My precious thimble by T.J. Lane

I lucked out many years ago (12) . I tried on a sterling silver thimble at the quilt show in Paducah. It fit like it was made for me. It has a small stone and a Jinny Beyer logo. It also was very expensive but it is perfect.
Once a needle pierced it and my finger. I wrote to T.J. Lane and they had me mail it to them. They fixed it for free!!!! So it is not really that expensive when you have a warranty like that!

 I have been mindlessly making more hourglass units to make more Ohio Star blocks. Today I worked on brown ones. I had the pieces all cut. It seemed a waste to not sew them up. Besides, my Explorer is in the shop. I cannot go anywhere. Sometimes it will start and sometimes it won't. It is too scary to drive anywhere if I need to turn it off! DUH! I sure hope it won't be too expensive.....

 Here is the catalog picture of my T.J. Lane thimble:

http://thimbles2fit.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi?cart_id=8216054.1262.s0&product=thimble_open_main&productid=jbhorizg8&sales=0&lastmenu=

http://thimbles2fit.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi?cart_id=8216054.1262.s0&lastmenu=&product=thimble_open_main

http://thimbles2fit.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi

Seeing Gray Stars...some pressing and sewing tips

What you cannot see is the tiny thread between each of these three units. I keep them together during the pressing and piecing process.
This works so well for me.
Before I knew it I had 49 stars made!
WHOOOHOOO!

 I have all my birthday quilts made and they are at the longarmers getting quilted. So I am free to sew on the Orca Bay quilt #2 that I want to make in pinks and grays.

My only issue is that I love each of those colors separate too. My containers are already overflowing with enough units to make two more quilts.
I also have received the last of my washed neutral 2 1/2" strips for the swap at Quiltvilleswap on Yahoo. I cannot wait to begin swapping these out. Light neutrals are my favorite! Next month we are swapping dark neutrals. That should really be a very interesting swap!

Mystery quilt progress

Well, we are up to clue#4 in the Mystery quilt our quilt guild is doing. The member that is presenting this mystery has been ill so I have been printing off the clues for the participants. Let me tell you it has been so tempting to peek ahead but I have resisted.

Another member wanted some help so I had to work on my clue#4 before I felt capable of helping her.

 I am loving the movement in this quilt. Of course it helps that I also love the fabric I decided to use.

 A few of my points got cut off. I did some ripping and resewing yet there are still some points not too happy. I refuse to resew anymore on this so I will call it an "attempt" at perfection.

 And here is my precious Pearl helping roll the batting for me. The kitties all seem to feel that any surface that their Subee is working on is fair game for kitty exploration.

It's a dirty job but someone has to do it! I have a whole roll of Quilters' Dream cotton. I sure will be sad when I use it up. The prices have gone up on everything cotton.

Me and some of my quilts

I seem to have difficulty getting pictures of myself. Trying to flash a picture from me in a mirror results in nothing but "flash". And I think my phone takes pictures but have never tried it.
Thankfully I was interviewed for an article to be published in Senior Life newspaper. The reporter mailed me some of the millions of photos she took. I was very pleased with the pictures.

 Above is a paper-pieced quilt I made that I call Batik Stars. I hand quilted this beauty with spiderwebs. And the binding is all scrappy. I guess I was a scrappy girl back in 1995 and did not even know it!

And to the left of me is a stack of quilts that I have made. There were many more that did not make it into the frame of the picture. What am I going to do with all these quilts??????

Here is a closeup of my Hubby's birthday quilt made from that great 45 degreee kaleidoscope ruler by Marilyn Doheny. Elaine Adair was the culprit who turned me on to this easy technique that makes the fabric do the work and manages to still look complicated!

 Hubby and I examining one of the many musical quilts I have made him. I remember this black fabric. There were palm leaves along with the guitars so I had to fussycut the fabric.

Yes, I play guitar. Yes, this is a 12 string. This is the same guitar that DH taught me to strum on. Since I was a finger picker on a nylon string guitar I had issues with a smaller neck of a steel string guitar. DH had a solution. He removed 6 of the strings and I used the 12 for strumming until I was used to the strumming thing. I then bought a steel string guitar and never looked back. But I am still very much more comfortable finger picking than strumming.
The quilt behind me was part of a block exchange from the internet. Great color scheme!

My own forest of Log Cabins

I have never cared for assembling the blocks into a quilt top. I do love making blocks though. As a result I have oodles of blocks needing to be assembled.

I have been using Bonnie Hunter's Leaders & Enders technique when sewing blocks. It works. So I tried it for assembling quilt tops. MAN OH MAN! Am I ever pleased! My pile of 3" Bowtie blocks is growing and I have three log cabin flimsies to show for a few days' of work!

I posted about the blue/white Log Cabin already. I made it into a spiral.

 I love the diagonal look of this quilt top. Nice and clean and neat. These blocks are 10" finished.

 And here is a zig zag setting. These blocks are 12" finished. I cannot tell you which setting I like better. The only decision I need to make now is to decide which GD gets which quilt. There are three birthdays of GD for the month of March.

I used EQ7 to design the settings for the Log Cabin blocks. It is a great and powerful quilt designing program. How many of you have EQ?

