Sister's Choice Quilts

This and That

Well, it must be said that Eva takes after her daddy. She is a natural-born salesperson. That is her in the pink blow-up suit, with two more inhibited friends, selling Girl Scout cookies this past weekend in front of our local supermarket. Believe me, she attracted attention and the girls sold a boatload of cookies. 

I have absolutely no sewing content to share with you right now. I have not set foot in my sewing room for the past five days.

I have been working on a jigsaw puzzle, which is like watching a tectonic plate move. I may finish it in my lifetime. 

What I have been doing is some reading, which I will share with you.

I did finish Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, which was even more magnificent 30 years after its first reading. My gosh, if you haven't read that book, give it a go. It is a masterpiece. I had a massive book hangover when I finished it, so severe that I didn't think I would ever read again. If you aren't up for a 900+ page western, give the mini-series a try. It is on Amazon Prime and stars Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Diane Lane, and Robert Urich (among others). 

Because Lonesome Dove was such a doorstop of a book, I didn't read a lot of others this month, but I have a few recommendations that I think most of you will really like. Funny thing, three of these five books have protagonists in their 60s, 70s or 80s!

Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford is a lovely book that I think so many of you will enjoy. It is based on The Great British Baking Show, which is such fun. Jenny Quinn is a 70-something lady who has been married for 59 years to her lovely husband Bernie. She decides on a whim to apply to be on the TV show, and to her amazement is accepted as a competitor. I think you will love following her along on her cooking journey and cheering her on as she develops self-confidence and reconciles with a secret from her past. 

Oh my gosh, the Air Raid Book Club by Annie Lyons will be your cup of tea if you like books about books, WW2 novels, and stories about female friendships. 60-year-old widow Gertie Bingham runs a bookshop and at the start of WW2 is persuaded to take in a young Jewish teenage refugee, Hedy. Once the Blitz bombing starts plaguing Londoners, they start a book club where they read and discuss books in the town air raid shelters. As the war gains force, the characters will need to band together for comfort and support during terrible losses.  There is an accompanying PDF file with recommendations of all the books mentioned in the novel.

The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson is another book I think so many of you will adore. It is free on Kindle Unlimited right now, so jump in and get it. 80-something Mabel Beaumont's dear husband Arthur was a listmaker. He would leave his lists all over the house, and once he passed away, Mabel found his last list and felt compelled to complete all the items on it. One of the items was "Find D". Dot was a dear friend from their courtship days who inexplicably disappeared when Mabel and Arthur got married. Solitary and somewhat curmudgeonly  Mabel makes a number of new friends on her journey to find Dot and discovers many things beyond finding her old friend. This is a very sweet and uplifting book and will leave you feeling hopeful and with a smile on your face. 

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross is a  YA fantasy novel that many of you who don't typically enjoy that genre will be surprised by and enjoy. Two young rival journalists discover a magical connection through writing. The novel takes place during a time when the gods are at war (think WW1) and the young journalists go to the front to relay accurate information back home. The blossoming romance between the two main characters, the turmoil of war, and the whims of the warring gods make this an enthralling story. The writing is beautiful and the book ends with a major cliffhanger. Don't worry, the sequel "Ruthless Vows" is already out. This book is free on Kindle Unlimited, so what's stopping you?

The Women by Kristin Hannah. Ok. Bear with me. I am not a big Kristin Hannah fan. That being said, I went into this book hoping for the best, and for the first third of the book I was not disappointed. I had it pegged as a solid 5-star book due to the author's impeccable research into the Vietnam war and depictions of the conditions the troops endured during their service. However, for me, the book went downhill big time to about a 2.5 rating. The story follows the life of Frankie McGrath, an Army nurse who serves on the frontline in Vietnam. I wanted a lot more grit from Frankie and was greatly disappointed with her choices and the flaws in her character. For me, the book dragged in the middle and was overly focused on Frankie's ill-fated romances, which were quite unbelievable. The book turned into a soap opera and missed the opportunity to tell the story of what brave women did during their service in the Vietnam War. So, hear me out. This book disappointed me, but I believe I am in the vast minority with my opinion. If you have loved Kristin Hannah's other books, you will absolutely love this one. Even though I ended up disappointed with the book, I found it a page-turner and read it in two days. I was left feeling judgemental about the main character but have been thinking about the brave service of those who served during the Vietnam War ever since I finished the book. As you see, I am conflicted. 

