The second odd quilt story

Still no photos, just the story.

Second story - I ran into an old pattern of mine, in person, at one of my long armers a few weeks ago.

I now know it is a quilt I designed in the 1990’s. 

I used to teach at a local shop who carried my patterns. The shop owner often made kits with my patterns.

So someone who bought the 1990’s kit, with my pattern, at the local quilt shop, finally finished it and sent it to the quilters in 2026. And I just happened to be there to see it. 

But when I saw it, I did not realize it was one of my patterns, made from the kit fabric, identical to mine. It just looked vaguely familiar, but I did not realize why.

It took my daughter for me to realize how I knew the quilt. 

I told her I saw a quilt at the long-armer’s shop, described it, and she knew it.  The original quilt, same fabrics as the kit, happened to be hanging in my daughter’s hall that same day. 

This quilt was well labeled with the date. And it also still had the second paper label from when my pattern was released and that quilt traveled to many shops for a couple years with the distributor. 

I have many well traveled quilts. 

The first odd quilt story

No photos, sorry, for some reason I can’t seem to post photos on my blog. 

I am having multiple out of body experiences with quilts this month. It is a bit crazy how things come full circle.

Here is the first story - 

A quilt I made in 1997 with Japanese fabrics recently found its way back to me. 

A friend found and returned it. It was the second of a pair. I still have the first. One of my daughters (middle) is now thrilled to have the second. 

Normally all my older quilts are well labeled, but this pair was not. In the process of trying to date and get labels made for both quilts, I found the original pattern (purchased, not my design) which luckily was dated. 

And that led me to the seller of the original pattern, who does not have copies of any of her old patterns. I mailed the original back to her. I had two more of her patterns and mailed those originals too. She was thrilled. In fact, I think she is republishing the quilt pattern. 

I also did not keep any of my old quilt patterns. They pop up from time to time on eBay and Etsy and we buy them back.

Quilting retreat

I went to a quilting retreat this weekend with one of  my daughters. 

I went solo last year and stayed the weekend. I also went to a retreat by myself in January and stayed the weekend. If I am by myself I stay. 

This year, with daughter to drive, we came home each night and ended a day early. She did all the driving. 

So, she took Friday off and we arrived just as the weekend started at 10am Friday. 

About 5pm Friday, I hit my limit and was very tired. We headed for home. We arrived home 1 hour and 15 minutes later. We then had our whole evenings, as if it were a slightly late work night. 

We arrived at 9am Saturday, just as most people were getting going. We were there in time for the 9:30am group photo. 

We shopped briefly at three places Saturday morning. If I had been by myself, the shopping would have been much quicker, but that was okay. 

We took all our own food, so we were actually at the event (in the room) much more than most other people who both shopped and ate at restaurants. 

I got very tired, again about 5pm Saturday, we packed up and headed for home. 

My husband packed both dogs in daughter’s car, on our driveway, and headed to her house. Daughter and I met him at her house, she unloaded her stuff, husband got in my car with me and we headed home. He then unpacked my stuff. 

We did not go back Sunday, people start packing and leaving for home about noon, the event is cleaned up and over by 3pm. I find Sundays at a retreat awkward. 

This worked well for us, we plan to do it this way again next spring. 

For the January 2027 retreat, I am finding a buddy or two to go with me. I am going a day early so all my driving and unloading is Thursday. I am taking my own food. And I plan to come home early Sunday while I feel good to drive. 

Scrap jail mentality

 I have been quilting for decades. 

I have never kept my fabric scraps. I have a bag going at all times. My larger/useable trimmings go in the bag. When the bag is full, I give it away. 

When I start a project, my good with color quilting friend often calls dibs on specific fabric. So she not only gets the scraps, but she gets the larger leftovers too.

Other quilters have commented on this habit of mine, over the years, because it is unusual, most quilters have lots of scraps. In fact people write extensively over how they store and save their scraps. Again, not me, I rehome all scraps.

A unique recent comment caught my attention. 

I was at a sewing bee, and we were talking about my not keeping fabric scraps, and one of the quilters said she just recently realized she is a slave to her scraps. 

