​Jun  05, 2016: You know how one search for something specific leads to something else & so on? Well, that happened to me yesterday...again. I was searching for logos about LIFE & kept finding tree of life items & all sort of lesser "art".
Jun 08: Some fabric is here. The panel is on the way.
​Jun 10: Panel is here. It is not what I expected (looser weave than regular quilting quality fabric) but it is beautiful & will be fine..
Dec 30, 2020: Eddie rejected the Glory quilt I made him saying it was too short. So now I am making this one for him.
Jan 01.2021: Started by pressing the panel.
​Jan 02: The floral border on the second panel (I bought thinking curtains), was quite wonky thus unusable. Removed floral border from both panels. Cutting all the other borders.
Jan 03: Added floral border. Quilt is so long, I decided to remove top & bottom borders on the brown & beige thin borders.
​Jan 04: Quilt top is finished.

Aug 09, 2018: Saw this pattern in the Ye Olde Forest monthly newsletter that came out today. Love it! Bought it! Played with it. Drew it. Now searching for fabrics. Turns out that is the hard part.
Jun 28, 2019:  Picked up fabrics at Ye Olde Forest I thought would work in a large version of this quilt.
Aug 23: It has been my intention all along to make this for Munirah. Just waiting for her to accept it. Not 100% there but close. ​What a Day!!!
Nov 09, 2020: Pre-washed & pressed the fat quarters (FQs) and background cream fabric. (The dark purple for border &/or backing is not yet pre-washed). Cut 3 inner borders.
Nov 10: Need to decide which fabrics go where, cut 2.5" strips, plan the blocks.
​Nov 11: Still cutting strips. Found more batiks in the basement so I will have plenty.
​Nov 12: Pre-washing the rest of the fabrics. Strips are cut and sorted, more or less.
Nov 13: Strips cut to size ready to make blocks. Gave up planning the blocks for now & sorted by fabric instead. Will group them together after sewing on the background squares. Cutting the squares from the background fabric today that form the points. After cutting them, I will draw a diagonal sew line on the back of each one. Yes, I feel overwhelmed at this point. Just need to keep going.
Nov 17: Finally finished drawing all the 336 diagonal lines--288 small ones and 48 large ones. Ready to sew. Taking a break on this one & back to Lisa's Cricket Quilt.
Dec 15: Resumed work on this quilt. Working on block centers.
Dec 16: Finished block centers. Setup to sew first level pairs.
Dec 23: Finished the 1st-3rd level pairs. Ready to make the blocks.

Sep 17, 2019: Lisa & I spent several hours today exploring quilt ideas. Lisa decided ... well, scratch that. 
Sep 18: More brainstorming ideas.
Sep 19: We both took a break.
​Sep 20: Back to brainstorming... I have moved our planning details to the infamous dot screen (the dot/period on the menu is not dust on your screen but a link to semi hidden playground for ideas. I is easier to use this mode than emailing.
Oct 16: We started working again.
Oct 18: We have a plan. I will order fabric in the morning.
Oct 23: Fabrics are here - so soft.
Oct 24,26: Had to play to see what I'm in for (red blocks) - a whole lot of triangles inside triangles!.
Nov 03, 2020: Starting this project. Day 1. Laid out fabric combinations. Counting and recounting to be sure I have enough fat quarters (FQs).
Nov 04: Day 2. Pressing the FQs.
​Nov 05: Day 3. Wanted to do one FQ pair to be sure I was getting it right. Immediately realized I had to cut them in thirds (size of one paper template)
   Process --  not hard, just time intensive.

1. Pin a template on the pair, right sides together.
2. Sew on the dotted lines.
3. Cut on the solid lines to make 14 triangles & 4 squares.
4. Repeat 1-3 for other 2 matching thirds.
5. Press triangles open to make a half square triangles (HST).
6. Remove the paper.
7. Trim 2 dog ears on each HST.
8. Place the 42 triangles & 12 squares in a baggie.
9. The baggie will contains 54 pieces to make 6 identical blocks.

