What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

LOL --- take a break? The demos weren't supposed to go for an entire hour, but you know me! I also had something else on my mind that stressed me out on Sunday, but a day later, after saying it out loud a couple of times, I'm over it. I can't stress about things that happened in the past that I can't control.

I admit that I made a goof (no harm done, no one got hurt) and life goes on. In the past, I would dwell on that for days, but now? What's the point ...

OK—the purple rotary cutter has found a new home, and not the person I envisioned, but they worked it out in the comments. Yeah!!!!

The fun in the Quiltmaker magazines doesn't end!!! 

Here are some fun facts for anyone who wants to know what life was like when quilting started to become popular again. Those marketers were at it from the beginning! These pictures are from the July/August 1994 issue. 

Actually, the whole thing started way before the magazines did. Bonnie Lehman started selling quilt patterns and plastic templates by mail in 1968. Then, in the 70s ...

Pepper on cottage cheese? OK -- I must try that. I'm away this coming week (AGAIN!), but I'll try it when I get home. I still have two road trips before the end of the year and one and perhaps two plane trips. Wait -- and a weekend quilt retreat. It's going to be silly. 

PHEW -- both presentations are done for this morning. I swear it's amassing my photos for the darn things that can take so long. Thankfully, I have a very good filing system for my pictures - NOT perfect by any means, but not bad. But ...

I'm so glad to see that it wasn't just me who saved their autograph book. I wish I had more autographs, but I wasn't the most popular girl at school, and being painfully shy, I wasn't about to ask people to write in the book. 

I was going to say that those books can likely be tossed upon our death. But WAIT --- I would hope that M would value the handwritten notes from the family at least. Maybe not my friends, but family? I'm not sure that my mom or dad wrote in it, but ...

 I've been so busy actually quilting things for folks that I haven't had time to share with you how it's going. The short answer is, "It's going great!" I'm still building my long arm quilting business and getting the word out to folks that I'm doing long arm quilting now, but I'm happy with how it's going so far. I'm not swamped with quilts to do for customers, but I am getting a few each week. So it's manageable!

The first quilt I have to share was made by Sherrie ...

I love it when you share!

Charlene made this striking version of Calico Rose.

Sandy built this 100-patch quilt. And I love that bedframe!

Mary Q. made the cheerful version of Stutter Steps. She was particularly pleased that the math worked out and it was 36″ square when finished.

Mary Q. also made her version of the 100-patch quilt. So much fun!

Cheryl made this stunning Film at Five for her niece. I love the way the center patches are pieced.

Mary made this astonishing version of Irish Stars and entered it into a quilt show.

Marilyn made this baby ...

 Nancy has her version of our Wild Stallions kit completely finished! We have two more kits left and not enough of the fabrics to make up more kits. We do still have some of the fabrics on the bolt and have a few more of the panels left in stock.

Note that Nancy opted to get extra fabric and the border print (which we are sold out of) to make a larger version of our kit. If you want to make a larger version like Nancy I suggest you substitute the all-over horse print for the border print. It's ...

 I have been sewing like crazy over here but not able to share any of it yet. It will be a few more weeks before I'm able to share. So how about some customer show and tell.

First up is Linda C.'s Birds in Toyland quilt. This quilt is from a book called Birds in Toyland from the Piece 'O Cake ladies.

Next we have Susan W.'s completed Accidental Landscape class project.

I really love the beaded flowers she added in the bottom corner!

Debbie E. was given some special shirts and asked to make a quilt ...

 I haven't shared any customer projects recently. These were all made by the same person, Nancy C.

First one of several Twister quilts Nancy made recently.

Nancy took a class at my shop on the Twister ruler and loved the technique. She had me order all of the various sizes of these rulers for her and she has made several quilts with them.

This is Nancy's second Potato Chip quilt. (The link will take you to the free tutorial I wrote for this block). For this one she used a stack of hand-dyed fabrics she dyed years ago ...

Since I took a break from blogging during the Pandemic, I missed sharing some of my finishes with you, so I decided to have a little Baby Quilts Show and Tell.

In 2018 I started making a few baby quilts to put back for the great-grands, and only got two finished.  

These two were made from a Hushabye Hollow layer cake from Moda.

Last year ...

 One of my customers, Corky P., found this adorable turkey pattern online and has been making some. 

The block pattern was from a quilt along. If you want to get the pattern it is available from the designer as a PDF download for only $3.50.

Postage Stamp Turkey Block

Corky is turning these into table runners for family members. Below is the first one she has finished.

 Missy gets a lot done! Recently she stopped into the shop to get some backing and binding fabrics for these projects.

Autumn Art Panel Pillows:

 One of my customers, Corky, has been making dinosaur quilts. She found a pattern online, Dinosaur Quilt.

Corky is currently visiting family in Alamosa and she is staying in an RV with limited space. She brought both of these quilts into the shop to use our classroom area to baste the quilts together with their backing and batting so she can quilt them while she is here. All of the fabrics used for both of these she purchased from ...

 I have two beauties to share with you today.

First from Linda C.

Linda does beautiful needle-turn hand applique! If you look closely you can tell that she did a lot of hand embroidery accents too. Linda didn't tell me the name of the pattern she used or if she made it up herself.

Next is from a new quilter, Lori C.G.

Lori is a new customer and a new sewist. A few weeks ago she took a raggy row class at the shop and recently she took our Basic Landscape class. Even a beginner can make a ...

 Cynthia C. purchased this adorable panel at another shop on her travels. The border fabrics came from this shop. She has embroidered some of the elements on the panel.

The photos below show some close-ups of the hand embroidery she has done.

Cynthia is my newest employee. She's been working at the shop about 7 months now. She is eager to try just about any type of sewing. She's done some hand embroidery before but just recently picked it back up again and is enjoying it.

 I'm sorry I dropped off this week. I came down with COVID and was out of commission for a bit as a result. Doing much better now but still not back to work. The photos I am going to share with you today I took before I got sick. I have been stuck at home since June 12th so these were taken before then.

The above quilt was made by Nancy C. She took the first run of Donelle McAdams' Westalee ruler quilting class called "... And Beyond!" The class is still available in reruns. Click the following link to ...

 Peggy purchased the fabrics and pattern for this beauty from my shop last summer.

The pattern is a Villa Rosa Designs pattern called Fernanda. The fabrics are Whispering Pines from Northcott. These fabrics sold out really fast after they arrived, about 3 weeks. The same designer has a new collection that is very similar to this one coming out. I have received the shop sample I ordered, but the fabric hasn't come yet. It's called Soar and is just as gorgeous as this collection. I'll share it with you here when it arrives.

This is Lynn R ...

 Sue R. stopped in recently to share these cute blocks her elementary school kids made.

They read the books and then each child made their own nine patch block using scrap fabric Sue provided. Some kids were more into the project than others, but they all did fabulous!

On a personal note, I'd like to wish a happy birthday to this guy.