Words & Stitches

“I’m a gadget girl, in a gadget world…life in plastic…” oops, wrong song but wasn’t Barbie one of the original gadget girls? Can you even begin to list all the Barbie gadgets? I mostly remember my Barbie RV from the 70’s…I felt like the Queen of the Road!

Speaking of Queens, Queen Carol is the Swiss Army Knife of quilters….designer, quilter, and cat herder extraordinaire…I mean blog hop host! Huge hugs to her for putting this all together so I can talk about my favorite gadget.

Before that, though, I wanted to share a little story my mom told about my grandmother. My grandmother was a gadget girl, too and she was apparently fond of mail order gadgets. My mom always had a chuckle about the one she ordered that was like a mini wringer-washer that was supposed to shell peas. The theory was that you put one end of the pea in and turn the crank to pop the peas out of the shell. Unfortunately, the result was mushed peas!

I must have inherited some of my grandma’s love of gadgets because my quilting room is bursting with different gadgets. In several decades of quilting, I’ve seen a lot of gadgets come and go but there are a couple of recent additions that just keep me doing the quilters’ happy dance!

First, there’s my my Accuquilt Cutter….oh, my goodness! I have to admit, at first I thought, “Why do I need that? I can rotary cut.” My oh my, I have never regretted that purchase (birthday gift from the daughters) or any of the dies I’ve added over the years. I love my scrappy quilts and this makes it so much faster to work with all my bits and pieces. Here’s a quick overview of some of the quilts I’ve made thanks to my quick and accurrate acuquult. So many more pieced borders have made it into what I make because the cutter makes it fun and easy.

1

My other favorite tool is a bit bigger and bulkier but I do love, love, love my Qu’nique 21 Pro long arm machine! I’m a novice but I love being able to put a quilt on the frame and stretch my quilting skills.

My most recent finish was this heron quilt. I’m trying to push my skills to the improve on every quilt that I work on. I worked on quilting a water effect and then a “feathery” look on the bird himself. Honestly, I get a little intimidated quilting on something that is so pretty…I’m always worried I’ll mess it up. The long arm dominates the space in my quilting room (well, ok, maybe the fabric has it almost beat) but I love my big gadget and I’m glad I jumped in to get it. I quilted on my domestic machine for decades and loved that, too, but I love the speed and increased accuracy of my Longarm!

Now, there are so many great gadgets out there and great quilters using them…be sure to hop on over to each of them and see what cool things you didn’t know you really couldn’t do without! Oh and be sure to hop over the Just Let Me Quilt site and enter the cool giveaway that Carol has for us, too!

September 19

Creatin’ in the Sticks

Annie’s Musings

Days Filled With Joy

Quilting Gail

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Scrapdash

September 20

MooseStashQuilting

For The Love Of Geese
Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life

Food for Thought

Karrin’s Crazy World

Patchouli Moon Studio

September 21

Inflorescence

Selina Quilts

Samelia’s Mum

Just Sew Quilter

That Fabric Feeling

Songbird Designs

Just Because Quilts

September 22

Ms P Designs USA

Quilted Delights

Words & Stitches

Beaquilter

Quilt Schmilt

Crazy’boutquilts

September 23

Just Let Me Quilt

Quilt Doodle Designs

DayBrook Designs

Lianne Makes Stuff

Homespun Hannah’s Blog

Time 4 Stitchn

Lynn’s Blog

Hello!

Like many of us, I haven’t been doing much traveling but I still couldn’t resist signing up for See Ya Later, Alligator! My very favorite souvenirs from any trip are photographs and, you probably guessed it, fabric!

Recently, I completed a quilt with special memories embedded in every thread. This was a panel that Phil and I found when we traveled to California. My school has Heron in the name and of course, I needed it as soon I saw it. My friend, Margot, gifted me with a beautiful stack of fabrics that worked perfectly and this was the result.

I quilted it with wavy watery lines for most of the background and then added quilting to the heron.

I’m pretty pleased with how it came out!

Then, I had another opportunity to use another fabric with travel memories. My younger daughter requested a baby quilt for a co-worker and the shower was themed as “turtle.” I knew there were turtle fabrics from a trip to Hawaii in BC (before covid.)

This was my fabric pull from my stash

I did get a few adventures in recently. I had a little fun trip to the beach with friends this weekend. And, I took my new fold-up kayak out recently, too.

Happy quilting!

