2019 BLOG challenge - Day 31, 2020 Goals

1. Complete baby quilt for Elin
2. Complete quilting on Halloween wall quilt
3. complete sleeves and labels for 2 quilts for March quilt show
4. Dr. Who mini quilt to donate to Dallas Quilt Show auction
5.. complete quilt as you go Westalee quilt
6. Bonnie Hunter Frolic mystery quilt
7. create design for Tropical rain forest blocks; assemble & piece quilt; arrange for quilting
8. create design for Hat Shop blocks; assemble & piece quilt; arrange for quilting
9. yellow green orange UFO star sampler quilt - complete remaining 8 blocks, etc.
10. black & white thicket quilt
11. vintage applique children's quilt - decide on layout & fabrics; piece, etc.
12. various non-quilting sewing projects for new granddaughters
13. make a fabric purse
14. turtle mosaic mini quilt
15. Lori Holt vintage Christma quilt
16. fall fabric quilt (use some brown!)
17. downsize my quilt book collection by 10%
18. donate some stash at next quilt retreat to the 'share' table
19. design a quilt for remaining "terms of endearment" blocks
20. French general quilt

My 2019 best reads

President Obama published his 2019 list of books yesterday, and I have read a few on his list, but his selections will go on my wish list for 2020.

I have organized my 2019 top 10 reads in 4 categories: literary fiction, nonfiction, mystery, and classics I have should have read long ago!

A. Literary fiction 
1. The Overstory, Richard Powers
2. Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Kate Atkinson
3. There, There, Tommy Orange
4. Eleanor Oliphant is Fine
5. An American Marriage
6. Sacre Blue, Christopher Moore
7. In Sunlight and in Shadow, M. Halprin (post WW2 love story set in NYC).
8. The Song of Achilles
9. Washington Black
10. Before We Were Yours
11. Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen, Bird
12. The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion, Fannie Flagg

B. Nonfiction
1. Becoming, Michelle Obama (her childhood memories and her legal career balancing with a marriage and children coincided with the time periods of my childhood and legal practice, so I found it fascinating over and above the Presidential history aspects)
2. An Odyssey:  A Father, a Son and an Empire
3. On Power, Robert Caro (an audible original interview with Mr. Caro; highlights from his research on Robert Moses and LBJ)
4. At Home, Bill Bryson (Bryson is always fascinating; here he explores each aspect of his 19th century English home and uses each room as a hook to explore the history of the home "technology"). .  History of the toilet, for example
5. I'll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara (Golden State serial killer)
6. Shortest Way Home, Pete Buttegieg  (interesting memoir regardless of politics)
7. When Breath Becomes Air
8. The Boy Who was Raised as a Dog (interesting case histories of childhood trauma and effective therapies)
9. the Rise and Fall of British Empire, part 1 (Great Courses audiobook)
10. The British are Coming, R. Atkinson (only partly way through)

C. Mysteries
1. Big Sky, Kate Atkinson (a new Jackson Brodie adventure)
2. the Silent Patient
3. McBeth, Jo Nesbo
4. the Sentry, Robert Crais
5. Where the Crawdads Sing
6. The Girl in the Spider's Web
7. Neon prey, J. Sandford
8. The Dispatcher, J. Salzi (Audible Original)
9. Dead Low Tide, John MacDonald
10. In the Woods, Tana French
11. Bloody Genius, Sandford

D. Classics I Should Have Read before now, or that I re-read this year, no particular order
1. Neil Gaiman young adult fiction: The Sleeper and the Spindle, Odd and the Frost Giants, Hearts, Keys and Puppetry, The Graveyard Book
2. Pudd'nhead Wilson, Mark Twain
3. The Canterbury Tales
4. Foundation, I. Asimov
5. Mythology, bullfinch
6. Antony & Cleopatra
7. Around the World in 80 Days
8. All My Sons, Arthur Miller

9. The Human Comedy, Saroyan

10. Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut

11. Treasure Island, Stevenson

12. Tender is the Night, Fitzgerald

13. True West, Sam Shepherd (Audible original)

Disappointing, not worth the hype:

In a Dark Wood;

Lethal White (Galbreath) - way overwritten

Beggars in Spain, Kress (too many dystopian concepts together)

Past Tense, Lee Child (revisiting Reacher's home town was interesting but the "danger" premise was unbelievable and ugly)

