Staples is a Quilter's Best Friend!

Mike and I went to Staples (an office supply store) on Mother's Day so he could purchase some recordable CDs. I happily wandered the aisles while he shopped. Lots of great things for quilters here--binder clips to clamp your quilt top to the table; sticky notes in all sizes and shapes as well as a plethora of notebooks and pens in a rainbow of colors. I am in search of a pegboard system to add to my quilt studio to hang my rulers. Instead I found this:

Giant Iris totes marked down to $6 (regularly $13.49)

I'm not sure why I didn't buy them right then and there. Instead I waited a few days and went back. Fortunately there were a few left, although I had to ask a stock person to get them from the back room.

If you've been reading my blog, you know that I am continually trying to organize my life, my house and my quilt studio. I've decided that clear plastic bins work best for me since I can see what is inside them. I typically label them as well. I have some very large colored bins, but they're not as functional since if I fill them up they are awkward and heavy to lift, plus I can't see what is inside them. So, I am gradually trying to replace the colored bins with clear bins.

I also found The Really Useful Box! How could I resist this? It sounds like it could organize my quilt studio all by itself. And it is so cute! I loved all those individual little cubbies with locking handles. I'm going to use it for notions like snaps, buttons and needles. The only issue I see so far is that if you tip the outer container even slightly, all the little boxes will fall out. Luckily, they do have locking handles. It was also available at Staples in a size with larger cubbies. I looked up the Really Useful Box online and it is apparently a British company. They make lots and lots of different plastic boxes--a quilter's dream.

This might make a great Father's Day gift for my Dad. He loves boxes too!

What's your favorite office supply to use for quilting? How do you stay organized?

Have a great day!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

May Scenes from the Garden

Pansies in the planter

Pug Buddha! Sometimes LarryPug pees on Pug Buddha,
although I've warned him that it is bad Karma!

This year I made a little side garden entirely of pansies.

Stone puggies enjoying a snack.

Bleeding heart

More pansies!

Fuchsia azalea

Stone pug hanging with the hostas and the peonies.

On Saturday, I planted these beautiful dahlias.

Have a great day!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Countdown to the Berkshires!

Every year Marion and I go to the Berkshires with our Brown Bagger buddies to sew for five blissful days. I look forward to this trip for months. I think that this is our 14th year in the Berkshires, but I've lost track.

Although we are not leaving until Tuesday, this year I got smart and also took Monday off from work. This way, I won't be staying late at work on Monday trying to finish things and then run around in a tizzy on Monday evening trying to get ready for my trip.

So far, I've identified the projects I want to bring. I've chosen four new projects that have no deadlines, two of them aren't even started yet.

These are my projects for the trip:

First is the project known as the World's Most Expensive Quilt EVER, aka Spring Bouquet. This is Edyta Sitar's design from Laundry Basket Quilts, block of the month. I fell in love with it when I first saw it, so I signed up as soon as the kits were available. I was lured in by Edyta's precut laser Fabric Silhouettes. First, because she had chosen all the colors for the flower blocks and second because they were all cut out and had the fusible already on the back. What could be easier?

This is a photo of Spring Bouquet from Edyta's website. Isn't this a gorgeous quilt?

Spring Bouquet

Of course, for me there was one small problem...look at the ugly beige background fabric! We all know how I feel about beige! So, I've bought a lovely shade of lavender batik for my background.

Here is one of my blocks.

So far, I have two blocks laid out on fabric and I've started to machine applique the first one. I think that I received the kit for Block 9 in the mail yesterday so I have more than a little catching up to do.

Next project is my Kaffe Fassett Swoon Quilt, block of the month, possibly the second most expensive quilt in the world. I saw this on Waterwheel House Quilt Shop's Facebook page. When I called them on the phone, even though I had missed the sign-up deadline, they were too happy to subscribe me by mail. I have never been to Waterwheel House Quilt Shop which is in Londonderry, Vermont, although ironically my husband Michael went there on the way home from a ski trip. Wonderful husband that he is, he bought me some fabric. Mike said that it is a great shop, lots of contemporary fabric! Note to Joannie: Roadtrip?

So far I have two blocks cut out and ready to piece. I think that I have received four block kits so far.

This photo is from Waterwheel House Quilt Shop's Facebook page.

On the plus side, this is a very large block and I only have to make nine of them. On the minus side, there are a lot of pieces in this block. Each month's block is a different color way, with a Kaffe Fassett print and a coordinating Kaffe Fassett polka dot. I'm in love!

Swoon is a quilt design by Camille Roskelley. You can also purchase the pattern on her website.

