Quilt Appreciation 101

When I’ve been asked “how much do you want for that” when quilting a quilt top already done, or adding a border and quilting, or doing a whole quilt from scratch, I never know what quite to say. Many a quilter is stumped by this question – because they know the number of hours (no quilt takes less than “hours”, does it?) they have spent doing this work. How much would it be if one charged minimum wage? Should one charge more than that because it’s a specialized artistic talent? What are some of the steps and time requirements in  creating a quilt?

Well, I hope to be able to shed some light on the work that goes into a hand-made quilt so maybe, just maybe,  I can raise the appreciation.  Maybe I’ll just deter many from trying it.  Did I say quilts are projects?

1. Quilt design and sketch – When doing embroidered blocks, having some pre-done blocks or someone else’s unfinished object (UFO), it takes time after deciding on the finished size to figure out how to set up the layout, how many borders, adding sashing, one or two? In other words, designing can take time. Lots of time.  I ALWAYS use graph paper to sketch out the full quilt in the proper ratios, so I can be sure the finished product will look good. I use this sketch to figure out the number of pieces I need to cut, the length and width of each piece, and how much yardage I need to have for each color and the backing. This process can take 15 minutes or 3 or more hours.
2. Figuring and calculating yardage needed – If you have a pattern and use the pattern exactly as written, the yardage needs are usually spelled out for you. However, most of the time, you want to make something larger or smaller, or maybe they had 8 color choices, and you want to use only 5 – etc. I always check the calculations of border sizes, block sizes, to finished quilt size, and yardage needed three times before continuing. This can take from 15 minutes to a couple hours or a bit more.
3. Pre-washing and drying material – depends on how many rinses one has to do – so this can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. For those who say, “why pre-wash?” – see my previous post on this topic.
4. Ironing fabrics – Since all fabrics are pre-washed, it’s best to iron before cutting and especially before quilting. Gives you more uniform pieces and also makes basting go better. Takes at least an hour, but usually longer.
5. Cutting fabrics – With rotary cutters and mats, this process is actually one of the easiest and fastest. The trick it to make sure all your calculations are correct BEFORE you cut, and then, when you cut, measure twice, and cut once. Depending on the number of pieces, it could be done in 1-2 hours. 
6. Piecing and sewing of quilt top – This depends on whether you are starting from scratch, how big your patchwork pieces are, the difficulty level of the block, or perhaps you have the quilt top and are just adding borders. And, it’s best to lay these pieces out in the order you will be sewing them, which can take time depending on number of pieces. I just recently made a quilt with lots of pieces and I am pretty sure the sewing together of the top took longer than the quilting part – or pAdd to the piecing and sewing the ironing you have to do to get the seams to lay in the right direction for matching corners and such – 0-12 hours.
7. Ironing after all piecing is done – This step may or may not be necessary depending, but it’s best to give the whole quilt top one final press just to make sure all of those seams are laying flat once you start quilting – about an hour depending on quilt size.
8. Drawing on designs – Free-motion quilting can eliminate this step, but not always. Sometimes, I use templates to draw designs to quilt – giving the quilt more of an heirloom look. Time spent on this also depends on how much of the quilt will be done this way and how intricate the designs are – 0-4 hours.
   
9. Basting the quilt sandwich – The time spent on this depends on method of basting and how large the quilt is.   I use pin basting, but my table isn’t large enough to lay out the whole quilt at once, so I have to do it in sections – 1-2 hours
   
10. Quilting – The amount of time spent on this varies by many different factors. Is this done by hand quilting, by machine, is the machine sit down or long arm? It can also vary depending upon the intricacy of the design. A simple meandering or stippling on a queen size quilt takes anywhere from 6-10 hours also depending upon the distance the pattern is apart – a meander ½ inch apart will take much longer than one 1 inch apart. Heirloom quilting designs have to be drawn on and followed more meticulously than a meander – and other designs that can still be free-motioned without a drawn on design usually are more intricate and require referring to the design as quilting and also take more time than meanders. For a queen sized quilt – the time would amount to at the very least about 6  hours and up to 20 or more.
11. Making the binding – Some people have excess backing that they just fold over twice and stitch to the front for the binding. I have to admit, I’ve never done this. I prefer the double-fold binding, bias or straight grain, sewn to the top by machine and hand stitched to the back. I want my quilts to last, and this is the best method to assure that.   Cutting the binding, sewing strips together, ironing in fold, sewing onto quilt top, hand sewing to back  5-6 hours.
12. A final wash – Depends on whether by hand or machine – I’ve done this in my bathtub or large kitchen sink and by machine, then machine drying – 1 hour.
    
