🎵Feelings .... Nothing More But Feelings🎵

 

 

 

Weren't we just here?  
New Years Day?  

Feels like I blinked and an entire year disappeared.

 

Feels like I did not accomplish much in 2025.

 

 

Feels like 2025 was not a very successful year in the studio so I listed all my accomplishments.

Don't go by Feelings....Letting go of what is behind and looking ahead. 

 

Tick, Tick, Tick

 

What a crazy-looking clock....

What a crazy year it has been.... 

 

And now it is over...

 

Time to let all the unfinished words that never made it to the blog and all unfinished projects settle down and begin again in 2026.

 

 

 

Having Sewing Machine, Will Travel

No sooner did November get started then it ended....I blinked and it was December.  I had all kinds of plans for November, but they went by-the-by. 

It's becoming my Thanksgiving tradition to travel to Seattle to visit my daughter.  This year she had a special request: 
"Mom, Help me make a memory t-shirt quilt with dad's t-shirts."  So that's what we did.

I may not have even looked at my November UFOs, but we did get a quilt top pieced (still needs borders and quilting, etc. to get it finished.)

 

 

 

Traveling with Miss Ellie (1951 Singer Featherweight.)

She was only dusted for bomb dust once. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miss Annie-Banannie (my love name for Ana) learning to sew.    
She's a knitter and a cross-stitcher...now she's a sewist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From This To This.

 

 

 

 

A Work of Love.

 

 

 

Ana and Her Dad, Ed.

 

 

Give Thanks With a Grateful Heart

 

 

 

It is time to stop and Give Thanks.

 

 

I'm pondering this past year, that has flown by so quickly, and I am reminded how blessed I am.  
All-in-all, it has been a good year. I'm healthy and I have all I need for life and happiness.  

 

 

Considering I didn't sew even ONE stitch on either of last month's projects....I'm not even kidding.... I seriously considered just giving up on the UFO lists for this year and regroup in 2026.   But, I decided to plug on ahead.  I still have two months and now that the weather is turning cold, thus staying indoors more, I think I can make some progress.

The APQ  UFO Number is 3  and the
River's Edge UFO Letter is "J" 

APQ's:  November's number is 3.  Stirling's Applique Car quilt, Road Trip.  This was originally on the list for April...
click HERE.   I had to go back and see why it didn't get finished then...oh, that's right...a Tornado and a case of hives....that'll put a crimp in anyone's plans.

 It actually looks like fun and I like applique.  Imagine Sterling's face when he sees it!

 

 

 

I'm going to get all the fabric together TODAY! 
Picking fabric is the hardest part for me. 

 

River's Edge:  November's Letter is "J" .  Summer Soiree, a Quilt-Along by Pat Sloan.  As UFOs go, this one is not too old...started in 2021. (It has come up on a UFO list only 4 times....hardly even worth calling a UFO.)

This could be an easy finish...I just need two blocks, then assemble.  AND, it would be a good project to try QAYG*.   Remember Pauline Rogers from Australia?  Remember I paid good money to buy her whole QAYG kit?  

NOW is the time and THIS is the project!! 

  

 

 

All my fabrics are ready to go.  There are four projects on this table....Let's dive in!!!

 

 

*QAYG = Quilt As You Go 

Zipped

 

 

 

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah  

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Zip Line

 

(Auntie Nyla in Jamaica some years back.)

  

 

 

  

 

Zippered up

 

  

 

 

 

 

  

That is exactly what happened to October...it zipped on by!  HOW?! 

And, what do I have to show for it?  ZIP!!  
Well, I did give the studio a good dusting after I finished Ana's pull-over, but that is it for the whole month!!

...Bob Bob Bobbin Along

 

 

 

 

Click HERE for a happy tune! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in April, at the AQS Paducah Quilt show, I purchased prewound bobbins.  
Well, I'm here to tell you THEY ARE A GAME CHANGER!!  
So far I LOVE THEM!!

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the time I sew on a Janome 5200.  These bobbins work perfectly!  I've been told not all machines can use prewound bobbins, so, you'll have to decide whether or not to try them.  This package was $30 and that is not an insignificant amount of money for a TRY.   Honestly though, I'm glad I took the chance.

But Wait, there's MORE!!! (This line is from a song I used to sing with my kids, "Bats in my Belfry."  HERE)

Prewound bobbins for Miss Ellie!  YES!!  Purchased from The Featherweight Shop, they are flawless in my 1951 Featherweight!   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I'm about to make a blasphemous statement... This Wonderfil Efina Cotton thread is so, SEW nice!  (Sorry, Auntie Nyla.)

My Quilting Auntie, Nyla had her ideas about quilting.  As far as she was concerned HER ideas were the ONLY way to do things.  And, in her mind Aurifil thread was THE ONLY thread to use when quilting.

Well, I think Wonderfil just might give Aurifil a run for their money. 

As any Featherweight owner will tell you, as cute as these machines are, the bobbin area can be temperamental.  This thread - prewound bobbin combination was absolutely PURRRRRFFFECT!

Miss Ellie hummed along with NO bobbin thread tangles or breaks or skipped stitches.  I'm in LOVE!!

I took a chance on these Featherweight prewound bobbins because I trust The Featherweight Shop.
Find them HERE.  Had I seen these "in the wild" I may have passed them by.  But, I'm hooked now!

My only niggling thought is the waste....the empty bobbin....you just toss 'em in the trash.  I was told that the bobbins are good quality and can be reused, but if I jump over to the prewound side, why would I need so many empty bobbins?  I would like to send them back to Wonderfil to be reused.  (I know it's a teeny, tiny piece going to the landfill....but it all adds up...) 

 Give prewound bobbins a try!  You just might fall in Love!! 

And Sew It Begins

 

Hard to believe, but here it is .... The Beginning of the End of 2025!  It is just a couple of weeks to Halloween 👻, followed very quickly by Thanksgiving 🦃and right on November's heals is CHRISTMAS 🎅!!!

And, October is getting off to a slow start.

While I've lost some momentum in completing UFOs, I am still plugging away.
Here is the lineup for October.

The APQ  UFO Number is 2 and the
River's Edge UFO Letter is "F" 

APQ's:  October's number is 9.

Cat Panels:  I have three cat panels, per se and a set of six cat blocks.

 

 

I remember buying this book and making these blocks.  What I don't remember is what year that was.
I remember I was with Aunt Nyla and we were at a quilt show.... 

 

Uncle Neil (Auntie's Husband) painted the faces.

 

 

 

I also have these three CAT panels...wonder if I can combine them into one something??? 

Lou is checking them out.

We shall see how the month progresses.  I have two quilt tops done now that need quilting and binding.  
Two finished is better than one more started, right? 

River's Edge:  October's Letter is " F ".

A Box-O-Random Blocks.  Left over blocks from past projects or "just because."   They could be assembled into a quilt.  I saw a video on this quite a while back....Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts.  Click HERE to watch the video.

 

Again, I would not bet the farm that this will happen NOW, so late in the year.  I'd rather go back and "mop up" some of the others started this year and not yet finished.  This would be a good one to start with in January! 

 AND the Prototype for Ana's pull-over shirt is done....finally.

It does not hang well on the hanger.

 

     I'm really happy I made a "draft" of the 
     real thing....I'm rusty in clothes construction. 

     I do now feel more confident cutting into 
     the "expensive" piece of fabric we bought
     LAST Thanksgiving.

     One Year, that's not too long to be on a UFO list. 

     It was mailed off to her today to try on and
     give me feed back as to what should be changed. 

 There you have it....October has begun.