Daily Blog

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Wow! In the history of quilting we do not know of any reported cases of drive-by quiltings and suddenly within a matter of three days there have been three drive-by quiltings and one drive-by misfire. Read all about the excitement and enjoy all the stories and the quilts (HERE) - my new drive-by quiltings web page - a place you might want to bookmark so you can easily check back from time to time. The most recent drive-bys are at the top, so scroll down if you want to read chronologically. 

The drive-by quilting is a challenge - or a game of sorts. Anyone can follow my journey and if I'm passing their way, they have the opportunity to send me a message notifying me that they they are making the attempt. They have to let me know exactly where along our route they will be. The must meet up with us - usually by getting to an overpass and displaying a quilt as we zoom by. I can tell you from experience, that while it happens in only seconds - it's one of the coolest things I've experienced - a glorified traveling show-and-tell, if you will. 

I take a photo and post it. After it's over I ask them to write about the experience and tell me about their quilts. That's what you'll find on my Drive-by Quiltings link.

Kudos to those who managed to make the list. We'll be traveling again next week, Sunday-Wednesday. Our route, location and current times are all found on my Facebook and Twitter pages so be sure to "like" my Facebook page and "follow" me on Twitter.

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Hey to the Ricky Tims' Whoo-hoo Nation! Shouting out to Kathyl for playing along in our Drive-by Quilting adventure. She stood on the overpass at mile marker 242 in Iowa City, Iowa as we zoomed by. Wow - I'm not bored anymore. Who's next? We're moving on east. Morris, IL tonight, Buffalo, NY tomorrow night, then on to Cape Cod. Stay tuned here, but the fastest updates are on Facebook and Twitter.

Kathyl had given me the heads up - with, "Leaving the house with a small top I made with my GO! cutter from Alex's pattern. I'll see if I can find a way to be visible. Might be tricky."

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So we hit the road this morning heading east from Lincoln, Nebraska. The goal today is to stop for the night in Morris, IL just west of Joliet and Chicago. We'll be traveling on I-80. Tomorrow night (Monday) our goal is Buffalo, NY - then on to Hyannis arriving Tuesday evening.

Hey, why not wave a quilt as we drive by? If you live on I80 tell us what mile marker you'll be at and wave your quilt as we drive by. Who will be the first to participate in a Drive-by Quilting? I'll put comments here letting you know our progress. The photo above is our rig so you'll know what to look for.

My posts on Facebook and Twitter will be more frequent so you can pretty much have a good idea of when we'll be driving by your way. We can't stop, but if we know you'll be at mile marker "x", then we can wave and take a photo of you and your quilt as we drive by. Any takers? Can you tell I'm already bored? Can TQS members create a little excitement? We'll see.

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Justin and I have just finished eleven and a half hours of driving. We left La Veta this morning heading to Cape Cod (Hyannis, MA) for our Ricky Tims Super Quilt Seminar. We have made it to Lincoln, Nebraska for the night. We hope to make the drive in four days. Someone wondered if I stopped flying to places because one of my quilt was lost (then found) during an international flight this year. Not so. It is out of necessity that we drive. Is this a trip, a journey, or a quest? I'll let you decide after reading the facts.

1. We drive because we are pulling a trailer containing everything it takes to produce the event: boxes of syllabi, store merchandise, stage set-up, and of course, quilts, quilts, quilts! We also take audio and video equipment.

2. Because we are wagging a trailer, and because we have a schedule to keep, there are no side trips or stops. At the hotels, we usually have to call out for pizza so we don't have to haul a trailer to a restaurant. So, no, there's no stopping at every quilt shop along the way. However, we wave at all of you as we zoom by.

3. What do we do during all those long hours on the road? Well, today for example, there were about three hours of conference calls relating to - you guessed it - The Quilt Show. I spent about 3 hours writing an article for an upcoming issue of The Quilt Life, and I was able to weed through my photos I took at the Lady Gaga concert in Denver (see above). Yes, I went, yes, it was AWESOME! No, I'm not crazy - just ask Alex. I posted several quick posts on my Facebook page (go there and "like" me). We jammed to rock classics from Justin's iTunes playlists.

