She’s the owner of a high-end hotrod – you know the kind, one that should really be capable of cooking dinner for you too. She purchased it prudently in an after-Thanksgiving floor model sale when they were offering 0% interest. She bought more machine than she needed at the time, thinking that buying it once and keeping it for years was was better than upgrading on a regular basis as her skills grew.

She dutifully took all the classes, and was getting along well with the hotrod, and then she moved. And moved again. And moved a third time without unpacking it. And then gave a friend her lower-end machine after the friend lost everything to a fire. And now that she’s ready to sew again, the hotrod is intimidating her to the point of avoidance.

All three of my Janomes, with my hotrod in the middle!

I know this story well. I’ve done through a grumpy season of discomfort with every new-to-me sewing machine I’ve ever purchased. I love familiarity, and find that my loathing of learning the new way to navigate something often outweighs my excitement when I’m faced with a new tool or toy.

So in the last week, I’ve been pondering on the best way to help my friend ease back in to her machine and thought I’d share the tips here:

1. Give yourself a kind portion of time to get reacquainted. This is not to be rushed. Allow an extra half hour or so for “fiddling-about time” as my granddad would call it. The object of the game is to soothe frustration, not add to it!
2. Make a cuppa of your favorite tea or coffee. You might need a cookie to go with it too
3. Find the manual and have it close by. Or save the link to the on-line version in your phone. If you need to look something up, the info will be at your finger tips. Bonus tip: there is zero shame in looking anything up. Think about how many phone numbers you no longer have memorized! The power is in knowing where to find the info. You are not secretly being taped for some bizarre reality sewing show where your survival depends on memorizing the manual.
4. One step at a time… (re)learn to thread the machine. Do it a second or third time to start re-building the muscle memory. Bonus tip: always thread with the presser foot up because this opens the thread tensions discs for the thread to pass through. Often, when you thread with the foot down you end up with a messy stitch because your top tension is absent.
5. (Re)learn how to make a bobbin. Make a couple. Again, we’re looking to build muscle memory, but also having a few wound bobbins on hand is a way to get you sewing faster next time.
6. (Re)learn how to install a bobbin and pull the thread to the top. Does it go in clockwise? Counter-clockwise? Draw it on a sticky note and tape it to your machine if you can’t remember easily.
7. What’s the MINIMUM you need to know for this project? How to raise/lower the presser foot. How to needle up/down as needed. How to initiate the thread cutter (ka-chunk!) How to choose a straight stitch, and how to adjust the length of it (and if your machine allows you to save these as settings, do that.) Where to adjust the speed. How you set up your quarter inch (via a foot or a guide). Where you want the gas pedal. That’s about it.
8. IGNORE THE REST OF THE FEATURES. I mean it. You don’t need them today, so pretend they’re taking a day off. You might NEVER need them, and that’s absolutely okay too. You probably bought the machine for the quilting space, not the fancy embroidery stitches, so use what matters to YOU. There is no rule that you have to use every feature on the machine, any more than there’s a rule that says you have to eat vegetables you don’t like, or finish books you don’t enjoy. I can assure you I’ll never use more than 1% of the fancy stitches my hotrod can do, and don’t lose any sleep over it!

Yes, your machine is a power tool, and we must always respect our power tools! But don’t let it scare you beyond a healthy, safety-conscious respect. You get to be the boss, so don’t let the machine intimidate you so much it steals the joy of quilting from you!

OK then… get sewing!

PS… you can get one of those Power Tool stickers here, or by ordering a paper pattern – I include one in every order

The post Too Much Sewing Machine appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

If you’ve followed me on this in the previous years (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018) you know that I’m not a terribly messy person. I find a tidy studio really inspiring and welcoming. I also frequently have friends over to sew at the weekend, or run classes in this space, so I’m always changing things around to fit the work or the people, and thus mess never lingers.

The first rule of tidying up is you have to do what WORKS FOR YOU. Please don’t use my tidy studio as a way to beat yourself up! There is no perfect way to do this – for me it happens when I hit some level of critical mass, often precluded by having a pile of something fall over on me!

