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description=A Sentimental Quilter by Kathleen Tracy is about her journey through quilting. Kathleen uses reproduction fabrics to make quilts with an antique look.;

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f each one feels like it takes about 700 hours to complete i so love the fresh start a nice clean sewing area gives me but the stress of cleaning everything up is not something i want to tackle just yet it s a constant battle and i know i will feel better if i try possibly i ll even get more sewing done if i can actually see the surface of the cutting table but right now i get tired thinking about it so i ve decided to take it slowly and not stress too much baby steps be nice to myself during the process instead of feeling bad that i ve been lazy clutter does that to me and it constantly reminds me that i am not as organized as i d like to be granted i had a busy summer and that set me back things were hurriedly tossed around and i worked on a few things here and there without bothering to clean up much it made me put aside some quilting i thought i wanted to do though hopefully i will have a productive fall and then this is my plan set aside 30 minutes a day make a plan to just organize one drawer bin or shelf it s amazing what you can accomplish in a short time if you keep at it on a regular basis organize some of the things i don t use very often extra threads scissors rulers other tools and store them somewhere instead of keeping them out all the time yes i am guilty of doing this focus on one thing at a time i go from thing to thing and then forget my original purpose and realize i have wasted a lot of time i read that this may because of my age however so it s not really my fault lol try not to get too sentimental about throwing things away get a big box and toss in the stuff i really don t need to hang onto donate or just throw out i ll live try to make a habit of cleaning off my work space after i ve finished working on something a tough one for me but it may make it easier to jump into a clean space the next time i feel like sewing right now i get tired thinking about it let s see what happens if i let go of my mess stress and stick to the plan to deal with it later in the fall not exactly a productive solution but september is my favorite organizing month anyway and when the weather becomes slightly cooler i always seem to have more energy to tackle things like this cross my heart i really will get it done and then everything else will magically fall into place right tell me you also struggle with this posted by kathleen tracy at 1 06 pm 34 comments thursday august 21 2014 remember me wouldn t it be great if we knew more about the women who made some of the antique quilts we love so much and wouldn t it be nice if we were also remembered through our quilts you don t often see labels on old quilts and even when you do they don t always offer much information it s more common to see signatures labeling my quilts is always an afterthought and something i know i need to do more often do all of you make labels for your quilts i know some of you take the time to create wonderful labels i labeled many of my early quilts very simply usually because i was in a rush to meet a deadline for a book and felt lucky to get them finished at all much less have time to make a fancy label i don t do it too often now and i m embarrassed to say that my favorite method involves slapping a piece of fabric onto some steam a seam cutting it out and writing my name and date on it with a permanent ink pen and then ironing it onto the back of a quilt well i figure it s better than nothing the thought of making pretty or fancy labels for almost two hundred small quilts now is a little overwhelming so if i ever do label the rest of them this may be the way i do it simply primitive yes but at least it s something some of these were made for trunk show quilts i sent to shops across the country and canada they needed something on the backs in case they got misplaced or lost this will sound crazy but after making the original quilts for a book and after a book was published i would go on to make 3 4 copies of several of them to send to quilt shops so they could display them with my books that s 16 20 additional quilts i had to make when i was promoting a book sheesh sometimes i had a little help so pretty labels were not necessarily a priority when making quilt samples for shops but it helped to have even a primitive label when i needed the quilts returned to me with the exception of one i got all the quilts back intact that i sent out it s never fun to lose a quilt you put so much time and thought into creating even if it was a small quilt i could easily create again thankfully i had labels i m really impressed by those of you who take the time to make pretty labels for the backs of your quilts and would love to see the really special ones that many of you put so much time into designing and creating if you have any that you re willing to show me send me a photo and i may do a show and tell here i m sure this is something many of us struggle with when we make things i would love to be inspired so show me your labels i vow to do better with mine in the future i could always just sign some of this ribbon tape here s an article i found that you may find interesting it gives tips and encourages quilters to make labels for their quilts we all want our quilts to be remembered posted by kathleen tracy at 2 15 pm 12 comments friday august 15 2014 farm to fabric challenge clothworks textiles and quilts inc are sponsoring a quilt challenge using clothworks american made brand cotton solids see details here the deadline to enter is coming up soon but there s still time to make a quilt and enter into the competition quilts have to be at least 25 x 25 that s something many of us small quilters can handle clothworks started this movement in hopes of restoring the proud tradition of american textiles and has produced a fabric entirely sourced and manufactured in the united states check out their gorgeous american made brand fabrics and see if you can come up with an idea for a quilt winning quilts will be displayed in a special exhibit that will premiere at international quilt market and festival october 25 november 2 2014 the theme of the exhibit is celebrating farm to fabric what does it mean to you your family or your community to bring fabric production back to the united states to use in your american made quilts american made fabric for american quilts what a great way to express our american spirit i hope some of you will decide to take the challenge in conjunction with this exhibit was the illinois license plate block i made for the amb blog tour 50 state quilt this past spring well all of the state blocks are now in and the quilt is being sewn together see if you can find mine it s a little inconspicuous so good luck quilters i know you like a challenge so put your sewing skills to work and enter posted by kathleen tracy at 11 40 am 3 comments wednesday august 13 2014 staying motivated i m a wonderful goal setter always looking to improve something somewhere goal finisher ehhh making a dear jane quilt is one of my bigger goals but i t s been awhile since i made any blocks finding motivation to continue working on a big project can be a huge issue for me i finished 6 blocks in april 2 in may 0 in june and only 1 in july you can see the trend i became worried it would continue spiraling downward like many of you i plod along making this quilt some years i m good and