Went ahead and cut all the 20 FQ pairs into thirds making 60 sets.
Nov 06: Repeat Day 3 Process for 60 sets. Yields 20 baggies. Might take a few days. Day 4. Sewed 15 sets (5 FQ pairs). Still need to cut them apart.
Nov 09: Days 5-7. Finished first 5 FQs --cutting, pressing, removing paper, trimming. Taking a break on this one. Working on another--Munirah's Sonata.
Nov 18-21: Plugging along making triangle sets. Finished 9 of 21 sets.
Nov 27: Finished 13 of 21 sets. 8 more to go.
Nov 28: Hope to tackle the final 8 sets today but that's a lot.
Nov 29: Got the last 8 sets sewn. Still need to cut the triangles apart, press, clip corners & remove paper.
Dec 03: Got all the triangles cut.
Dec 04: Pressing triangles into squares, clipping corners & removing paper.
Dec 09: Finished with the sets. Taking a break to working on Munirah's Sonata before assembling the blocks.

May 08: Joe works at the neighborhood Dollar General. During this Covid-19 crisis, that often means double shifts and time only to sleep. This quilt is his thank you for a job well done. The retro backing is not available but hopefully will be come football season. Everything else is ordered.
May 19: After waiting 10 days, Fabric.com sent an email that the black flannel was not available. A first.
May 20: Ordered some Kaufman Yellow flannel hoping it might be a better match than the Citrus. Still looking for some retro fabric & notice there are shysters trying to sell small pieces for a huge price. Also ordered some black on Etsy.
Jun 01-02: Pre-washed flannels.
Jun 05: Cutting.
Jun 07: Finished Redskins blocks.
Jun 08: Working on 9-patch blocks.
Jun 10: All blocks are done.
​Jun 11: Rows are done. Center is done. Next 3", 2" & 4" borders.
Jun 12: Quilt top is done. Need backing fabric and binding.
​Aug 24: Ordered the backing. Not what we wanted but only option available.
Sep 05: Backing is here.
Sep 07: Pre-washed ready to piece.
​Oct 19: Make the backing.
Oct 21-22: Loading.
​Oct 22: Programmed. Loaded.
Oct 23: Quilted.
​Nov 01: Binding is done & thus the quilt is done.

Jul 28, 2019: Picked up the jelly rolls Saturday at Ye Olde Forest Quilt Shop. Googled for a 2-color strip quilt project and found Cozy Quilt "Glory." It makes a rather large on-point quilt but I prefer the horizontal layout. It is a bit of piecing but the kind that goes fast (not). ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjNmZkIN4nY
May 07, 2020: Eddie Gomez is here very much wanting a quilt. The one he seems most interested in is a RWB so I am doing a modification of Glory. I will know soon enough how tedious this really is. Lots of 9-patches & sashing with cornerstones shouldn't be too bad.
​May 08: Fabric ordered.
May 16: Started piecing the 6"x6" 9-patches.
May 22: 8"x8" blocks are together. Planning the layout.
May 23: Rows are together.
​May 27: Center is together. Borders next. Waiting on striped border fabric.
July 07: Vendor refunded the border fabric cost--couldn't fill the order.
July 08: Decided to leave off the border & bind with the white--i.e. Shimmer Radiance. Quilt will still be large enough. Ordered the bit of needed  fabric.
​Sep 23: Working on the backing.
Oct 18: Backing is done. Loaded.
​Oct 19: Quilted.
Oct 20: Binding is attached.
Oct 21: Clipped the binding.
​Oct 22: Started the hand binding.
Oct 27: Binding is done and so is the quilt.
Dec 30: I will be getting this quilt back as Dr. Gomez said it was too short for him. It will go to one of Joan's veterans as originally intended so this is very good.

