Wayward Sisters 3

I'M A COVER GIRL!!

Annie's new book is now out!

When I first saw it, I was so

intrigued by the cat steps quilt

by Charisma Horton, that I 

completely missed that I 

am on the cover too!

I have had these little 

witches in my files for years.

They are so much fun to play 

with. If you aren't a fan of 

paper piecing at this moment, 

you soon will be:)

The three witches, Weyward Sisters,  

are characters in Shakespeare's play,

Macbeth that resemble the 

3 Fates of classical mythology.

This was the first Shakespeare

I ever read and it fascinated me!

YES, I know I spelled them wrong

but wayward has that added meaning

that quilters tend to associate

with paper piecing.

It gets a bad rap, it really does:)

Now for a peek behind the curtain....

First we need some fabrics!

I kept it to 'read as solids'

since it is a smaller piece.

The witches have faces done in

 embroidery and I am a fan of

stabilizing my background

when possible.

This is Pellon's P44F, light-weight

iron on stabilizer.

I wanted the block done first 

so I removed that one section

to use as a template for my 

cutting the stabilizer.

Once fused in place and 

the face traced onto the front,

I did a basting stitch

along 2 sides of the block

to hold remaining paper

in place until I was 

ready to remove it.

Removing it is super easy

since I used a long stitch.

Clip every 5th stitch and pull.

Time for quilting designs!

I am not good at this step and so 

many times I have printed 

multiple blocks to draw on.

This time it went relatively quickly

once I knew I didn't like the 

wavy one above and preferred

the spiky one below, it was

time to get quilting!

I decided to keep mostly 

straight line fills vs. going 

for curved lines to 

offset / compliment the

sharp lines of the blocks.

I was very happy 

with my decisions.

All quilted on my domestic

machine because it was 

little and doable.

And don't forget that 

easy little flange for 

just the right 

pop of color!

Until next time~

MAY 2020

MAY 2020

This month deserves EVERY

bit of bold, larger, underlined

text available to me!!

 We started the month by going

to Virginia to help my mom

with some things around

the house and to spend

Mother's Day with her.

We did tons of yard work

and I got covered in ticks-YUCK!!!!

Once home, one of the bites

wasn't reacting right so I was

tested / treated for Lyme disease.

My test came back negative but

to this day (2 months later) that

one bite isn't right.

Be careful out there!

Unfortunately, this would 

be the last trip my 

sweet Biscuit boy would make!!

When we got home, he became

more listless and his chronic

illness/allergies made him

absolutely miserable and so

we made the heartbreaking decision....

My heart will always have a hole

in it and I MISS HIM!!!!

Came across this old photo of

my Great-Grandmother/father & 

my father and aunt as children.

I vaguely remember her but

never met my GGfather.

My aunt passed young as well

and I will always miss that I 

didn't get to know her as an adult!

Of course, more masks were made!

The sweet "B-sharp"onesie

(last name Sharp) 

Jim designed is finished and

ready for delivery!!.

Isn't it adorable?!!!!

The kids had a bassinet that didn't

come with the little stars

meant to hang over the baby.

So it was requested I make a 

couple of stars to fill in...

I went a bit over the request:)

Using my friend, Susan Marth's,

Tiny Dresden templates, I made

2 that could form the 

rays of a sun that I embroidered

a sweet face for.

 Stuff it and finish by appliquéing 

it to the rays!

Then make a star and moon to 

hang together:)

 Flying the first time since everything began

was interesting but not as bad

as you might have expected.

Southwest is awesome and 

has a 'middle seat stays empty'

policy that I appreciated.

Not as many people were flying 

but still....& everyone wore a mask!

The terminals were ghost towns since

only passengers were being allowed

in so a bit eerie but fine.

EVERYTHING was worth

it to meet this new little

sweetie in our family!!!!

There were a few bumps in 

the beginning with mom 

and baby but both

came through with 

flying colors and I 

couldn't be more in LOVE!!!

Hello Charles.

 Dad, Mom, and baby:)

Me with My baby and her baby!!!!

It is a feeling beyond words

to see your child with a 

little of their own!!

Charles enjoying my work:)

I had decided to have him call

me Bobbin instead of Grandma

1. to be different since I will be long distance

2. the quilting theme...duh:)

When I visited, a conversation

about what I would call him had me 

saying 'poppet' from British

references and an old movie I 

enjoyed, WILLOW.

We rewatched that movie and

he doesn't call them poppets but

"Bobbins"!!!!

YAY!

Hello Bobbin.....Well, Hello bobbin.

~~

Q-Squirrel Pt 2

Here we are at almost mid-July and the 

self-quarantining continues.

Since I left you after part 1, 

here is just a bit of 

what I have been up to....

I participated in a Virtual Trunk

that ended up being a FAB

way to introduce myself to 

new followers.

You can see it HERE!

I like to be prepared so here

was my set up that day with

pages of notes, phone stand,

and a rack of quilts behind me:)

I continued playing with my friend's

Twelve Days of Christmas

that you can read more about

HERE.

Here is a test block for a new 

paper piece and applique' quilt

coming soon to AQ Magazine:)

If you like bright tropical colors,

this one will be right up your alley!

I finished the top of the little 
signature quilt 
started HERE and started
the next little quilt the 
group decided on.

Then (more) baby gift preps started!
Seems as if you just keep finding 
fun things to give the new family.
A space theme had been decided on
and this little art piece of mine
was perfect with lots of family heritage.
Read about it HERE.
The project it was intended for
was dismantled and the piece
came back to where I believe
it was meant to be all along!
It is framed and now hangs
over his changing table.

Then onto making a unique little

onesie for our new little one:)

My husband designed this

and was excited to have me

make it come to life.

SO EXCITING!

Next post will have all the details and

pictures of our new sweetie!

HOME

The Autumn issue of Quilter's World

will have my new quilt design

that I started this past January! YAY!

It is so bothersome that I 

have to keep so much secret 

from all my quilting friends

when I am working.

Once the design is planned, 

it is time to go fabric hunting!

As you can see, I wanted a muted

selection of neutrals in 

gray and taupe.

Look at the perfect and gorgeous

Barbara Brackman fabrics 

I found along the way!

Giddiness!

Have you ever tried to pay attention

to what you are doing at a retreat?

~LOL~

I was super fortunate to get to 

attend the annual retreat with my

friends from Illinois since I 

don't always get to go.

As 2020 has turned out, 

I am SO Happy I made

sure I did this year!!

We are missing a couple in 

this photo but we had a 

great time and it made my

"work" go much quicker!

Here is the other thing that made 

my work time happier!!

These FAB fingerless gloves 

from my mother:)

Pretty and functional!

So there was pinning and stitching

for the HSTs...

Lots of mindless chain piecing

for the log cabin blocks....

Once home, hours of 

NCIS reruns got me through:)

Auditioning of which red

fabric to use for the star....

and Voila'....

HOME!

Thank you (AGAIN) to 

Toddy and Ray Sumsky

for a FAB job quilting this

for me in my weirdo, designer

timeline! 

HOME is now out in the 

latest issue of Quilter's World.

I hope you will enjoy making

it as much as I enjoyed designing

it for you to snuggle under

during a chilly winter eve!

And, don't forget your label!!

~Enjoy~