Decisions, Decisions

Confetti Blocks....

I have two choices....continue making Confetti Stars and make a Totally Confetti Star quilt. 
OR, design a quilt around what I have completed (42). 
I guess I have THREE choices...make a lap quilt.

I have plenty of lap quilts....THE WINNER IS ... design a quilt around what I have! 

The American Patchwork and Quilting 2024 Quilt-Along pattern was my inspiration.

Evening Glow.  You can read about it HERE.  (And buy the pattern.)

A quilt-along participant's example.  She did a great job!

Firing up EQ8* and digging deep into the memory banks, I deigned a similar quilt.

The Rendering from EQ8

The finished quilt will be big, 116" by 128".  With all the cold weather we've had of late, I've been wanting a larger quilt: one that hangs well-over the sides of the bed and doesn't fall off in the night with all my tossing-and-turning! 

My Progress So Far

 Doesn't look like much yet....

There are still 40 Confetti Starts (and 40 Setting blocks) to go.  The Hope was to have the top finished by the end of January....that goal has been adjusted...I hope to have all the blocks prepared by the end of the month.  I can live with that.

*Electric Quilt 8

Intervention

 ...I think I need one...."During an intervention, people gather together to face their loved one, talk about the effects of their addiction and ask them to accept treatment."

....or some other sewing related doo dad....

Am I addicted?  Yes, I suppose I am....I have way more projects than I can ever finish in a Month-of-Sundays
and yet I've added two more to the list.

So, here is what happens....on Friday nights (right after Zoom Ukulele Jam)  from 7:00 to 8:00 pm Central Time my friend, Cheryl Slaboda of Muppin's Sewing Emporium streams live on YouTube and FaceBook.  Each week she demonstrates some sort of needle craft like ruching or rouleau or making tiny strawberry pincushions.  It's always fun and interesting.

Well, one Friday evening it was all about these porcelain doll bodies used to make pincushions.  She gets these from all over, Germany, Japan, etc.  And who could resist!?  Obviously not me.  I rushed down to the shop the very next day!!

 

 

Yes, I got hooked...but I got a really good deal.

Watch the episode for the pincushion doll HERE.
(You can see at time stamp 46 where I caved....) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheryl is so creative and stocks unique items in her little shop in downtown Paducah.   Coming to the AQS Quilt Show in April?  Go see Cheryl!!
And notice this pattern was produced for Muppins,
Cheryl designed this Pincushion Doll Pattern herself!  She is a very talented lady.

Tune in on Friday night.   Click HERE to subscribe on YouTube.
See her shop HERE.

The other item I just could NOT resist....Steampunk Kitty by eQuilter.com.

The very first time I saw this panel last year I thought "it's King Louie!!!" 
But, I didn't buy it right then...I waited and I'm not kidding this panel sold out in ONE DAY!

Sometimes when eQuilter has a popular panel, they do a second print run...so I waited...and Waited...and WAITED.  Finally I emailed them and asked if they were going to do a second printing.  

To my amazement I received a very prompt reply*  and Yes, there would be a second printing in January, 2024.

As soon as it became available, I snapped one up.  

Not paying attention, the panel did turn out to be much bigger than I thought it would be.  Too big for a wall quilt at 36" X 44".   
So, it will be a lap quilt.  

 

Firing up EQ8** I designed a pattern.

 

It's been so long since I've done anything in EQ8, I'm amazed
I even remembered how to upload a picture of the panel and design interesting borders.
Finished Size 68.5" X 76.5"

You might remember the last Steampunk lap quilt I made. 
Aquatic Steampunk. Also from eQuilter.com A lap quilt for Sabrina, Christmas, 2021.  HERE

 Do you need a good idea for panels? 
eQuilter.com has a lot of FREE patterns.

 

 

I'd be a liar if I said "no more fabric, no more panels, no more fun sewing stuff until..." 
So, why even go there???  

There are two road trips in the works, one to Indiana with my sister and one to Texas with my Babes.
Perhaps there'll be some Quilt Shop stops along the way....So, who knows?

  * I have always had good customer service from eQuilter.com.
** Electric Quilt 8

The Tyranny of the Urgent

 

When I was in my 20's I worked at Campus Crusade for Christ* at Arrowhead Springs, their headquarters in the foothills of the Southern California mountains.  I think they have a good ministry, especially on college campuses.  But, back then, working at Headquarters, honestly, it felt like a big click.  It makes me chuckle now, we were young and oh-so serious.  

One of the click-ish things we did was read certain books...everybody read the same book.  At the time it was The Tyranny of the Urgent.  In a nutshell, as best as I can remember, it was nearly 50 years ago (wow...50 years!)...it was  a book is about things that feel Urgent  and may be stealing your time and keeping you from truly important things. Kind-of like "The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Gease" whether it's the main wheel or not.

 

As we wind down 2022 I'm feeling anxious and urgent....what must I finish before the end of the year?!   I want to finish something -- need to finish something -- end this year, 2022, on a positive note. 

And, so I did, well, almost.  Who knew anxiety would drive me back to the sewing studio.  I've left this quilt top in a good, positive place.  But it was NOT easy getting even this far...Jack and I have spent some quality time together lately....dontjaknow.  (Don't look too closely, let's just say "done is better than perfect.")

 

 

Hummmm....hastily thrown up on the design wall...this is NOT turning out the way EQ8 and I envisioned....oh, well.....it'll be perfect to the young lady who will receive it.  Of course, there will be many adjustments before the final layout is stitched together.

Reminder of the general idea of the layout.

 

Now I can fly off to California (leaving the chilly KY weather behind**) and spend time with The Babes.  

*Now called Cru  Arrowhead Springs Hotel history.  HERE

**In case you're not following Ryan Hall Y'all on YouTube....BIG arctic cold front moving down across most of the lower 48.

*** From the kitchen of "My 'ol Kentucky Duplex": French Onion Chicken Skillet HERE. This is a yummy chicken skillet. 
Served with roasted vegetables, it was a big hit with the Baby Sis and her D.H.

Designing Women

 

If you are not old enough to remember Designing Women, a weekly TV show from the early 1980's or if you ARE old enough but never watched the show....there are some episodes out there on the net. Funny, funny, funny.  If you need a good laugh....and they're clean.

The previous post about Remembering fired me up to take inventory of all the Row-by-Row row kits, patterns and license plates in my UFO stack.  The good news, not as many as I thought.  I don't feel so bad.  It was kind of fun going through all the patterns and license plates and Remembering all the shops. (A moment of silence for the 10 shops (out of 25) that are permanently closed.)

Next step....decide what to do with the kits and the plates. I found a nice design on Pinterest that uses the plates.

The Quilting Auntie and I zooming off on another quilt adventure.

So, now fire up EQ8* to make a quick design to determine how big to make the center and how much sashing fabric I'll need.  (Center 25" x 25".  Finished quilt 45" x 45"...unless I make changes along the way, as we Designing Women tend to do.) 
So far, still no trip to any Quilt Shop.

Finally, start arranging the pieces on the design wall....except both my design walls are already spoken for. 

As long as it is on the design wall I can pretend I'm actually making progress.

Long Time Gone
by Jen Kingwell
MUST get back to this.

Summer Soiree
Pat Sloan's Summer Sew Along 2021

Another design wall goes up in the hall outside the studio.

 

I'm liking it already.

Now there are three projects on three design walls....It's time for this Designing Woman to commence sewing!

 

*Electric Quilt 8

Worth the Money

My grandmother used to say "A penny saved is a penny earned." 

We all know quilting is NOT an inexpensive sport.  With the tools, fabric, all the different gadgets, etc. Then there are all the wonderful patterns! 

Patterns is the one place I try to save.  

The process might look something like: 
First see a pattern. say, on Facebook. 
Second, I Google to see if there is a free version somewhere. 
If not, Third,  Fire up EQ8* and try to design my own.

 

That is exactly what I did with Two Of A Kind.

 

The above quilt was posted on Facebook and I just really, REALLY liked it  So, I googled the pattern thinking this might make a good leaders & enders quilt (for the record, it's not a good leaders and enders quilt...too much thinking.)  
I didn't find a free pattern so I went to Step Two: Designing it in EQ8. 

It was a good refresher exercise and I was pretty proud of myself that I was able to figure it out!  Printing the pattern and the cutting diagram; I opened my shoe box of 5 inch squares and did a little test run. 

EQ8 is a designing tool and while you can print the pattern and the cutting details, EQ8 does not print instructions on how to assemble a block.  And that is where I got stuck.....darn, darn, and double darn.

