Category Archives: Tu-Na Quilts

Tu-Na Quilts: Planning Ahead

Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl is having a party!

I want to come too! But I have to satisfy a couple of requirements first: 1. Think about what I want to accomplish with my blog and quilting next year. 2. Write about those goals. 3. Link up to the party. 4. Work on my goals. The first three are easy; the fourth finds life sometimes getting in the way.

Tu-Na’s 2017 Quilting and Blogging Goals

My Blogging Goals for 2017

Continue to write interesting posts. Hopefully, I can get one to two posts written per week. Whether or not my readers find them interesting or not is the real question.
Continue to seek sources of new blogging material. Right now I have lots of ideas for posts and several half-started posts to finish. The story behind the plus quilt is top on my list to finish.
Participate in the New Quilt Bloggers Hop again.
Continue to read my old favorite blogs and find some new ones.

My Quilting Goals for 2017

Keep up with the online quilting bees that I’ve joined.
Design another block or two.
Join in a Quilt-a-long. I’m not sure which one so I’m open to suggestions.
Finish some quilts: Modernitional Bear Paw Quilt (it’s close to done),
Although this pic doesn’t show it, the top is now finished. I changed the bear from the pattern and it took me a bit to figure it out. I just have to put the back together, quilt, and bind it. Then I’ll write a post about it, too.

bind my nine-patch (only been waiting 2 years because it’s for me and I let other projects take precedence), white/black and yellow using The Candy Store pattern, Tu-Na Helper’s much deserved quilt using the Quilt MN Shop Hop fabric, my grandson’s minecraft quilt, and 1930s repro applecore.

This 2016 Quilt MN Shop Hop fabric will be the focal fabric for Tu-Na Helper’s quilt. He’s always talking about going fishing. I’ve seen sneak peaks of the 2017 Quilt MN fabric line and it also contains fish. I wonder if that will be enough enticement for Tu-Na Helper to come along on the hop again.
Start some new projects: hot air balloons, pillows for my AZ house,
Try a new technique: English Paper Piecing.
Keep working on my ongoing projects and events: continue working on my 1.5″ postage stamp and blog about progress on it, quilt with my mom and sisters,
I have cut lots of 1.5″ squares and sewn together lots of them into twos and some into fours. But this is the only piece sewn together in an 8.5″ block. There will be one 2″ piece and 4 half-inch (finished pieces) within each 8″ finished square. But it’s time to get on with this project.
Start and complete training on the longarm quilting machine available in my Arizona housing development.
Find some new quilt shops to visit, possibly through another state shop hop.

That’s a good start on my list of goals. It’ll help keep me focused.

What I Learned Today:

My days are way too short to accomplish all that I want.
I need to work in my sleep to finish it all up.
Really, my goals with blogging and quilting are to enjoy it, learn something new in the process, and make some beautiful quilts for others.

Question: What’s your goal for today? Will you accomplish it?

Tu-Na Quilts: Trunk Show 2016

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Here’s some of the quilts I am particularly proud of that I’ve made in the past. I’m linking to Whims and Fancies Trunk Show which showcases quilts. You are invited to check them out (click on this button below) after you get done reading here that is.

This summer I made a plus quilt for our exchange daughter (blog post still coming about it) and gifted it to her in August. You can read more about the quilt by clicking here.

I made two Little House Quilts using Amy Friend’s idea and many of her free patterns found on her During Quite Time Blog. I made the quilt below for my friend’s granddaughter. Click here to read the story of why I made it and for the links to the free patterns.

I made the quilt below for my grandson. I designed the covered wagon block. Close-up pics as well as my post explaining why I chose the blocks I did and links to the patterns (except for the covered wagon) can be found by clicking here.

I like this side by side pic so you can see the differences of these two quilts. The one on the left is definitely more girly and rightfully so since it went to a little girl.

I also made two pixelated giraffe quilts. This first one was for my granddaughter. There are 714 squares that finish at 1.5 inches of quilty cuteness here.

Nothing warmed my heart more than when she gave her taste of approval.