Beth

Monday, August 22nd

Just Let Me Quilt

Days Filled With Joy

Samelia’s Mum

Karen’s Korner

Quilt Schmilt

Beckys Adventures in Quilting and Travel 

Tuesday, August 23rd

MooseStashQuilting

Quilt Doodle Designs

Quilting Gail

Just Sew Quilter

Lianne Makes Stuff

Homespun Hannah’s Blog

Wednesday, August 24th

Inflorescence

Karrin’s Crazy World

Ms P Designs USA

Allthingzsewn

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Words & Stitches

Thursday, August 25th

Creatin’ in the Sticks

Quilted Delights

Food For Thought

Scrapdash.com

DayBrook Designs 

Just Because Quilts

I am, as you may know, a self-crowned queen of UFOs and I have the piles of quilt tops, blocks, partially pieced tops, quilts that just need a binding, a sleeve or small thing that will back up my claim. So, of course when Joan at MooseStashQuilting.com announced a UFO blog hop…well, who could resist? Certainly not me…especially when I have such a stack of good options! The question of which UFO to finish was easy, though.

Last year, my niece was nominated for her first Emmy for casting the animated show, “Baby Shark.” We were, to say the least, super, super excited! And then, in a late-night phone chat helping a friend shop for fabric…there is was! Baby Shark fabric! It was meant to be! I mean, how many times is there going to be fabric tied to a super special life event for one of my favorite people?

So, I started a big-star quilt with the idea of a fishy-border. My plan was to have it ready for her birthday but, well, a combination of things kept me from finishing. What stops your progress on a quilt? I’ve noticed that I can stutter to a stop on a project for a lot of reasons: not being able to see the next thing, worrying that it won’t come out as well as I imagined it, and the biggest reason of all – another new project comes along (AKA “Oh look, a squirrel!”)

But, this hop came along and that was tops on my UFO’s to finish list. Funny story, I also finished it a week early because I thought the hop was last week!

So, here’s to Baby Shark and my wonderful, talented niece who cast it!

I was able to ship it to my niece and she loved it! And, there’s a UFO off my list…now if I could just convice Carla to do this once a month for the next oh, ten years, I could make a dent in my list…LOL! Big thanks to Joan for a much needed kick of excitement and encouragement!

Be sure to hop over and see the other bloggers and then come back in a couple of weeks….I’m going to see if I can get a UFO from a previous hop finished and off my list, too!

Happy quilting!

Beth

Monday July 25

Just Let Me Quilt

Lianne Makes Stuff

Karrin’s Crazy World

Ms P Designs USA

Time4Stitchn

Scrapdash

Tuesday July 26

Creatin’ in the Sticks

Quilted Delights

Days Filled With Joy

Kathys Kwilts and More

Food For Thought

Wednesday July 27

Stitching Farm Girl

BeaQuilter

SelinaQuilts

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Quilt Doodle Designs

Quilting Gail

Thursday July 28

Patchouli Moon Studio

Quilt Schmilt

Lynns Blog

Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Home Sewn by Us

Friday July 29

Homespun Hannah’s Blog

Inflorescence

Words & Stitches

Just Sew Quilter

MooseStashQuilting

I’ve got sew much to catch up on but, if I try, I’m afraid I’d be writing a novel in place of a blog post!

There’s been a lot going on…end of the school year, a trip to Sister’s (where I got sidelined by a migraine and missed the quilt show), lots of paperwork and not nearly as much sewing as I’d like but I did get a fun UFO done…and speaking of UFO’s….it’s a whole blog hop of UFO’s!

Be sure to hop back on Friday when I share my most recent finish!

Monday July 25

Just Let Me Quilt

Lianne Makes Stuff

Karrin’s Crazy World

Ms P Designs USA

Time4Stitchn

Tuesday July 26

Creatin’ in the Sticks

Quilted Delights

Days Filled With Joy

Kathys Kwilts and More

Food For Thought

Wednesday July 27

Stitching Farm Girl

BeaQuilter

SelinaQuilts

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Quilt Doodle Designs

Home Sewn by Us

Thursday July 28

Patchouli Moon Studio

Quilt Schmilt

Lynns Blog

Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Quilting Gail

Friday July 29

Homespun Hannah’s Blog

Inflorescence

Words & Stitches

Just Sew QuilterMooseStashQuilting

Are you a foodie? I’m a super picky eater and my oldest says I have the palate of a 5 year-old! I disagree, of course, but I do have some very strong feelings about things like onions (the texture, not the flavor), apples (must be crisp, not mushy) and pears (taste like they have sand in them!) However, the beauty of food-themed fabric is that I like ALL of it! I had a fat quarter group from our Quarterly Quilter’s Tea that was perfect for this hop. Our theme had been “Fruits and Vegetables.” I used the Stacked Bricks free pattern from over at Christa Quilts and decided to go for a “mushy” look. I kept thinking about “mushy peas” which seriously sounds much worse than it is!

This top still needs to grow a little bit in length and then I may use the remaining pieces for a back.