I know people who find a lot of inspiration in spaces that have a lot going on in them – I just don’t happen to be one of them. In this world of so much perfect imagery coming at us, the most important thing is YOU DO YOU. Find out what needs to happen in your space to make you feel happy to be in it, and creatively motivated, and THAT is your perfect studio, or kitchen, or home!

Despite keeping a clean studio, I can have other stuff pile up on me, and in the last few months my books have been piled everywhere. On the kitchen table. In the living room. In the office. On the floor of my bedroom. So I decided to take care of those for this blog post – and I was happy to have a motivating deadline for getting it done!

I keep my bookshelves in my bedroom, and they were beginning to feel overloaded, and like they were looming over me.

No one pile was really out of hand, but the sum of the parts was making me a bit crazy.

First I went through each section and pulled things that no longer interested me. Either I’ve read it and I’m done with it, or I bought it when I was interested in something I’m no longer pursuing. And let’s face it, if I get interested in it again, I can always find the book again if I need it.

• Quilt books – I culled those that I no longer use for reference. They’ll go to my guild’s book library.
• Art technique books – I pulled those for art techniques I’m not working with any more. I doubt I will ever try landscape watercolor painting again!
• Language reference stuff – when I bought these books, I didn’t have a smartphone in my pocket, and now a lot of the information in those books can be found on the internet in seconds.
• Old travel guides – if I go back to those countries I’ll buy an updated version.
• Old magazines are off to the doctor’s office. I have a huge stack of Uppercase Magazine too… I love them, but I think I might need to gift them on as the evidence says I don’t usually go back to them once I read them. I’m several issues behind, so I might need to re-evaluate buying a subscription again, although dang, I do love to support a woman-owned publication!
• School books – I still had a few dusty art theory books from when I did my MFA in 2010. Trust me when I say some of these are the kind you only read when they’re assigned for homework, so the chance of me reading them again is zero!
• Entrepreneurial books – many of my entrepreneur friends often recommend this book or that, and I dutifully go buy them. And then they sit on my shelf for years. One wise biz friend (whose project planning methodology I use) told me instead to just look for a book to solve a problem when I was actively trying to solve the problem, and not to buy things that weren’t in the “working on this NOW” category. Good advice for keeping the book budget in check, and the clutter down.

The second rule is that you shouldn’t get rid of the things that make you happy, even if no one else sees the value of them!

I have more than a passing interest in mid-century pamphlet-style cookbooks. They were often published by a food manufacturer, and the books stretched to include that brand or ingredient in every single recipe. One of my favorite finds was this one, whose recipes all include salt. I know… salt?!

I also love the delightful mid-century illustrations:

And most of all, I find such humor in the recipes that sound just dreadful:

Once I had the books pared down, I re-grouped them by subject (I would LOVE to do it by color, but not having them categorized would make me itch!)

And then I shifted the placement for some of the subjects… I used to have quilting on one side of the room, and embroidery on the other. Now I feel like my categories flow a bit better, which means they can share shelves if needed. In the process, I reclaimed another shelf on which to store quilts, too.

Now it looks like this:

And this is the pile that I’ll be donating to my library once my friends have had a chance at them:

Oh… and here’s my tidy studio!

Please take a peek at the rest of the studios on the hop – you’re likely to find inspiration there!

April 29 – Linda Bratten – http://lindabcreative.blogspot.com/
April 30 – Sandra Johnson – http://www.sandrajohnsondesigns.com
May 1 – Jennifer Schifano Thomas – http://www.Curlicuecreations.com
May 2 – Becca Fenstermaker – http://www.prettypiney.com
May 3 – Sue Griffiths – http://www.duckcreekmountainquilting.com
May 4 – Kate Starcher – http://katiemaequilts.com/blog
May 5 – Jo Westfoot – http://www.thecraftynomad.co.uk/blog
May 6 – Sam Hunter – https://huntersdesignstudio.com <– you’re here!
May 7 – Simone Fisher – http://simonequilts.com/blogs/news
May 8 – Elisabeth DeMoo- http://www.brownbirddesignsquilts.com
May 9 – Sarah Myers –  http://www.quilted-diary.com/blog
May 10 – Amy Bradley – http://www.purplepineapplestudio.com
May 11 – Kathy Nutley – http://www.QuiltingsByKathy.com
May 12 – Carla Henton – http://createinthesticks.blogspot.com/
May 13 – Sherry Shish – http://www.poweredbyquilting.com
May 14 – Kate Colleran – http://www.seamslikeadream.com/blog
May 15 – Pamela Boatright – https://www.pamelaquilts.com/
May 16 – Cathy McKillip – http://wishuponaquilt.com/blog
May 17 – Cheryl Sleboda – http://blog.muppin.com

