What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

My three entries for QuiltCon, sadly, did not get juried into the show. I'm disappointed, of course, but I can't wait to see the ones that did get into the show. I fully expect to be in Nashville in February, and that's coming quickly!

The Dropcloth

Faith

Tranquility

Why must you always be doing something?  Hubby asks me.
 He's referring to my way of getting things done.  I can't just sit and read, or watch t.v. or take a nap.  I have to have a couple of things on the go at once.  My stitching in my hands, audio book or music playing, the washing machine running, etc. But I'm not frenetic about it...it is all done in my own, "mind my own business" quiet way.  For a guy who is generally focused on one job at a time, it doesn't seem ...

So I got this email on Tuesday  announcing that class registration for Spring Quilt Week in Paducah was open for AQS members.  I've never attended any of the major quilt shows before, but I'd love to go -- and thought it might be a great opportunity to take some longarm quilting classes, if I could only get into the classes before they were full.  I clicked the link to the class descriptions and was EUPHORIC when I saw that both Judi Madsen and Lisa Calle will be teaching at this year's show!  With butterflies in my stomach, I ...

Seriously 2019, how in the world did that happen?  Just yesterday it was September and Brody was starting school; now we are into the new year.  Boy time flies.   I certainly hope that everyone had a fantastic holiday season.  The holidays in the Calle household were wonderful but way too short.  I’m sad to report that the older boys already headed back at school.  read more

It took a year of procrastination, but Skyline has finally been quilted. It's a great one to start the year with, though! Besides my script-generated Haphazard quilts, Skyline is the only quilt that I have "designed", and by that I just mean that I didn't use somebody else's pattern.

I love sampler quilts, but I don't like traditional sampler layouts, so I came up with this after seeing Art Gallery Fabrics's display at QuiltCon one year. Their display was inspired by the Miami Skyline, and it was simple blocks (made of cardboard, probably?) where each ...

There comes a time in life when reality sinks in.  I think I’ve had more little “reality checks” in recent times ever since I read the book Decluttering at the Speed of Life. (I reviewed the book on Christmas Day)

I’ve been slowly working through the sewing room asking myself “Am I really going to do this?”  At times I’ve said yes and then I’ve prompted myself to the “prove it”.  This was one of those days.

You might remember when Kalissa (my limited sewing daughter) was pregnant with Carver.  She had seen this baby quilt ...

As you know, I have planned to work on a lot of new quilts this year - not just trying to finish WIPS and UFOs but to start as many quilts as I want.  I am not going to give myself any limits and see if I can manage to stay in control without limits. The plan is to start what I want, and when I am starting to get tired of it, turn it into a quilt and call it done, no matter how small it turns out to be. The process is more important than the product.

In order ...

It’s that time of year again! The holidays are over, and it’s time for Kim Lapacek of Persimon Dreams to begin the first week of the Project Quilting Season 10 challenge.

When I saw the first challenge phrase, “Hope Springs Eternal“, I instantly thought of a photo my son & daughter-in-law sent us of our sweet little granddaughter looking up in awe as she “helped” decorate their Christmas tree.

Isn’t she a sweetie? She’s just between 1-1/2 & 2…So this is the first time she’s really enjoying the tree. And that look on her face ...

Please click on the title to read the full post.

Hi Everyone!

Happy New Year!

I discovered I had sold or given away many of my mid and small size pieces, so it’s time to add to the inventory for shows in the New Year.

So I have started a new needle felted landscape. The siren call of Hawaii still calls to me, and I must answer. I have many gorgeous photos of my trip to Kauai, and I plan to continue using them for inspiration. Here’s a gorgeous vista with a lighthouse.

There’s even a sea ...

I actually think this is the first time I write ‘2019’ anywhere, and it is already the 10th of January! Yes, it is here. It arrived quietly in our house where everyone went to bed around 10 ish. I was awake at midnight to send messages to my children spread all over the world, and to family in South Africa

The year started with us giving the lounge and computer room a good clean. We washed the carpets, washed windows, polished everything, the new curtains (which I bought early in 2018) went up. Rubbish into the rubbish bags. It looks ...

Happy New Year, everyone! It is time for a NEW round of the Finish-A-Long (FAL)!

As you can see, a new round of the Finish-A-Long is starting today. New logos (thank you so much, Marci), some new hosts (and some familiar ones), some new sponsors as well as some we have known for years now. Presumably we will have some new participants as well as many who have been taking part regularly for a long time...

So let's get to it!
You can now link up your list of projects that you want to finish in Quarter 1 of ...

I’ve been quilting since 2010 and have struggled with the small machine I have.  It’s doable, but there is a lot of pulling and tugging involved. Don’t get me wrong,...

Oh how I loved this pattern when I first saw it and I had the perfect collection of fabrics! The pattern is “Tribal  Influence” by Pamela Goecke, Aardvark Quilts. The fabric collection is David Butler’s Parson Gray Curious Nature plus a few other random fabrics in my stash that I threw in. Here it is in progress:

Yes, it was a lot of cutting and Yes, it was a lot of sewing. The almost completed quilt top sat in my closet for about two years and finally I pulled it out a week ago because I wanted it finished ...

I received these red, white and blue patriotic blocks blocks from sweet friend Melanie almost a year ago when I was looking for some patriotic orphan blocks to make another Quilt of Valor.  She thought they would make a wonderful quilt with the patriotic prints, but needed some help getting it finished, and was willing for them to go to a local veteran here.   I was involved with the Fire Quilt project at the time and I put them aside to assemble later.  They were in a bag with some patriotic scraps, and I forgot about them.  Then I needed ...

It's great to be able to bring you some good news!  Pam here, reporting from the action spot in downtown White Bear Lake!  This has been a wild and crazy period in so many ways!  Deciding to close a business, and then going through everything involved with that, is not a job for the faint of heart!  We have listened to your many supportive comments and concerns and wishes for Bear Patch to continue.  It really means a lot to us, but didn't change the fact that some of us are just itching to move on to the ...

Thinking back on last year, I immediately frown and wonder just what it was I actually did during the year that could hold some significance for me.

At first I was all like, ‘nahh. Nothing happened that could really hold up in a blog post, detailing my life in and around my sewing room!’

But then a simple scroll through my Instagram and all of a suddenly I have a hurried, messy scribble of a list detailing all of the wonderful events and creative pursuits I managed to fit into the year!

So, listing in chronological order, let’s review ...

I’ve recently done a few blog entries on color.  I really don’t know how I ever got on this…I don’t feel like I know a lot about it.  I just do what I do and I like how it turns out.

I first did a entry on sorting scraps.  Find that HERE.
Then I did an entry on selecting strings for string quilts.  Find that entry HERE.

The main thing that I’ve been saying is that I like to sort my fabrics into two categories…Ones that work well with white backgrounds and ones that ...