Economical Spray Glue for basting from stuff you have at home :)

I have tweaked a recipe from a member of the Quilting Board forum that I follow.  Mrs. Beasley posted a recipe that I finally got around to trying yesterday, I modified the recipe to keep in step with my cooking style.  The spray glue mixture sprayed easily out of the bottle and had a nice adhesion to it.
So here we go!

3 cups of water
1/2 tsp salt
8 ounces or rubbing alcohol
clean spray bottle


- In a pot place 2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp of salt bring to a boil and reduce to a gentle boil.
- In a gravy shaker (or a jam jar) put 1 cup of cold water and 3 tbsp of flour - shake until the flour and water are combined.
- Whisk the flour mixture into the gently boiling water like you are making gravy and let it cook until the consistency of gravy/egg whites/ thin gruel.
- Remove from the heat and let it cool down to room temperature.
- In a clean spray bottle add 8 ounces of rubbing alcohol and the cooled flour mixture, gently shake and go sandwich a quilt.

*** There was one posting that someone had sprayed a quilt and left for a few months and they had some mold grow.  Since I am not going to leave my two quilts that I sandwiched yesterday that long I can't say for certain that this does or does not happen.  I just wanted everyone to know that this had been reported.

Thanks to Deb in NZ for having this :) My 2013 List

I am not sure if by making the list it kept me

on track last year, or just that I was more organized; either way it does help to stay motivated!

Things to do in 2013

Continue to work on my Stained Glass paper piecing quilt.

Don't Call Me Betsy - Lucky Star Paper Piecing I bought my quilting g/f in Canada the same BOM so that we could be together but apart. I finished January's 12.5 and 6 inch blocks, however I am still cutting off the tips some how :(

My best friend as work Salomon is getting married in May.

I will be making them a quilt. I already have the fabric from Connecting Threads, and he actually chose the pattern

out of a quilting book I picked up on a classroom outing

to the non-defunct local thrift store.  Completed and delivered :)

Angel one of the nieces here in LA and Lamar are also to be married this year in September. Years ago, I had made a

quilt for her daughter, Skiye (yes I did spell that right) to match the one I made for our granddaughter Isyss, but had not made one of Angel. Weddings are the perfect time to give a couple a family heirloom. I have not decided on a pattern yet, but I am leaning towards Eleanor Burns french braid.

Carnell's stepson, Sedric also announced at Christmas time

that he also was going to tie the knot once again.

They are planning to get married in Las Vegas in August - oh you know it is going to be a hot one! I just gave Sedric a

Turning Thirty - male orientated quilt at Christmas,

but that will not stop me from making them a nice quilt to

celebrate the beginning of their married life together.  Wedding postponed.

I recently learned that another high school g/f is retiring this year and I was making a BOM - Down on the Farm Quilt for her so that was fortuitous for me. After making a quilt for another high school g/f that lost everything in Hurricane Sandy I decided to make something for my other high school chums. COMPLETED READY TO MAIL.

I recently purchased some gorgeous Blue Hill Fabric from a fellow

Quilting Board member and I am going to make Sally my bestie from h/s a "Something Blue" quilt. This will be a total surprise and that is just the way I want it.

Our great nephew in Virginia should be going into a big boy bed very soon and I will make him a twin size quilt

with a sporting theme this year. No rush on this one,

just something on the back burner. Update Le Ari is not sleeping in a big boy bed, but will be sharing the Washington Redskins quilt with his Aunt Wanda so no rush on this one :)

Our niece, Wanda called a few weeks back requesting a

Washington Red Skins quilt for her

queen size bed. Now, Wanda already has a quilt from us

but I don't know if she will ever marry or have children

so I told her I would make her another one. I chose the Garden Maze quilt pattern to accent the Redskin's fabric with a black trim

Where there is white above I am using black. The blocks are 18 inches so I am almost done. I had to order more sold black fabric from Connecting Threads. Wanda also request curtains, but I said no to that, but I will do some pillow cases in wine with Redskins and black accents. - COMPLETED AND MAILED!

I am hoping to start on the OBW or Stack and Whack for

our bedroom - I have the fabric bought from Beverly's, but

other things always take priority.

I would also like to make a quilt for our seldom seen

granddaughter, Carshae in Virginia. She will have turned 6 in

November. I know I can send it to the niece's in Virginia

and they will see that she gets it.

Baby quilts are always needed, a boy is due in June and a girl

was born in December. The quilt I made for the couple that had a girl would be better suited for a boy so I will

save that one and make a girlie quilt for Little Miss Ava Jurica.

I am sure there will be more babies on the way soon! Our son, Carvell who is in the NAVY has let it be known that his g/f is expecting twins - so two more quilts there also. Update Ava's quilt is done and on its way to Canada.

I bought a Lighthouse quilt kit from Connecting Threads Black Friday Sale and I think that quilt is destined for a little fella named Jordin. He is the son of one of my stepson's friends and Jordin's grandmother asked me once in passing if I would ever give

Jordin a quilt, this might be the year.

So there are 16 quilts in this list already. I want to make a

couple of circular Christmas tree skirts and still the circular tablecloth. A quilted tablecloth for us.

The Twister Christmas Wreath is always a great gift for the holidays and I am still missing a few months for my fireplace quilts. I will not be idle again this year!

And I almost forgot about cousin Gayle's Jinny Beyer

quilt that used one of Jinny's borders. I am a bit

apprehensive about starting this - it is rated an intermediate

quilt and I am not sure I am at that level yet.

The quilt is mainly green with a bit of cranberry

and black. I have all the fabric finally.

This will be a stretch for me and we must

step out of our comfort zone from time

to time!  Completed and delivered!

Make a list and see how far your sewing adventures will take you this year.

You might be surprised at how far you get!

Crazy Magic Patch Block

As all quilters know,  that if you are saving scraps eventually they become unmanageable and need to be tamed.

Having no UFO's (unfinished projects) from the 2012 quilting year,

I was determined to conquer and beat down my scrap bin and upright box that were overflowing with beautiful pieces of previous quilts.

My guild gave out a pattern called Magic Square scrappy

quilts in my first year here in the USA and I have made quite a

few of these quilts.  They go together easily and quickly - my quilting bestie brought over her scraps also ( but that is another story)

and I started on mission.

I made 5 - yes 5 quilts from mostly my scraps with a

smattering of Clara's scraps thrown in.  It took approximately 3.5 weeks

from cutting the strips. to sewing, ironing, resewing, cutting, piecing, sandwiching with Elmer's Washable School glue, FMQ and

machine binding.  I used variegated thread to add another element of dimension to the quilts.

I will be giving Clara's and my guild two quilts -  as our donation for our charity quilts, 1 quilt to Clara for her use, one to my sister in Calgary for use at her family cabin in northern Saskatchewan, and I kept one for myself to remind me of all the other beautiful quilts I have made.

The two charity quilts were backed with some chintz-like cotton fabric that I had bought at the thrift store for $10.00 a bolt.  These will be the cozier and sturdier as the polyester batting I used turned out to be thinner than I anticipated.  No more Morning Glory Polyester batting from Walmart for me.  The heftier backing made be feel a lot better about the quilt.

I also zigzag pieced batting for my quilt. It will be interesting to see how it fairs as I had about 5 different battings in it - I figured it was for me so what the heck!  Clara's quilt has a bamboo batting that she supplied and the other one was a 80/20 Walmart batting I had used before.

 The above box is as tall as my elevated sewing center and about 2 feet square, below is a huge tote all of scraps from my quilts.  I have even mailed scraps away to total strangers that asked for some!

Below are the 5 different quilts and the last picture is a close up of the work.