39 Years of Short-Term Memory Loss, Tom Davis (writer for early SNL; his drug use and screw ups were interesting but very sad)

The Silk Roads - it was more about European history and not enough about the stuff I didn't know -- middle eastern history and Asian history

The Art of Deception, Ridley Pearson  (early work, predictable)

The Mystery of Alice (audible original - YA fiction - awful)

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 30 - My First 2020 Project

My first 2020 project is a baby quilt for my granddaughter Elin.  My son and his darling wife like modern quilt style and asked for a quilt without a baby theme.  They gave me several references on Pinterest, and I picked this Tiny Tiles version.
There are 120 5.5 inch blocks with little triangles at each corner.  the pattern is supposed to be totally random, but I set an arbitrary rule of not repeating a color in any block, and I mostly did not repeat colors at a corner. I have completed all the blocks and have sewed together 8 of the twelve rows.  Then I will sew the rows together.  The pattern has simple diamond quilting pattern echoing the little diamond corners, so I think I will quilt this myself.
Here is my layout before sewing, laid out on a bed.  the final layout will be slightly different, because my cat decided to burrow under the covers before I had a chance to gather the blocks in an organized fashion.

The back will be mostly white, but I found this wonderful Sarah Jane fabric when I was buying the solids for this project, and it will be the bottom border of the quilt on the back.  I'm toying with a large applique of a balloon at the top of the back with Elin's name embroidered on it, with the string trailing down to the print. 

This is the free online pattern I am using: https://www.purlsoho.com/create/2015/06/08/tiny-tile-quilt/

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 29 - Latest Project

My latest project is a baby quilt for my new granddaughter Oriana, based on blocks from four of Elizabeth Hartman's patterns.  I used Forest Friends, the Bear, Desert critters, and the turtle from the Ocean pattern.  The individual blocks had their own challenges, but the challenge was figuring out the layout and sashing to pull it all together.  I tried using a graph design to figure it out, but it ended up being more of a trial, error, rip out, re-cut, and resew effort. Patience was key! The name of the quilt is Oriana's Animals.  Maria Hall did the quilting.

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 28 - Skill I want to improve

I would like to learn and improve free motion quilting.  I think I've figured out the critical settings for my machine. I also now have a sew steady table and the smooth mat, so all those things should help. Now I need to practice!  The online videos are very helpful.

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 27 - Techniques to try

1. Quilt as You go (I have finished 9 quilt as you go large squares as a part of a Westalee rulers class, so my next step is the sashing and assembly.
2. needle turn applique
3. fabric painting
4. thread painting
5. make a bed runner
6. free motion quilting
7. machine embroidery on baby clothes, importing and editing graphics with Embrilliance
8. improving my hand quilting
9. sashiko embroidery

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 26 - what is your favorite sewing foot.

My right foot; I'm very right oriented.

LOL!


No, seriously I mostly use my Pfaff quarter inch foot, and the clear applique foot when I applique.

2019 blog challenge - day 25 - show us your scraps

First, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all who celebrate other holidays.
Our day was lovely with presents with our daughter, son-in-law, and new granddaughter, and lovely meals. remarkably warm weather for Indiana at this time of year.
I gave the completed Elizabeth Hartman-based quilt to our granddaughter, and it was a big hit!

I don't have a good photo of my scraps because my of my sewing stuff and fabric is at our Dallas house.  I only brought specific projects to Indiana, and haven't finished enough to have scraps (but there are a few).

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 24

state of my worktable.
(I got behind because Christmas and travel and no access to my computer while traveling).

My worktable has my Pfaff and my Janome embroidery machine on it, packets of blocks in progress for a baby quilt, my handquilting project, and various tools.  Hope to get back to it on the 30th.

2019 blog Challenge - Day 23 - Prewash!

Yes, Prewash.
I was somewhat an agnostic on this topic until I had a completed quilt almost ruined by some red blocks than ran when I washed it. This I-spy quilt was made for my grand niece, and I had the I-spy squares grouped by color, so there was a large nine-patch (with a center white) square, composed of red novelty fabrics, and surrounded by white sashing.  This quilt was intended to be used and washed, so I washed it before sending it off as a gift. The red apply fabric ran badly when I washed it.  With rewashing with massive sheets of color catchers (and some tide bleach stick applied to the white stitching, most of the bleed was removed.
Now I prewash everything as soon as the fabric walks in the door (other than charm packs, layer cakes or jelly rolls. I do prewash fat quarters).
This was the nine-patch at risk, after successful treatment,  and there is still some pink tone in the middle square.  I really panicked when I first saw the bleed, as I had paid my long-armer $200 or so for the quilting, and spent hours putting the quilt together.  The parents of the niece are sort of "high fashion" people, so I couldn't give them a quilt that had this kind of bleeding on it.  So happy when my rewashing fixed it.

