Beating the Winter Blahs

I finally admitted to myself that I have the winter blahs. The last few days I've been out of sorts and it occurred to me that it was because of the constant snow and cold. I'm tired of shovelling and scraping and everything taking twice as long to accomplish.

Here in NW PA, much like everywhere else, we've been slammed time and time again with icy blasts of winter weather and lots of snow. I mean FEET of snow. We had a little thaw back in January, but basically it's been nonstop winter since December 1st. Where I live, we get a strange thing called "lake effect snow." Lake effect snow is a product of winter and Lake Erie and sometimes we really get hammered. I'm very thankful for my four wheel drive SUV.

Anyway, I discovered that I had the winter blahs and it dawned on me that what I needed to do was make myself a new purse. I had received a couple 1/2 yards of awesome spring-like fabrics and decided that it would make a great purse. I checked out my books and patterns until I found a new design that I hadn't used before, called the Bird Watcher bag. I found this design in the book, The New Handmade by Cassie Barden. I've had this book for a few years now and totally enjoy leafing through it so I thought it was time to actually use it.



Anyway, here are a few pics of my new bag. I made it this morning in about three hours, which included the cutting time as well as assembly. It has five exterior pockets, and four inside pockets. But what I love the most, I think, is the plastic snap clasp that cleverly hides UNDER the flap. It's a great medium-sized messenger-type bag, isn't it?





So, check out the book. It has many wonderful and quite simple designs for bags, totes, and accessories. If you make yourself a new bag, you'll beat the winter blahs too!

More Quilt Victims!

Some time ago, I wrote a blog about finding new people to gift with quilts because my family and friends are being buried under my loving gift quilts. Well, recently, I found a few new quilt victims of my own!

Here are the quilts:





The pretty table runner is going to be a house warming gift for a former coworker (and a friend) who is relocating to NC. I probably won't get to see her new home, but I will feel great about her having a quilted table runner for her dining room table (or wherever she chooses to display it). This runner is a modified version of a This and That pattern and uses a pack of charm squares with a coordinating fat quarter. One thing I really enjoyed about making this runner was that it wasn't time-consuming nor was it difficult. AND I used fabrics that I already had in my stash. It was deifintely a win-win situation. OH! And Tracye's going to love it!

The Dr. Seuss quilt, although it looks like a table runner, is actually sized to fit above an interior window at the library where I work. This is my second originally designed piece using the Dr. Seuss fabric for the library. I'm also working on a few wall organizers for the office, too. They will bring so much color to the otherwise boring white walls.I'll post pictures of the organizers when they're done.

Reviewing my New Year's Resolutions

Now that it's February, I thought I'd check to see how well I was keeping up with my Resolutions. Perhaps that's the key -- to regularly revisit them and make small adjustments when necessary.

1. Keep moving forward in my quilting career

I'm working on it. I keep submitting pieces to magazines. I'm staying in touch with my editor. I'm working on becoming a fabric designer.

2. Downsize WIPs and UFOs

SO far, I've completed three. Not bad!

3. Blog more often

I definitely did better with this for the month of January. I just need to keep it up.

4. Eat better and Exercise more

Okay, I've carved 30 minutes into my morning routine for uninterupted exercise. I'm following my favorite exercise program, Classical Stretch. As for the eating better, I'm still working on it.

So, overall, after a little reflection, I can see that I am working on my Resolutions. Maybe revisitng them once a month will really help me to stick with them. What do you think?

Quilting with my BFF's

Do you belong to a quilt group or guild? If you don't, you should check out your area to see what's available. Some churches and even libraries have a dedicated quilting group. Quilt guilds can be found through your local quilt shops. If you don't have any groups in your area, consider starting a group. It doesn't have to be large or even a quilt guild.

Today, three friends and I met in the community room at our local library to quilt together. Leslie, Cheryl, and I brought our machines while Cathey brought her hand applique. Leslie worked on her on-going row quilt project from our 2010 row quilt class while Cheryl, a designer worked on pattern samples for her upcoming shows. I finished machine quilting a quilt from last year, put together a baby quilt top, and started a charm square table runner. Cathey worked on honey bee blocks for a group quilt.

Of course, everyone brought some snacks and bevereges and we all pitched in for pizza for lunch.

We started around 11 AM and sewed until almost 5 PM. It was a perfect day with uninterupted sewing, food, and friends. We talked and laughed as we worked on our own projects. I can't think of a better way to spend a Sunday.

We are going to meet once a month to just sew together. We are also going to work together to learn/teach new things. Cheryl showed us how a serger works today. Next month I'm going to lead a practice session on free motion machine quilting. Sometime we'll bribe our friend Mary Lee to come and do a mini workshop on EQ7. Maybe Cathey will help us become better hand appliquers and perhpas Leslie will help us to sew a more precise 1/4" seam.

When quilters supprt each other in a friendly and relaxed environment, there's no telling what can happen!

So, what are you waiting for? Gather a few friends, find a comforatble place to get together, everyone bring a snack to share, and tote your machines and projects for a day of fun with your pals.

When I Grow Up

I've decided that when I grow up, I want to be a fabric designer. WAIT! I AM a grown up. Do you know what this means???

This means you can change your mind about what you want to be when you are a grown up. Hmmm. What an earth-shattering discovery.

So, anyway, I've been trying on the fabric designer hat. I've been looking for inspiration in my stash of antique and vintage blocks. I've been doodling and scribbling. Not very successfully, may I add. I will actually have a temporary light table now, which will make things much much easier. I mean, how long can you stand and draw with your arms up and your papers taped to the glass sliding doors in the dining room?

A simple light box: Your acrylic sewing extension table with a very cool battery-powered light under it. VIOLA! A light box.

If you're not going to design fabric, you might still need a light box. You can use it to trace templates or quilting motifs.

Well, here's to grown ups!

It's AMAZING!

How many of your dreams have come true?

Becoming a writer was a dream of mine since childhood AND IT CAME TRUE.

Getting pulished in magazines is just an extension of that dream.

Now, I am moving on to make another, albeit newer dream, come true -- designing fabric.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Bias Binding Rocks

Well, I made the bias binding for the Quilter's World project. I was quite pleased with the results. What do you think?

So, here's a question: Do you bind your quilts with straight grain binding or do you use bias binding?

I must admit that I use both, depending on the project. I particularly like striped bindings and when I do the striped bindings, I always make bias binding because I love love love the stripes on the bias -- it really adds an unexpected pizzazz at the edges. For most tablerunners and smaller quilts, I use straight grain binding, unless the project has weird points and angles (like this one). It's a good idea to use bias binding on baby quilts, throws, and bed quilts since they will receive a lot of handling and bias binding seems to hold up better to hard use than straight grain binding.