Sister's Choice Quilts

The Good News Is, I'll Have More Time On My Hands

If you read my blog regularly, you may recall me mentioning that the company I work for has been using AI more and giving their freelance writers less work. Whelp, they pretty much pulled the plug on me last week. All my work assignments just disappeared from the company spreadsheet we use to see what our upcoming projects are. No phone call, no email. They just removed my work assignments. 

When I emailed my boss in a panic, she ominously replied "I'll call you in a moment". Which she did. It turns out the company won't be using us freelancers much in the future because they are "cutting back". And she said the cutbacks included her. Her last day is August 30. She's worked for and supported this company for 10 years, and made all of us who reported to her feel like we were a team.

She was great to work with. The company itself clearly has some issues regarding the way they treat their employees. They didn't even exactly "fire" me. They just took away my work and said there wouldn't be more. I feel very disrespected and unvalued. At least the new AI robots won't get hurt feelings like the real people they used to employ.

So, I will be broke but will have more time to sew, train my new puppy, read books, and blog regularly.

Speaking of said puppy, here are a couple of pictures. In the first photo, he was sleeping in his crate with his head on his own little stuffed puppy. He uses it as a pillow.

In the next shot, you can see the setup we have rigged in our foyer. It is a really large space, with room for a crate and puppy playpen. Archie is great about using it. He can keep an eye on us from that central spot, which he likes. We get him out about every two hours for a walk or a play session.

Besides feeling extremely sorry for myself this weekend, I did some sewing-related puttering. I brought out my Designer Mystery 2023 project to see where I was with it. I had finished the 12 monthly blocks and five of the alternate blocks. I have eight more alternate blocks to make in a log cabin design which is going to take some time. Here is my layout minus the missing blocks I have yet to make. 

I'll keep you posted on those log cabin blocks!

Hope you all had a better weekend than I did.

 

 

Do Not Buy This Iron

Do not waste your money on this Rowenta DW9280 iron. My husband spent over $150 on it and gave it to me for Christmas to use for my quilting. From the start, it was a leaky mess. I tried for around 4 months to make it work, but it was truly the worst iron I have ever used. I thought maybe the leaking had to do with the fact that it shuts off after 8 minutes of non-use and then has to warm up again. If you use it before it reaches its temperature, it leaks. 

Since it was such a fail, I purchased a $90 CHI iron, which has been amazing. It stays on 30 minutes before the auto shut-off kicks in, it beeps when it reaches the "cotton" temperature, and again if it shuts off. It has a gazillion steam holes and presses beautifully. Best of all it has not leaked once. 

I didn't want to waste the Rowenta iron, so I brought it downstairs to the laundry room to use just for ironing clothing. When I iron clothes, I stick with the task until all the ironing is done. There is no wandering off and giving the iron its 8 minutes to shut off. I am using it continuously. 

So, you see what happened in the photo above. I had been ironing nonstop for a half hour or so when I started to press these jeans. And look at that big ugly blob of leaked water. No reason for it. The iron was at temperature, all was fine. And then that happened. At least it wasn't my white linen blouse. Typically this iron would wait until something white was under it, then let loose with a blast of yellowish water that would stain the fabric.  I think it is possessed by the devil.

I cannot tell you how much I hate this iron. Ok. Rant over.

 

Well, This Isn't Good

Remember this quilt? It is called Sewcialites, and was a sponsored sew-along hosted by Fat Quarter Shop last year. Each week, we made a new block, either in the 3", 6" or 9" size. I started out making 9" blocks and abandoned both the size and my chosen fabric collection after a couple of weeks. I switched over to making 6" blocks and a different color way. 

I kept up with the sew-along, even though I didn't have much time to sew from March onward since I was traveling to another city to care for my father on the weekends. And the weekend was when I mainly found time to sew. 

So that is my finished quilt top (minus the border) above. You may notice little blobs of blue painter's tape on some of the blocks. Why ever for?, you may ask. Well. Somehow I managed to pick up the wrong cream solid for those large half square triangle alternate blocks and sew them into the quilt. And as you can clearly see, they stand out, and not in a good way.

Of course, this bothers me tremendously. I thought briefly of donating the top to the charity organization I recently discovered, but decided not to. I spent a lot of time making those blocks, some of which were quite challenging. I was happy with my technical achievement with the blocks and was reluctant to throw them away. Also, it was practically the only quilt top I almost finished in 2021.

So, what to do? I got my hands on the proper background cream and have decided to take the quilt apart, remake those large half square triangle alternate blocks and put it all back together again. 

So, I've made a start.

Tell me, what would you have done? Take it apart as I am doing, give it to someone who would never notice or care, donate it, or leave it in permanent UFO status?