My newest Quiltmaker came today. And as always Our Bonnie Hunter has another great block that uses our bonus triangles of course! And here is my basket (that is overflowing) of new 3" Bowtie blocks made from a 5" charm collection of Gatherings by Moda. (old fabric)

 Even though we live withing the city limits we get all kinds of wildlife visiting our home. I totally understand the food chain. And do not begrudge the hawk's dinner of my sparrows. The picture above is one of the younger hawks that visit my feeders. Since it is on the ground and looking right back at me you can see the hunt was not successful.

I LOVE SNOW!

XOXOOXXO Subee

Blue and white Spiral Log Cabin

I cannot thank Elaine Adair (elaineadairpieces.blogspot.com) enough for her fantastic instructions to make Log Cabin blocks. I have been going crazy making blocks.
I stepped away from my usual color pallet to make this birthday quilt for Granddaughter Arika. I have always wanted to set one of these Log Cabins in a spiral. Then of course I ended up making two more rows of blocks thinking I needed the design to wind out a bit further. And of course now I think I need more blocks. But enough is enough. This would be a never ending spiral if I continued.

I have a bit of a manic type of collection of plastic containers for storing my fabrics and projects.
The urge does not stop in the sewing room. This is just one cupboard of staples that I store in pink Tupperware. There are a couple other colors in here but mostly the pink containers. Some are real deep/long and some are squatty to fit boxes behind them. As I said this is just one cupboard. The smaller empty containers for leftovers are in a large cabinet. And they are to the point of all falling out when the door gets opened. It is time for a purge in that cupboard.

 I keep my pans on the wall for connivance. And that is also a good way to make sure they are clean when they get washed. I cannot bear to see a dirty pan on the wall.

My lucky kitties got a new drinking fountain today. The old one was years old and the pump was just not able to keep the water moving anymore. And besides, it was a lavender plastic thing and I was at my wit's end trying to keep it clean. This one is stainless steel. It can go in the dishwasher too! The kitties are not too sure of it yet. DH says the water is too vigorous. But I would have to disassemble it to move the pump setting. I am going to just leave it for now. They will eventually get thirsty enough to try it. There is no splashing of the water. This one holds a gallon of water too!

XOXOXO Subee

For every shape there is a plastic container made for them...

I should have bought stock in plastic containers years ago. Sadly I am now retired and $$$ is tight. Yet I continue to find the PERFECT containers for cut units.
Below are 1 1/2" Companion Angle triangles. They fit so perfectly in these smaller bins. Then these little bins can be carried and/or stored in larger project containers.

I was on a 1 1/2" cutting binge and quickly filled this smallish container with neutrals and some grays.

This container size has been a staple in my cutting room. It is the same size as the one with the 1 1/2" strips. These are 2 1/2" squares. Some are really golden oldies. This size used to be my favorite size unit. Then I decided I really prefer smaller blocks and moved on. Yet these 2 1/2" squares are still handy to have and to use. I did have to add more neutrals as that section was sadly depleted over time. The only complaint I have with this container is that if it falls the latch WILL come open.

 I always label the container. These are removable stickers if I need to repurpose the container.

Aren't they cute?????



 There is a method to my madness. I get so much sewing done because I try to not make a move that is not efficient. For example, pressing should be done in "lots" to make the best use of my time.

I do not move the iron across the units. I lift it and move to the next area. Up and down, up and down and soon my little pieces are all crisp and straight.

I love scrappy but my eye wanted a little more control in my pink stars. So before assembling I did a bit of sorting. And since I had kept like with like it was a simple step to do.

Not all the stars are pictured here. I finished them up this morning but this picture was taken yesterday.
I really like the subtle ones but DH says they should not be used as they are too subtle. We will wait until there is more of the quilt on the wall before I decide if they stay or go.

I could not resist making ONE little gray star.

Here is my first cabinet (I have two of these). I really like to use magnets and magnetic baskets on these cabinets. I have scissors hanging on the sides and more baskets to catch stray fabric pieces.

Here is the top drawer. All neutrals...all stuffed to the gills. But all of them are in my Scrap User System in one size or another. I do try to be fair and when I get them out to cut I will cut some of all the sizes I use. I will come in here on a cold snowy day and fire up the iron and go through the entire drawer. Such satisfaction. Life is good!

 Drawer #2 has blues on the left and greens on the right. But somehow they seem to migrate together at times. It depends on what I am searching for. A bluish green or a greenish blue??????

Drawer #3 is a special drawer. It has the CHOCOLATE there on the left and some special cat fabric. I have TWO huge containers of cat fabric. I cannot get to them because they are on the bottom of a stack of containers. This was the first type of fabric I ever started collecting. And I am ashamed to say that the last time I was in the attic I found a medium sized container full of more quilting fabric. Why was it up there? There is cat fabric in it too. I left it up there. I have enough to play with down here thank you!

And here is the bottom drawer. Bolts of fabric fit in these drawers as if they were designed for them. Precious old fabric in here.  See the neutral with the deep pink stripe?? I have had that forever! I am slowly using up my stash. I sure cannot take it with me when I go.
And a whole bolt of that clear stuff for embroidery machines. It is all sealed up but I do wonder if it has a shelf life. It dissolves away in water. Oh! I think it is called Solvy!

I swapped out the washed batik swap this last week. It only took me a couple hours to count, sort, swap, package and then put them in tote bags for the trip to the PO. They love me there. Job Security!

I bought 4 of these totes in the clearance aisle at Walmart one year. Only a $1 each! They are beach totes but work great for lugging parcels or groceries.

I hope you are all having a great day!
XOXOOXO Subee