Ebony's Quilt

I used a piece of an old sheet, that was still in very good shape, for the backing of this kitty quilt.  It is 26" wide and 50" long. I make them this size, so they can be located on the back of the couch or folded in half and place on the seat of a chair.  It keeps the cat hair in check and you can wash them frequently.  This one is for my daughter's cat.  I just use scraps and try to include fish, bird, and cat fabric if I can. I have made them with frogs and you know the cat does not mind.  I just did a stitch-in-the-ditch on this one.  My sewing machine has a little foot that is raised on one side, so the seam sits right up against the other side, and I adjust my needle to the left enough to sew right next to the seam, so it looks much nicer than my old attempts at doing stitch-in-the-ditch.  After I have it quilted, I trim the backing down to an inch larger than the top, and just fold it over on the front to create a cheaty binding that I just top stitch down.  I do this for kitty quilts, because it needs to be sturdy, not fancy.

Sunset Sail coming along

these are blocks on my design wall

I am a slow sewer, even today, to say the least.  But I love it so much, I just keep doing it! I took the Sunset Sail class last Thursday and Friday evenings at Room to Learn in Kuna.  I am liking how this is going.  Of course, none of us finished by the end of Friday evening, so we are meeting again this Friday to do some serious finishing up and a baked potato bar.  Quilting and a potato bar! How awesome is that?  Sunset Sail pattern is by Margaret E. Stone for Snow Day Designs.

Fabric Flashback

When I was 16, I was pretty darned hot, and I didn't even know it!  Today I was cleaning out my sewing box from Junior High/High School and discovered a small remnant of red double-knit fabric that took me right back to the summer of 1974.  It was from the short culottes that was part of the uniform for my first job.  I think back . . . it was truly a world away from where we are now.  The uniform for women (aka girls) at the Red Steer Drive Inn was white peasant blouses, with the neck tying in the front, short red culottes, and a tiny red and white vertical striped apron.  When I was hired they gave me instructions to buy the materials to make the uniform. My mother and I went to the fabric store at the Collister Shopping Center to get the pattern and fabric.  The ladies at the fabric store knew what we needed for the uniform needed to work at the Red Steer.  I don't think the guys, who worked there, had to make their own uniforms.  Because I am a slow sewer, to say the least, my mother made the blouse and culottes for me.  It just occurred to me that it is the mother's responsibility to take a photo of their daughter when going off to her first job in uniform.  I think my mother fell down on the job.  I wish I could see what I looked like in that outfit.  Maybe immature, but I am pretty sure 'hot' is the word.   I was wearing that outfit and working the north window of the Main Street Red Steer the day someone was waiting for their order and heard the news on the radio that President Nixon had just resigned.  I am sure he looked like hell, but I looked terrific!  Of course, he was pretty old and I was 16.