My third project is a Kaffe Fassett Mystery Quilt by Glad Creations, Inc. in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I've never been there either, although I have been to Minneapolis (about 10 years ago) and visited a whole bunch of quilt shops. I think that I stumbled upon this through an Internet shopping expedition. Although Marion will not believe me, I have not cheated and looked at the finished quilt. This is a Mystery by Mail project. You get a new clue every few weeks, although they send you all of the fabric up front. I haven't started this yet, although if I am ambitious, I may cut out Step One before I leave on Tuesday. I have received all of the steps, so I could potentially come home with a finished quilt top.

My last project is from a class that Joannie and I took last December with Sue Pelland at the Quilter's Way in Concord, MA. I never got a chance to blog about this class, because I forgot my camera. The teacher was nice enough to send me her photos, but then the bad email fairy ate them. This quilt is called Magic Carpet Ride and it uses Sue's Leaves Galore template.

This is a photo from Sue's Facebook page.

I'm using the same colors that Sue used. My quilt top is actually assembled, however, I need to go back and satin stitch all of those serpentine lines that you see in the photo! That will take some time and a whole lot of thread!

Funny, I just realized that three out of my four projects use Kaffe Fassett fabric.

So, that's what I'm bringing to work on. I know that I won't finish everything, although hopefully the Quilt Fairy will smile upon me and I will make a small dent, plus I'm sure that I'll buy at least one new project on our visit.

Have a great day!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

True Confessions: Not a whole lot of sewing going on here...

Already Thursday night and not too much sewing to report on this week. On Monday night I did finish Dianne's pink place mats. I brought them in to work on Tuesday and she was quite delighted. Here they are in Dianne's pink dining room.

The place mat appears to float against Dianne's glass table.

See the matching pink walls in the background?

On Tuesday night, Carol and I went to a lecture on Clutter Control at the Quincy Public Library. Alas, the lecture was not as inspirational as I had hoped. I was dismayed when the lecturer spoke about buying 75 sets of Christmas lights at the Christmas Tree Shop. He seemed quite proud that he had later donated 20 unopened sets to the Salvation Army. My thought was, "Why buy 75 sets of Christmas lights in the first place?"

On Wednesday night, I sat on the couch with the pugs and we watched back to back episodes of Dancing with the Stars that I had saved on the DVR. I think that Romeo is in love with Kym Johnson. I haven't had the heart to tell him that she didn't make the finals.

Today was bright, sunny and warm. This morning before I went to work, I planted my new plants that I got at our office plant swap last week. I brought in a large bunch of day lilies. In exchange, I got some violas, sunflowers, false lavender, pink columbine, and a couple of things that will be a surprise when they bloom. After work I snatched a few short hours in my quilt studio and made my blocks to donate to Quilts for Boston. If you are interested in learning more, you can also read my blog post.

This is a free Bonnie Hunter pattern, Scrappy Trips Around the World. They are fast and easy to make. Mike wasn't in the mood to cook tonight, so he indulged me and took me to my favorite restaurant--The IHOP. Chocolate chip pancakes--yum!

Next week I'm headed to the Berkshires for my annual quilting week with my Brown Bagger friends, so there should be A LOT of sewing to report on when I return.

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Prairie Points Primer

Carol and Joannie joined me in the quilt studio yesterday afternoon for a few short hours of sewing. Carol wanted me to teach her how to make prairie points, which is funny, since I've never made them before. Carol had bought a specialty ruler to make prairie points, so she assured me that I could teach her how to use it.

This is the Quick Points Ruler.

It has slots for you to make cuts with your rotary cutter.

It is a good idea to use the smallest rotary cutter that you own.

The ruler Carol is using is called the Quick Points Ruler and it is available from QuickPointsRuler.com. The ruler comes in different sizes to make various sizes of prairie points. Carol brought printed directions from the website (there is also a video), so between Joannie and I, we were able to figure it out. It was actually pretty simple. You start with a strip, cut at the designated slots, then fold the square cuts into triangles. It is like fabric origami. It helps to starch your fabric.

This is Carol's test strip.

This is Carol's next set of prairie points in progress.

Carol will be using her new skills to add prairie points to a Patriotic lap quilt that she is making as a gift for her Dad.

Have a great day!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Seven Day Sewing Report

I spent last Sunday sewing with my quilting buddies the Brown Baggers. We hired Carl Schaffer, aka the Sewing Machine Guy to come for the day and clean some of our sewing machines. Our annual sewing week in the Berkshires is coming up and I wanted my machine to be clean and ready. Carl is a traveling sewing machine repairman. I've used him before and he does a really nice job. So check out his website: http://www.fixitcarl.com if you live in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, or Connecticut.

This is what my Bernina 1260 looks like on the inside.

Marion won the prize for the dirtiest sewing machine, but after all, that's why we hired Carl!

Sally showed us a new use for foam earplugs. I didn't know that you could buy them by the jar!

