Wednesday, December 12, 2012


four stacks of who-knows-how-many itty-bitty quilt blocks in each bag
'Tis always the season for sharing:  Quilters, seamstresses (aka sewers), and fabric hogs are people who share.  Isn't sharing wonderful?  Tonya shared with Mary, who shared with her posse.  There was an amazing little bit of business in that box.  Four little bags of cut one-inch blocks! Ta-da!  It looks like a magic show. It could be confetti!  They are samples to use for ordering yardage from the Keepsake Quilting company in New Hamshire.  I do not know how old they are, but the price would suggest, late 1900's.  (1980s, 1990s?)  I will have to find out! Oh, joy!  Oh, and yes they are now in my most safe posession. I do have my doll quilts to consider.  Kirsten Larsen will be having a hey day with this "perfect for her" size quilts!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Fish Quilt!  In September, I attended a class at Room to Learn in Kuna. I finished it up at home and it turned out "darned cute".  The pattern is called "Up A Lazy River" by Far Flung Quilts, and I used the Lazy Angle by Creative Grids.  I have since used that Lazy Angle to make other cool blocks for my "grow it" quilt I am doing.  I purchased some shell fish fabric a couple years back, at The Quilter's Market when I was visiting Tucson, and used a little to make one of the fish. Then I decided to make it a bit longer by adding some to the bottom of the quilt. Hand sewn button eyes. Please, post me a message if you have any questions. Curiosity is a good thing. 

details & chosing buttons for eyes


Sunday, November 25, 2012

Rolla, Missouri enjoying myself to the max.  My husband and I got to spend time with out daughter. She took us sight seeing and we had a fun time on the swings at the park in Rolla. 


Daughter and Mom swinging on a sunny afternoon in Rolla.
They had a static train display and a pond. But swings! What fun! We also went and visited the Univ. of Rolla Stonehenge, a half-scale partial reconstruction of the Final Stage of Stonehenge.  It was very interesting and there was also wind and solar power projects. The half-scale Stonehenge was particularly interesting.  It made me wish I could be at Rolla for the winter solstice, but I will be back in Idaho.    My daughter actually lives in Plato, MO.  We visited her for the week of Thanksgiving.  We had wonderful time! We drove up to Crocker, MO, and strolled around their little town and took photos of each other and their static train display. Mary and I drove down to Houston, MO, to get some eggs at the store and explored around there as well. The weather was marvelous until Friday (aka Black Friday).  Then we drove to St. Louis to get ready to depart at oh-dark-thirty Saturday.  On Friday we went to Target in some suburb and there was no crowd. We visited the Union Station and the Arch. Then we walked to the Speghetti Factory on 1st St. at Laclede's Landing. I enjoyed a very nice gluten free lunch. There it is . . . the gluten free portion of this web posting.
November not very productive where quilting is concerned. Made a mess on my day off; Veteran's Day. Big blue failed to function and I came home without my big zebra quilt quilted. It is still in a pile in my office where I don't look at it.  It has to be ripped out, and another appointment made . . . blah!   Meanwhile, went to Missouri again . . .

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Route 66 wall hanging: I finished it this last week. I will also post a photo of it on my Adventures In Quilting list: Hen House Quilting Retreat. I started it on the retreat and got alot of it done at that time. I quilted it along the edge of the wavy parts and around the post cards on the bottom parts. I kept it as simple as possible.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Baby quilt with space ships. I got the quilt top completed. I just need to find some backing fabric and get it quilted. I found another use for my summer bunting that I brought into the house for the winter: hang your small quilt tops from it with clothes pins, so you can take good photos of them.  I copied the odd border layout from a quilt I saw on someone else's blog. I can't remember who's. Tut tut, it looks like rain. That little glow is the pellet stove firing up in the corner of my room.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Have you noticed all the quilt bloggers who show little bits of this and little bits of that and never show their quilt room unless they cleaned it all first? Come on! You cannot quilt and be a perfect neat freak at the same time.  Here is photo of my quilt room with my sweet little round table stacked high with quilt books, baskets of doo-dads, and other crap.  One thing you can do with your festive summer bunting, is bring it in from the patio and hang it in your quilt room.  The blue baby quilt top laying on the buffet on the right, is covering my violin case.  Violin? What violin?  Yes. I have neglected my violin in the name of quilting, like some maniac.  I love the pellet stove; it keeps my sweet room of bliss nice and toasty all winter long!

