savoy019

I have not been to a quilting retreat since 1995...my bags and projects are packed and ready to go!  Well, I have not packed my clothes and personal items yet; I mean, I've got my priorities in the right place! This is the cool rolling toolbox I bought from Home Depot a few years ago for just such an occasion.  I hated my old, original, smelly Featherweight sewing machine case, so I found an upgrade...at a home improvement store.    It has 3 compartments that fasten together.  The top holds my iron, bottle of Best Press, a squirt bottle and other odds and ends.  It will be like a little clown car when I start taking everything out and start to set up my allotted space. The second compartment is a flat tool unit... There is still room in case I think of something else to pack, although I already feel like I am taking everything I own! My Featherweight is nestled in the bottom...along with an Ott light, rulers, plug strip, extension cord, and other odds and e...

Testing using Chrome "in cognito" mode to try getting rid of my Blogger issues...War Eagle!  And Roll Tide!  Alabama won yesterday as well.  I just posted a real quilting post in Internet Explorer...I am testing that, too... Did anyone see the Auburn game last night?  Sick of football?? Sick of being a football widow???  You are probably getting more sewing done while they are preoccupied... Send me a quick comment and let me see if Blogger will email it to me.  I want to get this issue fixed so I can do a give-away or two... In stitches (and in computer Hell...), Teresa  :o)

  Call me old-fashioned, and mostly I would agree with you.  There are a lot of new-fangled, modern quilting shortcuts that I embrace whole-heartedly. But when it comes down to trimming hand-applique blocks, I prefer to be safe than sorry.  Especially when I am trimming down to an unusual size for which I don't own a plexiglass ruler. Even though I still have handful of Sue Garman's " Afternoon Delight" applique blocks yet to stitch, I just could not wait to start trimming them to the unfinished size of 7-1/4 inches square. I have a 7-inch and 7-1/2-inch commercial ruler, but no 7-1/4-inch size.  I made my own plastic template with lots of drawn lines to make it easy to find the center and line up the corners. Because I have a tendency to slip when rotary cutting (especially when I am nervous trimming hand applique work), I got the template where I wanted it, then piled on my vintage pattern weights (I use them on the commercial square rulers, too!!)....

I was fortunate enough to go to TWO quilt shows last week...opening day at the AQS Quilt Show in Chattanooga  (some pictures posted previously) and the Harvest of Quilts put on by the Tishomingo County, MS Needlechasers Quilt Guild in Iuka, MS. This first quilt, "Ruth's Rose Garden," made by Dorothy Dailey of Burnsville, MS. totally stole my heart!!!  She was inspired by Rose Kretsinger's "Paradise Garden."  It is beautifully hand appliqued and hand quilted.  And the color palette is right up my alley! Don't you just love the fabric used for the grapes/muscadines? They were fussy cut in a way that added that perfect, realistic sheen of shiny fruit. My new friend and expert quilter from Huntsville, AL, Barbara Black, was the judge and teacher for the show (click here to see her blog post about the show and more quilt pictures).  She told me about the event or I never would have heard anything about it, which is sad because the event and the group are o...