The post Spring Clean Your Studio – 2019 appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

I hope you check in on all the participants – see below for a list with links! So many people have some great solutions to working in all kinds of spaces – you’re sure to see a tip or trick that will really inspire you!

To see my studio cleanup in prior years, go here for 2015, here for 2016, and here for 2017. These post also containing links to many of the posts I’ve written about how I keep my studio tidy.

So, to my current space…

This was what was going on in my studio a month or so ago, when my friends Heather and Chris of RemnantPDX (a vintage furniture company) posted a picture of a fun and funky filing cabinet:

Just look at all that 70s color! And it had ORANGE doors too!

As it happened, I had been pondering how to get more shelf space into my studio, but I wasn’t keen on having another open wire rack. And as usual, the chaos was building up on top of my fabric drawers. This is always the catchall for heaps of studio stuff, and it makes me a little crazy (I don’t like working in clutter). I didn’t need a filing cabinet for paperwork (I keep as much as possible electronically) but the shelving possibilities it had were intriguing.

I was also feeling like the art on my wall was in need of a good shuffle. A quick measurement of the space showed me that the filing cabinet would fit, so I made an appointment to go look at it.

I absolutely loved it! And Chris kindly delivered it the next day!

The first task was to break down the wall art and move everything out of the way. And sweep behind everything I could reach while I had the chance!

The cabinet squeezed into the space available – I didn’t have to scoot the bulletin boards.

Then the fabric drawers went back in, and I started moving things into the cabinet. Note that I use flat-headed extension cords to keep access to the power sockets that always seem to end up behind things.

One of things I really like about the cabinet is that the doors swing up and slide back, out of the way. I also love that I can CLOSE the doors to hide messy piles if I need to, as I use this space as a dining room when I invite friends over to eat.

Lastly, I put the art back up on the walls, adding some new pieces and moving some to other places in my home.

This is the current view (I’m still secret #sewingatthespeedofsam for quilt market so I can’t show you the rest!) I’m really loving that bright pop of colors in the room, and the extra storage has been so useful for keeping my projects together while they are queued up for attention.

Another thing that got sorted out during this shuffle were my small solids boxes. I had everything crammed into 8 small boxes, and things were so tight it was painful to find anything in them.

I expanded them to 12 boxes, which allowed me to better group the colors, as well as pull one piece out without the box exploding at me!

Please stop by the rest of the blog hop participants to see how they are managing their studios!

April 23 – Lori Crawley Kennedy – http://theinboxjaunt.com/
April 24 – Jennifer Thomas – http://curlicuecreations.blogspot.com
April 25 – Robin Koehler – http://nestlingsbyrobin.blogspot.com
April 26 – Andi Barney- https://www.andibarney.com/
April 27 – Misty Cole – http://www.mistycole.com/blog
April 28 – Carolina Moore- http://alwaysexpectmoore.com/
April 29 – Heather Pregger – https://heatherquilts.blogspot.com/
April 30 – Linda Bratten – https://lindabcreative.blogspot.com/
May 1 – Lisa Reber – https://dippydye.blogspot.com/
May 2 – Teresa Coates – http://www.crinkledreams.com
May 3 – Lisa Chin – http://www.lisachinartist.com/
May 4 – Jamie Fingal – http://www.jamiefingaldesigns.com/
May 5 – Sam Hunter – www.huntersdesignstudio.com     <<——- you are here!
May 6 – Jessee Maloney – www.artschooldropout.net/blog
May 7 – Randa Parrish – http://www.sewartsyfartsy.com/
May 8 – Sarah Vedeler- https://meaningoflifedesigns.com/
May 9 – Jessica Darling – https://jessicakdarling.com/
May 10 – Melody Crust – http://www.melodycrust.com/
May 11 – Debby Brown – http://higheredhands.blogspot.com
May 12 – Cheryl Sleboda – http://blog.muppin.com

