Author Archives: Becky Goldsmith

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About Becky Goldsmith

I am a quilt designer/teacher/author, a wife/mother/grandmother, and certified yoga instructor who is searching for balance, strength, and happiness in all things.

Be nice, every day.

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October 24 was Unity Day. I didn’t remember that there was a Unity Day until I read the funnies…

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Kindness, acceptance, inclusion… these are virtues that we were encouraged to adopt beginning in pre-school.

Some folks don’t have to be reminded to practice these virtues—I wish I was one of them. When I am stressed, I tend to be short with people and I never feel good about that.

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I have been on a years-long quest to change, to always be kind to the people around me, but I consider myself to be a work-in-progress. It is possible to evolve if you put your mind to it.

Right now, with the country split politically, I think it’s especially important to be kind to everyone. If we all do that, maybe the national stress level will go down a bit. Wouldn’t that be wonderful!

 

Wednesday Giveaway

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I like to carry these little Quilter’s Threaders with me when I don’t have room for my Easy Threader.  They work in fine needles with thin thread and with bigger needles and thick thread! Sue McDonald is this week’s lucky winner. If you aren’t Sue and would still like to have some of these dandy threaders, you can find them here (https://www.pieceocake.com/shop/c/p/Quilters-Needle-Threader-x31059958.htm).

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Happy stitching! I’ll be back next Wednesday with another Giveaway!

Sometimes scary is good!

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I went with friends, Amanda and Karen, to see Halloween on Sunday morning. The best part was watching a very-empowered Jamie Lee Curtis go after the scary guy. We left the theater feeling exhilarated! (FYI: If you don’t like scary movies, you probably should pass on this even though, as scary movies go, it was not that scary.)

It was a pretty day and I was pumped so I decided to install a rain chain. I watched the video on this page and went to work.

I took down the old downspout and dug a 6″-deep pit. I moved a concrete urn from the backyard to the front, and then tried drilling the extra drainage holes in the bottom. Drilling 1/2″-thick concrete is hard so I decided instead to take a 41b. hammer to the bottom of the pot.

Maybe it was because of the movie, but I found whacking the concrete to be very satisfying.

I bought 2 really heavy bags of gravel at Lowe’s, and emptied one of them into the pit. Then I centered the pot under the hole in the gutter, on the gravel.

I had to order a rain chain and it came today.

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We are going to have the trim painted and new gutters installed soon so I’m going to wait to add more gravel to the pot. Once I do, I’ll top all the gravel with river rock to make it pretty. I’ll be sure to post photos of the rain chain in action the next time it rains and I’m home to see it.

OK, enough of that… back to quilt-related things :-).

Show and tell…

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Mary Grogan made a hoodie for her 3-year-old grandchild who loves unicorns. This may be the cutest thing I have ever seen!

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Mary wrote:

I adapted your Magical Unicorn pattern to fit on the back of the hoodie. She and her parents totally love it. I thought you might like to see it. Lots of my friends want me to make a unicorn for them on a shirt!

Thanks for your wonderful patterns and ideas!

Mary, you just made everyone smile—including me! You did a great job and I thank you so much for sharing the pictures with us all :-).

 

Wednesday Giveaway

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I’m in the mood to sew, aren’t you? Anita B. is this week’s lucky winner of 1 yard of this lovely fabric by Alison Glass. If you aren’t Anita, you can find it and other fabric at pieceocake.com.

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See you next week for another Wednesday Giveaway!

Read the instructions!

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There are some things that I think I know so well that I don’t need to read the instructions. As it turns out, I’m usually wrong. Batting is a case in point.

I have a small quilt to hand quilt and I decided to try silk batting from the Tuscany Collection made by Hobbs. It has a reputation for being easy to needle which sounds good to me. I did read the instructions before basting and I learned that I need to use cool water and little-to-no agitation when washing, and to NEVER DRY IT IN THE DRYER!!! FYI: Wool batting needs to be handled in the same way.

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I don’t know about you, but I tend to forget which batting I put in a quilt. That is just one reason why laundering information should always be included on the documentation patch. I may not always own this quilt and whoever ends up with it needs to know how to wash and dry it.

In addition to the laundering information, there are instructions in the chart that are  important. For example, I would not have thought to test the batting for use with dark fabrics. I suspect that it could beard with some fabrics and I’d want to test it before using it in a quilt.

I am looking forward to seeing how this batting differs from the cotton batting I’ve been using. I’ll let you know when I know more. Until then, keep reading those instructions :-).

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