Threads To Fabric

Hiding Fabric

2011-11-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

While I was going through some old magazines and organizing articles I had marked for future projects, I came across an article on hiding your fabric. This particular article had a progression of hiding fabric which I found quite amusing and thought I'd share.

The article is titled 50 Ways To Hide Your Fabric and is written by Cindy L. Weyers, published in the May/June 2004 issue of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting.

Leave fabric in your car. You are probably the only one who cleans it out anyway.
When you no longer have room for passengers, move fabric to trunk.
When trunk no longer closes, bring fabric into the house, but be sure all bags are sealed. Never bring in a bag with a quilt shop logo. It's a dead giveaway.
Get a fabric cupboard with doors that lock. Store fabric inside.
When fabric cupboard is full, pack more in, have a friend lean on the door, then lock. Open cautiously to avoid a fabric explosion.
Hide fabric in closet behind and in shoes. Men never look at women's shoes unless shapely legs are in them.
Hide fabric behind clothes on closet shelves.
Use fabric as shelf liner in closets. He won't notice.
Put false bottoms in clothes hampers. No one digs deeply in them except you!
Lay fabric on dryer as folded clothing.
Store it in rubber tub. Mark as women's clothes.
Store in plain sight, possibly as a dresser scarf. Say it's a new style.
Hang as a shower curtain. He won't know the difference.
Use as a curtain for a window on the shady side of the house.
Place between sheet and comforter on the bed for extra warmth.
Repeat with teenager's beds, but fabric may need to be washed frequently.
Layer under cushion on sofa. Explain it's needed because some remote control-punching, chip-munching, sweating couch potato is squishing the cushions. His mind will turn to processing these comments, and he won't remember the fabric is even there.
Use as a tablecloth.
Use smaller pieces as place mats.
Put in closed box under sink marked "Cleaning Supplies." That should keep him out.
Fill another box and mark as "Feminine Supplies." For men, worse than cleaning supplies.
Fill your cedar chest.
Store in bottom half of the china cupboard.
Use a divider between plates in china cupboard.
Use as a drawer liner.

Do any of these sound familiar? For me, I have a large wardrobe closet that I use for storing fabric. It works great because it can hold A LOT of fabric. Another good place for me is to hang yardages of fabric on a hanger and hang it in the hallway coat closet. My husband never goes in there as he prefers to just toss his coat wherever it lands.

I'll share more of these in another post. In the meantime, where do you hide your fabric?

Charity

2011-10-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

One of my friends' church is sponsoring a young woman who is homeless and pregnant. I don't know her story on how she got to where she is today, but do know she needs all the support she can get to learn how to cope with her current situation and the strength to make the necessary changes to bring herself to a better place... and Hope.

A group of women in the church put on a baby shower for her and I was asked if I wanted to contribute anything. So, I began working as I had one week before the shower.

I think the heirloom stitched footprints are perfect for a baby gift. Don't you?

I just love the pink and brown color combination. I'm going to have to buy more of these prints as I'm sure there will be another request for a baby gift.

Although I know there are many people who give of themselves for others, I believe those who knit, sew, and quilt are some of the most generous and thoughtful people I've ever met.

Do you have a favorite charity you contribute to?

Birthday Swap Block - Blackford's Beauty

2011-10-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have another Birthday Swap block to share today.

This block is called Blackford's Beauty and is for my friend Mary. Mary's request was for any 12" block in a purple and green palette which are two of her favorite colors. This is such a fun color combination. Above is my version of the block. I really like how this one turned out and think I'm going to be making more of this block. For me, this is a more challenging block because there are a lot of pieces requiring a lot of seams to be matched.

This block was found at the Quilters Cache site. Are you familiar with Marcia Hohn's site? It is a great site with tons of free block patterns as well as reference tools. If you haven't browsed her site, please click on the link and scroll to the bottom of the page where there are several useful links to choose from.

So tell me, what have you done lately?

Homemade Granola

2011-10-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

I love granola but I have to be careful because most granola contains coconut and I'm allergic to coconut. So I make my own, which is probably better for me since I can control the amount of fat and sugar I add to it.

Dena's Granola

4 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
3 cups raw nuts (I use a combination of almonds, pecans, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds)
1/2 Tbsp wheat germ
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 Tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup honey (I use local flavored honey)
1/3 cup brown rice syrup (found in the natural health food section at the store)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups dried fruit (I like cranberries, apricots, raisins, and figs)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees with oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Spray two baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray. I line my baking sheets with parchment paper because it is easier to scoop the granola into a container after it bakes and has cooled down.