When most people say that they are talking about sorting and storing their scraps, that’s a big topic.

But that is not what she meant. She was talking about being creatively restricted by her scraps. Most projects she sews are all about using up the scraps. She is not really designing or planning her quilts, she is just using up what is on hand. 

Do I make scrap quilts? Yes, I love them. But mine are not made with literal scraps. I plan and collect fabric to have a scrappy look, without using actual scraps. 

Slightly stinky fabric

Anyone collecting vintage fabric might be interested in my recent experiment. 

I have asthma, so I have always washed all my fabric to remove all the chemicals and to allow it to shrink before I cut it. I was also sewing/quilting in the 60’s-90’s when dyes were not always color safe, a topic for another day, which reinforced my pre-washing habit.

Here’s my experiment with slightly musty fabric:

I washed with liquid Tide and white vinegar, smell still there.

I rewashed with liquid Tide and baking soda, smell still there.

I rewashed with liquid Tide and powdered Oxiclean, smell totally removed. 

I used the combination of liquid Tide and powdered Oxiclean, dissolved in very hot water, for the rest of my vintage fabric loads, it worked like a charm - on the first try - every time.

Note - I dissolve the powdered Oxiclean in very hot water (in an old gallon milk jug that I can shake), before adding it to the warm water in the washing machine, then I add the fabric. 

I did not put any fabric in the dryer until I was sure every trace of the smell was gone. The dryer would have heat set the smell.

Washing older fabric in Oxiclean is now my standard procedure. Fabric from the free table at the guild, fabric from a resale shop, fabric from an estate sale, fabric gifted to me, all gets washed in Oxiclean before it gets added to my own fabric.

Update on the Pickle Dish

Yesterday’s post was on my Pickle Dish Experience.

 Still working on my personal Pickle Dish quilt -

It took quite a while to decide on the layout and the cornerstone fabric colors. 

Pickle dish

I had never made a Pickle Dish nor a Double Wedding Ring quilt years ago when I was prolific.

The last few years, quilting again, I thought my quilting life was better focused on simple quilts. 

I volunteered to help with a paper pieced Pickle Dish Raffle Quilt this past fall. We started sewing in December. 

I felt intimidated. I had not paper pieced in nearly 20 years. My hands are not what they were. 

The other ladies working on the quilt were also a little scared. That helped a lot. I was not the weakest link.

My share was 32 pickle wedges. I paced myself at two a day. It was extremely slow going at first. I watched a couple videos and perfected my technique. I absolutely got better and faster. I got in a groove.

When I finished my assigned wedges, I moved on to making a pickle dish of my own. 

These are my fabric/colors -

Here (below) is an example of the assembled blocks on a Pickle Dish Quilt. Note, my darks and lights are reversed from the illustrations below. I am not yet sure of my corner stone/square fabric. 

Thread/Lint catcher for my sergers

 I have two sergers, one with black thread, the other white thread. 

If you are not familiar, a serger seals the raw edges of fabric so it does not fray. 

There is a very sharp blade that cuts the fabric even as it sews. This creates a real mess. 

Previously I had a paper bag taped to the table to catch the threads and cut off fabric bits. This did not work well, I ended up with a lap full of lint. 

In November, serging the raw edges of the Japanese quilt, there was a huge quantity of lint. I had to vacuum myself. My black pants were covered. 

I found this, it works like a charm -

It is not attached. The weight of the serger holds it in place. So it is easily portable to a sewing bee or retreat. 

Joy to the World

 I made this quilt in September of 1999. 

So it is 26 years old. 

(My quilt racks are built into the molding in my kitchen, hall, entry way. I have six large quilts on display all the time.)

I think the snowman quilt still looks very fresh. Unlike most old bridesmaid dresses, it has stood the test of time and still looks contemporary, in my opinion. 

My good with color quilting friend thinks I taught this as a class. 

I do not remember. 

She was able to borrow the book from a friend of hers so I could photograph the front and back. I paged through it, the designers did well, many other patterns also stand the test of time. It is a cute book. 