Jul 13, 2019: This disappearing pinwheel quilt is demonstrated online by MSQC. I found it months ago & did the EQ7 rendition then. Now it has the intended fabrics from the RWB fabrics for Joan's Vietnam Vets Project. This will be a J&L Quilt.
Jul 17: Backing is here.
Jul 19: All fabrics are pre-washed.
Jul 27: Swapping white for Wilmington Prints Cookies & Cream tonal 10" squares--1/2 light cream, 1/2 bright white.
Mar 02, 2020: Started piecing. Cut the blue and red blocks & paired them with the cream tonals.
Mar 03: Sewed the perimeter on the 20 paired 10" squares - 5 blue & white, 5 red & white. Cut the diagonals to make HST pinwheels & sew together. My pinwheel blocks are 12.75" square. Cut the pinwheel blocks in thirds (three 4.25" sections or cut 2 1/8" from center on all four sides.) horizontally and vertically, rearrange & sew back together into large pinwheel blocks. Completed a couple of blocks all the way to see what I have gotten myself into before doing all 20 blocks.
Mar 04-07: Working on the "sew back together" part as I get a chance.
Mar 20: After a long break, I finished the 18 pinwheel blocks. Yes, getting the centers just so was as tedious as I feared.
​Apr 10: Made some progress yesterday on the red blocks and along the way. Going is slow.
Apr 16: The 20 blocks are done. Whew! The 5 rows are together.
Apr 17: ​Quilt center is in one piece. White border is on.
​Apr 18: Red border is on. Blue border is left to do.
Apr 20: Quilt top is finished.
Sep 22: Loaded.
Sep 23: Programmed. Quilting.
​Sep 24: Quilted.
​Sep 28: Squared.
Oct 05: Made the binding.
Oct 11: Attached the binding.
​Oct 13: Hand sewing the binding.
​Oct 15: Bound.

Jun 29, 2019: Close-out sale at Ye Olde Forest Quilt Shop.
Jul 02: Love these panels I picked up over the weekend at Ye Olde Forest Quilt Shop. Got the batik for border &/or backing. Thinking checkerboard interleaving the tan and black blocks. Need to play...
Jul 03: Just ordered a total of 3 tan & 3 black panels.
Jul 11: Played in EQ7 to get a basic rendition.
​Jul 27: Picked up some more fabrics at Ye Olde Forest Quilt Shop to blend the sets of blocks.
​Jul 30: Polished off 2 designs I think will work nicely but had to buy a full priced yard of the lettering to make it happen. Worth it. Having so much fun with this.
Feb 21, 2020: Making this for A. M. Cheek of
https://www.facebook.com/CheekFarmsteadCreamery/. Pressed all the fabrics. Started fussy cutting the blocks.
Feb 25: Working steadily. Blocks are framed in black. Next finish the Farm Sweet Farm blocks. Then add sashing with lettering. The center is in one piece. Next a 2" letter border followed by a thin black border followed by a floral border.
Feb 28: Half of the floral border is attached...during the long night when I couldn't sleep.
Feb 29: Quilt top is finished.
​May 13: Purchased Kaufman Down On The Farm Toile Black fabric for backing.
Aug 04: Pre-washed the backing.
Aug 05: Pieced the backing. Loading.
Aug 09: Quilted.
Aug 10: Binding.
​Aug 23: Bound & delivered to A. M. Cheek & his wife just over the hill.

Feb 29, 2020: Polished plans for the second quilt. Decided to  not do the third wall hanging using the blocks in this quilt instead.
Mar 01: Got the sashing done. Two borders to go.
​Mar 02: Quilt top #2 is finished.
Mar 03: Picked out Kaufman Foxes fabric for the backing. (A grey fox has actually been seen in my back yard several times so I figure it wanders over the hill to dairy farm too.)
Aug 31: In the past week or so, I made the binding & pieced the backing. Started loading.
Sep 03: Prepped the top. Loaded.
Sep 04: Quilted.
Sep 05: Squared. Attaching the binding.
Sep 10: Binding is finished.
Sep 11: Delivered the quilt to Rodney just over the hill.

