Crazy Shortcut Quilts

Happy Things!

2010-04-17T15:06:00.000-08:00

Check out this great video! It will put a big smile on your face :)

New Website and Blog Format - Come See!

2009-05-07T20:57:00.005-08:00

I have finally updated our website and integrated my blog with it!

I am over here now!

This site has been set to re-direct you to the NEW site after 10 seconds --- come on over, we are waiting for you!

What's New?

2009-05-06T17:53:00.003-08:00

I am writing again!! Ohhhh, I almost forgot how much I love it! 8 pages into a little project and I am on cloud nine :)

What are you up to? I am going blog surfing to find out but you can tell me here too if you want!

Margaret has a new table!

2009-05-05T04:56:00.000-08:00

Here's her note to me:

"I had a table and used the Sam's table to extend my space. It is so great and spacious. I am marking a quilt now to begin stitching. I am so excited that this set-up will control a lot of problems I was having, i.e. the weight of the quilt pulling against the needle, jerky movement of the quilt.....well these and other difficulties are now in the past. I just can't thank you enough."

I talked her into sending me a pic - isn't it great!

Diannia made her first Crazy Shortcut Quilt!

2009-05-04T14:39:00.007-08:00

It's queen size (do you believe that - she's new to quilting!) for her son Brad.

She and I have been emailing and chatting, sharing stories and ideas, and I think I am going to try and talk her into blogging.... (I am SO bad - I do that to *so many* quilters - -but when they blog I can keep up with them and their projects and their lives and I LOVE it!!!)

So, Diannia (prounounced Diana) lives in California, works for a University, has a son named Brad and she's learning to love quilting. Now, don't you want to know more? I do!

UPDATE!! - Diannia has a blog http://dianniashouse.blogspot.com/ Let's go check it out!

3 Steps to Sewing in Comfort

2009-04-30T19:41:00.003-08:00

Do you ever get up from sewing and quilting and stretch, creak and groan, feeling uncomfortable and tired? It's very possible that it isn't from your project, it's your sewing table and chair!

Being comfortable while sewing and quilting is more important than your sewing machine, tools, fabrics or threads because you can have the best equipment in the world but if you are in pain or straining when using them you won't be able to sew or quilt for very long! Your body may be sending messages to your brain saying "no more sewing" because of that strain and yet you want to sew!

Ergonomic comfort is often completely overlooked, especially when we don't have a dedicated sewing area. I often hear or read about a quilter "taking over the dining room table" and it makes *my* back hurt just reading those words!

The important ergonomic factors of sewing in comfort are:

1. Height of your sewing table. A dining room table average height is 29-30 inches high, which by itself is too high for comfortable sewing, and when you add the base of the sewing machine, about another 3 inches (bringing the height up to 33") , the proportions are totally wrong. Just that small bit of difference can create strain and pain throughout your body. Here's what OSHA (US Gov't Occupational Safety & Health Administration) has to say about Sewing Stations.

2. Notice that number one on their list is height of the chair. I put it at number two because it can be easier to change than table height. An adjustable chair is a must for sewing! Here's what the Center for Disease Control has to say about chairs:

"Contrary to popular belief, sitting, which most people believe is relaxing, is hard on the back."

3. Position of the sewing machine. Many sewing cabinets (if your machine is in one) position the machine too close to the body, and the sewing head is "off center" to your body, putting shoulders and arm muscles in a strained and awkward position.

More about Ergonomics from Wiki ...

SOLUTIONS!

Table height: I do not advocate cutting the legs off your dining room table (unless you want to) but I do strongly advocate getting or using any other table than your dining room table for sewing. Some quilters turn a small bedroom closet into a sewing area, with a board or shelf inserted to serve as the sewing machine support. I use portable tables that have height adjustable legs ($42). Certainly an investment in your comfort is worth it! Make sure that when your machine is set up that you have a 90 degree or slightly greater angle at your elbow. You should not be "reaching up" to sew. My sewing machine bed is 27" high and I am 5'6" tall. Petite women are especially vulnerable to the agonies of mis-proportion for their sewing machines.

Your chair is your best friend when sewing! More than your seam ripper! Okay, a seam ripper is nobody's best friend but you know what I mean. A height adjustable chair is the best investment you can make (the kind for office work). Your feet should be flat on the floor but if you cannot manage this please put something on the floor for your feet and foot pedal to sit on. A strong cardboard box, a plastic bin, a small step stool or a crate, anything to take the pressure off the backs of your legs. I also like a square of gripper mat under the foot pedal to keep it from "creeping" away while I sew.

Position yourself with the needle lined up with the center of your body so that neither arm needs to strain to reach the sewing area you are using. Now push your machine away from you until your arms are at little more than a 90 degree angle, but your shoulders aren't straining to reach the needle.

I like a totally flat surface around my sewing machine and I've written more about that in my Cheap Sewing & Quilting Table posts and my videos on YouTube. Before I discovered the foam board, I was using a really strong cardboard to create a flat surface around the machine. There are also manufacturers of custom tables which accomplish this. Check your local sewing machine dealer for more information on them.

Be inventive! If you can afford custom cabinetry, have your sewing components made to fit you and don't be afraid to modify them until they do! (You should see how many cabinets I've taken a jigsaw to!) If you cannot afford custom cabinetry, make or adapt your own with materials you can afford like I did :) But either way, please make sure that you are comfortable when you are sewing and quilting and this goes for pressing and cutting too. When you are comfortable your sewing projects will really become your "Zen" haven of peace and happiness for your body and your creative soul.

If you found this helpful, would you consider sharing the information with your sewing and quilting friends, in person and online? I am on a mission to make sewing comfortable for all - please join me and spread the word! You can share this Tiny URL: http://tinyurl.com/dfw89q

Meet Judy

2009-04-29T15:43:00.003-08:00

My friend Judy Wedemeyer is a quilt artist. She's also one of the nicest people I've ever met. I was a newbie to quilt pattern designing, about fifteen years ago, and she went out of her way to give me tips, business contacts, advice and encouragement when I thought I'd created "the next hot thing" in quilting. How nice is that!?

I want to be like her.

I also want to be a quilt artist someday and so I follow her around like a puppy, soaking up her art and her enthusiasm and pulling out my old attempts at quilt art and wondering if maybe I can do something really unique like she is.

Take a peek at her Art Cards, her studio, and her techniques on her blog and pull out your scraps and doo-dads and let's follow her inspiration!

Check out this adaptation of my "cheap table"

2009-04-28T14:38:00.002-08:00

Barbara Fons used my foam insulation and clear vinyl ideas to make a "Faux Longarm" as she calls it - I might have to give this a try!

Would you consider teaching?

2009-04-25T18:14:00.002-08:00

Today I went to my local library, after posting notices at the grocery stores, library bulletin board and on my local online newspaper, to teach anyone who showed up the basics of a sewing machine - for free.

I've given lectures about quilting before and was surprised at how many of the attendees had never threaded a sewing machine and were afraid to! Yikes! We can't let these gals be afraid of sewing!!

I set aside 2 hours, wrote up some notes (which I would be happy to share with you) and made arrangements to use the meeting room at the library (also free to non-profits!).

I had several people tell me that they were excited to attend, but who turned up was two young girls, sisters, who's mom had seen the posting and suggested that they attend. What a treat!! I LOVE teaching kids! We had the whole room to ourselves and they felt free to ask any question that they thought of - and boy did they!

I explained and then demonstrated: how a needle and bobbin work together to make a stitch; how to test bobbin tension; how to clean the bobbin and race area and what the parts are and how they are used; how to thread the machine and the major differences between the three machines that I carted down there.

They were enthralled! And then they got to sew! Straight stitch, decorative stitch and free motion! They had a great time. They enjoyed the quilts I brought along and the handled all the parts, checked out the machines with a flashlight and watched the gears in motion - - these two will never be afraid to change their bobbin tension!

I talked about threads (my favorite subject) and had them touch and then break many samples so that the understood how different threads can be. All in all, a great time was had by we three, and I am SO glad that I did this and that they patiently and then eagerly listened, learned and then tried for themselves.

Would you consider doing the same? For your local Girl Scout troup? Your after school program? Anyone who shows up for a Library gig? I can and will do all I can to help, you only have to ask - - and the reward of a new sewing enthusiast's smile is payment in full.

Inspiration!

2009-04-17T01:16:00.001-08:00

I love inspiration! I get it from quilt shows, group chats and PEOPLE! I meet a lot of people online and I love that so much - I *love* getting emails from new and old friends :)

I also read a lot of books (paper and and electronic). I've read Jack Canfield's books The Aladdin Factor, Goals, The Success Principles. They gave me great inspiration and I re-read them regularly, but on the recommendation of a friend, I bought Book Yourself Solid.

I am hoping to do some traveling and teaching in the future and this book is helping me in that goal as well as sparking some great ideas! (I'm also reading online A Brief Guide to World Domination.)

Alaskans in my area are keeping a weather eye on our erupting volcano, Mt. Redoubt. This is a webcam aimed at the building lava dome.

Redoubt is a pain in the neck. She's disrupting air travel and making everyone up here nervous about ash and winds and more ash. {I was very tempted to call her a pain in the ash!} But, I never argue with Mother Nature, she gives me the best inspiration of all! What inspires you? What do you read for inspiration?

