Changing Seasons

October 31, 2026

The calendar shows it’s supposed to be fall. Outside, leaves are turning colors. Days are getting shorter. The time change happens this weekend. I think the weather is the only one that hasn’t gotten the memo that it’s fall. I’m past ready for hot chocolate, cozy sweaters and crisp mornings!

After a busy summer and early fall, I’ve become a homebody while waiting for the next episode of “This Life in Retirement” to load. Since retiring 4 years ago, I’ve knocked 6 bucket trip list locations off my list, pitched a read to a dog program to 3 different school districts, gone back to work part-time and left said job 18 months later when one district said yes to our weekly READ program. Sweet little school close to home, but they were unable to meet the READ program requirements for the following school year. A former colleague connected me with district number 3. We’re now in our second school year of a READ program with them. Life is good. FYI – life as a therapy dog mom means 45-50 visits with Sadie per year, which equates to about 200 hours of volunteer time.

With the READ program in place, therapy dog visit opportunities no longer automatically outrank all other activities. Shocker, right? Of course, we still like to make special visits from time-to-time, but I no longer feel a sense of FOMO if I don’t check the group opportunities calendar for a couple of weeks. Same goes with planning travel. I do my best to work around existing commitments (including therapy dog visits), but if a bucket list trip needs to happen a particular week (or two), we’ll go that week.

Indicators are that I’m about to enter my quilting and travel (sometimes together) era. My involvement with the quilt guild has increased ever since I chaired one of the quilt show subcommittees. New teaching and tech editing opportunities have come my way. Nora’s going with me to the Myrtle Beach Quilt Party, so I may have found a new quilty travel buddy. Hubs and I have revised our joint travel wish list and are planning our upcoming trips. Sadie & I have decided to take full advantage of my America the Beautiful national park pass by visiting all of the local spots.

Mid-day walk with Sadie at the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area – Paces Mill location.

ECQG Paint Chip Challenge

October 26, 2026

Every year, my guild hosts a challenge in which all members can participate. The challenge chairperson gets to determine the type of challenge and the rules. In recent years, it’s been some sort of art-theme challenge that generates a lot of beautiful art quilts. We have a number of talented quilters in the guild who’ve won ribbons and have received recognition at the national level. That would not be me, but my skills are on par with most of my fellow guild members.

At a recent charity sew day, one of my table mates shared that she didn’t participate in any challenges or shows because of the critiquing done by some of the “armchair quilt judges” in the guild. I totally understand. Several months ago, I excitedly shared a small quilt I’d completed on my Elna 782 with the ASR. I was proud to finally have something I felt was worth sharing because it had been a struggle for me to learn how to use the stitch regulator. One person immediately began to nitpick my quilting skills. A thick hide is definitely required if you put your work out there for others to see.

This year’s challenge has apparently drawn the most participants in recent memory. It’s a paint chip challenge. Participants received a paint chip (Behr paint sample card from Home Depot) in a sealed envelope. The color name is to be integrated into the quilt’s theme. Colors allowed are that paint chip (and all gradients in that color family) plus one additional color. White, black, and gray are considered neutral and unrestricted. Size range: 24″ x 24″ minimum to 48″ x 48″ maximum.

My color is a dark teal and Behr’s assigned color name is Out to Sea. The design incorporates my interpretation of a traditional Ocean Waves block. Here’s the top ready to be basted and quilted:

My quilt is based on a single block that is rotated to achieve the overall design. The colors are all in the teal family and positioned to add movement to the quilt. It took about five months to gather all my fabrics. They came from my stash, existing kits, local quilt shops and even Wal-Mart. The quilt contains 432 2″ HSTs that finish at 1-1/2″. I used the Bonnie Hunter Essential Triangle Tool and the B size Clearly Slotted Ruler to trim when needed. Purple was my additional color and positioned to create a secondary pinwheel design when all of the blocks were sewn together.

Completed quilt for the ECQG Paint Chip Challenge

I quilted my project on my domestic machine – FMQ in a random swirl design using Glide thread. Binding was attached the traditional way to the front, but machine stitched down. A friend suggested I try the 1/8″ double-sided basting tape from By Annie to hold the binding in place on the backside in lieu of using Elmer’s glue. OMG! Much faster and no super sticky fingers. The hardest part was starting the pull strip on the basting tape.

Easy Chair Caddy

October 23, 2026

This is the sample chair caddy I made for the teen/adult sewing class at the Midtown library. It is not quilted, but does have Pellon SF-101 interfacing fused to the back of the navy fabric for structure. The pockets are a double layer of fabric with a binding strip added for reinforcement (and to look cute).

There are numerous YouTube videos and blog posts on how to make a chair caddy. This is simply my version, inspired by what I learned. My caddy was also designed to make it a successful project for our students. One student finished and the rest took their projects home with only topstitching around the perimeter needed to complete it. The library had another group using the space on Saturday afternoon, so we had to pack up an hour earlier than usual.

On a future version, I’d like to try fusible fleece instead of interfacing and quilting the pockets before assembly. Definitely keeping the binding and may even add a decorative featherstitch! If making 3 pockets on the bottom row, I’d make one pocket a little larger (slightly less than half way across) and split the difference between the other two pockets.