In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine applesauce, oil, honey, brown rice syrup, and brown sugar. Stir well to dissolve brown sugar. Combine liquids with dry ingredients and stir well making sure the dry ingredients are well coated.

Divide the granola evenly onto the two baking sheets and bake for about 35 - 40 minutes, depending on how crunchy you like your granola. I like mine a light golden brown because I find it is too crunchy after it cools. I stir mine about every 10 minutes to ensure it browns evenly.

Remove the granola from the oven and place onto cooling racks. Using my hands, I stir the granola periodically as it cools to keep it from sticking. Once it is cooled, place into an air tight container (I use ziploc bags) and store in the refrigerator. Mine doesn't last very long, but it will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of months.

A note about brown rice syrup... This has a mild sweetness and is an excellent substitute for sugar because it it doesn't cause your blood sugar level to spike and it is allergen free.

We use ours in yogurt, as a topping on ice cream, and as a breakfast cereal. Hope you like my version of Granola.

Birthday Swap - Twist Block

2011-10-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share another one of the blocks I made for the Birthday Swap I participated in last year.

This block was made from my friend Diane who chose the Twist Block featured on the Delaware Quilts site. This is a great site which features several free BOM patterns. The Twist Block was an easy block to assemble and I like the color palette of red, white, and blue which Diane selected for her block. I finished this block about a year ago and I'm disappointed I have not yet delivered it to my friend. Although I could mail it to her, I would rather deliver it in person since I haven't seen her for so long.

So what have you been working on?

Finding Time For Me

2011-10-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

I suppose we all have an activity or hobby we would like to spend more time with. Reading, family time, or sewing and quilting are but a few which come to mind. In my quest to rearrange my schedule to find a few minutes to use for my time for me, I find myself feeling like I do during the holidays when I'm setting New Year's resolutions. Hopefully, I'll be more successful in this venture...

In my last post I mentioned I am looking to find ways of finding time for me and below are some of the ways I have come with: (10 Ways to Find Time to Sew, Sew News Summer 2004)

Get Up Early - I suppose I could set my alarm earlier. Currently, I'm up at 4:00am but I could just as easily get up at 3:00am. Right?
Take It With You - Great idea for small projects. I'm sure I can find a couple of small projects to start.
Cook Less Often - This is a great way to come up with extra time. I often spend a weekend make large batches of soups, stews, spaghetti sauce, and chili to freeze for later.
Get Help Around The House - Where are the kids when I need them? Probably trying to find time to clean their own homes.
Lower Your Standards - In this step, the author states not every meal needs to homemade and not every bed needs to be made every day. This one would be hard for me.
Schedule Sewing Time - I use my Outlook Calendar for most everything so why not use it to schedule an appointment for me? Problem is I'm not on the computer enough at home for those pop up reminders to remind me it's me time. hmmmm...
Keep Track of Your Progress - Maintaining a record of your completed projects is a great motivator to finish projects. It is really an eye opener to see to see the amount of progress you can make by just setting aside 30 minutes each day... Or even two or three times a week.
Identify Time Stealers - Along with cooking and housekeeping, the author mentions television and Internet surfing as the biggest time stealers in our lives. Facebook anyone? LOL
Designate A Space Just For Sewing - Of course, you still have to keep this area organized and clean so there are no deterrents keeping you from utilizing the space.
Keep It In Perspective - One of the most important things we can do for ourselves is to make time for the things we enjoy. The things we enjoy should not become another chore on our to-do list.

With these tips in mind, my end-of-the-year resolution is to make time for me. To do the things I enjoy doing while sharing them with those close to me.

Hello.... Its Me

2011-10-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

Has it really been nine months since my last post? I know I've been busy, but hadn't realized how busy until a couple weeks ago when I looked at my blog and saw how long it had been since posting. Why does it seem as though time passes at lightning speed as we grow older?

I haven't had a lot of sewing time, which really is disappointing and frustrating for me. I've always enjoyed my time in my sewing / quilting studio. Not only is my sewing / quilting time a means of expressing my creativity, but it is a stress release as well which is a great way to end a stressful day. The combination of singing and dancing to my favorite music while brainstorming creative quilting designs is so uplifting... OK, I have to admit that I've gotten a few chuckles from some of my friends and family who have caught me dancing and singing. Some have even threatened me with photos showing me in my vulnerable moments. I guess I should remember to lock the doors and close the blinds before I start to rock out. LOL

In an effort to rearrange my tight schedule I've been trying to find a way of squeezing regularly scheduled sewing, quilting, dancing, and singing for me time. Care to join me as work on rediscovering my passion?

