Month: January 2025

I…Have Always Archived Information About My Quilts

I’ve been actively sewing quilts since about 1996. From the beginning I’ve archived information on every quilt I’ve made. And I can’t believe how many times I’ve gone back to check on some detail about a finished quilt.

I use big notebook binders, and inside the binders I use plastic sleeves that will hold my quilt information and that open on the top only. The pictures below are from volume 4.

What do I record? EVERYTHING about a quilt I might need to know down the road. Always, I include pictures, the number of the quilt in the completion lineup, the completion date, the patterns involved (sewing, quilting), the size, the backing fabric, information on the front fabrics if needed, to whom I gave the quilt or why I’ve kept it (quilts saved for grandchildren), thank you cards or pics sent to me by recipients, and so on.

Below, the left page is more information about the quilt on the front side of that sleeve, and the right side is the first info for that particular quilt. On the left you can see there is a thank you note included. You can see each quilt has a page where I take notes as I work on the quilt.

On the left below you can see I included the pattern for the quilt on the front side. On the right side you can see the backing of that particular quilt.

Another set of pages:

The back side of the right page above:

In the book I reserve pages for quilts under construction–so I keep all the numbers in correct order for when I create a quilt’s label.

I hope this post encourages the quilters who read this blog to start archiving your own quilt work and/or other sewing projects. YOUR work is important.

Another Snow Day

The water pipes are fine today, but we will have two more really cold nights, so I will drip water again tonight.

One of the “joys” yesterday was seeing the children in the snow, yes, but also the parents.

Out came golf carts to pull children on whatever worked–like the very thin boards that can skim retreating shallow waves at the beach. But there was a wide array of finding “whatever works.” And neighborhood dads participated in making sure lots of children had a try.

The local streets are still rutted with frozen ice where there was some melting and than refreezing. I wouldn’t take my car out on a bet, given that most folks here have no experience driving on ice.

This morning the detritus from all of yesterday’s play reminds us of all the fun in the snow. Most of our children were out all day, despite the cold. Whatever cold be used for snow play…was. Like these beach or tub toys.

My three youngest grands are still hard at it. The last video was them coming down a hill (hills are rare in this coastal plain) on single skis. It’s time for them to go to a ski resort I think.

And meanwhile, here’s another bit of joy from me:

Kalanchoe is now in full bloom!

And I have all four of my Wayward Arc projects finished. I so enjoyed hand stitching them.

I’m keeping the one on the upper left–it will go in my quilt room.

It’s A White World This Morning

My back screen door is frozen in a mostly closed position, but the sun is coming out later. That might melt away the ice that is glueing it to the little porch step. If not, I know what to do.

There might be enough snow for industrious and determined children to make a small snow man. I suspect they will try.

It remains to be seen if the trash and recycle trucks will come today.

Snow in Charleston, SC, is very rare, of course.

It is very cold for here, and will drop to low 20s tonight. I’ve been dripping water in a bathroom faucet as the Rinnai heaters are OUTSIDE on the side of our houses. Pipes freezing is always what we dread.

And now, a lovely sew day for me.

Sunday Update

Good morning all!

We are bracing for what gets called “really cold” here in SC. And we have gotten some much-needed rain. When it dries up a little today, I’m going to cover the camellias with tarps–which will stay on for the next three nights/days.

I’ve been enjoying quiet weeks and lots of sewing time. Here are my four blocks for this month’s online “Blocks2” class with Tara Faughnan–called this month “Wayward Arcs.” Tara always has a “curves” block project for one of our 6 monthly blocks with which to play. These are all improv and freehand cut–except to square them off.

I’m hand-quilting these four to add more texture and two are done and ready to be put on my 10-inch stretched canvases.

Here is where I am with Rachel Hauser’s sew-along scrappy log cabin.

Yes, this project is chewing up my stored cut strips. Yeah!!! Of course I’m still moving around blocks as I complete one. These blocks finish at 18 inches.

I’ve never seen anything as brilliant and special as the corner block arrangement Rachel Hauser gave us–to finish off the very lacey border she designed. Of course I had to make one.

And here’s how it will work with the rest of her border units. These are “tricky” to make–as they are cut and sewn on a 45 degree diagonal line. But they are WORTH the trouble.

Here are the colors up next:

And!! Oh my goodness! Look at the Kalanchoe plant! I brought her inside–actually there are 3 plants here–a gift from my neighbor on my birthday last year. I repotted them at some point, and in the fall tiny buds started appearing. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Have a good week everyone!

Sunday Update

“Pot-Pourri 5: Crosses” is finished. This is the TWENTIETH quilt made from the cut up Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society fabrics in my stash–cut about 5 years ago now. I went back this morning and added then all up. They are all out of my house, with a one exception–the EPP quilt I made by hand. I gave these quilts to various members of my very big family and friends network.

Sorry about the ladder legs in this photo but I can’t get them out and don’t want to drag out the ladder again this morning. LOL, there’s always…something. Anyway, this quilt has a home. It’s going to a baby boy.

I used a fun pantograph called “Folk Heart,” which laid down a really nice texture. I quilted with a pale grey thread, which disappeared up front, but shows on the this adorable backing from Ruby Star Society. Their bears are back… And the bears have always been some of my favorites. A light orange binding–not C+S or Ruby Star–does not distract but picks up the orange spots in the bears’ ears.

Here’s where I am on this month’s block from Tara Faughnan’s online class Blocks 2. This month is “Wayward Arcs.”

I am going to hand quilt some of these–and then put them on stretched canvas. And I’ll make a few more as well as I’m not tired of this fun yet.

I have three 18-inch blocks of Rachel Hauser’s log cabin sew-along made. Nine are needed. These blocks are strong colors–opposites on the color wheel which gives a lot of punch. They won’t stay together. Indeed, I’ll make some softer versions now.

Here are the softer colors for the next block: pink and a mint green. And low contrast which just relies on color.

This project DOES chew up a ton of fabric strips–my bins of cut strips are…going down.

It is cold today, but sunny. I have avoided checking on my covered camellias. But… I need to, of course.

Improv Log Cabin Blocks

Hello all, just a quick post this morning.

Weeks ago I ran out of handwork for night sewing and started to make funky log cabin blocks from scraps at night–free form and hand trimmed with scissors as I went. And this happened:

I did square off each block–and of course the grey/dark block in the middle is VERY improv for a log cabin–but I had fun making it. That block was actually the first one. These blocks are NOT meant to be about perfection or to line up perfectly, etc. They are meant to be funky.

Sewing them together into a quilt top was a bit of a challenge, but I do like that kind of creative work. It measures 40 wide and about 55 long–so a baby quilt I think. It doesn’t need a border.

I have organized a backing and the batting, but the third quilt in my Hurty ruler half-rectangle triangle series is ready to be quilted–and I have a backing and binding chosen, but not sewn together yet. Nor have I double-checked the top’s measurements. BECAUSE, I’ve been playing with month four of Tara Faughnan’s online Blocks 2 block AND using Rachel Hauser’s long cabin sew-along project as my leader ender project. I have 2 and 1/2 blocks done out of 9 needed for that project. Pics to follow on these two projects soon. Meanwhile a reminder of the third in my quilt series–the hourglass block form which gets cut from the half-rectangle triangle. The border–found in my stash–has changed how the colors are working in this quilt–in a very interesting way.

Meanwhile, we were on the rain edge of the VERY BIG snow storm that moved through here yesterday and last night, so I had a nice snow day of sewing yesterday.