Jul 11, 2019: Greg has been working on my driveway lately. Today I met his granddaughter, Alana, who loves all things monkeys. When she saw the bananas fabric, she was hooked. I decided to go with a twister quilt using all the coordinating fabrics. Pre-ordered the layer cake expected in late September. Created the EQ7 Rendition. Ordered the fabric for the outer border & backing. Sure hope it coordinates nicely.
Jul 16: Teal backing/border is here.
Jul 18: Pre-washed teal backing/border.
Nov 23: Alana came over to plan her quilt layout.
Jan 06-07, 2020, 2020: Step 1.
​Jan 08-13: Working on Step 2 - cutting pinwheels. Step 2 is done. Just need to add a border and prep the backing.
​Jan 16: Border is on. Quilt top is finished.
​Jun 25: Prepping & loading. Opened a new roll of batting I ordered last December that turned out to be Warm & Natural rather than the Warm & White I ordered. Warm company promptly agreed to replace it.
Jun 28: Opened the replacement batting that was covered with some sort of very hard pilling.
Jun 29: Again Warm company agreed to replace the faulty batting. I hope to receive the good batting tomorrow & return the faulty batting the next day. Meanwhile, quilting is on hold.
Jul 07: Some good batting arrived from Warm Company in WA (rather than NC).
​Jul 29: Quilted.
​Jul 30: Binding.
Aug 04: Bound.

Jul 11, 2019: Greg has been working on my driveway lately. Today I met his granddaughter,Talin, who loves all things owls. I ordered this & one other owls panels for her back on June 12 to round out an order of white stars on navy for 15 Stars.
Jul 13: Created the EQ7 rendition.
​Jul 14: Ordered the fabric.
​Jul 17: Fabrics are here.
​Jul 18: Backing is pre-washed.
Jul 19: Everything is pre-washed.
Jul 20: Pieced. Decided not to use the 2nd panel on the back.
​Jul 26: Gave Talin the panel I didn't use in her quilt.
Dec 30: I did some overlays from which Talin selected Kindling for her longarm pattern.
Jun 22, 2020: Prepped & loaded.
​Jun 23: Quilting.
Jun 24: Quilted.
​Jun 25: Make binding.
Jul 24: Bound and finished.

Sep 22, 2019: What a Day!!! For 2 months now, I've know that Evie loves purple and unicorns. I learned today that is not all. She also likes Narwhals (had to look that up) and dolphins. I showed her all the purples and pinks I had. One she definitely DID NOT like. One fabric, when she saw it, lit her up like a Christmas tree--the purple dogwood batik I bought for the coverlet quilts. Sumira will help her select exactly what she wants. She said, with no prompting at all ... put a unicorn in the middle with this around it (border). Doubt that will work but perhaps as the backing for when/if she outgrows unicorns. She also told me she wants all of her favorites in the quilt (panels in memory quilt type layout). Hmmm. WIll be fun to see what this narrows down to...what she chooses. I'll be making renditions of all of these to show her & see what shakes out.
Sep 25: Received her selection.
Sep 26: Ordered the kit. Backing is my selection.
Oct  02: The fabrics are all here.
Dec 03: I have decided to try to make this & Blakley's quilts by Christmas.
Dec 05: Pre-washed fabrics along with Blakley's.
Dec 15: Ready to start. Got familiar with the instructions & fabrics...what goes where. Separated the panels.
Dec 16: Decided to Best Press the panel fabrics before cutting (9.5"x11"). Helped a lot. 16 panels are ready to sew.
Dec 17: The backing is ready. I fused the Pellon SF101 100% cotton interfacing to the rayon. It did nicely. No longer too slinky to quilt.
Dec 18: Adding frames to panels.
​Dec 19: All panels are framed. Cut the rest of the fabric into squares, triangles & rectangles that will compose the sashing.
Dec 25: Still working with 68 sets of small triangles working them into squares.
​Dec 31: No more triangles. Now squares.
Jan 02-03: Piecing the rows.
Jan 04: Combined the rows & sashing. Center is done. Made the complex borders. Will attach tomorrow.
​Jan 05: Borders are on. Quilt top is finished.
Jun 15: Prepped & loaded. Started quilting.
Jun 16: Quilted. Binding is attached & ready for hand work.
​Jun 20: Bound & finished.

May 22, 2020: Arrived here.
May 23: Will quilt like bear here: Quilts for Kids
May 30: Quilted.

May 31: Using Sashiko.
Jun 02: Prepped.
Jun 03: Programmed. Loading.
Jun 04: Quilting.
Jun 05 Quilted.