I had such fun finally bringing these fabrics out to play! I think another Stacked Bricks could be in my future and I’d love to play with the different layouts that Christa provides.

Thanks so much to Carla at Creatin’ in the Sticks for assembling this fun team! Please be sure to hop on over to the other bloggers and see what’s up!

Happy quilting!

Beth

Monday, May 23rd

Just Let Me Quilt

Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

Karrin’s Crazy World

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Scrapdash.com

Lianne Makes Stuff

lynns blog

Tuesday, May 24th

Creatin’ in the Sticks

Samelia’s Mum

Quilting Gail

Quilt Schmilt

Quilted Delights 

Words & Stitches

Wednesday, May 25th

Patchouli Moon Studio

Selina Quilts

Inflorescence

Karen’s Korner

Days Filled With Joy

Patchwork Breeze

VroomansQuilts

Thursday, May 26th

MooseStashQuilting

Beckys Adventures in Quilting and Travel 

Ms P Designs USA

Pampered Pettit

Homespun Hannah’s Blog

Beaquilter

So, I promised an explaination about the Cat Vomit Quilt and so….to make a long story long…

Once upon a time, I told my husband that I had heard, on good authority, that you can’t be a crazy cat lady if you had a husband. That was when we started calling ourselves the crazy cat couple. And, with one thing and another, we wound up outnumbered in our sleeping arrangements with five cats sharing the bed with us. (Griff often declined to sleep with us but Jack, Zoe, Winnie, Milo and Gizmo loved to snuggle up with us. Sharing your room with multiple cats leads to some serious laundry issues. I don’t know if you have cats but mine seem to have a rare talent for hairballs and upset stomachs…usually right after laundry day!

So there was a need for a utility quilt. Something that could go in and out of the washing machine on a weekly (at least) basis. Enter the blog post for the Scrap Vortex Quilt over at Crazy Mom Quilts! I love, love, love playing with scraps and the idea of tossing all my wee bits of scraps into a fun utility quilt lit a fire in my heart. A word of advice, do take Amanda’s advice and cut your blocks into regular-sized units. I decided to keep just improving it and it did get me into a few sticky situations!

I kept thinking that the quilt was big enough and we had several auditions like this one..

I kept thinking I had it almost big enough like in this photo. My plan was to add a to the width after this round but I managed to put the next row on the wrong end. With one thing and another this quilt got pushed to the side and then, when I picked up it again, it still wasn’t big enough!!!

I added a few more blocks and, when it wasn’t big enough yet, I decided to add a navy border and piano keys made from the 2″ strip drawer. Then, I needed a backing. I cobbled together six different flannels to get enough width and still only had about four inches on each side to spare! Somewhere along the way, it occurred to me that flannel on the back of all of those seams might make for a very heavy quilt. And, by the way, adding another 11 inches to all sides of an already big quilt makes a VERY BIG QUILT!

I think I realized I might be in a little bit of trouble when I got the quilt on the frame and it took over most of my 12-foot frame. It looked big spread out on my porch stairs but it looked REALLY big when I put it on my bed!

Suddenly, my queen-sized bed looked much smaller and, in order to accommodate the quilt, I had to fold the end like this…

Yes, you could totally go right up and over the pillows with this one! I had a very real concern that my “wash and wear” utility quilt was not going to fit in my washer and dryer but, courtesy of the cats, we’ve tested that theory already. It did take three cycles in the dryer but the Cat Vomit Quilt is freshly washed and dried and is ready to conitnue it’s sworn duty to protect other well-loved quilts on my bed and to serve as the first line of defense against kitties with a hairball agenda! And as an added bonus, there’s very little chance of me ever being cold at night again!

So, there it is…the Cat Vomit Quilt explained! I hope you’ll come back soon as I’m starting a new quilt with fabric from a new line and a new designer! I’m so excited!

Happy quilting (no matter what size your quilt ends up!)

Beth

Oh my goodness, this is a first…I was sure my day was Thursday and then I got sidelined by a migraine and like the White Rabbit… I’M LATE! My apologies, my friends ans especially to our fearless leader!

I love bright colors and have been playing with them a lot lately. Here are a few

But the quilt I’m sharing for our hop has all the colors…. here’s my scrap vortex quilt aka the cat vomit quilt (long story, more later.)

Proof once more that all the colors really do go with all the other colors!

Again, my apologies for the mix up!

Please visit the other bloggers and hop over to moosestashquilting.com and show some love for our fearless leader, Joan!

Happy quilting!

Beth

Spring had sprung in the Pacific Northwest and my oldest daughter and I made a trip to the tulip farm which was chilly but always so beautiful!

However, the very next day, we had a snow day! In April!

I was excited for the extra sew day, though and thoroughly enjoyed it. By 5, it had melted, the sky was blue and school went off without a hitch the next day.