I used Minky for the back of both giraffe quilts. They were my first and second attempts at free-motion quilting on my home sewing machine and I loved it. My grandson’s quilt was a bit bigger with 714 squares finishing at two inches. If you look close you can see how I added an eyeball and nostrils when I quilted it. I think he was a bit excited to get it, too.

I have more quilts to show and share but time is running out to get this submitted. I hope I’ve whetted your appetite and that you’ll come back to read more.

Thanks for visiting. If this is your first visit here, welcome to my blog. You can read more about me here and here. If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read and want to keep up with my adventures, I invite you to follow me by one of the methods found on my sidebar.

What I Learned Today:

There’s nothing like a deadline to motivate me to action.
I am way behind in posting about my quilting, traveling and eating adventures.

Question: What have you been up to lately? For me, I’ve just arrived at my winter home and am busy unpacking, restocking the pantry and refrigerator, and getting reacquainted with the area. I often joke about us being back again at our cabin at winter camp for seniors. First item of business this week is buying a sewing machine since I left mine at my other house. Advice and recommendations are definitely appreciated.

Tu-Na Quilts: My Mama Always Says…

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“If you don’t want to rip, you shouldn’t be sewing.”

Over the last couple of years, my mom and I’ve spent a lot of time quilting together. According to my husband, it seems like that’s all I’ve been doing. However, I know years from now when I look back on our time together I will say it wasn’t enough.

We are working on Sew Fresh Quilt’s Modernitional Bear Paw Quilt together. Mom contributed some fabrics.

During these quilting sessions, I write down mom’s words of quilting wisdom. My plan is to share these bits of wisdom with you from time to time in a series that I’ll call “My Mama Always Says..“ I hope you will find them interesting and helpful, too.

Welcome to

My Mama Always Says..:

Where years of experience and bits of quilting wisdom guide me on my quilting journey.

So just why would mom say that I shouldn’t be sewing if I don’t want to rip out my mistakes? I don’t know about you but I make a lot of sewing mistakes. Maybe it’s because I am a perfectionist or maybe it’s because I just want it to look nice. Then again it might be that I just want it to look right or maybe it’s because I am still learning. Nonetheless, I’ve come to the realization that nothing is always perfect. So I’ve begun to hold my seam or block at arm’s length. If I don’t notice that the seams don’t meet just right from that distance, then it’s good enough.

I caught this mistake before I went any further. Can you find it? Yes, that little triangle piece was the wrong color. It still required taking 3 seams partially apart.

For those times when it’s not good enough, I’ve found an easy and fast way to rip it apart.

Using my seam ripper, I carefully slide the pointy end under the stich to cut the thread. I continue to do this on the same side about every 6-8 stitches or so. I’ve sewn two seams using black and white threads and am ripping out both.

Turning the piece around to the other side, I use my ripper to gently pull on a stitch. It will release and then I can pull the thread with my fingers. If it becomes stuck, I just wiggle it back and forth and it will release. This makes for a very fast way to unsew that wrong seam. Having a sharp seam ripper helps too. Yes, they do get dull.

If my stitches are very close together, I’ll use this method.

Opening the seam, I slide the pointy end of the ripper under a stitch or two to cut the threads. Then I gently tug on the fabric. It helps to keep one side taught with a finger as shown. This method takes a little longer but safely picks open that seam.

Recently, I showed our exchange daughter K. my latest sewing project and she pointed out a mistake right away.

I started this in the summer but, you know, life happened: quilt hops, trips, toothaches, and apples. So I am back sewing on it.

I had looked at these blocks many times and had never seen the mistake. So I sighed, picked up the seam ripper, and remembered my mom’s words of wisdom, “If you don’t want to rip, you shouldn’t be sewing.” Thanks mom. You are right, as usual.

Now it looks better. This is the after picture. The piece by the yellow arrow was turned wrong and needed to come out and be reset. It took several tries but, as you can see, I did get it back together again.

