Assume the Position

Oh my, NOT a pretty picture! If you quilt your own projects then you know about this position for sandwiching your quilt. I use a bit of spray baste, then pin. First, move the furniture, then think ahead to make sure all my equipment is down there on the floor with me. Heaven help me if the job requires getting up and down more than once. I'm getting too crotchety to be doing this. I can hear my knees cracking, groaning, and when it's all over, persuading my body parts to get back into their working order takes some encouragement.

I DO have a great table but it's not large enough for a large quilt. I've considered something large in the garage that drops down from the ceiling, but hey, it's ZERO out there right now. Hand or machine quilting - not decided yet.

On the plus side, how many calories do you think this uses?

I HAVE learned NOT to attempt this job after having a full meal.


Quilt Guild tomorrow - yeah! Then back to my Strips that Sizzle project.

Message to Myself

I am following my own good advice once previously quoted from quilter Margaret Miller (although somewhere I can hear my Mother saying the same thing). And, as it just so happens, I am currently working on one of her (Margaret Miller's) ideas. This is about moving, staying motivated, maintaining mental energy, enthusiasm. OK, so there are days when our get-up-and-go, has gone-up-and-went, and it's a mystery how to how to pull up our get-along.

Margaret said: "Don't wait for inspiration to start something ... start something and you will get inspired."

Thank You, and Better than Cheesecake!

First, Thank You, to Morah/Marla of Fat Quarters for ... oh, she knows for what!


Next, Thank You to Wanda of Exhuberant Color for an added boost to get me started on this kind of a quilt. I've been drooling over Margaret Miller's strip designs for many years, had her book for 8, and one day I noticed Wanda's name on one of the most gorgeous quilts in her book - the quilt I'd been slobbering over for YEARS! Who woulda guessed that the maker of that quilt, Wanda, was right here on my Bloglines?


Putting these colors/values together IS better than cheesecake! And Wanda was right - the hardest part is digging through the pile of strips, all wormed together!

Let's all be kind to each other, speak gently and generously, and keep each other strong. You never know when your words will carry someone through a hard day.

My version of Star Struck

I've finished another "Bonnie" project - at least this top is finished. The stars are on point, and the quilt top is 72 x 82 inches. I was pleasantly surprised to find this quilt went together very accurately, despite my occasional ... uhhhmmmm ... casual sewing. Try it - you'll like it!

NO shirts were hurt during the making of this quilt top. I HAD shirtings (thanks Keepsake Catalog) and also a lot of blues from my stash. (My REAL shirts are under one of the beds, somewhere here.)

Total purchases for this quilt top was one quarter yard that I ended up not using.

The border? LOVE those teensy triangles -- bonus pieces (1 inch finished) from all the quick corners in the quilt. (I also have a bunch of finished RED teensy one-inch triangles, put away for another time.) They 'neaten' up the project, don't they?


I may hand quilt this one, but it's finished to this point. Thanks Bonnie!

Now, on another subject, I have decided, in 2008, to track all my quilting costs - a daunting process to actually face the truth, but I've started an Excel spreadsheet, and every single penny spent on any aspect of sewing/quilting/fabric goes on that spreadsheet. This idea came from Judy Laquidara. I also decided to add each amount of fabric IN, vs. each amount of fabric OUT (or done). If any of you can suggest how much fabric is "in" a certain size quilt top, please feel free to comment. I'm guessing Baby Quilt Top = about 2 yards. Lap Quilt = about 5 yards. After that, no guess at all! OK, backings are pretty easy. Believe it or not, I HAVE definitely seen a slight reduction in my stash - at least most of the fabric drawers actually close, but I've also moved a lot to under-the-bed storage boxes, so maybe I'm fooling myself.

Three nice little quilts went to Project Linus, so they are OUT THE DOOR! YEAH for me, and YEAH for nice gifts to children.

Ya wanna drink?

I don't have a finished quilt-y project so I will tell you a story - it might help someone else have better days.