4. Because our new truck (and much of our equipment) was stolen a few years back (the morning before setup for a seminar) we bring all critical things into the hotel. It takes several trips even with a cart. Included in this endeavor are our clothes suitcases, all of our electronics, and all of the quilts (the most critical) - which is several cases. Each morning, it all has to be carted back out and repacked into the truck and trailer. - are you tired yet?

This will continue for the next three days and nights before we arrive at our destination. There I will meet Alex and John (Alex teaches at the seminar) and also Libby Lehman.

Next Thursday we will gather with our volunteers to set up. It takes about 5 hours. Then the registrants arrive and the fun begins. There is nothing that can describe this, but trust me - it's worth all the effort we go through to make it happen. - oh, and then there's the four day drive home following the same format we took to get here. The dog sitter is waiting - so, there is a deadline to get home too!

You decide - is it a Trip - a Journey - or a Quest?

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Thanks for playing everyone! Tallying the votes that were cast here and on Facebook etc, Wolley won by a narrow margin. However, I trumped it with Sting because so many comments from my British friends indicated that "wally" was a derogatory term for a real nerd or dork. So, Sting it is. Sting, my scooter, not a motorcycle, is so small it does not have to be licensed, so the full leathers in the photo is total overkill .

Sting is my favorite male singer. Sting is a very special dagger in one of my favorite books, Lord of the Rings. And now Sting is a scooter that will whiz along as long as I don't wind the rubber band up too tight.

Do you have trouble naming things? What do you think makes a good name?

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Talk about overkill - this much gear for a 50cc scooter?

Thanks for all the votes for naming my new scooter. It was very close between Wolley and Sting. Actually, Wolley got a few more votes than Sting. However, my vote gets a bit of extra weight (naturally) and I had many of my good British friends write to say that "wally" is a very derogatory word meaning nerd. I even looked online and sure enough slang "wally" is not nice. So, while Wolley (yellow spelled backwards) was very clever and we all liked it, I've decided to stay with Sting. 

Sting was suggested because it looks like a bee. Sting stuck with me because he is my favorite male music artist and his song "Fragile" is my favorite song of all time.

So - me and Sting - the dynamic duo cruising through town - and NO, I wont' be wearing my leather chaps and jacket when heading down to the office.

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This is a follow up to yesterday's post about my new "clean" sewing studio. 

There were suggestions that I utilize what's left of my wall space for threads - however, the available wall space is reserved for quilts when we use the room for video taping. There is a larger wall behind where I sit and sew (if you watch Bernina videos, you'll see there is always a quilt behind Nina) so I can't utilize that area for organizational space. Also, it's deceptive, but there is not much room between the table and the wall (see the photo below). Move the table you say? We'll no - and here's why.

The very cool sewing table (custom made by Justin and myself) stands at cutting and pressing height. However, notice the chair in front of the machine. It is at the right height for sitting and sewing. The secret is a raised platform for the chair. The platform is built to extend under the table in front of the chair and it extends to the right of the table and chair and butts to the wall - so this determines where the table must be. If I were to move the table away from the wall - I'd also have to move the platform thus creating a gap that would be problematic. The right and bottom of the platform (see the illustration above) butt up to the wall.

The only thing that you have to get used to are the steps leading onto the platform, but stepping up and down becomes second nature in a short time and you totally forget about the steps. WARNING: If you choose to utilize this design with a platform, you must pay attention the the steps.

I love the design, especially for studios located in smaller bedrooms, because you could have the table in the center of the room rather than being pushed up to a wall. There is lots of storage space under the table. I plan to purchase more Elfa wire baskets for under the table so I can better utilize that space. Include a couple of bistro chairs for visitors.

Any carpenter could build something like this. The two most important measurements are:

1. your preferred cutting and pressing height

2. your comfortable height for sitting and sewing. The platform height is the difference between the two - in most cases - 5" to 7".

Yes, the clean studio got me itching to sew - so I took an hour and worked on multi-colored seminole borders for a project that I've had waiting in the wings.