Have a great weekend everyone!  Wish I could give you each a seam ripper and a quilt row, but I guess I am in this pickle on my own.

Additional Moda BlockHeads 3 Blocks

For the setting I have in mind for the Moda Blockheads 3 sew-along, I have found that I need to make some additional blocks in the 12-inch and 6-inch sizes. I am actually having fun going through various sources looking for blocks in those sizes.

This 12-inch block is from a Moda Bake Shop sew along from last year called Spring Flowers. The blocks for this sew-along were all 12 inches finished, and the designs were super cute. However, that being said, I was absolutely appalled at the errors in nearly every single pattern I tried. This one is called "Bouquet" and did turn out ok after I remade eight half-square triangles in the correct size. 

This 12-inch block is called Daffodil and is also from the Moda Bake Shop Spring Flowers sew-along. I ended up having to actually throw away two blocks from this sew-along because after I had cut my fabric I found that the instructions were full of errors and the wrong measurements. There were a ton of comments on the website from very unhappy people who, like myself, had wasted time and valuable fabric. Some people who were making all the blocks claimed there was an error in every single block pattern they tried from this project. And I was being so careful not to waste any of my precious background fabric because I am running so low. It was a huge disappointment to have to throw some away. I can forgive one error, but time after time? No sir. Do the authors/designers actually not bother to test the blocks before they publish them? That is shameful. I have never in my life had this issue with any other Moda sew-alongs. BlockHeads has been so excellent I have participated in two different year-long projects. Going forward, I am going to be leery of any patterns from Moda Bake Shop. Ok, rant over. Just be warned to check your measurements before cutting if you ever participate in a Moda Bake Shop project.

One last 12-inch block. I have already forgotten where this pattern came from, but isn't it cute? I love the frame effect that the blue fabric has around the red star.

The rest of these blocks are all 6-inch. My source for a lot of them was various Lori Holt books-Farmhouse VIntage 1 and 2 primarily. Now, her instructions and measurements are always impeccable. 

This last one is a favorite for sure. I love how the red checked fabric looks like a folded-over envelope flap. I was even able to use four of the too-small half-square triangle blocks from the sloppy Moda Bake Shop instructions for "Bouquet".

So, good progress, all in all. Only a half dozen or so more 6-inch blocks to go. This project may be out of control. You can see how my design wall is filling up. Think I could use a bigger design wall?  lol

Barn Blocks

Hi there, hope you all had a lovely weekend. The photo above is a block I made on Saturday, which is "Recipe 1" in the Fatquartershop's Sew Sampler box Barn Block Sew Along.  You get a pattern, or "recipe" for one block each month in your Sew Sampler box.  If you don't want to participate in the Sew Sampler box ($25 per month), you can opt to purchase the blocks individually from FQS for around $5 as I recall.  In each block, the basic "barn" is the same, but the "barn block" on the side is more complex and differs each month.

I got recipe 2 in my June box, but purchased recipe 1 separately.  FQS offers a kit in the fabrics they chose for their version of the quilt.  Black, grey and white.  No offense if you love it, but I just have to have some color, and barns are traditionally red, right?  And I love red, so I added it in to my version.  I am using Primitive Gatherings "Needle and Thread Gatherings" for my project.

Block #1 was pretty painless, and I was thinking how gigantic the finished block was, at 12 1/2".  However, the thing one is supposed to focus on, is the "barn block" on the side of the barn, which is much more elaborate and involves trickier and smaller scale piecing.  Block #2 was a fine challenge, with the tiny little half square triangles being 1" finished.   I managed to sew one of the segments wrong and ended up redoing one of the quadrants.

In the end, my points were pretty much right on, and everything lined up to my satisfaction.  It was a little fiddly to make, but I was quite happy with my results.  So get this,  I posted a photo on Instagram and some woman commented.  "Better done than perfect".  Excuse me?   What minor flaw in my work is troubling you so, that you would leave such a comment?

Honestly, some people think with the anonymity that social media allows, they can say anything they like.

People are so funny.  Awhile back, some woman sent me a scathing email, complaining about a pattern she wanted to purchase (that I had mentioned on my blog) and she was getting no response from the pattern designer.  Would I please do something about it and get back to her as soon as possible?  Whaaat?

When you have a blog, you are somewhat of a public figure, as what you put out into cyber space is, well, out there.  Some people attribute far more power and influence than is deserved to a simple blogger who is sharing her projects and opinions with whomever out there choses to read her posts.