2019 Blog Challenge - day 22 -What I listen to/watch

I was an audio book listener before audio books were cool.  (that is, they were "books on tape").
I think I first got started with tapes that I checked out from our public library.  Back then I was driving a 1994 Chevy Suburban (which we still have), and it had both a tape drive and a CD player.
I had a long commute, so audiotapes made the frequent traffic delays tolerable and my blood pressure more stable.

For a few years we even had a store in Dallas that rented audio tapes. One of the earliest favorite audiotapes was Cold Sassy Tree.  Also loved dramatic performances of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.  We often played audio books on car trips to Colorado, and our adult children still remember some of them.  Reading a books and listening to a book are different experiences, but both are worthwhile.

Of course then the formats changed to CDs.

About 5 years or so our public library introduced the Overdrive app (now updated to the Libby app), so that I can download audiobook onto my iPhone.
I've listened to so many of our library's audio books that I've pretty much run through its collection.
So this past year I've started subscribing to Audible.  The nice benefit is the two free monthly Audible originals, which have often been quite well performed.

The only downside of Audible is the difficulty of sharing the book with other family members, which I can obviously do with a physical book.

So, I listen to audio books when I cut & sew.  (sometimes hard to hear when sewing, but headphones help).
So it's nice to have two wonderful pleasures going on at the same time - listening to a good story and sewing.
My reading tastes are literary fiction, mysteries, and memoirs (not so much biographies).
My favorite audio listens this year, no order:
On Power, Caro
The Green Road, Ann Enright
In a Dark Dark Wood, R. Ware
The Canterbury Tales
Becoming, Michelle Obama
The Overstory, Richard Powers F
Foundation, Asimov
The Rise & Fall of the British Empire (The Great Courses)
Sacre Blue, C. Moore
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
The Sentry, Robert Crais
Where the Crawdads Sing
Nightwoods, Charles Frazier
The Girl in the Spider's Web
In Sunlight & in Shadow, Mark Helprin
1356, Cornwell
A Rule against Murder, Penny
The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion, Fannie Flagg
Around the World in 80 Days
the Silk Roads
Less, Andrew Sean Greer
Indian country Noir
All my Sons, Arthur Miller
Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire (the one book I had skipped)
The Dispatcher, John Salzi
The Human Comedy, Saroyan
When Breath Becomes Air
At Home, Bryson
Treasure Island
Big Sky, Kate Atkinson
Second Hand Souls, C. Moore
True West, Sam Shepherd
The Song of Achilles, Miller
I'll be Gone in the Dark
Shortest Way Home, Pete Buttegieg (great memoir, regardless of politics)
Tender is the Night, Fitzgerald
Before We WEre Yours, Wingate
An Odyssey: A Father, A Son & an Epic
The Silent Patient
Washington Black
Pont Neuf

2019 Blog Challenge l- Day 21 - 5 gift ideas

These are supposed to be quilt related.

1. Accuquilt Go! Cube 10 inch
2. Hisgher end embroidery machine
3. Sew steady table for my Pfaff for our Dallas home
4. more shelf space
5. more glass headed pins  - they break and I seem to never have enough.

Otherwise, I have plenty of everything! too much actually.  I'm lucky.

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 20 - Proudest Achievement

My proudest achievement is finishing my Gypsy Wife quilt.  For the square in the square blocks I incorporated fabrics that reflected my personal interests in reading, travel, cats and music.  The complexity of the quilt and diversity of fabrics were challenges to design and execution.  (there were some errors in execution, but I won't point them out). The quilt makes me very happy.  I also machine quilted it myself, and tried "big stitch" around all the triangular elements in the quilt, using contrasting or matching embroidery floss.  I call this baby, "It's Just the Gypsy in My Soul," a call-out to a 50s era ballad.  Last summer, this sweetheart won a second place in its category at the Plano Quilt Show (and I received a small monetary prize).  The Gypsy Wife facebook page had great resources that really helped!