Birthday Swap Block - Joseph's Delight

2010-12-13T13:48:00.000-08:00

Here is another block I've completed for the Birthday Swap I'm participating in.

This one is for my friend Deana and the block is called Joseph's Delight. It's a 12-inch block and she had requested it be made in burgundy or teal shades with a WOW background. I like the block and think it would be perfect in a scrappy quilt or perhaps batiks.

Well, the year is almost over and I'm finishing my final catch-up block. Afterwards I'll assemble the final block for this swap. Hard to believe the year has passed us by already. I'll be posting information on my next block in the next day or two. In the meantime, what are you working on? Anything special planned for the new year?

Another Birthday Swap Block

2010-12-09T13:20:00.000-08:00

In my last post I mentioned I had been working on a couple of my blocks for the Birthday Swap I'm a participant on and I thought I'd share one of them with you today.

I'm a little behind on my blocks but I'm still creeping along in an effort to catch-up. I think everyone joins swaps with the best of intentions and don't anticipate the hiccups life throws in our directions...

My friend Billie wanted a block of trees in any size divisible by 3. I chose a paper-pieced pattern by Carol Doak from her book titled Three Hundred Paper-Pieced Quilt Blocks. I love Carol Doak's pattern because most of her books come with a CD of the patterns that you can dictate the size and print out on the appropriate medium. She also includes the cutting dimensions of each piece which you can use if you're using the original sized pattern. Even though I'm a little late with these blocks, I'm hoping Billie with enjoy receiving them and using them in one of her projects.

If you're a little timid in using a paper-piece pattern, you can use my tutorial to guide you through the process. I know how frustrating it can be to learn a new technique and I was beyond frustration when I tried to teach myself how to paper-piece until my friend Diane sat down with me and taught me the basics. I'm forever thankful for her patience and teaching abilities because I now have the ability to enjoy incorporating this method into my quilting projects.

I'll be highlighting more of my Birthday Swap blocks soon. In the meantime, why don't you tell me what you're working on.

Peeking Out From Under Scraps

2010-12-06T13:21:00.000-08:00

Gosh, I hadn't realized it had been this long since my last post. I've been so busy... Time sure does fly!

I was a little busy preparing for the Thanksgiving Holiday as the kids and grand kids were going to invade our quiet home. It is quite a job child-proofing a home. Then we had a miniature snowstorm the week of Thanksgiving putting everyone in high-gear before the day even arrived. I tried doing my shopping for our Thanksgiving meal and it was so crowded in the store I couldn't fit my grocery cart down the isles. Instead I had my husband stay with the cart at the end of each isle while I squeezed my way to find the items I needed. As we were shopping there was a small child expressing their unhappiness. Very loudly, I might add. I felt for the parents because I know how miserable children are when it's nap time. We survived the battle of the grocery stores. All the children and grandchildren arrived safely and we spent a few days playing games, making tons of food, and sharing laughter. I hope your holiday was as enjoyable as mine was.

Well, Thanksgiving isn't the only thing keeping me busy... I've spent countless hours in my sewing studio. I have some pictures to share and I'll start with this one today.

My grandson Elijah celebrated his 4th birthday on Thanksgiving. That is Elijah with his mom and friends at his party. We had his party a week before his birthday because he was celebrating his birthday in Disneyland this year. I made him a quilt for his birthday:

Here is the quilt prior to adding the borders.

Here is the finished quilt. He hasn't received it yet because I wasn't able to finish it before he left for Disneyland (All those darn power outages cut into my quilting time.), but he knows I have something special waiting for him.

The quilt design is called Warm Wishes and is available as a free pattern from Quiltmaker Magazine. It is such a simple pattern that goes together quickly. Perfect for someone wanting to make their first quilt or needing a quick gift. I finished it with freemotion quilting using a meandering design. I'm just not confident in my machine quilting skills to try anything more complex yet. In fact, the entire time I was quilting I kept hearing Obi-Wan Kanobi's voice in my head saying, "Don't cross the stream Luke! Let the Force be with you."

Have I lost it, or what? LOL

What is everyone else up to?

