I am over the moon excited that my best friend just bought a new sewing machine. She chose the Brother Pacesetter— a super nice machine. She has sewn some in the past, but she’s never been a quilter. She was sad that her old Singer finally died. But this upgrade has her thinking about quilts! Well… this upgrade and her beautiful grand babies are her inspiration to start quilting. And I couldn’t be happier. I’ve always wanted a quilting buddy.

I want her to start with a rewarding project that’s not too overwhelming. I found a pic of a fun one I made a few years back. But I can’t remember the name of the pattern. If this looks familiar to you, please let me know the name!

I’ve lost all interest in sewing during lock down. I can’t entirely explain. I think it’s because we’re still running at the plant. We manufacture labels and labels are in BIG demand right now: hand sanitizer labels, cleaning supplies labels, food labels. The list goes on and on.

And our day is filled with a million new tasks– wipe every surface, shoes on/shoes off, take ANOTHER shower, clean the phone, clean the door handles, schedule grocery delivery. It’s honestly exhausting. But I feel guilty because I GET to do this stuff every day. I should be thankful.

This week it was made official: In 15 days, our entire plant needs to have masks. This is according to our Governor. And if we don’t have masks or if we don’t make our employees wear them, they will shut us down.

Of course you can’t FIND masks. No one has them in stock. NO ONE.

Many, many, many wonderful quilters have been busy bees making masks and donating them. It makes my heart happy to know so many people are pitching in to help. And I feel overwhelmingly guilty that I’ve not done the same.

Guilt is a major factor for me during this whole pandemic. My family is safe. My company is running. Our Team is healthy. My refrigerator is full. My son is at home, on the couch, taking his last final for law school. And all of that good stuff could go away at any moment.

Hold up. Maybe it’s less guilt and more fear.

At any rate, this weekend I may turn on my trusty sewing machine and whip up masks for our team–so we can keep running. Because I’m scared to death that our presses are going to stop.

Yep. It’s fear. Masking as guilt.

Makes sense.

I’m a Moda addict. I admit it. And the newest release has stolen my heart. I am swooning over this Charm Pack. Just trying to find the right pattern to use it in… I found a cute pattern book on Amazon I’m going to TRY to use. What do you think?

Where will the new charm pack take me?

OK. Let’s be honest here… I’ve been eating (and cooking) far more than I’ve been quilting lately. So I decided I’d log some of my favorite recipes on my blog. This way, I can find them when I’m telling my friends and family about my newest obsession.

And SHEET PANS are my newest obsession.

Last night’s recipe was a Seafood “Boil” recipe from the amazing Sunny Anderson that I found on the Food Network’s website. I’m a huge fan of a seafood boil (you know, the real kind that you boil). But this recipe was done in the oven, on a sheet pan! It was easier (IMHO) and it was a big hit with the hubs.

I added garlic bread that was all toasty and a few slices of lemon.

The newest addition to the Wolf pack (the extended family) is a bouncing baby boy.

I hoped to give his mama a quilt at her shower… But I missed that deadline by a wide margin.

Then I was hopeful that I’d be done in time for the big birth day… But I missed that, too. Luckily, I completed the quilt before the little fellow hit one! I mailed it to Indy this week.

The fabric was called “cosmic” and it was a Jenny original pattern–made on the fly! I call it “It’s a Lonestar, Charlie Brown.” And I FMQ (free motion quilted) the entire quilt. It’s a Jenny Original pattern… get it? Jenny– that’s me.

Building blocks… They are so big it only takes four!

I found a quick pattern for my newest baby quilt in a magazine. I made a few tweaks, not all of which worked 🙂

I was a little intimidated by all of the solid fabrics. But so far, I’m liking it.

I’m also trying a new quilting method:wavy straight lines. I normally fmq a super easy stippling design, but this quilt is so busy that I didn’t want to add too much movement to it.

Here’s a first look…

I totally stole this design from the Freshlemonsquilt.com site. And she was inspired by the original designer–just read her blog. She has beautiful photos and quilts.

So this quilt is super easy: One layer cake of patterned pieces plus a stack of 5″ cream squares. It goes together like magic.

The beautiful little guy I’m making this for just turned one. I bought the fabric (a layer cake of Moda’s Mod Century) before he was born. I couldn’t decide on a pattern, so the fabric stayed on the shelf.

I was touring my favorite quilt blogs when I spotted this cool “pattern”, although it is more of a technique than a pattern. You simply add solid color flipped corners (they start as 5″ squares) to two sides of each layer cake 10″ square. Then you arrange the blocks so that four solid colored (cream in my quilt) corners form a square. At first sight, I knew this was a perfect fit for the fun, funky, boy-friendly fabric.

So after a year, my idea of giving the little guy a baby quilt has morphed. Now I’m making a toddler quilt. If I don’t get it done soon, I’ll have to make it big enough for a big-boy bed 🙂

I still have to finish quilting it; I’m practicing my free motion stippling. Maybe I’ll post some pics after it’s all done.

My first blog… It all started in 2014.

Why did I start a blog? Because I quilt. Not show quilts, but pretty quilts that I love. I mostly make quilts for gifts. My Mom suggested I keep a quilt diary to record photos and instructions. That suggestion got me thinking. The result is this blog.

Over the years, I’ve added some of my favorite recipes. And now I’m planning to document our cabin’s renovation.

Mostly, this blog is like a personal diary… that I’ve opened up to the world.