13. Trimming threads or weaving in – After pulling it out of the dryer, I lay it out on the bed, top and bottoms up – trim or weave in threads -1 hour.

The bottom line, the typical quilt takes at least 20 hours, but could take 40 or 50.   I’m not going to do the cost calculations here, you can figure it out for yourself using your preferred $ per hour.  Also, none of these calculations took into consideration the cost of material, thread, batting, electricity, needles and all the other tools that make it go a little faster and easier.

So, how much would you pay for a quilt made from scratch? What do you think it is “worth”?  Would you consider a quilt a worthy gift for a wedding or something extra special that you would be very grateful for?

I can say that now that I have done it, numerous times, I appreciate it more than ever before.  Try it, maybe you will, too.

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 Q-Tip #14 – Handmade quilts are actually priceless.

 

Pre-wash Camp

Amongst those in the quilting world, there are those that choose to pre-wash all fabrics, and those that choose not to.  I don’t know the latter reasoning, but I do know why I fell into the pre-wash camp.  Here are my reasons – always looking for more information, so you if you fall into one camp or the other, feel free to enlighten me with your comments.

Reason #1 – Bleeding into lighter fabrics is less likely.

Until recently, this had not been a problem for me – until I decided to piece the quilt cutting and sewing before pre-washing.  After the quilt top was done, before quilting, I did wash it, several times, in my kitchen sink.  Even so, after quilting, I did just a rinse in the machine, and found out that some of the blue still bled to the white backing.  Seven washes/rinses in the sink wasn’t enough.  I feel sheepish – and vow never to let this happen again. I know this won’t technically “ruin” the quilt, since most people rarely see the back, but still – what if it hadn’t been the back…

 

Also, pre-washing before sewing means you are washing smaller pieces which are easier to handle.

Reason #2 – You get to know the fabrics you are working with. 

As you wash in the kitchen sink, as I do, you learn your fabric, the colors, the weave, the stretch, the feel.  Yes, you spend a lot of time ironing, but this is also another opportunity to learn more of your fabric.  Yes, the feel, the pattern, the weave, but also any little imperfection you may want to cut around.  I’ve found tiny snags, small holes, and even a small red 1 1/2″ line in white muslin.

Reason #3 – You get to bask in the scent of starch as you quilt.

Maybe it’s just me, but I love the smell of starch, some brands more than others.  Ironing kind of sucks, but necessary after pre-washing so the fabrics are wrinkle free, and especially for free-motion quilting – the starch helps in the handling under the machine needle.  Plus, some starches are scented now, and anyway you look at it, anything smells better than that new store bought chemical smell.

Reason #4 – You get to choose the softness or stiffness of your fabric.

No starch, light starch, heavy starch, you pick.

Reason #5 – Not only do you not have the chemical smell, but those chemicals also won’t be bothering your skin or sinuses.

Reason #6 – Fabric is pre-shrunk.

Did you know different fabrics shrink at different rates?  Yet, even after hand-washing and machine drying, you can expect a bit more shrinkage, but it will be less than non-pre-washed and should be more uniform.  Plus your finished size should more closely resemble  your original calculations, unless you actually allowed for shrinkage, something I always seem to forget to do.

Reason #7 – Old fabrics, old quilt tops – find out before quilting which stains will come out.

I have done some quilt tops of various ages, stored away, mostly stain free, but not always. I’d rather know before quilting if those stains are coming out.  Maybe I can replace that piece, or quilt over it, but at least I know before I start – or unfortunately, in some cases, if it’s even worth starting in the case of really bad allover stains.

Reason #8 –  Again, in the case of old fabrics, old quilt tops – you find out if it is even worth quilting – is the fabric already threadbare, will there be a hole where there was once a stain?  

I actually had this happen with a really nice vintage piece, probably fabrics from the 40’s, but I discovered it was very badly stained and smelled of petrochemicals.  When I washed it with dish soap – Dawn – the water turned black, and after several washes when the water was finally clear, I noticed there were tiny holes all over – whatever that was on the fabric ate through it.  A shame, but I didn’t waste time quilting it first.  That would have been a disaster for my machine!

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Q-Tip #13 – Pre-wash everything  – advantages are numerous.