This is about drinking – yeppers, drinking water.

Years ago, as a relatively young woman in my 40s, I suffered a number of Emergency Room visits with unexplained severe abdominal cramping, pains. Hours later, each time, I was released, with no explanation, no solution. It would eventually “go away”. In those days, we didn’t endure a gazillion medical tests.

I am the type of person who will forget everything else, when I get my ‘teeth’ into a project. If you’ve read my blog recently, I spoke about riding my bicycle in the mountains. I am enthusiastic, but NOT very physically fit.

My bike was a gorgeous mountain bike, 27 gears, good for all terrains, but not a light weight. I had gathered courage to join a 20-mile bike trek, and we were going to meet at one location, and head off, through hill and dale, in June. I was an ignorant newbie.

As soon as I unloaded my bike, I knew I was in trouble. The girls did NOT wear makeup - I think they were girls – all the participants had buns of steel and legs like trees. No cellulite except when I looked down at my own generous limbs. Everyone’s helmets were swoopy shaped things, designed like jet airplanes - mine was purchased at a garage sale. And their bikes? English racers, that probably weighed 4 pounds. I carried cookies in my fanny pack - they carried air pumps and water bottles and spare tires, Gatorade, compasses, their bikes had speedometers, rear-view mirrors, oh yes, and everyone wore Spandex! ( humpffff -- I WAS wearing my Spandex!) Oh well, I’m foolish and brave, and off we all went.

There WAS a safety pickup truck following us, with a uhhh .... generous-sized woman driving - definitely NOT qualified as physically fit! She didn’t have many teeth, and her hair hadn't been washed in a month I think -- and frankly I was too snooty to consider she would be my new best friend!

I pedaled my best but after 13 miles, in last place most of the time, I had to admit defeat, and she kindly picked me up – her first and only passenger. We chit-chatted about one thing and another, and I told her my malady of the unexplained abdominal cramping. Her immediate response, “Well darlin’ (this was in Tennessee) y’all need to drink more water!”

I had spent hundreds of dollars at a good-sized medical facility and the physicians had NOT solved my problem, but here this unexpected connection proved to have the solution to my unexplained medical issues. Since then, I’ve gotten ‘in trouble’ occasionally, only to find the problem dissipate when I drank more water. I frequently forget to drink, so now keep a daily log of water consumption, and have discovered an even more amazing thing. The days when I wake up listless, tired, weary, etc., are the days when I have not had enough water. And the days when I am at my best, most energetic, happiest, best frame of mind, most alert, are the days when I have drunk a LOT (64 oz.) of water.

We all hear we should drink more, but many of us tend not to pay attention, and our physicians don’t necessarily point this out to us. Maybe my story might help someone else.

From Mother Elaine Adair

New Beginnings for 2008

I've oogled and slobbered over this book by Margaret Miller for about 8 years, and one day I noticed that a fellow blogger, was the maker of one of the featured quilts. Wanda of Exhuberant Color (hope I get this link thing to work right) kindly offered to lend her expertise to help me try something new. I DO like string quilts, and have made various versions of these Sizzling Strip blocks, although not using her technique at the time. Almost ALL of these fabrics were in my stash. Yesterday, per Wanda's suggestion, I filled in some blanks with 5 more pieces, to give me an array in two colorways.

Now to gather the courage to actually START it! LOL - and I must add, I DO have an almost-finshed quilt top on the living room floor, nearing completion, so first things first.

Next subject ... does anyone out there use the Jodi Barrow's Square-in-a-Square method? I have to hand it to that gal, she has her own method of putting blocks together, and I like some of them for accuracy.

This little quilt on the bear on the left was done with her method and the corners are exact and precise without tedious matching. This is an excellent method for a quilt with small pieces, especially if you don't like paper piecing. I've watched her videos for years, and it takes a while for a 'regular' quilter to understand the approach, but I'm sold on some of her methods.

I would be interested in hearing about your experience with her methods.