Baby Postcard from Sweden & Dragger

Vibrance!

Many long months ago I promised a baby quilt for a friend--a grandmother-soon-to-be, and immediately after my life was swamped. It was one big thing after the next. Life can be that way, you know. My sewing projects were shut down tight. Six long months later the storm of activity has officially passed, and we're all breathing easier, thank you. I am gratefully, intentionally back to sewing. It's like a dream waking up with permission to say to myself, "Today I am going to sew!" And sew, I have.

Walnut Creek Vintage Fair 2019 & Linky Party

The Rosy Fingers of Dawn: 7:00 Arrival

Living in the heart of quilt country has its advantages if you pay attention. The Walnut Creek Vintage Fair has been around for several years now, but I first heard about it last week when a friend said she was vending vintage fabric there, and I should come. I coerced my daughter and soon-to-be daughter-in-law to wake early on their Friday-day-off, and off we went. My advice to bring extra shoes was helpful because there was water in the parking field despite the gorgeous dawn. Little did we know that the dark skies we had experienced in the late afternoon the day before had brought a torrential storm here. It wreacked havoc on the vendors who had already set up shop. Large puddles persisted as we entered the market. Muck boots were haute couture, and more than just a good look.

Choosing Quilting Patterns & Motifs

Postcard from Sweden: Baby Version

It has been months since I woke up in the middle of the night with clouds of swirling thoughts. When this happens, I feel like I am stuck in sleep mode yet awake. All the unrealistic thoughts that would be dreams--especially those that might be nightmares while asleep are processed while wide awake. It's like having surgery without the anesthetic. The so-called creative, free-associating side of the brain runs without the conscious filter of the other half. A monkey brain. I worry about things in the dark I could talk myself out of in daylight. Yuck. But sleep finally comes, and I swear the next morning to never drink caffeine so late in the day again. 

Cultivating Quilts

Postcard from Sweden for Baby

Early February this past winter, I promised a quilt. A cascade of family events moved life far away from our ordinary pace, and seemed to have taken ages to return. Have you ever uttered to yourself, "I just want to catch up." And so, in spite of spring rains, and all kinds of new things I'm cramming to learn until my brain hurts, I feel closer to caught up than in months. True, we still need groceries, and are hunting for clean laundry throughout baskets parked down a hall, but sorting life on the outside is not the same as our inner life. We first seek peace in our hearts, and watch it follow in our world. 

Studio Reno & Learning ProStitcher Sortware

Charity Quilt Back 
with ProStitcher Premium

Combining a healthy portion of pride, reasonable self-criticism, and buckets full of gratitude to all the help I've been blessed with, I've made good progress. Is it perfect? Heck, no, but it's quilted, and looks darned good! Sure, I was so nervous setting it all up I forgot to stagger the design, but as Beth from Cooking Up Quilts said, "Tell them it was a design choice." Beth, who has been at the other end of the line patiently listening to me fret and wail, and answered with giggles as well as the right answer. I'm so grateful she's several steps ahead of me in learning. Thanks, Beth!

Quilt Studio Renovation

The Great Renovation Begins

There should be a sign on the studio:

New Hours: Severely Limited

or more appropriately labeled,

Warning! Construction Zone
Enter at Your Own Risk!

Gratitude: Piece On for Spring

Watching Spring Creep In

Hasn't this been the longest winter ever? I can't remember a year I wanted spring so badly while the last of its months dragged on with cold, wet days. It was interminable.

Cloth Basket Ideas

Cloth Basket: Quick Sew

How's that for a quick gift in under an hour? My daughter asked me weeks ago for a small gift for a co-worker, and I forgot until the 11th hour. It didn't take long to check this one off, though. Cloth baskets are wonderful for highlighting pretty fabrics, using up remnants, and easy to personalize for individual uses. While I typically use a denser, iron-on batting, it was nowhere to be discovered. I resorted to a quilt batting remnant, and it made for a slouchier construction. A little straight-line quilting adding some body, and more would have even been better in hindsight. 

I would love to make a grouping of smaller baskets using this method, and tack them together in a group. Wouldn't that add a bit of color on a nightstand to hold hair clips, earrings, and those little things that typically get misplaced? 

Come on, Doxie girls.

Let's go sew.

     

Thursday's Tips

Pfaff Creative Performance: New to Me

Over the past winter, I've had my share of problems with my older Pfaff sewing machines. Two shorted out their motherboards (Read, "More expensive to fix than the value of the machine"), and another had tension or mechanical issues. It was a constant rotation to find or borrow one that was in working order. Maybe a newer machine was what I needed. Thanks to a husband with a keen eye to Craigslist he spotted this one. It was only 6 years old, but a buy for me compared to new. I will admit there was an initial learning curve--and I'm far from a whiz on her, but I'm back to piecing finally. She came with all the embroidery attachment bells and whistles, but I'm not even venturing there yet.

Marching Along with Charity Quilts

The Awesome, Official End of the Polyester Batting

Isn't that great texture? I love how this quilt turned out in spite of the waviness. Polyester batting in a comforter thickness is not conducive to detailed quilting. Even with widely spaced stitching, the tension causes it to draw up in spots. Still it will be a wonderful quilt for someone to snuggle under, and the vintage fabrics give it a 60's retro vibe.

It's been a real task to use up the last of the monster roll of poly comforter batting, but this marks the end. Thank you, and Amen! The road ahead is smooth sailing with cotton.

Quilts In the Width of a Week

My $4 Fabric Fun

I love to tell people, "I can make a quilt out of almost any fabric." You don't need the latest and greatest (or highest priced) fabric to make a fantastic quilt. You just need good contrast, and something in common. It's like the great game of SET for those of you who play. Now, I'm not saying this is going to be worthy of entry into Quilt Con--to which I'll be visiting next week, and hope to meet any of you who will be there, too--but wait until you see just how darn cute this new quilt is turning out! And for an honest disclosure, the batik was higher at $5 a yard, not $4. 