What I Learned Today:

Ripping apart a seam by any other name—unsewing, unpicking—is still a pain in the backside.
That old TV show, Father Knows Best, didn’t tell the whole story; Mother knows best, too.
No one, including mom, ever said I had to be happy about ripping out those seams.
I’d rather find the glaring error now before it’s been quilted and too late to do anything about it.
There is no such thing as perfect; good enough can be just right, too.
A set of fresh eyes (by that I mean someone else) helps in finding errors.

Question: Do you spend a lot of time ripping apart your mistakes or are you a “that’s good enough” type of sewer? What’s your “go to” method of ripping apart your mistakes?

Linking:

Monday to:

Show & Tell Monday with Bambi

Em’s Scrapbag at When Life Falls to Pieces Make A Quilt for Move It Forward

Beth at Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday (button on sidebar).

Beth at Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making (button on the sidebar).

Scraptastic Tuesday (button on sidebar).

Tuesday to:

Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl for Tips and Tutorials Tuesday (button on sidebar).

Wednesday to:

Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts for Let’s Be Social (button on sidebar).

Tu-Na Quilts: Blogger’s Quilt Festival Update

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You may recall that I entered two quilts in the Blogger’s Quilt Festival in September. I wrote about the Little House Quilt here and the Plus Quilt here. While both of those quilts received votes neither received enough to win in their categories.

The Plus Quilt received 34 votes. That’s more than just my family and friends voting for it and so I thank you so very much. All of the quilts that were entered were gorgeous and I spent many hours looking at them and reading the posts.

While my quilts didn’t get enough votes to win a prize, I did win something for leaving a comment on Amy’s Creative Side blog. Thanks, Amy! She notified me of the win and then I proceeded to forget all about it. I was full-swing into the apple harvest (read about that here) and had other things on my mind. Three weeks later, I found this in my mailbox.

Next Steps in Machine Quilting: Free-Motion & Walking-Foot Designs by Natalia Bonner

I haven’t had much time to read it (we are still drying apples and making lots of apple dishes and desserts) but it looks incredible and I know I will use it a lot when I quilt. The book includes many diagrams of how to sew the various patterns and I can’t wait to have time to practice some of them.

It was even autographed by the author!

I have Natalia’s previous book, Beginner’s Guide to Free-Motion Quilting, and found it to be interesting and helpful when I was quilting the giraffe quilts. This new book will surely raise the bar (or should I say “raise the presser foot”) for me as a quilter!

What I Learned Today:

I like reading quilting books just as much as my husband likes to read his sci-fi paperbacks.
Sometimes being forgetful is exciting as it gave me this nice surprise.

Question: Do you read quilting books just for fun or do you read them to learn to do?

Linking to Sew Fresh Quilts, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? and Finished or Not Friday (buttons on the side bar)

Tu-Na Travels: Sometimes I Win and Sometimes I Lose

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We checked our mailbox after returning home from a recent trip and found this interesting package.

The manila envelope contained my and my husband’s stamped passports and two little brown envelopes each bearing this thank-you note. Since his name was on the outside envelope, I reluctantly relinquished one to him.

While we didn’t win the Grand prize trip to Alaska or one of the twenty $100 shop hop gift certificates for completing all of the shops on the 2016 Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop or any of the regional drawings from several of the sections, we did get this prize for finishing the state. Just in case you missed it, click here and then click here to read about our adventurous last day on the hop.

Inside each envelope was a beautiful hand-crafted necklace and a shop hop pin. I got the peach necklace (the one on your left).

My husband and I were among the 99 people who traveled around the entire state of Minnesota July 29-August 14, 2016 visiting ALL of the 72 participating shops. Those were pretty good odds to win the big trip but just not good enough for us. My husband reminded me that winning wasn’t the focus of the trip. He was right but it sure would have been fun.

This year’s shop hop pin is only 1″ square. Thanks Quilt Minnesota for a fun time and thanks for the statewide finish prizes.

What I Learned Today:

The 2017 Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop is only about 9 months away (July 28-August 18, 2017).
I better start sewing faster to justify needing to go on it again.
Winning is fun but losing is disappointing.
I have many good memories from our 2016 Quilt MN Shop Hop trip and that’s the best prize of all.

