Changes

For the past 15 years I have been a stay at home mama and grandmama and I truly enjoyed every minute of being able to help out with the grandkids while their parents worked.  Now the oldest grandkids are able to do the babysitting, so I've been looking for something more than quilting to occupy some of my time.  That opportunity came a few weeks ago in the form of a part time job at a local thrift shop.  Change is never easy, so it's taking some time for everyone to adjust to me working outside of the home again, but I'm really enjoying this job!  There are added benefits of working at a thrift store too...like fabric!  I found reproduction fabrics in the photo in one of the first boxes I unpacked!  Yes, I'm really going to like this job!

Dust Bunnies!

Yes, there has been some serious stitching going on in my sewing room and I've got the dust bunny colony living in my sewing machine to prove it!  Yikes!  Time for a little spring cleaning...

Kits!

This winter I spent a good deal of time cutting a huge box of patriotic fabric scraps into usable sizes and putting together quilt kits.  It was a time consuming process, but now that it's done, it's easy to grab a kit and sew a top together with very little thought.  Do you put together kits to have on hand for when you need a quick project to work on?

*Make sure you check Monday's post and enter to win one of Gyleen Fitzgerald's online classes!

The Best!!!!

I think it's safe to say that Miss Four likes her new socks!

Quilters Are Everywhere!

Thanks to a kitchen remodel, cutting and hauling firewood, and just general cold, dry, winter weather, my hands are a sore cracked mess!  I stopped into our local drug store the other day to shop for some heavy duty hand cream.  I was standing in front of shelves and shelves of lotions when a clerk asked if she could help me.  I told her what I was looking for and she recommended O'Keeffe's Working Hands by saying, "Quilters swear by it!"  Confused, I asked how she knew I was a quilter, but as it turned out she was also a quilter speaking from her own experience.  Of course, that led to a half hour conversation about quilting, an invitation for her to join the guild, and me leaving the store with some quilter recommend hand cream (which is helping heal my dried out hands)!

2015 Finishes

After a discussion with a few friends last week about the projects they had completed in the last year, I decided to take a quick look back at what I finished this past year.  I was surprised at the numbers! Three quilts for myself, two quilts that were given as gifts, three quilts for foster kids, and twenty-one quilts for veterans.  Twenty-nine quilts!  And that's not counting the fleece blankets and knitted projects.  I guess it's true that I most always have a needle and thread in my hands!

Quilts=Art=Quilts

I spent a wonderful day yesterday enjoying rooms full of art quilts at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY.  To any quilt lover living in the upstate New York area, it is well worth the trip to see these magnificent quilts!  The exhibit is on display until January 3rd.  For those who can't make the trip, you can view a slideshow of the quilts HERE.

Finally...Really...I Hope!

I think we finally have the problems with our internet worked out.  Even with the new line and a higher speed our internet was still dropping.  All signs pointed to the router as the culprit, which was one of the first things we replaced in August, so I was hesitant to follow the tech's advice to purchase another new router of a different brand, but I did just that last Thursday and so far everything is working great.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the new router has really fixed the problem, so I can get back to blogging as usual!

Pre-Quilted Squares

Another package that I found among the gifted fabrics was an envelope full of assorted pre-quilted 6" squares.  While still in the original envelope from Mehlco Crafts, these didn't come with any instructions.  There are two squares of each print and I'm suspecting that they are a polyester blend as well.  Does anyone have a suggestion for what I could do with these squares, besides making 25 pot holders?

The First Charm Pack?

I always thought that charm packs and pre-cuts were a relatively new thing to the quilting world, but when I was sorting though the bags of fabric and craft items that were given to me a couple of weeks ago, I found a charm pack, complete with instructions for making either a quilt, placemats, pillow, or a tennis racket cover!  The copyright date on the pattern page is 1975!  While the squares are 6" square instead of 5", they still have the same pinked edges.  The other difference from these squares from the charm packs of today is that they are 50% polyester/50% cotton.  I'm thinking I should really make something with these squares.  I don't play tennis, so I probably won't be making a tennis racket cover.  What would you suggest I do with them?

Fabric!

My daughter-in-law's dear great aunt and uncle are moving to be closer to their daughter which is involving a lot of cleaning out and downsizing.  Most of the items from the craft room were older, but still nice enough that they didn't want to throw it away.  When my daughter-in-law asked if I would use it, I told her that it was a silly question...of course I would use it!  I see lots and lots of charity quilts in my future!

Soaring With Quilts

To make sure my quilters block is really gone, I decided to attend the Elmira Piecemaker Quilters Guild show this past weekend.  What could possibly be more inspiring than 200 beautiful quilts displayed among the planes at the National Soaring Museum?

Hello Old Friend!

Well it worked!  A little cleaning, organizing, cutting, and now I'm sewing again.  It feels good too!

Cleaning & Organizing

A couple of weeks ago I asked how to cure quilter's block and seeing that taking a break from the sewing room didn't really help, I figured that I would try some of the other suggestions. The last few days I have spent sorting though my totes of fabric and organizing my stash.  I have to say that it has been a good exercise to take inventory and see just what has been lurking in those totes at the bottom of the sewing room closet!  It also doesn't hurt knowing where everything is again either!

Quilter's Block

Quilter's block is different from a quilt block.  Quilter's block is defined as a condition in which a quilter loses the ability to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown.  Yep, that's what I have...quilter's block.  There's been nothing happening in my sewing room for over a week.  No planning, no cutting, no stitching.  Well that's not exactly true, I did mend the hem on a towel, but I don't think that counts much in the creativity department.  Help me get out of this slump...what do you do when quilter's block strikes?

As Long As The Seam Ripper Was Out...

As I was ripping the hand quilting out of my dear jane quilt I remembered another quilt that I had started hand quilting years ago that was tucked away in a tote in the attic.  I started this quilt made of thrift store shirts long before Bonnie Hunter made it cool to turn old clothes into quilts again.  It was also started when I was a novice quilter...the heavy backing and too thick batting were not ideal for hand quilting, so it's no surprise that I never wanted to finish it.  A few more ripped stitches, a different batting, along with my trusty Juki machine and I should have this quilt finished in no time at all!

I'm Not Ignoring You!

I have noticed that I'm only getting email notifications for some of the comments left on my blog posts.  All of the settings appear to be set correctly, so I'm guessing that it's a compatibility problem between Blogger and some email providers.  For those who have commented and not received a response, I'm not intentionally ignoring you!  Hopefully the problem will be resolved soon!  If anyone has any idea of how I can correct the problem, please post a fix in the comment section. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Snow, wind, below zero "high" temperatures...it must be Valentine's Day weekend in northern Pennsylvania!  It seems like we always get a big Valentine's Day storm and this year is no exception.  I guess I'll be spending this Valentine's doing what I love to do most...stitching by the fire!

Happy New Year!

Wishing you and your family a joyful, bright, healthy, prosperous and happy new year!

With Every Good Wish For A Merry Christmas

My best wishes for the happiest Christmas that you have ever known,

and may this day and all your days

be flooded with the sunshine of love and sweet friendship.