My Sewing Studio

2009-04-10T01:01:00.005-08:00

Right now my studio is a 9' x 11' bedroom and I share it with a very spoiled pet rabbit. The rabbit doesn't live in a cage, he goes wherever he wants in the house and he believes that the room belongs to him. He lets me in for a while but if I stay too long he nips at me. Then I lock him out :) {See that wire gate behind him?} After about half an hour, I let him back in again and he settles down and lays on the carpet by my feet. This wall has my pegboard with rulers, patterns and anything else I can get to stay on a hook. You can see my cutting table and the storage bins under it, my folding table and some old ironing boards. I used to use them to prop up big quilts before I "invented" my cheap sewing table :)

In this photo you see my lighting and tripod and backdrop for videotaping. Behind the quilt top {Sarahs} are the shelves we built into the closet, after taking the closet doors off. For lighting on the ceiling I have a couple of 4' long florescent fixtures with daylight rated bulbs and I love that. When lighting for video, I use the portable closet rack that you see here, with some clamp lamps that have daylight rated bulbs in them. The brown sewing desk is a recent purchase that houses a vintage Kenmore - and what a find it was! Fantastic stitching and cams that I can't wait to try out.

On this wall are my buckets of scraps, color sorted, and a couple of small tables with threads, bobbins, old Kenmore and bobbin winder among the clutter. In here we have stripped out the old carpet and I primed and painted the floor with a gorgeous milk-chocolate color floor paint. This room is eventually going to become a spare bedroom {Audrey's Room when she visits grandma?} with maybe some of the coloring and drawing supplies on the shelf. Then she will have to share it with Bunny. Won't that be fun?!

On the next wall I have a small design wall stapled to the drywall. I have a few small tops pinned to it, reminding me that they need to be quilted. The bins have my threads, sorted by color and by thread type, the rayons are in the top bins and the cottons in the small bottom bins and in the lowest bins are ribbons, interfacing and other miscellaneous sewing items. My cutting table is covered with stuff and the bins below it have unfinished projects or else fabrics (there are 4 bins total under there).

Next we make a trip upstairs, to the top of the garage, which has been unheated and partially insulated. I've stored rolls of batting up there and other miscellaneous odds and ends, and Tom used it for all of the boat soft gear (sleeping bags, raingear, etc.) as well as years of accumulated family clutter.

Now he's working hard on fixing some problems up there, adding walls, and I've been cleaning, sorting, moving stuff and painting. Here's what one wall looked like before we got started. We work on it between other tasks around the house. When this project is complete I hope to move all my sewing and quilting things up here!

So, there you have it! I invite you to check out some other sewing studios using the link at the top right of my blog and also at Quilt Videos.

If you see anything in the photos that you are curious about, just post a comment or email me and I'd be happy to tell you what it is or why it's there. Also, there are a few things missing - -my sewing table is in the living room right now, along with the machine that I use the most, my Bernina 180. Thank you very much for reading my blog :)

Meet Susan

2009-04-08T01:59:00.000-08:00

I met Susan through a Yahoo group that I belong to (Stashbusters) and I liked her from the first few lines of her post:

"I just wanted to share what I've been doing with some of the scraps members have been sending me. This Quilt of Valor has scraps from New York, Louisiana, Montana, Indiana and Ohio! How cool is that--put together for one Soldier."

If you follow the link to her blog you will see that she also loves (and made!) one of the Confetti Quilts and hers is gorgeous!

I have met some great quilters and wonderful people on the internet and I'd like to introduce some of them to you too. I think you might like them :)

Imaginary Friends

2009-04-06T21:57:00.007-08:00

I just about peed my pants when I saw this! I need some imaginary friends - doesn't everyone?

Friend Feed is the "new" place to be, and if I can create imaginary friends there, well, why write another novel?

I find some interesting stuff on this internet - and I *love* the stuff that makes me laugh, makes me think and teaches me something new. I'll share a few favorites with you in the upcoming weeks.

Meanwhile, I'll be over on Friend Feed having some tea and scones with my imaginary friends :)

Come join us, won't you?

Applique Quilt Book Winners!

2009-04-04T10:55:00.003-08:00

Sarah Vanderburgh and Delys are the two lucky winners of Kay's Book Easy Applique Blocks. Don't give up if you didn't win, just hop over to Kay's blog and follow her Book Tour because today she's with quilter extraordinaire Gina Halliday and Gina is giving away a book too!

Thank you for signing up for this great book giveaway and stay tuned for more!

Spring Cleaning!

2009-04-04T08:32:00.006-08:00

We are at it again! This is part of the ongoing saga of a small (poorly insulated) house in Alaska and my never ending love of changing things. It is only slightly quilting related because I *may* be moving my quilting stuff to another part of the house soon (as in: out of the living room, bedroom and garage :)

We started with a "sort out" of stuff that's been untouched since dinosaurs roamed Alaska, and have moved on to insulating. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate fiberglass insulation? I love the foamboard insulation (as you might have seen in my Cheap Sewing & Quilting Table Tutorial) but oh how I hate fiberglass! I start itching the minute I even *think* about fiberglass!

I've insulated before, helping friends, then insulated my two cabins that I bought (and sold) here in Seward, and slowly we've been insulating Tom's old house. See me covered head to toe when I was doing one of the cabins? LOL! A (former) friend had promised to come help me and never showed, so I did it all myself, from ceiling to walls, and vapor barrier too. The folks at the local home improvement store know me by name! I propped my little camera up on a stump and put the self timer on to take this pic - I was so proud of myself for getting that job done!

Have you gotten the spring cleaning bug?

Book Giveaway for Easy Applique Blocks

2009-03-30T01:58:00.004-08:00

My pal Kay Mackenzie asked if I would like to be included in her internet Book Tour and I jumped at the chance!

What is so cool about going to Quilt Market and meeting other designers and authors is learning that they are just nice quilters, like every other quilter :)

Kay sent me a peek inside and an autographed book to give away! All you have to do to enter is [Contest ended April 4th - check back soon for the next one] I'll announce the winner here on April 4th and I will email the winner too :) {you won't be getting spam from me, I promise!}

Her book has the wonderful applique designs that you see here and also has a CD! As I flipped through her book the first thing that came to my mind was "homey". Her designs and her quilts have that comforting feel that just says "home". You'll love this book :)

You. Can. Do. It.

2009-03-26T22:52:00.004-08:00

You. You know who you are!

Can. Able, capable, willing, knowledgeable.

Do. Accomplish, achieve, attain, succeed.

It. Everything, anything, exactly what you want.

Spring in Seward, Alaska

2009-03-25T18:34:00.008-08:00

Yes, this is spring in Alaska. See the pretty flowers; the sunshine? Me neither! LOL Someone please remind me why I live here?

If you look closely you can see Tan Bunny just to the right of the feeder that Tom built. It sits across the alley from his house, on Barb's property. She loves rabbits too, so she said it was okay to put the feeder there. Bunnies love her big trees :)

Machine Quilting - How to Stitch in the Ditch

2009-03-19T14:24:00.004-08:00

Here they are! I went with the two-part format because I felt that there was just too much information that I had to cut in order to meet the 10 minute limit for YouTube (not criticizing, just explaining) so:

Part One - - -

Part Two - - -

I would love to know what you think!! So far I have only remembered one thing that I should have said - and that is "don't buy cheap pins". I did this once and totally regret it, it was a waste of time and money because I had to go BACK to the store and buy the good (expensive) ones just to get them to go through 2 layers of fabric and a needled batting. Better to just buy the good ones up front and avoid the frustration and waste of having a bag full of useless pins.

Please let me know what you think of the videos and of quilting a large quilt at home on your sewing machine. Do you stitch-in-the-ditch? Do you do things differently than me?

If you found this useful, please share it with your friends :)

Funky Fuzzy Shortcut Quilt is DONE !

2009-03-15T21:15:00.005-08:00

I just love that word - DONE! Whoooo Hoooo! This will be another donation quilt, even though I love it with all my heart, the thought that it might make a person happy and benefit a child is also one of the reasons I love it.

BUT, until the CASA auction it is going to hang in Seams Like Home Quilt Shoppe in Anchorage! Yay!!

I can't wait to make another one! LOL :)

BTW, I had a really cool webcam chat with Linda last night. She was working on her binding and we chatted a bit about technique. Tonight, as I was working on one of the corners of this quilt's binding, I took a short video on how I like to make the corners. It is uploading to YouTube now. It says it's for Linda but you can peek too if you want :)

Great Stash Quilt and Tutorial

2009-03-15T14:31:00.003-08:00

I want to make this quilt! Made by Liz Harvatine, she calls it "Confetti" and I *love* it! Here's her tutorial, which I found very understandable and I have TONS of scraps. This is right up my alley! Thank you Liz for my next project :)

Today I am putting the sashing on my funky, fuzzy quilt. I hope to have it finished by tonight.

Stitch in the Ditch Video Dilema

2009-03-14T09:21:00.004-08:00

I started quilting a 90" x 90"quilt on my home sewing machine, and doing a "tutorial documentary" on it. Now I am stuck!

I am a long winded teacher (and writer - you have probably noticed) and YouTube, my host of choice for now, allows 10 minute video length. You would think I could get the basics down into 10 minutes.... but no .......... I yap on too long and personally, I don't like to watch videos (or TV shows) where the speaker talks too fast - -it frustrates me - and I am a naturally slow talker.