P.S. You might be interested to know that the legs for the table are bannisters and the top is wood flooring on top of a plywood base. The edges are beveled and if I made another, I would slighty round the corners to better protect the quilts when quilting.

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Talk about weekend fun! I finally dug into the dingy dungeon I call my sewing studio. The room is large, but has no closets so just about everything was piled either on a flat surface or the floor. Here's what I did in two days to get myself back on track with having a functional/organized space.

1. I decided to claim the space as a sewing room. There were about 9 chairs in the room leftover from TQS taping production meetings over 18 months ago. A folding table provided flat surface, but took up space and it was essentially useless because it was covered with piles of 'stuff'. Stored in this room were tubs (TQS time capsules), production lamps and stands, and various electronics scattered about. Also in attendance were letters, cards, and other assorted mail. Goal - remove everything that did not pertain to my tasks in this room - only sewing related items could remain.

2. Each and every item had to be touched and placed in an appropriate place and labeled. In order to have those places, I purchased two Elfa wire basket towers and a variety of tubs and small containers in which to organize my sewing necessities. I also got a P-Touch Labeler. With back-to-school supplies in abundance right now it was easy to find containers such as pencil boxes, plastic shoe boxes and other organizational containers for a buck.

3. Items were categorized. Here's how it is sorted.

Cutting tools - a container for scissors and a container for rotary cutters and blades

Labeling supplies

Adhesives - tapes of all sorts, spray baste, glue stick, glue, etc. (Not fusible web)

Pins and Needles - includes machine and hand needles, strait pins, safety pins, push pins, and even needle threaders

Drawing supplies - includes paper, a small box for regular pencils (includes erasers), a small box for pens, one for specialty pencils (white, yellow, etc), and another for sharpies of all colors. This also included sharpeners.

Another drawer is for specialty sewing items. This includes those strange set of templates (double wedding ring), and your assortment of funky, rarely used tools.

Irons, craft irons, teflon ironing sheets, starch.

Additional cutting mats are stored behind the wire bins.

There is a drawer for embellishments and another drawer for all things embroidery, including stabilizers, embroidery cds. 

There is a drawer for sewing machine accessories - and each machine I own has it's own separate box for its own particular items.

4. Wall space is for design walls ( I have a large design wall and a small design wall), storing plexiglas rulers, and bulletin board space for fun things and memorabilia. 

5. Find a place for tools. Every sewing room needs the basics: hammer, nails, screw drivers, pliers, etc.

6. Product on rolls. Freezer paper, large stabilizers, steam-a-seam 2, etc. all live together. If it's a product on a roll or bolt too large for a bin, they are all in the same area.

7. Fabric and batting: I'm not happy with my fabric storage - it's on open shelves, but at least it's in one place (we'll that's not true either because I have an entire store room of fabric at my house - not at the studio). 

8. Thread: I have one very huge problem. The threads (hundreds of spools) are in containers. I must find a better way to organize them for easy access. That's my next big project. I think I'll give Libby Lehman a call.

I'll be the first to say it's still not great. But it's functional for me. Someday I'll have a space with built-in cupboards and counters, but that's a luxury most of us don't have - so we "make do" with what we've got. And lest you worry about Skippy, rest assured he has a home and can come out to play anytime. What is your best organizational tip?

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After all the suggestion on TQS and Facebook, I have a list of 10 names from which to choose. You can also submit a write-in vote if you like, but here are the current top ten. Please vote. 

Bugsy, Buzzby, Buttercup, Sting, Wolley (pronounced Wally, yellow spelled backwards), Scooby, Big Banana, Daisy, Duckster, Nemo.

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Yes, its a scooter - top speed is about 40mph. It has a sticker that reads 'motorized bicycle'.

I suppose I could justify this by blaming the price of gas but it was a 'just for fun' purchase to get me to and from the studio. Before you start in with the comments about helmet and shoes, remember the engine is off, the kick stand is engaged, and I'm sitting in the driveway - so gimme a break. 

However, as you know, everything needs a name - so I'm open to suggestions.