
I am a quilter - a retired widow living in the Nebraska Panhandle. I am surrounded by beautiful semi-arid ranch country, and treeless hills and fields under incredibly wide blue skies, located far from the upheaval found often in large towns or cities. I am blessed to have delicious time to quilt and to appreciate my peaceful moments in an unpeaceful world.
Saturday, May 13, 2023
All Day Sew Friends
Saturday, March 11, 2023
New Challenges
Wow - trying to find where my photos got downloaded is a new trial!
Winter was just plain demanding this year - SHOVELING was repeated too many times and sometimes it was called XXXX SHOVELING! I finished this "I Spy" quilt - it looks a lot like previous ones. This is for a great grandchild, now over 2 years old. Oh dear.
Monday, January 16, 2023
Latest kid QAYG. Batting squares aland backings were already cut and counted, kid-like prints were all in one place. Life is good. It went together in about one month.
A little closer. I made 4 blocks at a time, wanting each group of 4 to look similar to each other. There was NO effort to "matching" seams perfectly. This quilt was so much fun to make ... fun for ME! Each unit of 4 features at least one a cute kid print. Perfect for games with cousins, siblings, parents, grannies, etc. And some of the fabrics are from BLOGGERS!
Below ... Best thing since sliced bread. This gadget is often called a bias tape maker but I used regular SOGrain strips. There are 5 sizes in this purchase which was very affordable - I remember $8.00 for all. I LOVE a good tool. You simply slide the strip into the gadget, pull thru with a pin, and it comes out folded and you place your iron onto the newly folded strip. Each strip is DONE in a matter of seconds. I'm trying to invent new ways to use it! It was close to perfect each time, and even with a seam in the strip, the gadget only complained a bit and was simple to tidy up the seam area, and NO BURNED fingers. Then I sewed the strips down over the quilt's exposed seams, leaving neat, visible quilting strips on the front. Very quick, neat and tidy.
I've made a LOT of kid's QAYG quilts, LOVE the process, and am slowly learning which method is better for which reason. A person has to try many and decide for self. With this project. I used the same size of batting as the block and backing, which meant a lot of bulk in those corners on the back. Next time I will cut the batting smaller which will result in less bulk. I'm going to wash the quilt today to soften up that bulky joint.
Happy quilting everyone!
Sunday, January 08, 2023
I'm still here!
Sunday, October 09, 2022
Excuses, 3D Puzzles, Smart TV
I'm still here - just overactive - am feeling darned wonderful, energetic, going in too any directions at one time. Above is some playtime after picking up a bunch of strips from the Guild Free table. I laughed when found that many of the strips had a few inches off the ends. These Kaleidoscope blocks are surprisingly easy. Selecting similar values is a bit more fussy. Corners will have HSTs, medium light or medium dark. Some blocks, while beautiful, were too bright and bold, so were removed. My goal is 5 x 5, and each strip makes 2 whole blocks at this size.
A Log Cabin QOV. I'm MQ'ing dark threads or light. It's ending up kinda "fussy" for a QOV but will persevere. Size is 72" x 76"
At Christmas, a friend gave me this 3D puzzle, (note the curve), thinking I needed something to occupy myself. 8-)) Once I determined a system for sorting the numbered and excellently cut pieces, the assembly went along fairly quickly. This is an ingenious project and very well made.
My biggest time waster (??) is the dozens of channels now on my "Smart TV". When I bought the Smart TV, I had no idea what that meant. Canceling cable TV saved me a financial chunk every month. Grand-daughter who works with electronic gadgetry visited and suggested she include me on her "family plan" at no cost to me, so what could I do? - I said "great!" and she pushed a bunch of buttons, and voila - there it was, overload, but still great fun to learn it's intricasies.
Tuesday, September 06, 2022
Another "I Spy" quilt, ready for gifting