It all started out oh-so-good.....Sitting on the floor....assembling the pieces on the design board
... it was fun, like putting together a puzzle. 

Sewing the block, however, was a problem....

 

 

You can see once you sew the pieces together, the block with three seams is now smaller than then block with only two seams.

 

 

The EQ8 cutting directions did not show the sub-cut, it only showed the cross cut. But for the pattern to fit together, I figured out I needed to sub-cut some.

 

 

Well, it was a fun evening all the same.  I did get some EQ8 practice in and I touched fabric. 
Some evenings that's all you need.

Where to go from here  Sometimes buying the pattern is worth every penny.  But, I haven't decided if I like it enough to go back and figure out what I did wrong, or buy the pattern, or what.  Heaven knows I don't need another project. 

 
To be continued.....maybe.....

*EQ8:  Electric Quilt 8

Let Me Count The Ways

How many different quilt sites are you following on Facebook?  I bet I follow a dozen, or more.  Some because I want to learn more about that designer, or technique.  Some because I just plain like them.  Here are a few of my favorites:

 

Sew Very Easy:  I LIKE this lady!  She is probably one of my most favorites.
Her YouTube videos are always informative and she has a nice voice, as well as beautiful hands!  A recent YouTube video is a tour of her sewing studio.  Watch it HERE.

 

 

 

Panel Quilts:  I'll admit, I do use panels.  Some are just too cute to pass up.  Some I use for quick baby quilts, such as the one I just finished last night. So, what do you do with a panel to cute-it-up? 
Lots of ideas here.

Here is a quilt I made for my great-niece in 2014, Olivia.  And I recently found this panel again by posting on this site and asking if anyone had it!  Surprise!  Not only did someone have it, she sent it to me FOR FREE!  Gotta love it!

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Quilt Enthusiasts:  Because scraps happen. When I was a little girl living in Southern California, we'd drive past this "disappearing mountain."  I was fascinated by its shrinking and the bulldozers working, moving "earth" around.  It was called Lime Mountain.  I learned it was part of a cement-making plant and Lime Mountain would eventually disappear altogether.  

Even though I've given away a mountain of scraps lately, unlike Lime Mountain
Mt. Scrapmore rebuilds itself!  More-and-more scraps by the minute!  Start here for ideas.

Speaking of scraps, Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Studio: Who hasn't been inspired by Bonnie Hunter?! Her website has TONS of free patterns and a new mystery quilt each year.  You've seen this one before;  completed by Charlotte-the-Tall a couple of years ago.  On Ringo Lake.  We teased Miss Charlotte to no end about the number of HST and flying geese she made for this quilt.

 

Getting Started - Quilting with Westalee Rulers:  Learning to free motion quilt has been on my bucket list for a long time.  I've been inspired by these rulers....haven't actually purchased any yet. 
Click HERE for a YouTube video.

 Jen Kingwell Designs and Gypsy Wife Quilt Group I liked the Gypsy Wife the very first time I saw it ... at a Desert Lily's Quilt Show in Yuma, AZ with the quilting Auntie.  I have the pattern, it is still on my UFO list ... one of these days....  

Truth be told, I like ALL Jen Kingwell patterns!

 

Quilting Free Patterns: What more needs to be said.... FREE pretty much says it all. 
Plus I do get inspiration.

Here is a log cabin from this site that I really, really like. 
I love the colors.

Even though I could figure out the pattern  and color placement with EQ8*, it's nice to have someone do the heavy thinking for me.

 

Click Here for the pattern. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last, but certainly not least, Quilt Along with Pat Sloan: If you like L-O-T-S of content, this is the site for you.  Lots of questions, lots of patterns.  

Pat, herself, reads these posts and often answers.  Hats off to her!

I could go on...but, truly, there is no end.  Check out some of these. 
You may pick up a new skill or even a new favorite.

*Electric Quilt 8

 

Back To Our Roots

Growing up in a large-ish family, a fun, cheap weekend-day would be a drive in the country.  

Especially if my dad was the parent-on-duty.

He would pile us all in the station wagon and off we would go.  One of the most-fun games we would play.... daddy would put the back seats down, we would put one of my great-grand mothers quilts down and we would all sit way in the back, way back by the back window.  Daddy would race up on a stop sign and slam on the breaks and we'd all zoom forward....hitting the back of the front seat!  We'd laugh and laugh  " ...do it again...!!!! "  " ...do it again...!!!! "

This past Saturday Miss Nancy and I took a drive in the country.  We headed out to the desert.

