Keeping my quilt room tidy (but not when I am designing a quilt!) is much easier when I use a thread bin by my sewing machine. I got mine many years ago while I still lived in Maryland, in a gift shop. At first, instead of pieces of thread inside the little bin, one would often find my little scissors and the seam ripper in it, very handy while working at the sewing machine. Now, my right hand is trained to stuff all pieces of thread I cut into the bin which sits about 6 or 8 inches away from … [Read more...] about Thread Bin
Summer
I don't know about you, but Summer officially starts the day my children get off school. I seem to enter a new world then. There is an unpredictability about my days which can be both invigorating and disconcerting, fun and exasperating, but the boys don't seem to care. They play video games before I wake up, so they can squeeze in more time than the one hour per day allowance, eat chips for breakfast [to my chagrin], and are bored by 9:45 am. No where in my job description or marriage … [Read more...] about Summer
New Old Love
This pic looks too red. The colors are rose, mauve, etc. A few years ago I purchased a small kit from Quilts, Etc. in Sandy, Utah, for a scrappy heart wall hanging called Old Love. Last week, during our retreat, I pieced the heart. I just finished the wall hanging, which looks nothing like the kit, as I got creative as I worked on the project. For starters, the original pattern had scallops appliqued around the heart. Those were replaced by a few rows of this awesome ribbon I found at Hobby … [Read more...] about New Old Love
Black and White + Red = Table runner!
Back in April I posted pictures of six black and white blocks I pieced during a block of the month project. I had no idea what to do with them, as I was not inclined to turn them into a quilt. Cathie wrote in her comment that I might think of using a color to add some 'pop' to the blocks. Well, I turned them into table runners and used a red and white fabric to liven things up. The first table runner is completed. I used black rick-rack on the long sides, and decorated the ends with … [Read more...] about Black and White + Red = Table runner!
Shopping
Have you checked out equilter.com? Oh, I can do some serious damage to my wallet. However, since it is still Sunday, I have to be content just window shopping. The fabrics! The books! The sales! Bad, bad girl. Gotta quit and go read a book... … [Read more...] about Shopping
My dream tool: stitch zapper – GIVEAWAY!
This post is for all of you inventors: I need a Stitch Zapper! Here is how I envision it: it would be as thin as a laser pen, and you point its zapping doohickey to stitches you want to undo (I don't like the word 'unpick' because to my foreign language thinking brain, it doesn't make sense! You pick out the stitches you don't like, but how do you 'unpick' stitches? Anyway...) Could you imagine how wonderful the stitch zapper would be when you need to undo quilting stitches? (I spent 40 minutes … [Read more...] about My dream tool: stitch zapper – GIVEAWAY!