How to tell that you're really behind on Christmas tasks ....

• It's ten days before Christmas and you're still finishing up the fall placemats you hoped to use in November!  (See great tutorial on easy placemats over at I'm Just A Guy Who Quilts.  Yes, they are easy; but you still have to plan enough hours in the day to finish them!)
• You have the full-blown flu including a low-grade temperature, aches and pains.  Therefore, your mental and physical speed is about 15 mph instead of 95 mph.
• The gifts are wrapped - whoo hoo!  None of them, however, have bows or gift labels (unless you consider green post-it notes labels).
• The most important thing on today's "to-do" list is to convince DH that we can skip the holiday letter this year.
• Thoughts of making any last-minute homemade gifts flew out the window about 2 a.m. this morning when the latest coughing spell took over.
• DD called to ask what cookies I would be making so we don't have duplicates.  Cookies?  I'm supposed to make cookies?
• Today's weather is cloudy, damp, and gloomy - a perfect reflection of my holiday spirit.

I'll feel better tomorrow - promise.  Please, Santa!

Bernina Day!

The alarm did not go off today, but the church bells rang!  I assumed the bells were ringing at 7, but it was only 6 a.m.  The Swiss are known for being exact about time.  You can't possibly oversleep here.

On the way to the train station, we encountered a mom with 3 preschoolers all singing "Brother John" in German!  How very cute ...

Apple trees along the train route

Our train trip was on a local this time, so we made many stops along the way.  The countryside was exceptionally pretty with farms, fields, distant rolling hills, cows, a few horses, and lovely homes in each township.  And apple trees galore!  Full size trees and also rows and rows of younger trees planted similarly to vineyards.

Except for the stations that are large enough to have connecting trains, each stop is a maximum of two minutes.  Hesitate and you go to the next station.  Fortunately for us, a very nice woman must have realized we were getting off at Steckborn and pushed the button for the train to stop.  Apparently, Steckborn is not a regular stop!  Can you imagine us whipping through the Steckborn station and wondering why the train didn't stop????


A wonderful home in Steckborn.

We wandered through the quaint village of Steckborn enjoying the sunny day and the lovely homes.  Steckborn is on Lake Constance (the Bodensee), and you can see the German city of Konstanz quite clearly across the lake.  The day was so warm and sunny that we decided to buy a sandwich at Coop (a supermarket) and sit by the lake to enjoy the views.  Suddenly, we noticed a blimp.  It took me a second or two to realize what was strange about the blimp - no logo!  A totally white, unmarked blimp.  Hmmmm .... a Swiss mystery.

Me - in front the of Bernina factory!

We walked up the street towards the Bernina address, rounded a curve in the road, and there was the large red Bernina sign.  We spent the next several hours in Bernina heaven (for me), but I will not bore you with a lengthy report.  I'll do a separate post just on the tour.  I will say, however, that I now understand why the sewing machines and the accessories are so expensive; almost everything is done by hand.  I was amazed.

Back via train to St. Gallen, pick up a bottle of wine, pack for our trip to Bern tomorrow, then a hamburger & French fries at the American Bar & Grill around the corner from the hotel.

Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #14

Introducing Doll #14.  Taking some inspiration from Brandywine Design as well as the Martha Pullen tv show, I used stitch #702 on my Bernina 640 and adjusted the width a bit so that I could weave the little satin ribbon through the stitch.  Boy, did that take some doing!  I envisioned using a safety pin or a bodkin to pull the thread through.  That did not work at all since the stitches were so small.  After almost giving up, I remembered that I recently bought a very slim pair of tweezers at a swap meet.  Worked like a charm!

Stitch #702 is the heirloom style stitch that Martha says looks like little railroad tracks, and it does.  I know I'll use this idea again.  Learning  more about heirloom sewing is on my sewing to-do list.

The last piece of fabric from the quilt guild project is a pretty shade of lavender with just a touch of orange.  I had an idea for this dress and was determined to finish it before our trip.  That was before our unexpected excursion to Los Angeles last Saturday.  The next block will just have to wait until we return from our grand adventure - more information to follow!

Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #13

We are ending up with lots of pink and yellow fabric as we reach the end of this project.  Once all the blocks are done, of course, I'll be mixing and matching according to the wishes of my little granddaughters (and their momma).  Should be interesting to find fabric for the sashing and borders, too.  Can you just see me with all these blocks strewn about the local quilt stores?  Yikes!  I'll have to rent their classrooms just in order to shop ..... and I'm sure they'll be lovely enough to help me make a great decision.

I used this idea before (see Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #5) with the ribbon down the center of the dress.  I picked up this lovely lacy edging somewhere in my travels and rummaged through all my scrapbook embellishment stuff to find these cute little organza bows with little pearls.  The smaller sleeves seemed to go with this dress maybe because the temperature has been rising steadily over the last days - summer has finally arrived!

The color is showing up a bit darker in the photo due to my poor photography skills.  DH would be happy to do the photos for me, but I hate to keep asking him since he sets up all kinds of stuff in order to do it "his way" and makes me feel guilty!  So, try to imagine this color as a little brighter.

If you've taken on a project like this one - or are thinking about it - here's a site that I found with some cute ideas.  I'm using one of the designs for the next block with a few modifications.  Guess I needed a kick start to my creativity button and these cute outfits just did the trick.

Our big trip is coming up fast -- next Tuesday!  DH and I are working our way through the to-do lists.  More about our trip in the next post.  Here's a teaser:  I'm actually going to tour the Bernina factory!  Whoo hoo!!!!

Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #12

The old cliche - seeing the light at the end of the tunnel - seems appropriate today.  I've finished the 12th block and am well on my way to completing the next one.  I have two more pieces of fabric from our quilt group swap.  Drum roll please ..... I even have ideas for those!  My goal is to finish these last blocks before we leave on our trip to Europe.  (More about the trip later.)

Here is block #12.  Maybe it's the butterfly button that I found somewhere in my travels or maybe it's the white collar, but something about this block tickles my fancy.  Many of the gals from my quilt group have drafted new collars or sleeves or pockets or even dress shapes.  Their creativity seems endless.  I'm intimidated by straying from the rules, but I took a chance and drafted both a new collar and new sleeves for this block.  I like both of them.  I'm using the sleeve pattern for the next block as well.  It's hard to see from the picture, but I used a yellow thread for the buttonhole stitch on the main part of the dress and on the white collar.  I think the yellow against the white adds a little zip especially with the butterfly button.

So, I'll have 15 blocks when done.  Now the math part .... how do I make 15 blocks stretch into two wallhangings -- one for Miss T., the elder, and one for Miss T., the younger?

Better?

I must not have been completely satisfied with the last dress block because I kept it out on the dining room table instead of putting it away with the other finished blocks.  As I was getting ready for our Monday quilt guild meeting, I realized that it needed a little extra zip.  I added 3 small red buttons, and I am much more pleased with the result.

What do you think?  Is it better?

Almost done with the next block, too, which I will share with you tomorrow.

It is hot, hot, hot here today.  Summer has finally arrived.  We've had such a mild spring and summer with few days in the upper 90s let along approaching 100.  We've run the air conditioner the last two nights, which we prefer not to do.  But the house is just too uncomfortable for us to sleep well even with the ceiling fan.  Guess we're just wimps!

My $500 Tote Bag

Well, here it is - the $500 tote bag!  How did I arrive at the $500 mark?

• $110 - retreat fee
• $125 - my share of the cabin rental
• $80 - what I bought at the retreat
• $100 - what I ate over four days
• $20 - gas
• $20 - what I bought at Schatz' Bakery on the way home (yummy breads)
• $10 - two bottles of wine for Happy Hour

Okay, okay - that's only $465.  But doesn't the $500 tote bag sound better than the $465 tote bag?  Poetic license, I believe, is the term.  To be fair, it's actually only the $320 tote bag since my companions paid for my room and the gas to compensate me for using my car and for doing all the driving.  I think they were extra generous!