Hope this content will tide my readers over until I can get some sewing done! We are under a blizzard warning through Sunday, so with luck, I will get up into the sewing room and make something happen!

Wishing you all a great week, whatever you are up to. 

 

Iron Update

Well, my Chi iron didn't last as long as I would have liked, but then, I am awfully hard on irons apparently. I bought the one on the left in May 2022 and the one on the right arrived this week. 

The "older" one is still working, and not leaking unless I try to use it before it has heated up all the way. What it is doing is shutting off unexpectedly, which is annoying. I thought this sign was a heads-up that it wasn't long for this world. I ordered the new one to have on hand for the day when the older one goes belly up. I should try cleaning the old one to see if that corrects the issue.

The new model is essentially the same, the only difference being the method of filling it. The little red pop-open door is an improvement from the more fussy method of having to turn the cover to the side to expose the fill hole. Other than that, every other feature seems to be the same.

What I like about this iron, and which caused me to repurchase it, are the 400+ steam holes, fast heat-up time, and a 30-minute shut-off time. Most other irons shut off within a few minutes, and I like to keep my iron on while I sew. This is probably why they don't last me very long. 

My original Chi iron cost $99 in 2022 and the new model cost $82 in 2024. I am not quite ready to toss the older one, and will give it a good cleaning and see how long I can limp along with it before switching over to the new one. Up until a couple of weeks ago the first one has never leaked (unless I jumped the gun and used it before it was ready) or caused me any issues.

In my last post I mentioned that the dance Eva had been looking forward to had been canceled. Well, the evening was salvaged after all. The thoughtful mom of one of her friends suggested having the girls dress up in their party dresses and she would take them to a local restaurant for dinner. The sushi place near us has a private dining area that was available for the girls to use. As you can see by their joyful expressions, they are having an amazing time.

She spent the weekend selling her Girl Scout cookies. She set up her booth in front of the historic hotel in the little town of Murphys, down the street from where her family has its wine-tasting shop. Evidently, sales were good as tourists passed by on their wine-tasting excursions. I have always known that shopping comes easy to those who have consumed a glass or two of chardonnay. 

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Mercantile Blocks, and a New Trim Tool

I am all caught up with this week's Mercantile Sew-Along blocks. The top one is Spool and Bobbins block, and the lower one is Soda Pop Star. Both were fun to make. I am using my own fabrics for the blocks and sometimes am switching up the background fabric from what Lori is using. 

I want to tell you about a new trim tool I just bought. As a matter of fact, I bought it specifically to make the Spool and Bobbins block, which calls for two units commonly called "Cat's Cradle". I've made this block unit before many times, using a Creative Grids trim tool called Cat's Cradle. 

This is a tricky block to make if you decide to do it using triangles. You can see from the diagram what I am talking about. There is no way I can make this come out right using triangles. 

The Creative Grids trim tool takes away the triangles entirely. You sew with squares and rectangles and trim up with the trim ruler, and get perfect units every time. Check out how nicely the point of the pink square lines up.

The photo above is of me trimming up a cat's cradle unit for the Mercantile block. The block will have one added step, when I add a sew and flip background corner to the pink square. (Like in the diagram).

This photo shows the two trim tools. The lower left is the regular Cat's Cradle tool, which allows you to make blocks up to 3 1/2" unfinished. With the XL Cat's Cradle tool (on the right) you can make units from 4" finished to 8" finished.

These units are such a headache to make using triangles, it was easy to justify the price of the tool.

This is a quilt I'd love to make some time, using scraps and the Cat's Cradle tool.

Here is some disappointing news. Eva had a ski trip planned for Monday, but it has been canceled due to our bad weather. Even worse, the 7th-grade winter formal dance tonight has also been canceled. Honestly, what a pain.  I guess we will be keeping that dress her dad bought that I altered to fit her....

Moda Blockheads Block 8

I made Moda Blockheads Block 8. And then I made it again.

Let's take a look at both versions and I will tell you why I like the second one better. 

The first block is fine, but the center seems kind of random and adds nothing to the overall design. In version 2, the green corner squares of the center unit continue the line formed by the green four-patches in the corners, which is nice. Also, the center unit picks up the navy and brown colors in the large navy print. I think the look of the second block is more purposeful and dynamic than the first one. 

