Today's writing prompt is "Favorite Tools".  Oh, where do I even start.  When I began quilting all those years ago my tools consisted of scissors, as rotary cutters where not yet widely available, sewing machine, hand sewing needles, thread, quilting frame and pencils for drawing templates.  Oh and many types of thimbles were in my tool box as well while I experimented with the one that would comfortably help me achieve the results I wanted when quilting by hand.  I still have the set of plastic templates I purchased that I thought were the bees knees for cutting out accurate pieces for my quilts.

You may know by now that one of my favorite tools is my rotary cutter.  Kind of on a par with getting indoor plumbing.

Another favorite is my iron.  I have an old workhorse Black and Decker but mainly use my Panasonic cordless iron now.  It is so nice not to have to work around a cord.  It is also much lighter than my old iron and I appreciate that more and more.  Combined with my wool pressing mat I am getting excellent results. It was pretty pricey but I saved up the points on my credit card from all the fabric I buy and only spent 24.00 for it.   I know Santa, I can't believe it either.

Another real time saver for me and truly one of my favorite tools are my Bloc_Loc Flying Geese rulers.  I have used these for several years now and they are my go-to for cutting accurate Flying Geese units to size.  My most often used sizes are the 1.5" x 3" and the 2" x 4".

How about you?  Do you have a favorite tool in your quilting toolbox?  Let me know in the comments and as always thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a blessed day!

Click on the photos for links for tools I mentioned in this post.

It's time to tell you about my 2021 plan.  I have something new in store for you with this BOM.  First of all it will be a mystery quilt, just like those in the past.  This time we will be making a Row Quilt however.  I hope it is not confusing to call this a BOM since we are technically making one row each month, but I decided to stick with BOM rather than calling this a Row by Row-mainly because BOM fits better in my label and we all know to expect something new each month.

Since this is a mystery I want to give you an idea of what a Row Quilt looks like.  Below is one that was done by the American Quilters Society for the 2016 quilt show season.  So, instead of making just one block each month you will make a row of blocks.  The rows will vary in size and the number of blocks needed to complete each row.  However each row will only be made up of one or two blocks.

For our quilt I have lots of fun blocks planned each month to increase your piecing skills and learn some new techniques. I will share with you the hint that there will be some blocks which feature objects found in nature.  This is the layout I have planned for our quilt which will have 12 rows when completed.

Now is the time to gather your fabrics. The finished size of this quilt is 54" x 73".  Of course if you want to make it large simply add more blocks to your rows and/or add some borders.  I will be using fabric from my stash for this quilt and plan on just making it really colorful.
This is a Fat Quarter friendly pattern. Any Fat Quarter bundle that has at least 25-30 FQ's will work.  I find that I prefer to use yardage for my background fabrics since I really want it to be a light background fabric and that can be an issue with the bundled fabric sometimes.  For that option you will need a total of 2 yards of background fabric and 18-20 FQ's in a variety of dark, medium and light shades.  If you prefer to use yardage then you will want 2 yards of background, 2 yards of Darks, 1 3/4 yards combined of Medium to Light prints.  The simple border requires 1 1/2 yards (which includes enough for binding.)

For a pdf sheet of the fabric requirements click on the link below:
Fabric Requirements pdf

My main desire with this quilt project is that you find joy in the quilting journey.  That in the midst of whatever else may be going on around us we take time each day for something that brings us joy.  And that is why I have named this quilt Joy in the Journey.  Patterns for this quilt will be released the 2nd Monday of each month; just because it will give us something to look forward to later in the month and maybe that Monday won't seem so bad, lol.  

I hope you will join me on another year of quilting adventures.

Welcome to Day 2 of the Blog Writing Challenge. Today's post topic is our sewing space.  Now here is a space I could work with and in! Mine is not nearly so spacious as this and I know I would have way too many bird feeders hanging outside the windows.

When we moved back to Oregon a few years ago we downsized to a 1400 square foot house.  My sewing space had to downsize with it.  But I have come to enjoy my little studio where the creative juices come to life.
I confess I took most of these photos after a Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop last year.  I am currently waiting for the little cleaning fairy to get to work on my space as I wrap up several projects that have various fabrics scattered everywhere.

This is pretty much the whole of my space.  It has everything I need within reach.  I just need to learn to straighten up more often at the end of the day.

This year I have been working on adding some fun features to brighten the room.  My new addition since the previous photos were taken is my Party Time quilt with the Flamingos.   It just makes me smile every time I sit down at my machine.
The pdf pattern is available in my shop here.

And here is the star of my quilting space-Bernie.  She and I have been together for over ten years now.  We are just two old gals who keep on stitching together.

Since I cannot do anything about the size of my space I continue to look for ways to make what I have as pleasant as possible.  A space where I want to be each day.  Little touches do that for me.   What brings you delight in your sewing space?