 

My love affair with my Brother PQ1500

Dear Brother PQ1500,

I don’t know where to start. I suppose it should be with how we met. I can’t recall the exact details of how I discovered your existence, some on-line search I’m sure for a sewing machine that I could use for free-motion quilting (FMQ). What lead me to that search was the desire to try my hand at FMQ, not break the bank, and have a throat or harp space big enough to better accommodate queen size quilts, which I knew would be a frequently used size.

I recall, at the time, Amazon said you were available at a very reasonable price – considering the fact that getting one queen size quilt quilted by the local quilt shop on a long arm was about $200 just for a simple stipple or meander pattern, I figured you would have paid for yourself in three quilts, and I had many more than that to do.

I remember telling my family and friends about you, how I had my eye on you. Still at $560, I searched a little further, tried my hand at FMQ on my small Kenmore sewing machine, and posted interest on a Yahoo group of your name. Alas, I had quite a few offers for a used machine, and so I chose someone in Michigan as her price was right and included additional feet, needles, bobbins, and even an accessory box.

The deal was struck, and several days later, you arrived on my doorstep. Naturally, I carefully unpackaged you, immediately, and proceeded to try you out. Now, some of your downfalls, I had read, were tension problems, skipped stitches, and broken threads; however, I was hopeful I would be spared these issues.

Well, I wasn’t spared. For a couple days and going through a few quilt sandwich swatches, I played around with thread and tension, needles and quilting feet until I was fairly breakage free.

Still, you being a new machine (to me), I wanted to test you out with “real” work, but nothing fancy or treasured just yet, something small before attempting a large quilt.

Luckily, I had some old cutter quilts that I intended to make old quilt throws out of, but add some extra quilting. It took me a whole weekend just to cut out to the good parts to those old quilts. I cut them in to 11” squares. Now, I had a stack of over 150 squares to give you a solid trial run. I had been visiting Leah Day’s site, the Free-Motion Quilting Project, so I also had a myriad of quilting designs to try out. I had also found a local dealer who carried the thread Leah recommended for less breakage.  Isacord.  I was now ready to sit down and start quilting.

This is when I fell in love with you.   Winding bobbins was faster and the thread wound evenly. Your quilting foot was nice, but the Juki foot seemed to be made for you. I learned how much you like to be cleaned and oiled. I enjoyed your extension table which gave me added work space. I found your sweet spot, the perfect speed at which you and I seemed to hum and purr along quilting together. You and I together made beautiful music, beautiful designs. All I wanted to do every night when I got home from work was to spend more time with you.

Eventually, I had enough blocks for a throw size and that’s when I discovered what a great straight stitch machine you are. Yes, it’s your only stitch, but, you do it so very well. I experimented with your stitch lengths, all the way from 1mm to 7mm, a wonderful basting size. Your pin-feed mechanism was an interesting feature I’d never heard of before, so I had to try that out. All of these features amazed me.

Old quilt throw

Oh, but I’m leaving out your best features. The easy flip of a dial on the “outside” of the machine to drop the feed dogs. A push of a button to cut the thread. With the needle in the right position, an automatic needle threader (Yes, even though your’s was broken when I got you, someday it will be great!) And later, that 9” throat provided a much better space for large quilts. Your ¼ inch marks for sewing seams and the horizontal mark for knowing where to stop for binding corners.

But, the pièce de résistance – the needle down feature! One push of a button, and now, no matter where the needle is when I take my foot off the pedal, you move till the needle is down in the fabric. Now, I can lift my hands off the quilt, and the quilt stays where I stopped. I can reposition my hands and go again. No turning the hand wheel. No little bit of slippage when I remove my hand. Just perfection!

Now, as we have worked together this past year and a half, I have discovered more things about you and have come to know you so much better. I learned the nuances of adjusting tension for different thread types, pressure feet adjustments for different fabrics, differences in threading for differing threads, and did I say how much you love to be oiled? I’ve taken your bottom off when I lost a screw, saw your metal underworkings, and gave you a good cleaning. I’ve experimented with different needles, tried out your walking foot and even your rolled hem foot. I’ve taken apart the tension dial a couple times when thread was breaking and all other adjustments had failed. I’ve even downloaded your service manual so I could get a better understanding of your anatomy.

Together, we have made a few baby quilts, kid quilts, old quilt throws, Christmas throws, t-shirt throws, several queen size quilts, and so much more to come.