A Different Kind of Art

2010-10-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go? It seems like just a couple of weeks ago we were celebrating the late arrival of our summer and as I sit writing today's post, I am listening to the wind howling while watching the stampede of leaves floating to the ground. What a colorful carpet they make! I love all the vibrant colors of fall and Washington State is the perfect place to enjoy the beauty.

I live outside a small town called Sedro-Woolley located near the foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range. Years ago there were two towns named Sedro and Woolley separated by the Skagit River and the people of these towns decided to merge, becoming one. Most of the families have lived here for generations, supporting themselves by the logging, fishing, or farming industries. Of course, today, we have fewer farms and an endless book of restrictions causing many families to move to other industries for survival, including a couple of oil refineries located in nearby Anacortes and Ferndale, but logging is in the heart of the community.

Every year the town hosts a celebration called Founders Days where there are several events for everyone's enjoyment. One of these events is the re-enactment of the infamous 1914 bank robbery. Locals act out the robbery in the middle of town to newcomers amazement.

Another local event is the annual Loggerodeo held every summer. The event stretches from one end of town to the other for a total of five or six blocks. There is the usual traveling carnival and vendor food you would expect to find, but something you may not expect, and one of my favorites, is the competition of chainsaw carvings.

In one of the parking lots there is a supply of logs that by the end of the weekend will be transformed into beautiful pieces of art. Many of the previous year's entries line the main street of town and I thought I'd share them with you.

It always amazes me at the amount of detail these artists are able to accomplish with the use of a chainsaw. I love the eagle displayed on the bench. Each year there is an eagle festival held in a neighboring town called Concrete. Perhaps next year I will travel up there so I can get some pictures of all the eagles as they feast on the fish in the river.

Just to make this somewhat quilty, I'm posting a picture of my cutting table as it looks today:

And here is one from the other angle:

Yes. I know. It is a little difficult to get any sewing/quilting done when there isn't any room... Not to mention my Pfaff machine is still packed up from my last sew-in.

So what have you been doing?

What I Did This Summer...

2010-09-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

Hello? Hello? Is anyone out there? Testing... One, two, three. I know I have been absent as though I was on summer vacation like a regular school girl. I wish I could say I was busy having fun playing with friends, riding my bike, swimming in the lake at family picnics and enjoying all that the summer sun has to offer. But, alas, I can't. Life has kept me busy and I let myself get into a... Well, I'm not sure what to call it. A good friend of mine likes to use the term funk. So, in taking a cue from my friend Diane, I guess I've allowed myself to slip into a 'funk'. How do you pull yourself back up? How do you force yourself back into the streamline of life among everyone else?

I've scarcely touched my emails and haven't been in my sewing studio in about three months. I walk past it and glance at the chaos I've allowed to nest. Unfinished projects tossed around in piles. Discarded like an old worn out book whose pages are too faded to read. One of my sewing machines is still in its case from the last sew-in I attended a few months back. Untouched along with the projects I took to work on. My family and friends would be shocked to see the discord. The disorganization I've allowed to take hold of my sanctuary. My sacred place of comfort.

I recently heard a discussion regarding Professor Randy Pausch and his last lecture. I haven't heard his lecture, but in it he states that in the game of life you must decide whether you are Tigger or Eyeore. And only after you identify who you are can you learn how events in your life affects you and how you affect your life. I'm paraphrasing based on what I heard. But it really made me think about the state I've been in for the last few months and how I'm the one who has the power to make changes.

I want to thank everyone who has sent emails and left messages expressing concern. I really have made some wonderful friends and am thankful for each one. I won't get into the pieces of my life that have caused me to retreat into solitude. I will, however, say that I'm working on changes and hope to be regularly posting to my blog again soon as I make my way back into my sewing studio and life again.

Another Finished Quilt Top...

2010-05-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I've completed two quilt tops in two weeks. See what happens when I'm given a challenge? I guess all I needed was a good swift kick! LOL

I started with three prints. One yard of the molted orange/red, one yard of the floral, and one-half yard of the yellow. I then cut them into 5" squares, 48 squares for the orange/red and floral prints, and twelve of the yellow print.

I then stitched them into twelve nine patches. Following the same technique as in my earlier Disappearing Nine-Patch, I cut my nine-patches into four equal pieces, squared them into 7" squares and put them onto my design wall...

Using the same design layout I laid my blocks into the design; six blocks across and eight blocks down. Above is what it looked like after assembling.

I added two borders. The yellow border was cut 2" for a 1.5" finished border and the orange/red border was cut 6" for a 5.5" finished border.