Sewing the Japanese fabric into half triangle squares

The next month, I took the Japanese fabric back to the same bee group, middle went with me. We took a sewing machine and a serger. 

She paired the fabric and drew lines corner to corner on the lighter of each pair. 

I sewed, a generous 1/4”, on either side of the lines. 

She serged, letting the serger cut on the drawn line, to create one half square triangle block. 

Then she serged the other half to form the second block. 

I pressed all the blocks open.

We completed 3/4 of the blocks that day. 

Over the course of the following two weeks, I completed the remaining blocks. 

And then, using a 7.5” rotary square, I trimmed all the blocks, that took a week. I have to be careful of my thumbs. 

She laid the quilt blocks out on the kitchen table + two folding tables. 

Light Japanese fabric

In 2022, I ordered this bundle, below, from kallistiquilts on Etsy. I think I used all of it in the first neutral quilt. 

In early 2025, I recontacted the shop and asked for white/off white/light colored Japanese Fabric. There wasn’t any listed on her Etsy site. 

I needed to be able to cut 8.5” squares. And I wanted to prewash it. 

She very kindly went through the leftover ends from her past inventory looking for 9”-10” pieces that were light. It was on her attic. She did a big search for me. She mailed me a box. The photo below shows some of the fabric she sent. 

I needed more fabric. I hunted for American homespun that blended with the Japanese fabric. I found two great pieces at a regional outlet store. I found three more pieces at another warehouse store. 

At my my bee group, I serged the raw edges of all that Japanese fabric. It took me most of the day. I used a lint roller to tidy me, the chair, and the floor.

I took all that serged Japanese fabric home, washed/dried it, ironed it, and then cut into 8.5” squares. 

I saved all the extra ends for my good with color friend. She loves Japanese fabric for needle work. This was her pile -

More tomorrow.

The second neutral quilt, also known as the Japanese quilt

I made the first neutral quilt in 2022 for DIL. It is king size. 

It always amazes me how colorful that neutral quilt looks in a photo. 

Yes, I think the walls of that room might be purple. Oldest/DIL have been slowly repainting their house. The previous owners had every room painted in what might be labeled “Easter egg” colors.  They have not yet gotten to the upstairs. 

Most of the first neutral quilt (above) is regular quilter’s cotton fabric. But there is Japanese fabric as well.  

Middle wanted a neutral quilt of her own, but she wanted all Japanese fabric. And she had lighter and more neutral in mind. 

It took me months to collect the fabric. It is extremely hard to find white/off white/light Japanese fabric.

I went back to the Etsy shop where I had ordered the first set of Japanese fabric in 2022. 

More Tomorrow.

Our cart

This started out as a dog cart. 

It has 4” wheels, so it pulls easily. The weight limit is over 300lbs. The handle folds down for storage and transport. It weighs about 15 lbs, so it is easy to get in and out of my SUV.

About a year ago we were taking trick class series with the dogs. One of the skills was to ride on a cart. The dog club owns several of these carts. We bought one to practice at home. 

One of the dogs liked riding on the cart. She even liked to go fast. 

The other dog it was slow going, hence the need to practice, but eventually she tolerated it. 

So, we had the cart. 

March 2025, I was headed to a three day quilting retreat about 1.5 hours away. I needed to be able to transport my sewing supplies, including my machine, by myself. 

Middle reminded me we had the cart. Up until that point, it lived at her house. 

Now it lives at my house. 

I use it about once a month to transport sewing supplies to a bee or workshop or retreat. 

Last weekend, middle went with me to a bee group. We worked on quilt blocks for her. 

We needed both a sewing regular machine and a serger. We needed a cutting mat, a pressing mat, an iron. We needed the cut pieces for the quilt blocks. We needed incidentals. 

How did I know exactly what to take? I got up early that morning and made two blocks. As I did each part, I set the supplies I used on the ironing board. Then I was confident of exactly what was needed. 

It was more than I normally take, but it also was surprising little for two people. 

Once a month, I have a bit of a panic

 My studio, with its little closet under the stairs, works very well for me. 