Saturday, October 20, 2012


Zebra Quilt layout for Zebra II Quilt
Zebra Dreams quilt: First quilt I made in 2012, has plenty of unused yardage left over.  My adult daughter has wanted me to quilt her zebra wall hanging or quilt for sometime.  She picked out a couple fabrics two years ago, and I found some other fabrics last summer to go with it.  I started it in November 2011 and completed in February 2012.  I did some zebra research and decided on Zebra Dreams as the name. I actually began sewing the sun part first and grew it from there.  I really am satisfied with how it came out and Mary really likes it. She has moved to a cooler climate since I made it, and I am now progressing on a quilt to go with it.  I used my curved piecing skills to piece the landscape and the night sky to the edge of the sun.  The center of the sun and the moon are appliqued, as are the vulture, trees, dreamy fish, and zebra.       The quilt I am working on now is not curvy and does not have applique.  It is going to go on her bed and I have decided on a block pattern.  See preliminary layout above.

Zebra Dreams quilt


Tuesday, October 16, 2012


Cherries Jubalee
 I first long-arm quilted last Columbus Day at the Blue Bird Quilt Studio in downtown Nampa, Idaho.  This is my Cherry's Jubalee Quilt. I purchased the pattern at the Quilt Crossing in Boise and took the class there, from Nancy Doan.  That was in October 2009.  You can be really creative with these circles.  I actually finished another quilt with circled between starting this one and getting it finished. I had to let it age or something. But it was good timing, because then I was ready to do the long-arm quilting. I noticed I was having a run of baby quilt photos on my blog, and thought I should include one of the larger ones I have done.  Pete's "Moose and Squirrel" quilt is the largest I have done this year. A photo of it is in the June postings. Good night!

Monday, October 15, 2012


for baby James




















At last, I am posting a photo of baby James quilt.  It is in blue and white, with a "ship" theme; sailing ships, rocket ships, and little white anchors all around the border.  Approximately 33X33 inches.  I did the cheaty binding I learned at the Hen House Quilting Retreat, but sewed it with the back facing up, so I could sew close to the edge of the binding strip, so there is no flapping about. I used dark blue thread so it matches and the top looks crisp and clean.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Today we went to the Nick Cave exhibit at the Boise Art Museum (BAM).  WOW! I have to rethink cleaning out and giving my sweaters to Goodwill. I have this stack of doilies that I could not part with, but do not use. I have an entirely new sewing project in my not too distant future.  My pet peeve with BAM is they do not allow photos to be taken in their museum.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, lets you take photos, and so does that fancy art museum in North Carolina, but not BAM. So, I went on-line, after we got back from our gluten-free lunch at Five Guys and an eye-opening time at the art museum, and found a ton of photos of Nick Cave's creations.  So, I have picked one, to put on my blog, so you can see what fantastic textile artistry is going on here. Although he also reuses found materials from thrift stores, including ceramic bird nic-nacs, old metal toys, metal sculptures, afghans, bags, hats, doilies, buttons, etc.  His costume creations are fantastic. They are stunning from a distance, and the tiny details are fabulous.  Part of the sleeve on one of the costumes had reverse applique on it that made the design.  I so wished I could take a photo.  Here is a photo I found on-line that shows some of the yarn and button detail on one of the costumes.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Certain parties mentioned that I had not posted on by blog since September 2nd.  Well, that is sort of true, but not really.  On September 7th, I attended a quilting retreat with my ConFab.  Please, click on the LINK to the left, under "My Adventures in Quilting".  That is what I have been working on as far as my blog in the month of September.  We must remember that quilting is the priority and I have completed three quilt in the month of September and mailed a fourth off to be long arm quilted out of town. I attended the Boise Basin Quilt Show, yesterday September 29th, with a quilting buddy and you all must know that such things take time.  So, what three quilts did I get finished in September? 
1) hideous pink shoo-fly baby quilt #2
2) sweet baby James Navy baby quilt
3) minature quilt of Kirsten Larsen, which can be viewed being held by her, on the "Gluten Free Doll Quilts" page attached as a link on the menu to the left.
Now, I am not posting a photo of the "Sweet Baby James Navy Baby Quilt" until after I have given it to Nicole (i.e., mother of baby James). I would not want her to get a look at it prior to the baby shower, where we want to experience the look of delight on her face.  The Cloverdale Ladies Society is in the midst of a project where we are making baby quilts to donate to the local hospital for all the new infants.  This pink shoo-fly quilt is one I am donating. I am working on a blue, yellow, red, and white four-patch rocket themed baby quilt for the next one.  As it is, I have not got my adventures in quilting trip from Tucson to St. Louis completed and posted yet. I have worked 40 hours a week, except when I took a morning off to take my mother to the doctor. I did attend a 3 hour class to learn how to use my new Husqvarna sewing machine. I did mow the acre a week ago Thursday, cleared some weeds from the ditch, trimmed some lilac bushes, and performed irrigation duties, which included get soaked, because I trimmed the lilacs after the sprinklers were on.  And I wasted a perfectly good hour waiting for AAA tow truck in front of Paul's Market last Sunday, but managed to get my Blazer started and made it home without their help. Okay. I have things to do.  TTFN!

