How I Go About Making a Top – Part 1

Posted on July 27, 2026 by Quiltmouse

Things are getting back to normal.  I actually got to spend a good amount of time in my Sewing Room this past weekend.

Ironing Board & Sewing Machine

Fabric Cafe – 5 Yard Quilt Top

My weekend was spent organizing, ironing and cutting 5 yards of fabric into smaller pieces and started sewing them back together. Isn’t that what all quilters do?

While I can’t share the fabric or pattern I’m working on, I thought I’d share a few steps I take when making a new pattern. I do this for nearly all my projects not just for Fabric Cafe.

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Posted in Hand Piecing & Quilting, Hobbies, Organization, Quilting, Tips | Tagged , | 2 Comments

My Sewing Room Last Weekend  – Interrupted 7/24/2026

Posted on July 26, 2026 by Quiltmouse

The Best Laid Plans… My last weekend Sewing Room activities were interrupted by HEAT! Last week on Thursday the A/C appeared to stop cooling. Now this unit was completely replaced just a couple of years ago so it couldn’t be anything serious, right?

After some looking around it appeared maybe a circuit breaker was blown. So after checking everything and flipping the breakers, we had cold air on Friday night.

Saturday the A/C stopped working again and nothing we did got it started. Service was called we prepared for Plan A or B or C.

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Posted in Christmas in July, Hand Piecing & Quilting, Hobbies, Quilting, Quilts, WIP | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Hinkletown Car Date

Posted on July 25, 2026 by Quiltmouse

The A/C got fixed Wednesday and after the hot & stressful week we’ve had hubby & I decided we needed a Car Date.

Hinkletown Sewing Machine Shop had scheduled their Customer Appreciation Days for July 23-25. So we decided a day trip to Pennsylvania would be just the right thing!

2026 Hinkletown Sewing Machine Shop Customer Appreciation Days
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Posted in Hobbies, Quilting, Travel | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Fabric Cafe Sample Tops – August 2025

Posted on July 22, 2026 by Quiltmouse

Have you ever gotten in the middle of making a quilt top and discovered there was an error in the pattern instructions?  That can be frustrating, especially if it is a cutting error. At Fabric Cafe every new pattern is not only read & re-read, but is actually made. We are human and some mistakes may squeak by, but we do our best to try and catch them before releasing the pattern.

In August 2025 Fabric Cafe sent me three bundles and three patterns to test. I only make the Flimsy (top) and send it back to Fabric Cafe where it is then finished into a completed quilt before the pattern is published.

3 yard Bundles for Vibe and Jumble patterns
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Posted in Fabric Cafe, Quilting | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

My Sewing Room This Weekend  – 7/19/2026

Posted on July 20, 2026 by Quiltmouse

This weekend was hot with thunderstorms, plus the air quality was Code Purple due to smoke from wildfires in Canada (not anywhere close by!) – Unhealthy for everyone! Definitely not an outdoor day.  Oh, did I mention our Air Conditioner quit working Friday night? We flipped a breaker and it started working.

Friday I cooked a 9 lb Pork Shoulder in my crockpot so dinner Saturday was Pulled Pork. Hubby & I have it with BBQ sauce in wraps. Daughter prefers it plain & crispy.

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Posted in Christmas in July, Hand Piecing & Quilting, Hobbies, Quilting, Quilts, WIP | Tagged , , | 3 Comments