What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

When I first started longarming, I wondered if I would get bored with it.  Would it start to feel like a job in a factory?  As I watched quilts come to life with each stitch, I just knew it wouldn't happen.  I remember how excited I was when I hit the 1000 mark - yes, that's 1000 customer quilts.  I've been longarming for customers for 18 years.  Guess what??  I'm STILL not bored!  Each and every quilt offers a learning opportunity as well as the excitement of bringing them to life.  When I bought the second machine ...

When April Cornell came out with the Poetry line of fabric, it was love at first sight!  What I wouldn't do to have some of those ticking fabrics right now.  Here's a little secret - ticking fabric is a weakness for me.  Look at this pic and you can see the 'feel' of the line.  (stolen from Google)

We made this as the lighter version of ...

 It's always exciting when new fabric comes in.  The biggest disappointment is if there are backorders.  Unfortunately, this load is about half what was ordered.  Traditionally, solids have been used in Hawaiian quilts, Amish quilts and 30s reproduction quilts.  Now we are seeing a huge trend of solids in Modern quilts.  I'll be honest, I haven't used a lot of solids.  I can count on one hand how many quilts I have made with just solids.  Here are a few examples of highly popular patterns:

When I was doing the sewing room clean-up and getting rid of the totes, I found this is in the tote of UFOs.  It looked done.  But when I pulled it out, there it was - all it needed was two more borders!  Seemed easy enough....I pulled it out and added the final two borders.  I was all caught up on customer quilts, so out to the shop it went to get quilted.

I had hoped today's post would be a pic of my new fabric.  But, alas, the usually fast shipping has not happened.  Rather than skip posting, I thought I would give you a little 'tip'.

I have been talking with a friend online this morning.  With the world being so topsy-turvy and times being uncertain, sometimes you just need to take a step back.  There are theories about this and that.  We have a new President.  We are in the midst of a pandemic with new strains coming out every month.  We are adapting to teaching/learning/working from ...

We had our guild meeting last night via zoom.  I sat there - just staring at the screen.  The presenter did a great job.  But, I sat there staring.  I've been to more than my share of zoom meetings, microsoft team meetings, etc.  I've even virtually baked cookies!  Is this what we have become?  I think I am getting old.  *sigh*  I used to say that social media has turned our younger generation into a generation that will lose it's warmth.  I've been concerned that they will not know how to handle face-to-face conflict or interaction.  In ...

... but *TOOT TOOT*!  Remember the soap I told you I was formulating for Hubs?  I named the base recipe "Generation X".  He was complaining about dry skin, especially his hairy little legs, after showering.  He was even developing a little dry patch in the small of his back.  I had put a little too much fragrance oil in it so the batch seized a little, but it was still good.  We cut into it this weekend and started using it Saturday.  OMG!  What a difference!  I have always slathered myself with lotion to keep my skin hydrated...pretty much for ...

Some days when you are working on smaller projects, it just seems like tinkering.  At the end of the day you have accomplished several things, but none of them are that big feeling of accomplishment.  Such was the case for Hubs.  He had been asked to create several small things, but it didn't give him the *wow* factor he gets when he smiths larger projects.

First, there was the sword.  He has made the two older grandsons wooden swords and some that were in our online shop.  (Speed Demon isn't even a year old yet, so he hasn ...

What does being a diva mean to you?  Are you a diva?  Before you answer that, here is one of the dictionary definitions of a diva:

a self-important person who is temperamental and difficult to please (typically used of a woman).

That is just flat out rude.  LOL  Now, I know I am not a diva! 

I remember when the Quilt Diva craze started.  There was fabric.  There were patterns.  It was worse than the Red Hat Ladies!  Of course we had to make up a quilt with one of the patterns.  We did the Amy Bradley one, which was ...

I have blogged before about quilts I have made over the years - some of them I love, some, well, not so much.  As a shop owner, you are tasked with making samples.  Samples of new patterns, samples of new fabric lines and samples for classes are all necessary to help customers envision what the fabric/pattern would look like.  Not everyone has the same taste as you, so you have to stretch yourself.  Sometimes you end up liking something way out of your comfort zone, so I never really minded much.

