Sister's Choice Quilts

Having the Right Tools for the Job

Well, I did it. I spent another $100 on an iron. As far as I am concerned I will never bring another Rowenta into the house. They have disappointed me hugely over the years with their awful leaking, so no more. I had just about made up my mind to get a cheap iron and be done with it, but recently I got a couple of suggestions for pricier irons that might be worth the expense. One reader suggested the Rowenta ironing station, where the water is stored in a large base that sits under the iron itself. She said she gets great steam, no annoying auto shut off, no leaking, and it's been working great for her. But at $299 I wasn't sure I wanted to throw any more money at Rowenta. 

Another reader told me about her Chi iron. Chi is a company that is known for hair tools. Dryers, straighteners, curling irons, etc. It turns out they make a steam iron priced $60-$100, depending on the model. She loves hers. Great steam, no leaking, and a 30-minute auto-shutoff. In a weak moment, I ordered one, which arrived this weekend.

And I think I love it. It is quite heavy and has 400 steam vent holes, similar to the Rowenta. The steam it puts out is impressive. It also holds a lot more water than my previous irons. I also love the fact that I don't have to "wake it up" every 8 minutes due to the annoying shut-off feature. I will keep you posted, but so far, this seems to be a great iron.

I remade my Moda Blockheads block from last week. The seams on the center area on my block were kind of puckery, and would not lie flat. I don't know if it was better sewing on my part or the new iron, but the center of this second block is behaving much better. I made the bonus block as well, which has a similar construction and that center section came out great too.

Hope you all had a great weekend. Happy sewing this week!

Moda Blockheads 4 (with changes) and Current Books

This is the latest block in the Moda Blockheads 4 sew-along. Block 8, "Wild Geese", designed by Kate Spain. It was supposed to be all half-square triangles, but that was too many seams for me. I changed it up and made flying geese units instead. For the 9" block, my sewing units were one 3 x 5 1/4" rectangle and two 3" squares. Once made into a flying geese unit, I trimmed it down to 2 3/4 x 5". 

I've been on a total reading tear this week. Four books down so far since the weekend. I haven't been feeling great, so I have spent a lot of time sitting still in my chaise lounge. I won't go into detailed reviews in this post, but you should know, that every single one of these books was GREAT!

From the top, The Paris Apartment (Lucy Foley) is a spooky mystery/thriller set in Paris. Bloomsbury Girls is about three feisty women who work in a bookstore in post-WWII London. The Change is a revenge/fantasy novel about three menopausal women who discover they have certain powers and use them to help others. Lessons in Chemistry is set in the 1950s/60s and features Elizabeth Zott, a chemist working in a male-dominated field, who gets no recognition and is treated shabbily. Among other things, she ends up hosting one of the first tv cooking shows. Every one of these was so entertaining and enjoyable.

As you can see by the dust jackets, I've been trying to concentrate on my Book of the Month purchases and get them out of the To Be Read pile!

Today is my daughter Sara's birthday!  Happy birthday Sara!

Moda Blockheads Progress

These are the latest two blocks in the Moda Block Heads 4 sew along. Both were designed by Lisa Bongean. The block on the left was supposed to have a nine patch center. I made it originally for the block on the right, but decided it was too much navy for one block. So I used it for the star block on the left instead. Both centers were 5" square, so it worked out great. I am pleased with the outcome.

Here are my two weekly sew-along projects on my small design wall. I am at the point where I am going to have to take them down because there is no room for more! The bat block I made for the Midnight Moon project really stands out! It is going to force me to do a diagonal setting for those blocks, which I was considering anyway.

I am still feeling exhausted for some reason. I hope I get some pep back soon! Hope your week got off to a good start.

Getting Things Done

The school year is winding down with a bang rather than a whimper. Eva was in a school play over the weekend, which was jolly good fun. "The Enchanted Bookshop". She had two roles, Little Red Riding Hood and The Lady in Red. You can see her singing her little heart out on the right in the photo above.

By Sunday, I was absolutely exhausted, done in, good for nothing. All I wanted to do was sit in my chaise lounge with my book, and even then I nodded off. Before I was down for the count I did make a bat block for my Midnight Moon Quilt Along project. Designer April Rosenthal put out a free 8 1/2" bat block as a special bonus last Friday. Since I am making 6 1/2" blocks, it didn't work for me, but I loved the idea of adding a bat block in.

I found a downloadable pattern on Etsy.com for $6, and you can see in the photo above, that it turned out really cute.

It did have just a few pieces. lol

Now, I have to go lie down again.  Hope you had a great Mother's Day weekend.

 

Busy Week, Busy Time of Year

Ok, so I am pretty sure this is the cutest mug rug I've ever made. I used an apple block pattern from one of Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage books. How adorable is the apple core block? This is teacher appreciation week and we wanted to give Miss Kelly a little token of our affection.