some not so good 2013 was not a great year for working on them until i decided i needed a little push to keep going and formed a yahoo dear jane support group for some of us working on the blocks see sidebar for info so i challenged myself and some in the group by putting my name on a list for all to see and committed to making at least one block per month nothing like accountability the idea was that one block would get the ball rolling for me and then perhaps i d become motivated to make more one block a month may not sound like much but you have to admit it s still a lot better than none per month which is where i was heading baby janes i find i spend the longest time just going through and picking out the fabric i want to use for a block do you do this too a long time ago i pulled some of my favorite fabrics some new some very old that i thought i d like to use in the quilt i set it all aside and now keep it in a separate dj basket if i buy a new print and want to use it then i cut some off and place it in the basket so at least that s somewhat organized and i don t have to go through all of it every time i begin a block well so far my plan has worked pretty well i finished the block for august in no time at all sure it was an easy block but sometimes that s just what i need to get back into it you know once i decided to do this i didn t want to let myself down or anyone else on the list this was my idea so i m supposed to be inspiring everyone else too right i found i was able to become motivated to finish another block this one was a more difficult block for me i could not get those teensy pieces to line up right even after ripping it apart and trying again enough i said and decided to go with the galloping horse theory on this one if you can t see a mistake while riding past it on a galloping horse then it doesn t matter looks okay to me from a distance up close don t go there so now i ve finished two for august and the month isn t even over yet yes patting myself on the back here completing even a small goal makes me feel good here are some ways i try to stay motivated i bring out the dj chart i made from poster board with pictures of the blocks i ve completed so i can see my progress it s fun to fill in the spaces here s how i made my chart i drew a grid of squares to represent the blocks in the quilt on poster board numbered the rows then printed out pictures of my blocks in a small size and cut and pasted them onto the poster board primitive yes but it really works for me and allows me to see how far i ve come i cannot get the digital one that comes with the dj software to work with my computer then i attempt to fill in some of the rows or work on the trip around the world motif in my quilt i keep a list of the blocks i ve finished by date and then also check them off on another list according to difficulty i ve finished quite a few of the easy blocks and need to work on some difficult ones now yes applique and paper piecing easy for some of you not so easy for me here s my main problem though i ve been so lazy busy this summer that my sewing space is quite a mess i drop things on the table and don t clean it up can you imagine the weather s been so nice and it s so much fun to do other things instead i m going to miss going to the beach when it gets colder but i ll be more productive that s for sure i tend to not want to create in a messy space however so that s the real hurdle i have to face pretty soon or i won t get anything done on the list for next month clean up the mess posted by kathleen tracy at 2 00 pm 12 comments tuesday august 5 2014 quilts sur le table my apologies to our french speaking friends i am trying to say quilts on the table or table quilts our blog topic for today but first i am going to tell you about my productive day so you will see how i got there from here i had nothing special planned today for a change a doctor s appointment this morning when i came home i had breakfast with the dog literally since she was sitting patiently at my left side waiting for me to drop something she had been fed her first breakfast before i left then i walked the dog after that i finished some e mails cleaned up the kitchen vacuumed and mopped the floors and picked up a little my how time flies the house was clean which made me feel pretty good and motivated me to plan a nice dinner with my favorite salad on the side recipe later i climbed up onto the kitchen counter to get a better look inside one of the high cabinets for the glass cruet i like to use for the special dressing i was going to make you are probably thinking that i fell or something disastrous happened but it did not i just thought the image of me climbing onto the kitchen counter at my age would be good for a laugh i couldn t find the cruet so i ll have to think of something else to use for the dressing but look at the pretty little vase i found instead i bought this years ago and forgot i had it it was shoved into a cabinet i stopped to go outside and pick a flower to put in the vase i know i should post a photo on facebook just because it s so pretty then since the camera was out i thought i d take a picture of the vase on a quilt then i thought i should take another picture of another quilt with the vase then i decided to take a picture of another quilt with another vase and so on and so on and so on by the time i was finished it was 3 00 and i hadn t really accomplished much else at all other than fooling around with quilts the vase and the camera i sort of just puttered around but it felt good instead of rushing around pretty productive day huh i like to have a day like this every now and then people ask me this question all the time what do i do with small quilts easy you can put them on a table here are some of my quilts sur le table patterns for some of my table quilts can be found on my website dinner tonight will be pasta primavera accompanied by a salad with oranges and candied almonds with an orange vinagrette dressing it s similar to this but i also add 1 2 tbs of frozen orange juice concentrate from a can the missing cruet looks something like this if you happen to see it let me know or better yet maybe this is the excuse i need to go visit a home goods store and shop for a new one posted by kathleen tracy at 4 36 pm 21 comments newer posts older posts home subscribe to comments atom kathleen tracy i m a quilt designer and author of seven quilting books i love making quilts with an antique look and find inspiration in quilts from the past and the women who made them view my complete profile website country lane quilts visit my etsy shop quilt patterns and books follow by email subscribe indicates required email address real people should not fill this in and expect good things do not remove this or risk form bot signups patterns available in my etsy shop translate search this blog follow on blogger join my facebook quilting group a prairie journey small quilts that celebrate the pioneer spirit small scrappy make some fun little quilts archives 2026 6 march 3 february 1 january 2 2025 23 december 1 november 2 october 1 september 3 august 4 july 1 may 1 march 5 february 3 january 2 2024 18 december 3 september 1 august 2 june 1 may 1 april 4 march 2 january 4 2023 21 december 1 november 2 october 2 september 3 june 2 april 2 march 2 february 3 january 4 2022 26 december 1 november 1 october 3 september 3 august 2 july 2 june 2 may 2 april 3 march 1 february 1 january 5 2021 25 december 1 november 3 october 2 september 3 august 2 july 1 june 1 may 1 april 2 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