May 30: Prepped & loaded.
May 31: Working on longarm patterns. Using Stars & Loops.
Jun 01: Quilting.
Jun 02: Quilted.

Sep 22, 2019: What a Day!!! I asked Blakley to think about something that made her feel peaceful, happy, safe...something along that line. She came back after thinking about and asked for beach fabrics because of the way the beach makes her feel. At once, I thought of the Sea Cottage fabrics I had left from Dad's Gift to Caroline. She loved them. I showed all sorts of ways we could use the fabric. After looking at all them, she had me go back to Easy Peasy Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt. I can do a rendition in no time when I get a moment after my deadlines this month.
Sep 24: I found some fabric and posted it on the dot screen.
​Sep 25: Blakley emailed me complete with pictures. "Hi, this is Blakley. I have picked out a couple quilt squares that I like on e-quilter. Can you incorporate these in to the quilt with the color square we talked about when you were here(the first picture in the email). Also can you make the backing the first the beach is my happy place for my backing (second picture in the email) please? Thank you so much! Blakley Mathieson  Yes, I can...almost. The peebles fabric is sold out. It didn't look so good anyway. I am showing several options here that I think look awesome.
Sep 26: Fabric is ordered. At Samira's insistence that it is what Blakley wants, the backing will be 6 panels. I ordered some of the seashore mix. The peebles sold out from under us. If Blakley really wants them, I can get a yard on eBay with an inflated shipping cost.
Oct 02: All the fabrics are here. Well, almost. The vendor sent me the wrong fabric--no footprints. I have re-ordered.
Oct 03: The panel came in. In fact 6 panels came in because Samira knew Blakley wanted only panels on the back. Turns out she did not want that at all. Panels, anyone? This quilt is going to be so gorgeous, so special, if I do say so myself. I love it. In fact, I have some fabric I am going to use to make the same Easy Peasy quilt.
Oct 12: Replacement Footprints in the Sand fabric finally got here.
Dec 03: I have decided to try to make this & Evie's quilt by Christmas.
Dec 05: Pre-washing new fabrics. Sea Cottage fabrics are already pre-washed.
Dec 06: Made the backing - a quilt in itself.
​Dec 08: Sea Cottage blocks are ready to sew. Planning the layout. Had to size down to 8" blocks from 9" blocks so more blocks needed.
Dec 09: Planning the layout.
Dec 10: Layout is planned. Made the 1st nine patch.
Dec 11: Will cut & resew 1st nine-patch before making other nine patches then proceed from there. Aligning seams for chain piecing.
Dec 12: Chain piecing remaining 9-patches.
Dec 13: Longarming another quilt. Intelliquilter longarm computer is down.
Dec 14: Drive wheels worn out beyond repair. Ordered & waiting for new ones. Rows are together. Just need to join them to each other to finish the quilt top.
Dec 15: Joining the rows. Quilt top is finished. Top & back are ready to longarm. Will do a few overlays of patterns. Turned out that the top is as soft & quiet as the back is bold & colorful. Really is 2 quilts with 2 different moods in one.
Apr 28: Prepped & loaded. Quilting.
May 10: Quilted.
May 19: Bound.

Apr 10: Carin Jackson ​has a quilt on the way.
Apr 16: Quilt is here.
Apr 17: Realized the back is not larger than the top so we have to figure out what to do. Carin will send fabric for leaders.
Apr 20: Back leaders are here.
Apr 21: Prepped.
Apr 23: Loaded.
Apr 24: Programmed ready to quilt. Quilting.
​Apr 25: Quilted.