I'm pleased with the pinwheel blocks especially since it is a 5" block!  I didn't do as well with the sashing which starts out as a 1" strip.  Yikes!  With that narrow a strip, an accurate 1/4" seam is essential.  That lovely wooden button that I've been yearning to use now covers up the sashing which doesn't align perfectly.

I really do like the bag, and I am glad I went on the retreat.  Will I go next year?  That remains to be seen.  If I do go, I'll be better prepared for the experience.  I'll bring my own fabric and be much more relaxed.  I'll take more frequent walks around the lake.  And, I'll bring one more bottle of wine!

Quilt Retreat - Day Two

Fortunately, I slept very well on the second night.  I think I just collapsed from fatique and frustration!  So I was in much better spirits on the second full morning of the quilting retreat.  Here's a picture of the gals that I went with:

That's Nancy, me, and Ann in the first picture - Nancy again and Lois in the second picture.  We should have asked someone to take a picture of all four of us.

The best part of the retreat was being with these great friends from the Oasis Quilt Guild.  We are at vastly different stages in our quilting adventure - me being the least experienced, least serious, and most stressed out about quilting!  It's difficult for four women who haven't been friends very long to get through four days of togetherness, two of which were spent in a car driving 350 miles!

Back to the retreat.  By the time I got to the community center on the second day, I had decided to relax, enjoy the experience, and not fret about what I did or did not get sewn.  I also decided to just focus on the $500 tote bag and forget about actually making a quilt top.  I cornered Cheri, one of the organizers and teachers, while she was taking a break from cutting fat quarters and just plopped down in front of her on the floor with my pen and pad in hand.  I told her that I wanted to make one of the blocks from her large quilt to use as the front pocket of the tote rather than the needle felted design that the tote project called for.  She patiently walked me through all the steps on how to make the block (a 5" spinning wheel pinwheel block).  I think she realized as I was writing down everything step by step and clarifying as we went along that this quilter needs lots of help and lots of instruction!

It took me the rest of the day, but I did get the blocks done, the pocket made, and the quilt almost completed!  I took lots of breaks to walk in the neighborhood, even perusing the used books at the local thrift store.  I also enjoyed talking to the quilter next to me, a local resident whose husband is a recently retired veterinarian.  Best of all was watching the grandmother and granddaughter work together at the table behind me.  Grandma brought her 11-year-old GD to her first quilt retreat!  The GD did marvelously both on her own and with Grandma's help.

We had the only row with all Featherweights!  Five little Featherweights all in a row.  From front to back, Lois' from around 1940, Nancy's from the 50s, Ann's then mine (both from 1938).  The last one nearest the window belonged to a fellow quilter from Mammoth Lakes.  She is the original owner - it was her first sewing machine that her parents bought her when she was 14!  I didn't ask her age, but my guess is that the machine dates from about 1958.  She's just recently gotten it out of the closet, had it cleaned and tuned up, and started sewing again. 

Tomorrow, I'll show you a picture of the tote bag.  I actually like it and plan to use it!

Okay, Marsha, take a deep breath and carry on

As usual, I slept fitfully the first night of our getaway.  Since I was on the futon in the living room, I doubt that I kept anyone awake with my tossing and turning.  We all awoke early, had coffee or tea, showered quickly, and set out on our quilting adventure.  We arrived at the community center about 8 a.m. assuming that coffee would be waiting for us prior to the designated start time of 8:30 a.m.  Not so.  Apparently in the quilt retreat world, 8:30 really does mean 8:30!!!

You could hardly find a more beautiful place to wander around for 30 minutes than Gull Lake.  We watched the early morning fishermen, listened to the gulls, and took a few pictures.  Once the door was opened to the community center, we were ready to go.

The food at the retreat was spectacular.  We were treated to continental breakfast on both mornings (even warm cinnamon rolls), and one of the dinners featured homemade bread and individual quiches.  Definitely one of the high points of our adventure.