The post Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop 2018 – a vintage cabinet joins my studio! appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

As we hit the middle of January, and I read across my social media feeds of everyone’s epic plans to ramp up this and change that, I find myself retreating to my studio armchair with a cuppa to ponder what advice I would offer for giving your sewing practice an infusion of new year’s intentions.

Of course I have an ORANGE pillow!

No, I’m not going to give you an insurmountable list of how to be perfect – really, who needs ANY more of that! I find it beyond overwhelming to think I could change that many facets of my life in the single stroke of a late December midnight! But I do believe you can shift your life one thing at a time, thus I’m offering you ONE thing I think can improve your studio practice right now, and yes, it’s free, and doesn’t require you giving up chocolate

The Studio Project List 

Every time I work on a project, at the end of the day, I write down what I was working on and how much time I spent on the various stages of it. I break it into stages because I’m one of the weirdos who loves checking off small steps of larger projects.

I also use this to track the number of things I work on. Sometimes I get to the end of a year and feel like I didn’t accomplish enough, and this list usually sets me straight on that. We often forget the hours we put into making blocks here and there for various things, or don’t count the time we spend sewing things that are not quilts. For instance, I made 26 Chunky Wee Zippy Pouches, 2 Chunky Wee Bags, and a couple dozen blocks, pincushions, etc. in 2017, beyond the 47 quilts I finished!*

Lastly, by tracking these broad numbers as I work I’m better able to estimate the price of custom work, should someone ask me to make them a quilt. Estimating the cost of materials isn’t hard, but we usually have a tough time estimating the amount of labor we might put into something. Because I have this historical data, I can go back as see how many hours I put into any given quilt, which allows me to make a more accurate proposal. Even if you never plan to sell a quilt, knowing this number allows you to see if you actually have the time to make that last minute gift you though of!

Give it a try!

Feel free to use this document as a starting point for creating your own list using the categories that are important to YOUR practice.

And for a New Year’s blast from the past, I wrote this a couple of years ago – and I still wish all these things for you!

For more on tracking the value of what you make, go here.

* With MUCH help from Nancy and Kazumi, my trusty long-arm artists!

The post Studio Habits: Keep a List appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

Quilting Loves YOU. We do this to make things just for YOU.

We have something for EVERYONE:

You’re a beginner? We have building block books and lovely helpers in fabric stores for you.

You learn better in person? We have talented teachers all over the world to teach you.

You can’t make it to class? We have hundreds of online classes waiting for you.

You’re making your 3rd quilt? We have easy patterns to help grow your skills.

You want a community to quilt with? We have guilds, Facebook groups, and Instagram swaps to bring you new friends.

You can’t get to the store? We have catalogs and websites for you to shop from.

You want to make something complicated? We have patterns and books for that.

You want to learn a new technique? We have more books and workshops for that.

You want to make a fast gift over a weekend? We have yet more patterns for that.

You want to color coordinate your projects? We develop collections of fabric that are designed to be used together.

You don’t want to use a single line of fabric? We develop fabrics that are designed to be supporting players in your projects.

You don’t want to choose the fabrics? We make all sorts of kits.

You want to quilt it yourself? We have lots of books and tutorials to make that easier, and wonderful domestic machines for it too.

You want to quilt by checkbook? Our long arm artists are waiting to collaborate with you.

Your sewing machine budget is modest? We can get you sewing on a vintage garage sale bargain.

You want the sewing machine equivalent of a luxury car? Yep, we’ve made those too. Sadly they don’t cook dinner, though!

You want to do it by hand? We have needles, threads, and notions created specially for hand work.

You like tools and gadgets? We’ve made tools and rulers for just about everything.

