SUNBONNET SUNDAY

Well, a week has passed very quickly. It's Sunbonnet Sue time again. I love the history of this quilt block. These faceless creatures began with drawings in a childrens book by Kate Greenaway. Her delightful watercolor drawings often included children whose faces were hidden with large bonnets. Some are included in Very early British Crazy Quilts.




Then around 1900, Bertha L. Corbett self published her first book of darling is girls whose view of the face was obstucted. The photos above are examples of how her drawings appear when appliqued in fabric. What she had to say is quoted in the box to the left. Although the face is so very expressive, these delightful drawings prove that they certainly are not the soul source of expression. Perhaps Miss Corbett had the same problem that I have drawing faces. I seem to be able to handle simple body parts, but when it comes to faces, I am never happy with what springs forth from my fingers. If this is the case, I surely wish she could know just how successfully famous her little faceless people are today. The Sunbonnet Sue/Overall Bill is as beloved in quilt patterns today as it has always been. If you don't believe me, just do a search and you will be amazed. Dutch Doll is the name of the little simple girl that adorns my family quilts. I have learned that this is a southern, regional name. Replicas of Miss Corbetts drawings appeared in Ladies Art publications as Redwork patterns in 1906. Strangely enough the name Sunbonnet Sue did not appear until the 1930s.

Mother's December Calendar Quilt Block is typical for Christmas.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Miss Sue------------------------------------what will be under your tree?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What will your Christmas Fun be?-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Do you love to play with dolls? -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Have Tea Party's------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Give friends a call?-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oh Miss Sue----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tell me once and for all----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------the truth is girl------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------YOU LOVE BASKETBALL!



If your interest in SBS is now in peak form, see My Side Bar for Sunbonnet Sue links. Girls--this magazine that includes patterns typical of Miss Corbett is called Stitch and Sew and is from April 1988. I would love to share the patterns with you, but I don't know if they are copyrighted. If I can find out if I can, I certainly will. They are precious. More Sue next Sunday.

BIRTH IS ALWAYS A MIRACLE!

When DH is working, I have the awesome responsibility of watching our heifers. They are ready to calve any minute. I have to keep an eye on them in case they have trouble. Sid has been working his 4 days for the month--today is his last day and I thought I was home free. The heifers are in the East Field pasture just behind our house so we can keep an eye on them easily. I got up this morning and stepped out on the patio to see if there was any "activity". I saw one little girl down by the tank (maybe pond where you come from) by herself. Just getting a drink, I thought to myself, and I noticed a small brown lump not far from where she was standing. Maybe a gopher hill, I thought---I will come back in a minute and look again. I got a cup of coffee and went back. She was laying down by the lump---hhhhhmmmm. Well, if that is a calf, then she has had it and all is well. I got dressed and decided to get the binoculars and see if I could tell if the lump was a calf. She was standing up and licking a calf (not the lump)! It was NOT moving! I stared for a couple of minutes trying so hard to see if it was moving.-----Nothing. Well, if it is dead, there is nothing I can do at this point, so I will get dressed and drive down and see what is going on. As I was walking from the house to the truck, I could see the calf standing up and then------THE LUMP GOT UP TOO!! We have twins!!

I am going back shortly to check on them (and others) so if I can get another cute picture, I will update the post. Maybe not such a wonderful thing to you, but here on Fryer Ranch, it is one great day!! Not only for this first time mother to have a successful birth, but a double one at that (no wonder she looked as if she would pop). This is one reason I stay around here!!

I'VE BEEN TAGGED BY "BACK IN THE DAY"

Rule #1 ~ Link to the person that tagged you. (Title)

Rule #2 ~ Post the rules on your Blog.

Rule #3 ~ Write 6 random things about yourself.

Rule #4 ~ Tag 6 people at the end of your post.

Rule #5 ~ Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their Blog.

Rule #6 ~ Let the tagger know your entry is up.