Our time together is far from over. As my skills increase, you remain stable, steady, a constant work horse. And, even if someday, I should come into enough money to obtain a 16” sit down or a long arm (either of which is a small fortune), I shall keep you by my side for piecing, something you do very well.

Oh, I’ve seen other machines that can do 200 stitches and embroidery, too, but they don’t compare to you with your solid design and simple, but extremely useful features.

Yes, my love will last a long time to come. Without you, I’m not sure I’d be the quilter I am today. You complete me.

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Q-Tip #12: Your sewing machine is your most important tool for quality quilting.

Writing 101 – Day 5 – Be Brief

 You discover a letter on a path that affects you deeply. Today, write about this encounter. And your twist? Be as succinct as possible.

I didn’t find a letter, but I found many of Mom’s note to herself while going through her quilting supplies. Random things like her kids birthdates, spouses, their birthdates, wedding day; initials of people with some material description besides it (what did this mean? A quilt?); family trees (I found out from one of these notes I had a great uncle who was killed in a kitchen knife accident – and also found out I was related to almost everyone in my hometown!) She also made notes on sales receipts of material she purchased and where.

I didn’t keep all these little writings. She seemed to like to write and had very good penmanship (the Palmer Method!). Some of the notes frustrated me because I had no idea what they meant. Sometimes, I wonder if I just should have been more interested in what she had to say, but you know, kids don’t always want to know what their parents think.

Since she died, I realized I did care, and so I have taken more time to listen to Dad’s stories. No letters from him though he writes in his journal every day. I read some once. Having been a farmer, he sticks with weather, temperature highs and lows, and what he did that day. Pretty mundane stuff. But, I found, when you talk to him, he can talk up a storm.

Try it sometime with your parents or grandparents if you still have them. You will never regret the time spent – for yourself and in helping them feel more connected to the world.

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Q-Tip #11 – When you see a quilt you like that someone else made, ask a lot of questions as to the history and origin of the design, materials, etc. Most quilts have interesting stories behind them.

328 words, dang, I guess that’s brief for me!

Writing 101 – Day 4 – The Serial Killer

Write about a loss: something (or someone) that was part of your life, and isn’t any more.

Today’s twist: Make today’s post the first in a three-post series.

Oh, dear readers, I think I may have covered this one, in great detail, already. My First Quilt saga, a three part series, my first three posts – not only covered how I got started quilting, but also the loss of my Mom and Grandma.

Whew, sorry, I’m just going to have to refer you back to those rather lengthy posts if you haven’t read them already.  Somehow the names got mixed up, but I think these are in order.

• My First Quilt

• My first quilt – Part 2

• My First Quilt – The final saga

I just can’t do that again! It was a nice catharsis, but writing about a loss and making it a three-post series, I’m glad to say I’ve been there and done that!

Okay, okay, okay….. I changed my mind. Well, just a little, I promise this won’t be nearly as long as those first three 1500+ word posts!

A very long time ago, I went to university for one semester. The whys and wherefores of my dropping out are muddled now, I didn’t know the opportunity I had, and if I could go back and change part of my life, it would be that – well, maybe, because others things would not have happened that are now a big part of my life.

But, that is not this story (nor will I most likely ever tell it on this blog). This story has to do with the loss of a quilt that Mom and Grandma made for me while in college. It was a twin size in which they used scraps from my sister’s and mine old shirts, mom’s dresses, etc. I remember it had the Miller logo on it, my maiden name, and the backing was a white material with small colorful dots, stars and yellow thumbnail moons. They also made me letter pillows in my name with the backing material and to which I found the pattern for when cleaning Dad’s house, and now can’t remember where that pattern is (lost?, no but where is it? I’m sure I kept it, at least I think I did, didn’t I?).

I know I had this quilt for years and my kids also used it, and the pillows, too, but in all the moves   – from 1980 to 2004, 18 times – it got lost. Or did it get torn up and I threw it out? Surely I would never have thrown away a quilt. Or was in a box that was supposed to be put on the truck but made it to the trash pile instead? I don’t know. I’ll never know. Did I give it to one of the kids as they left home and they still have it unbeknownst to me?  How could I lose track of a quilt – not some store bought thing – but something made by my mother and grandmother?

