Random Teaching, Selling, Making

On the go...quilt-teaching, quilt-sharing, and quilt-making have kept me away from home more often than at home. Add a recent round of doctor appointments: breast cancer check-up (all is well); and a continuing problem with PAD and plaque blockage(s) in my femoral arteries that the doc just called "critical," and voilá, the days are filled.

Five weeks of beginner quiltmaking lessons concluding Monday afternoon. Of the 41 students in two classes, 31 of them stuck it out to the end. I'm so proud of what these women accomplished, some of whom had never used a sewing machine, or hadn't since high school. In spite of set-backs due to mechanical problems with a machine, or missing a class due to illness, their enthusiasm and excitement about what they accomplished shone through.

During those five weeks, no fewer than three students ended up buying a new sewing machine because of failure, or an old or inadequate sewing machine! One quilter announced that she could top the three new machine purchases... she's having an addition put on her house so one of the current bedrooms will become her sewing studio with built-ins and a design wall! Now that's a gal who has latched onto quilting!

23" X 33"

Last Tuesday I learned that of the 20 quilts (mostly wall hangings) I put into the Boutique at the local quilt show, three sold. I only have pictures now of these that I free motion quilted myself...

51" X 51" 

46" X 54"

The remaining 17 and more quilts are tucked into a storage drawer and pillowcases stacked in the top of the closet.

If you happen to be subscriber, or are at Joann Fabrics, one of my articles is on page 82 of the March issue of American Quilter magazine. I wrote the piece about 14 months ago based on house-sized "barn quilts" made by Sarah Zimmerman.

This article was conceived in 2013 when friend Carla of Lollyquiltz received a wooden barn quilt from Sarah. Carla was so pleased with hers that she suggested that I write an article about Sarah's wood quilts.... so I did!

(Note my cute new Jamberry Nails.)

The article includes a tutorial for making your own 24" square plywood house or shed-sized wood quilt. Sarah blogs here, and you can see more of her wood quilts at www.prairiepatchworks.blogspot.com.

By the way, this is my last magazine article in AQ's pipeline, so if you have any story ideas you'd like to see in print, let me know!

Last weekend I finish piecing Metro Waves, a design put together differently than you might think from looking at the picture.

In these close-up photos, you can see that it's sewn of pieced rectangle-shaped blocks.

Half of all the arches are actually pieced!

In spite of all the time spent piecing, I love it, and am pleased with the colors that are simply "me." Sew Kind of Wonderful called Metro Waves one of it's three "beginner" level Quick Curve Ruler patterns, but I'll say I found it much more enjoyable to sew Urban Abacus. I have yet to sew the third beginner design, Deco Tumbler.

For me, a quilt isn't truly finished until it has a label. So, using my favorite Printed Treasures, I made one for Austin's quilt that I finished in December. The Halloween picture of him as Darth Vader is too precious, so I had to be sure to include that.

You can see that I sewed fabric along the edges of the Printed Treasures fabric. Now I just need to hand sew it to the quilt.

I also returned to my quilting machine for a little of this. From the back, you're seeing one of four appliquéd blocks in this 60" square, Kaffe Fasset fabric quilt. I've been dragging my feet about quilting it because of all the thread tails that need to be buried. Quilting with a shimmery Marathon thread (on the front) makes it a little bit more fun.

Our sweet 11 year-old Hogan is recovering from an infection on his tail. At first he chewed the spot when we left him alone, but after a course of both oral and ointment antibiotics, and six days of one of us being with him at all times to ensure he left it alone, he's nearly healed.

When Hogan is with me in my sewing room, if he's not sleeping, he likes to keep track of people passing by, either on foot or in golf carts - he ignores the cars. His low throat rumble, or bark means he's watching out for my well-being. It's nice to have such a good friend. 

Linda