Here is my finished quilt top. It is hard to believe this is the same pattern as my scrappy D9P quilt from last week. I'm calling this Citrus Splash because it makes me think of oranges, tangerines, and lemons.

Now, how should I quilt these two tops?

Disappearing Nine-Patch Tutorial

2010-05-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

I've been busy sewing the last couple of days using a new-to-me technique. I've always been fascinated with the Disappearing Nine-Patch (D9P) pattern because of its versatility and ease in making a quilt that looks as though you spent a lot of time on it. Although there are several good tutorials for this pattern, I developed this tutorial so that even a beginner could master this fun technique.

I started with two charm packs.

I separated the packs into colors because although my design will be scrappy, I wanted to use the red for my center block.

Next I laid out my nine-patches on my sewing table so that I could quickly assemble them.

By following my planned layout, I placed the top middle square onto the upper corner.

Carefully lining up the edges.

Before sewing the 1/4" seam.

I followed the same process for the middle row.

And the third row.

I chose to press the seams as follows: For the top and bottom rows, I chose to press the seam towards the outer corners, For the middle row, I chose to press the seam towards the middle square. To achieve this, place the block you want the seam to be pressed towards on top before pressing.

The first step in pressing your seam is to set your stitches by pressing the closed seam.

After setting your stitches, you open up your seam and finger press it before pressing with your iron. I have found by finger pressing the seam first, it ensures my seams are opened fully and I retain the correct seam allowance and block size.

When pressing the seams, it is critical to take care and press in an up and down motion. If you move the iron back and forth, you risk distorting your fabric and you will have problems achieving accurate blocks or matching seams.

This is what my nine-patch blocks looks like at this point.

Repeat this process for the third block for each row.

After pressing the seams, it is time to join the horizontal rows.

Take the top row and place it onto the middle row, lining up the edges.

By pressing the seams using the method I did, I will be able to easily match my seams and achieve perfectly matched corners.

Lay the seams on top of each other.

As you slide the seams against each other, you can feel when they but up against each other. I prefer not to pin my seams, unless they are in more complex piecing patterns. However, the seams can be pinned to ensure the seams don't move while you're stitching the seam.

Once the seam has been matched, I hold onto it until just before the seam is stitched. Sometimes I will use a stiletto or wooden skewer to hold the seam in place until it is stitched.

Press the seam to set the stitches. I chose to press the seams towards the top and bottom horizontal rows.

Open up the seam by finger pressing before pressing it with the iron.

Perfectly matched seams. Follow the same process with the third horizontal row

Here are my five nine-patch blocks.

The next step is to make a horizontal and vertical cuts down the center of my nine-patches. Because I started with 5" charm squares and I used 1/4" seams, I measured 2.25" from the seam to find my center of the middle vertical row.

Cut through the center.

Turn each half and follow the same process to find the center and cut.

Each section was squared to 7" before I played with them on my design wall.

I placed the squares on my design wall and played around with the layout. Once I chose the layout I wanted I reassembled the 7" blocks into larger blocks by joining four per block. I then squared up the larger blocks to 13.5" before joining them. The final row consisted of four 7" blocks which I joined into one row before adding it to the upper section.

I decided to add two borders to finish the quilt top. The red border was cut 1.5" in width for a finished 1" wide border. The outer border was cut 5" in width for a 4.5" finished width. To determine the length, I measured the center for both horizontal and vertical strips. By measuring the center I won't have to worry about sagging borders. Also, the border strips were cut on the grain to prevent stretching of the strips.

Challenge Blocks - December and January

2010-05-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

I've gotten behind on my Challenge blocks and have been trying to catch-up. During our sew-in a couple of weeks ago, I managed to complete two of them.

My friend Judy selected Country Farm for December's challenge block. What should have been a relatively simple block to assemble turned out to be very frustrating and I had to redo it. The above picture is my second attempt. As you can tell, all of the intersecting seams match and I have an accurate 1/4" seam for assembling the blocks together.

This is my first attempt. What a mess! The center four-patch didn't lay flat and was very puffy, some of the intersecting seams didn't quite match, and I was missing the 1/4" seam allowance for assembling to other blocks.

Initially, I had planned to assemble this block during January's sew-in and cut the pieces out a day or two prior to our scheduled sew-in. However, my MIL was hospitalized and I wasn't able to attend our sew-in causing the block to sit for a couple of months. My guess is in my rush to prepare everything for our sew-in, I accidentally cut some of the block pieces inaccurately because it went together quite quickly the second time around. Once I completed the redo of this block, I really like it and will probably use it again.