So, on to quilting.  I wish I had a better picture of the project wall to share, but this is the best I can do.  The feature quilt the first day (unpictured) had a dozen or so individual small blocks including a pinwheel, a house, a basket, etc., etc.  I spent most of the morning trying to figure out what exactly was going on.  A second project featured 3 totes with needle felting embellishments.  Ah, ha!  A tote.  I can make a tote.  So, by midday, I had concluded that the only way I was going to mentally survive this marathon quilting session was to pick a simple project and go for it.  Hence, the $500 tote was born.

As others were busily cutting strips, buying dozens of fat quarters, forging ahead with their quilting projects, I sat quietly at "my space" reading and re-reading and re-reading the directions on how to make a simple tote from 2 1/2" strips.  By noon, I had figured out how many fat quarters I wanted to buy to make the tote something I would actually use (9).  Whew!  I had a goal!  I might actually sew something at this quilt retreat.  I happily looked through the dozens and dozens of fat quarters and chose my 9.  Not my perfect colors, but they would have to do.

Lunch break!  Yippee!  Off to downtown June Lake for a relaxing lunch.  Oops.  There are only 3 restaurants in June Lake.  One is closed for lunch; one is the place we had dinner last night - third one must be the place!

Slow service (only the owner working diligently to make sandwiches, make pizza, clean the place up, take orders, etc.), but great sub sandwiches.  Unfortunately, lunchtime was over and we headed back to the community center.

Do you sense my negativity?  I was really struggling this first day to find my place among these experienced, accomplished, RELAXED quilters.  I did manage to get my strips cut that afternoon and even had a fundamental idea of how to sew this project.  And, I began to sew ... wonder of wonders.  My little Featherweight is a joy.  This is the most that I have sewn on the Featherweight since buying it two years ago.  It is a beautiful piece of equipment.  I scored big time with this purchase.  Not once during the quilt retreat did I have any difficulty with the Featherweight.  Others were not so lucky.  I'm going to take very, very good care of her.

By the end of the afternoon, I could see that I might be able to complete the tote bag before going home.  A quick glance around the room (filled with 30+ quilters) showed me that others were headed towards finishing a half dozen projects.  Hmmmmm .... Happy Hour was a much better choice than continued frustration!

Might I be too old for camp? Could be .....

I've been mulling over my experience at quilt camp and haven't yet reached a definitive conclusion.  Overall, I had a great time.  The best part was being with 3 friends from our Oasis Quilt Guild.  We got along famously even in a small mountain cabin with a kitchen big enough for one and a single bathroom.  Four women using a single bathroom?  Yup - we made it work.

I have never been to a quilting retreat before, so I did not know what to expect.  I'm a died-in-the-wool Type-A personality as well as a compulsive organizer.  This makes me extremely critical of how others organize or fail to organize.  I have to say that this event rated fairly low on my personal organizational scale.

We arrived in June Lake about 3 p.m. after a 350 mile drive and checked into the cabin then made a beeline for the community center to set up our machines for the 2-day quilting retreat.  I was expecting some kind of introduction to our projects and an overview of how the next two days would play out.  To be fair, the four of us were among the minority - the majority of those attending the retreat were repeats and were familiar with the routine (or lack of routine).  We set up our machines, looked at the project samples, perused the fabric for sale.  Our retreat leader told us to take our fat quarters, cut a 2" strip, then cut a 5" strip, which would leave us with an 11" strip, then we would be good for all the projects!

Say, what?  I was totally lost.  How many fat quarters should we have?  What if we didn't want to make all the projects?  She repeated:  cut a 2" strip, cut a 5" strip, you'll be left with 11" for the second quilt which wasn't going to arrive until the following day so we didn't even know if we wanted to make it!