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 19 - on the design wall

well, this was more of a design " bed," and my cat decided to burrow underneath the blocks once I had the layout set, but we manage....
This is a design called "mini tiles" and is the pattern my son and daughter-in-law picked for the baby quilt for their new daughter.

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 18 - If I could sew with

If I could sew with ….

Well, if I could include women who have passed, I would have a large sewing circle of my two grandmothers, my mom, my mother-in-law, my aunts (one still living), and my daughter and daughter-in-law, with the 2 new grandbabies sleeping peacefully nearby on quilts.

Otherwise, I pick my Dallas sewing buddies, Marilyn, Betty, Alice, Joan, Ruth, Laura, and wish we still had Jane and Boneta with us.

2019 blog challenge - day 17 - who is your favorite sewlebrity?

The usual suspects are the tv hosts on the quilt shows, which I've recently had access to.  (our Dallas UVerse doesn't carry the alternative local pbs stations that carry the crafting shows, but i'm temporarily living in another city that carries them.  )  I think I would pick Christina Cameli who appears on Fresh Quilts.  For a fabric designer, I would pick K. Fassett.

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 16 - Why Do I Sew

1. Desire to create something with color, solve the "design" problem
2. Family and friends who will benefit from a gift of a quilt (or other handmade item).
3. Peace of mind (in the zone) from sewing
4. For handwork, like to keep my hands busy while watching tv or riding in a card
5. Intellectual interest of learning new techniques, history of textiles
6. Pleasure of sewing with women friends.  I worked outside the home in a demanding career for all my life, so just now discovering in retirement the pleasures of sitting with friends and talking while sewing. (somewhat the same with work friends and Scout and soccer parents, but not exactly the same).
7. Creating items with a winsome or humorous perspective.  I made a black and white "tessellated" cat quilt with yellow trim that was an homage to "Millions of Cats" by Wanda Gag, a book read by Captain Kangaroo on tv when I was a child.  The rebus song references in my Beatles quilt.
My "I spy Texas Innovation" quilt that uses hundreds of novelty squares to recognize the industries, games, foods and flowers of Texas.  My gnome quilt, Gnome Family Album.  An I Spy quilt for a grandniece who had lived in NYC and London, featuring fabrics from the USA and UK.

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 15 - Earliest memory of sewing

I have 3 memories of sewing from my childhood (me trying to sew, not my mom).  I don't know which was earliest, so no particular order.
1. Sewing a skirt for a Revlon doll (early competitor of Barbie).  I still have the unfinished work in a collection of keepsakes.
2. using yarn to sew on a pre-punched pattern card
3.  an embroidery set that I received as a gift in my dad's company family Christmas party.  Embroidery is actually a hard way to begin, because it is very confusing to get used to which is the top and which is the bottom, and the hoop sort of gets in the way.  I think it is probably easier to hand sew two pieces of fabric together.

I also did some sewing in 5th-6th grade in my Girl Scout troop.

I definitely started sewing with a machine in the 8th grade when I took home economics.  We made a pillow, a gathered skirt, and a box pleated skirt.  Learned how to make gathers, pleats, waist band, set in a zipper.  There weren't enough machines for each woman in the class, so we had a project of smocking a gingham pillow when we didn't have access to the machine.
All of these projects were done with class instruction from the teacher - no written pattern.
example:  we measured our waists and then multiplied it by 2? I think.  Then we gathered the pieces to fit and made the waistband.
For the pleated skirt, I think we multiplied the waist by 3.  Then we made a pleating card that was 1/10 of the waist measurement. We made each 3 layered pleat around the card.
Simpler times...

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 14 - Show us your fabric

First, a big Happy Birthday to my husband Steven who has been so supportive of my quilting addiction! And all my other crazy ideas! I won't reveal his age, but we've had 37 + happy years of marriage.

We currently live in two places.  One, our long-time home in Texas, and the other, a "second home" in Indiana, to be very near our daughter, son-in-law, and new granddaughter.  Luckily it has a finished basement and nice space for sewing.  We are in the Indiana house this month, so I only have a fraction of my stash with me.  Work in process for a modern quilt for my other new granddaughter in Georgia, fabric for a very old UFO (yellows, greens, oranges); fabrics for the current Bonnie Hunter mystery, and Christmas fabrics I've been collecting for Lori Holt's Christmas Vintage.  Plus some random baby fabrics for other baby sewing projects.  I just threw it all on the floor for this photo, but they mostly live in a more organized fashion in their plastic bags in large cardboard boxes or plastic tubs. And the large IKEA bag.