Nicole at Back in the Day was so nice to "Tag Me" and also pay me such a nice compliment saying that she loves to read my blog. I must now tell 6 things about myself. I will try to tell you some things that you cannot know by reading my blog-here goes.

1. I went to school in a 2 room school house where there were 3 grades to a room.

2. My dad taught me to play the guitar when I was 8 years old.

3. While driving, I had a car wreck a long time before I had a drivers' license.

4. I worked as a Museum Curator for 11 years.

5. I find it difficult to follow someone elses quilt pattern directions to a T.

6. My best friend is an English Bulldog named "Louise".

1. CC at Lace n Ribbon Roses
2. Gina at Quilting in the Valley
3. Bethany at Quilted with Love
4. Everything Quilts
5. Penny Quilts
6.Cowgirl Quilter

SUNBONNET SUE SUNDAY

My mother is will be 82 years old on November 30, 2008. She has severe dimentia and is barely functioning as she has lost most of her memory. Mother was a quilter during the 1970s and 1980s. She made scrap quilts when she first started watching Georgia Bonesteel. Then one day when I was a senior in high school, I came home from school and she had a quilters catalog in her lap. She asked me, "Molly, do you think it would do for me to "buy" fabric for a quilt. She showed me a pattern that she had pick out for this "purchased fabric". It was in a Georgia Bonesteel book. Well, of course, I encouraged her to buy it. She hand quilted it in sections and it is one of her best quilts. Mother quilted hard and fast for about 10 years. Along with her quilts, she made vests, coats, bags, dresses, and more. She continued to quilt until my daddy died in 1998----then she quit. Not only quilting, but everything.

At one point, Mother was addicted to Sunbonnet Sue. As you can see in the picture above, she bought many books and magazines with patterns. The pieces above were the leftovers of a Sunbonnet quilt that she made with 30's feedsacks. She also made a calendar quilt. A Sue for each month of the year. One more that she made was an Overall Bill for her grandson, my nephew.

I have so many Sunbonnets to show you that I have decided to start Sunbonnet Sunday. Each Sunday I will show you some aspect of my mother's Sunbonnet Sue collection: a book, a pattern, a magazine, or some stitching. At the beginning of each month I will show you her Calender Quilt Sue for that month. Then, when I have shown you all the blocks, I will show you the entire quilt. Somewhere along the way, I will show you her Sunbonnet Feedsack quilt and other family Sunbonnet quilts that I have inherited. I hope you enjoy the Sunbonnet journey I have planned for you.

The first Calendar block is the November block------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------what would Sue be doing in the month of November-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------baking pumpkin pie?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------raking leaves?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------washing quilts and getting ready for winter?-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------could she be----------------------could she be?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------stealing a turkey?????????????????---surely not!!!!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------but she is!!

MORE NEXT
SUNDAY!!

COWBOY COOKIES

A cool dreary day today resulted in my making cornbread for my Thanksgiving dressing. While I am at it, I might as well get ahead of the game of desserts, so I made CowBoy Cookies.

This is a great recipe that makes big, fat, cookies. The ingredients are very versital. You can add or omit just about any of the "add" ingredients. Dark or White Chocolate, butterscotch, or Caramel chips-- Pecans, Walnuts, Macadamian, or peanuts--raisins or any dried fruits--coconut--any of these can be added, mixed or deleted as long as you don't change the amounts. The cereals can also be "tampered with". I use the cerials that I "need to get rid of". I also thought of adding one of the ones with dried fruits and nuts and then all would be included in one boxed purchase (Cereal, nuts, dried fruits.).

Doesn't really matter, as these cookies will not be around long enough for you to decide.

