I learned to sew at age 11 at my local Singer store. I was so intrigued by all of the supplies in my friend's sewing tote box I spotted while playing at her house that I rode my bicycle home and told my mom I wanted to take sewing lessons. I found my niche. I made most of my clothes through high school and even made room for my sewing machine (in cabinet) in my tiny college dorm room. I bought my first quilt book when in my early 20"s at the St. Louis arch gift shop. It was a book about the Cathedral Window and I was intrigued with how that was put together. I played around with it, but continued to sew garments for my kids while they were young. I got back into quilting when my son and daughter were in middle school, feeding my need for continued creativity. I took various classes locally, and eventually made my way to Syracuse, NY for Quilting by the Lake, and Carmel, CA for Empty Spools. It wasn't until I took Betty Cotton's Cotton Theory Class at Camp Cotton in Osseo, WI, in July, 2012, that I found what I was looking for. Everything just clicked for me and I felt like I now knew this "secret" that made everything so much easier and more fun and had to share it with other quilters. "Quilt first, then assemble" means no more getting down on my hands and knees on the living room floor and pinning the quilt back, batting and pieced quilt top together and then trying to get it through my machine's throat area or, worse, paying someone big bucks to do it for you. And no handwork. I'm in.
I’m more modern than traditional, so when it came to making a Double Wedding Ring quilt, I had to swerve. Sew Kind of Wonderful has a great pattern that fit the bill – Metro Rings.
I have a healthy stash, and I was able to find the perfect combo within it – Jelly Roll, background, binding, and backing. I’ve always thought scrappy binding was cute, and this would give me an opportunity to use the leftover strips from the Jelly Roll for that.
Loved my find in my stash!
Jelly Roll opened. Like what I see!
Metro Rings uses Jelly Roll strips and the Curve ruler to cut the pieces = less curved piecing.
Also used the sold lime green and solid navy from my stash for the triangle inset pieces.
Quiltable.com has a specific digital quilting design intended for Metro Rings! Score! Quilted on my Handi Quilter Forte with Pro-Stitcher and Superior Threads So Fine!
All finished except for the binding.
Enjoyed the ruler work on the triangle insets. Curved cross hatch!
I will be teaching Getting Started with Longarm Quilting, Free Motion Quilting, Can’t Have Enough Rulers!, and Introduction to Pro-Stitcher. Please contact Rocky Mountain Sewing to register for one or all of these classes. Hope to meet you there!
I found a beautiful piece of fabric that was a perfect fit for my BFF’s kitchen and she had a big bday approaching. So my mind got busy creating. I loaded the backing, batting, and fabric on my HQ Infinity Longarm and quilted the entire piece. After unloading it from the longarm, I cut the pieces out of the quilted fabric the sizes that I wanted and bound them. I love how they turned out and she did too!
Our kids were both living their best lives in the west, our parents had passed, and we (okay, I) kept asking ourselves (myself) why we were still in the Midwest. My husband is more the Grow Roots model and I am the odd one who enjoys change. I was ready to move west when my daughter told us she was pregnant, 5 years ago. Finally, after one particularly poignant experience in early August, Hubs decided he was ready to make the big move.
We pulled out a calendar and made a plan. We had lived in our current home for 32 years, so this was not going to be any easy task. We gave ourselves 3 months to purge our worldly belongings, pack a rented 16′ POD, our own 16′ box trailer, both cars, and our Airstream. We thought we would get our house on the market, head west, and live in our Airstream until our house sold, then begin the serious search for our new digs.
Oh, the purging…the decisions…the photos…the memories…the furnishings…last visits with friends…placing ads, Goodwill trips, give aways…all during a national pandemic. I sold my longarm, as well. Since we were moving ourselves, I was not too comfortable moving it such a long distance and we didn’t really have room for it, either. I would buy a new one, once we got settled in our new place. We have several friends who have sold or given away everything to live full time in their RV. I could never quite grasp the giving possessions away, but now I fully understand. I got to the point where I just wanted someone to take all the stuff away, because that’s all most of it is – just stuff. It feels so freeing to only have the important things with us and to know we have not left that for our kids to do.
A little levity among the work of purging.
One thing, then another, and another, and before the end of the three months of purging, we were under contract for our current home and had an offer accepted on a house in the state of Washington sight unseen. I can explain. Not really. It’s totally crazy! We hit the road in our Airstream before the end of the three months headed for a friend’s backyard in Oregon to live until both homes closed.
Leaving our IN home of 32 years to our new home in WA.
We stopped for a few days at our son’s home in Colorado. It was a nice respite after a rapid fire 3 months. We just needed to chill and it was the perfect place to do so.
Boulder driveway parking
But onward to Oregon and the 7 acre backyard to be our home for a month until our new home closed. It was the perfect, peaceful place.
Mooch docking on 7 acres at a friend’s house in OR
Fortunately, our daughter and SIL had been able to attend the home inspection for us and gave us the green light. Hubs flew back to the Midwest (during a notional pandemic, remember) to drive our car and 16′ box trailer, the last of our possessions, westward.
The first week of December we were moving in and making a new house our home. The Pandemic provided us a big block of uninterrupted time to settle in, even though we were anxious to meet our new neighbors. The sum total of furniture we brought with us consisted of 2 chairs, 4 tv trays, 2 lamps, a queen mattress, and a refrigerator. We purchased the master BR suite, a wardrobe, a day bed, and a foosball table from the previous owners. Any additional furnishings were purchased through Costco online delivery or Amazon, because we were not comfortable shopping during the Pandemic. Having said that, we did buy our dining room furniture from individuals online because it was exactly what I wanted.
So now we are living our best lives in the west and it is SO nice to be closer to family and watching our youngest grandson grow up.
I will be teaching Getting Started with Longarm Quilting, Free Motion Quilting, Can’t Have Enough Rulers!, and Introduction to Pro-Stitcher. Please contact A Scarlet Thread to register. Hope to meet you there!
I will be teaching Getting Started with Longarm Quilting, Free Motion Quilting, Can’t Have Enough Rulers!, and Intro to Pro-Stitcher. Please contact Moore’s Sewing to register. Hope to meet you there!
I’ll be teaching Getting Started with Longarm Quilting, Can’t Have Enough Rulers!, and Design Your Quilting for the Whole Quilt. Please call Quality Sew and Vac to register.
I’ll be teaching Getting Started with Longarm Quilting, Can’t Have Enough Rulers!, Design Your Quilting for the Whole Quilt, on the 28th and 29th and Pro-Stitcher Demo and Class on September 30. Please contact Quality Sew and Vac to register.
I will be teaching Getting Started with Longarm Quilting, Free Motion Quilting, Can’t Have Enough Rulers!, and Introduction to Pro-Stitcher. Please contact The Quilt Barn to register for one or all of these classes. Hope to meet you there!