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Totally finished! First quilt made on my new machine! It is a baby quilt, but was alot of fun to use the scraps from another quilt and totally use them up.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

I got a new sewing machine! After 30 years of sewing on my Singer, I have finally taken the plung for something better.  Husqvarna Viking Tribute 140 Year Special Edition.  I do not have to pin my fabric every inch any more!  I used the package of 2.5 inch strips that I bought at the Quilted Cow and made all the blocks and put them on my design wall. Then I used the scraps to make a baby quilt top. 
I just sewed all the strips together in sets of three, then chopped them into 6.5 inch squares, and viola'. I tossed them up on my design wall (aka a flannel quilt I have hung on the wall). Now I am ready to sew all those blocks together! Yeah!! With my new Husqvarna!!

Saturday, August 18, 2012


Another smokey day in Idaho.  I am back from a fantastic road trip from Tucson, Arizona to St. Louis, Missouri.  We started on August 2, 2012. Had tamales before hitting the highway to the east. We made it to Roswell, New Mexico, where we spent the first night. Next morning, a swim in the pool, back in the car, and off to the local quilt shop.  What can I say?  I will post more photos in a link under my menu titled, "My Adventures in Quilting".  I managed to visit four whole quilt shops on the trip!

Monday, July 30, 2012

Been busy! Getting ready for a road trip with my daughter.
 I will miss the Kuna Quilt Show on August 4 and 5, but will have a wonderful time with my daughter.  Also, found a 2012 manual with all the quilt shops in North America in it.  We gonna be doin' some visitin' on the way to Ft Leonard Wood from Davis-Monthan AFB.  Big smile.  I have to travel light, since I am flying to Tucson. Which swatches to take? OMG! 
Please, click on the Gluten Free Doll Quilts link on the left of my page and view my latest doll quilt.  Yellow, white, and orange.  Here is a peek.

Sunday, July 8, 2012


"Moose and Squirrel quilt" or "R&B quilt" or "Rocky & Bullwinkle quilt" or "Sew Lucky to Get It Done in Time"
Pete is very happy with this quilt.  It turned out very well.  I really like the design.  Thank you Elverta for keeping me sane, while I was doing this on the sly, so it would be a surprise.  Thank you, Bryan, for the terrific job of quilting it.  The writing with the characters and segments of the show "Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends" turned out very nice indeed.  People read the words: Fractured Fairy Tales, Dudley DoRight, Nell Fenwick, Snidley Whiplash, Boris and Natasha, Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman, WABAC Machine, Bullwinkle's Corner, Frostbite Falls, etc. and it brings back their memories.  Now, I have a hankering for a salad made with rapien and mooseberries!
So much to do, so little time.  Or enough time, just doing too much!  The quilt show is fast approaching, and I am not going to have my barn quilt finished in time.  But I got the "Moose and Squirrel" quilt completed in time for my husband's birthday on June 27th.  I finished getting the binding stitched on at 7:15 p.m. on June 26th.  I finished at the CONFAB and was going to go home and go to bed, but instead I went home and cleaned house. 