I was still totally lost.  Amazingly lost.  I kept looking at the sample quilts, none of which actually appealed to me.  Then I looked at the project directions.  Disaster loomed!  I need step-by-step directions.  None of this made sense to me .... What were all these little drawings?  HELP!!!  I felt just like the 8-year-old at overnight camp for the first time.  I want to go home!  I don't belong here!  Everyone else knows what is going on.  I should not have come.  I'm the worst quilter here.  Can I get through the next 2 days without crying?

To be continued ....

Back from camp ...

I am slowly recuperating from my quilter's camp experience.  The bottom line is that we had a FANTASTIC time.  However, it does take some moments to recoup from being away for 4 days.  So, I am busy getting the wash done, paying bills, making sure there is food in the house, ironing, watering the plants, catching up on family news, etc., etc.

700+ miles up and down the 395.  Whew!  I love to drive, but it was a long haul ..... scenes like this helped make it worthwhile.

An "ah-ha" moment

I belong to several Yahoo groups about sewing, quilting, machine embroidery, Bernina sewing machines, etc.  They are a great resource.  The members are generous with their time as well as with their knowledge.  Someone is always posting a hint, a new must-have notion, best prices on supplies, etc.  What I like best about belonging to these groups is the response I get when I have a problem.  Simply post your question or problem or dilemma, click the send button, and voilá - your question has bounced around the world in record time.  I usually hear from someone within minutes.  Answers come from Australia, Texas, the United Kingdom, Georgia - you never know!  Fun, fun, fun.

A few weeks ago, a member of one of my groups posted about using her Bernina walking foot in a surefire way for stitching in the ditch.  Here's a link to her blog post where she describes this method.  Susan posts often on our Bernina group and has lots of great information on her blog.  Worth a bit of your time to scan through her older posts.

I tried this method over the weekend on Jack's birthday present, a tablerunner.  Wow!  It worked perfectly.  I quickly e-mailed Susan my gratitude for her post.  Now the trick is to remember this the next time I need to stitch in the ditch!

Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #10

I had great plans for this dress but some of them did not turn out exactly as I had hoped.  I love the soft pink fabric with the red roses which went very well with the blue fabric from a previous month.  I've had the strung pearls around for awhile just waiting for the right fabric to show up.  I decided to use the pearls on this block as a necklace.  I planned to couch the pearls, but I couldn't get the Bernina to cooperate with the feet that I own.  I thought my #12 foot would work, but apparently the diameter of the pearls was too large.

Someone on my trusty Bernina yahoo group came through and suggested that I try the 59C or 60C foot.  Another foot (or feet) to put on my "must have" list!

There's always another way to do things, right?  I just took a few hand stitches at the first pearl on either side of the necklace to hold it in place.  I'm a bit concerned how this is going to work when I get to the quilting part - but that's months away!  Lots of time to think about it.

If I'm counting right, we have 5 more blocks for this project.  Hope my creativity holds out!  I still want to try one block with pintucking and I might give ruching a try.  Even though I swore I would not do another apron, I'll have to tackle it if I'm going to make both wallhangings somewhat equal for the girls.

Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #9

I'm still working diligently on the doll dresses.  I really do not want to fall behind on this project because I know I will never, ever, ever catch up!  So, here's the latest and greatest from my designer brain.  I do like the contrast between the green floral print (great choice, Ildiko) and the graphic yellow and white.  But what really makes this dress special is the little bug pin!  I found this pin in a new shop in Old Town Temecula called The Wool Lady.  She specializes in hand embroidery, ribbon embroidery, and wonderful yarns and threads, and also has an artist who designs and makes one-of-a-kind ceramic buttons.  When I saw this bee button a couple of weeks ago, I knew it had to be part of the doll dress quilt.  Don't you agree that this is just perfect on the yellow?