It’s not like I sit and dwell on it, but from time to time, I feel that twinge of loss and angst for not knowing the fate of this hand-made treasure. (like right now)

In my recent review of quilt items finished by mom, or should I say started by her, I found one piece, one block, that reminds me of this old quilt.  The red and blue print blocks are our old shirts. The blue and yellow striped is my mom’s dress.  The white was part of a dress I wore when I was 10.  No one wanted this block, so I still have it, and now, suppose, I should keep it to remember that old quilt by.

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 Q-Tip #10 – Treasure quilts made for you and take care of them – you could regret it later if you don’t.

 

 

Writing 101- Day 3 Commit to Writing Practice

Three Significant Songs?

Today, celebrate three songs that are significant to you. For your twist, write for fifteen minutes without stopping — and build a writing habit. Today’s twist: You’ll commit to a writing practice. The frequency and the amount of time you choose to spend today — and moving forward — are up to you, but we recommend a minimum of fifteen uninterrupted minutes per day.

Okay, so I admit, for a quilting blog, this one had me stumped. Three songs and quilting – help me out here, folks!

How about my own twist – three people that were influential to my quilting hobby? Yeah, I can do that!

Okay, so, I’m sure you have already guessed #1 and #2 – Mom and Grandma, so maybe I should go with three others?

Well, naturally, at first thought, I have to go with Leah Day at the Free Motion Quilting Project blogspot. http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/ Without her, I’m not sure how or if I would have been able to be brave enough to start free-motion quilting. Her videos and 365 + free-motion designs have been very instrumental to my learning. I also like her attitude about doing what works for you!

Jenny Doan at The Missouri Star Quilt Company, https://www.missouriquiltco.com/. Her tutorials on YouTube helped me out a great deal. She makes it look like quilting is just a bunch of fun, and tells you all the time – have fun with it. I also like her free-style piecing techniques as sometimes, she just doesn’t pin and other time consuming things that are a deterrent and reek of “hard work”.

This #3 spot is actually two people, or more, okay, I’m cheating a bit here.

Elaine G. – a friend of the family’s.  Many years when I was a kid, our families would have get-togethers, and the kids would be in one room and grown-ups in another. I don’t know how many quilting stories Mom and Elaine shared. I didn’t even know she was a quilter till after Mom died 6 years ago. I also didn’t know that she got into it by my Aunt Mary Miller – I didn’t know either one was even a quilter at all! I’m sure my Mom never mentioned it, did she? But what really got me about Elaine that motivated me was her photo album of her finished quilts. I drooled over that thinking, “Oh, my goodness, can I ever hope to get this many quilts made?” Secretly, I thought, “I can try.” Or the old Yoda saying “Do or do not, there is no try.”

Aunt Liz Miller – before I got into quilting, she helped finish the binding on a quilt that was all done except for the binding – one that Mom or Grandma had done before they died, no one knew exactly who had worked on it or quilted it. But, when I went to pick it up, she was working on a quilt with diamond pieces, sewing it by machine, and again, I thought, “This quilting stuff, I just have to do it.” Even though Liz doesn’t do the quilting, she does piece things together and maybe even, I don’t know, does some simple machine quilting.

The quilting ladies at Immanuel Lutheran Church – again, how I wish I had spent more time with them.  Religiously, they would meet every Tuesday and quilt away, and talk, and have lunch, and quilted many beautiful quilts, donating their earnings to the church or for other charitable purposes. Even though the group quit meeting a couple years after Mom died, a testament to how influential she may have been in keeping the group going, I still remember each of those ladies, and hope that somewhere in the church archives are some of the pictures from the group and the many quilts they made.

Okay, one more, my daughter, Ashley, as she was the first one I can think of that ever asked me to make a quilt for her.  What was she thinking?

Gratuitous picture of her with me and my grandson (there will be more of those to come).

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Q-Tip #9 – Quilting, like writing, takes practice, practice, practice, and basically just doing it.

Writing 101 – Day 2 – A Room with a View

The challenge: We’re all drawn to certain places. If you had the power to get somewhere — anywhere — where would you go right now? For your twist, focus on building a setting description.

With this whole wrist pain thing, I got to speak to a couple nurses this past week to get some help with pain management and preventative measures.

On the follow-up call yesterday, I said, “Hey, I can’t have this! I’m a quilter!” and the nurse told me about how she went over to her Grandma’s house as a teenager to help her do quilting by hand and tie quilts. I had to admit I had never done this – oh, but now, how I wish I had. Maybe I can imagine it . . .

Walking in the front door of her small house in town, I can smell that kind of musty, mildew smell that must have been because of the damp cellar. The air is thick with the smell of freshly baked cinnamon coffee holiday bread, a braided handmade delicacy she was famous in the family for.

I walk into the middle room, where she had her rotary dial phone on a green painted stand, an old green well worn sofa, her 1937 New Home sewing machine in the cabinet, the paneled walls, the corner table with crocheted doilies and family pictures – mom and Aunt Sarah as a baby, John’s graduation picture, my confirmation picture, and a few more.

On into the kitchen where the smell of coffee cake, as we called it, was overwhelming my senses. None of us could take one whiff of it without wanting to slice off a big piece and spread on an excessive amount of butter, and of course, immediately consume, with barely a breath between bites.

The table is set up with vintage fabrics, scissors, pencils, and cardboard templates cut out of cracker or cereal boxes.

She shows me a pattern, and together, we sit and trace and cut, and trace and cut, and trace and cut, stacking up the pieces as we go along into stacks of 10 or 20 so we can keep count. A patchwork quilt requires an insane number of pieces. Do the math. If you have a queen size quilt, 80 X 100 and are using 2” squares, that’s 40 squares x 50 squares – or 2,000 pieces. This task alone takes one or two sessions.

Then, since Grandma, I think, exclusively sewed the patchwork by hand and borders by machine, we start piecing. I can only guess how many sessions this would take, and I would be grateful she worked on it while I was in school or doing other things.

I can’t imagine the advice or tips she would have given me, since today I use rotary cutters and mats, plastic templates, and sew by machine all but the finishing touches on the binding – but I’m sure I would have picked things up quickly.

I can imagine once the top was all pieced, we’d do the quilt markings again by a thin pencil taking some larger templates from her box of patterns, these templates made from gift boxes and brown paper grocery sacks or brown craft paper. How excited I would be to finally get this quilt on a rack to quilt it!

Her racks were 4 long boards with fabric nailed on the edge, I guess to attach the edges of the quilt to. They sat on four racks that looked kind of like small saw horses with notches on top for the long boards to fit into. I remember there were screw down clamps. This part, I must admit, I’m at a loss to fill in the details of how the quilt was basted or mounted with backing and batting, as I never once saw this process happen. I believe the quilt sandwich was rolled up on two of the longer boards, so one could start quilting in the middle.

I know I would have struggled with everything – finding the right thimble, how to thread the needle,  how to best knot the thread, and finally how to make those perfect little stitches. I would have been frustrated by her agility and speed, and she would have encouraged me to just keep quilting – expertise would come with time and experience.

After quite a few more daily sessions, and her working on it in-between, I can see us finishing up, starting on the binding, and her letting me finish that part. And, voila! A new quilt. Since we worked on this together, I imagine this quilt would be mine, or would have already been earmarked for a wedding gift, a gift for one of her grandchildren, or just one to add to her stack (which I don’t think ever had many). And, then, perhaps, we would have started again, another quilt. Maybe this time, I had money from babysitting so I could pick my own materials, and she would help me pick a pattern and teach me how to get the right amount of fabric. Oh, so many things I could have learned.
 

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Q-Tip #8 – The first step in completing a quilt is imagining the finished product.

And, here’s an example of something we might have made.

Writing 101 – Day 1

Folks, I have decided to step up my blogging a notch. WordPress has a program called Building a Blogging Habit at Blogging U, so I decided it’s time to put up or shut up.

This challenge is for the month of June, one post a day during the week, and so far, I’m 5 days behind! What can I say, it’s been kind of a crappy week. I don’t know if I wore myself out on that 10 day quilt, my unergonomically designed new workstation (wrist pain, now keyboard drawer, an ergonomic chair that literally crimped my neck and made me ache all over, like the flu), or a combination of both. Probably the latter.

However, now the weekend is here, so I’m going to play catch-up.

I’m doing this to hopefully:

• Improve my writing skills
• Increase my blog posts by creating a new habit
• Give me some much needed blogging experience
• And, did I say before I was not usually one to shy away from a challenge?

I’m still going to try to remember my theme, “Adventures of a Free-Motion Quilter” or “I’d rather be quilting.” So fasten you seatbelts, this could be a bumpy ride. As an added bonus for you readers, I’m trying to focus on shortening my posts.

Also, let me know if there is a topic you’d like to see discussed.

 Q-Tip #7: Sometimes it recharges the creativity to take a break (not that I’m doing that 100%, btw, I still have WIPs).