Question: What have you won or lost recently?

Linking to Can I get a Whoop Whoop and Main Crush Monday (buttons on the sidebar).

Tu-Na Travels: Tu-Na Helper’s Side of the 2016 Quilt MN Shop Hop

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You’ve heard from me about how fantastic our 2016 Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop trip was and I know at least a few of you have asked what my husband had to say about it. To satisfy your curiosity, I asked my husband if he’d share his thoughts about the trip. He was my helper: paid for everything, chauffeured me around, found things for me in shops that I had missed, and was in charge of taking interior and exterior shop photos while I interviewed and shopped. Without further ado, here’s Tu-Na Helper….

Hi everyone! Who’d have thought that I would be the talk of the internet (or at least this blog) and I am not even running for President! Yes. I accompanied my wife Karen on the MN Shop Hop not only this year, but for a total of three years now. I’m sure some of you think I may not have a life of my own. Not true! I have my own interests and hobbies that keep me more than occupied at times.

Here we are taking a selfie at the giant mosquito poster just outside of the Sweetwater Cotton Shoppe in Paynesville, MN. Had I known that this would be my internet debut, I would have combed my hair!

But first, where did my nickname come from? Well, we offered to bring my sister-in-law along for a day on the hop. Karen explained to her that she was going to blog about our journey and that I was taking photos for her blog. Karen told her that the name of the blog was “Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats”. My sister-in-law immediately piped up and said ” Oh, so that would make you Tu-Na Helper”. We had a good laugh about that. But unfortunately for me, the nickname seems to have stuck. What makes it even more unfortunate is that I do not even like tuna (fish)! Oh well, I’m a tough guy. I can take it.

So why would a husband agree to spend all this time shopping for fabric with his wife? I guess I do not think of it as lost time. I get to spend quality time with my wife doing something she enjoys (which also means she is in a pretty good mood). I enjoy looking for unique quilts and decorations that can be found on display in the shops. We also get to see areas in Minnesota that we otherwise would not get to see. Even after three times around the state, we manage to find something new and interesting. We are usually pretty focused on getting to our next destination, but we do look for some unique eateries for our evening meals. A couple of my favorites were Sherwood Forest near Nisswa, MN, and The Sawmill Saloon in Virginia, MN.

I found this quilt design particularly intriguing. It is called Gentlemen’s Agreement and was displayed at the Calico Hutch Quilt Shop in Hayward, MN.

On this trip we also took time off one afternoon to take a sailboat ride on Lake Peppin. It was both exhilarating and relaxing. On our way back to the dock we saw this hearty group of sailors out for a spin. I could not resist taking a photo or two. One never knows what wonderful sights you will come across when you take in the world around you.

I do enjoy helping Karen find some of the fabrics she needs. I have a fairly good eye for color matches if she has an idea of what she needs or a piece of fabric she is trying to match or contrast. I also monitor her spending to some extent. I know that it may not seem that way now that you have seen her loot, but believe me, it could be worse.

One of the sayings she frequently hears me remind her of is to “Spread the love”. What I mean by that is that she should not buy all the fabric she wants in one shop. Since we plan to visit all the shops on the hop we try to spread our purchases to as many shops as possible. We did not find items to purchase in every shop, but there was only a handful that we missed. The shops all go through a lot of expense and effort to hold the shop hop. Their reward is some additional business, sales, and recognition. While I understand that it is unrealistic to make a purchase in every shop, I feel that is also rude for a hopper to run in, get their passport stamped, and run back out without even looking around the shop a bit. Half the fun of the hop is talking to the shop’s owners and staff and seeing some of the fantastic quilts they have in their shops. Sorry about that, I will get off of my soapbox now…

A little more about my role as “Tu-Na Helper”. Using the Quilt Minnesota website to get the list of participating shops, I plan our route using an online site to find the most efficient route. While this is very helpful, it usually changes more than once along the way. Load the car, fuel the car, and we are on our way. My new role as photographer for the shop hop posts kept me busy while Karen would talk to the staff and do her shopping. I always ask someone on staff if they have any issues with me taking pictures in their store. Most shops have no problem but there are a few who prefer that no photos be taken. I honor those requests. I take my photographer role ‘very’ seriously. So seriously, in fact, that I took over a thousand photos! See what I mean!

