Soft Star Trek baby book

A blogger named Julie has made a super little soft baby book about Star Trek. Click on the picture above to go to her blog and enjoy this clever thing.
My grandson, Victor, sent me to the site. Thanks.

Going to work

I’m practicing with my new 301 darning (free motion) foot. By Jove, I think it’s going to work.

Waiting for the bus

The old refrigerator photo is by Mike Manning from Wikimedia Commons

This afternoon, I’m looking at the sky above my house and waiting for the bus, or possibly the refrigerator.

If you don’t hear from me tomorrow, you will know where at least one of the 26 large pieces of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) spacecraft landed.

Victor's videos

 Yesterday, my grandson Victor went to my local quilt store with me and set up video equipment to film some “atmosphere” sequences. Victor came to my place to help me with a short video about quilting templates. We wanted the quilt store clips for color and eye candy to enliven the video which will have a lot of footage of work done on a green cutting mat that could be pretty dull.

He did some filming in different parts of Queen B’s Quilt Shop – one with me sorting through bolts of fabric.


I was so pleased that he was willing to take on the project. He studies video at Campolindo high school and has directed and edited several videos (available on YouTube under SuperThresh).

When he reviewed my script at home he could barely keep his yawns suppressed. He made several suggestions about parts of the script to give them a bit more life. After several hours I realized that it really was boring. I had to admit it. One segment of the script was based on my Quick Stick & Rotary Cut web page. That part had a lot more action in it. Victor was gentle with his criticism. So, we are going to meet again and film the “exciting” part.

I totally trust him to do a great job with the filming and editing because I’ve seen his work and been impressed. The latest video project is called A Life Deferred. It is about the challenges faced by upward-bound students who trade off time having fun to concentrate on their studies. You can click on the picture below to watch it.

 Victor was a darling little boy and now, at 16, he is a fine young man. I am very proud of him.

 He won an award this year from the Orinda Arts Council’s Annual Lamorinda Acalanes Union Film Festival.


He's down in front



An old new tool

 I like to safety pin baste my quilts for hand-quilting. It was always hard on my fingers. A few years ago I found some small (7/8 inch) brass pins which were much more flexible than my old nickel-plated safety pins. Keeping the sandwich flat and smooth while pinning was still a challenge. The other day I discovered a “new” tool to help me close the pins without distorting the layers.

I slipped an old knitting needle under the sharp arm of the pin. It closed easily when I pressed down. I was delighted. Perhaps many of you have been using a knitting needle for years, but if you haven’t tried it you might enjoy it.

When I said I “found” some small brass safety pins it was true. I attended a workshop at St. Mary’s College several years ago. There were lots of classes given by quilting mavens in various classrooms. When I entered a classroom and sat down at a table I saw at least 50 little bass pins scattered on the carpeted floor near my spot. “Whose pins are these?” I asked. No one had any idea. The previous class in the room had been taught by Sally Collins. (I knew she was an advocate of small brass pins for basting.) While everyone was getting set up at their tables I crawled around on the floor (even under nearby tables) and picked up every one of the little safety pins and put them in a plastic bag. Lucky me.

You would think this little “quiltlet” I’m working on is a monumental project, but it’s just a small baby changing mat. I hope it gets finished before Emerson is out of diapers. I planned to free-motion nice rounded hearts on it. After it was pin basted I did some practice hearts on a small sample sandwich. But although I began to feel confident in my ability with the curved shapes there were sudden glitches and skipped stitches. I finally figured out that my old Singer 101 was shorting out so I could not use it.

I’ve ordered a new darning foot for another machine I have tucked away in the closet. The newly designated free motion machine is an old Singer301A. I could not use the foot I had on the 101 because the 301A is a slant stitch machine. I located a new foot at April’s 1930's Sewing Shop on eBay. Now I am waiting with bated breath for it to arrive.

September 11, 2011

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
An impossible goal?

Then we have:
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
The Presbyterian's have it easier. It's only money.

I opened the door

Once a month, the cleaning ladies come to take over my house for an hour. I have to hide from them so I don’t get in their way. They move fast and efficiently. Today, I hid out in my sewing room. I thought I’d just read a book in there. However, I patted some fabric. It felt good. I have not been in that room for a couple of months.

 There is a new baby in the family named Emerson. She is Virginia’s new granddaughter.

 There is pink fabric neatly folded on my cutting table in the sewing room. And there is the unfinished hearts flimsy on my ironing board.  That might be good for a baby changing mat. Hummmm. I could try free-motion quilting to make a quilted mat. Emerson probably wouldn’t mind a few glitches and wobbly lines in her mat.

I’ll think about it. It sure is tempting.