I am used to sewing at home. 

Once a month I load up my stuff and join a group at the downtown library to quilt for the day. I like this group.

Part of this is easy, I have a good rolling cart. I have a portable sewing machine. I have a small bag of supplies. 

Here is where the panic comes in - I never know what project to take to sew. This is fresh in my mind, because my group met this past Saturday. I was in a panicked scramble Friday evening and early Saturday morning, trying to figure out what to take. It was unpleasant.

I work on one project at a time. My project is usually organized on a table and doesn’t feel easily move-able. 

I waste an enormous amount of time scrambling to find something to take. 

I am over this panic. 

I am organizing myself, so that I always have something packed in advance, for these Saturday events. 

My first project is actually four projects. Hopefully this takes me through the end of 2025 and well into 2026. 

I just ordered four alphabet panels (Windham Fabrics), identical to this one, on Etsy -

If this quilt (above) looks familiar, I made it, June 2024, for granddaughter. 

I am repeating this quilt, four more times, for upcoming extended family babies. My husband’s cousin’s kids are now having babies. 

Notice how many colors are in this quilt panel? I plan to use up fabric from my stash in making these baby quilts (borders and backing and binding).

I have double nap flannel on a bolt at my house. This needs used up also. It takes up a lot of room on my shelves. I plan to use the flannel, instead of batting, in a quilt-as-you-go style. This will avoid long-arm quilter fees. 

I did buy the alphabet panels. Since I bought four, the shipping was free. I hope to not buy anything else/extra for any of these baby quilts. 

I am also making coordinating swaddling blankets to send with each package. I may have to buy flannel for the swaddling blankets, I like to send three for each baby.

Domino effect

The only way to have a clean/empty kitchen table at my house is to be a bit militant. 

We have a large kitchen table that is a clutter magnet. 

It has two looks, with no in between. It is either chock full of clutter or it is empty. Those seem to be the only options. In order to have it empty, I have to be very vigilant.

For the last many months, the kitchen table clutter was all mine. I started using it to lay out quilt blocks and it became a fabric magnet. It has been piled for many months. 

In order to have the kitchen table empty, I needed another work surface to lay out fabric and quilt blocks. Luckily the old kitchen table is in my sewing room. Unluckily it was full of fabric too.

This is where dominoes come in to play. 

In order to have the old kitchen table available to spread out my current quilting projects, I needed storage spots for all the fabric. 

The first step was to find a home for all the bolts of fabric I bought at Joann’s during their closeout. They were piled on the old kitchen table. 

I wrote about it here - 

https://baby-steps-v.blogspot.com/2025/07/better-use-for-shelf.html?m=1

That shelving unit will empty itself as I use that fabric. I will not be buying more bolts. Joann’s is quite gone/fini.

There is still more fabric. It is the folded fabric, not on bolts. There is a lot of it. 

I have a second shelving unit in that same little sewing closet under the stairs. 

It was very tidy. But I realized it was an under used space. Many of the tidy items on those shelves are obsolete, I no longer need or use them. 

That is where I am working now - I am sorting everything on those white shelves.

Better use for a shelf

The shelving unit, behind the door in my sewing closet under the stairs, was very organized. 

It held craft supplies. But in recent years, I never used any of them. In fact, I had not utilized anything on those shelves in many years, maybe nearly a decade.

JoAnn Fabrics went out of business earlier this year. As they had sales, I bought bolts of 108” and 120” wide quilt backing. I also bought a few bolts of 42” fabric to sew together as backing. And I bought bolts of white cotton in a variety of widths. I use white as my background fabric on a lot of quilts these days. 

It occurred to me that the shelving unit was exactly the right size for all these bolts. The bolts were sort of  everywhere. They needed an organized spot. 

These bolts are temporary. Eventually they will all be used. I will not replace them. (Then this shelf will be ready for something else.)

My husband cleared the shelving unit for me. He stacked the craft contents in middle’s old room. She is going through them at a future date. 

I organized my bolts. And it is a very good use of space. 