The Best Cowboy Cookies
1 cup firmly-packed brown sugar1 cup granulated sugar

2 cups vegetable oil

4 eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour1 tablespoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats

4 cups cereal (Corn Flakes or Rice Krispies), I prefer Rice Krispies

1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, or macadamia nuts)

1 cup shredded coconut, raisins, dried cranberries, or white chocolate chips (optional)

1 (12-ounce) package semi-sweet chocolate chips or plain M&MS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease cookie sheets.
In a very large bowl, combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and the vegetable oil; mix well. Add eggs and vanilla extract; beat until well blended. Sift in the flour and baking soda; add to the sugar mixture and mix thoroughly. Add rolled oats, cereal (Corn Flakes or Rice Krispies), and nuts. Add either coconut, raisins or chocolate and/or white chips; mix thoroughly
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for approximately 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from oven and let cookies set on the cookie sheets for a few minutes to cool (they will fall apart when you try moving them if you don't let them cool)
Yields 8 dozen cookies

Different Stuff?!!!

First of all, a little FYI. This is a sample of several kinds of Presencia Threads. I joined Quilters Club of America a couple of months ago, I got my welcome package that included lots of goodies from different companies. Also included was a card explaining that they had run out of the Presencia Thread Samplers and if I wanted one to mail the card in and they would mail it out to me as soon as more came in. I mailed the card in and I am posting this to show you what I got. There are 5 full sized threads in this package. A 40, 50, and 60 Weight cottonthreads, a rayon spool, A Finca Pearl Cotton, and a skein of Embroidery floss. I am impressed and anxious to try these out as I have never used Presencia before but have heard nice things about it.
I went to Wally World (WalMart), among other things, looking for a 5 subject notebook for my "work on 4 UFP at a time" project that I learned from Monica over at Button Counter. I found this neat notebook with dividers.

And each divider has a pocket and a small envelope at the bottom for notecards, pattern pieces or anything that you might find it useful for. Now for containers. Monica uses large different colored bags. I don't have any, so am thinking about organizer containers if they are big enough. I will have to report later.

I made a basket block and filled it with holly (buttonhole stitch) Several people ask me if was a BOM and I was thinking of doing that and filling each month's basket with appropriate contents. Then I got the idea of using a cowboy boot. You know that I am from Texas and loved Texas themed quilts. I was thinking of doing an applique cowboy boot and filling the boot with something appropriate for the month. I got out my sketch book and this pattern is my first try. I will try to get a block made tomorrow and see what you think. No promises, but I am ichin to be stitchin.

SEE YA TOMORROW, YA'LL

THE BUTTERFLY AWARD

I HAVE WON! I HAVE WON! I HAVE WON AN AWARD! DO YA HEAR ME?

Of Course, my friend, Kathy over at Humble Quilter might be a little bit predgidist, ya know, cause she's one of my Wacky Pac Buds. But that is OK. She loves me. I am really proud that she picked my blog for being cool.












THESE ARE THE ROOLES.

1. Put the logo on your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.

3. Nominate 10 other blogs for this award.

4. Add links to those blogs.

5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

6. Give a reason why you consider their blogs cool.


Now for the picking of 10 blogs that I love-------drumroll please bumm bumm bummm

1. BUTTON COUNTER--Monica's posts are so entertaining and she has great organizing ideas

2. ClevelandGirlie--Cathie is a Cool Chick. She rides motorcycles, takes great photos, and is an artistic quilter.

3.Kathleen's blog is Kath's Creations--she is just getting started, but posted several times before we realized that she was doing it all in Html and not compose. What a girl. She didn't ever know Html.

4.The Quilting Pirate - Toni just redesigned her blog and it looks awesome. She is a great quilter and a Wacky Pac Wannabe.


5. BuzyQuilter just did a Sew Along that is awesome. Step by Step. Great Job!

6. Makin Quilts has an "Quote for the Day" that is very inspiring. She is also decorated for Christmas over there at Makin Quilts.

7. Jeanne's Blog is Luv2Quilt. She makes more than just quilts. She does great stitchery and makes bags, purses, pillowcases. You never know what you will find her doing. She also loves Give-aways!

8. Crazy Mom Quilts is a new one for me, but she cut a pair of her own pants down for her daughter and actually took a sick week from blogging! She's Crazy!