So, do I break the video into two parts? Or cut out stuff that I think needs to be said? Meh!! I don't really know what to do. I think that people don't really like watching videos in two parts - -but then again, on my "build a cheap sewing or quilting table" I was playing around and made it in two parts and each one has about 7,000 views now. So maybe it's okay?

I was really hoping to get this all on one 10 minute video! I edited it hard (more than I wanted to) and still have 14 minutes. What do you think? Take more out or make it "part 1" and "part 2"? Oh, here's the quilt - isn't it wild? I just love it!

My little writing secret

2009-03-08T10:59:00.003-08:00

I wrote a quilt book (with my daughter as co-author). That's not the secret :) I have also written a novel, and after letting it sit for several months and re-reading, I realize it's crappy. BUT! I can do better! This summer, if all goes well (knock on a fat quarter) I will write a second novel (and try to write better). I already have the outline. But that's not the secret either.

The secret is: I have always wanted to write a screenplay. I figured that writing a non-fiction book, like a quilt book, would be a good start to writing (it was) and I read a lot about the process of writing and the discipline it takes but I know almost zip about writing a screenplay, so I don't feel like I am ready for it yet- -I put myself in the "I am still learning how" category.

So, here's one way I am trying to learn. I make videos on YouTube. Now, I used to think that people just stood in front of their cameras, yapped a bit, uploaded and *boom* they are YouTube stars. Not so - at least not the good videos (and I am not talking about vloggers here - - the whole point of vlogging is to be spontaneous).

For a loooooooong time I have wanted to teach a few things and I would like to reach a wide audience, so I chose YouTube. I have a few vids up and have learned quite a bit along the way and gotten some good feedback from great people who take the time to tell me what they think would make my videos better - - and I listen very closely to every one who emails me. I learn as I go.

For weeks I've been planning a video just on doing Stitch in the Ditch quilting. It sounds easy - -but it is quite a challenge!! Writing the script! There is *so much* to remember!! Yikes! If you watch my videos, I hope that you will consider giving me your impression and telling me what I should have done differently. I really, really appreciate every single person who emails me and listen closely to what they have to say. Now I am off to work on that SID script some more :)

Let me know if you want the "behind the scenes details" or if you just want to see the film version when it's released - - LOL :) {I want to know - - are you a writer with a secret dream?}

Robbed by Skype

2009-03-06T14:36:00.004-09:00

Stolen: half a month's bandwidth at $65/month!!

Sarah, Audrey and I keep trying to find easier ways to stay in touch. We bought webcams and have tried Yahoo!, Google Talk and then Skype. Then Tom got the monthly cable bill and we were charged for a humungous amount of usage. We went looking and found that the day I downloaded Skype, our bandwidth was maxed out. Not by the download or usage, but because they routed their traffic through our router & computers!!

Theft is what I call it, plain and simple and stupid me for letting it happen. I knew Skype's reputation (bad) but had been reading about all those free calls (free because Tom is paying for our bandwidth - which they steal and give away!)

I had no idea that their business operation was funded on stolen bandwidth! The jerks! I don't support P2P, pirating music, copyright theft and now I don't support bandwidth theft either.
Link to research #1 Link to article #2 Link to article #3

Do you Play Pool or Billiards?

2009-03-02T16:26:00.005-09:00

We decided, on the spur of the moment, to go to Anchorage for the weekend so that Tom could play in the Fur Rondy Pool Tournament. First, for anyone not in Alaska, Fur Rondy has its traditions in the old fur trade (furs are still traded today) and as a break in the monotony of the tremendously long arctic winters.

When Sarah and her cousins were growing up, it was the highlight of our winters. I'd bundle up the kids and we would go to the carnivals (outdoors rides like ferris wheel, tilt-a-whirl) then go see the snow sculptures, maybe stay late enough for the fireworks. Then we would do the indoor stuff. Craft fairs, face painting for the kids, whatever sounded interesting :)

That kind of stuff waned as they became teenagers, so I haven't really participated in any of the Rondy events in years. In the past I had visited one of the local pool halls, in the basement of a popular bar, just to see what it looked like, but you could cut the cigarrette smoke with a knife and I can't stand the smell of it, so I quickly left (besides it was intimidating with all the guys concentrating on their shots and games).

Anchorage banned smoking in restaurants and bars a few years ago and the pool hall moved to a new location so I was in for quite the surprise.

Anchorage Billiard Palace was an exceptional treat. So much so that I gave up the chance to shop for fabric, poke around for a few antiques and all the other errands that I put on my list when I heard "two whole days in Anchorage".

Tom taught me to play pool and he's very, very good at both playing and teaching. He placed on both Saturday and Sunday, in 8 Ball and 9 Ball, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him and the other players in the tourney. Most of all, the staff at the Billiard Palace was outstanding. Polite, friendly, warmly meeting the needs of all the players and spectators, allowing me to take video of the room, they are the reason I'd go again. I am shy by nature and a hermit in my old age, so it takes a *lot* to get me out of the house, but I'm thinking about putting in the practice hours on the table so that I don't embarrass myself if I ever play at the Billiard Palace. I put up a poll on the right hand side of the blog, at the top, because I am curious - do you play?

Some of the things I loved the best: 12 nine foot tables, good lighting, great staff, dress code for men and women, no children allowed, central location in Anchorage and the nicest, most interesting people I've chatted with since I came back from Quilt Market.

I did get to see Sarah and Audrey for breakfast and some fabric shopping, but afterward I couldn't wait to get back to the games! If you have never been inside, here's what it looked like for most of Saturday and Sunday:

Quilt Block Layout

2009-02-27T17:30:00.003-09:00

Okay, this is just silly! I have been switching these squares around for an hour or more! I am giving up :) It's just that the fabrics are so funky that no matter how I move the squares around, it's always going to make some goofy match-ups. It is going to be a wild quilt! Tell me if you see any areas of "too strong" a concentration of fabrics, or too many of the same thing clumped together. I am open to all suggestions!

Making Breakfast Burritos in Bulk

2009-02-25T15:51:00.003-09:00

I found this blog, The Simple Dollar, which I now *love*. In this post, Trent talks about pre-making batches of breakfast burritos and freezing them for later. I have been thinking about doing this for a year!

Anchorage has the very best breakfast burritos I've ever eaten. They are wonderful and you can make so many choices!! I love the black bean, potato, egg, sour cream, mmmmm.

I read the recipe that the Trent posted to his blog, and then made my plan. We eat burritos all the time for dinner, with the same wraps, using refried beans, rice, salsa, cheese, onions and anything else leftover too. We love them! So, I am going to follow his recipe but add potatoes and rice, for more protein and carbs. I want to get good at making them so that I can send them out on the boat this summer for Tom and his fishing crew. Did you know that the combination of rice and beans creates as valuable a protein for the body as meat? And it's a lot more digestible too! Here's the wiki ...

My Super Sunday

2009-02-23T16:42:00.000-09:00

Granny's Closet, Jodi, Judy W, Desertsky & Garnet Rose, I *did* go out for a wonderful walk yesterday, after everyone's urging and it was GREAT! I walked on the beach in the salt water, listening to it splash onshore (bundled up in my parka and ExtraTuffs!) Still, the sun was out and it was great!

Rannyjean, Becky and Karen in MN, and Karol, you gals really made me laugh and I thank you from the bottom of my heart!! :)

Tina - -take me with you!!!

Snoodles, you are a genius! I have a pic of a warm looking ocean, but never thought of looking at webcams! And I have one!

Tessahjake, I have been converting friends into bloggers (abracadabra, you are now a *blogger*) and that's been really fun. Good idea to get in touch with old friends.

Both Sues in Australia, I almost want to trade houses with you gals but I *die* at temps over 75 degrees (23-24 C) - - let's meet in the middle - - say, Hawaii?

Jackie - -I used to live in Indian Rocks Beach as a kid - -Gulf coast, south of Tampa/St.Pete. I've often thought of going back to see all the changes, but then again, I like remembering just how it was when I was growing up there :)

Here's a view of the harbor, I walked to about where the coal terminal starts (the blue thing in the center of the photo) and here's a coal tanker coming in as I was out for my walk.

Okay quilters: Rannyjean was the first name pulled, so she gets first choice of the bundles of fabric in the photo below and Jodi was the second name so she gets the bundle that Rannyjean doesn't pick! Karen in MN, you made me laugh the hardest (and it was your wading pool in the living room that made me think of putting sun tan lotion on just to smell it!). I need your addresses all three and I'm going to find something to put a smile on Karen in MN's face!

I feel so cheered up by everything that you all said. I did some blog hopping and found a few blogs where the gals are keeping track of their exercise goals and weight loss and that was a great motivator too! I am really happy that even though I am stuck in the back of beyond physically, I get to visit with wonderful people from all over the world. Thank you!

Comet Lulin

2009-02-22T18:32:00.003-09:00

Have you heard about this comet? It's supposed to be visible to both hemispheres, visible to the naked eye, and fascinating to watch!

From this page: "Feb. 24th: Closest approach! On this special morning, Lulin will lie just a few degrees from Saturn in the constellation Leo. Saturn is obvious to the unaided eye, and Lulin could be as well. If this doesn't draw you out of bed, nothing will. [sky map]"

I don't know the declination, but my guess is that it is lower than the mountains surrounding Seward to the southwest. I'll try to see it anyway :)

Cabin Fever fabric give away!