This cute little saying met us at the door of Sadie Rae’s Quilt Shop in Wilton, MN. It applied pretty well to Karen. The amount of creativity that is shown in all the quilt shops is simply amazing. And yes, I said “cute” and I am man enough to admit it.

We usually do not know where we will end up at the end of the day. By mid afternoon we have a better idea and I can check ahead to see where we can get a room. It’s more exciting that way don’t ya know! The only time we had much of an issue was last year in the southern part of Minnesota along Interstate 90. The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally overlaps the Quilt Hop and every room within 30 miles of I90 was booked. In calling around I tried the Old Railroad Inn Bed & Breakfast in Jackson, MN. Luckily, they had just had a cancellation from a biker who had engine trouble earlier in the day and was not able to get to Jackson that day. We had a great night there!

Earlier I stated that I had my own interests too. I am an avid gardener and tend to supply my family with all the summer vegetables they can handle. We have a small fruit tree orchard as well. We have nine apple trees that are providing a record harvest this year. We have been cidering apples these past two weekends and have already pressed 134 gallons of apple cider with our cider press along with the help of family and friends. So what do you do with that much apple cider you may ask. Well, you ask everyone you know if they have any freezer room to store it. So far so good! Actually, fresh apple cider is a great tasting healthy drink. If that doesn’t suit you, we also take several gallons of cider to our local vintner to turn into apple wine. Doesn’t that sound better!

This is the reward for a day’s work at the cider press.

I also enjoy photography and reading ( I prefer science fiction stories). Having retired from an information technology job I still try to keep up with what’s new in that field as well as any new personal technology developments. I have started entering my photos in some local contests with limited success.

This photo, “Apache Lake Vista”, earned an honorable mention in a people’s choice photo show.

This past week our local library had their annual used book sale. Books are sold by the pound at the sale, at one dollar a pound. Now that’s a deal! I got a little carried away, but in my defense I was shopping for four people. I even picked up one book for Karen. However, the vast majority were books for me. My purchase totaled sixty dollars! When I told Karen how much I spent she didn’t make a fuss. After all, what could she say after all the loot she picked up on the hop? Hmmm… I wonder if the library book sale is still open tomorrow…

Well, I think I have used up enough space here. I hope you enjoyed it. I know Karen is excited about her blog and hopes that you will continue to follow her posts. Her blog is currently being read in 42 countries. I certainly never expected her to have so much success in such a short time. Enjoy life and stay safe!

What I, “Tu-Na Helper,” Learned Today:

A person can get pretty cold while picking apples on a windy 40 degree F day.
We would never be able to use up all our apples without the help of family and friends.
Happy wife, happy life.

Question: What is your favorite apple desert?

Thanks to my husband for being a good sport and writing this guest post. I’ll be back soon with a story about that plus quilt and some apple eats.

Linking to

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop (button on the sidebar)

Finished or Not Friday (button on the sidebar)

Em’s Scrapbag Moving It Forward

Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday (button on sidebar)

Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making

Tu-Na Quilts: Voting Has Begun for the Blogger’s Quilt Festival

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There are many beautiful and some really unique quilts over at Amy’s Creative Side for the Blogger’s Quilt Festival.

You can even vote for your favorites. Voting closes September 30th. Grab a cup of coffee or tea, put your feet up, and be prepared to be dazzled.

I’ve provided direct links to each of the categories below. Be patient as it may take a bit for the inLinkz to load each category. Once the inLinkz is loaded, you should see a picture of each quilt displayed under the blue box that says “Baby Lock Sewing Machine Giveaway.” You can enter that giveaway by clicking on that box. For other chances to win fabric and other prizes, leave a comment on the main festival page. Be sure to leave your email address.

You’ll be looking at a lot of quilts at the festival so I thought I’d give you something else to see. This is Chihuly in the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, AZ in January 2014.