Eva is in a play this weekend. The Enchanted Bookshop. She has two roles, "the Lady in Red" and "Little Red Riding Hood". We were asked to bake cookies to be sold at intermission and to display them in a way that relates to our kid's part. We filled a big basket with Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies (pretty perfect recipe if I say so myself) along with a propped-up picture book of Little Red Riding Hood. I think it makes a  nice display. We made 100 cookies and placed them in 50 cello bags. If they sell for $2 a pop, that will be a $100 donation for the school.

Goodness, have we been busy. Lots of trips to her charter school over the past two weeks. It is about a 25-minute drive, so it's a major back and forth. She had state testing last week, every day, and rehearsals for the play every day this week. I won't be sorry to see the end of this school year!

I am taking a break from seeing my dad this weekend. My sisters are covering for me. We will attend Eva's play on Friday and Saturday and with any luck do absolutely nothing on Sunday.  Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there. I feel as if I don't have to do anything on this holiday because my mom and mother-in-law are no longer with us. Book of the Month Club did something kind of nice, I thought. They have had a very active ad campaign promoting that a subscription to their service would make a nice Mother's Day gift. They were sensitive enough to realize that not everyone has a mom anymore and that this could be a tough holiday for some. They told the folks on their email list that if they didn't want to receive these ad emails for Mother's Day to click a button in the email and they would not see any of them. I thought it was thoughtful.

Happy Friday, and enjoy the weekend!

Midnight Moon Week 4 and Laundry Love

These are the two latest blocks in the Midnight Moon Quilt Along.  Bear's Tracks on the left and Buzzard's Roost on the right. Patterns are from the Summer Moon book by Carrie Nelson. An excellent book with over 30 quilt block patterns in three sizes. A great reference tool even if you aren't making the sampler quilt. I am using various Fig Tree fabrics in green, grey, orange, and black.

I am making my blocks only in the 6-inch size. I tell you, I would not have enjoyed making that Bear Paw block any smaller. It turned out really well though, and I think it may be my favorite so far.

It's always such a nice feeling of accomplishment to see completed blocks up on the design wall.

My border and lattice fabric for the Christmas Among the Stars Again quilt arrived over the weekend, so I got it all starched yesterday. "There was a good bit of drying in the day", as the Irish say. Everyone hangs their clothes out on the line in Ireland. If anyone has a mechanical dryer, they don't seem to use it. And of course, since it rains all the time and is often cold and damp, things take f.o.r.e.v.e.r to dry. Unless you get a rare nice day with sunshine and a bit of a breeze. Then they say there's a good bit of drying in the day and everyone and their brother does loads of wash and hangs it up everywhere possible all over the countryside. 

 

It would not be an exaggeration to say this book is life-changing. Do you hate doing laundry? It might be because you've been doing it all wrong. Laundry Love by Patric Richardson is so entertaining and full of fantastic ideas to make your laundry chores more fun and more successful. The author is a charming sounding guy, who apparently loves doing laundry more than anything else on Earth. 

Hope you had a great weekend! Happy laundry!

 

Christmas Among the Stars: Blocks Done!

I can't quite believe it, but I have finished all the blocks for the Christmas Among the Stars Again quilt!! It is a quilt-along sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop and has been going on for 8 months. My Month 8 package of fabric is in the mail and will contain what I need for the lattice and a red and white border. I love the subtle look of these blocks. Christmassy, but not in your face. 

The pattern booklet is by It's Sew Emma, and the fabric collection is Christmas Morning by Lella Boutique. You can still find the fabric on Etsy, but it seems to be pretty much sold out elsewhere.  It was really a gorgeous collection. I still need to get backing fabric, so I had better get on it.

Have you ever done a monthly BOM kit/sew-along with Fat Quarter Shop? If so, you have probably noticed that they send you way WAY more fabric than you actually need. See those colorful pieces on my cutting board? See the little white strips of triangle piecing paper at the top of the photo? All I need out of each of those great big pieces of fabric is a smidgeon the size of one of those foundation paper strips.

That strip on the left is what I cut, and I used about half of it. The big piece on the right is just leftover.

My point is, with a Fat Quarter Shop BOM, you will end up with loads of fabric leftover. Plenty for a table runner, a baby quilt, zipper bags, or any other project you can dream up. I am going to use my extras for a table runner. Of course, if you tend to make mistakes when you are cutting and sewing, you would also have plenty of fabric for "do-overs".

I have had an absolutely splendid week. You may have noticed a lot of sewing going on. Every day I sewed this week, and it sure did put me in my happy place.

I sure hope you have had a good week too, and that your weekend will be splendid!