What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

A “Disappearing 4-Patch” may look intricate and complicated, but it’s really very easy. If you can sew a simple 4-patch, you can sew this quilt.

There are many great how-to tutorials out there. I chose these two YouTube videos as my favorites—

Jenny at the Missouri Star Quilt Company and

Laura Ann Cioa at Sew Very Easy.

After watching both, I decided to “merge” their info together to make my own Disappearing 4-Patch. Here’s how…

Jenny (MSQC) has you use a charm pack in her version, while Laura (Sew Very Easy) has you cut larger squares from fat ...

Like many people, I would say that I use the internet a lot. Lately, I've been using it for Zoom and have been known to run 12-hour Zoom sewing sessions. I've never had an issue with the internet - my calls never dropped, I rarely experienced lag time for the video. I did get a couple of "your internet connection is unstable" from time to time, but it's been excellent. 

Someone in our house, who shall remain nameless, has been bugging me to upgrade the internet speed. "Hey - there are advertisements that you can get this amazing download ...

 There is NOTHING like a sewing day. Even if it's getting together on-line. I have a feeling that with the colder weather not that far away, people are going to embrace Zoom (or whatever platform they are using) a whole lot more readily. No shoveling the car out of the snow, no wet boots, no frozen butt on a cold car seat (even with seat warmers!), no frozen hands. Oh yes - I'm going to love sewing in my space this winter with Zoom!

A lot got done yesterday and a good part of it happened while I sewed ...

I want to thank everyone who has stopped by to pick up stuff that I no longer need or want. I had a quick visit with France yesterday as she stopped by to pick up some stuff. There'll be more, in bits and pieces as I unearth the unwanted things. And knowing that I can make quilts tops for Quilts of Valour or Project Linus from the fabrics that I don't need or want is so freeing. The more that goes in those piles, the more I want to get rid of - OK - within reason! HUGE thanks to ...

It wasn't the most productive day of my life, but then it was my birthday, and it wasn't supposed to be productive. I do feel a wee bit guilty, OK - I'm over it! I read in the morning, so I could finish that book. Usually, I wait until the afternoon to read, so it's more like a reward for working in the morning. It's OK to change things up. Then I started another one that takes place on the El Camino de Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage in Spain. OK - I WANT to walk that. In ...

How many people want to celebrate their birthdays? I do!! It's not a big birthday this year, but I'm just glad that I'm around one more year and I expect to celebrate many more birthdays. My grandfather lived to 100, and we seem to have great longevity in our family genes. That's my plan as well. So, no - you don't need to know how old I am. You just need to know that I'm still enjoying each and every day, and I can't wait to have some fun today.

Even my Fitbit knows ...

I love staying at home! I'm getting so much done, and I'm so motivated these days. I think the motivation is coming from seeing the others on the Zoom calls. I can see what they are working on, and while I'd love to do some of the stuff that they are making, my conscious won't let me until I get some more of my own stuff done! 

Of course, I have deadlines to work with, so that's a motivator as well. But the bottom line, I'm making significant progress, and while Studio B still ...

I spent a LOT of time on the phone yesterday - partially for work and partly just to chat. Through an offhand comment, I MIGHT, and I'm holding my breath, but I MIGHT be able to install Android Car Play on my phone. OH MY GOSH -- I'm so excited that I don't know what to do. What irks me is that Toyota did NOT send out any notification that this was possible, and of course, I never wrote my letter of frustration to them.

I'm not sure that I'm going to have time today to look ...

WOW -- I can't say enough for the inspiration I receive through the Virtual Retreats. Not only that, but I've made new friends, been able to stay connected to other friends, and keep in touch with friends that no longer live close by. While it would be great to see everyone in person, getting that group together would be impossible! I love Virtual Retreats.

I'm going to whisper this next sentence. I ALMOST like the virtual retreats to our in-person sewing days. Why? We get to visit with each other, but we don't have any of the ...

What a super day we had yesterday. I don't think we had any new faces on our Zoom Virtual Retreat, but gosh, it's so nice to check in with everyone. We had people connect all the way from Germany to Cochrane, Alberta. Hello everyone!!!! So great to see everyone and thanks for stopping by to chat. I feel like I really know you all!!!

Don't be shy - you don't have to stay and sew, just pop in to say HI. It's great fun to get to know some of you a little bit better, and ...

Oh my - what a HUGE can of worms I opened when I decided to clean up some space in the scrapbook area.

I'm not sure that I'm going to get much more done as I now have other things that need to get done and will become urgent if I don't attend to them soon! BUT what I did learn is that over the years, I've created a HUGE mess. I'm kind of shocked. I knew it was bad, but I didn't think it was this bad.

Those bags of stuff are filled with ...

d in
I'm so excited this morning, I can hardly contain myself. Yesterday was the BEST day ever. And I can "blame" it all on Katheleen. I really, really want to do the art journaling that she's doing. I look at my space, and I sigh. There's loads of room for quilting in  Studio B, but there's no room to bring out the art supplies.

But WAIT! I do have the space to make this happen. It's just filled with other stuff at the moment.

My scrapbooking space