What do people say when they see your quilts?

Last night I presented an applique trunk show, "It Doesn't Have to Be the 'A' Word" at Pieceful Heart Fabrics in Lisle, IL. The room was full, and the ladies enjoyed the quilts. I am still amazed when I look at that stack of finished quilts and realize just how much applique I've done in recent years. One of the things we laughed about was people's responses when they see our quilts.

What is the most common response when people see your quilts? Here are a few funny things I've heard over the years:

"Oh my gosh! How long did it take you do to that?" - as in, "did they hold a gun to your head to force you to do that?" - my response: "Actually, I really enjoy doing this, so it doesn't matter how long it takes to do one, because when it's finished, I'll be working on another one."

"Couldn't you do that on the sewing machine?" - well, yes, I could. But it wouldn't be the same. Remember, I LIKE doing this!

And my all-time favorite: I was sitting on an airplane one day, stitching. The flight attendant came down the aisle, looked over my shoulder at the applique project in my lap and said, "My, that's tedious." LOLOL I wonder if she had any idea what I think of serving beverages to grumpy passengers and giving that safety lecture over and over and over.....

I'm on vacation this week, so I hope to get lots of stitching done. I am currently working on "Aunt Millie's Garden" from Piece O' Cake Designs. It's fun and challenging, and I'm excited about how it's coming along. I'll be teaching a class on it at Pieceful Heart Fabrics in Lisle, IL, beginning in January. If you're interested, give the shop a call, at 630-718-0112.

Happy stitching!

First night of class...

I love teaching beginning quiltmaking! It is truly my favorite class to teach. Tonight was the first of a 10-week series. It is such fun to hear about what each student has done on their own or in other classes, and their expectations as they start the class.

When I'm working with beginners' classes, I make sampler blocks along with the students. So last night I chose some fabric...the wonderful print above (7 yards on sale for half price!!!) was originally the feature fabric for an applique project that, after the first two blocks, lost my interest. Last night I finally admitted to myself that I wasn't going to complete that project, and pulled all the fabrics for my sampler project with the new students. I am very happy with this, and have no regrets about not finishing the applique. I have plenty of other applique projects in the works.

Tomorrow - session one with the Wednesday morning group. And Friday night is the first session of our new "Club Jane" (Dear Jane) for quilters interested in the 1863 Jane Stickle quilt.

Finishing a long-time project, sort of

Tonight I finished my Civil War Dear Jane quilt top. I love the way it turned out, and have to thank Denise Eisenhardt of the Dear Jane list for her idea, which I stole (with her permission!).

The top was pieced and appliqued in 60 days, back in 2001. It's been expanded from the "standard" Dear Jane quilt design to fit a queen size bed. I set it aside for a while, not sure about how I wanted to quilt it. By the time I was ready to quilt it, though, we'd replaced our queen size bed with king size, so the quilt won't fit our bed. Smart thing that I am...I set it aside for a while.

When I saw Denise's Facebook profile picture, I was delighted to see she was holding the solution to my problem: her Dear Jane quilt has wide print borders, with the scallops of the Dear Jane quilt appliqued onto the border. So when it's on the bed, it looks like the Dear Jane quilt is laying on top of a larger one. Problem solved! I had the perfect fabric, and set to work.

Now it's done...well, it's ready for quilting. I need to find some backing fabric for it, but I'm pleased to have gotten it one step further down the road to "finished." Enjoy!

Day's End

It's been a productive day. Projects in the "completed" column include 11 embroidered onesies for church, and the scalloped/sculpted edge hand finished on a baby quilt that I longarm quilted for my friend Renee. That tire-with-a-nail has been repaired, I spent lots of time today with JD, and I even cooked dinner. Steve and I went out for ice cream this evening. Nice to have some time to catch up with each other...we've both been really busy lately, and time together is hard to find.

Too bad the Phillies didn't win today...that would have made it just about perfect!

it's my own fault I'm bored

So here I sit in the waiting area of the local tire place, waiting for them to repair my second nail-in-a-tire in two weeks. And I'm bored. Oh, I've got my 2-1/2-year-old grandson with me, and he's finding all sorts of things to look at. And dirt...lots of dirt! Tire stores are not exactly the cleanest places in town. But I sure wish I'd thought to grab my applique before handing over my keys!

Applique is awesome! It's so portable. I almost always have a project handy.

Not long ago I found a really cool zippered binder at Office Depot. It has two sets of rings, several inserts, and lots of pockets. OK, the lining is ORANGE, but it's pretty cool! Hand strap and shoulder strap. Looks like a laptop case. It's nice to be able to take my projects with me, and work on a bit of stitching while I wait, for just about anything.

People often ask me how I get so much done...and that's how. Applique is PORTABLE. I used to take applique in a sandwich bag, in my jacket pocket. I embarassed my kids by appliqueing in line at the post office. I'd sit in the car waiting for them after school and stitch a leaf or two. And things got done! I love the many intermediate completions involved in doing applique -- a leaf, a whole flower, a whole block, a whole quilt top!

So while I've been sitting here waiting for them to pull the second nail out of a tire in as many weeks (ok, so the first one was really a screw), I've shared one of the first things I tell people about why I love to applique. So the time isn't really wasted and, now that I think about it, I'm not REALL bored. I just wish I'd remembered to grab my applique off the back seat!

I'm blogging!

I've finally decided to start a blog. Do I need another thing to do? No. Am I crazy? Maybe just a bit. But it seems like a good way to keep in touch with lots of what Mom used to call my "invisible friends." So here we are. Let's just think of it as an electronic journal.

It's Saturday. Sunny, cool, almost fall. I'm sad to see summer go...I love putting the top down on the convertible and getting out there for a drive...enjoying talk time with Steve or the kids, stopping to take pictures and eat and read historical markers and just soaking up whatever is out there.

One of my favorite things to do is quilt. It's what I do when I need to think, need to wind down after a long day, when the guys are watching football, when I just want to create something. I've been sewing since I was a little girl and started quilting seriously about 1985. To date I've made over 400 quilts in all different sizes, designs, techniques, and I longarm quilt for others. I just love to play in fabric. Heaven knows (and so does my husband!) there's a ton of fabric stashed in our house. And somehow, it seems there's always more coming in the door.

So, today is bright, sunny, full of promise. I wonder what this day will bring? My grandson JD and I are getting ready to go to the quilt shop to look for some fabric (of course, with a huge stash, I still don't have exactly what I need!). I started Rosemary Youngs' "The Civil War Diary Quilt" last week and need to find the perfect sashing fabric for it, among other things. It's been a really busy week, and I have not cooked for my family...need to do that tonight. Maybe we'll grill outside.