2009-02-22T13:43:00.000-09:00

Yikes, I have cabin fever *B*A*D*! Do you get this? How do you deal with it? This is one of the worst years ever! Can the "hormonal" issues of being age 50 have something to do with it? (yes, the "M" word). I am going to go clean up my stash (again). When I am done I think I might have 1 fat quarter left! LOL :)

I want to hear some cabin fever solutions and I'm going to draw names and send fabric to for creative solutions posted in the comments here! I'll have a bonus for what ever post makes me laugh the hardest :)

Drawing on 2/22 Let's have some fun!

Quilt as you go with Amy, Pat and Suzzett!

2009-02-22T11:22:00.006-09:00

Amy, (here's her blog post), Pat (link to Pat's blog) and Suzzett's daughter Lindsey (here is Suzzett's blog) all posted about their Crazy Shortcut Quilts - -with photos!! I am so happy to see them all :)

Thank you for showing us your quilts and if I missed someone, please let me know at marguerita.mcmanus[@]gmail.com

New Fabric!

2009-02-21T15:13:00.000-09:00

Oh what a great trip to Anchorage! To visit my favorite quilt shop (Seams Like Home Quilt Shoppe) and see the familiar faces and the new, gorgeous fabrics. Heaven!! Then Sarah arrived with granddaughter Audrey and the *real* fun began :)

Confession: I do not shop for fabric. I have asked (that being the polite way of saying 'forced') Sarah to pick my fabrics for me for years. Last time I went to Quilt Market I just gave her the cash and said "buy what you wanted but didn't get". She always picks the best stuff :)

When I buy fabrics and show my choices to people, they politely force a tight smile and whisper "oh, how nice .." and turn away quickly. It's true. Honest. I am a total loser at picking fabrics. That's why I buy the fat quarter bundles or have someone do it for me. I relied upon Doris, my all time best quilt shop friend, and now Sarah. Hopefully Audrey will take after her mom and have a good eye for color too :)

So anyway, Audrey and I played with the shop toys while Sarah selected my sashing fabrics for the two projects I have in the works now.

The quilt shop owner, Maret, found a minute between class sessions to say "Hi" (she is a total sweetheart) and take a look at my projects and THEN I spied, hidden at the bottom of a rack, my most favorite thing of all - -scrap bags!! Yay! I *love* buying scrap bags! At the counter Sarah spied a bit of left over ribbon with bunnies on it so of course we had to have it. What a wonderful day!

Going shopping for fabric - yay!

2009-02-20T14:33:00.000-09:00

I'll be in Anchorage for a short period over the weekend and I get to go to my quilt shop! I *love* it there! I always bump into someone I know and I get to look at all the great new fabrics and get inspired by the projects on the walls. Since it is a 5 hour round trip (driving) it's a big deal to make this trip and a rare treat to have enough time to visit the quilt shop :)

I finished my Funky, Fuzzy squares and I need some sashing for them and I need sashing for another project (photos and video coming soon!). If I fall in love with a stiletto, I may even treat myself to one! Right now I use my seam ripper or a long, strong hat pin but I've always admired Eleanor Burn's stiletto and it sure would have helped when I was couching down that fuzzy yarn. Since I really liked that project and want to do more like it, I just think I *need* a stilletto, don't you? Do you have one? How do you use yours?

Amy

2009-02-16T13:46:00.003-09:00

I've been chatting with Amy, who has been making her first Crazy Shortcut Quilt. She had a bit of a problem with the sashing and we've been emailing back and forth about that and the fact that her husband made her a quilting table, just like mine but hers is *PINK*! Hop on over to Amy's blog and check out her quilts, table and her success! Hurray Amy!

Best Cutting Video Ever

2009-02-10T18:06:00.004-09:00

Debbie Caffrey, from her book Power Cutting. Even if you've been cutting strips for years, watch this video, it's really, really cool.

Updated demo video

2009-02-08T18:49:00.003-09:00

I updated the video that shows the Crazy Shortcut Quilts demo. I finally got Sarah to film some footage (talk about pulling teeth!) and so I re-did the whole thing.

Originally, all the videos were supposed to be "just for fun" and I had planned on taking a few comments and then re-doing them. Well, 5,000 views later (on some of them!!) I am just getting there. I had no idea that YouTube was so popular!

So, if you want to see Sarah in action, go take a look at the newly uploaded demo and if you look carefully, you can see that I also uploaded an "out takes" video too. We do have some laughs while we are making the vids.

Do you have vids? Or favorites on YouTube? I'd love to see them! Post a comment and share ....

Funky Fuzzy Shortcut Quilt

2009-02-01T11:45:00.001-09:00

I took a video of me doing the stitching - - couching down the yarn:

StyleList Interview!

2009-01-19T10:10:00.005-09:00

We made it to the big time! Writer Mallory Whitfield wrote about our book, webs and Etsy shop for StyleList Magazine Blog. When I first found this site I spent hours there!

Here's our interview...

Great Homemade Table

2009-01-10T10:34:00.003-09:00

I was browsing the creations at Instructables and I found this great table. If you have space in your sewing room for a free standing table (or even if it were pushed into a corner) this looks like a wonderful table for cutting and (with a pressing mat) maybe even pressing yardage. I want one!

Best of all, all the instructions for building it are right on the site! If you have not visited Instructables yet click on over and get inspired and if you have a woodworker or carpenter in your house, send the link to this table and get busy making room for it!

Fabric Withdrawal

2009-01-07T15:33:00.006-09:00

How long can you go without sewing or quilting? I have not sewn or quilted since mid October! I was starting to think that I was cured. Then it hit. Two days of not sleeping well, feeling out of sorts and then *fabric attack*! It's worse than an allergy attack :)

I want to touch it, wash it, iron it, spray it with starch and cut it and then mix it all up and sew it! So, tell me, how long can you go? The Stashbusters Group on Yahoo! has a saying, "find 15 minutes to sew each day". Do I listen? No, I let it build up like swollen river at a dam! Okay, gotta go, projects and UFO's are calling!

My Blogging Evolution

2008-12-18T13:19:00.005-09:00

I never thought I'd like blogging, but I am more of a writer and show off than I had imagined. I have about 20 blogs started, plus a few lenses at Squidoo, and it feels messy. I love Google and Blogspot has been very good for me in terms of learning how to blog and making me curious about other blogging platforms, and CSS and now PHP. More than I planned on learning but I am enjoying it!

I've learned that not all blogging platforms are the same, a lot of features are more rich on Wordpress, although Blogspot holds the key to blogrolling! What it all means is that I have found that Squidoo is good for having something to say that doesn't change (how-to), Blogspot is great for continual updates along one tangent (lifeblog, workblog, eventblog) and Wordpress is good for both. So, I've been learning Wordpress and been slowly migrating in that direction.

The thing is, my blogging is changing too. Direction and style.

I am learning about video blogging; I've written a novel and a half; I want to make the art quilts I've been sketching for ten years; I want a blog where I can write about it all - with video updates, downloadable tips/patterns, static page tutorials as well as updates on life in general.

I spend (waste?) a LOT of time on the internet and find cool (exciting, "hot" whatever your word is) stuff and I want to post about that too - -and the super neat people that I find on the net.

So, my blogging is going to change and it's not all going to be quilting. It may or may not be interesting to you so I am not going to force a re-direct. It's your choice if you want to see what I am up to.

I call it Marguerita's Mess - - welcome to my world.

PS. I used to write my opinions on a separate blog - now they are all integrated on one, so you get the nice with the naughty. Fair warning :)

Easiest Ever Half Square Triangles

2008-12-13T12:14:00.005-09:00

My friend Trish Stuart has a new video and I've never seen this technique before! Take a look and let me know what you think or comment to the video on YouTube or go to Trish's website and let her know :) And be sure to pop in on her new blog! She's just getting started so wish her well!

Staying in Touch with Yahoo! and Webcams

2008-12-01T22:06:00.002-09:00

My granddaughter and I are trying out some new technology. Sometimes we just have to see each other but we can't always drive the 125 miles through Alaskan wilderness to be face to face. Actually, she can't drive anywhere since she's just 2 years old. So, we bought webcams.

They aren't great and the lag time takes getting used to, but when she blows me a kiss she can see that she gets one back right away.

This might be a good way to stay in touch if you can't make the trip to see your family as often as you want. Email me if you want the details, but the basics are 2 cheap webcams with built in microphones, Yahoo! instant messenger and patience.

Snowboard Kiting

2008-11-30T19:43:00.002-09:00

I had no idea.......... I was driving my granddaughter Audrey to Girdwood (from Seward) to meet up with my daughter Sarah and send the baby home (she'd been with me since Friday afternoon). As we drive through Portage, a desolate windy no-mans-land known for accidents because of the windblown icy highway, what do we see but SAILS! Sails! People (and by people I mean young male humans) were using sails to ski and snowboard!

I see it all, living in Alaska.

Here you can too because after I took baby Audrey to daughter Sarah, I headed home, pulled over in Portage and stood out in the godawful wind and cold to tape video on my little baby camera.

It's times like this that I love living here. Great weekend with Audrey and a fascinating surprise on the windy, snowy horizon.

