Some cook, I sew and write: creativity brings joy

I just sent my second son off on a 2-year mission for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He will be serving in the Portland, Oregon, area after spending 3 weeks on a crash course at the Missionary Training Center learning how to contact and teach people the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He gets one more week than his twin brother did about 5 months ago!  It was so hard to come into our house after dropping him off at the MTC.  Usually if I went out early in the morning, my son James would meet me at the garage door into the house.  (Actually, if he was home, he would always meet me at the door if he heard the garage door go up.)  Then he would take off for the farm.  I will really miss him.  Watching him walk away from us at the airport felt like I was watching a huge portion of my life leave.  He and his brother are two of the brightest jewels in my life that I could ever hope to have.  At least I have my daughter...

I just found some information on Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) on the Elven Garden Quilts blog.  Here is the link:   http://theelvengarden.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/free-motion-qal-choosing-colours.html .  There are more links at the bottom of the page.  I had wondered if it might be best to either tie or stitch-in-the-ditch quilt my Christmas quilt, and one of the posts reinforced that thought.  I think that might be the best strategy for me as a beginner. Also here is a cool Minecraft tutorial:   http://www.thatlookslikeitneedsstitches.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2016-02-17T12:42:00-08:00&max-results=1 Just wanted to pass those along!

I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas!  We did!  Two of my kids were here at home and we got to chat for a good long time with my son who is serving a mission in California.  That made Christmas real! Our Christmas tree decorations have been years in the making.  We add ornaments every year that have something to do with events of that year.  This year we purchased an ornament from the Cincinnati Museum Center in the shape of a train in remembrance of the many times I took our kids to the museum when they were kids.  The train ornament reminded me of a train set they played with for YEARS!  Now that our kids are beginning to leave home, it makes those memories precious.   I also bought another ornament in honor of my son in California, but it hasn't arrived yet.  Onward to my Christmas quilt, which I've been afraid wasn't going to keep progressing now that Christmas is over.  It got stalled when I was sick, the...

Has anyone else felt a little bit of rebellion when you hear something like "Easy Peasy Fat Quarter Quilt"?  Would it be safe to say that anyone who has ever pieced together a quilt top might feel that way?  Then again, I have seen quilters do exactly that, but they have been quilting for a l-o-n-g time and are pretty fast. Personally, I think we need a Quilter's Dictionary.  I nominate a couple of definitions. Easy :   Relative easy with repetitive cuts and sewing.  1) Often is used in conjunction with buying precuts and using them as they are and then sewing them together.  2) Sometimes it means that you will be joining like pieces of fabric cut in the same shape (usually square) into a block, then sewing the blocks together.  3) Frequently used to suggest that the designer found a way to make a very complicated quilt in a more simple manner for the same end result. Quick :   This has nothing to do with the phrase "in a minute" unless y...

In a former life, I wrote, edited, and published technical documentation and user manuals as well as policies and procedures. Now, ask me how well I read them now. Or don't.  Because I'd hate to have to confess to not doing what I used to get slightly peeved that others didn't do. Ahem. Yesterday I called the sewing machine dealer to see if I could get the quilting foot because my fabric was pushing the fabric ahead of the presser foot.  I remembered that the walking foot (or even feed foot) helped but I'd also heard of the free motion quilting foot.  The lady who answered very kindly told me I already had it; it came  with  the machine.  Hmm.  I scheduled a private sewing lesson for January, but then decided I really ought to open the book.  The instruction book. Walla! The free motion quilting foot: And while I was at it, foot O (for 1/4" seams): The instructions to use the quilting foot were there along with darning inst...

"Finished is better than perfect," says Jenny at Missouri Star Quilt Co. I heartily agree. I grew up hating WIPs. My mother taught me that because she always had half-finished projects from Relief Society work meetings. Relief Society is the women's organization in our church. She was in the organization's leadership, organizing and overseeing the function, so she never had enough time to finish the projects. I think the only completed projects we had were those that the sweet sisters in the Relief Society made for my mother. What sweet gifts! (Eventually, my mother threw out all of her WIPs, making those gifts even sweeter!) Having said that, I've added several tutorials from other very creative (and skilled) ladies. My latest favorite blogger is from Freshly Pieced. Maybe eventually I'll advance to buying a book! In the meantime, I keep drooling over different pieces of fabric and jelly rolls. I really, really want to mak...

After I bought my new Janome, I let it sit for a little bit and mostly looked at different projects that I could try. I even bought a jacket course from Craftsy but have yet to purchase fabric for that jacket.  Someday I will!!! But I'm chicken and only made simple things at first.  After all, it has been a few  years  decades since my mother taught me to sew, and I've only made a few things in between.  Mother had to rescue a few of those projects like my daughter's pioneer dress, pinafore, and bonnet because the directions were so very, very confusing to me.  Mother was an amateur seamstress only because she would never sew for pay.  She always said her time was too expensive, and the price would take any item she might sell to sky-high levels.  She made things as gifts sometimes but never for pay. Then I discovered diaper clutches.  They are simple, require minimal lengths of fabric, and seem like a good idea.  I like the patte...