My Juki machine

Veronica has been sewing away on her beloved Juki sewing machine.  She started with a challenge last Wednesday.  Her friend Carol said they were going to use up some fabric!  Veronica told Carol she was in.  Veronica decided she wanted to get rid of her yellow fabric stash.  She doesn't like yellow, but she sure does have a ton of it.

So she cut cut yellow till she had over 100 2 1/2" strips for the pattern Carol said they were working on.  Then off she went to the sew-in that Dayton Quilt Guild had.  They sewed all day, they raced sewing fabric strips.  They were maniacs!  But they were having fun.  They talked about all the memories in these fabrics strips.  A few came from some friends who have passed away, but there were still some great memories of shopping trips and "what the heck possessed me to buy this fabric".  At night she came home to work on her mini stars.  She says they're a beast, she has so many seams using her tiny scraps, but her Juki sews right thru them like shes sewing butter.  Butter, Yum!  Sorry, this bear loves to eat.

She's been working on a lot of stuff, she even sewed mini yo-yos on the drive to Louisiana for her granddaughter's birthday party.  Then she worked on hexies going the other way.  Shes says she's cleaning up fabrics, using them up, putting them in quilts so they'll leave her house.  She does have a lot of fabric.  She's challenged herself to get it done. 

Shes' s got the orange challenge going with Mattie, Quiltsmart's owner. If you're interested in joining the Bitty Lone Star Challenge, you can find that on Bear Thread Design's Instagram at BTDQSFall Lone Star Challenge.  You've got time, it doesn't start till October 1st.  She's thinking of new challenges.  We'll see how long she keeps this up.  Stay tuned for more adventures with Veronica and Jaggie.

Sample making

Well, this may not be a subject that everyone is interested in, but I thought for those of you that are, I would sprinkle in a little advice.  Do you ever wonder where all the samples at your local quilt shop come from?  Sometimes the employees make them, sometimes customers make them.  Different shops have different formulas for calculating how you"get paid" for the samples. 

Some stores have you pay half of the cost, some give you the fabric and pattern, you make the quilt and after a certain amount of time, the sample is yours.  Sometimes the stores pay you to make them and the samples are theirs. 

Well, I've been making samples for local shops for years, probably 20 years or so.  I've never had a problem, I usually get the quilts after about 3 months, they like to rotate every quarter or so.  I agreed to make 6 quilts for a local shop that I had not made samples before, so I asked how long they would keep them.  I was told about 6 months or so.  That was fine, I was in no hurry to get them.  I guess I should have gotten that in writing. 

I delivered the quilts to them June 1, 2017.  Every time I asked for my "quilts", I was told I couldn't have them 'yet'. So yesterday was September 11, 2018, I thought it's been long enough, it's been 1 year, 3 months and 11 days.  I wanted my quilts, so I called and said we were coming to get them.  My daughter fell in love with 2 and so those were hers.  On the way out, my daughter was stopped and told that the quilts she had were not what me and the "person in charge had agreed on" me taking home. Apparently, we were only going to get half.  Huh?  Nope, too late! 

I will not name the shop or the "person in charge" who by the way is no the owner of the shop.  Not really sure what her position is, she acts like the person in charge, but I don't really think she is.  I will never make samples for this shop again.  I will get everything in writing from now on, I used to just believe that a persons word was their "word:. 

I've learned my lesson.

Writing quilting books, a money maker?

Veronica thought this was a pretty good thing to pass on.  She found it on Quiltville.com, you know Bonnie Hunter's site.

**Disclaimer**  Did you know that your author-friends make as little as 75 cents per paper-book sold on Amazon, and the digital royalties are much less than that?  And if you purchase a used copy on Amazon, your author-friend gets nothing. 

We buy books at wholesale to sell at our lectures and workshops because we can not live by royalties alone.  We have to sell the books as merchandise, just to stay afloat. 

If you really want to support your author-friends, buy from them directly. 

It may cost a bit more, but in the long run  you are really helping them to keep designing, to keep writing books, to keep providing you with the inspiration you want them to for your enjoyment.

More things to do with The Applique Pressing Sheet

Did you know that you can use The Applique Pressing sheet as a a paint pallet?  This is straight from the website.  You can read about the other things you can use The Applique Pressing Sheet for by going to www.bearthreaddesigns.com.



CRAFT SHEET & PAINTING SURFACE -- The Appliqué Pressing Sheet is a great crafting surface. This non-stick surface is great for hot glue guns, glue melts, wax designs, stiffening fabric, glue projects, rubber stamps, and embossing. It works great for kids' crafts. Also great as a paint pallet. Paint peels off when dry. Clean up is a breeze.  

Olfa cutting mats

Generations Quilt Patterns

has a great site.  Veronica has been using her quilting mat (Olfa) since she bought it in 1990.  That's like forever ago, I don't even think this bear was born yet.  As a matter of fact, I know I wasn't. I'm only 13, oh, goodie, I'm a teenager.  Anyway, back to the mats, Veronica was looking at hers recently and thought about getting a new one.  And yes, of course, she has others, but her BIG mat is the first one she bought and it's been around for a long time.  So she searched the internet looking for a good price on a big mat and she came upon this.  She thought she would share it with you, and for more information you can go to Generations Quilt Patterns website.       

Olfa Cutting Mat Care and Troubleshooting

18K+

OLFA Cutting Mats love moisture!

It is recommended that you soak your mat from time to time. Your self healing mat loves moisture.

To soak it, put your mat in a bathtub or large container (would have to be large so it can lay flat) and soak it for 15-20 minutes in a solution of 1/4 cup white vinegar to every gallon of cool water. Let me repeat, cool water. Do this every so often to help extend its useful life.

Then use a squirt of mild dishwashing soap (Ivory) and clean the mat with a mushroom brush (soft is the key word here). The purpose of this gentle scouring is to remove the fibers that get trapped in the cuts marks preventing the cuts from "healing".

Keep 'em clean, keep 'em moist, keep 'em flat and NO heat. Your cutting mat is not a coffee cup coaster!  

See you in the Jacuzzi tub, it's the only thing we have big enough for the mat, so that's where we'll try it. We'll keep you posted.    

See you Monday

Ketchikan and even more bears

Well here we are in Ketchikan.  It's reallllly cold today, but we set out anyway.  We walked all over downtown, ok, really just a couple of blocks and then got back on the ship because we had more quilting to do.  Do you see the map  of Ketchikan, it's not very big at all.  That's Kevin, he's trying to be cool with his new sunglasses.  Doesn't matter that the sun is shining in my eyes (sigh), I'm just another bear hanging around Alaska.

We went to one of the stores and I got captured.  I was telling this mama bear that I knew how to cook, remember I was making waffles on the ship with Mona Lisa, so guess what?  We're off to cook up a storm.  They don't know how to make waffles.

Oh, on the way to the kitchen, I found this Bear Crunch and got away from mama bear.  I'll be here eating...

Is that a bear paddle????????????????  Yikes, are those claws??????????????????  Help, get me outta here.

Eagle to the rescue.  

Did you know that the eyes of a bald eagle are so keen they can spot a fish from over a mile away. Bald eagles are truly impressive birds of prey.  Not only can they spot a fish from over a mile away, they can also fly at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour and dive at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour.

Hi Buddy, have you seen my ship?

Look, I found a baby eagle on my way back to the ship .  How cute is he?  Oh, no I see his mama again, gotta run. Wait, I want a hat, I need to be a "real" Alaska bear.  This is our last stop after all. How does this look?

I'm hungry, I'm going back to the ship where they have berries...........

Canada watch out for us, we'll be there tomorrow.

The did you know info on bears and eagles came from Captain Bob Allen's route map and field guide.  I got it the day I tried to drive the boat, remember?   Thanks Captain Bob!

Sitka Alaska and the Big Bears

Did you know black bears come in more colors than black?  While black bears get

 their name primarily from the coloring of their fur, they come in a variety of colors including brown (cinnamon bears), cream and blue, yes blue, they are the glacier bears.  

Ohhhh, so fluffy.

Run Kevin, run!!!!!  I'll save you.  There are so many bears up here.  I'm feeling lost in the crowd.  

Help!  I can't get down.  Ok, let me try getting down on the other side.

Didn't work!  I'm still stuck.  

Thanks lady!  She loves bears and she helped me out.  

OH, more food.  Let's eat.

Yikes, another bear.  Run guys, run Scott, run Kevin, I'll keep him busy.

See all I had to do was talk him to death.  We're all friends now.

Well, that's all I did in Sitka.  I saved the guys and now we're off tot he ship for more quilting fun.  Who are we quilting with?  Stay tuned and you'll see.

The did you know info on bears and eagles came from Captain Bob Allen's route map and field guide.  I got it the day I tried to drive the boat, remember?   Thanks Captain Bob!