Death Valley and Los Algodones, Mexico

2008-11-28T19:11:00.006-09:00

Death Valley was awesome! It was a trip Tom and I have talked about and finally just said "let's just go!" Wow! He was a braver soul than I and he did a bit of hiking. I could barely move in the heat. In the photo with people, we are at the lowest point, about 283 ft below sea level. For a guy who spends a lot of time on the sea, Tom was quite amazed. You can't see it in the photo, but there is a green street sign about halfway up the hillside that says "Sea Level". We were quite impressed.

Here I am at TLC Dental in Los Algodones, Mexico, where I walked across the border and stayed for 2 nights in the attached B&B style home. It was secure, clean, and completely professional and I am thrilled to be healthy and whole again! The temperature in mid November was mid 80's and I was totally miserable from both the heat and air conditioning and the hurried nature of the trip. I'd love to go back and spend weeks when the temperatures drop to 70's or so :)

Freemont Street and BainBridge Island and Seattle

2008-11-28T19:02:00.004-09:00

Freemont Street in Las Vegas

to Seattle and Bainbridge Island - -what a trip!

I am Thankful that I have made it to 50 and have helped a few people along the way

2008-11-27T10:09:00.002-09:00

I'd like to help more and I am going to make that a focus for 2009. I had a great time at the CASA auction, best of all was seeing a quilt leave my pile and go to a good home!

I've been traveling, reading and contemplating and I left my camera with my daughter Sarah, so no photos yet. I desperately needed some (a lot) of dental work and my need coincided with a trip that Tom had already planned and paid for, so when my passport arrived *in less than 14 days* after applying, I made arrangements to leave him for a portion of the trip and go to Mexico for dental work. The climate change from Seward, Alaska to Los Algodones, Mexico was a shocker even for me, and I do a bit of traveling. The dentists there made my pain & infections disappear and I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to heal.

We stopped in Seattle and I visited a quilter and fellow author at Krause Publications, Maggie Ball. What an awesome woman and her efforts in Mongolia just tugged my heart. At home the snow was falling and it is looking wintery, which is just so different after spending 5 days in the southern desert. I am beginning to think that the Arizona snowbirds have the right idea :)

I am continuing to think of new videos that I want to make and post to YouTube, and it looks like one of them has gone viral - -the number of views skyrockets every day. It's my "How to make a cheap quilting table" video. I need to fix this video! I threw it up on YouTube for a few friends to watch and give me feedback on and then people started finding it! Yikes! It is so raw and not well presented.....oh well, I will learn and do better as I go :)

I hope that this finds you well, healthy, happy and whole and I wish you the best of the day.

Quilting for a Very Good Cause

2008-11-14T09:47:00.004-09:00

My daughter Sarah and I love to donate quilts to the CASA program for their Quilt Auction each November. We also use the auction to see and visit with quilters that we only see once a year - -at the auction! I look forward to seeing my pals Kathy Harte and Judy Wedemeyer and Ruth (who bought one of my quilts last year - -thanks Ruth!!).

This year my offerings are meager compared to last year, and I am not too happy about that. I am donating the quilt you see here, made with RJR Fabrics (donated by them and Thank You Very Much RJR!), featured in our book Crazy Shortcut Quilts, called Sweet Sixteen. It is 60" x 60" and very pretty, with bright colors.

I'll also be donating a book called Fat Quarter Quilting and package of RJR Thimbleberries fat quarters and some batting too - -(almost) everything you need to make a quilt!

The Quilt Auction is on November 22 from 11am-2pm in downtown Anchorage at the Phillips/Arco building at 7th & G. I would love to see you there and I can't wait to watch the bidding on all of the gorgeous quilts :)

Sharing Expertise on Squidoo.com

2008-11-09T12:53:00.003-09:00

I love to share info and trade tricks and tips with sewers and quilters, so when Seth Godin posted on his blog about Squidoo and described its function, I went a built a few lens's. Here's one of my lenses (that's what they call the pages at Squidoo) on how I built my cheap quilting table and I recently inserted my new You Tube videos there too, for a really good tutorial.

A couple of things attracted me to Squidoo. First, it's a static page, not like a blog where after a while posts are archived. This lens is always up, front and center, for anyone to see. Second, it generates money for charity. The folks at Squidoo put ads on pages, relevant to the page content, and the lens writer can choose to get a cut of the money or donate their share to charity. Mine goes to charity and it says so right on the page.

I believe that millions of people have valuable experience or talents and that many of us like to share information and help others. If you have a subject near and dear to your heart but don't want to start a blog just to get the word out, try Squidoo and see if you like how it looks and works, and if you need some help building your lens just email me and I'd be happy to lend a hand.

Also, Seth's blog is one of very few that I consider a daily "must read".

Oh Beautiful America!!

2008-11-04T19:33:00.000-09:00

My Heart Sings!

Tundra Swans and Cygnets

2008-11-04T16:13:00.005-09:00

I love learning new things and that's one reason that I subscribe to the Alaska Science Forum Newsletter . Today's newsletter was about Tundra Swans and it included this photo by Ned Rozell, who often writes the newsletter and supplies the photos. I learn something new with every edition, and am never bored. Aren't these babies the cutest? Almost as cute as baby bunnies :)

Videooooooooooooo

2008-11-01T20:42:00.004-08:00

I have been having both fun and absolute total frustration - what a combo! And what can cause that? Either quilting a perfect seam and then finding a pucker on the back (oh, yes that has happened to me many times) or a computer. Heh. So, I bought a video camera that I needed to learn to use, didn't understand how to use the editing software; had a major computer crash while simultaneously uploading and downloading videos...well, you get the idea.

I have created an account at You Tube (my pal Trish has some vids there!) and so does Pat Sloan - -whom I greatly admire. http://www.youtube.com/user/CrazyShortcutQuilts and I've started uploading some things that I like to teach. I'll be adding more in the next few weeks and any comments or advice is very welcome! This is all very new to me so I am learning as I go, but overall I am having fun! Oh, and the "Bobbin" video has some squares that I am going to start quilting - in the hopes of making a quilted vest or jacket. I saw some sweet patterns at Market that motivated me even more to "get the lead out" and get to work on this project!

Here's a very short clip of my little pumpkin, Audrey (my granddaughter).

Quilt Market Houston 2008

2008-10-28T12:30:00.008-08:00

We're back!! It was one of the best times I've ever had at Quilt Market!
My daughter, Sarah Raffuse, made a great presentation at our Schoolhouse Session (late in the afternoon, so we offered chocolate at the door :) and our Take & Teach Class was SOLD OUT before Market even opened (wow!). Here are some pics from the Take & Teach, with some of the participants and their little quilt projects:

We had a great crowd at the book signing in the Krause booth and got to catch up news with some quilters who helped us out a LOT in Houston for the 2007 Quilt Market - -one of them had made five quilts (using our methods) since she got her book last year!!

Houston was warm and sunny (80 degrees didn't feel like a "fall" market to me!) and Market was a crowded and happy affair and it looked to me like there was a lot of commerce being conducted between the vendors and the buyers. I'll be posting about some of the patterns & vendors that caught my eye over on Quilt News.

Oh, and a double special bonus: I was able to meet up with my old pal Trish Stuart (I used to quilt for her and worked in her booth at several Quilt Markets) AND a quilt that she painted and I quilted was in the booth for Tsukineko Inks . That's Trish in pink on the left, our quilt under our arms and me in the blue on the right. Look at those huge smiles :)

Gone to Quilt Market

2008-10-21T21:34:00.005-08:00

A few updates without pictures. It's been rainy and windy here, the snow is gone and now most of the leaves are off the trees. The bear has moved on and the bunnies are back. I managed to get all the kits cut for our Take & Teach class and quilted up 250 teeny tiny little quilties (4" x 4" squares) and sashed them using the technique in our book. These are our "promo" items that we give out at Schoolhouse and yes, it takes some work, but it's really, really worth it to see the looks on the faces of the quilters (shop owners & teachers) who receive them :)

Houston is a great town to visit and we always try and get around to the Museums, the Galleria and my personal favorite - Target (I'm a low budget girl!). I did buy some lipstick at a Galleria shop last year - that was exciting! LOL. This year we are going to stay downtown, something we've never done before, so I am looking forward to walking around in the area that the hotel is in.

I'm also looking forward to meeting up with my old pal Trish Stuart. I used to quilt for her and our brainstorming sessions are something I miss. I spent a few Markets working with Trish in her booth and it was a blast! I bought a video camera (!!) because I've been saving my pennies... I hope to shoot some quilty footage while at Market. Stay tuned! (oh, I forgot, but yes...I did fold and put the laundry away!)

Getting ready for Quilt Market

2008-10-12T12:48:00.004-08:00

This is what happens when I am working on quilts.....hehehehe....and I'm not even apologetic about it! Every load of washing (at least I'm washing the dirty clothes!) gets brought up to the living room and then left there. That's why I have about 7 laundry baskets...this is a lifelong habit and it makes me laugh. When I am done with my current quilt project (or I run out of baskets) then I'll start putting clothes away. Until then.....need clean socks? Go to living room and search baskets........ LOL

Here's some of my squares from this project....

Quilt Art

2008-10-11T13:30:00.001-08:00

Check out these gorgeous quilts by Diana Bracy! Her blog or Her Flickr.....

