What the Hail?

Last Friday (actually Saturday morning) we had a crazy hail storm in Redwood City.  It had been rainy for a few days, but then around 3:00 am the wind started howling - you could almost hear it swirling around.  Then came the hail.  It was so loud and lasted so long I really got worried that our windows and skylight might break in.  Never in my life have I experienced hail like this.  The streets and rooftops were white as snow.  As you can see above, it was still there in our backyard when we got up in the morning.

In the morning, Lance gathered some of the hail pellets and took a picture to show how big they were - even hours later.  I think it's rained everyday since then, and I'm really getting tired of it!!  I can't wait for the sunshine to show up again.  I hear we'll get a break on Sunday - I hope that's true!

Call for Quilts for Japan

Quilter's Newsletter Magazine is collecting comfort quilts for those impacted by the devastation in Japan, in conjuction with Patchwork Tsushin, a leading Japanese quilting magazine.  Information is available here at the Quilter's Newsletter website.

National Quilting Day 2011!

Today is National Quilting Day!  However, I won't be able to do any quilting.  Instead I'll be out with some friends taking a day trip up to Napa for some wine tasting.  But I'll be back to it tomorrow.  Above is one of my favorite quilts (still just a top right now).  I'm teaching it in my class this session, and the ladies are making some great versions.  I actually made this one several years ago, but I do remember it was one of the first that came mostly from stash.  I didn't have a border fabric when I started it, and it sat for years waiting for the right fabric to come along.  I was so pleased when I found this border print that had all the right colors.

I hope you are all happily quilting away today!

Featherweight Parts

For 20 years I pretty much exclusively sewed on an old Singer Featherweight, as a lot of quilters do.  A couple of years ago I graduated to a "big girl" sewing machine - a Bernina Aurora 440QE - which I use at home.  But I still use my Featherweight in classes and any time I sew outside the home.

Lots of ladies in class also have Featherweights and ask me about parts and maintenance.  I can never remember off the top of my head where it is that I bought parts online, but I have finally looked it up again for reference (theirs and mine).

I have no affiliation with this site, but am just a satisfied customer.  I shop at 221parts.com.  They pretty much have anything you might need for a featherweight.  I bought a new foot pedal for my machine because I find the one that comes standard with it to be terribly difficult to use.  Also - ever lost a bobbin case?  They have those, and 1/4" feet too.

They also have the chart for dating your machine, which is kind of fun.  I'm sure there are lots of places to buy parts and accessories for a featherweight - I'm just recommending 221parts.com because I've been happy with my purchases there in the past.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2011!

Just One Star (can comfort a soldier)

Moda fabrics is participating in a program called Just One Star in conjuction with Quilts of Valor.  The goal is to have quilters make the star block shown above and send them in to be made into quilts for soldiers.  They are looking to get 1800 blocks in order to make 100 quilts.  You can read about it on Moda's blog here.  They have all of the infomormation and links on their site, but if you want to jump right to the pattern file, you can go here.  They need to be either medium blue or red for the star, and a light fabric for the background.  It doesn't take very long at all to make one, and the result is oversized, which they will trim down later.  The finished quilts will look like the picture below (borrowed from their website):

It's a quick block to make, so let's all make one and send it in!  I think I'll make a red one and send it along with the blue one above.  And I'll reduce my stash by a very tiny bit as well!!

Design Wall Monday - 03/14/11

Here's what's going on at the old design "table" and design "ironing board"!  I'm making (slow) progress on the blue quilt that started as a messy pile, and then became orderly piles.

It would have worked out nicely if Judy had pulled "blue" for her monochromatic challenge this month, but that's okay.  I Like this project, but I don't Love it.  We'll see how I feel when it is all together.  I usually change my mind about projects several times while making them.  One thing I'm not crazy about is that it is square.  I might add a row or maybe half rows to the top and bottom to make it rectangular.  I'll decide that later.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone's design walls!

Stash Busting 2011 - Week 11



There hasn't been much going on in the stashbusting department lately.  Soon I'll have a couple of finishes which is exciting.  The only thing I've added is the above two half-yard cuts of Anna Maria Horner voiles that I got at the San Francisco Quilt Guild's show a couple of weekends ago.  I've been wanting to get a little of this fabric for a while now, but I haven't seen it at any of the local shops.  This goes straight into the stash becuase I don't have a project set for them yet.  But I do love how soft they are!  I'll keep these on my sewing table for a while so I can touch them every now and then.

Here are my numbers for the year:

Fabric in this week:  1.00 yards
Fabric out this week:  0.00 yards

Fabric in this year:  4.00 yards
Fabric out this year:  0.75 yards

Check out Judy L's blog to see how others are doing!