Now vote for three of your favorite quilts in each category by clicking on the heart in the upper right hand corner of each quilt. To read more about a quilt or see more pictures of it, click on the picture of the quilt and you will go directly to the quilt blog post. The green check mark displayed on the top left of that quilt picture on the festival page means you’ve visited that blog post.

Here’s the links for each category. Enjoy!

2016 Blogger’s Quilt Festival Mini Quilts

2016 Blogger’s Quilt Festival Small Quilts

2016 Blogger’s Quilt Festival Large Quilts I’ve entered my Little House Story Quilt in this category; to see it and read more about it, click here.

2016 Blogger’s Quilt Festival Applique Quilts

2016 Blogger’s Quilt Festival Art Quilts

2016 Blogger’s Quilt Festival Hand Quilted Quilts

2016 Blogger’s Quilt Festival Machine Quilted Quilts

2016 Blogger’s Quilt Festival Modern Quilts I’ve entered my Plus Quilt in this category; to see it and read more about it, click here.

2016 Blogger’s Quilt Festival Original Design

2016 Blogger’s Quilt Festival ROYGBIV Quilts (rainbow)

2016 Blogger’s Quilt Festival Scrappy Quilts

2016 Blogger’s Quilt Festival Viewer’s Choice Viewer’s Choice Quilts are being displayed under the Baby Lock Giveaway Bar and list of prizes. But if you don’t see your favorite, use the form below to nominate up to three favorites.

2016 Blogger’s Quilt Festival Viewer’s Choice Nomination Form You can nominate up to three quilts by pasting the direct link to that quilt on this form.

What I Learned Today:

I have a lot more quilts on my “must make” list now.

Question: Have you entered a quilt into a competition. How did you do?

Tu-Na Travels: The Last of the Loot–aka The Big Splurge

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This is the last of the loot from my 2016 Quilt MN Shop Hop trip. Although these were things that weren’t on my list, they still followed my plan to like all that I buy. I couldn’t leave them behind so I splurged.

I’m sure it will be of no surprise to anyone that I found and bought cloud fabric. I was captivated by the Minnesota skies and took lots of sky pictures. You can see some pictures here on Day Two, Day Five, Day Six, and Day Eight.

I’m thinking one of these would make a cute background for some hot air balloon blocks. What do you think?

I can’t have sky without including some water.

One can’t have sky and water without having some little rocks. I really needed this before and didn’t have it so I decided to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

I grew up on a wheat farm and had been eyeing this one since the collection was released. I almost bought it at one shop on the hop but decided to let it stay on the shelf. The next day, I heard it calling my name from the clearance section of a different shop. How could I ignore that?

Along the way I found some prints to add to my orange, brown, and green stash. How could I resist those coffee beans?

When I saw the fabric with dots, I saw sprinkles and I thought it would make cute ice cream cone or cupcake quilt blocks or a pincushion or two.

I already have slices of watermelon fabric in my stash and found these two pieces that would make a fun picnic quilt with it.

Here’s more great fabrics I found.

These were just too cute to pass up! I’m open to suggestions.

Just before I left home on the shop hop, I started a project using a green leaf fabric from my older stash. After cutting all the pieces, I decided it was just too thin to use so I found these two leaf prints on the hop. Since I couldn’t decide between them, I bought both.

Here’s the remnant I found on Day Six. I’m sure I’ll be needing a good quality gingham for a future project.

I’ve now decided that these two fabrics will become a pillow.

Here’s the Amazing Grace fabric that I’d given up hope of ever finding again. I previously bought 4 yards for a quilt back but you and I know that 4 yards isn’t nearly enough for a larger quilt. I was ecstatic to find 4 more yards of it on Day Six. Now I know I’ll have enough.

The following pic shows my all-time favorite fabric splurge on the hop. At the time of purchase, I had no idea what it might become.

I plan to use these one-yard cuts with some of the black and white for my challenge project for my AZ quilting group. They were on sale for 50% off. I should have bought more.

Now for some non-fabric splurge.

