The Sweetest Sewing Buddy

 Lucy is my sweet kitty who has been with me now for over 14 years.   She is the best cat ever.   She has lived with up to 3 other cats and now that she is the solo feline in the house, she is flourishing.   She enjoys being an only cat and is in every definition "catty".   

She is as passionate about quilting as I am.

I hope you will indulge me when I share an occasional pic of her amidst my projects!

**Please note:  When I made this post, I neglected to note that Lucy was ill.   She had a tumor in her nasal cavity, and she was having increased difficulty breathing, eating, swallowing.  Our vet prescribed a steroid injection that seemed to help for a little while.  She got worse and sadly on September 25, 2021, I held her as she gently crossed the rainbow bridge.   To say I miss her would be an understatement.  This sweet little soul has been my friend for a very long time.  She is the last of a string of kitties that occupied my life and my heart for 15 years.  My house is empty without a cat...but I'm not ready.  Lucy still takes up too much room in my heart.  

Playing Games in my Sewing Room

Step #1 was sewing small pieces to adding machine tape

 Quilting with no pattern, no real idea of what the finished quilt top will look like, is a lot like playing a game.   The biggest difference is that there are no rules!  I can make it up as I go and play as long as I want to.  One of the biggest advantages is that I don't even have to have anyone to play with.  I can play alone or with friends, it doesn't matter. The biggest hinderance is that one's mind goes faster than the project at hand. As soon as you are up to your hips in one idea, several others are chomping at the bit to get your attention.   

Trimming makes the magic happen!

Here I am adding the "Shoots" to the "ladder"  Looks like Butterfly wings!

Again....the Magic of trimming!

My "game" at hand is "Shoots and Ladders" and I am having a ball making the blocks.  Initially I thought I would make the top totally of Shoots and Ladder blocks, but it is sort of crazy busy, so now I'm playing with alternate blocks of two different colored solids made using thrift store cotton sheets.  I checked out images of the real Chutes and Ladders game board and you can find it in many alternate colors, yellow and white, blue and white, even green and white.  Since I don't have yellow (yet), I may go for green...blue seems too predictable.

The totally cool benefits of a design board.   It makes it so easy to play the game and change the rules!

Tips for beginners:  

1.The sky is the limit for quilting!  Don't be afraid...a seam ripper is a quilters priority tool and there is no shame in using it! 

2.  Squaring up is vital.  It should be done frequently.  Square up each block to the desired size and then be sure to square up anything you add to it.   If your sections or pieces are not the proper size or straight on the edges, they will not fit well.  If you are going to only have one square quilter's ruler, choose 12.5"  

3.When setting rows of blocks together, I have found it much easier to set four blocks together in a four patch and then put those patches together. Fewer long, long seams. Working with larger sections makes it all line up easier than trying to put long rows together...  See the photo below.  You can see the four blocks sewn together in a 4 patch.  At this point I will square each of these to a uniform size, which should be 15.5" each.    Note:  I have an uneven amount of rows in this little top (5) so the bottom row is pieced with only blocks together instead of 4.  I will add a 2 patch to the four patch above it once all are squared up.

Final Donation to Project Linus for this Season

Here is my Lucy, "helping" me sew one of the flannel baby quilts

Again, Sweet Lucy, keeping my flannel blanket project warm while I went to lunch!

These little blocks and extra fabric was found among some scraps given to me.  I just finished it up!

 My sister Kris and I took a trip to the Country Sampler yesterday to deliver a load of baby quilts to Project Linus.   I took 4 flannel and one pieced quilt as my final donation for this season.  Although I forgot to take pictures of all the finished quilts, I do have a couple of in progress and a picture of the finished pieced one.   

This donation has about depleted my flannel stash so now what???    It's just a bit humorous when I think that I want to use up my stash, but when the stash gets low, I begin to get a little nervous and a bit sweaty....and go on lookout for a good bargain!  

It's fun to have a project my sister and I can work on together.   This scrap infatuation we both have is so enjoyable and creative.  We don't agree on much socially, politically or spiritually, so having this connection is great glue to hold our relationship together.   I need her in my life.  She is about the only family I have left and she is just too important.

Fast Forward Eight + Years!

 The last few days I've been pondering the fact that I'm now over 70 (71) and both my husband and I are retired.  Life is so different.  Winters in Mercedes TX and Summers in Omaha...  Good, but different.

Gone are the days of hurry, and work and chaos and children and trying to wedge in a bit of "me time".  Now, it s all me time and we try to wedge ourselves into the lives of our kids and grandkids and try to figure out what to do with the other 23 hours a day.  

We are truly into the golden years and I truly have mixed emotions about it.  Being able to totally control our time is both awesome and daunting. 

I now spend most of my time with my sewing machine, in my sewing room surrounded by mountains of scraps and smaller pieces of fabric that have been given to me or that are still left over from my once massive stash.  Yes, I still buy new, but not to the extent of the past.  Im in love with thrift shopping and 100% cotton sheets have become a staple in my stash.  A wonderful source of fun prints and solids that can be used to back or enhance. 

I have two sewing rooms.  One in Omaha in the basement of my house of 3 years.   It is an incredible space.  I have the entire basement to use.  I have the old dining room table from our Walnut IA home set up for cutting and measuring.  Its perfect!  When I want a friend or two to come over, plenty of space for them to set up shop to work along with me.  In TX I have a smaller space (our home is smaller too), but it is also incredible.  A small garden shed that I've taken over 75% of .  Just large enough for my machine on a table and a few totes of fabric.  I cant have friends there, but our "park" has a whole floor of a building we can use to sew in as a group.  Easy to pack up and go there!

My life has changed....no more bed and breakfast. No more cats to trap  No kids to shuttle around. no job to keep.   Just me and some fabric...

I came across this old blog and decided it needs resurrection.   If only for a place for me to vent and express feelings and of course share from my sewing room.  Mostly to share from my sewing room, with a little real life tossed into the scrap bag.  Let's see what I can create!