Quilt labels

A quilt label is sewn on the back of a quilt to identify the maker, year made and usually the location. Middle feels very strongly that my quilts need labels. I prefer machine embroidered labels.

In 2022 or 2023 I went on a quest to find someone to machine embroider quilt labels for me. I had a very hard time finding anyone. 

When I finally did, I had her do very short labels with just my first initial, last name and the year. That is 9 characters total, very simple. I had her make labels for 2023 and 2024

That shop is now gone. 

Since my long arm quilter stall appears to be over, I need labels for 2025. I have a lot of quilt tops in progress.

I went to my local quilt shop and explained my problem. Owner said her DIL would make labels for me. (The last time I was looking, it was too close to the holidays, everyone was backlogged.)

I texted with the DIL, dropped fabric, and a sample at the shop for her. 

So I should have 2025 labels shortly.

I have one label left from 2023 and lots left from 2024. I can cut the year off these labels and just put my name on the back of non-family quilts to use up the out-of-date labels.

Flag quilt #3

I made 9-patches using up the dark blue fabric leftover from flag quilt #2 and the light blue fabric leftover from flag quilt #1.

The 9-patches are one light blue fabric, the solid squares are a second light blue fabric (below).

I loved the blue on blue design. It makes a lovely blue pieced background. 

Middle and I agreed, the nine patch background was too plain. It needed something more. It needed something to balance the flag. 

At first I thought about substituting bold blocks for a few of the 9-patch blocks. These were my inspiration photos -

At middle’s suggestion, “applique”, I ended up going an entirely different direction -

Flag Quilt #2

I started right in on flag quilt #2 rolling on with the momentum of having a free long arm quilter and using up masses of fabric from my studio. 

Here was my starting point flag quilt #2  - 

Here are my inspiration photos -

There was a lot of math, the three sets of blocks (large friendship star, small friendship star, fancy star) and the flag were all different sizes. 

The background fabric is a consistent light blue print. I had a limited amount of that blue fabric and could not get more. It was a measure twice, cut once project.

I completed this quilt top between 4/7 - 4/16. I remembered to take a photo.

The stars are scattered, but in a systematic way. I like how the scattered stars form a background.  I like how the three fancy stars are string and balance the flag. 

I like the scale of the whole thing. 

Flag quilt #2 (above) is ready to go to the new-to-me long arm quilter. 

When she texts to say flag quilt #1 is finished, flag quilt #2 is ready to go to her in the same trip. Bonus, she lives the next town north of me, a close distance.

Military Veteran Donation Quilts (Flag quilt #1)

I found five flag panels, I made long ago. 

I wanted them to go to good use. None of the kids wanted them. I did not want them either. 

At the quilt retreat in March, a female Navy veteran told me about a group. They make and donate  veteran/military charity quilts. I was thrilled to find this connection. More information is at the bottom of this post.

My goal was to only use supplies on hand, not buy anything. I gathered what I had and stared at it for a while. 

My Flag quilt #1 -

Inspiration -

My finished top -

Middle and I dropped flag quilt top  #1 (above) off to the Navy Veteran, who is also a new-to-me long arm quilter, on Sunday, April 6, 2025. 

I neglected to get a photo of the top before it went to the quilter, but she kindly took one (above) for me. 

There is something off about the color in this photo and the quilt top in this photo. It looks off and a bit ugly. It did not look that way to me in person. I will post another photo when the quilt top is quilted and bound. 

I am very relieved I have a “no cost system” to put the five flag pieces to good use -

This Navy Veteran and long arm quilter is a member of my quilt guild. She volunteers her time/talent quilting for a local military support group. The group provides batting. The group will also do the handwork of the binding. 

So, for me, this means I piece the quilt top(s). I give the top and backing to the long arm quilter. She loads it on her frame and quilts it. She gives it back to me. I make binding and do the sewing machine part of the binding. I take it to the guild meeting for show and tell. I give it back to the long arm quilter at the meeting, she gives it to the military support group for me. They finish the binding and give it to a veteran.

No $$$ is required for the long arm quilting nor the batting nor the handwork on the binding.