Saturday, June 9, 2012


Barn Quilt: making some progress  I ususally do not make things that are brown. Brown is kind of boring to me. I really like bright colors.  However, I must make the dirt part of my barn quilt and decided on some different shades of brown, some on the sandy side. I am string piecing them, and hot dang, they are looking nice!  I have the blue sky part all done, and the roof cut out.  The barn is the next part after the dirt.  Only six weeks left before the quilt show.  I have to make 4 - 6 more blocks for my dirt part.   Good night!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Emmett’s annual Valley of Plenty Quilt Show June 14th through the 16th at the Emmett  Junior High School, 301 E. 4th St. in Emmett, Idaho.  I just want to ge the word out.  My goodness, I love going to quilt shows and I seem to miss several every year.  This has got to change. 

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Elverta is my savior!  Working on three projects. One is on the sly, so I cannot post any photos of it, but it is really taking shape, now that my dear friend, Elverta, had me over to her place, so I could work on it.  Wow, that was a terrific sentence. Meanwhile, at Elverta's last Tuesday, I discovered that in my haste, the week before, I made a major error. I did not re-adjust my needle position after the demo I had done. UH OH!  My seams were the wrong width! cuss cuss cuss and throw up my hands and cuss cuss and "Save me Elerverta!!" Alas, woe is me!  After a few minutes I simmered down and pulled my head out.  Elverta made me feel better, and I was able to determine the breadth of the damage and we started ripping.  Then Elverta ripped and I sewed the correct seam allowance and 3 hours later we had not only fixed the damage but made some further progress.  I felt much better when I left her house.  Elverta is my savior.  hmm. good blog post heading.
  Meanwhile, I am also working on my Christmas wallhanging and Elverta's Jungle Quilt and a barn quilt.  Hmmm . . . that makes four projects at once.  The photo is of Merlinda The Ninja Quilt Dominator enjoying Elverta's Jungle Quilt.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Summer Fun Quilt is done!  That is the fourth and final name of this quilt. I saved my end-of-the-line binding scraps then cut one 7" inch piece and two 3" pieces, then combined them with four 3"X3" squares and made blocks.  I picked all my primary colors to go with this lovely flecked white fabric, I picked up at Cindy's Quilt Shop in Caldwell, ID.  I did not choose the border fabric until I had all the blocks pieced together. Then I found my border fabric at my new favorite quilt shop! I had an appointment to use the long arm quilt machine at the Bluebird on Saturday, April 28, and I managed to run out at 9 pm on Thursday evening and find the backing fabric, which I brought straight home and threw in the wash so I could get it ready Friday night for my Saturday appointment.  I used the backing fabric as the binding also, because it is just so smashing next to that sharp navy blue.  Oh, I forgot to mention that the strips in the crosses are 1 3/4" wide.  That is helpful to know if you want to try a couple blocks.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Quilting at the Monastary was great!! I made some new friends, got a little quilting done, got to see what everyone else was into, discovered my new favorite quilt shop, made a fabric box, checked out some demos, and every meal was gluten free.  Sometimes something happens that I just have to run with . . . crazy me!  My roommate/table buddy quickly decide the orange batik she had was not going to be in her quilt, so she gave me the unwanted, rejected parts (one block with a quarter circle on it and he rest of her uncut orange).  I thought the purple looked like a planet, so I dubbed my creation, "The Planet Ruth Bag."  The planet Ruth lies in the Orange Galaxy.  The bag holds 2 medium quilts and a wallhanging.  I will be adding a link soon to share my adventures on the quilting retreat.  These things take time, especially since I don't know how to do that yet, but I am determined.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Tomorrow: Quilting Retreat.  This is my first quilting retreat. I have put a couple of things to work on in a bag, but I do not know if that is enough. My design wall is a flannel quilt mounted on our family room wall.  It has my crosses project on it, and on top of the crosses project is a barn project. I have all these cross blocks that just need squared up and pieced together, then they will be a quilt top.  I will have to take a photo of it, so I know the placement arrangement of the barn quilt I am working on, then I can take the barn off, to get to the crosses. Okay. I am going to do that and get this crosses project going. I am actually going to name it, Count Your Blessings.
      The Quilting Retreat is taking place at the monestary in Jerome, Idaho. I have heard nothing but positive comments on the experiences of others.  I will post a report with photos when I return.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

This is my new Japanese bag I used all last week to carry my camera and umbrella in to work. The first one I made is a little bigger and holds alot of stuff. I cut it from a remnant that measured 13.5" X 40.5". It only took me 10 minutes to make. There are only two seams that are 13.5" long each.
After you cut your fabric to 3 times as long as wide, you can hem it, or not. I suggest you do not, on your first one. Then zig-zag the raw edges after. You fold the left third over and stitch the top edge down. You fold the right third in, and be sure to lift the bottom of the left third, so you do not sew it into the bottom seam. Sew the bottom edge. It will look like this . . . then lift the corner, and unfold to reveal your bag.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