Snow for Martha

2008-10-07T17:53:00.005-08:00

Compare this one to my photo of Mt. Marathon from the 4th of July! This is for Martha in Louisiana :) This next one is of the trees across the alley, just outside the garage door. My bunny friends hang out there, but right now there's a black bear living there (no kidding!). Bear has been getting into the garbage cans at night. Don't worry about bunny, she's tough and she's faster than this black bear. I saw her last night & she's fine. My portable quilting table is set up by a living room window that looks out over the alley and the trees next door. I'm going to try and get a pic of bear.

The sky is falling

2008-10-06T15:49:00.003-08:00

In thick white chunks! LOL Look at this poor Sitka Rose, still blooming in this early snowfall. Actually, this isn't our first snow, it snowed yesterday but didn't stick. Looks like it's going to stay today...

I found a Crazy Shortcut Quilt

2008-09-29T23:09:00.001-08:00

On the internet...here ooooohhhhh, its a pretty pink one!

250 Quilties

2008-09-28T18:36:00.004-08:00

...5" square, give or take a quarter inch.... Sarah and I make these for Quilt Market, which we will be attending in less than a month. This year we will have a Take & Teach on Sunday morning as well as a few "in-booth" demos through the weekend and a Schoolhouse session on Thursday. Notice my blue foam quilting table? :)

I have enjoyed a wonderful fall weekend, full of sun, fabric and quilting, while Tom and his son have been building a shed for a friend. Tom is in his truck, answering a call and is son is inside the building...

Midarm Machine Quilting Class

2008-09-20T09:32:00.004-08:00

I teach quilting on a midarm machine whenever I can and at the Valdez Quilt Festival I was invited to teach this class twice. I really enjoy showing quilters why I love this system more than the longarm :)

I've owned both a longarm and midarm system and quilted on the home sewing machine as well, so I try to give the students a full perspective on all three but the class really is about using one of these new, quilt friendly, frame quilting machines. Here's a pic from my Thursday class.

Crazy Shortcut Quilt Workshop at the Valdez Quilt Festival

2008-09-16T19:27:00.007-08:00

Whooooowheeeeee!! I had the time of my life!! Sarah and I taught the most fun class I've ever been in and the quilters went home with just an hour or two of stitching left to have finished and quilted quilts!

And guess what I found in Valdez? Rabbits! :)

I taught my class on using a midarm quilting system on Thursday and Sunday and on Friday & Saturday we did our shortcuts quilt as-you-go method.

The drive home was just lovely. It's been years since we've driven to Valdez, a 425 mile trip for me from Seward, and we visited some familiar places and a few new ones too.
This is Tiekel River, at about mile marker 50 of the Richardson Highway. I have a few more photos on Flickr here and you are invited to take a look. There are photos of Worthington Glacier, the top of Thompson Pass (in the clouds, of course!) and a couple of the Wrangell-St. Elias mountains and last is one of Sarah touching the Alaska Pipeline at about mile marker 82 or so. We have the same photo from when she was about 9 or 10 years old :)

Next trip is to Houston, Texas, at the end of October and my thoughts are with the people of Texas as they struggle with the damage done by the hurricane.

Seward in August

2008-08-23T09:26:00.006-08:00

Some photos I've take recently. Tom came home briefly, bringing the jitney in. This photo was taken about about nine or nine thirty at night.

Earlier that same day a cruise ship left port. Notice the fireweed? The story goes that when the fireweed is done blooming, two weeks later it will snow.

Today the silver salmon must be jumping right off this side of the bay because the fishing boats moved over here, at the end of our street. In the distance are the lights of a tender coming in from Prince William Sound with pink salmon for the cannery.

Valdez Quilt Festival Sept. 11-14, 2008

2008-08-08T10:56:00.003-08:00

We are going to Valdez!! Sarah and I haven't been there for years and we are looking forward to seeing the town again, cruising through Thompson Pass, taking photos of Bridal Veil Falls and Horse Tail Falls, and maybe finding some salmonberries.

I used to drag Sarah (and sometimes her friends and cousins) all over the state as she was growing up. I love traveling in Alaska!

At the Festival we will be teaching the Crazy Shortcut Quilting in a two day marathon class (Sarah will stay up with the night owls and I'll get up with the early birds) and I'll also be teaching what I know about using a mid-arm quilting system to quilt for yourself and others. I am *SO* looking forward to the drive, it has always been one of my favorite trips. The mountains up at Eureka are just breathtaking, the St. Elias range is so impressive and so far, unless I've been in an airplane, I haven't found a view like the one from the top of Thompson Pass. You can almost see to Cordova!

Here's info about the Festival, we hope to see you there!

Stitch Envy

2008-07-28T12:35:00.004-08:00

Whenever Sarah does a demonstration of our Crazy Shortcut Quilt techniques she mentions "stitch envy". It happens during class when the students are quilting their squares using the decorative stitches of their sewing machines. They look at the quilters next to them and the stitches they have on their machines, and well, you get the idea.

We teach a lot of ways to get the most from your machine no matter how many stitches it has and I've quilted on machines with just 5 or 6 stitches - changing width and stitch length just to get some variety.

Today I got an email from a really cool lady who couldn't wait to show me what she'd stitched up after reading our book. "We inspired her" she said, "and be sure to look at that crown stitch" she said. So I looked at her photos and now I have stitch envy!

She has crowns!

I want crowns!

Look at those stitches. I am so broke that I just couldn't ask what machine she has - - I'm afraid to ask! LOL I'll be dreaming of stitches tonight....thanks to Sandra Wucher of the Stashbusters Group on Yahoo!

Design Options

2008-07-24T21:07:00.003-08:00

Sarah's playing with some quilt design options on her blog. Take a peek and let her know which layout you like best. I've been cleaning and organizing stash and paperwork. Pulling out old notes, unfinished tops, stuff like that. My theory is that if I surround myself with unfinished works I'll eventually finish something! :)

Empty Nest

2008-07-21T15:43:00.005-08:00

At what point does "whew, I am so glad I don't have to clean up after them anymore!" turn to "Oh, how I miss the pitter patter of their little feet..."?

My answer - -'not yet'! LOL :) Hehehehe

The baby bunnies went back to their outside home, as healthy as I can get them, my 22 month old granddaughter is home in Anchorage after spending the weekend with me and Tom is fishing in Homer (a long way away). I am......home alone!

Let's see if I can finally be productive. You should see my 'to do' list. I was remembering quilts that I need to finish in my sleep last night. Then there's some painting I've been putting off, cleaning out more stash, scanning photos & backing up computers....

My little helper got me started yesterday before she left....

Baby Bunnies

2008-07-13T14:12:00.004-08:00

On July 5th Tom brought home 2 baby bunnies that each had conjunctivitis in one eye. It just broke my heart. I didn't post about them, or take photos, because I was sure that they were going to die. They were very, very infected, starved and barely 10 days old. The only hope I had was that they moved around and wanted to eat. So, we regularly soaked and cleaned their bad eyes, painstakingly cleaned up their fur, fed them alfalfa hay, fresh dandelion greens, ground pellets and goat's milk (by eyedropper). They lived.

They are still under "clean up" care in my living room but they are eating, playing, grooming themselves and each other and their fur is almost totally clean. I believe that they will both be blind in their infected eyes, but I am not positive. The white rabbit's bad eye almost looks normal now. I just can't figure out how to give an eye test to a bunny! Lol :)

Gone Fishing

2008-07-09T15:30:00.004-08:00

Here's the F/V Dolly B towing her jitney and skiff out of the harbor and in the second picture you can see the boats as a tiny spec. They are on their way to Nuka Bay. It's about an 8 hour run and fishing there opens at 6am tomorrow morning. Please wish them safe travels and successful fishing. This trip is for Wild Alaskan Red Salmon.

So, what this really means is that I am free!!!! Yayyyy!

I've been working my day job and then working on either the property (clearing & cleaning) or the boats (endless maintenance) afternoons and early evenings, and in between caring for the baby bunnies Tom rescued (long story - coming soon). No quilting. I want to finish my funky quilt and now Sarah has posted a design that I like and want to try too... And my pal Margie has found a great plugin for WordPress photo management and it looks both incredibly learning intensive but everything and more that I've been looking for!

A few baby days

2008-07-07T19:15:00.005-08:00

I made the mistake of being tired and worn out just before spending a weekend with Audrey. At one and three quarters, she has about twenty thousand times the energy that I do! Lucky baby :)

We had fun in the front yard watching people and their kids and dogs walk past the house on their way to the festivities on Third and Fourth Avenues downtown. Here's Audrey reading the instruction book for Sarah's videocam. Can you see the baby foot in the second picture? That's her taking a nap while I work on the computer. Why didn't I sleep then too?

Adams Street, Seward, Alaska

2008-07-04T18:08:00.005-08:00

Here are a few photos from today. We took our two vehicles out of the driveway to accommodate visitors to the festivities and at one point we had 4 vehicles in front of the house and 5 in the driveway.

The street, as usual for the Fourth of July, was packed. The men's race is the biggest draw and it starts at 3pm so the crescendo builds up until then. Look at the difference in photos from a few days ago in the post below.

If you click on the close up of the mountain you might just barely make out some of the runners on the right of the lower snow patch. The runners had to ascend through the clouds this year and although it might be harder to see, it's cool and refreshing in this grueling race.

F/V Melissa B

2008-07-02T17:24:00.004-08:00

The Melissa B has been in the driveway for renovations. She gets a lot of looks from passers by! She was originally owned by Perry Buchanan and he taught his sons, Steve & Tom to fish on her. She's seen a lot of modifications over the years.

