Onward and Upward

As many of you know by now, Lori and I have decided to cut back on our Patchplay design business to focus on other things in our life, including quilting of our own.  We found that running a quilt pattern design business, even a small one, takes a lot of time and energy and resources of all kinds, which are, sadly, in short supply with us these days.  We both work full-time.  We both have families to love and support, and because we are Baby Boomers, we are also experiencing the new and sometimes challenging reality of aging parents, who,

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Motivational Monday

I have discovered the joy of having several projects on the go at once.  I'm not talking about WIP's that just sit and languish in a bin or on a shelf.  Nor am I talking about all those piles of patterns and kits and orphan blocks.  I'm talking about quilts you are actually working on. 

Right now I have three on the go, a baby quilt I am machine quilting, the signature quilt for Eric and Katie that I am piecing, and the king-size paper-pieced quilt that I am also piecing.  The advantage to having

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Lots of Loot!

Look at all the fun things I got from Sulky as the prize I won on National Quilting Day from SeamedUp!

Thanks to both of them for goodies, especially the Sticky Fabri-Solvy!  I love that stuff for

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Motivational Monday

Never underestimate the importance of really good tools.  If you're putting in a kitchen sink or making a quilt, good tools make all the difference.  I recently bought Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Scissors, and after using them for around two weeks now, I give them a big thumbs up, particularly the larger size.  If you can only buy one pair, I highly recommend those.  You can buy them online lots of places, but here is a pictures of what they look like, just to remind you.

They cut so well, from point to tip.  They are

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Signature Quilt

Working on the signature quilt for Eric and Kaite.  Only about, oh, I don't know, a thousand more steps to go. 

The goal is to have it finished by their first anniversary, September 9th, 2012. 

Think I'll make

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Motivational Monday

It can be very discouraging when you have spent hours of time and plenty of money on a quilt made specifically for someone else only to have their reaction be lukewarm, at best.  It happens more often than we would like, and it can leave you feeling deflated and unappreciated and doubting your own creativity.

Here are a few suggestions for coping with or avoiding entirely those disappointing moments:

• Accept that non-quilters have no idea how time-consuming and expensive it is to make a quilt.  They're not questioning your fabric choices.  They just don't know.
• Be prepared for the non-reaction to your quilt

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Really, Really Scrap Happy

Why am I posting a picture of an empty cutting mat?

Because I'm done cutting ALL my scraps, baby!

Here they are, in all their glory.  You can see the 3 1/2" strips are bursting through their bins (two of them!) and so are the pieced blocks. 

I'm so happy to have this job finished, and though I love my scraps, I feel the need to take a bit of a break from them.  But when I am no longer sick of scraps, how fun will it be to have them already

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Jingle Bell Square Block 4 – Woven Star Oops

The template for the paper-piecing in this block was a bit too big.  Thanks to Gertie for pointing this mistake out.  Corrections have been made to the pdf, so you can print it again.  The solid-line square should measure 2" x 2" and NOT 2 1/2" by 2 1/2".  That's the finished size of the block, including seam allowance.

Sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused.  We are grateful to careful quilters who help us when we goof

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Motivational Monday

Today is the last of my posts about what I've been doing quilty every day.  It's been great to look back on the month of March and realize how easy it really is to do something every day.  So even though the weekly pictures will be gone, I hope the habit will not be.  I plan to continue this indefinitely.

March 26.  Still so many scraps, but this is the end of the second bag.  Hooray!

March 27.  See, I told you the second bag was empty. 

March

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I Can Do Hard Things

I am going to make this:

But I bought extra papers so I could make it fit my new king-size bed.

And I'm using these for part of the fabric:

Along with some neutral batik fabric that I am currently waiting for.

Yup, I can do hard

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