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My husband and John put the finishing touch on my now complete studio by hanging my “magic box” this past Wednesday! I’ve been finding every moment I can to stitch and smile since then.

The magic box is where I store the art quilts that shouldn’t be folded. It is an engineering marvel constructed by another wonderful carpenter when we moved into our last home. Fortunately Mike was willing to take it down and move it here, and I’m so grateful he and John were able to put it all together. Here it is in progress:

And here it is installed:

My portable design walls live in front of it, so it’s compact and out of the way, yet provides amazing storage. I’m very blessed.

My new closet has storage for bins and completed quilts:

Tall, hanging space:

And there’s even a little extra room that I’m going to try very hard not to fill too fast (and no ~ I’m not renting out space 🤣):

The counter area (on the left) shelters my cutting table so it doesn’t get piled with stuff when not in use.

The area under the counter to the right is perfect for my fabric carts.

I was going to have John put doors on it, but he said they might just be in the way. Then I had a light bulb moment. I purchased a beautiful hand painted “shawl” on our Sew We Go cruise in Hawaii, but I really don’t know where I’ll ever wear it. So I folded it over, stitched a sleeve, and sheered it onto a curtain rod.

It protects my fabric from light and I love looking at it. Plus ~ it’s easy to move out of the way.

Now I’m trying out the sewing area and having fun tweaking and rearranging as I’m working.

I still have plenty of stuff, but at least it’s organized and I know where everything is. Now it’s time to finish my latest challenge quilt and a crib quilt for a baby girl who’s on the way! It feels so good to be quilting again!!!

I had a problem with one of my featherweight sewing machines while at the quilt show in Michigan a few weeks ago. It was completely my fault, and although it’s a bit embarrassing, I want to share it here to hopefully be of some help to others.

I own two Singer Featherweights: one beige and one green ~ and I love them.

My grandkids have learned to sew on them, and I enjoy taking them on retreats. But I actually don’t sew on either of them very often ~ and that’s a big part of the problem.

I use my Bernina all the time, clean and oil it regularly, and take it in for maintenance when needed. When I bought my featherweights I had them immediately cleaned and checked. Since then, because I don’t use them often, they haven’t been back. I’ve known for years that machines that aren’t used regularly need to be maintained and taken in more often because they just sit, but I’m ashamed to say I completely failed to do this.

So, Cathy and I were sewing away on our sweet little machines

and she mentioned that she’s named all six of hers. Lucy was the one she’d brought along. I realized mine needed a name too and decided to name her Lettie Belle, after my husband’s grandmother Aletta Belle.

Things were going along well when suddenly Lettie Belle let out an unnerving screech. Cathy asked when the last time was I oiled her and I blushed with shame. Fortunately Cathy brought her travel pack of oil along. I had my manual and I turned to the proper page:

and oiled the top and bobbin area. Then I took off the face plate to the left on the head of the machine and oiled all the spots there too.

But the screech continued. Cathy asked if I’d oiled the bottom. The bottom? Oh – that would be on the next page. Duh.

I unscrewed the bottom plate:

and once again I followed the diagram to oil properly.

Well, at least I was now up to speed. We turned her over and ~ that screech again! Ugh.

We determined the sound was coming from the head and took the faceplate off once again.

Now I need to let you know how grateful I am for Cathy. She’s a featherweight whiz. She’s taken all the classes and has even bought a number of machines in pieces and rebuilt them. She waxes their outsides and lubricates their insides. And yet she was kind to me in spite of my foolishness. So, she sat in front of Lettie and was able to add some additional oil where she determined something was still rubbing. It worked! What a blessing!

Lettie hummed along beautifully for the rest of the trip. She’s now visiting Brad at Sew Much More and getting the tender loving care she deserves. I also took in her sister Ardis Mildred ~ named after my grandma. I guess I need to purchase two more featherweights so that our remaining grandmother’s names, Irma and Selma, can be immortalized 😊.

The moral of the story: clean and oil all your machines, and take them in for their needed spa treatments regularly.

You may remember a post I wrote last year about my niece’s daughter Rosemary who came over to learn to quilt.

I also shared a little bit about her mom, Kaitlin, and her “Anatomical Art” business ~ Lyon Road Art.

Please click here to read that post.

Kaitlin recently opened a brick and mortar shop for her business in Waunakee, WI, and she started teaching painting classes. My preferred medium is fabric, but I was thinking it would be fun to take a class from my niece ~ and then the opportunity presented itself. Kaitlin offered a class for grandmas and grandkids. I couldn’t resist inviting Sommer to go with me (her brother Trey had a playdate with a friend that day), and my mom invited Sommer’s mom (my daughter-in-law Betsy) to be her granddaughter for the class. The day came and we all had a wonderful time. Kaitlin’s shop is lovely:

As is her studio; and she’s a very talented and encouraging teacher.

The project she designed was of a pair of turtles. I haven’t done anything with watercolors since grade school, and it was fun.

My dad came along to kibitz (his word, not mine 😊) and it was extra fun to have him there.