These were the only two patterns I bought. At one of the shops, we saw a finished labyrinth quilt and talked to the quilter that made it. She was picking it up from the longarm person after just having had it quilted. It looked fantastic. This Labyrinth quilt has been circulating around Facebook and I just couldn’t resist buying it for a future quilting project with my sisters.

I found a magnetic lighted pin picker upper

which opens to this length to help reach pins in far away places. It’s already come in handy!

I bought two spools of Superior thread and two spools of 100% Egyptian Cotton to try.

I splurged on the Mini Dresden Plate Template. I purchased this larger template at the same time as the Tiny one that I wrote about on So Where’s the Loot.

That’s all folks! I have no more loot to show you; it’s all been revealed. It was a fun trip and I’ve enjoyed telling you about it. But wait, I’ve planned a bit more fun.

Up Next: A guest post by Tu-Na Helper (my husband) regarding his thoughts and impressions of the shop hop trip.

What I Learned Today:

Decision making is difficult for me.
I made a lot of purchases on this shop hop trip.
I definitely shop faster than I sew.
The past two posts have been embarrassing but I’ll get over it.

Question: Do you plan first and then buy or buy now and plan later?

Linking to Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

and Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

Tu-Na Travels: The Listed “Loot”

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I left home for the Quilt MN Shop Hop this summer with a list in my purse and a song in my step. Granted, I added onto that list while I was on the hop but I just couldn’t figure out why my favorite pair of Birkenstock’s squeaked when I walked.

You’ve all been patiently waiting for my next loot post so I hope I don’t disappoint you. If you need to catch up with that fun quilting shop hop trip, catch the links on this post and then here, here and here.

First, lets take a look at the list of things my mom wanted me to find for her: Airplane fabric, two spools of Aurifil thread, and a Sewline Fabric Pencil. Mission accomplished.

The airplane fabric on the right was the first score on the trip at the very first shop. One thing crossed off the list. “But I need more than one yard,” mom said when I excitedly told her later that day that I’d found some airplane fabric on clearance. So I spent the next 6 days looking for more. We found almost identical fabric but with smaller planes. I took all that was on the bolt–almost two yards.

The big item on my list was fabric for a Minecraft quilt for my oldest grandson who is seven and enjoys playing that computer game. He’s already picked out the blocks he wants from the pattern on the Seriously, I Think It Needs Stitches blog. On the shop hop, we found lots of solids and other interesting fabric for me to use for that quilt. I will have a nice selection to choose from when I begin that project.

One yard cuts of every color of the rainbow in these two pictures. Yes, I know there’s probably enough for three quilts here.

But I still need to buy some black–a lot of black for the sashing and borders and back. When we got to the quilt shop in Mankato, I found red, blue, and yellow Color Union by Robert Kaufman. They were out of that perfect black and so I searched and asked at each of the remaining 47 shops if they had any but sadly it was not to be found. I guess I’ll be doing some online searching now.

One of my readers asked me if there was anything that I’d bought on the hop that I now scratch my head and wonder “why on earth” or “what was I thinking?” I originally purchased these three 1-yard cuts for use in the minecraft quilt, but now I am scratching my head and wondering why on earth, what was I thinking?

I also listed more black and white fabrics to add to my black and white quilt. I have enough for a king-sized quilt (which I was planning to make anyway) and probably a couple more smaller size ones too. My Arizona quilting group has a black and white and one other color challenge this year. I think I’m all set in the black and white department.

More one yard cuts to add to my collection. Do you see a theme here? I really do like daisies. Can you tell?

A couple more interesting ones.

And my favorite! Why did I buy only 1 yard?

1930 Repro fabrics were also on my list. I looked for them last year and they were hard to find and when I did find them most of them were on clearance. Which was very good for last year. This year more stores had them but I didn’t find many in the clearance section. Which was not very good for this year.

Thirteen cuts of one yard each. Yes, I know I picked up a duplicate. See the ones on each of the ends. Now, how did that happen?

Twelve more yards of fun prints.

I also had this iron cleaner on the list. I bought some of these sheets last year as a notion promotion and was hoping I’d find more this year. I should have taken two.