She is using straight pins to pin baste her quilt top and she is sticking a foam earplug on each tip
so she doesn't get nicked by a pin. Double click on the photo for a larger view.

Best of all, Marion and I finished the top of our enormous, commissioned t-shirt quilt!
Our friend Kim P. is going to machine quilt it for us.

Kim P. made these cute little bags for her Mom as a Mother's Day gift. It is a Terry Atkinson pattern
called Brigid's Bagettes. They have a clear vinyl front so you can see what is inside. They are super cute.

Joannie came over to sew on Monday night. She put the finishing touches on a tote bag that is a donation for Sadie's Dream for a Cure. I will be posting more about this organization soon.

I was working on some pink place mats for my friend Dianne at work. The pattern is called Fine Dining and it is from Pieced Tree Patterns. Dianne and I are exchanging services--she is painting some cool stuff for my quilt studio and I am making her some quilted items.

Dianne has a pink dining room, so she requested pink place mats.
I think they are very pretty!

On Tuesday night I was itching to get into my quilt studio and work on some little zipper bags as a birthday gift for my friend Linda. Unfortunately, I was thwarted by the evil quilting fairy who hid my pattern from me. I spent almost two hours looking for it and although I did find it (along with many other bag patterns that I had forgotten about), by then it was too late to start working on it. I was quite annoyed, to say the least. I have put the pattern in a very safe place so that it is hidden from the evil quilting fairy.

On Wednesday, Mike and I usually have a date night. This past week, I made an appointment so that we could meet with our insurance agent to review our homeowners coverage. Sorry Mike, it was not an especially exciting date night. Sometimes being a responsible grownup is so boring. We did get to enjoy a late dinner at our favorite local Greek restaurant in Dedham Square.

On Thursday night, I met up with the Thursday Girls. I am working on a quilt for my friend Eleanor that I hope to finish in time for Christmas. I don't have any photos of the quilt in progress but it is a Trip Around the World design made out of hand dyed fabrics in shades of blue, green, and purple. I promise to show you a photo soon.

Judi made this very cool comic book quilt as a high
school graduation gift for her granddaughter.

She made the quilt back with all of her left over fabric.

I didn't do any sewing on Friday, but I did get another piece of camera fabric in the mail for my Dad's quilt. My Dad loves to take pictures, so I've decided to make him a camera quilt. I'm having a lot of fun collecting the different fabrics. I have nine different ones so far. Let me know if you see one that I don't have!

On Saturday I spent a couple of hours doing some cleaning and organizing in my quilt studio. I am proud to report that you can see the top of the cabinet again. I purposely did NOT take any photos. Joannie came over for a few hours in the afternoon and hemmed some curtains for her Mom. I worked some more on Dianne's place mats.

We had a home-made dinner with Mike's sister and her family for Mother's Day. Hope that all of my friends had a Happy Mother's Day.

Mom--you are the best Mother in the whole world!

Pugs and kisses,
Nan

My 100th Blog Post

Wow! Can't believe I made it to my 100th blog post in just over a year. Thanks for joining me!

Writing this blog is so much fun for me...it has reignited my passion for writing and photography and it has forced me out of my comfort zone. I've taught myself just a little more about electronic communication. I was so proud when I figured out how to add photos to my blog, and how to put links in it. And I admit that I have a good time re-reading my own posts so that I can see where my year went!

I have 12 followers, which doesn't sound like a lot, except that I've never met most of them, so I'm thrilled that they want to follow my little blog and read about quilting in my corner of the world. I have no way of telling who subscribes by email, but I know that you are out there too!

So, what's next for PugMom Quilts? As always, more quilting and more pug photos. I've toyed with the idea of adding some type of regular feature, such as fabulous quilt freebies that I find on the web. I'm definitely going to edit my blog list. I follow way more than the ones listed on my blog, but I thought it would be overwhelming to list them all. I am also going to try to add other pages to my blog that showcase my finished quilts and perhaps add some links to my favorite web sites.

I'd love to hear from you. Please feel free to write back and let me know what you like and what you'd like to see more of in my blog. Or just say Hi and Happy 100th!  It's easy to leave a comment on my blog, since I've turned the word verification off.

And special thanks to my friend Judi who told me that when I don't write my blog she has nothing to read--the ultimate compliment!

It would be a boring blog without at least one photo, so here's another photo from Jeff's fabulous photo shoot last Saturday of my gorgeous boys. Larry and Elvis were perfectly happy to sit in the box for the photo. Romeo kept jumping out, so we kept stuffing him back in so Jeff could keep shooting.

From left to right: Romeo, age 11 1/2, Larry, age 4, and Elvis, age 10 1/2

Happy 100th Post!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy