Gin
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ginjones.bsky.social
Gin
@ginjones.bsky.social
1.1K followers 110 following 880 posts
I'm in training to become a Nac Mac Feegle. Their motto is: "Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna' be fooled again!" WEE FREE MEN by Terry Pratchett.

Meanwhile, I'm a traditional mystery author and patient advocate. GinJones.com
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ginjones.bsky.social
Convincing you to read my [short story] with the first sentence. Share yours if you want.

"When guests were making plans to spend a romantic Valentine's Day weekend at the Three Sisters B&B, they hardly ever remembered that it fell during the peak of snow season in Kentucky."

#BookSky
Cover art for Holidays & Homicides, featuring a Christmas tree in front of a lit fireplace w/ stockings. Facing them is a chair with its back turned to the viewer, a limp arm draped over the side, and a cup on the floor, with foamy contents all around it, and a skull and crossbones on the cup.
November 11, 2025 at 3:27 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
I've done so much free motion quilting recently that I borked the sewing machine foot. The piece that caused the foot to go up and down a little with the needle, so it glided over the fabric, snapped off. #QuiltSky
High shank darning foot with spring mechanism to give the foot some wiggle room to go over seams and not cause wrinkles and pleats.
November 10, 2025 at 2:34 AM
ginjones.bsky.social
Rosie likes to help with machine quilting. #QuiltSky
Tabby and white cat sits on a Christmas quilt that was in the process of being quilted on my Juki sewing machine until she weighed it down.
November 9, 2025 at 12:39 AM
ginjones.bsky.social
Quilt basting with Billy Joel tonight, because I'm in a New York state of mind! (And Virginia and New Jersey, which Billy covers too!) #QuiltSky
Corner of a burgundy, white and green quilt with snowman fabric made into variable stars. On top are a plethora of basting straight pins, The Essential Billy Joel cd case, and a portable CD player.
November 5, 2025 at 5:01 AM
ginjones.bsky.social
Sometimes I like to work on complicated quilts like yesterday's, and other times, I want something quick & easy, especially for a holiday quilt, used only a few days per year. I needed a burgundy winter quilt, because my bedroom wallpaper is burgundy & the usual holiday reds clash with it. #QuiltSky
Unfinished (needs quilting and binding) bed topper quilt (about 65" square) with four rows of burgundy variable stars (centers are fussy-cut snowmen from the print that is the border), on a white background, with deep green cornerstones and inner border (print has Ho Ho Ho in a variety of fonts). Binding will be the same green print. Closeup of one corner of the quilt top, with two of the stars and a chunk of the inner and outer borders. The photograph doesn't do justice to the actual color of the burgundy print -- in real life it's much more burgundy, not a clear red.
November 1, 2025 at 5:57 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
I can't believe I finally finished the last (and biggest) UFO quilt! Okay, so I've started new ones recently, & there are now 2 tops in my UFO pile, but it doesn't count if they're less than a month old! Second pic is the quilt back. Couldn't find a print I liked for a one-print back. #QuiltSky
Huge (80" x90" approx) red and white quilt, using North Wind blocks and a wide variety of red prints. Blocks are made of a large red triangle in one corner, large white triangle in opposite corner, and red and 5 small triangles in each of red and white in between the large triangles. When set solid, but alternating which corner is red, they form interesting secondary patterns. Quilt also has a wide red paisley border. Back of quilt pieced in three rows, each with two to four large rectangular chunks of (mostly) different red prints left over from making the front. You can also see the paisley print used in the binding, which sort of clashes with some of the prints and disappears against others.
October 31, 2025 at 3:28 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
Red and white quilts are so much fun! I just finished this one (altho' the pic is from when it was just a top). It's not complicated, but it is a bit time-consuming with all the half-square triangles. Pretty much any basic block will be effective in red and white.
Unfinished quilt top (bed-sized) in a variety of red prints on a white background. Blocks are "north wind," made with a large red triangle in one corner, a large white triangle in the opposite corner, and 5 smaller red triangles on a white background in between. They're set in alternating directions, no sashing, and there's a wide red (paisley) border.
October 27, 2025 at 8:58 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
We're getting to the end of the summer/fall finishing of UFO quilts. Today, I've got THREE quilts to share. It's all one basic design, a variation on the nine-patch, with pieces that are different widths, but using different color palettes, or different border options.