Your sewing space is tiny? We have Ikea hacks and and storage tips for you.

Your sewing space is opulent? We can show you how to make the best ergonomic choices to fill it.

You need a fabric themed vacation? We have retreats and cruises for you.

You want to show off what you make? Beyond social media, we have many shows and exhibitions for you to enter.

You want to sew for charity? There are hundreds of ways to donate a quilt to a worthy cause.

So yes, wherever you are in your quilting or fiber art journey, there is someone in my industry making something just for YOU. We can meet you where you are, and help you get where you want to go in your quilt journey. Come play with us! Quilting loves you!

The post Quilting Loves You, Too appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

Welcome to Day 1 of the Back to School Blog Hop! I’m kicking it off with a video tutorial on how to spray baste a quilt that’s bigger than your table.

The video is the entire process in one take. If you’re pressed for time and need to skip through some of the repetitive parts of basting a large quilt, here are some places to fast-forward to for catching the high points:

• 00:30 Different clip options for different tables
• 01:15 Start basting down the center of the quilt
• 08:30 Moving the center of the quilt for the first time
• 13:00 Moving the center of the quilt for the second time
• 17:00 Moving the center of the quilt for the last time
• 20:30 Center of the quilt is finished, rotating the quilt and moving to the sides
• 24:30 Moving the side of the quilt up
• 27:30 End of first side, moving to second side

I mention some clamps/clips in the opening that work on the thick, white, plastic tables. You can get those here.

If you’re using regular binder clips, buy the big 2” variety (1” capacity).

My favorite spray baste is 505 Spray and Fix Temporary Fabric Adhesive.

All links are not affiliate

(Huge thanks to Cheryl for loaning me a big quilt to baste!)

I hope you follow the rest of the hop as there’s some fantastic content coming your way! BTW, the contributors are from all over the world, so please be patient is everything is not posted at bright and early in your exact timezone! 

Day 1 – August 15 – Sam Hunter: How to spray baste a BIG quilt – www.huntersdesignstudio.com <—- you are here!

Day 2 – August 16 – Mandy Leins: Thread Dread: removing stray bits after quilting – www.mandalei.com

Day 3 – August 17 – Nancy Stovall: The Sweet Creamy Filling – www.justquiltingpdx.com

Day 4 – August 18 – Ebony Love: 7 Indispensible feet for your sewing machine – www.LoveBugStudios.com

Day 5 – August 19 – Michelle Freedman: Machine throat plates – www.designcamppdx.blogspot.com

Day 6 – August 20 – Teresa Coates: Edge/Under/Top stitching – www.crinkledreams.com

Day 7 – August 21 – Kelly Cole: Ten ways to regain your sew-jo – www.vintagefabricstudio.com

Day 8 – August 22 – Megan Dougherty: Choose to Fuse: tips for working with fusibles for applique – www.thebitchystitcher.com

Day 9 – August 23 – Kim Lapacek: Tricks to being productive while hauling your kids around – www.persimondreams.blogspot.com

Day 10 – August 24 – Yvonne Fuchs: Circuitboard quilting on Domestic and Longarm Machines – www.quiltingjetgirl.com

Day 11 – August 25 – Sandi Hazlewood: Chain Piecing Quilt Blocks Tips – www.craftyplanner.com

Day 12 – August 26 – Juliet van der Heijden: Paper-piecing with children – www.thetartankiwi.com

Day 13 – August 27 – Maddie Kertay: Fabric folding for any storage solution – www.badassquilterssociety.com

Day 14 – August 28 – Cath Hall: Working with Lawn fabric – www.wombatquilts.com

Day 15 – August 29 – Tracy Mooney: Tips for the perfect seam – www.sewmuchcosplay.com

Day 16 – August 30 – Teri Lucas: How to bury thread – www.terificreations.com

Day 17 – August 31 – Debby Brown: Securing machine quilting knots – www. higheredhands.blogspot.com

Day 18 – September 1 – Flaun Cline: How to put some sparkle in your fabric pull (part 1) – www.ipleadquilty.com

Day 19 – September 2 – Jessica Darling: How to put some sparkle in your fabric pull (part 2) – www.jessicakdarling.com