Have you used this yet? It works great!

Aurifil thread was on my list so I bought two spools.

Cream and gray are the only colors I seem to use lately. I probably should have bought more of these, too.

Oh, I was so excited to find these wonderful perfect little scissors by Karen Kay Buckley. Yes, they were on my list! They are very pointed and very sharp and have a tendency to become lost. I bought two last year on the hop and one the year before. I gave mom a pair last year. I have already lost both of mine. So this year I bought two more and they were even on sale. With my history of losing things, I should have bought a few more.

Have you tried these? I really like them. Mom informed me today that she can’t find hers either.

I looked and asked at each shop for fabric that portrayed prairie with rocks so that I can make another covered wagon block like this one. Having previously bought only a fat quarter of that perfect prairie with rocks, there isn’t enough to make another block. I began the search and found the piece below on day 7.

While it’s close to what I used before, this one has more rocks and more green grass than I’d like. However, I took one yard anyway, just in case I didn’t find anything better.

That was the extent of the list but not the extent of this big pile. I still have more to reveal.

Up next: The Big Splurge (The things that weren’t on my list but still followed my plan to like all that I buy so I couldn’t leave them behind)

Coming Soon: Guest post by Tu-Na Helper (my husband) regarding his thoughts and impressions of the shop hop trip.

What I Learned Today:

If I think I might use it, buy enough the first time.
A fat quarter is not enough in most cases.
Label my scissors just like in kindergarten. Oh, and also label my mom’s.
Some scissors seem to have legs.

Question: What have you lost lately?

Tu-Na Quilts: One More Entry for Blogger’s Quilt Festival

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Here’s my second entry for the 2016 Blogger’s Quilt Festival in the Modern Quilt category over at Amy’s Creative Side.

It’s a modern plus quilt I made this summer and gifted to a very special young woman. I’ll be posting more about it and the story behind it soon. In the meantime, here’s a couple of pics so I can participate in the festival.

You can see my first entry, the Little House Quilt, here.

I encourage you to stop over at Amy’s blog next week to vote for your favorites. You can get there by clicking here and scrolling down past the list of prizes to see the boxes with the entry categories to click on. This quilt can be directly seen here on the modern category page.

There are 924 three-inch (completed) squares in this quilt.

Most of the fabric for the top comes from one designer’s collection. The greens and purples were added to give it that pop of color that was needed.

I rented time on a computerized longarm machine and quilted it with various sizes of circles. I sewed the blue ruler fabric (Measure Up in Splash) to the front and hand stitched it to the back.

Although I had enough fabric for the back, I used leftover squares from the front to add more interest. The back is a text fabric from Odds and Ends by Julie Comstock for Moda.

Quilt Stats:

Made by me (Karen) and quilted on a computerized longarm with some help from the shop’s staff.

Date finished: August 2016

Size : 84″ x 99″

Top Fabric: 100% cotton from Elementary by Sweetwater for Moda, “Bazaar Style Collection” from Art Gallery, Burlap by Dover Hill for Benartex, Prints Charming by for Moda

Backing: 100% cotton Odds and Ends by Julie Comstock for Moda and leftover blocks from the front

Batting: Quilter’s Dream

Thread: Pieced with Aurifil 50wt. Quilted with Superior

Pattern: Modern Plus Quilt

If you are new here, welcome. I’m glad you stopped by. Are you wondering why I’m called Tu-Na? To find out, click here to read my first post. To find out more about me click here. If you enjoyed what you’ve read and want to follow me, you’ll find several ways to do so on the side bar as you won’t want to miss all the fun and frivolity coming soon.

Are you ready?

I’ve barely uncovered this pile of loot for you to see. More revealing coming soon.

I’ll be posting the rest of the loot from my MN Shop Hop later this week so be prepared; it is not for the faint of wallet. You’ll all be in for a treat too when Tu-Na Helper (my husband) guest writes a post on Sunday about his impressions regarding the MN Quilt Shop Hop trip. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then you have some catching up to do. Catch the links on this post and then here, here and here and you’ll be all set for later this week.

What I Learned Today: