This and That • November 2025

November 24, 2025 Elizabeth E.12 Comments

Dropping off the face of the quilty universe has one advantage: you get some sewing done. But first, let me talk about the Carrefour Quilt Show (France) posts.

All discussions of any project begin with this process: throwing out thousands and thousands of corrupted files on my computer. It’s like how you can’t find the evaporated milk to make your pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving until you clear away all the bunches of canned food in front just so you can get to the back of the cupboard.

Same, same. Every time I start to work on the Carrefour photos, Something Computer-Wonky This Way Comes, and it gets in the way. But the pictures are coming, because I want to show you a lot of the beauties that didn’t get all the press.

Soon, my pretties, soon.

I’ve been re-downloading a lot of the patterns I’d purchased on ETSY and on quilters’ websites. Most of it has been a pretty smooth recovery. I’ve been having real troubles with a clothing patterns site, and we’re trying to work it out, but I’m about ready to give up on that one. And a badge site wants me to re-buy the things I’ve already purchased. Yes, I have the real-life badges, but the digital ones were zapped in the Great Computer Meltdown of 2025. (Gee, I should get a commemorative plaque, or something, to put on the desk.) Buying and purchasing is a lot more complicated when sellers can switch their products from one platform to another. [Public Service Announcement: I now have three hard drives at my disposal for backing up.]

And yes, some pattern-writing has been delayed as I’m having to recreate the digital files that were lost (see illustration, above, of all that I lost in my Shine Circles patterns). I’m just glad it’s up online and free for the download if you click on the link.

I’ve been helping a new mother-to-be design her first baby’s quilt. And for those who are interested, I’ll have it on here for a freebie, once I finish (we moved on from that design, just to warn you). Affinity’s digital editing software is now FREE, apparently, so you can get some of that, too, to design your own quilts.

Remember 2020? Haha.

I’m standing underneath my quilt Azulejos, hanging in the gallery at Road to California in January 2020, before Covid-19 and all the Murder Hornets were released and when the world turned upside down. Well, I’ve been wanting to make this pattern in deep blues and cheddars, and I finished it this week.

Just a reminder.

It has been dropped off at the quilter:

I worked on these, while listening to the end of Louise Penny’s novel Black Wolf, as well as this:

It’s not the Thursday Murder Club series, but a new freestanding novel, and I really liked it. I lost track a little bit, of the minor characters, but the main characters are well-drawn and entertaining, and yes, the novel and I and the Economy Blocks hummed right along.

I finished it last night and rushed out in the setting sun to take a couple of photos, such as this stained-glass effect.

I delivered that one to the quilter this morning, too. I had started this #scrappythriftblockchallenge with Taryn of @reproquiltlover on Instagram. I wrote up a guide sheet and shared it (you can find it all on this post); the quilt begins with this blog post. [Note to all the Historians out there: first Instagram post was on March 31]

I’m just kind of ready to finish up a lot of loose-ends projects that I had started at the beginning of the year, when my abilities were hampered by anxiety/depression/sadness and a lack of wanting to do anything. Over time, a lot of those issues have resolved, faded. Sadly, I think I lost a couple of friends during the last two or three years, when the one-two-kapow-punch of my parents’ death really knocked out my creative — and other — lights. As those who have lost parents know, no death goes easily into that great night (thank you, Dylan Thomas), so I should add it was all the swirling around of everything that knocked me back.

So I chose HelpMeMakeSomething projects, like these economy squares, and a Block of the Month, and a reworking of an old favorite pattern, plus squircles (which are still ongoing).

Here we are in the waiting room at the medical clinic, because all that stuff still goes on, doesn’t it? People get sick and husbands and wives need check-ups and gosh, they already have their Christmas Tree up and it’s not even Thanksgiving.

It’s no shame to admit you can’t make it without some help, and all the quilters I know (well, maybe minus one or two…) are more than willing to sit beside you while you figure out a path through the gloom. And somehow, this fall I started to feel like myself again…with Energy!

We were supposed to go somewhere for Thanksgiving, but Life Intervened, so now I’m considering a new roll recipe, and maybe a stab at that Delicata Squash Pie in the lower right corner, but with a gingersnap cookie crust, instead of the recommended graham cracker.

Lastly, I decorated:

Thank you, Trader Joe’s. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this, and/or write something, or maybe just carry a thought or two around in your head. I’m grateful for you all and for what you share; what rich and varied lives we all lead.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Creating · Free Quilt Pattern · Patterns by Elizabeth of OPQuilt · Quilts

This and That: No June Gloom, please.

June 15, 2025June 16, 2025 Elizabeth E.11 Comments

First off: Happy Father’s Day to the men in your life, and especially the men in mine: my husband, Supreme Quilt Holder, three sons, and one son-in-law, then a gang of grandsons. Here’s a early photo:

(Missing: three more grandsons, three more granddaughters. I just love all those little girls in their beautiful dresses.)

There’s this phenomena about June of every year, when the deserts heat up, drawing cool, moist air further inland from the coast. The locals have a name for it, which I hate. I just call it Reprieve from the Heat for Another Month, or something. because I do love the cool mornings. Yes, I do.

My friend Mary gets too much of this cooling layer and we are always mentioning it in our correspondence, me complaining about the coming heat, and her bemoaning the too-cool summer. Welcome to Sunny California.

So here is my first Posh Penelope for June: all sunny and bright, in a good kind of way.

A little less sunny, but still bright.

Full out fog in these, with all those blues. I’m going to have to ramp up with brighter colors next go-round, but I do like those toothbrushes on the blue fabric.

Here’s the group so far. 41 blocks are planned, and I’ve made 27, more than halfway. But I probably said that last time. You should see Carol’s stack — they are wonderful!!

Here’s Sherri’s Block of the Month for June. It’s a fun series and I’m using all her fabrics (picked up one more new last week). But alas, the Friendship Star and I are NOT friends. Nor do I like these stars:

I also don’t like sour gummies or the smell of coconut shampoo, but I don’t think that has anything to do with quilting.

So I substituted this: I have no idea what Sherri has planned next, so I may be moving other centers of hers around, but since I’m allergic to the star she chose, here’s my spool of thread.

And here’s the back of it. It’s fast: sew the sides on, sewing only between the dots. Then sew from the dots to the corners.

And yes, here’s your free PatternLite. And you’re welcome. Click below the spool to download.

Six-inch Spool_OPQuilt Download

Here are the six I’ve made so far:

This is me, making a mess. It’s good to document messes once in a while. I was learning a new way of making circles. (Last post) I know these photos drives one of my friends crazy; she is a very tidy sewer, but her sewing room is also about 4x as big as mine; a lot of stuff gets piled up in mine. I have learned to focus and ignore the periphery, a skill I learned when I had four small children and had to get the quilt done:

Like this one, from the Early Years. My son Chad now has this Sunshine and Shadow quilt — somewhere, he says — but even if it’s lost in his attic, I still have photos. Machine-pieced, hand quilted with a layer of flannel inside…not batting.

For a fun click, head to this write-up of the kimono exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia. The article shows both traditional and more modern kimono.

I think I kind of jumped the shark a couple of posts ago, writing about sewing nightgowns and stuff, but things are going better this week. The New York Times must have known I needed a creative tune-up, and published a five-day “Creativity Challenge.” (If you don’t subscribe, here’s a link to the first article.) In it they note that “Research links creativity to happiness and well-being, and a 2021 study found that older people who participated in creative activities showed less cognitive decline than those who did not” (Passarella, NYTimes).

In an earlier missive, Elizabeth Passarella, the writer, said “You are all creative in some way. There’s a definition of creativity that researchers use: generating something novel that is also useful.”

Generating something novel that is also useful. I need to print that out and tape it to my sewing machine. The first exercise was doodling:

We had to begin with a circle and go from there. I’m do not consider myself a hand-drawing-artist, so I did the best I could with a screen and a mouse. Don’t know where that second drawing came from–maybe from the state of politics in our nation today (doesn’t it make you crazy, too?).

So take a listen to Amie McNee if you need a shot of “why should I create.” Her TEDx talk was something I happened on this week, and I found inspiration in many things she said [words in brackets are mine]:

We need to be at the piano [or the sewing machine] making our art more than ever as we navigate these incredibly difficult things. Art is not just for kids; art is not just for adults…we need it now. [One reason is that] creativity is the missing pillar of self-development. [Another reason is that] when we create, we have agency.
Another beautiful reason to create is because it reclaims your most valuable resource…our attention in a society that profits from you being stuck on your phone. We are a culture of consumption and we’ve forgotten how to make. We need less consumption, more creation.

The act of making art is inherently generous.

I’ve been slowly working on this. There are a lot of thread changes, and some unpicking, as it’s been a while since I was at the quilting machine. I don’t quilt every day, so I like to keep track with the labels.

That plastic bag in the Messy Room photo? I pulled it off this pile of gorgeous goodness from Stash Fabrics. I wish I could say I was influenced by all the pansies I saw in Krakòw, but the truth is I ordered these before I went. But maybe I could see into the future?

In the NYTimes creative series mentioned above, I especially liked how they talked about a form of daydreaming:
“You’ll be more likely to capture original ideas if you’re in “atypical salience processing mode,” which is a fancy term for a state in which you’re focusing on the unconventional. Look at a piece of abstract art, or stare out your window in a way you usually don’t, paying attention to the space between buildings or the shadows formed by trees.”
(You can read the article with this gift link: here)

Happy Day Dreaming!

Layer your summer salad into a bowl:

Cook a cob of corn in the microwave, wrapped in wax paper, for 4 minutes. Run under cool water to cool it down then slice off the cob.
Tomatoes (smaller and flavorful like Campari tomatoes)
Romaine lettuce, sliced
Bit of arugula
Radish chunks
Cucumbers, cut in half lengthwise, then sliced 1/3″ thick
Chunks of rotisserie chicken
Focaccia (my favorite recipe is here — I make it every other Saturday night (10 minutes to whip it up in the evening and in the morning, 10 minutes to prep for the baking, plus rising time).
Drizzle Lemon Vinaigrette over everything.

Anywhere you travel in Europe, they call arugula “rocket” for some reason. Here’s a little joke for you from the internet.

300 Quilts · Creating · Totes and Purses

Keep Kalm-a-La and Carry On-A-La

November 10, 2024August 30, 2025 Elizabeth E.13 Comments

Well, my candidate didn’t win.

However, I was making this bag the whole last week of the election, and because I was inadvertently using the Keep Calm and Carry On (only it was Press On, Quilt On, etc.) and they had a skit on Saturday Night Light Live with Maya Rudolf and Kamala Harris that had a lot of joy and lot of play on words (including the title of this blog post), you really can’t blame me for merging it into the effort, can you?

I say it’s okay to name things after current events, as I’m just fitting in with my quilting ancestors (thinking of all the quilts I saw in the DAR exhibits while I lived in DC that were named after election things like the Henry Clay Campaign Quilt or the Fort Sumter Flag Quilt and such). Really I just call it the Black and White and a Pop of Color challenge project for my guild, and I’m done a full 6 weeks early, for which I am celebrating! And no, no one from my Guild ever reads this blog, so I’m safe to write about it.

This took me ton of time, because of all that cord-loop business inside.

The pattern came from a book I picked up in France, which was all in French, but it was a Japanese designer, and yes, I made some shortcuts and mistakes and no, we aren’t going to talk about those. But thank heaven for Google Translate. Isn’t that colorful one on the cover a lot of fun?

I used some handles I’d purchased ages ago in Japan at Yuzawaya (and attached with little cloth loops), but it took me numerous shopping expeditions both at brick-and-mortar stores and ETSY, to even get something resembling the cord I needed, and I raided another bag for the clasp. Like I said, if I were in Japan, all these parts would be at the local Yuzawaya store. I still think I need to order thicker cord for the right look, but oh well.

Side, side, and bottom. Since it took me as much time as some of my quilts, it has a number (293) and is indexed in my Indices, above. I do think it’s clever how the cord draws up the bag to give it shape, but just don’t know if it will work long-term. At any rate, the Guild Challenge is due in December, and I’m DONE!

While I was out shopping for cording — in early November — Christmas music was playing. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. November is a time for gratitude, fall colors and fall quilts.

*Autumn: The Chestnut Gatherers, 1894* by Georges Lacomb. Seen at the Norton Simon Museum.

*Autumn Leaves*, original design More autumn quilts seen here.

Why do I bring up autumn quilts? Because we’ve all seen these blocks from the #sweaterweathersampler2024 in our Instagram feed, an offering from some very talented women. I like the 2024 quilt offering better than their 2023, but they are fun to see pop up (check out this exhibit from some quilters in Germany). The one above is from Iva Steiner, an incredibly talented longarmer and quilter.

But, given the general season of thankfulness and thanksgiving, I’m happy that I like the autumn quilts that are in my house.

Given the general anxiety we all felt the past two weeks, I’m glad that the election is over and I don’t want to hear anymore about it for a long, long while. I was also feeling anxiety over quilting a very organic quilt that I’d made, and all my usual doodling wasn’t cutting it. My husband suggested just going with the flow, meaning following the lines of the organic fabric.

I guess I knew that in my heart, but it took my sweetheart to state the obvious: all those fancy geometric designs I was familiar with in my usual fmquilting just weren’t going to cut it with this one.

The back, a conglomerate of leftover fabrics. I have great light in my bathroom, so I take progress shots in there a lot.

Even in the border, I went organic, like blocks of waving grain, or striated boulders, or I don’t know what. Full reveal after I get the borders on.

I only have three hours left in this novel. I almost can’t stand to stop, but this morning I’ve got a lesson to teach to the church ladies, so things will slow down on the listening for a while.

But a good book can really get me to sit down and get the quilting done. I’ve got my eye on getting this one and this one quilted up and finished, too.

We’ve spent so much time in the last few months looking ahead, so I thought I would leave you with this quote, from Adam Miller from his book Original Grace: An Experiment in Restoration Thinking:

“Creation unfolds exclusively in the present tense. Nothing is created in the past—though the past was once present. And nothing is created in the future—though the future will eventually arrive.”

This quote has made me think, and ponder a lot. When our Instagram feeds are blitzed full of other people’s achievements and when we are battling one demon after another, it can make us long for days when we used to be super-charged in making, or looking forward to days when we can get to the machines and roll like crazy. But, as Miller notes, creation unfolds in the present. All that we take in now will be fuel for the creativity when we sit down and enjoy the stitching in a present-not-here-yet. We need days when we can stop and notice the autumn colors. Or take a few days to practice forgiveness. Or linger on some days to fill our heart with thanksgiving.

Happy Autumn, y’all!

Creating · Patterns by Elizabeth of OPQuilt

Invention/Re-invention

June 9, 2024August 30, 2025 Elizabeth E.12 Comments

I received the sweetest letter this week from Laurie, who makes regular quilts as well as paints barn quilts. She chose my Home, Sweet Home pattern to make her design, and thoughtfully included a photo of her barnquilt, featuring the local councilwoman, Ruby. Ruby, according to Laurie, “has made it her mission in life to spearhead a Community Outreach program to bring residents together for the betterment of our community.” This barn quilt was presented to her on her birthday. The website for Laurie’s group is Chatt Hills Barn Quilt Trail, if you are interested. Click on Tour the Trail to see them all. Can’t wait until mine is up there with all the others–thank you, Laurie!

Here’s a rendition of the front of the pattern, with all its variations. I usually just make one, and oh, maybe another, and every once in a while I’ll go back into a pattern and rework the clockworks at the center to either improve the pattern, or make it into a more comprehensive pattern.

This is the one I’m working on now. For ages, it’s been a simple pattern/block, but when Anne sent me a photo of her Poppies quilt, I knew the potential was much much greater for this little block:

My sketch:

The software I use, Affinity Designer, added a few new tools so I could color in the blocks with “fabrics,” helping me visualize what it might look like. I woke up one morning, thinking of a fat-quarter short stack of red/white toiles I had, as well as stack of French blue fabrics, and spent some time drawing this out.

I have been struggling with this, though, because how do I draft a pattern out of this idea?

A block with several parts, cut in half on the diagonal, with seam allowance added on one side?

The quarter block was even messier.

So I have resigned myself to just making a stack of blocks and then cutting them. I finished this week and am now playing the take-a-photo-rearrange-the-blocks game.

I have a small space for sewing, but it works for me, even though it can get a bit out of control on occasion.

I can already see I need to make one more to replace one that just isn’t going to work. I put these here so you can see I’m just like everyone you know: I stay up later at night, cut fabric, make a mess, try to herd cats (so to speak) while trying to put it together, all the while wondering– do I really want to re-do this pattern? It’s just that Anne’s is so inspiring. Sigh. You can find more of her brilliant work here: SpringLeaf Studios on ETSY.

Finally satisfied — or just ready to be done — I started sewing the blocks together. Anne has already warned me about those borders.

Another pattern that started out just a pattern for a block, then morphed:

And another:

Is it because re-invention is sometimes easier than invention? I love all the traditional blocks, but think some could lend themselves to new treatments, just like when we replace the window coverings. Or choose a new hairdo, which I’m currently struggling with now.

Hot Tip: It’s easier to search in DuckDuckGo for a new haircut than in Google. Google’s search engines have some infamy now in techie circles as being too bogged down, too tied to ads and AI murkiness to deliver decent search results. I agree. There are some other tricks to getting past the inundation of ads on Google, but we are all still battling with the greed of our Digital Overlords on social media (which is why I still write a blog, and why I don’t have ads).

Today I read in a Washington Post article (link should allow you to read) about how our Master Overlord Google is training its Artificial Intelligence (AI) on any and all artists’ works online. Many artists are taking them down from Instagram, because the Master Overlord Meta (formerly Facebook) is also training its AI on what’s on Facebook, Instagram and other social media. Cara, the app, seems to be the landing site for many. Here’s WordPress’ statement on their AI policy, which is the software I use to write this website: clear as mud for non-techies.

Okay, that’s all pretty depressing: I guess eventually we’ll have AI fabrics and AI quilts and there will be nothing original or new. And all our designs (that take days to convert into a pattern) will be subsumed in the Great Quilt AI.

Sigh. Time to download Cara?

In other, hopefully happier, news, I received my latest batch of Painter’s Palette Solids in the mail, so I can proceed with another block of the New York Beauties. And I’m working on some reverse appliqué for this one, made out of Grunge fabrics:

This reminds me of Italy ‘s color-drenched houses. But back in Southern California, the summer heat has arrived, the air conditioner will soon be pressed into service, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll get some decent tomatoes this year before they all burn up.

Happy Summer Sewing!