9. P. S. I Quilt Rachael is a young mother who has to quilt when all other obligations are done. Anyone who can do that is amazing. You SEW Girl!

10. Threadbenders quilting group is names "The Pinheads". That is just too cute. She does some dinomite pressing over at her blog.

Well, I think that is it!! I hope all these guys are proud to be awarded the Butterfly award from Molly's Place. MAKE ME PROUD. I need some new visitors and definatly "FOLLOWERS".

I FINISHED IT AND COULDN'T WAIT TO SHOW YOU!

I FINISHED THE BUTTONHOLE STITCHING AND JUST HAD TO SHOW YOU. TOOK
ABOUT AN HOUR AND A HALF.

THE CLOSE UP IS A LITTLE BLURRY. DON'T KNOW WHAT'S UP WITH THAT. SORRY!

DID YOU NOTICE THAT I CHANGE ONE OF THE LEAVES TO BRIGHT GREEN. GAVE IT A LITTLE MORE INTEREST? MAYBE?

STILL STITCHING, SISTER!!

I drafted this basket block lately in order to use it in a large two block quilt, but this one was just a tad shy of 12 inches. I have decided to use as the center of a Christmas wall quilt. I have added some wool felt applique pieces and will hand stitch them in place.

I am constantly looking for new ways to be more efficient. Sometimes I think that I spend more time doing that than quilting/stitching/designing. I discovered that this large basket works well for all my inventory of stitchery needs.

My rings of threads hang beautifully from the handles to theoutside where I can grab them and see all my colors so that I can make my choices.

This small pocketed bag fits nicely inside and serves the same purpose as the purse organizers that everyone is using these day.
This is the piece I am working on at the moment. As you can see I have not done very much--just wording mostly.

The Embroidery of Stitches Pocket Guide you

see in the large basket above and the item at the

right I purchased from Rosie. The pocket Guide is small and easy to carry as a reference for "some" stitches. These tiny scissors are fantastic! I have seen them several times and

have finally purchased them. They are only about 3 inches long, very sharp and have big finger holes. Perfect for snipping threads. If you visit Rosie, from REDWORK PLUS, and purchase something, be sure to tell her Molly sent ya.-----LATER GIRLS!!

BTW-was thinking of doing a tutorial for the basket block--is anyone interested?

String Thing and Noah's Ark Stitchery

I finished my String Thing Block Swap quilt (boy -- that was a mouthfull). The blocks became a border for a piece of fabric that have not been able to cut. I also got to use cowhide fabric that I love and the row of fussy cut blocks are some that were suppose to be in a Round Robin that just couldn't quit make it. All in all, I think it turned out pretty good. The is a quilt that I just put together my own thing--I had no pattern. I always get so confused when I am sewing strips/blocks together to be a certain size. I think I have finally settled on the concept ----add the widths in actual size and THEN add the seam allowances. I know that, but sometimes those seam allowances just sneak righ in there. Oh well, I only unsewed a little (ALOT). I am glad it is done. Only one disappointing thing here. I cannot mark this off my "list" as I did not have it on my list. I think I will put it on so I can mark it off. Yes, I am Wacky!! But then you knew that already. DGS, Caden, will get this quilt when he gets a twin bed.

One more block done for Lynette's Noah's Ark BOM. (See button on sidebar.) Next is Kangaroos. They are precious. You will see them here soon.

Personal Signature for your Blog

FYI--to those of you who have not discovered how easy it is to have a personalized signature for your posts. I kept seeing these neat signatures and finally did a search on Split Decisionz . This is such a great to site. Amy provides free tutorials, free-lots of things-plus will help you with anything if you email her. She guides you to a site called My Live Signature where you can design a signature. There are several ways to do it from just picking one similar to yours from a selection of fonts to actually sending in your signature or drawing it on-line and having them design it for you. I tried drawing it and mine just was not what I wanted (Actually looked like a two year old had done it) but yours would probably look great.

After I had decided on the signature that I wanted (mine is from the selection of fonts), I saved the code to my hard drive. I was going in and pasting the code into my posts each time I wanted to use the signature until I found the tutorial from Amy on Split Decisionz that explains how simple it is to have the signature permanently appear on each and every post.

Amy says you have to save your signature to an internet site like Photobucket, but I just copied the code that I had saved from my hard drive, then followed Amy's instructions below. Worked like a charm! The signature will be at the time, but if you place your curser above the signature it will inch down as you type your post and end up at the bottom.

THESE DIRECTIONS ARE FROM AMY--

Copy your signature's HTML code
Log into your blogger account
From your Dashboard choose "settings"
Choose formatting
Scroll down to where it says "post template" to the left of a text box
Paste the code into the box
Save settings
Now, each time you click on "new post" to write a post you will see your signature is already in place! Easy isn't it? Go try it!
Here is mine--I love the look! Go see AMY at Split Decisionz

Giving to Your Country--the Ultimate Sacrifice

I am a day late with my Veterans Day Post. I started it, but could not finish it until tonight.
Please forgive me.

This is a small silk flag that was given to my Grandparents to hang in their window. The three stars stand for the 3 sons that they had serving in the Armed forces of the USA during World War II. They had a total of 5 sons. Two were too young to serve during that war, but chose to serve their country by making it a life calling to serve and spent their life in this carreer.

I have heard my daddy tell the story a million times about how his two older brothers were drafted and he didn't have to go when they did because his daddy needed him to help run their small farm. He eventually would have to go, so he and my grandaddy began to try to get the farm into an way of operation where he would not have to have so much help. The two younger boys were still at home, but they were just not enough help. So, they bought a tractor to replace the mule and plow. The funniest story was told by my dad about the day they got the tractor. My dad hooked up the plow and made a few rounds to show my grandad how it worked. Then my grandad gave it a try. Everything was going great until my grandad began paying more attention to the beautiful row his new tractor and plow was making than where he was going. He "plowed the fence down" all the time hollering "Whoa, Whoa, Whoooooaaaaa!"

When my dad was finally drafted, the night before he was to leave he walked the floor holding his baby sister who was about 2 at the time. He went into the Navy and trained to Lauch torpedos from a submarine. He was stationed in Guam.

These two older bothers were involved in many of the major battles. It is amazing that none of these brothers were killed. They all came home. The brother on the left died at a young age of a heart attack. The one on the right lived to be old and would not speak of the war until he was older and then to say that the reason he stayed alive was that he kept his head down.

My grandparents did not lose their sons, but so many families did. So many lives have been lost in the wars. What is amazing is the way the country pulled together. The way the women went to work. Ration Stamps were issued to help people conserve what was needed for the war effort. People grew Victory Gardens to help feed the Country and in 1943 over 20,000 gardens were in use. All this was an effort for families to "do their part". Are we doing our part today? Mostly complaining!

I pray that we never lose sight of what we owe all the men and women. Of what they have given to us. War is necessary. It's the reason our country has the respect that it has. We will never be able to repay the debts we owe our Veterans. I salute them. I love my country. I pray we are headed in the right direction. Let's all pray and hold each others hands and pull together like they did then. Together we can have a Victory Garden.

Banana Bread 101

I have to make Banana bread regularly as when our bananas get past a certain stage they must be made into bread, or a smoothie. The best recipe that I have found has pineapple in it. My family will literally inhale a loaf. My oldest son's family takes a loaf home every time I bake. Seems that and my Hot Sauce are my two most "in demand".


This is the Banana Bread Recipe that I love most.
You will find this recipe here

Hawaiian Banana Bread
3 cups plain flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans or macadamia)
2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups mashed bananas
1 (8 oz.) can of crushed pineapple (well drained)
Preparation:In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and cinnamon; stir in nuts. Set aside.
Combine remaining ingredients in another mixing bowl; blend well. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until just moist. Pour into 2 greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350° for approximately 1 hour 30 minutes. Check center of loaf with toothpick (I use an uncooked spaghetti strand) and if it comes out clean, its done. Cool 10 minutes before removing from the pan.Then hire armed guards to keep the loaves safe until it is time to eat. Happy baking!



This recipe I found on http://piecefulquillting.blogspot.com/ She claims it is the best she has even found. Be sure to visit her as you will find some recipes there that are really great! Home baked bread, several different relishes, not to mention a delightful strawberrie needle case. It sounds delightful and moist and I will definately try it.

BECCY’S BANANA BREAD

3/4 cup margarine
1 1/3 C. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 C. mashed banana
1 C. sour cream
2 C. flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Oven 350; pans greased (one 9x13, 2 loaf pans, or 4mini loaf pans)
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy; add eggs and vanilla. Combine banana and sour cream - 2 cups total. Stir into creamed mixture.Stir in dry ingredients.Bake.

They say 60 minutes for full-size loaves. I baked the minis for 50 minutes only - toothpick did NOT come out quite clean and the loaves were VERY soft and squashy when I turned them out, but wow were they moist!
(excerpt from the Pieceful Quilter--be sure to visit her site to see the most delicious looking pictures)

Judy will tell you how to freeze bananas successfully so that you can bake or make banana flavored treats anytime.
My sons and I had a Hot Sauce cook off this summer. We each made a batch and then argued about which one was the best. Son #1 made his less chunky. Son #2 used more garlic and Jalepenos, and mine was of course the most perfect! LOL

I will show you a picture and will post the recipe later if anyone is interested.

DoYouEQ!?

I have had EQ for several months now, I think since July. I have watched a couple of the first videos and read a couple of chapters of the manual, but that is as far as I got. I have become a blog junky and look so forward to the times that I can not only read others blogs, but add to my own blog. I am learning a little day by day.

Recently I have noticed that the prolific quilters/bloggers/designers keep mentioning EQ. They seem to lean on it heavily. I have even read in their posts that they "could not live without it". I have decided to try harder to learn this program that has such potential.

EQ is really very user friendly. I played with it and easily made a "quilt", but when I got into making the quilt of my choice I came up against some obsticles that caused me to have to "read" and "read" again. That's OK. I think I have the concept now that you can only do certain things in certain screens under certain tabs. Certain tools are only available under certain tabs etc. I drew my string thing block and chose fabrics that are really similar and was able to play with several settings of the blocks until I decided which one suited me best. This was a real neat thing as it was alot quicker than trying to play on my design board.

Next I wanted to design a quilt using blocks that I have already designed (for real). These blocks are not in the block library. I could draw them, but decided to take pictures and import the actual blocks into a quilt. Well---this is not so easy. They cannot be "blocks" in the block library if they are pictures. So I imported them as pictures. I did finally discover that I had to use a tool that is not automatically in the tool bar. I had to right click and put it in the tool bar. I could then design my quilt with my picture blocks. I didn't LIKE it, but I did it. I tried adding sashing and I like it better.

I wanted to use this basket block in the quilt, but have not made it work yet. I will keep trying. I think it is the alternate block that I do not like.

Anyway---I am going to work in the yard now. The leaves are taking over and I NEED MULCH! I have definately done "my time" on EQ for the day. Maybe more!! LOL Girls who love EQ-- I am trying to get there. I need more of the lessons, but I am on my way. I want to be able to do it quickly so I can get on to the fun part. The actual piecing and playing with my fabrics. This will illiminate the making of a quilt I do not like and starting over again and again. I can design quickly and know that I am happy with what I am making.

If you are full of encouragement because you use EQ I would appreciat a few kind words--. Tell me what you like about it and any tips that you have discovered along your EQ journey. Maybe tips that are not "in the book". I will possibly take a less from Quilt University, but first I will study and get all I can out of the book and from viewing the videos.

See ya,