Day 20 – September 3 – Trish Frankland: A bigger blade really IS better?! – www.persimondreams.blogspot.com

Day 21 – September 4 – Robin Koehler: Tips on how to travel with handwork – www.nestlingsbyrobin.blogspot.com

Day 22 – September 5 – Jane Davidson: How to make scrappy HSTs – www.quiltjane.com

Day 23 – September 6 – Linda Pearl: Low cost tips for organizing your sewing room – www.onequiltingcircle.com

Day 24 – September 7 – Christa Watson – Top 10 tips for quilting on a domestic machine – www.christaquilts.com

Day 25 – September 8 – Sarah Nunes: To Starch or Not to Starch – www.berrybarndesigns.com

Day 26 – September 9 – Suzy Webster: Testing fabric for bleeding – www.websterquilt.blogspot.com

Day 27 – September 10 – Sarah Goer: Machine bind your quilts like a pro – www.sarahgoerquilts.com

Day 28 – September 11 – Vanda Chittenden: Beginner paper-piecing tips – www.chittenden.co.za

Day 29 – September 12 – Cheryl Sleboda: Needle threading tips – www.muppin.com

Day 30 – September 13 – Kim Niedzwiecki – Different thread weights and when to use them – www.gogokim.com

Day 31 – September 14 – Sandra Healy: Conquer Your Fear of Machine Appliqué – www.sandrahealydesigns.com

Day 32 – September 15 – Sandra Starley: The Basics of Antique Quilt Collecting – www.utahquiltappraiser.blogspot.com

The post How to Spray Baste a Quilt that’s Larger than your Table – Back to School Blog Hop Day 1 appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

Image from the American Folk Art Museum

I’ve always been a fan of the graphic nature of two-color quilts, and seeing the red and white quilts got me thinking about building my own collection, but with ORANGE and white quilts! I remembered a quilt I bought back in the early 1990s…

Twenty-some years ago, there was a cable program that showed antique quilts for sale. Many of the ladies in my quilt guild spent their weekends glued to this show, calling in to pounce on the vintage treasures. This was before the internet became a household thing (something I can barely imagine now!) I fell pray to watching that show one weekend, and this lovely ORANGE and white Snail’s Trail joined my household shortly thereafter:

I’ve often said it was waiting just for me to love it. It’s from the 1930s, machine-pieced but hand-quilted. If you’ve ever seen me lecture, I often bring this quilt with me. I love to show how imperfectly made it is, and how none of that detracts from its beauty. This quilt really taught me to appreciate seeing the hand of the maker, and it has always been so precious to me because many points miss and the ORANGE fabric shadows under the white in a lot of places.

Anyway, until this spring, it was the only antique quilt I owned. And then I found this Drunkards Path on Ebay:

So I bought it. Now there were two. A fledgling collection was hatched! Look closely… you’ll see that the outer row of blocks is from a slightly darker fabric. Running out of fabric is obviously a timeless problem!

And then a few weeks ago, my friend Lori found this quilt top and nabbed it for me:

It’s a hot mess of stretchy bias edges and funky points. Just look at how several of the center stars are, shall we say… irregular! It’s hand-pieced and I wish I knew if it was made by one or many people. I adore it. And I guess the ORANGE and White Collection is truly underway now

The post The ORANGE and White Collection appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

A couple of years back, Heather Powers of HKPowerStudio interviewed me about my studio space. Back then, it was a slender room in a friend’s bigger studio. I recently moved, and dedicated my new, larger living room to be my studio. When I told Heather about it, she asked me to give her an update about the new space.

She split the information into two posts that you can read here and here (and the original interview is here). She asks a lot of great questions… not just how I do things, but the philosophy behind my choices too!

I’ve had studios both in my house and outside, and I find they both have their benefits. I really like being able to look at something on the design wall while my first cuppa of the day is brewing, so having it in my home is a great solution for me. It can also mean that it’s hard to stop working though, and sometimes if I can see my messy kitchen from the sewing table I’ll get tempted to go clean up!

