Author: Teresa

Quilts, good books and dogs. Plus a cup of tea. Life is good.

Just sit back and enjoy the show

July 30, 2024

I live in Georgia – one of the swing states that both sides are hitting hard with political ads and other rhetoric. I can’t watch a YouTube video about quilting without some PAC solicitation ad popping up. It’s rather annoying.

Not only did I get redrawn into all new voting districts for this election cycle, but my local county commission also decided they didn’t like the map drawn by the state, so they drew their own. Of course, litigation ensued. Candidates for the spring primaries were qualified based on the commission maps, not the ones drawn by the state. This past week, the judge decided the commissioners were in the wrong and ordered a redo of the impacted races using the state drawn maps. I’m affected, but I’m not exactly sure when I’ll be voting because we’ve been told those races will be delayed until after the November elections. Huh?

Candidates in any race from local to national have to meet qualifying deadlines. Now that Biden has dropped out of the race, how does this impact things moving forward? I didn’t think blanket candidate substitutions were allowed. Each candidate must qualify individually. There was some chatter across all media outlets about this right after Biden’s announcement, but I’ve heard nothing else since. Even when a replacement candidate is officially nominated in a couple of weeks, what happens next? Something similar to what I’ll be experiencing with the local elections?

I don’t fit the desired demographics for either party, so I’m just watching to see how things play out. I will do my civic duty and vote when I’m supposed to (whenever that may be). Meanwhile, I’m trying hard to stay away all the craziness for the next several weeks.

Some finishes {finally}

July 28, 2024
Quilting a quilt using a sewing machine.

Three jelly rolls from Mostly Mutts Marketplace turned into three throw-size quilts that were donated to the East Cobb Quilt Guild’s community service outreach yesterday.

All of the projects from my May Idaho retreat are now complete. The table runner was the final project and it is FMQ in an all over paisley pattern. This one was a struggle because I forgot to change out to the low tension/FMQ bobbin case. I will say that I LOVE the paisley design. It took 2 hours to FMQ the table runner, which is about 16″ x 40″.

The smaller Janome you see pictured was given to me by a former co-worker. It’s an early 2000’s model that I serviced myself (remove covers, blow out, lubricate and adjust as needed). It’s super quiet and sews really well. I’ll offer it to one of my current students who doesn’t have a sewing machine. If she declines, I pass it along to my library friend who will really appreciate having a sewing machine for craft activities at the library.

Technology can be helpful when quilting…

July 22, 2024

1) This morning, I spied a quilt on a YouTube stream that I liked. I used it as inspiration for my own quilt, which I designed in EQ8:

Image of quilt designed using EQ8 software.
Aflutter quilt designed in EQ8

It finishes at 50″x60″ – which is my preferred size for a throw quilt. I’ll make one to use during our R.E.A.D. sessions with Sadie, plus one from scraps to donate to my guild’s community service. If you don’t have EQ8, then you can always draw by hand or research any number of quilt design apps (free & paid) available online.

2) You can also use the Google Lens feature with the Chrome browser. Simply download the app/extension and add it to Chrome. It helps when trying to identify the pattern you saw in a FB post. Non-quilting related – it helped me identify the silverplate patterns on some serving utensils my mother sent home with me recently. They were my great-grandmother’s dating back to around 1910. Mom said they hadn’t been polished in at least 50 years. I believe her. It took almost an hour to get them back to the original silver.

3) Special interest groups on FB are full of helpful information. Machine specific groups help one another troublehsoot sewing machine issues, designer enthusiast groups often sponsor QALs using previous books/patterns and still others offer a way to destash items directly to a target audience. I rarely post on FB anymore. Instead, I use it to follow therapy dog, quilting and vintage sewing machine groups. I learned this morning of an upcoming Lori Holt QAL sponsored by an enthusiast group I follow. I know I have the book and I think I have the templates. If not, I know someone who does!

4) Apps like Libby allow you read quilting books and magazines for FREE on your device with only a public library card. Quilting apps like the QuiltingCalc app from Robert Kauffman Fabrics helps you figure out how much fabric you need for a project. Chances are, your favorite online quilt shops also have an app available for download. If not, you can bet they are over on Instagram. Pinterest is also a great app for keeping track of projects and tutorials that inspire you.

Lately, I’ve been limiting my use of social media on purpose. It’s just easier this way. I’m still in the loop as to what’s going on in the world, yet I am more productive and sleep better.