Third Time's a Charm - New Mission

I am A Left-Handed Quilter - and this blog is for other Left-Handed Quilters.

I want to try to reduce the global confusion once and for all by offering hints - tutorials - resources - or whatever else I/we can think of - to help with quilting challenges.  I'll talk about all of that later.  For now, I want to tell you -

This is my third attempt at blogging.

My first blog name was a bit harsh - so after talking to a dear friend of mine - I changed it.

My second blog name - when I created the blog - was "available".  I thought that that meant it was not being used by anyone.  I obviously thought wrong.  After posting for months - I googled the name just for fun.  It came up -

Quilt Bum - a blog by Marianne Fons - Quilters Club of America.

OH, CRAP!!  There was no way I could continue to use that name - even it it had been "available" and was technically mine.  Marianne Fons is a very highly respected quilter, teacher, and author.  I certainly didn't want anyone to think that my blog was hers.  So - I moved.  (I know, I know - nobody probably read my blog anyway - but even so.)

This is my new blog.  Blog #3.  A Left-Handed Quilter.  Third time's a charm - right?   And I have a new mission.  In addition to "Show & Tell" of whatever I happen to be working on at the moment - I thought I might try to do my part to help other "lefties" out there.

I still have some setting up to do - so it's not quite ready yet.  But stay tuned - it should be kinda cool when I get done.  At least I hope so!

Talk to you later -

Sunday update -

(11/16/10 - Imported from old blog - Quilt Bum - no relation to Marianne Fons - and re-edited.)

OK, so it's Sunday - what did I do this week?  I sound kinda like Craig Ferguson, huh?  For those of you who don't know - at the end of his show he does a bit - "So, what did we learn on the show tonight, Craig?"   So, what did we do in the sewing room this week, Kitty?

Well, let's see -


I added the Halloweeny tablerunner/placemat thing to my "to be quilted" pile.

I made some headway on the Black/White/Red quilts.  There are five of them so I named them, too - "Red Cosmo" - "Black Cosmo" - "Red Stripe" - "Black Stripe" - "Multi" - so I could talk about them separately.  Each quilt has a matching pillowcase and some extra blocks with the "theme" print.

I hung the matching pillowcases in the closet so I could match the tops and backs as I get them done.

I finished the blocks for Red Cosmo and did the layout on the hallway wall. I was surprised - I didn't rearrange the blocks that much - they seemed to look all right without too much fussing.  Just like I like it.  I'll show you a picture in a minute.

I made the half blocks - pressed them - and sewed the whole blocks for Black Stripe.  It's ready to put up on the wall - as soon as I get Red Cosmo down.  I want to do all five in sort of an assembly line - so I can finish them all at the same time - because I certainly don't want to start from scratch five times.  To me, that makes about as much sense as making five cookies - separately.  Nah, I don't think so.

I bagged up Black Cosmo - Red Stripe - and Multi.  They were getting in my way.  This way I can pull out one bag at a time.  The plan is to sew the top of #1 together - while I play with the layout of #2 - and sew the blocks of #3.  As each top is made, I'll add it to the pillowcase in the closet.  And then work on the backs - binding - sleeves - etc.  And yes, I put sleeves on bed quilts - just in case the owner ever wants to hang it - he/she can without a lot of hassle.  I made a quilt for my sister-in-law one time - for her family room couch - no sleeve.  She wanted to hang it on the wall - and had a hell of a time figuring out how to do it without ruining the quilt.  Lesson learned.


I figured out my sewing sequence for Red Cosmo.  Most patterns say to sew the blocks together in rows and then sew the rows together.  Makes sense - but I don't do it that way.  This quilt is 4 blocks across by 5 blocks down.  That means five rows and twelve match points.  I have to match three points - four times.  The rows get too big and heavy for me that way.  I'm going to do it differently.  My way - I  match one point eight times and then four points once.  The same twelve match points - but with less hassle.  For me, at least.  If anyone is interested in how I do it - let me know in the comments section - I'll do a tutorial.

Oh, yeah - almost forgot - the picture of Red Cosmo on the wall. It is supposed to be 4 blocks across and 5 down - but I can't reach that high - so I laid it out - 5 across and 4 down - same difference if you look at it sideways.  So I took the picture that way.

I don't know how to rotate the photo here - so the brown you see on the left is really the floor and the door at the end of the hall leads to the garage.  Now I have to take it down - so I can put up Black Stripe.  We'll see how that one goes.

Talk to you later.  Gotta go - gotta sew...