Sommer decided to put a blue, watery background on hers ~ a perfect choice. Everyone did great and a good time was had by all (the class was actually full, and we were less than half of the group)!

I’m not persuaded to leave quilting for painting, but it’s fun to try something new ~ especially with people you love.

You can follow Kaitlin on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=lyon%20road%20art

My friend Eileen is a treasure. We’ve traveled together and belonged to the same wonderful quilting groups. She’s always been there for me, and recently she caused me to laugh out loud. After I posted about making “Sidelights” for my sink (click here to read that post), we were chatting and she told me she thought I was the “MacGyver” of quilting. I guess I do love to solve problems with supplies I have on hand 🤣!

And that side of me showed up again this past November (I’m finding our new home just needs creative fixes). You may have noticed this new quilted “fix” in this photo from last week’s post ~

or maybe you didn’t notice it, but you’ll know all about it soon enough. Here’s the story:

Mike and I have always had homes with natural fireplaces. This is a good thing because my husband loves “playing” with fire. Well, much to his dismay, this house has a gas fireplace which we’ve pretty much ignored until the weather turned cold. What made us think about it was feeling the cold air pouring in at the bottom of the fireplace. We called a chimney sweep in to clean it and answer questions, and he said the flue needed to stay open a crack to vent everything ~ and the cold draft couldn’t be helped. YIKES! So I went through my UFO bin and found some blocks leftover from a quilt I made for my friend Margaret (for the story about this quilt click here).

They were 16 patch blocks I acquired in a guild exchange and they made a lovely quilt:

I had 5 blocks leftover, so I cut pieces the required height and sewed them end to end, making sure no seams needed to match (just for fun). I then began hunting for a stiff piece of something to stabilize everything. In a “studio” box that is still waiting to be unpacked I found a foam core sign from an old quilt exhibit. It just needed to be cut to size and mailing taped into a long enough rectangle:

I then sewed the block pieces into a tube, backed it with black fabric:

and slid the foam core into place.

The end was hand-stitched closed, and it was ready to be tucked in place. I think Mike’s mom’s china cat approves!

Now we just have to remember to remove it when we want to have a cozy fire (like after our New Years Eve dinner last night).

I think my ideas are a little tame for the MacGyver nickname, but I’m grateful for the creative brain the Lord gave me, and for wonderful quilting friends who make us laugh.

Since I took this photo the Autumn decorations have come down and Christmas decor is still in place. I guess I’m also grateful that the Lord has given me so many blog ideas that the seasons are changing before some of the posts make it live 😊.

Happy New Year everyone. May it be filled with smiles and fun quilting projects!

What a blessing to have Christmas fall on a Sunday. Our church usually has the Christmas service on Christmas Eve, and that’s when we are together with my Dad’s side of the family. I’m so joyful to be heading to worship on this Christmas morning!

The past few weeks have been exciting. It’s been such fun to find new places for all our decorations. To start, the 12′ Christmas tree that looked lovely in our old home was just too tall for our new one. So we found it a good home, and then found a new tree at a thrift store. It’s 9′ tall and fits beautifully!

I love the perspective from the second floor walkway:

There’s a quaint shelf under the kitchen cabinets that now holds some of my favorite pieces.

Each year I look forward to cookie baking day with my mom and dad. For the past few years we’ve held it at our home, but my oven hasn’t been working right, so we got together at my parent’s condo. Praise God, I’ve never missed a year of this lovely tradition and usually the kids and grandkids join in. This year Brad, Sommer and Trey were there.

I finished the Santa Wreath that Cathy and I were working on in Michigan. These guys make me smile!

I could do without the below zero temperatures this year, but it is truly a white Christmas – and it is beautiful!

Praying each of you has a blessed Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year!

This is really a whole house update 😊. We are making progress and so happy to be blessed with our lovely home.

In a previous post I mentioned my friend Elliahna. She is the high school student who’s been painting much of the interior of our home.

She recently finished all of the rooms upstairs and she did an amazing job! Having a teenager paint for us has been a great blessing. She often makes me smile, like when she ended one day only halfway done in the guest room. Here’s what I found when I took a peek after she’d left:

And here’s how it looks now:

Lovely!

In my last new home update I shared my dreams for my new studio (click here to read that post – by the way, Elli loved the pillowcase I made her 😊).

John has been busy working on my studio closet.

When he had the walls and shelves in place he asked me to put stuff on them so they would settle before he secures them. What fun!

As of yesterday the closet doors have been hung. I’m getting excited. It shouldn’t be much longer and I’ll be able to put what I need where I need it! Although, with Christmas less than a week away, my part in this may not happen as quickly as I’d like. I’m so looking forward to putting it all together. God is good!

Currently I’m listening to a crew busily replacing the siding on the outside of the house. After moving in we discovered that there were many high places in the siding where birds had pecked through and actually built nests inside the walls. It took awhile for us to find a company we trusted to make it right, and we’re grateful to finally be getting it done, although I wish the weather would cooperate for these hard working men. As of a few days ago the yard was a muddy mess, but the last two days of snow and cold have made it look better.

