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Have you got your scraps gathered? YAY! Let’s get going!

These directions are for a quilt finishing at approximately 60″ x 80″. Useful on a twin size bed, as a throw or couch quilt, or as a donation quilt. Or, you can make it exclusively because it is beautiful and makes you happy. That might be the best reason of all.

1. Divide your scraps into two piles: Colored and Background. My Colored is all red/blue. My Background is cream or coordinating low volume prints.

TIP: Generally, when cutting scraps, cut the largest piece you can/need first, then ...

I have named him Varun, after the Hindu deity of sea and sky and rain. By now Varun has traveled the width of the country and reached Bernie on the west coast.

Varun  - 60" by 80"

Varun - Green Backing

Each plus block finished at 10" square. 48 blocks were arranged 6 by 8 for a finished quilt measuring 60" by 80". Varun is my contribution to the Positivity QAL and is a Mercyful Quilt. 

Thank you from Mercy Hospital

Mercyful Quilts Update

Wrapped with Kindness (may need tissues)

A Note from Mercy Hospital

Here are the pictures showing the progression ...

Earlier this year, Katy shared a picture of this wonderful quilt.

I thought it was a great idea! A few weeks ago I cut out pieces to make a similar quilt. Katy and I got to talking and decided it was just too much fun to keep to ourselves, so we are inviting you to join us and build a Two And Four quilt of your very own.

I am building a version similar to the one above (based on 2-1/2″ squares and strips) and Katy will share directions for making a very similar quilt, but using larger (and ...

It was a week of flitting from project to project. Somehow my concentration was a bit off. Early mornings were cool, but the days warmed up fast to hot and humid. On the bird feeder this week, a mom cardinal brought her son. You can see he is almost done molting his baby feathers and is coming into his full red color. The tips of his wings are still grey, and a little fluff is still visible at the top of his tail.

A rainy beginning of the week gave me plenty of time to play in the basement. I ...

Several months ago, I was invited to participate in an incredible effort to honor and support a very deserving veteran and his family by the television show, Military Makeovers, on behalf of Janome-America. Due to contractual obligations, I wasn’t allowed to share anything publicly until after the episode aired but now that it has been featured on network television, I can share the behind-the-scenes story and some photos with you all! 

Daniel Burgess, his wife, Genette, and their two daughters were the recipients of a complete home makeover by Military Makeovers, hosted by Montel Williams. Dan was severely injured ...

Someone was sitting nicely, paws folded on our front door mat the other day. The mat says ‘wipe your paws’ but I’m not sure he did so. Still, cuteness abounds and peanut butter sandwiches needed to be made and offered.

This week, I made my Summer Squash Casserole, with a slight change. After mashing the squash, I drained the water again to reduce the liquid in the dish. This worked really well, and the result was a creamier filling and less water at the bottom. It barely lasted two meals. It is a great side dish, but could also ...

I'm still here, working and sewing much of the time.  Hey, this home maintenance being completed by just ONE person takes a lot of time!  My spirits remain sorta OK, and I get lonesome, pretty much like everyone else.  A terrible anniversary is looming -  sad and scary but I will face it.  Time flew by so quickly, it is shocking.  I barely learn what day it is, and it's the next!  

During my blog lull, I have finished the quilting on this QOV, shown as a top previously.   

We are not yet back to doing Quilt of Valor presentations, but the construction of quilts goes on.  At some point, we’ll need a closet full to cover the backlog of veterans in line for a Quilt of Valor.  So, we continue to sew, piece and quilt, in i-sew-lation.  This one was pieced by Didi Salvatierra.

Joyful news, the borders are straight.

So, I began with stitching the edge down.

I used white Signature thread on top and bobbin this time, all cotton with a matte finish.

The pantograph is Pipeline by Urban Elementz, a medium density.

The white ...

This quilt came off the longarm about a week ago.  It is a Quilt of Valor, and was a bit more of a challenge at the beginning, as the backing had several problems.