I just realized that with the closeup you can see my machine buttonhole stitches.  I'm getting better, don't you think?  Today, I have been working on a birthday project for Jackson, my soon-to-be-three-year-old grandson.  Hmmmmm .... my satin stitch applique is not looking good on his present!  I wish I had started this newest project with the machine buttonhole stitch that (1) I enjoy doing and (2) I seem to do well.  I doubt if Jackson will realize that my satin stitching isn't quite perfect. As long as we have cake and candles and singing and presents, Jackson will have a great time at the party!  I'm not even sure that I'll be able to finish his project before his birthday.  So, it might be a present for his 3rd birthday, or his 4th, or definitely by his 5th!

Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #8

After a few weeks of tearing my hair out trying to be creative with this project, I've managed to finish 3 blocks in one week!  Whoo hoo!!  I still haven't tackled the one idea that's been rummaging around in my brain - using pintucks down the front of the bodice.  Maybe when I get June's fabric selections I'll finally get over my fear and give it a go.  My hesitance is that I am using the fusible web technique for putting the appliques down and then doing machine blanket stitching.  I'm concerned about what might happen to the pintucks once the dress piece is ironed onto the block background.  I could, of course, do the prudent thing and cut out the center of the fusible so the dress is not actually fused in the midsection where the pintucks would be.  More thought, obviously, is needed here!

I plan to make two wallhangings from these blocks, one for each of my two granddaughters.  I needed another sleeveless dress so that there would be at least one for each quilt.  I might do more in this style depending on the fabric that is yet to come.

One of our local quilt stores is selling off their heirloom fabric and trims; I bought the trim at 30% off.  I don't really know what it is called (heirloom sewing is somewhere in my future - maybe), but I could weave small ribbon through the openings to get this effect.  I found a matching embellishment in my stash of rubber stamping goodies.  Perfect match!

Getting ready for next Easter - Take Two!

Why do we crafters always think we can get more done than is humanly possible?  We set deadlines for ourselves that are far from reasonable and then stress out trying to meet them.  I wonder if male crafters do the same thing to themselves?  Maybe it's more gender related than hobby related.  Women just think they can do the impossible on a regular basis.

About a month before Easter, this Easter, I came across an adorable pattern on the Internet for Easter placemats.  No question about it - these just had to be made for my 3 grandchildren.  How much time could 3 placemats take?  A few days later, some friends and I were quilt shop hopping and the perfect fabric appeared.  Destiny was at work, I was certain.  These placemats would go together in a jiffy and be part of the Easter gift for the kidlets.

I should know myself by now.  I am not a speed sewer!  I like to take my time, enjoy the process, and refrain from making mistakes that cannot be rectified.  (That last part is really why I go so slow; inevitably, I make HUGE mistakes if I take shortcuts or rush the process.)  Among other things going on which were important last month, but which I can't remember now, I washed and ironed the fabric and proceeded to cut out the pattern pieces and start sewing.  I noticed right away that I wasn't going to have enough fabric for binding.  Not an insurmountable problem.  These are for kids, right?  They wouldn't care if the binding was different on each placemat.  In fact, my DD would probably just use the different binding to identify whose placemat was whose.  And, after DD throws the placemats into the wash along with towels, sheets, sweatshirts, and sox, they'll all look the same anyway!

Got them put together, machine blanket stitched the appliques, made my quilt sandwiches, then the panic set in.  How to quilt?  Looking at the calendar and the number of days left until Easter should have told me to just channel or grid quilt these babies.  Being the obsessive-compulsive-Virgo-perfectionist that I am, I of course decided to free-motion quilt!  Ta da - more stress!

I marked my chosen design on the first two placemats and did fairly well.  So well, in fact, that I decided to just wing it for the last two placemats.  I really felt comfortable by that time doing the quilting.  I think I'm going to enjoy free motion quilting more and more.  I do much better with some kind of markings, but progress was made.  Guess all those who advise you to "practice, practice, practice" really know what they are talking about.

Love the bunny faces, don't you?  I used fabric markers to color in the details rather than hand embroidery.  The carrot is open at the top so that silverware can be slipped in or a napkin.

By the time I was ready to figure out how to bind all four placemats, I realized these were never going to make it to the Easter 2010 table.  Sigh.