All the Christmas decor I’d hung on the walls inside has fallen (or been taken) down because of the hammering, but we know we are so very blessed and this craziness is only temporary! Stay tuned, my next update should include photos of my finished studio and home exterior!

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And I’m excited to share one more quilt with skinny sashing. It was made with flannelette by Sandra in Saskatchewan. Beautiful!

Thanks for the photo Sandra!

Way back in January, while on retreat, I sewed on a quilt for my neighbor and dear friend Diahann Lohr. She had purchased the fabrics with her “then to be” daughter-in-law Jess, with the intent of making them a wedding quilt. Di is an amazing graphic artist and website designer. I think she’d say she’s more of a quilter wannabe who doesn’t really have the time or inclination to complete the quilts that she desires. So this is the second quilt I’ve pieced together for her (click here to read about the first one).

Jess found the pattern online and printed it out, not realizing the directions were for a lap sized quilt that was to be made from layer cakes (packs of 40 pre-cut 10″ squares of coordinating fabrics). She chose not to use layer cakes for their king sized quilt, and this presented a bit of a problem. Can you imagine trying to figure out how much yardage to purchase in this situation? Well… the salesperson at JoAnn’s did just that. Keep reading to find out how well she did.

By the second day of retreat I had the blocks done (all 121 of them!) and I did a little “the blocks are done” dance around the room:

Then I began laying it out on the design wall. With only four main fabrics it was a bit tricky to get a balanced look. Praise God for the large design wall at Cattail Retreat!

Next came the 3/4″ finished sashing between all the blocks. I didn’t get that completed until a week after the retreat and the sashing really made everything pop. I put the top on my bed and sent a photo to Di and Jess. She decided she wanted a small border added.

At this point I need to share my thoughts about that talented mathematician at JoAnns. This is all the fabric I had leftover after making the quilt top:

The only thing she didn’t allow for was the additional border and the binding – which she wasn’t responsible for figuring out anyways. I am amazed that she could figure it out that closely – or maybe it was just luck 😁.

I put on the border and gave it to Di so she could pass it along to our friend Sue at Aunt Susie’s Longarm Quilting.

That was quite a while ago. Recently I realized I’d started this post, but never shared it with you. So I emailed Di and asked if I could have a photo of it on Jason and Jess’ bed. Di told me that every time she went to take the picture either the dog or a kid climbed up to jump on the bed 🤣.

I almost think I’d rather have a kid/dog in the photo ~ just for the fun of it ~ LOL!

So grateful the quilt is done ~ and for my sweet friend Di. She is a great blessing to me.

Our ThreadBenders group recently had a great opportunity to exhibit some of our quilts in a lovely show in Marquette, MI. My friend Cathy’s sister lives in the Upper Peninsula, and that’s how Cathy found out about the show. She did the legwork to get our quilts entered and delivered way up north for the show this past weekend. Then she invited me along to see the quilts and bring them home afterwards. It was a bit snowy, windy and cold, but the sun was shining and the scenery was beautiful. I especially enjoyed this sunset from our motel room window.

Each member was welcome to enter a number of their quilts and encouraged to choose some from our recent challenges. The show’s staff did a great job of keeping our quilts together as exhibits. This was the first time we were able to use our ThreadBenders banner – with all the blocks in place (click here to read a post about it).

And our quilts got a lot of interest.

As with other shows ~ I’d love to show you all of the quilts, but I only have room for a few of my personal favorites. I hope you’ll enjoy them 😊.

A Place in Our Hearts by Christine Jenkins

Flower Power Galaxy by Karen Dill was made using raw-edged reverse applique. I’m intrigued!

African Nightmare by Carol Mihalko. Carol said it was a nightmare because it took her a year to complete.

The next quilt is also by Carol and is entitled Yooper Row by Row. The rows are of sites in the upper peninsula and, if you’re not from the area you may not know that Yooper is a term for the UP.

There were quite a few quilts made using gradation/ombre fabrics, and I couldn’t resist sharing a few:

Aurora by Carol Bowling

Good Vibrations by Cynthia Yackel

This next one was made for a challenge to put words on quilts, and Karen chose some of my favorites from the book of Galatians.

Fruits of the Spirit by Karen Maki

My Girl by MaryJo Busch is a favorite of mine. MaryJo is a ThreadBender, and talented long-arm quilter, who made this quilt for a challenge in a different guild. She recreated a piece of art hanging in a local hair salon using Shiva Paintsticks ~ in the style of Degas. Lovely!

The vendors were also great. My favorite was Rae Warner.

Rae is a retired art teacher who creates the most fascinating dolls. Their faces are drawn with colored pencils and each one was a delight. Esmerelda just had to come home with me.

I began this post with a the view from our motel room. Here are a few photos of the inside:

Yup ~ Cathy and I brought our featherweights and spent the evenings stitching away 😁. We’d purchased kits for Santa wreaths on a previous adventure and it seemed like the perfect time to get ’em done.

It was a great motel room and it even had a wheeled table that was just right for our machines.

Thanks to Barb and Lynn, and all the members of the guild, for making our quilts look great!

Stay tuned for finished photos of our Christmas wreaths, and a lesson I learned about featherweights!