This is what I call Frankenbacking.  There are four vertical seams and two horizontal ones.  The friend that gave it to me to quilt was so proud of herself, telling me she left the selvedge edges on for me to load it, and that she was able to use a pretty piece of floral fabric.  I was not expecting this though.  First, the print is directional.  Normally ...

On our recent retreat at Febuary Hill, one of the days was spent working on another Quilt of Valor.  I had enough stars left from you, dear readers, to do another To The Nines pattern.  All I needed to do was to make some nine-patches.  I had cut squares and brought them with me, this time using the same light print in the center.  I used the web method to speed piece the blocks.

I put the stars on the design wall and began filling in the nine-patches, when one of my friends said something didn’t look quite right ...

Our sewing day for Quilts of Valor was a fun day of hard work by a small group of very motivated sewing enthusiasts.  We set up the night before, with the door prizes displayed, refreshment table set with nice decorations, patriotic quilts on the walls, wool batting sample gifts for participants set out, and information on our local Quilts of Valor group in case new friends wished to join.  I want to thank my wonderful husband for all his help.  He carried the heavy stuff, helped volunteers with their things, kept us on track with the hourly door prizes, took ...

Checking the mail this week has been fun, with wonderful blocks arriving for the National Sew Day.  Tomorrow, From My Carolina Home is hosting a Quilts of Valor Sew-In at Beginnings Quilt Shop in Hendersonville, NC, an all day event to make blocks and tops for Quilts of Valor.  We’ll have refreshments, and hourly door prizes!  Plus Beginnings will open early at 9 am, and have a special sale that day too.  If you are local, come in to see!!

So far, 42 blocks arrived from our star block drive, thank you so much!!  If yours isn’t shown ...

The Quilts of Valor Live Blog Event is in just over a week!! I hope that there are some blocks going in the mail today!  But if you are almost done and need to mail Monday, that is fine.  If you do not sew, you can still participate, just make a donation to your local QOV group to help them buy batting and backing fabrics.

As long as I have the blocks by next Friday, I can use them for the event.   I am hoping to have several dozen star blocks to pair with the nine-patch blocks we will make ...

Whether you are a quilter, sewist, home cook or amateur gardener, do you like taking classes?  I certainly do!  I always learn something new, and I get to have a whole day of sewing with friends, and meeting new friends.  Even better when it is taught by friends!  This quilting class was actually a bit extraordinary as I came away with a good tip I want to share, and three tools I know I can no longer do without.  Links are provided if you cannot find these at your local quilt shop.

Here is the first tip, and somewhat of ...

Loved creating this for my cousin - my closest relative to have served our country.

Thank you cuz!

Started as a class from the Republic Quilt Guild, taught by Rae Salkeld. I went into the 'advanced' class which was taught up in Canada and enjoyed a couple of days working over the President's Day Weekend several years ago while my husband and I also celebrated our wedding anniversary, staying at the Noble House B&B which was a fantastic geothermal home. While I didn't exactly have a pattern, but a general principles to follow, I did have a few ...

So it's been 3 months since I last posted.....sigh, where does the time get to? I'm trying to decide whether or not to continue blogging or to just give it up since I seem to be so bad doing it on any kind of regular basis.

In my last post you saw my poor Winston Ways which had some unfortunate bleeding in the wash. Well, I'm happy to report that the problem has been resolved. A HUGE thank you goes out to Vicki Welsh and her fabulous information on dealing with bleeding fabric. After a nice ...

I've been busy trying to become better friends with Fiona, my new Innova. Two more tops have been quilted.

First up is a QOV mystery quilt-along from last summer that Alycia hosted. The quilt was designed by Vicki Welsh. The quilt called for five fabrics but I was determined to use only fabric from my stash. So, here's my scrappy version of the Allegiance quilt along which I'm calling Stars of Valor. It still needs binding.