought several of the classes and also downloaded several free classes. The e-mail from Blueprint stated that they were closing the program. Two of the sentences gave me hope. It said “Please note that we will provide a way for those of you have purchased classes to receive a copy of the classes you purchased, For example, we’re working on a solution to give you an extended period to download your purchased classes.” I just have to be patient and wait for the next e-mail.

One of the classes that I purchased was a Lola Jenkins class. In the class, we were supposed to make a face called the Lady with the Pearl Earing. At that time, the Guild had a challenge to make a small wall hanging of ourselves. I decided to use Lola’s technique and make my head. It was fun to make. I haven’t used the technique since then. Maybe, when I can download the instructions, I can make another piece. Maybe flowers or something else.

Comfort and Blessings patterns are still coming every Monday morning in my e-mail. It doesn’t seem possible that I’ve finished piecing #24. I have changed some of the fabrics as they were not the right color. I want this quilt to be on the quiet side.

I’ve been appliquéing the flower wall hanging while watching TV in the evenings. I am on the bottom border. I had designed the bottom border and had the flowers all ready to applique, but as I applique the flowers onto the border, I’m changing their position and adding green leaves in places. When I finish the left side of the bottom border, I’ll use the light box to position the same flowers on the right side. When all the flowers are on the wall hanging, I’ll take pictures.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

It is a great feeling to finish ufos.  One has been sitting on the shelf for years.  It was half quilted.  This week, I decided to concentrate and finish it.  I had started walking foot quilting, so I finished it that way.  There was a lot of turning and twisting of the quilt while I quilted it.   It did take a long time for such a small quilt, but it was well worth it.  One more finished quilt. It’s a charity quilt size and will go into that pile of quilts and placemats that will go to the Guild when we can meet again.

It’s not March, but the quilt that I had wanted finished and hung on my wall in March is finally finished.  When I tried to photograph it, Miss Molly decided to do her job and inspect it.  She wouldn’t move and is still sitting on it by the slider.  As soon as she decides to move, I’ll pick it up and put it away.  It is ready for next March.

The back is pieced from the leftovers.

Every Monday morning, I find three new block patterns from the Comfort and Blessings quilt in my e-mail.  The patterns and instructions that I received this morning have been printed and I’m ready to piece the three blocks.  So far, I have pieced 15 blocks.  The designer’s color choices are great. It  is nice to have the fabric ready in baggies.  There is just the right amount of  fabric in the original cuts.  In the patterns is a diagram that shows how to cut the pieces. The instructions are complete and accurate.   With the nice weather, I’m spending more time outside in the gardens.  These blocks can be made in small increments of cutting and sewing times.

 

 

           

 

Dear Jane is on vacation.  I’ve finished Row A and Row B.  All the blocks in those two rows are quilted and sewn together.  The back is just as pretty as the front.  The patterns and tips for Row C have been printed.  Each block pattern is in a baggie with the fabric to make the block.  Sometime, when I feel like it, Jane will come out and I’ll start making that row.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I inherited a pinwheel quilt that was in three pieces. The original quilter intended that the three pieces be sewn together for a full size quilt.  As I looked at them, I thought that if I added a border, I could have three charity quilts.  The quilts would fit on my quilting frame.  I really needed to start using the frame.  As I was looking for backing  ,I found a few scrap quilt hanging, ready to quilt.  One was a jelly roll race top.  Another was made from cut out pieces that I won at a tea cup raffle.  They were perfect for the backs.  I found that I need a lot of practice to be a decent mid arm quilter.  I have the speed controlled.  The stitches are even. My problem is steering in the right direction.  By the time I finish the three quilts,  I will be a lot better. I’m learning.  Better finished than perfect is my mantra.

I’m still sewing 2 1/2″ squares as beginners and enders.  After sewing several together, and they were piling up, I thought of all the time that I would have to stand and press the seams.  It was a “what If” moment.  What if I pressed them along with the block pieces.  It wouldn’t take more than  a few seconds longer.  There is a small shelf under the ironing board.  I put a small bin on the shelf and threw the pressed two patches into the bin.  Every one was pressed to the dark side.  When I have a small stash of two patches, I can make them into four patches as beginners and enders.  Again, pressing as I press the quilt blocks.  It would be a free quilt.  Scraps leftover from other projects and sewn together as I’m making another quilt. In the meantime, maybe, I could finish some more ufos.

Have a great day and happy quilting.