Three baby quilts laid out in a diagonal, overlapping row. They're all made with dark and light alternating nine-patch variant blocks, but in different colors. The one on top (almost entirely visible, closest to camera) is in a variety of bright colors on a white-background tiny black print, 5 x 5 blocks, with a bright blue border. Middle one is 7 x 7 blocks in pink on a tiny pink print background, and the last one has the same background print and assorted bright colors, but is 7 x 7 blocks and no border.
October 27, 2025 at 8:15 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
I'm going to run out of recently completed UFO quilts to share someday, but today is not that day! This one (large lap quilt size) was made with scraps from some tank tops I made for myself last summer (2024). #QuiltSky
Broken Dishes blocks (alternating dark and light triangles) in dark blue and turquoise/teal on a mottled light blue background, set solid, so they have the same basic overall effect as pinwheel blocks, with a bit of mottled blue border and dark blue binding. The lighter colored turquoise blocks create secondary patterns when three or four are touching, either horizontally or diagonally.
October 26, 2025 at 8:19 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
Yes, I was a busy quilter this summer and fall. Another of the UFO quilts that I finished recently.
Lap quilt (about 45" square with 6 rows of 6 blocks in a mix of nine-patch and monkey wrench, red prints on a black background, with three that have a yellow center square. Blocks are set with black sashings, then red piping, a black print border and red binding.
October 25, 2025 at 3:44 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
Another quilt UFO that is finally finished! It doesn't photograph well, and looks a bit garish, but it's more mellow in person. It's for the man cave of my brother, whose hobby is fly fishing and tying flies. #QuiltSky
Lap quilt made with four large squares of photorealistic fish printed on a black background, laid out with sashings made of 2 strips of orange bubble print on either side of a solid black strip, and then nine-patches of the same fabrics where the sashings meet in the corners of each fish print square. There's also an outer, darker-orange stripe border and black binding.
October 23, 2025 at 5:14 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
I was very disciplined for much of the summer/fall, diligently finishing decades' worth of UFO quilts, but then I snapped and just had to start something new. I chose a really quick, small project (baby/lap size) that could be pieced in a couple hours, plus a quiltlet with the scraps. #QuiltSky
Simple red and blue quilt top (not quilted), with large red print (toy bears) squares and cornerstones, and blue floral sashing, in 5 rows of 5 squares. Quiltlet (about 18" x 24) using scraps from the previous quilt, with one red and gold nine-patch, 5 large red bear print squares, sashing that's partly blue floral print and partly gold print, and a navy polka dot binding. Yeah, it's kinda' crazy and hard to explain, but it seemed like a good plan at the time, and I like it, despite the chaos.
October 22, 2025 at 7:33 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
A pair of recently finished quits. Originally made the blocks for a bed-sized quilt, decided I didn't like the design, abandoned the blocks for a decade, and finally decided to just throw them together in two lap/throw-sized quilts (plus a bunch of cat-sized quiltlets, not pictured). #Quiltsky
Purple and pink star blocks with yellow centers, like flowers, on a black background, with a sawtooth (half-square triangles) border and purple binding. Throw-sized, about 50" x 60". Lap quilt (approx 40" square) made with nine Hope of Hartford blocks (whirling stars) in pinks and purples with yellow centers, three rows of three blocks, all on a black background. Inner border of simple 2" squares.
October 21, 2025 at 4:56 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
Another of the old unfinished tops that's now finished! It's going to hang in my office across a door to an area that's no longer used, adding a bit of insulation and color! #QuiltSky
Blocks made with five four-patches and 4 monkey wrenches, in bright primary colors on black, three blocks by three rows, with neon green sashing and binding, and a print border with lots of tiny stars in primary colors. About six feet square.
October 20, 2025 at 6:28 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
I've been binding my anxiety over the state of the world by finishing long-ignored quilt tops, but I keep forgetting to post pictures. Will try to make up for the lapse over the next week or two. This was designed to use up the cherry fabric remnant. Happened to have the matching green in my stash.
Variable star blocks (4 blocks x 4 rows) with a red/white cherry print center and red points, green sashing and border, with cherry print squares in the four corners. It's about 60" square.
October 19, 2025 at 10:24 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
Not usually a fan of pink, but I got obsessed with it a few weeks back, and now I have two pink baby/lap quilt tops for no reason in particular, plus a quiltlet top for the next @romancingthevote.bsky.social auction.
Basic pink nine patch with narrow sashing and a wide border Pink nine patch variant, set solid with alternating dark and light blocks Quiltlet about 16" square made with leftover nine patch variant blocks set solid, alternating light and dark, with dark 2" borders
August 6, 2025 at 6:13 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
Something fun on a too-hot day -- the cover for my upcoming (August 12) Helen Binney mystery novella:
Cover art for A DELUSION OF DEATH, in night-time blues and purples, with a building in the background, assorted people's silhouettes in the orange-lit windows, and a disability scooter and Maine coon cat in the foreground.
July 8, 2025 at 6:29 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
This is my Mabel. Really. Her name is Mabel, named after a monoclonal antibody (a "mab" in scientific terminology) approved the day before she was born. Her siblings, Ruby, Rosie, and Sam were named for the rest of the drug's generic name (burosumab).
Tabby cat with a white chin/throat, lounging across several stacks of red and white quilt blocks.
July 1, 2025 at 1:49 AM
ginjones.bsky.social
Mabel modeling a recently completed lap quilt. Love the dramatic impact of really simple designs. #QuiltSky
Tabby cat looking up at camera from her seat on a 40" square quilt with blue and purple 9-patches set alternately with solid black squares.
June 4, 2025 at 4:27 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
Ruby drew blood before I could get her in a carrier today, but at the vet's, she played the "if I can't see you, you can't see me" game.
Small tabby & white cat in vet's office, with her back to the camera and her head in an opening beneath a radiator.
May 30, 2025 at 9:31 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
How I spent the long weekend: finishing quilt UFOs, some machine quilting and lots of binding. No time to photograph them individually today, but I will eventually. Is there one you'd particularly like to see in its entirety?
Three lap quilts and six quiltlets scattered on a wood floor. They all have black (solid or print) backgrounds, in a variety of simple styles and bright print fabrics. One lap quilt is mostly fall colors, another is photorealistic vegetable prints, and third is blues and purples.
May 28, 2025 at 5:23 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
Ruby made a warm nest to pass the chilly long weekend. Squares in the quilt were marbled by me, not entirely successfully, but I like how they came together in this quilt. #QuiltSky
Tabby/white cat between two layers of a quilt made of pale, marbled squares with off white sashing.
May 27, 2025 at 12:22 AM
ginjones.bsky.social
These UFOs still need binding, but I'm making progress finishing old projects! #QuiltSky The quiltlets will most likely be donated to the next @romancingthevote.bsky.social auction. Not sure about the lap quilts. Might keep the fall-color one for myself.
Five quiltlets and two small lap quilts tossed on a wood floor, all with black backgrounds, all simple traditional blocks (mostly four-patch, monkey wrench, broken dishes), in bright colors (blues, purples, pinks, green, and one that's oranges and yellows). They're quilted, but the outer edges are raw.
May 20, 2025 at 6:41 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
If you mean overall patterns, I create my own and seldom repeat them exactly, but a block that I've used a lot is a Flying Gees variation, Dutchman's Puzzle. This purple one is pretty straightforward, but there are lots of ways to play around with the layout and with coloring the individual blocks.
Baby quilt with twenty-five Dutchman's Puzzle blocks in a variety of dark purples on light purple, set without sashings or border. Dutchman's Puzzle blocks are made out of Flying Geese units, laid out so as to give the impression of spinning like a windmill.
May 17, 2025 at 4:59 PM
ginjones.bsky.social
Recently finished quiltlets for the next @romancingthevote.bsky.social auction (except maybe for one or two that I'll keep for myself, as if my cats don't already have enough quilt beds). Still have another dozen or so to finish, with black backgrounds. #QuiltSky
Five little quilts, about 18" square, 2 made of just squares/rectangles, three made mostly with half-square triangles. 2 of the triangle quiltlets are green and white, the rest are mainly blues, with either pale purple or off-white backgrounds. Five little quilts, about 18" square, three made with photo-realistic prints of vegetables (carrots, corn, broccoli, peppers, leeks, greens) in single, large nine-patch layouts, one made of random prints (purple, neon green, blue) cut in squares, and one made of green flying gees on a black background with an odd yellow print border that has teddy bears in red or green shorts and little Christmas trees!
May 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM