Planning Stage

I saw this quilt hanging in a quilt shop. I received the book for Christmas and have been waiting for the right person to make it for. Kerry and John are the daughter and son-in-law of our best friends. They are great kids and were made for each other. When they moved into their newly renovated craftsman home, I asked if I could make them a king quilt.

These are the focus fabrics I've found for the block centers. Each one will be repeated 3 to 5 times. Are there any in the group you would recommend not using. I still have another shopping trip on Monday and I chance to find more.



Here's the stack of complements to use in the borders and sashing. Again do you have any suggestions.

That Happy Feeling

Yesterday I visited Lily and my niece, Missy. Lily was delighted with her new princess quilt. The princess print on the back and a few squares on the front, turn out to have "redhead" and "blonde" princesses like Lily and her sister Lauren. She's a happy girl.


Mike retires from teaching next week. We presented him with his quilt this morning. He looks very happy.




Mike was a positive influence in kids lives. He is a teacher who made a difference and he will be missed. Debbie, Marsha, Mary and I wish him happy times in retirement.

Looking forward to handquilting

Ready to hand quilt! The border became quite a dilemma. I wanted to use the kimono fabric my mother bought for me years ago in Japan but once I put it on I knew it wasn't right. It took away from the hexagons. So . . . I ripped . . . and then went back to Quiltsalot to look at her borders. I was surprised that I had enough scraps to cut triangles for a border. Janet of Quiltsalot has had so many inquiries about this quilt that she posted some directions to get you started. The pattern is no longer available. I figured it out by myself, so can you.

"WHIRLIGIG", finding a new home

After moving to California and renting this past year, Tim and Krista are ready to buy a house. I originally made this quilt in 2006 for their master bedroom in NC. This quilt needs a new home!


I had Krista pick out the focus fabric and the pattern first. With them living in North Carolina, she had to trust me to pick other colors to coordinate. The blocks are foundation pieced but by now you know paper piecing is not my favorite. Because of the king size, I decided to make patterns, piece and then square up. You can't tell but they didn't always line up. For me it really simplified and sped up the process.

The pattern is from Quiltmaker March/April '97 called "Party Whirl"


The border came from Pieced Borders by Judy Martin and Marsha McCloskey, a great resource.

"STARS FOR JESUS", another collaboration

This year's theme for Woman's Retreat . . .

Here I am with my church quilting group. We made another quilt for our Woman's Retreat and raffled it off. The only instructions from our leader was to use the dark starry night fabric as the background and incorporate the blue and yellow provided. With all the assorted sizes, it was a bear to assemble but worth the effort.


I made 4 stars, including this mariner's compass (left), paper pieced (Not my favorite thing to do but I like the result). Claudia, the group's leader, made this star (right) for the back (to fill in where we were short of backing fabric). We are already starting on a quilt to correspond with next year's theme.

As I continue to piece hexagon rows, I realized it will be shorter than desired so . . . I scrounged my scraps and I'm now piecing more hexagons for 2 more rows. Still finding this fun.

Team Work

The teachers at my former school that quilt and I have gotten together and made quilts for staff who have retired. When I was still there at school we made this quilt for the health clerk, Lee. She loves things Asian. This pattern is called Rolling Pins by Me and My Sister Designs (Pictured from left to right, Debbie, Mary, Marsha and I)


Now we are working on two quilts for future retirees. One will be posted later but for now here is Mike's. Mike teaches social studies and language arts. He is a tough but loved teacher. He works the local Renaissance Fair every spring, loves his cats and is Irish by heritage. The design is a joint effort.


We are still assembling the parts. Marsha and Debbie did these cats.


Mary pieced the calico and I machine appliqued the Tutor Rose.


I also hand appliqued the Celtic Knots. The quilt needs to be finished by the end of May so we are pushing hard. Tonight we add the borders and then it's up to Marsha and I to sandwich and machine quilt.

Green Thumb ?

I'm not a gardener. Plants only survive and bloom in spite of me. A neighbor gave me a cutting of this cactus 5 years ago and it never flowered that much. It would get water if I remembered but not regularly. This year I transplanted it into a bigger pot and cleaned out the dead stocks and weeds. Like magic, it bloomed! I think it's called Christmas Cactus.

We Survived

We went to the park, had lunch at In and Out, played outside, rolled on the floor, fed, changed diapers, pottied, bathed, sang songs, said our prayers and fell into bed every night to start all over again at 6:00 in the morning.



Tomorrow we take them home. Whooh. We survived and had so much fun.

Week with Grandma and Grandpa

Tim and Krista are in Argentina. As a new professor at Pepperdine University, the faculty is sent to one of their satellite campus for a week. So we have the boys for 7 days. My husband is being a big help (I just don't remember him being this helpful with his own boys.) Being the Grandpa makes all the difference. It's so much fun but exhausting. No quilting this week.

Hexagon progress

I'm having so much fun hand piecing this quilt that I'm zipping along. Here I'm working on baggie #10. All the individual blocks for 12 rows are done and I'm working on the half blocks to fill in. Of course I still have the connecting to do.

My mom and dad made a trip to Japan in the 80's, getting to travel the "back roads" and visit in homes. Mom bought me this roll of fabric but I never could figure out how to use it in a garment. I got to thinking about what I will use for the border and remembered this wonderful gift. There's plenty and fits in with the colors and theme of this quilt. My only regret is that Mother isn't here to share in the joy of designing and making of my quilts.