The studio I have now is probably my largest, and I’m loving having a huge design wall, and the ability to have a half dozen friends over to sew on the weekends. I’ll be teaching small classes from here soon (local Portland OR peeps, watch this space for a special signup to be on that list).

I’ve also written some posts about how I store things inside my studio (lots of ideas for small spaces):

Studio Process

Storage ideas – Part 1

Storage ideas – Part 2

And twice I’ve participated in the Spring Clean Your Studio blog hop hosted by Cheryl Sleboda of Muppin.com for the last couple of years – I hope she does it again this year as the people who participate always have some great tips for tidying up!

My 2015 Spring Cleaning

My 2016 Spring Cleaning

The post Inside My Studio appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

The original Star Wars movie’s Princess Leia Organa was one of the few movie heroines of my youth.

She wasn’t just “the girlfriend” and she didn’t fit the “helpless damsel in distress” model of the cartoons I grew up on. She held her own against the bad guys, and gave the good guys a solid run for their money. I loved that she was sassy and resiliant, and could tongue-tie the ever-so-cool Han Solo.

When she came back in the most recent movie, she was now General Organa, and like many women of my generation, I took pride in her rise to that rank. Luke ran off to hide and sulk; Han ran off to continue being a scoundrel; but Leia stayed and kept fighting.

I also respect Carrie Fisher, the actress who brought Princess Leia to life. I liked that she just told it like it is with easy, yet pointed, humor, especially in the PR frenzy before The Force Awakens. I admired how she pointed out that we, as women of any age, are held to impossible standards of youth and beauty, as if they are the only things that matter.

She was so much more. As are we.

The General Organa Quilt has paper-piecing patterns for two versions of the words:

It also includes both paper-piecing patterns and templates for the parts General Organa herself that have odd angles. The printed pattern is lengthy (all those letters!) so be sure to read it through before you print or you’ll be wasting paper

The General Organa quilt pattern is available here in my shop. I will be donating all proceeds from both this pattern and The Droid is Not for Sale (Rey & BB-8) to Chick Tech, a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to retaining women in the technology workforce, and increasing the number of women and girls pursuing technology-based careers.

And may the Force be with you!

The post The General Organa Quilt appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

The poor thing was loved to pieces, and Jessica asked me if I could rescue it for a few more years of cuddles. Challenge accepted!

As before, a disclosure: I know little about professionally restoring and conserving quilts, so please don’t look to me for authority. I just try to solve the problem with the resources I have, and we’re not trying to keep these things in museum display condition! We’re just trying to love them a little longer

The first thing I did was to separate the layers. It had a thin flannel sheet in the middle as batting (that had mostly turned into shaggy handfuls of lint) and the backing flannel had long since given up most of its fuzz. It was once tied through with something akin to perle cotton, but most of the ties had torn through or come unknotted.

The front was mostly polyester (you can see that some pieces were once garments – they had seams in them!) and a few squares of velour, now shredded to pieces.

I tossed the middle, and put the back and front through the wash. That polyester is bulletproof… when the apocalypse comes this quilt, the cockroaches, and Keith Richards will be the only things left standing!

I found some vintage polyester on Etsy (a trendy Kelly green with white polka-dots), and replaced all the velour squares with it.

Preserving the alpine print flannel on the back was important to Jessica. It was terribly threadbare and full of holes, so I culled the best chunk of it, and appliquéd it over some new green flannel.

And then added another flannel layer to it for batting, and sent it off for a quilt spa day with Nancy Stovall.

The quilt was originally envelope (or pillowcase) bound – no binding, and tied. Denser quilting makes the fabric in quilts last longer, but there’s no way to long-arm something AND envelope it. So we went with traditional layering, and I went shopping for polyester to make a binding.

The quilting proved challenging… all those chunky poly seams and intersections did not want to glide under the machine foot unattended, so Nancy ended up hand guiding it into swirls that artfully missed the problem spots.

I found a navy poly, and cut a 3” binding from it. What an adventure… it didn’t want to press in half, nor turn nice corners.

It’s back home with Jessica and Steve now. And I hear their pup is thrilled to have it on the bed!

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