This weekend was our quilter’s tea and we got to see some terrific finishes! The black and white quilt blocks were ones we made for our youngest member when she got engaged. The blue and yellow is a quilt that is headed to the Ukraine and is wonderfully quilted with words of hope in both English and Ukrainian. We opted to postpone our Easter brunch because one of my younger daughter’s housemates was ill so we will be celebrating next week instead.

Now that Project Quilting is done, I’m working on rehabbing the sewing room. In keeping with my “tiny tidy” approach, this week was the ironing station. Here’s a little before, during and after. I love, love, love my Oliso irons, by the way (and, no, I’m not affiliated, just a fan!)

So, the Wonderful World of Color Blog Hop starts today! My day is later in the week but get ready for lots of fun and inspiration!

Monday April 18

Creatin’ in the Sticks

Ms P Designs USA

Samelia’s Mum

Kathleen McMusing

That Fabric Feeling

Scrapdash

 Tuesday April 19

Just Let Me Quilt

BeaQuilter

Songbird Designs

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Purring Cottage 

Stitchin at Home

Time4Stitchn

Wednesday April 20

Patchouli Moon Studio

Quilting Gail

Quilt Schmilt

Words & Stitches

Quilted Delights

Lynn’s Blog

Homespun Hannah’s Blog

 Thursday April 21

Just Sew Quilter

Days Filled With Joy

Selina Quilts

Karrin’s Crazy World

The Darling Dogwood

Beckys Adventures in Quilting and Travel

 Friday April 22

Kathys Kwilts and More

Pieceful Thoughts

Karen’s Korner

Inflorescence

Crafts and Math

MooseStashQuilting

I’ll see you back soon but in the meantime, I hope you have some fun stitching time in your week!

Happy quilting,

Beth

The last prompt for Project Quilting Season 13 was Flying Geese and I can tell you that ideas flew around my heaId like crazy! There were literally flocks of ideas but they didn’t colalesce until Wednesday and the serious sewing started on Thursday. I was inspired by a quilt I saw on a Fons & Porter page while I was googling flying geese. I loved the idea of “super sizing” my geese…they are finished at 12×6″. While I was pulling fabric, I made a whole bunch of false starts until I remembered a stack of fat quarters that had been stocking stuffers from my youngest and my husband. I will admit that I’m a bit of a fabric snob and these “big box’ cottons were a tad on the thin and papery side so I had shelved them together and thought I would put them all together in a quilt. That way, the fabric should shrink at a similar rate and wear about the same. I’m delighted with how this came out and even managed to get a photo in the last dregs of daylight! This measures 64×64” and contains 50 flying geese units. Fun fact, if you are using fat quarters, you can get all the pieces for three geese (centers and sides) out of each fat quarter. I pressed and layered them up and then sewed pairs of geese. By reversing the placement, you can use two geese to make a chevron. I would love to try this again and play more with the color placement but I’d need more than a week!

The leftover binding bin came into play again this week and I put three together to bind the quilt

So, thank you so much to the whole Project Quilting Team! I feel like a winner every challenge because I have done something new and pushed my comfort zone out just a bit.

Happy ‘Quilting,

Beth

I had so many ideas for this blog hop! I love the look of hourglass blocks and they’re so fun to piece and so quick to stitch when I cut them with the accuquilt…bonus, no dog ears to trim! I had been making the 16-patches out of the leftovers from the string border on the Cat Vomit Quilt (still waiting to show you that when it’s quilted.) It occurred to me that if I sewed my piano key strips (2″ strips from the scrap bin) into sets of four, the leftover bits could be sub cut into a row of four squares. Four strips sewn together gave me sixteen patch blocks! And, to my amazement…the 2″ strip bin actually started to diminish! So, I decided to throw together some hourglass blocks and a quilt start was born! Now, I didn’t quilt this because I have decided that I’d like to make it quite a bit bigger. This section is 48×48 and, if I make four of these, I’ll have a nice queen-sized quilt. This is just the kind of scrappy quilt I love seeing on a bed. Bonus, if you can’t sleep, you can spend hours looking at all the different prints!

Of course, I noticed after I took the picture that I had managed to put one hourglass block in the wrong position but it will be an easy fix with the seam ripper. If you’re not ripping occasionally, you’re not actually sewing, right?

I’m excited to be sharing this day with these great bloggers…

March 17
Ms P Designs USA
Quilt Schmilt
That Fabric Feeling
Quilted Delights
Words & Stitches
Selina Quilts

Big thanks to Carol over at Just Let Me Quilt for pulling this together!

Now, I’m off to start my Project Quilting Challenge…wish me luck!

Happy quilting!

Beth