Quilts for Graduates!

My nephew Porter graduated from high school yesterday.

We are so proud of him!  

And of course, the tradition of gifting nieces and nephews quilts upon their high school graduation continues.

I had asked my sister Mary "What colors does Porter like?" a couple of weeks before I headed to Idaho to visit my mom.

"Red!  He really likes red!"

This I could cover....and off to the quilt vault I went to search.

Wonky stars in black on gold with red and neutral.
This will do!
I attached a label, bundled it up in a second suitcase and took it to grandma's.  There will be a family gathering in July where Porter can pick it up at grandma's house.

Brother-in-law Kelly, Porter, and my sister Mary -

The thing I didn't realize until I saw this photo was just how tall he has grown!

It's not always easy being the furthest away from family, but photos and video chats and constant contact through social media helps.  

Porter is an awesome young man, and I'm excited to see where he ventures as he heads off into his future.

There comes a time when this has to happen.

I'm pretty consistent with de-linting the bobbin area after every bobbin change.

Notice I said "pretty consistent." Not perfect.  And if someone comments that they ARE de-inting, de-fuzzing and cleaning and oiling after EVERY bobbin change, good for you. There is no prize, however! LOL!

Some machines don't have this kind of access, but because a Juki is basically a vintage machine on steroids, did you know you can take the whole bottom off and get under there for a clean out?

I definitely needed to do this sooner than I had time to get to it.

Wow! I have no words.

Better, still not perfect.

I cleaned, oiled, put in a new needle, and gave her a whole wipe down because it was past due.

Use this as your incentive to take some time to get the hamsters out of the bottom of your Juki or vintage machine if you have one. Other machines you may not be able to get in this far.

At least clean your feed dogs!  No hamsters should be in there!

What a difference all of this made.  And I was able to spend a couple of hours at the machine after reassembly to start on the next phase of my current recycled shirt string quilt obsession...half light/half dark blocks.

I need a ton of these, so you'll be seeing them for quite a while yet.

Last evening's walk around the yard - more Mountain Laurel in bloom!

These are Mountain Laurel leaves.

Shiny, fatter and a bit different than the rhodie leaves.

This is the rhodie - skinnier leaves.  But buds should open by 4th of July -

Evening hexie stitching time -

On night's the Hubster Dave is out playing cornhole with his buds I'm feet up enjoying my latest guilty pleasure - I, Jack Wright on BritBox.

BritBox is something that I subscribe to to watch while sewing at the QPO. I love British mysteries, and I got pulled into this one. There are so many good shows - and on the "one year" plan it only costs me $7.50 a month - about 25 cents a day.  With ZERO commercials.

I've been so disappointed in Amazon Prime recently - everything has commercials now. Everything. So why am I paying for that subscription other than for shipping?

Lola says "Enough of BritBox - put the hexies down and pay attention to ME!"

And miss Bossy in her favorite bedroom window sunny spot.

Thursday has dawned cool and very windy.  I'm having thoughts of arriving at the inn to see all of the back porch decor on the lawn surrounded by flying paper napkins.  I hope I'm wrong!

The Quilters of the Night began moving in yesterday afternoon - some sending messages about being delayed - "Will be later than we thought, we stopped at a quilt shop...."  LOL!  I encourage that!  Thank you for supporting our local quilt shops!

For me today?  Bank appointment at 2:30pm to take care of some paperwork on moving our accounts (Still dealing with the B of A thing....) and then heading to a chiropractor appointment at 4pm.  

It's going to shorts heet my entire day.  But things have to be done and taken care of.

But my morning will be spent catching up with quilters I haven't seen in a year and enjoying seeing what they will be working on over the holiday weekend ahead.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the marvelous response to our Summer Picnic

PDf pattern release and gift-away!

Did you get your entry in on that post? 

We'll draw for our 2 winners on Tuesday, 5/27/25.

The PDF pattern for Summer Picnic is currently 25% off in the Quiltville Store through Saturday 6/31/25. No coupon needed.

Stars For The Win!

Stars and Scraps were meant for each other! Create this stunning star quilt in scrappy plaids from recycled shirts or with your own stash yardage. Piecing options, full color photos and graphics and many tips for easy piecing pleasure included.

Quilt Size: 72’’ X 72’’

I'll be drawing for two lucky winners who will each win a Summer Picnic PDF pattern from me and a Paw Paw's Shirts fabric roll from  Cotton to Quilts.

The Paw Paw's Shirts roll is so cute and will enhance your own fabric stash!

And check out their selection of neutral cotton rolls to add more cute neutral prints to your collection.

What plans do you have for today?

Anything quilty going on?

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Is it just me? 

Or are there days where you wish you could play hooky from your life, too? 

Not from the quilters - but from those appointments that are going to keep me away all afternoon!

Have a terrific Thursday, everyone!