I don't do this for money.  I have never been sponsored by any person or any product.  I have chosen not to have ads on my site because I find them annoying and assume my readers might as well.  My blog is my own work and my personal opinions.  I receive no compensation from my posts other than the joy I receive from my regular (and some not so regular) commenters.  I love the friendships I have developed through blogging, whether they lasted, or didn't.  Every positive connection I make with you is reward enough for me.  It's a shame not everyone gets that.

We are not always going to agree on every subject.  We all have different tastes and preferences, and a good discussion amongst folks who do not see eye to eye can be terrific.  Anyway, thanks for reading, and if you take the time to make a comment, I truly appreciate it.  Especially if it is nice.  lol

 

Bernina Blues

What's missing?  Why, that would be my less-than-a-year-old gazillion dollar Bernina 740 sewing machine. On Saturday, I was sewing a straight stitch through two layers of quilting cotton when suddenly my needle broke and the machine stopped working.  I didn't sew over any pins or other objects.  When I changed out the broken needle and tried to sew again, no go.  The needle was now hitting the hook/bobbin holder thing.  Everything was out of alignment.  After an hour of my husband and I tinkering with the machine to see what was the problem, we admitted that the issue was beyond our capabilities.

I posted on the Bernina 700 Series owners Facebook page (which is very helpful, by the way) and a couple of people suggested that I had a "timing issue".  Whatever it is, my husband had to drop my machine off at the dealers, over two hours away from my house.  With any luck, I will get it back by next weekend.  Right?  

So, I turned back to my reliable old Bernina 153.  Which evidently was in a terrible snit about being replaced by the new Bernina 740.  And guess what?  When I attempted to use it, it was making a terrible noise and the tension was all messed up.  I couldn't sew on it.

Not to be foiled, I headed out to the garage where I keep my "traveling sewing machine".  I've never had a lick of trouble with this little Janome Gem in all the years I have had it.  I set it up, determined to sew.  It was acting weird, and the foot pedal would not work.  It turns out there is a "Stop/Start" button on the front of the machine, which somehow had gotten pushed in.  If you use that button, you can sew by manually pushing the button to sew and stop sewing, thus eliminating the foot pedal.  Once I figured out the button had gotten engaged, I was able to sort out that problem.  

I sewed for a few minutes using the foot pedal, and got up to trim some blocks across the room at my cutting table.  Across the room.  While I stood trimming flying geese units at the cutting table six feet away, suddenly, the Janome started sewing.  Fast.  Like a deranged and possessed sewing machine.  With no one operating it.

By this time, I was ready to concede to whatever poltergeists were taking over my sewing room.  Reason prevailed though, and I thought to pull the plug on the Janome, which thank heaven's stopped sewing on its own.  I have never heard of such a thing, have you?

Wish me luck this week.  This could work in my favor.  Maybe I will come home from work and find all those flying geese sewn up.

I Think I've Been Phished...

Have you all heard of "Phishing"?  It is an attempt by spammers (and other no goodniks) to trick or defraud people into giving out personal information such as their bank account, credit card numbers, passwords, and even their personal address.  

I really enjoy my Instagram account and follow around 300 other folks who have Instagram accounts.  I'd say the sites I follow are 85% quilting related, and 15% cooking, travel, and book review focused.  I enjoy posting photos of my quilting projects and occasional family or food related pictures.  My account is public and I have never had any issues.

Until yesterday, when another quilter, whose Instagram name also has a quilting related word in her title, mentioned that she had taken a look at her list of "followers" and discovered something kind of creepy.  She noticed that she had quite a few followers who seemed to be attractive, successful middle aged men.  When she looked at their Instagram accounts, they had very few posts, just photos of themselves looking handsome, happy and rich.  And they followed *thousands* of other sites, but didn't have any followers of their own to speak of.

Creepy indeed.  So of course I had to take a look and see who is following me.  As I scanned down the list, I recognized the names of other Instagramers who are quilters, a few who weren't identified as quilters, but were clearly women, my relatives, and then, whoops----who is this Michael person?  And Christopher7777?  And DavidPhD?  Sure enough, I clicked on their accounts and looked at their photos.  All middle-aged, grey haired, very good looking, successful, well dressed, etc.  One of them even had a stethoscope around his neck as he lounged against what seemed to be his desk.  Another guy was a heavily decorated military man.  They weren't all the same guy, but were so much alike they looked like brothers.

I must have had 10 of these middle aged dream boat mystery followers.  Very dodgy if you ask me.  You know the person behind the account isn't the good looking guy, but rather some ghoulish hacker from Russia or China or one of those countries that harbors cyber criminals.