I always give myself permission to change up a block if I think it could be better. It may be an annoying personal quirk, but I am not a "done is better than perfect" person by any means. It would haunt me to keep an element in a quilt that I could have improved upon. 

This is a twelve-inch size block. My proposed setting design will combine 5 twelve-inch blocks and 24 six-inch blocks. With only 5 of the larger size blocks, I particularly want the larger blocks to stand out and be remarkable, not ho-hum. The setting I am considering is called Star Dance by My Sew Quilty Life.

I think today's block might be great right in the center, what do you think?

Another Mini Patchwork Bag

I think these little bags are addicting. I spent the morning yesterday making another one. 

I had a mini charm pack of "Graze", a collection Sweetwater came out with in 2022. I bought some fabric from an Etsy seller and she included the mini charm pack in my order. The fabrics are kind of country chic in primary colors of red, green, blue, and gold. 

You get 42 mini charm squares in a Moda mini pack, so for this project, you have two left over.

These little bags are super fun to put together. There are some areas where you are sewing over the pull tab and the zipper, which is fairly thick. I bent the dickens out of a needle and thought I had really messed up my machine, but I managed to remove it and there was no damage. I switched needles to the "Jeans/Denim" type and sewed really slowly over the thick parts and it worked out better.

I hope you are having better weather than we are, wherever you are. I keep expecting to hear that Noah is near with the ark, but so far, it's just been thunder, lightning, and lots of rain.

Nantucket Mini Bag

It was a holiday weekend here in the US, so I took a couple of days off. I did occupy myself with a useful and fun project that I'd love to share with you all today. 

This little mini bag is a free pattern from Moda that you can easily download and get to sewing on yourself. I had a ton of leftover scraps of Nantucket fabric (by Camille Rosskelley), which made me want to make it even more. To assist me in the project, I followed along with a fantastic YouTube tutorial made by Sheri of A Quilting Life. She takes you through the process every step of the way and offers loads of helpful tips. 

You can easily make this little patchwork bag using a mini-charm pack. I bet you have one of those sitting around somewhere that you never knew what to do with, right? Of course, you can use regular charm packs or any scraps you have on hand.

You will also need a piece of fabric for the lining, some fusible batting, and a zipper.

The first step is to sew forty 2 1/2 inch squares together and fuse it to the batting. Trim to the size required and continue to follow the construction directions. Sherri shows you how to do it all.

The bag is the perfect size for cosmetics, charging cords, or sewing notions. You can probably come up with loads of ideas on how to use one. 

In my case, I made the bag for a friend who is in poor health. I filled it with cozy socks, lip balm, hand lotion, face wash, and tissues. My hope is that it will be something useful that will add to her comfort.

I've made lots of zippy bags in my life, but I don't recall ever making one that was all patchwork. I love how it turned out and plan to use up those mini charm packs I have to make more! Recently my sisters reminded me that even though I made them little makeup bags some years back, they do wear out, and new ones would be appreciated. 

Moda Blockheads Block 7 and Conquer a Classic

Another Moda Blockheads block. This is block 7, designed by Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique. The fabric I am using for this sew-along is also designed by Vanessa, for Moda Fabrics. It is an older collection called Harvest Road. My background is also hers, from her Flower Pot range. 

I used my 3-inch finished foundation papers from Fat Quarter Shop and they worked perfectly. I aimed to have that center star stand out. The theme of this sew-along is that each block has a star design.

I am participating in a read-along (I must be a joiner: sew-alongs, read-alongs- sign me up). The idea is to tackle a classic work of literature. Previous choices have been The Count of Monte Cristo, Lord of the Flies, The Color Purple, and others. This year the classic that has been chosen by The Bookshelf Thomasville is Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove, a doorstop of a book that was written in the 80s. I read this back in 1985, and devoured the mini-series that followed on TV, but am totally up to repeat the experience.

I got the book on Kindle, for two reasons. One, the book is huge and must weigh at least 5 pounds. Two, the font is small and I can adjust it larger on the Kindle. 

The idea of the read-along is to break the book up into a certain number of chapters a month and by the end of the year, the book will have been consumed. The problem with this book is that it is too good to spread out over such a long period. I just can't do it. I am all in and am not going to stop just because I've read all I was supposed to for February. I am going to keep going!