Back in Texas, however, there are probably about 20 large plastic tubs of fabric, mostly sorted by color, but also some by designer/type.  A couple of tubs of novelty fabric, one of Christmas fabrics, one of French General style fabrics, a plastic drawer of  K. Fassett documents, a tub of row by row kits I've collected, a small tub of grunge, and a tub of larger florals and stripes.

2019 Blog challenge - day 13 - least favorite color

In the category my least favorite color is brown.  I've used it when called for in a pattern, but it's not something I shop for (except when I feel duty bound to add some brown to my stash.
I have done  two blocks of the month that contained brown.  They were early quilts.
Lately I have been adding some autumn-patterned fabrics to my stash with the idea of doing a smallish harvest quilt.

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 12 - Favorite Color

Blue is my favorite color, for decorating, wearing, and sewing.  My stash has more blue than other colors.  Here is my latest blue and white quilt. This is a one block wonder, started back in 2011. I love blue and white as a color combo, or blue and yellow, or red white and blue.

2019 Blog writing challenge - day 11- top 5 books

3. Heirloom Machine Quilting, Harriet Hargrave.

4. That Perfect Stitch, R. McElroy

both excellent resources for machine and hand quilting

5. Pots de Fleur, A Garden of Applique Technique, Delaney

detailed discussions of materials and techniques

6. Liberated quiltmaking II, Gwen Marston

In addition to all these are all the Eleanor Burns Quilt in a Day books, although I've never actually made any of her patterns.  

I also like Hobo Quilts by Heninger.  Great patterns that reinterpret hobo "signs" from the 30s.  

2019 Blog writing challenge - Day 10 - Most impactful class

I live in Dallas and have the benefit of a robust Guild.  It raises money from its annual show (March each year), and uses some of the proceeds to fund great speakers for our monthly Guild programs.

Here are some of the speakers
1. One of the first meetings I attended featured a speaker about rescuing blocks that weren't working well.  She gave examples of techniques to rescue the blocks: setting on point by adding triangles, making blocks equal sizes by adding coping strips, changing focus with contrasting fabrics, etc.
2. Ami Simms.  Her general program was a personal history, featuring mistakes she had made (very funny).  Her workshop was on string piecing, and she taught me how to iron for quilting, sew strips together in different directions to prevent warping. She also had her book for sale on "I Spy Quilts", and that idea, new to me, set me off on collecting and trading novelty fabrics, and making eight I Spy quilts over the years for family members and donations.
3. Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr, from the Modern Quilt Studio.  We had them as separate speakers in different years.  They both gave excellent talks on design and color, and I took a workshop with Bill that gave me great insights into selecting colors and fabrics, values for a project.  Their books and patterns are excellent.
4. Local quilt teacher, Sharon Wilhelm.  I took several techniques classes with her.  hand quilting, machine quilting, advanced quilting making (that included machine applique, paper pieceing (mariners compass), mitered borders, etc.).  Sharon is a very patient and thorough teacher, great handouts,  provides alternative approaches. She has great patterns as well, currently featuring blocks with crayons and hand embroidery.
5. Cynthia England. Winner of Best in Show at Houston a few years ago.  I took her workshop on Picture quilting, and also heard lectures at the Dallas Guild and Dallas Show. Her picture technique is one of a kind, and I made a small wall quilt of the Texas flag from one of her patterns (won an honorable mention at the Texas State fair).  Her patterns have you put samples of the selected fabric on a paper "palette" so you can easily refer to it for the color variations.  Elizabeth Hartman's patterns suggest the same thing.  A good approach to take away.
6. The late Gwen Marston.  Dallas lecture and workshop on improvisational quilting.
7. Bonnie Hunter.  Entertaining lecture.  Her book was good too.  She wasn't as helpful in the workshop after the first hour (it was a class on a string pieced quilt).  She was more interested in going to visit some local quilt shops in the area. Probably just an off day.

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 9 - Best Tip

This is an applique tip.  For machine applique.  Place a lightweight stabilizer under the background fabric when you machine applique, whether zigzag, blanket or raw edge.  I use cutaway.  It keeps the stitches from curling under and gives a nice smooth finish.  I roughly cut away the excess, but it is so lightweight it doesn't really add any bulk.