So far, none of them have left me a comment asking me out on a date or have tried to sell me botox injections for cheap, but it makes you wonder, doesn't it?  What possible interest or purpose could these strange men have in following my Instagram site?  I blocked them right away of course, but it still gives me a major case of the creeps.  Are these spammers targeting women who they hope are lonely aging quilters?

It is slightly funny, but I am telling you, maybe you want to check your Instagram followers and see if you have any of these same types of followers, who in my opinion, just can't be up to anything good.

Dirty Laundry

Ack, that is the thing with going on vacation.  You come home with suitcases full of dirty clothes that need to be sorted, washed, dried, folded and put away.  I had mountains of it to deal with and spent what seemed like 90% of my free time yesterday on laundry related tasks.  

One product I have been using lately is Clorox Bleach Stain Remover for Whites.

Yes indeed, it works very well.  Takes stains right out.  Only don't do what I did and spritz it on anything other than pure white.  I had a lipstick stain on the collar of an ivory turtleneck and gave it a little spray before tossing it in the washer.  Took that lipstick mark right out, but now I have an ivory turtleneck with white spots on the collar where the color was bleached out.  Read the directions.

I did snag about an hour on Thursday while Eva was napping and made a couple more of my Past and Present blocks (Kim Brackett's pattern).  I have certainly passed the half way mark and believe I only have about 7 more blocks to make.  I think my quilt is six blocks wide by six blocks long.  If it's six by seven I guess I have 13 more blocks to make.  Sad face.  I am so in the mood for Spring colors, so I will be glad to finish up this more somber colored project and move on.  If I make any progress on finishing up those blocks I will let you know.  Jacob's Ladder, here I come.

Speaking of Spring, I have to share with you my pet peeve.  We have been so fortunate to have had the most glorious spring weather this week.  Blue skies, balmy temperatures in the high 60's.  The cherry and almond trees are blooming, a profusion of daffodils line the country roads where we live, the hills are emerald green, and Spring is definitely in the air.  I feel so fortunate to live in California where we don't have snow, grey skies, chilly temperatures, and know that Spring is going to arrive right when it is supposed to.  In my job, I often make small talk with customers and if it is a nice day, I may mention how lucky it is that they are able to enjoy such nice weather on their visit to our town.  So, here's the pet peeve:  I just hate it when some sour puss responds "Bah humbug.  Who cares about the good weather.  Harrumph.  We need RAIN".  Seriously?  Yes we do need rain, but that is not what we got.  We have a glorious spring day with mild temperatures, blooming flowers, and can go outside without a jacket.  We can't change it, so why not appreciate it?

"Hello, my name is Mrs. Grumpus and my glass is half full".

 

So, I Had To Do the Math After All

I am just crazy mad in love with this quilt (photo from book, Home to Roost).  I have had in  my mind for a year or more to make this quilt, but I didn't know how to find the pattern.  My inspiration was a miniature quilt called Pinwheel Gardens I saw on Pinterest by Lisa Bonjean of Primitive Gatherings (in photo below).  I saw this ages ago and fell hard for it.  But a miniature?  Not for me, with all those pinwheels.

Just look at that.  Isn't Lisa's quilt awesome?  Sometimes, that is how it is.  You see a quilt and say to yourself, "I love that.  I must have it".  Now, I was pretty determined to have this quilt, but am not terribly clever about figuring out measurements to make a larger version.  Ugh, do the math?  And I was not about to make this quilt with half inch square half square triangles or whatever.  So, it was just an idea in my mind for a long time.  I blog posted on this quilt, and saved the image on my Pinterest Bucket List.  Eventually, I suppose I would have figured out how to make a larger version.

Now, it turns out, I had the pattern for the quilt shown in the top photo all along.  "Duh"  moment.  I am a "bear of very little brain" as my husband likes to tell me.  The pattern I had on my book shelf was the same basic block design as Lisa's, but a much simpler border.  And not a miniature.

The pattern for this quilt, called Rhubarb Whirl, was in a book I bought a few years back.  The book is by Renee Nannerman, and was purchased because I wanted to make a completely different quilt in the book.  I bought the fabric to make the other quilt, never made it, dispersed the fabrics into my stash and forgot about the book.  Sigh.  I forget how it all came to my attention, but it was very fortuitous.  

Here is the book.  You can buy it and have the pattern for Rhubarb Whirl too.  And a total of 5 other cool patterns as well, including the one I meant to make in the first place, but never did.