Eventually Steve bought a boat, the F/V Marathon, and Perry commissioned a new boat, the F/V Dolly B, and Tom bought the boat and renamed her to his daughters' name - Melissa. Tom fished the boat for many years, and taught his son Thomas and daughter Melissa to fish on her.

In 1998 Perry retired from fishing, Tom bought the Dolly B, and his son owns the Melissa B. Here they are working on her today.

4th of July Weekend in Seward, Alaska

2008-07-01T10:26:00.004-08:00

Sarah and Audrey are coming to see me on Thursday, and Audrey will stay with me for a few days. Seward is known for it's 4th of July celebrations, the most famous of which is the Mt. Marathon Race. This internationally known race begins 2 blocks from our house, which is downtown. The race trail goes to the top of Mt. Marathon and down some snow slews and ends back at it's starting point. It's a rough trail race. If you look closely, you can see the trail to the peak in this photo.

Seward is a small town of about 3,500 people. No traffic lights. One main street. Several thousand people will be here for the 4th - even more if there is a cruise ship in port. Fourth Avenue is blocked off completely for about a mile, as is most of Adams Street - the street we live on (seen here). Usually we stock up on groceries in advance and just don't plan on leaving the house because it's almost impossible to do so with the traffic that converges on downtown.

Audrey and I will have a front row seat for the festivities - it should be a blast! Here's a list of the events - if you are coming here please note that the fireworks are on Thursday night not Friday night.

I have not had time to do any more sewing on the Funky Fuzzy Quilt, but I will post as soon as I am able to get back to the project :)

WordPress

2008-06-29T10:29:00.002-08:00

I've been playing with ones and zeros again. While in Portland I was desperate to go to Powells Bookstore, for both the experience and for a book on HTML. I found a book that I liked but I've only read 1 chapter. Why? Because I have discovered WordPress.

WP intimidated me when I first started blogging - so I went with simple and easy (and I like Google a lot) but WordPress has enticed me. I was frustrated at first, not understanding the differences between WP.com and WP.org and WPmu (Wordpress multiple user) so I did what I always do, went looking for a book. I like to read Amazon.com reviews on books and I found that the book WordPress for Dummies (I have never liked the "for dummies" titles just on basic principle - I'm not a dummy) but this book had much better reviews than all others, so I bought it. It lives up to it's reviews.

I've practiced blogging in WP, and importing my blogs from blogger to WP and I am coming to like it more and more. And now, at the end of the book, is a section about using WP as a web platform - hallelujah!! I hate my web software with a passion (Front Page and Web Expressions) and I can't wait to try WordPress for my website. I'll keep you posted :)

Seams Like Home Quilt Shop

2008-06-28T09:12:00.003-08:00

My friends Kathy Harte and Judy Wedemeyer (quilt artists and soon-to-be bloggers :) came by Seams Like Home Quilt Shoppe to say hi to Sarah and I and Judy send us this photo. We had a great time there! The shoppe is h-u-g-e at 10,000 sf. and the classroom is the best I've ever seen. I wanted to move in.

Here are Sarah and I showing off quilts and answering questions and generally having a lot of fun chatting with quilters.

Saturday, June 21 in Anchorage, Alaska

2008-06-20T20:12:00.002-08:00

Sarah and I will be at Seams Like Home Quilt Shoppe in the new location at the University Center Mall from noon to 3pm on Saturday. Please stop in and say "hi" and I'll be bringing the bits of my Fuzzy Funky Crazy Shortcut Quilt too - I have a few squares "quilted" and you can check them out.

Maret, the owner of Seams Like Home Quilt Shoppe, is a great gal and she used to be Sarah's teacher in elementary school - how cool is that? She told us that she found a photo of Sarah curled up inside the bookcase in her classroom, reading a book. I can't wait to see it.

I've been busy working on Tom's property and I'll post about it Sunday - with photos. I keep forgetting to take my camera when I head out there to work. Happy Solstice All!

Funky Fuzzy Shortcut Quilt

2008-06-16T14:38:00.007-08:00

This baby is my favorite - by far! I wanted to couch down some yarn instead of quilting my squares, and I dug through my stash and found this chunky funky fuzzy yarn - -isn't it delicious?
I've been using a narrow zigzag stitch to couch it down and it's going slower than I thought it would but that's just because of the little fuzzy bubbles in the yarn and the fact that I get to sew for only a few hours a week. We are still doing maintenance and work on the boat and putting up fish for winter. If you are following along and want to make the quilt - - I'll post the whole story on our website when I get the quilt finished. I am using the sizing from the book for "Easy to Go Crazy" and the cutting design from "Think Pink". I am making a few adjustments as I go so be sure to check back for the final post about this quilt. :)

Quilting Bloggers

2008-06-09T21:56:00.003-08:00

If you are a blogger (or are totally hooked on reading them - like I am!) check out Quilting Gallery and her list of Quilting Bloggers - it's awesome!

What an ambitious project - I wish Michele well - she's created quite a site :) If you are a quilting blogger, please consider submitting your blog to her list to help her reach her goal of 1,000 blogs.

Funky Shortcut Quilt

2008-06-07T21:57:00.004-08:00

I thought of a name for my new quilt..."Funky Shortcut". I've wanted to try this harlequin type of cutting arrangement for a while, and I really, really love it with these fabrics!

Funky Fabric

2008-06-06T19:51:00.003-08:00

It's time to make a quilt. I need a fabric "fix" :) I found these in my stash, from a project I never even started (how perfect is that! Now they are ready for this project!) That's my philosophy and I'm sticking to it. Doesn't that black and white check make you dizzy? I love it!

Commercial Fishing and the Cabana Family

2008-06-04T15:03:00.003-08:00

This season has been a difficult one so far and every day I dread more bad news. Last night Tom called and said that they were coming in because the skiff (with it's brand new thousands of $$ outboard) had been swamped. In salt water. It was less than 36 hours old, and all the breakdowns that lead up to it's unexpected purchase...well I won't bore you with the depressing details.

In the middle of these miserable events, my heart was gladdened by the people who are our biggest competitors on the water - the Cabana family. Fishing is very competitive. I've been side by side with their boats, fighting for the fish, trying to out catch them and they try and beat us. That's the nature of this work. But the second that they saw Tom's skiff underwater they cut throttle, disconnected lines and came racing over to help. That is the Alaskan way and their family is one I admire.

Newborn Sea Lions

2008-06-03T16:35:00.004-08:00

I have my tv station on a channel that broadcasts live from the Chiswell Islands, just south of Resurrection Bay in Seward, Alaska. I am watching the sea lion population as they climb out of the water, up onto huge rock outcroppings, to give birth. The rocks are covered with sea lions, the massive males and their harems of females and their pups, some just hours old. You can watch too, on streaming video.

The color is bad on the video, almost black & white on my screen. The sea lions are earthy brown and the pups are black. This is a photo of my tv :) I wanted to see what it would look like.

Bonus Pattern for Crazy Shortcut Quilters

2008-06-03T13:30:00.002-08:00

The Crazy Shortcake Quilt Pattern instructions are now on our website! If you have the book or have made a quilt in a class with Sarah, you'll know exactly how to put it all together and the fabric requirements and cutting instructions (with a few reminders) are here for you!

Crazy Shortcut Quilt Book Publicity

2008-06-01T18:04:00.005-08:00

Oh happy news! While at Quilt Market in Portland
Sarah and I did a demo in our publishers' booth (Krause Publications) for about an hour or so. When I had checked in earlier I had noticed that a quilt from our book (Sweet Sixteen Quilt) was on the cover of the new Krause Catalog. I was thrilled and walked around showing everyone! Hehehehe. Anyway, I must have made quite an impression on one of my favorite folks at Krause (Laura Miller in Marketing) because today I received another catalog in the mail from Laura. Here's what her note said

"M - thought you would really enjoy this catalog too. It's last summer's consumer quilt catalog....it's your quilt too."

She is just too sweet for words! The cover of the catalog (on the left) has Sarah's Moda quilt "Bright Idea" on it and the back cover of the catalog has our book and my ugly hands!

Mending the Seine

2008-06-01T16:07:00.007-08:00

Here's Tom and crew David and James, mending the jitney seine on Sunday afternoon. We loaded the seine onto the jitney first thing this morning (no pics, I was too busy keeping the seine straight and free from snags) and then mended the net after that. (When we got to a bigger hole I dropped my part of the web and grabbed my camera for a few shots.) We use the powerblock on the big boat (the big boat is the F/V Dolly B) to lift the seine high enough to see holes, and then Tom mends as we go through the net. Then we put the seine back onto the jitney and checked her over for tomorrow's opener. The jitney is tied up to the big boat, just on the other side.

On the far side of the harbor is the cruise ship dock, with a ship in for the day. Seward usually only gets one cruise ship at a time, but there are rare days when there are two of them tied up, side by side, and they just dwarf the entire harbor.

This year I'll be working a desk job while the guys and boats are out fishing. I'm pretty sure I am going to miss being in on the action. It's very hard work, but it's wonderful to work outside, on the water. On the other hand, they are stuck on the boat while I have my sewing machine set up in the living room - happily sewing and quilting and watching PBS specials on TV.