Latest finish - Animal Friends for my new granddaughter

The top photo is the finished quilt for my new granddaughter.  It is my own combination of blocks from Elizabeth Hartman's Forest Friends, Bear, Ocean and Desert patterns. I transformed the desert pattern "coyote" into a pink panther.  My daughter had asked for a rainbow color way so I needed to get some bright pinks in.   Plus birds from the Block Lotto several years past.(these are to evoke cardinals, state bird of Indiana, where granddaughter lives).  Except for the grey fox, all the fabrics are from the Grunge line. (the black and white are not grunge).  Assembling the finished blocks in a coherent pattern was a challenge.  I tried to figure out a column-based layout with graph paper but must have made some math mistakes, because the edges didn't line up.  So then I did some trial and error to make it work (lots of ripping out and re-cutting sashing; luckily I had plenty of the background fabric.  Now I have lots of extra strips!)

 The second photo is the back, an animal ABC fabric from Alexander Henry (bought on Fabric.com).  I added a close-up of the fabric; love the t-rex = X-tinct.

Need to add the label and then ready for a nice Christmas gift.   Maria Hall did the quilting. 

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 8 - Skills I wish I had

1. Free motion quilting  (I know --it comes with practice)
2. Ruler quilting (ditto) - I've taken a class and have the tools)
3.Foundation piecing.  I have a good sense of space generally, but there is something about sewing on the reverse that messes my mind.  I've done a few foundation piecing blocks but it's not a pleasure.
4. Needle turn applique.  I like other handwork techniques but have not mastered this at all.  Probably need a class.
5. Thread painting.
6. art quilting generally
7. keeping my quilt room neat and tidy
8. embroidery design on Embrilliance and use of my basic embroidery machine, particularly the different stabilizers, and doing some applique with the designs.
9. photo quilting - landscapes, faces

2019 Blog Challenge - day 7 - Dream Project

my dream project would be the Mountmellick medallion quilt by Di Ford.  One of my quilting friends bought the fabrics but decided she didn't have time to quilt it, so I bought them from her.  This would definitely expand my piecing, patience, and organization skills.

https://www.quiltmania-inc.us/boutique/single-patterns/mystery-quilts/mystery-quilt-by-di-ford/

_

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 6 - Oldest UFO

My oldest UFO is a quilt-along project of sampler star blocks.  It probably dates back to 2010 when I was reading a lot of blogs and on-line quilt alongs.  I've completed four of the twelve blocks.  Fabric is a collection of very bright greens, yellow, oranges.
Several years ago I made a list of UFOs, and I have been somewhat conscientiously working on finishing these "unfinished objects". In 2019 I finished 3 UFOs started sometime before 2019.

2019 Blog Challenge - Day 5 - First Project

My first completed project is this medallion sampler quilt that was a Joann's block of the month.  I had bought the blocks over time (using coupons when I could, of course), and some were on clearance.  I think I had to order the finishing kit online.  The pieces of each block were laser cut, and the directions were very basic and excellent for a beginning quilter.  I had done a lot of garment sewing in my teens and twenties, so I wasn't shy about swapping out fabric.  Although I like to wear brown (I'm an "autumn"), I don't really like it that much as a color and the kit had a good bit of brown, particularly a copper-brown rose.  however, the instructions did not give the measurements of the pieces, so when I got ready to swap the setting triangles, I just set the kit's triangle over my fabric and cut.  Much waviness resulted.  I did not yet know that a quilter does not "ease in" fullness.
Anyhoo, my longarmer did her best to fix it, along with some beautiful quilting. Mindy Blackburn.

2019 31-day blog challenge: favorite tools

Well, I have a lot of tools, but my basic rotary cutter, mat and rulers are my favorite tools.  And "Mr. Jack" the seam ripper. also glass headed pins. I am a pinner; otherwise my fabric pieces tend to slide. And sealable plastic bags of all sizes.  I use them to organize pieces and blocks.
As to rulers, I mostly use a 6x24, 6x 12 and a 6 inch square, but I have so many more.  I have many different angles of triangle rulers but really don't like sewing triangle so don't use them very often.
I also like using the retractable metal measuring tape for measuring borders, binding, etc.  I just lay the fabric on the floor, and use the metal tape.  It is helpful to have a locking one.
Phone camera.  I use it to:
--evaluate block placement
--evaluate color choices (sometimes the color filter, sometimes black and white to see value)
--shopping reminder
--catalog my quilts
--pictures of completed kits in a lqs when I buy a kit, for future reference
--pictures of quilts that inspire me, quilt shows, etc.
--pictures of other quilt inspiration (nature, etc.)
--listen to podcasts, like just wanna quilt, or audio books while I quilt
--read quilters' blogs, watch tutorials (altho I use my laptop more for this, to get a bigger screen
--order fabric!
plastic binding clips