Larry McMurtry's voice is so distinct and so unique. I feel as if I am on the cattle drive with Gus and Call and the cowboys. I also am watching the mini-series on Amazon Prime and am totally addicted. I remember back in the 80s when this book and the tv series were all the rage. I thought both were terrific then and now that I am re-experiencing them I feel the same way. I had forgotten that the book won the Pulitzer Prize. I have heard it described as a dark tale, told lightly.

The TV series has some top-notch stars: Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, Diane Lane, Robert Urich, Chris Cooper, and so many more actors who are so well known today. I have read 16 chapters of the book and watched the first episode of the series, and have to say the TV version is faithful to the book. 

I know a lot of you are readers, as I am. I wonder if you ever re-visit a classic that you read years ago, or if you tackle a classic that you somehow missed when you were going through school. Or do you avoid the classics completely? Lonesome Dove is so much more recent than some other books we consider "classics", but I have to say I think it deserves that classification. 

Let us know in the comments if you are up to re-experience Lonesome Dove, if you read it back in the day, if you loved the mini-series...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Eva and I wish you all a very happy Valentine's Day. We had fun decorating some cookies which she will share with her girlfriends at school today. 

Of course, she had to taste one, and said they are A-OK.

After my big Flea Market finish, I wasn't in the mood to tackle anything huge, so I sewed the Mercantile block 5, which turned out pretty cute.

I also made a few more of the square in a square paper pieced blocks for the border of the Apple Sauce quilt I have nearly completed. 

You all remember that one, right? 

My husband took me out to dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day. We went a day early to avoid the rush. Our favorite Italian restaurant closed during COVID but has recently reopened and is better than ever. 

We had the most delicious and romantic dinner and can't wait to go back again for our anniversary in April. 

Hope you have a lovely Valentine's Day with your sweetheart. If you are on your own, I hope you do something special for yourself!

 

Flea Market is Finished!

Ta-da, I have finished Flea Market! I made the quilt exactly as the pattern directed. For a time I was so tired of working on it that I thought I would leave out the outer border of posies, but thought better of it. I am glad I kept them in because, in my opinion, they add quite a lot to the quilt.

This thing is gigantic, and I mean HUGE. It measures around 95 inches square, and as you can see, drapes over the sides of this queen-sized bed quite a lot. 

To recap, this quilt project was a sew-along hosted by the Fat Quarter Shop. I mistakenly thought that this was one of Lori's sew-alongs because it features her fabrics and her book Flea Market Quilt Book.  Here is a link to FQS's introduction to the project along with fabric requirements etc. The level of support was nowhere near as detailed as those that Lori typically oversees. When I look back at the blog posts on Fat Quarter Shop's Jolly Jabber blog, they do say if you want to follow along to check Instagram with the hashtags #FleaMarketQuiltAlong or #FleaMarketBasketsSAL. Somehow I missed the message that this wasn't one of Lori's hosted sew-alongs, but was a much less formal arrangement without weekly tutorials. #FleaMarketQuiltAlong on Instagram does bring up some lovely photos of the quilt as folks worked along, but there are no tutorials, etc. 

The finished quilt is lovely, and I must say that the book provides very clear instructions every step of the way. If you want to make the quilt, you do need the book but could use scrappy fabrics of your own choosing. 

Hope your week has gotten off to a great start!

Design Boards Part Two

The design board saga continues with my second method for finishing off the raw edges. This time I used duct tape (duck tape?) to finish the edges of the design board. It worked brilliantly. It was fast, it was easy, it wasn't messy. Pretty much an all-around winner, if you ask me.

One reader indicated that she didn't see the need to finish the edges of her design boards in any way, but I tend to think it is more pleasant to use a nicely finished board than one without finished edges. Lori Holt says "If it's worth making, it's worth making it cute". She does have a point. At any rate, the duct tape-finished boards aren't nearly as "cute" as the fabric-finished ones, but they are both finished and functional. I have one more method I am going to experiment with, that involves iron-on adhesive interfacing, but that is for another day. For now, I am totally satisfied with the duct tape method.

I had a busy weekend, with family projects and the Super Bowl, so no sewing got done. Friday I managed to get the fourth Mercantile block done. All four that I have made thus far are pictured above. I think trimming those low-volume blocks down to a uniform 13 1/4" is going to work just fine.

Hope you all had a great weekend. I am a 49s fan, but how about those Chiefs?