One more fun activity

I wanted to show the loom I have been using.

I have always loved weaving. Since I have no musical talent, weaving takes the place of playing music for me.

Here you can see the dish towel I have started. I am learning about twill patterns on the first piece. There is enough fiber warped on the loom to make about 5 towels.

Let It Snow

It has been snowing here this winter just like we were living in Siberia or even farther north. The first picture is from the front porch. This is the snow which accumulated last night.

I remember as a young child that the winters had really deep snow. When we went to town the snow was heaped so high that my Great Grandfather was no longer able to throw the snow up and over the piles.

As you can see from the next photo, which was taken from the drive way toward our back yard, the snow is very deep.

It has been a perfect year for snow shoeing and cross country skiing.



Getting out of the driveway has been challenging on several occasions. We don't have a show blower, but we do have the most wonderful neighbors and they bring their tractor or skid loader over and clean our driveway out so we can safely get in and out. We are so blessed to live in this wonderful place.

Just one More Quilt

Yesterday I delivered a quilt that is to be auctioned on February 1st as part of a fund raiser for a local man who is in need of a kidney transplant. He doesn't have insurance and must have $150,000 before they will put him on a list to receive a new kidney. The community is making a big effort to help him with a benefit dinner and auction. Over 1000 people are expected to attend and over 100 items have been donated for the auction.


Here is a picture of the back where you can see the quilting details more clearly.


This would be a really fun quilt for a college student or teenager to have.

Looking back at some quilts

I wanted to add some pictures of more traditional quilts which I have made. The first one hangs in my sewing room.


This quilt top was made in about 2004 and quilted in 2005.









The next quilt hangs in my quilting room. It was made from scraps left over from the quilt I made called "Trouble with Tribbles". I used two different shades of muslin on this quilt. I was a really fun experimental project.

























Last year I went to Spring Quilt Market in Salt Lake City. I purchased a new book by Atkinson designs because I loved the turquoise and brown. This quilt was pretty quick and very fun to make.
















The back is just as pretty the
front (in my humble opinion).













Every spring the local Ben Franklin's Store has Quilt Week. They display quilts and have classes on various techniques. In addition they always give away fabric samples they have collected over the past year. I went to many classes and ended up with about 25 samples. To this I took fabric from my stash and made this quilt called "Slice 'em and Dice 'em". this quilt has over 100 different fabrics. It took over three months to make because as the name implies you have to sew blocks together then you slice and dice and sew and then slice and dice again and finally sew it into one big quilt.

The quilting on this was done in a spiral pattern. This was also very labor intensive as there are 49 spirals each with it's one start and stop which must be tied off and then the machine reset to the next position for another spiral.


One of our local ladies is a wonderful quilt pattern designer. Her company is The Cottonway. I purchased this table topper pattern and took my project with me all summer while traveling. My husband would go and fish and I would stitch whilst enjoying the great views.

Novel Idea

Recently I decided I would like to learn to spin. I purchased an interesting book called The Complete Spinning Book. It has some very novel ideas for making your own spinning wheel. I was very intrigued by the idea of using the base of a treadle sewing machine, as shown in this diagram.

Our last day working on the Tote - but not our last day together

Our little group has produced the cutest little bags!

Everyone worked very hard and successfully got the outside of the tote and the lining made and many were able to get a good start on the handles.


I will work on planning our spa day. We can all parade about with our wonderful totes, have a nice lunch and then lavish ourselves with the life we would love to become accustom to. I'll get the details and send out an email. Be sure to respond by using the comments at the bottom of the blog so everyone can read what you have to say.

I went to Jo-Ann's and purchased the cute little purse pattern that Diane showed us, the one from McCall's patterns. It might have been the last one, so if anyone wants to use it, I'd be glad to share. While I was there I checked for the Hobb's 80-20 batting and apparently they do not carry it anymore, however, Hancock's does carry it. You could also use Warm and Natural, this is not available at JoAnn's as far as I know. I do not like the Fairfield products they do carry but you could try them and see what you think. If you want to make an order together, we can order from Quilter's Dream which has really wonderful products (they cost a little more but are worth it).

If you feel inspired to make the tote I showed at our meeting, you'll find the pattern at Quilt Soup - the Bag Lady Lunch pattern. I bet the owner of the website would be thrilled to know how much you appreciate the pattern. If you make up one drop her a line and send a picture if you can and by all means bring it to our spa day!!!


It has been so much fun getting to know all of you and I can't wait until we can meet again. Debra

Almost Done

It has been an exciting journey
making our totes.

Here are some pictures from last week. There were some serious decisions to be made.




Then there were embellishments to be attached. And of course lots of admiring our work too.

For our final meeting, you will need to bring back your front panels. I hope you had time to work on even more embellishments.
In addition you will need:
1. Your sewing machine
2. Thread
3. The fabric for the lining of your tote
4. Pins, rotary cutter, mats, scissors, etc
5. Extension cords and multi-plug units

I will bring the cord for the handles, the dyed fabric from our first meeting, my sewing machine, an iron and board, batting, chalk and my camera.

If I have left anything out please drop me a line.

Several people were interested in purchasing the Madeira Monofil. I found a source which sells this product in a convenient amount. You can purchase it from Columbia River Quilting Supply (1000m) clear / smoke - $4.95 Monolon (15,000 yd) clear - $19.99 this price does not include shipping.

See you on Wednesday.