When I made this Christmas Ribbons quilt, I absolutely ...

Prodigal Son, Army Son and their families went to Florida to see Princess Daughter.  While they were gone, we kept Prodigal Son's puppy, Copper.  We had forgotten what it was like to have a sweet, time-sucking puppy around.  He was such a snuggler.  They came to pick him up last night and we were discussing their trip.  I asked how Puddin Pop did on the plane (she's flown before) and Army Son's wife told me the cutest story.  They hit some pretty rough turbulence on their flight to Chicago.  She had a white-knuckle grip on Prodigal Son ...

Every year I pick my 'word for the year'.  A lot of people participate in this.  As a wise pastor has said, "you will move in the direction of your focus".  Think about it - if you are driving down the road and start to look at something in your peripheral, all of a sudden you are driving toward it.

My word for 2020 was Embrace.  I wanted to focus on embracing the circumstances and people surrounding me rather than hoping for something else.  Given the current atmosphere, you can only guess how hard that could have been.  Surprisingly, it wasn ...

I've always been 'that' person who likes to decorate for different holidays.  My Momma never did, so I really don't know where I got it from.  I suspect it is probably the equivalent of her rearranging furniture all the time.  I leave the furniture and switch out the accessories.  

As I was going through all those totes I did find a lot of UFOs, and surprisingly more tops that just needed quilted.  It took all the will power I had not to race over to the sewing machine and finish one up real quick.  I have been on ...

When we were little, Momma used to load us up and take us to Granny's in WV for the holidays.  The anticipation of seeing my cousins made me one of the most well-behaved kids you have ever seen.  Granny and my WV family lived in a 'hollow' (pronounced holl-er).  I come from a HUGE family.  So, when we got together it was absolute craziness.  My family is loud and we have never taken ourselves too seriously.  If you didn't have fun, it was your own fault.  I have so many special memories of the holidays.  I want my ...

Every year for Christmas, we try to create a "memory" for the grands.  We usually all go to the theater and dinner after.  When I found out this year we potentially weren't even going to be able to see them, well, that's when the whole Covid thing really got to me.  I sought out to try to still create some kind of memory.  Our family is split half and half.  Half aren't really too concerned about the virus.  The other half is full of immuno-compromised members who have to go to the extremes to be careful.  When ...

In early March every year, I head out to the high tunnel to start my seeds.  On more than one occasion, there has been snow or sleet falling from the sky dancing off the plastic as if Mother Nature is saying "let me in".  The bulbs are usually blooming and the whole row dances in the breeze while I am making dirt and planting seeds.  I enjoy the quiet solitude of it all.  If you are a gardener, you 'get it'....there's just something about the renewal of Spring.

The purpose of a high tunnel is to extend the ...

We have now lived here for a little over 5 years.  We still have not unpacked everything.  We still haven't finished remodeling - that's the 'excuse' albeit a valid one.  The house we moved from was over 6,000 s.f.  This house is a little over 1,800 s.f.  While we did get rid of a lot of "stuff", we still had a lot of "stuff".  In our defense, we have moved the house, my shop and the Hubs' shop.  It's a lot of "stuff".  My kitchen is teeny tiny and I have a lot of ...

 I have been working on a couple of new soap formulations.  One formulation is for dry, winter skin.  The other formulation I am calling the name of the actual recipe "Generation X".  It is an anti-aging, moisturizing, anti-inflammatory soap.  After playing around with the numbers for a while, I finally decided it was time to make a couple test batches.  Off to the shop I went.  I organized all my oils, got all my pans together, took pictures.  Everything was going well.  Until....

We have lived here for approx. 5 years.  I have yet to decorate for Christmas for various reasons.  If you have been following me for a while, you know that I am usually 'that person' who decorates for every holiday.  I am also usually pretty OCD - I like things to be neat and tidy.  Since this move, that has all gone out the window.  There are parts of this house that won't come clean.  The lady who owned this house before us was a hoarder, thankfully not to the extent as the ones you see on TV, and this ...