Lots of Quilts & Ramblings

Finished Beauties Added to the Stack

Last week's sewing detail for the Gnadenhutten Quilt Project was full of finishes, but I might also say we have quilts in every stage right now. It's wonderful how we are working as a team. Each person in our little group seems to have found their niche for what suits them. My mom is happy working on blocks at home between meetings, and coming in with a stack that can be turned into a quick top. 

Gnadenhutten Quilt Project:January Quilts

Simple Labels: Gnadenhutten

Quilt Project

Allow me to catch you up to speed on why I've been an infrequent blogger these past weeks. I've been buried in quilts, and isn't that the most glorious thing you could imagine? Ah...yes, it is!

The Gluten-Free Quilt Issue

To Quilts & Beyond!

In spite of sounding like that tinny, pull-string recording of Buzz Light Year, I keep repeating the theme of My Life Beyond Quilts. Perhaps I've poured the essence of my mental and emotional energy into learning everything I could about quilts for the past 5 years, and neglected to honor my other needs. As Creatives, we do this. It's all or nothing, baby! We self-consume. We eat that one food everyday until it grows tasteless, and think, "What have I been missing?" Don't get me wrong. I still adore quilts, but I'm adding a few spices now for flavor. 

2019 Quilts and Beyond: Bluprint

Do you like the new header? I keep looking at it like a new haircut in the mirror, but I do. I like the freshness. I spent a lot of time with a talented gal working out all kinds of graphics this fall, and was waiting for just the right time to change it. This is it. 2019 is going to be a year full of tweaks. Tweak meaning fine adjustments along with some sharp pulls. Tweak as in no sweeping changes in view. Just some little ones. And, while we were working on the new logo, I was was trying to define an image that represented what this blog, Pink Doxies, was now. That turned out to be very enlightening.

Happy New Year, 2019!

Delectable Mountains Variation

Welcome 2019! I hope the year came in the way you wanted whether quietly or with a bang. For the first year in decades, I was awake at midnight listening to fireworks off in the distance as I crept upstairs to bed. There was no kissing, though, as the Mister has a bad cold, and I am doing my best to keep it from catching it. 

The last few days have been low-key while he recovers, and I have taken advantage of the time to sew a few blocks. I used some Anna Marie Horner fat quarter scraps, and Sakura yardage from Moda to test out the method from the YouTube video below.

The Gnadenhutten Quilt Project

Olive Branch Quilts

And so it begins. Ready for the cliffhanger ending? Let me only say the ending is really the beginning. Imagine me sitting amidst my pile of scraps only a week and a half ago to a growing stack of quilts and comforters. Quilts that will soon be delivered to a local shelter for women and children. Imagine a project that has formed to offer something handmade to someone local who may need a sign of hope. These are Olive Branch Quilts.

The Introverted Blogger

The Tula Pink Saltwater Quilt Is Quilted

This was the first jelly roll quilt I made before I gained the wisdom of why one should not skimp on seam allowances. Therefore, before I bind it, I have some minor repairs to make. I noticed a few seams that were too small for comfort, and did makeshift fixes while quilting. Some WonderUnder and embroidery stitches now will make certain the fabric holds for several years to come. Some people would be upset by that happening after all the beautiful quilting, but I see it as a sigh of growth. We live and learn. I doubt anyone else will notice.

Are you an introverted blogger?
Say hello to another one here.

My blogging mojo disappeared a few months ago when real life got intense. It happens to all of us, but more often to bloggers who are also introverts, I believe. We are the people that need to recharge our internal batteries with alone time. We need extra time to space out, sort, process, and recover. You might think it's different with just writing about something because there's no face-to-face encounter. Texting or email is easier? Not true. We can get pretty hung up on words of any kind. Writing a blog post takes a lot of social energy. So Instagram, Facebook, blogging, and answering comments all went on hold. I just couldn't. 

I even talked to my besties about taking a year off--a blogging sabbatical of sorts. I spent 2 weeks imagining I didn't blog anymore. I quit checking email. I told all my friends I was on a social media diet. I finally slept, but still those creative juices were hard to squeeze out if at all. 

So I quilted, and in many ways I meditated. 

Simple No Batting Quilts for Pets

8 Simple Quilts in 1 Day

Looking for a quick Christmas gift for a pet lover? 

Gift their fur babies, and they will love you!

We tend to celebrate Christmas with few presents if any, but this year I wanted something for all the kids to open on Christmas Eve when we get together. There are no grandkids in this family, but there are 11 spoiled dogs. We decided to exchange dog presents this year. In between my longarming work last month, I squeezed in a day for my own Christmas sewing. Yes, of course, I would make them all quilts.

Quilt Beautiful

Quilting Up Beautifully

Over 5 years ago I purchased my very first jelly roll. The Tula Pink Saltwater line jumped out at me as a had-to-have. You can find more information about the origin of this quilt in the posts below.

Making 2.5" Unfinished HST from a Jelly Roll

Saltwater Jelly Roll Quilt

Few words can describe the dismay I felt when the seams would not line up as hard as I tried. (My first hard lesson with inaccuracies of pre-cuts!) It is off in many places, but I trudged onward in spite of it. Sometime in the past year I turned the blocks into a quilt top, folded it neatly on my ready to quilt rack, and quilted many other quilts for customers. 

Last week I think the little eyes on the octopus were watching me--winking perhaps, and in spite of having half a dozen other quilts still hanging for friends, I bumped this to the front. I was itching to use some of my new rulers, and just cut loose on something of my own.