In the city of Palm Desert is a VERY nice shop, Monica's Quilt and Bead.

It is a very nice-size shop with a lot of fabrics and lots inspiration hanging on the walls.

 Miss Nancy purchased fabric for her current quilt.  She is going to add sashing to these blocks.

This is the rendition of Miss Nancy's quilt from Electric Quilt 8. 

I purchased fabric for one of the Christmas Quilts.

 

 My grandsons both play football....the oldest one L O V E S  the Oregon Ducks.

His goal is to play football for the University of Oregon.

We concluded our afternoon in Palm Desert with yummy fish tacos and then headed home.  

Road trips to the country are still fun.

FREE! Is a Very Good Price

When I was a little girl my grandparents use to say "We cannot afford it, we are on a fixed income."  As a working adult I chuckle because aren't we all on a fixed income?  We only have so much money in the till to pay for all the necessities in life.

And yet... don't you just want every single quilt pattern you see?  I know I do. The reality is there just are not enough shekels in the budget to purchase all these lovlies and still pay the rent.




As I cruse around the internet I run into web sites and blogs that offer FREE patterns!  Such a deal!
Here are a few:

Apron pattern from All People Quilt

All People Quilt:  This was the very first site I found when I started quilting about 10 years ago.  This site is a wealth of information on all types of sewing.  I found an apron pattern I still use to this day.



Quilted Twins:  (Requires that you sign up for their newsletter)
If you are committed to sewing up your scraps and crumbs, there are a lot of scrap quilts on this site. 


Nancy Mahoney

Patchwork Square:  They offer a lot of free block patterns.
If you are an EQ* user you'll get a lot of inspiration from this site.

Andover Fabrics

Threadbare Creations:  Look for Bonita Bunny.
She is so cute...and she's free! (I downloaded her just today.)

Sew Can She:  This has to be one of my favorites.  Lots of free patterns, and not just for quilts or quilt blocks.

Jordan Fabrics

Last-but-not-least, Missouri Star Quilt Company.
She has so many tutorials on YouTube!  Will keep you in free quilt patters for years!

The list could go on-and-one but I think these sites are enough to get you started on your treasure hunt.





*Electric Quilt

Update from The Studio

Two months into 2020 and the sewing machines in The Studio are a smokin!

Our little band of quilters, The Needlers, meet every Tuesday night in the Mezzanine Room of my apartment building.

We are blessed to have this room.  We can leave our projects and quilt junk...ah...stuff  all spread out while we are creating.  It is fun to get together and laugh and gossip while we sew.

We've even double-dated with Jack (the ripper).

Miss Nancy sewing away.
  Charlotte-the-Tall planning her next project.

Two of us, Miss Nancy and myself, use the room nearly every day.
Right this moment it is pretty messy as she and I both are in the middle of big projects.

My Space

Nancy's space.

We sit facing each other so we can make funny faces...

My goal for Christmas 2020 is six lap quilts for my son and his family.

And if no one in the family decides to have a baby this year, I'll make it. 

I'm well into piecing the first top.

Log Cabin using scrap strips
 Designed in EQ8* and paper pieced

Nancy is creating a queen-size quilt for her and Mr. Nancy's bed.

Kindred Pinwheel from Missouri Star.
Click HERE to watch the tutorial.

Our final member, Miss Kate, is entertaining company from out of town...her cousins, "The Marys." She is always good for a laugh and we miss her when she cannot join us.

Honorable Mention....Miss Wanda.  She has moved.  Her spot sits empty because no one can replace her. (She is close by and we do visit, but she is unable to attend Tuesday nights.)

If you don't sew with a group, it is well worth making the effort to either start one or join one.  Many quilt shops have what Orange Quilt Bee calls Fuzzy Slipper Night or Cozy Quilts' BYOP Sit-N-Sew.**  My Portland friend, Miss Susan, hosts Quilt 'til you Wilt one Thursday a month.

Sewing with a group is so much fun and truth-be-told most of us could use a little fun

(especially free-or-inexpensive fun) in our lives.

*EQ8 = Electric Quilt 8
 **Orange Quilt Bee and Cozy Quilts are both Southern California shops.