I went to my CONFAB tonight and received a refresher on hand applique.  I seemed to have a retention problem. First, I drew my elephant on the non-waxy side of the paper, then I cut it out before pressing the two pieces of  freezer paper with the iron. Then I forgot and cut out the ear without the 1/4 " allowance . . . he has a new ear!  It was clearly meant to be.  I am going to applique this elephant onto my latest kimono jacket.  Then, I gave a brief demo on the Japanese bag construction, which I am experimenting with.  Above is the piece of fabric I prepared for the demo.  I sewed a hem around the four edges, and added two bright patches for contrast, at the 1/3 mark in from each side.  Had a very enjoyable time at the CONFAB, and someone has a photo of me with my Japanese bag on my head.  It was determined that it is a versitile project.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

There are some larger quilt photos at the bottom, if you scroll down.
Here are some details, I promised:
Spirit of the Sea kimono jacket is completed. I gave it to my friend this afternoon.  Now, I need to continue with my barn quilt, but I have another kimono jacket all cut out . . . how hard would it be to just get it sewn together?  I cut it out in November (2011). If I sew it together now, I could wear it at the quilting retreat next month. 17 days, actually, but who's counting?  Decisions, decisions . . . Plus, getting the hang of preparing photos for my blog is a definite learning curve.  I want you to be able to see some of the details, so I do not want it too small, but the next size up is too big.
I will post some of the details.  :)

Sunday, March 25, 2012

It is good to take quilting and sewing classes in nearby towns.  I learned how to do long arm quilting on the machine at the Blue Bird Quilt Studio in downtown Nampa.  On days when I go and use their machine, I treat myself on the way home, with driving down a road I have not been down, so I can find barns to take photos of.  You meet nice people and friendly dogs who want you to play with them before you take a photo of the barn they are supposed to be protecting.  It is amazing how much slobber a dog can put on the surface of a ball.  One awesome happend last Veteran's Day.   I was coming back from the Blue Bird, when I went to get a barn photo and the place with the barn was having a holiday bazaar.  Well, it was also an estate sale!  The nice woman there was selling bags of fabric that had been her mother's stash.  Although she kept what she could of it, she was selling the rest.  I got some sweeeeeet fabric!  One piece in particular, was clearly from the 1970's, and I brought it home and washed it and it went perfectly with the fabric I had searched for on the internet for a dolphin kimono jacket.  Attached is a photo of this amazing paisley print!  I did get the kimono jacket and purse completed today, except I have to sew on three decorative buttons on the front of the jacket.  Then I can continue with my #1 barn quilt.  I am proud of me for getting the kimono jacket completed in one week. I will post a photo tomorrow.

Monday, March 19, 2012

I have a massive back log, but tomorrow evening I am going to take a class at my local quilt shop. The class will teach me about Sashiko.  I would like to make a Sashiko quilt and the designs are pretty cool looking. Indigo blue with simple white stitches. There are many patterns and each pattern has a meaning.  Yes, I have three barn quilts in the works and stopped work on barn quilt #1 on Sunday, at 11:00 am, to begin working on a Kimono jacket for a friend that is going to have surgery next week.  I will get the Kimono jacket completed by the time she has her surgery. I am just that kind of crazy.  This Kimono jacket is really coming along. I have to work on my budget and bills tonight, class tomorrow night, then I can work on the jacket again on Wednesday night.  Thursday night I am baking 36 pigs in the blankets for a pot luck on Friday at work. Oh, yeah. Then, I guess I will practice my violin Friday night, because I have to practice before my lesson on Saturday.  My teacher knows I do not practice enough, on violin.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Here I am starting something else at my ripe old age.

I am new to blogging, but am not new to quilting, chocolate, or the great outdoors. I have a buzzillion other things to be doing, especially quilting or sewing something special for a friend, but no, I am starting a blog.  Just like anything else, the best way to get started is to get started!  I have started, but don't really know what I am doing. Because I do not know the next step!  Okay, I am going to try to take the next step now and see what happens!

A slice of one of my rural photos