Seine

2008-05-31T19:37:00.003-08:00

The net is called the "seine" on a boat that is a seiner. Here is the jitney's seine, in the back of Tom's truck. After working on the skiff outboard all morning, launching the jitney, filling her tanks, standing up the mast and then dealing with my broken down car, he and I loaded the seine from the warehouse (where it is stored for the winter) to his truck. I am so tired that I can't believe that I can type, and I didn't do a quarter of the work he did! Tomorrow we will load the seine onto the jitney and mend it. I'll try and get a photo for you.

The pretty house in the background is a B & B on our street, and that's the bay that Tom will be fishing in come Monday morning at 6am. Please wish him luck for a good fishing season.

Crazy Shortcake Quilt finds a Home

2008-05-30T15:52:00.005-08:00

While at Spring Quilt Market Sarah and I bumped into Maret from Seams Like Home Quilt Shoppe in Anchorage several times! I love going all the way to Portland, Oregon to meet up with the Alaskans - lol!

We showed her the Shortcake Quilt and offered to let it go live in her newly relocated Shoppe and she took us up on it. I haven't seen it there yet, I stole this pic from Sarah's Blog :)

We will both be at Seams Like Home on June 21 for a book signing and hugging day. We end up seeing lots of quilters and giving and getting lots of hugs. How nice is that!

Fabrics from Spring Quilt Market

2008-05-28T16:58:00.006-08:00

I let Sarah do my fabric shopping for me and here's what she chose:
a beautiful collection of soft earthy colors called "Victoria" by Benartex
and a nice set of complementary fabrics by Andover (the lighter fabrics) and Quilt Gate (the darker maroon colored fabrics). It is absolute heaven to have a "fabric advisor" that I can trust! Now I just need to decide which quilts to make and who gets them....fun!

NQR stands for Not Quilting Related

2008-05-28T10:23:00.002-08:00

I've been a busy gal since coming back from Portland Quilt Market! The boats still need work & maintenance and that is first priority in our lives. So, it's been the usual routine of scrubbing the fish hold, mending nets, launching skiffs and stocking the big boat with groceries and supplies.

The jitney is in the driveway (what a sight!) so that we can repair hydraulic lines, the ram for the power block and the hatch covers.

And then there is my pal Vanta's new bookstore! When I haven't been working on boats I've been at Vanta's store, helping with inventory and painting the interior and exterior of the business. She's going to call it Cover To Cover (isn't that cute?) and she hopes to be open for business in the next few weeks in downtown Seward, Alaska.

All this is in addition to my "day job" - the one that pays the travel bills and fabric expenses - lol! I hope your spring & early summer are just as much fun or more :)

Green

2008-05-20T17:51:00.005-08:00

My favorite color is green. I found a green batting at Spring Quilt Market, it's green because it's made from recycled soda pop bottles! Sarah bought a case of it and I'm going to get a batt from her to use. Sarah spent a significant amount of time at Market looking for organics and other eco-friendly products. I recently welcomed my towns adoption of recycling plastic (should have been doing so 20 years ago like some states) with open arms full of plastics I've been washing and saving for a year (what a mess!)

Last night we watched the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car". What a shock. I drive a 13 yr old vehicle and Toms is 12 yrs old. I have over 200,000 miles on my car and I'm not buying another vehicle until I can buy an electric car. By all information available and confirmed, I should be able to buy it today. Check out the movie at Netflix or Amazon or the movie's own website or ev1.org or even Wiki.....please....watch this movie. I'd love to hear what you think of it.

We made the Catalog Cover!

2008-05-19T15:46:00.005-08:00

I am back from Quilt Market in Portland and what an experience! Sarah and I had an awesome time at Market and even though she did all the hard work (and she did a spectacular job!) I am the one who is exhausted! How did that happen? LOL

I am a behind-the-scenes kind of person so I did all the prep work for the demo and then Sarah does all the talking at the demo and she really makes the quilters happy. She received lots and lots of compliments about her demos and when we were all done showing off, we walked the aisles of Market together. She was looking specifically for organics and eco-friendly products and I was looking for info for another blog that I write called "Quilt News". With only 2 exceptions, we were happily received by all. Sarah will be back tomorrow and will probably post about her finds on her blog. I'll post again with photos of fabrics and a few other tidbits from Market.

We started off on Saturday morning with a bang when we realized that our publisher, Krause Publications, has a photo our our very own quilt on the cover of their Spring 2008 catalog. Yayyyyyy!

Spring Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon

2008-05-15T05:42:00.002-08:00

I am in Portland now, a city I truely enjoy visiting. This is my third Quilt Market in Portland and I stay in a different part of the city every time, using public transportation to get around. Yesterday I went to Powells Bookstore, the largest used bookstore in the nation. I walked for hours through old downtown Portland and it was just fun. The flowers are blooming here and I even got a bit of sun sitting outside the convention center waiting for the admin booths to open.

Fishing Season

2008-05-10T15:42:00.006-08:00

It's that time of year again. I've been on the boat, which is dry docked right now, cleaning and making her ready for another fishing season.

Here's an older picture of me, when I worked on the boat as crew a couple of years ago. In the first photo I am surrounded by fish, hand pitching them for delivery. I am also very tired - lol! In this photo we have just caught the fish on the jitney and are transferring them to the big boat for icing and tendering.

We are incredibly careful with our fish because a good percentage will make it to your store as fresh Alaskan Red Salmon. That means frequent deliveries of heavily iced fish and "hand" handling, not pumped by machine. Here's a photo of Tom's seiner, the F/V Dolly B, at the dock for delivery. This is his photo, I was probably asleep in my bunk!

Crazy Shortcut Quilt

2008-05-05T14:52:00.004-08:00

I just received an email that made a very sad day so much better! There was a tragic accident with some of my free roaming bunnies, and my heart has been heavy for days. Then I received this message and photo:

Marguerita,

I thought I'd share some pictures with you and Sarah on my first attempt at making one on the quilts in your book. I'm sure it won't be the last. I had a blast!

Julie

I am going to put her photo on our website, along with quilts from Sarah's recent class. Wasn't it so sweet of Julie to send us her photo? Thanks Julie!

Quilt Room Photo

2008-05-01T18:09:00.005-08:00

I just love having a cutting table that I can stand at and walk around! Sarah gave me this table and I use it all the time. The other thing that I really like is the pegboard that hangs next to it. I have the table shoved into a corner (no wobbling) and my rulers, rotary cutters and scissors hang from it along with a comfortable mish mash of stuff . My mess, take a peek.

That cute quilt on the wall is, I believe, the first quilt Sarah ever made...isn't that sweet! She gave it to me!

Art Quilt Exhibition in Anchorage, Alaska

2008-04-26T14:39:00.004-08:00

How lucky can I be to call both Kathy Harte and Judy Wedemeyer friends? These two talented ladies are letting the world see their quilted art works at Terra Bella Bakery & Cafe (on Dimond) in May, beginning with the First Friday Event on May 2, 2008.

Give yourself the treat of enjoying the cafe and the quilt art if you have a chance to be in Anchorage in May.

Booties Part Three

2008-04-25T18:57:00.004-08:00

I was in Anchorage for a few days and I spent some time with Audrey. I brought up a small bucket of the things she's used to playing with when she is with me, and here's how that went:

She dove into the bucket, first after her necklaces and then ended up dumping the whole bucket onto the coffee table. Then she went for the purse - and she knew exactly what she was fishing around for in there - her cell phone. No, she doesn't have her own phone at the tender age of 1, I just slipped one of non-functioning phones that we have in the house that haven't been recycled yet.

She grabs that thing every time and flings it right into place and wanders around jabbering at the top of her lungs. It's hysterical. Especially when she gets her arms going - I can tell that her mother must gesture a lot when she's on the phone.

I finally talked her into trying on the booties (way too big - what a surprise - lol) and she liked them. After a while she tossed them aside for the bigger version. I am afraid of taking her shoe shopping now..... what have I started?

Booties Part Two

2008-04-21T16:27:00.003-08:00

Using the tracing that I took of Audrey's feet and some quilted muslin from a machine quilting class, I cut out my estimation of the pieces. I love estimating and I do it all the time :)

I pinned the pieces together and I could tell right away that I had overestimated! I could put these things on a moose!

I unpinned and trimmed 3/4" off the upper - all the way around except for the heel, which I had already sewn.

I re-pinned and then stitched, using a walking foot - which was a bad idea, it didn't like the bulk, especially at the gathered bulk in the toe area.
I still think that the booties are too big, but I'll wait and see how they fit on Audrey. I would like to inset some cuff material and make them into pull-on slippers. I have some fake suede for bottoms and maybe fleece for the uppers, with a cuff for snugness?

Booties

2008-04-20T15:07:00.004-08:00

What happens when you try to hold steady a wiggly giggly baby with one hand and trace around her ticklish feet with the other hand? Chaos. And this kind of scribble:

Heather Bailey has a free pattern for baby booties that I want to try. I'll make a tester first, to see how they fit, and then make a real pair for Audrey. Her feet are quite a bit bigger than the pattern that Heather offers, so I'll modify as I go, using her basic design and tips for construction.

Almost Spring

2008-04-18T14:54:00.008-08:00

I begin to believe that spring is almost here when the daffodils start coming up. We still have several feet of snow in the yard, but around the house it's melting out.

The poor things have to fight their way through the masses of snow we received this winter - but up they come!

I can hardly believe that they push up through the snow pack!

There were even some dandelion shoots and I picked a few for bunny. His first spring treat :) He just loves dandelions!