May 20, 2019: Been hoping to make this quilt for awhile. Made the mistake of stopping in at the local quilt shop just to say hello. Got me thinking deeper about fabrics. Contrast to make the flag (not the borders) "wave" is the key.
Jun 13: Settled on some fabrics. Wanted more contrast but this will work. Ordered Andover Stars Navy Fabric. I will piece or paper piece the stars if I can perfect it.
Jun 17: The navy fabric is here so I am all set to piece when I get/make the time. Working on my star. Found a paper pieced star pattern I like.
​Jul 19: Pre-washed all the fabrics except red charms (5" squares).
Jul 23: Asked Joan if she would be interested in doing the paper piecing. She just might. Turns out I pieced the stars
Aug 01: When I offered John a quilt, he chose 15 Stars over the others I am planning: Disappearing Pinwheel, & Glory.
Nov 11: Veterans Day.  Been working on stars since Saturday trying to get the right dimensions. Ain't easy as the slightest change makes a huge difference. Looks like I have enough fabric for John's stars too.
Nov 13: After 5 long days & many samples, I finally have a star that I think will work nicely. Now I understand why the author of this quilt design used wonky stars but I got stubborn and want something more like the real flag. Where is Betsy Ross when you need her? My star isn't perfect but it is visually close.
Nov 16: Have 16 stars cut ready to sew. Helping a friend a couple of days this week.
Nov 17: Sewing one set of 16 stars together.
Nov 21: Have one set of stars ready for the quilt.
Nov 27: Red charms (5" squares) are ready for the quilt. Just leaves HSTs (half square triangles) & borders...then can assemble.
​Nov 28: Working on HSTs. Process: 2 strips 4" wide. Sew together along long sides, both sides. Use HST strip ruler to cut 5" sq HSTs along the seams alternating sides. 10 squares per strip. 4 strips per quilt. 33 blocks - 15 A blocks & 18 B blocks. All blocks are ready now to assemble.
Nov 29: Working on A & B blocks.
Nov 30: A & B blocks are done ready to square & then assemble into the quilt. Whew.
Jan 19, 2020: Resuming work to join the blocks.
Jan 20: The blocks are joined into rows.
Jan 23: Joining rows into quilt center. Done. Only borders left to do.
Jan 28: Started adding inner white border.
Feb 03: White border is on. Cut the red & blue borders and blue backing. Need to pre-wash the blue fabric.
Feb 20: All the borders are on & the quilt top is finished.
Feb 21: Sampled the Modern Eccentric quilting design & love it! So does John.
Mar 22: Made the backing & loaded it.
Mar 23: Finished loading. Quilting.
​Mar 25: Quilted.
Mar 26: Made & attached binding by machine. Started the hand work of stitching the binding to the back.
​Mar 31, 2020: Finished.

Jan 11: Love this quilt by Jipco Herzog. This is her third quilt using the winter train panel.
Jan 18: Prepped ready to load.
Jan 21: Loading.
Jan 24: Quilting w/Greg McGuire.
​Jan 25: Quilted.

Jan 04: I understand this is the first of a series of winter theme quilts by Jipco.
​Jan 14: Quilting. Teaching friend Greg McGuire to longarm.
Jan 15: Quilted.

                                     Making this quilt for Alicia Miller
Dec 24, 2016: Purchased 3 charm packs from Ye Olde Forest Quilt Shop during their annual stocking stuffer promotion.
Nov 06, 2018: Today, my friend & very special lady, Alicia, selected this for her quilt. We've been working up to this for several months now. Can't wait to get started.
Nov 07: Working on a rendition.
Nov 08: Ordered fabric for background, borders, binding & backing.
​Nov 13: All fabrics are here.
Jul 03: 2019: Started working with the charm packs (2).
Jul 04: Cutting background charms, i.e. 5" squares.
Jul 06: Arranged the blocks.
Jul 09: Sewing the blocks.
Jul 12: The blocks are done. Next cut, swap, sew back together into final blocks.
Jul 15: I intentionally cut the background square a tad too big so I trimmed the blocks. Cutting 1" from the center all the way around, swapping corners & turning the center square to get the final layout, then sewing the 9 pieces back together into the final block. MSQC video
​Sep 06: Resumed piecing.
​Sep 07: The center is done.
Sep 08: First border is on. Widening the outer border from 3" to 6".
Sep 10: Backing, outer border & binding are cut and ready to sew.
​Sep 11: Bought the Paper Dolls pattern by Vicki Malaski. Quilt top is finished.
Nov 30: Loaded & quilting.
Dec 01: Quilted.
​Dec 02: Binding is attached ready for hand work.
Jan 01, 2020: Bound.