So here is the deal with the book.  As I said, six great quilt designs, but the cutting directions are awful.  Obviously the book was designed to feature Renee Nannerman's specific fabrics, so the directions tell you to buy one quarter yard of fabric  #183774, three eighths of a yard of fabric #183772 etc.  Thirty three fabrics were listed like that and you have no clue if it is a light or a dark or whatever, unless you refer to a color chart on a different page.  Arghh.  This wouldn't be so bad if the pattern pamplet was free (or very inexpensive) to promote a fabric line, but the book cost $24.95!  And of course at this point, three or four years later, you couldn't find that specific line of fabric anymore anyway.

I want instructions that tell me to use X number of dark fat quarters, X number of light fat quarters, plus X of a yard for my inner border etc.  Or even, keeping it vague  "Use a total of X yards assorted fat quarters".

A much bigger issue is that the fabric amounts called for in the book seem excessive.  The pattern calls for well over 8.25 yards of fabric for a 56" x 72" quilt top.  I found that I got two blocks from a coordinated fat eighth light and dark pairing, plus a bit extra for a pinwheel block for the border.  So, for the 48 blocks called for in the top, that makes 24 pairings of a light and a dark, using two fat eighths for each block combo.  Six yards total for the quilt center, plus some extra dark rectangular scraps for the border.  That is a pretty darn big difference from the over 8 yards the pattern calls for.  Right?

I believe in generous cutting instructions in case of error, or leftovers for a future project, but that is ridiculous.

All week I have hesitated posting this little rant, because I don't typically like to be negative or critical.  I imagine that the fabric manufactorer (Andover) insisted on the strange cutting directions and overly generous fabric amounts and not the designer herself, Renee Nannerman.  I have heard of that before.  Often even if a designer objects they are over ruled by the book publisher.  If I were lucky enough to be asked to design a fabric line or author a book, I doubt I would be all that vocal in my protests with the Powers That Be either.  This isn't a criticsm of Renee (love her fabric designs, love her quilts). 

The bottom line is I am making a quilt I will love and have wanted for a long time, and am enjoying the sewing process.  But if you have the book and want to make Rhubarb Whirl, be warned there are some fabric requirements and cutting directions you might want to revise to suit yourself.

 

Crisis on the Home Front

 

We had a major crisis Wednesday.  Eva's preschool has had four really good teachers leave within the past six weeks or so.  As a former preschool teacher and director, this raised a major red flag for me.  So, I picked up the phone and asked to speak to the director.  I didn't want to come right out and say "What on earth is going on?", so I started the conversation by expressing my concern about so many key staff members leaving, two of whom who were very special to Eva.  I asked her if she had any advice on how to help a child adjust to such a dramatic and critical change in her life.

Long pause.  Sound of crickets chirping.  Finally, the director cleared her throat and said,"No.  Not really."  Ok, that wasn't the response I was expecting.  I stayed quiet on my end, figuring she would eventually say something else.  And she did.  "We are closing down the school in 30 days.  I just mailed out a letter to all the parents today".

I tell you, my head was reeling.  Now I was the speechless one.  All I could think of was, "What will we do?  Who will care for Eva while we are at work in the mornings?  How will Eva cope with not seeing not only  her favorite teachers, but her friends, and her routine?"  I could not get off the phone fast enough.  My second thought was a prayer of thanks that had I gotten a head's up in advance of the letter coming in the mail.  There are going to be over 20 or more families desperate to find childcare in our area in the next few days.

There is nothing in the way of preschools out here in the country where we live.  A couple of in home day care providers with extremely limited capacity and availability.  What would we do?  After the shock and disappointment wore off a bit, I started to get mad.  How irresponsible to shut down a school mid year!  What poor management!  What little regard for the tender little psyches of their students!  What callous lack of concern for the bind it will now put working parents who are counting on child care! I do not know what the back story is, and I am very sorry for their troubles, but this sort of thing is just not ok.

I spent Thursday meeting with in home care providers and interviewing the director of the only other school in the area.  The home care providers were nice enough, but the facilities were just kind of sad, and  the availability was terrible.  "She could come Monday and Friday mornings, but you have to pick her up by 11:30".  That just doesn't cut it.  Plus one of the care providers occupied her charges by having them do worksheets all morning.  That is not the kind of experience I want my grand child to have at the age of 3.

I saved the proper preschool for last.  It is a new one in our area, just opened in September, located in a building formerly occupied by a preschool whose owner/director died unexpectedly a couple of years ago.  I was very favorably impressed with the facility and the staff.  The staff posts their academic records and accomplishments on a bulletin board for all the world to see-- a novel concept to me.  She expoused various philosophies on early child hood education I agree with and the place was clean and well equipped, with a good child/teacher ratio and happy children.  She owns (or soon will own) the property, and said "I am not going anywhere".  I gave her a deposit on the spot and Eva starts a new school on Dec. 1.

Hope we survive this transition!