Tools I have and don't use:
I think I have acquired two of those binding rulers with the angle for cutting the binding.  Frankly, I could never make it work.  I saw a video tutorial on how to overlap the two ends of the binding by the width of the binding and then join, so that seems to work for me.  I need to remember to put those tools on the swap table!  I also have a quilters' color wheel, but I've never really used it.  My own eye for color seems to get me through.  In fact, fabric selection is my favorite part of quilting.  (as it was with garment sewing).  I would be happy if I had a robot to push the pieces through the machine!

2019 31-day blog challenge - Day 3 my machines

My main machine is a Pfaff Quilt Expressions 4.0, which I bought at our Dallas quilt show in 2010.  I really like the IVF (built in walking foot), the needle down feature, and the built in stitches.  (I have been using these recently to make self binding flannel baby quilts. for a sit down machine it has a fairly large quilt for quilting, and I have done a lot of in the ditch and quilting and some curved quilting with marks.  I have also done some free motion and ruler quilting, and it does work for that, but I haven't practiced enough. The self threading feature and thread cutting features are nice but don't always work.

I also have a 1968 era Singer Featherweight that was a gift when I was in college.  Can't be beat for straight stitching and portability.

I also have my mom's tabletop singer (and the sewing table) from the early 1950s.  It works, but I don't have it set up.  I did a lot of garment sewing on it as a teenager.

I also have a Janome 200e embroidery machine.  I use it mainly to make labels for quilts.  I have Embrilliance Essentials, which has really helped do set up of fonts and texts, and it expanded the number of fonts and sizes I have.  With two new granddaughters, I hope to play with more imported designs on baby clothes and blankets.

I also own EQ7 and have taken one class, but haven't used it much.

I also have a Go cutter and have cut 2 inch blocks for my latest project.  Own a good number of dies, but haven't gotten to those projects yet. Want to do a Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Sam quilt soon.

2019 31-Day Blog Challenge - Day 2 - Sewing Space

My sewing space is an upstairs bedroom used as my office and sewing space.  I have a desk with computer in it, 2 tall filing cabinets, and 3 floor to ceiling shelf units, and 1 bookcase.   I have a sewing machine cabinet set in the bay window area that looks out on the street.  I also have a standing level cutting table that was converted from a kitchen chopping block table.  I bought it at Habitat Restore.  Someone had added a granite countertop over the wood chopping block, and it is about 36 x 24 so my cutting mat fits perfectly.  I have a floor ott light over it and over my sewing unit.
and then there is the fabric.  and the quilting books.  And the quilting magazines.... So probably 12 or so large plastic tubs of fabric and some smaller tubs.  I sort by color and by subject matter (so I have a tub of reds, and a separate tub of Christmas fabric (which also has reds).   I also use a lot of novelty fabric so I have a couple of tubs of those.  And a tub of row by row kits.
Hard wood floor.  I use an armless adjustable office chair for sewing.  No picture because it's so messy!

2019 31-day Blog Writing Challenge - Introduction

The Just Wanna Quilt blog created a challenge for quilters to write on their blog for 31 days.  The first day is introduction.  I first started this blog in connection with my participation in the Block Lotto blog, led by Jean-Sophie Wood, who I met at a new members meeting of the Dallas Quilt Guild, probably 10 years ago.  I was a new quilter, and soaking up quilting info everywhere.  But participation in the Block Lotto got me to try new blocks, and particularly 2011, I think, was an exercise in improvisational quilting that definitely got me out of the box.

I've also posted photos of my quilts, some process blogs, and posts about books.  I've sadly let the blog languish since 2015 as I have done more of my writing on facebook pages and groups.  (but I'm pretty mad at Facebook for a number of reasons, so it's good to restart the blog as a more lasting place for writing.

I'm a retired lawyer, learned to sew as a teen, mainly garment sewing, and some home dec.  My grandmother was a quilter so I always admired and cherished quilts but thought they were out of my time/ability reach until I took a class in 2007 at my church.
Now it's a passion.