You can see a little bit of my quilting on this closeup.  Not ready for prime time, yet, but at least I can tell that it's a flower!

Now if I can just find a place to store these so that I'll remember them for Easter 2011!

Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #7

Here's the latest quilt block for the Darci's Dress Up project.  I think I'm running out of ideas!  I did have fun with this one, though.  A few weeks ago, DH and I decided to go on a day trip to Idyllwild, a town in our local mountains.  We spent an hour or two rummaging through an antique store and I picked up an old hankie with a crocheted edge.

I carefully separated the edging from the hankie (I'm keeping the hankie for another block in the quilt - perhaps an embroidered vest or apron?) and then used the edging for the collar and pocket trims on this block.  I was worried the edging would fray, so I satin stitched the crocheted edging to the block.  A friend also suggested an application of Fray Check.  Good suggestion!

I think we are halfway through this project, not counting actually putting the blocks together into some kind of quilt!  My thoughts now are to fashion the blocks into two small wallhangings for each of my granddaughters.  That seems to be a manageable goal and one that will motivate me to actually finish a project from these blocks.

I started the next block.  The fabric is blue and white, a favorite color combination of mine.  My plan is to aim for an heirloom sewing look.  Let's see how I do!

Look, Ma, no feed dogs!

Last Saturday, I took an all-day thread painting class at a local quilt store.  Wow - did I have fun!  I'm so glad that I spent a few hours the week before the class doing some free motion quilting on the not-yet-finished Easter placemats.  That's Easter 2011; another project that did not quite get done in time for the event.  Sound familiar?

The thread painting was a blast.  There were 12 of us in the class which was taught by Phyllis Binkley, a local art quilter.  Take a peak at Phyllis' work, and you'll get an idea of the techniques that she was sharing with us.  The class was fast-paced which actually helped me quite a bit.  I didn't have a chance to freeze up and worry about whether or not my practice piece was perfect!  The phrase "Just do it!" kept popping into my brain.  I was concerned about missing the next bit of advice from Phyllis or the demos of her stitch techniques.  No time to think about what my hands were doing or how fast my machine was running or where to look next!  I think I understand now why good free motion quilters recommend listening to music or getting into a "zen" type of trance.

My practice piece isn't anything to brag about, hence, no picture.  But I really think I'm moving away from the newbie stage and into a more comfortable stage with free motion stitching, whether quilting or thread painting.  I'm by no means good at it, but it doesn't scare the crap out of me anymore!  I consider that progress.

Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #6

I'm feeling challenged by my fellow quilt guild members who have come up with such adorable and creative dress designs!  I decided to try my hand at a sleeveless version of the dress for this block.  Inspired by one of Martha Pullen's tv shows, I tried my hand at a scalloped border.  It was a bit of a chore to do the machine appliqued blanket stitch on the scallops, but I'm happy with the result.  Not perfect, but what the hey .... it's done and I learned something new.

What do you think?  I'm pretty happy with this one.  A trip to a brand new Michaels store just across the freeway (hallelujah!) yielded the cute little teddy bear charm that I used as a necklace.  The flower trim came from JoAnns.

Whoopee!  I am caught up with the blocks and ready for the April fabric selection!

Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #4

Adding the ruffle on the last dress gave me a great feeling of success and accomplishment.  So, what did I then do to myself?  I immediately decided that making an apron would be a cinch and just oh-so-cute.  Others in our group have made aprons and pinafores - even little vests.  How hard could it be?

Not really hard, but not really easy either.  The biggest problem is that it is LITTLE.  This project brought back memories of making doll clothes for my daughter's Barbie 30-some years ago.  It was  difficult enough to do way back then, but now that the arthritis years have set in, working with something this tiny is not a piece of cake.

I can just about guarantee you that this will be the only apron on my quilt!  I think I may even have used the wrong side of the white eyelet fabric, but I'm not taking this baby apart.

The next dress will have simple embellishment.  I need to wait for another burst of energy before getting into something complicated!