My friend Billie selected Quatrefoils for January's challenge block. This block went together very quilter since I had made it a couple of months ago for one of my friends in our Birthday Block Swap. While assembling this block, I really struggled on my fabric choices. I swapped the colors from the initial pattern, using light for dark and vice versa. When I was playing around with my layout choices I happened to change my color choices and almost switched the dark blue corner squares with the lighter lavender print. It would change the appearance of the block completely, but I really liked it. I'm probably going to do another one of this block with that layout to see how it would look assembled.

Two down and three more to go! What are you working on?

Houston, We Have a Problem...

2010-05-04T21:08:00.000-07:00

And it's been a roller coaster! We have had a couple of strong storms hit us in the last couple of days causing lots of fallen trees and power outages. Monday I lost power seven or eight times. It wasn't out long enough to cause any discomfort, just enough to reset our electronic clocks. I had no idea how many of those we have in our home! After resetting them the third time, I left them blinking until I went to bed.

To compound my frustration, I lost my Internet connection. We live in a rural area where DSL isn't available and Dial-up is extremely painful. So we access the Internet via satellite. What a problem this has been! I was finally able to get it working on our desktop but my laptop still can't connect to our router. Of course all of my files are on my laptop and it can be a hassle transferring the files to a flash drive and try to retrieve them via the desktop which uses VISTA for its operating system. I definitely do not like VISTA and have been boycotting it since its debut.

Now you know why I have been absent and hopefully I'll be back to regular posting tomorrow. I really do have some things to share. I promise...

Signature Block Swap

2010-04-28T15:47:00.000-07:00

I received my Signature Block Swap swap-out on Saturday:

I think all of the participants did a fabulous job on their blocks. Initially, we had ten people sign up for the swap but one person didn't complete her obligation so I only have nine blocks. I'll have to play around with the layout to see what I'm going to do with them.

What are you working on?

Join Me For Some Eye Candy?

2010-04-26T09:42:00.000-07:00

I spent all day Saturday visiting with a group of friends while sewing, laughing, eating, and laughing some more. There is nothing better than spending the day with friends.

Each month we have a potluck based on a theme of which I'm the coordinator of. This month I chose a theme based on the movie Steel Magnolias and the character's band of friendship. We had Po'k and Beans, Potato Salad, Biscuits and Gravy, Deviled Eggs, Iced Tea, Cookies, Ham and/or Roast Beef Sandwiches, and BBQ Smokies and Meatballs. Yummo!

Aside from the laughs and food that we all share, one of my favorite events at our sew-ins is show 'n tell. Who can walk away from eye candy?

This quilt was made by my friend Diane while participating in a mystery challenge and quilted by my friend Jo Ann's husband Larry. It is made from gorgeous Batiks and the feathers Larry quilted really showcase the quilt's design. Spectacular quilt!

This was created by my friend Joy. She does some of the best appliqued quilts I've seen. I know many quilters who have cats and I'm sure each of them can relate to the four cats depicted in this quilt. LOL

Here is another quilt created by Joy. If I remember correctly, she made it for a local library and the one above is a duplicate of what she gave to the library. I just love the alligator dancing on top of the books while playing the saxophone. If you look closely, you can see the ladybugs crawling along the vine around the alligator. Precious!

While we were at the sew-in, Joy was working on this clock. It is part of a Baltimore Album quilt she's working on. Isn't her work beautiful?

My friend Vicki makes a lot of humanitarian quilts and does beautiful work. She is also an expert at applique. This quilt pattern is called Yellow Brick Road and is very popular among quilters who donate their quilts. I love the bright fabrics Vicki used.

Here is another humanitarian quilt assembled by Vicki using the Yellow Brick Road pattern but with different fabrics. This would make a cute baby quilt, don't you think?

Vicki made this quilt in celebration of our annual Tulip Festival. She did a great job creating a scene of our tulips fields during the festival.

Here is another quilt created by Vicki. I love this wall hanging. A couple of us tried to convince her to donate this to us, but she wasn't falling for it.

One of our group challenges this year is a Round Robin challenge based on a Christmas Carol. The challenge was set for 6 months where each month we are given a set of instructions and we all carry out those instructions by working on our own quilts. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, I am behind on my challenge quilt and am only on challenge one...

This one is Daisy's Round Robin challenge. The first part of our challenge was to create a 22 1/2" block based on a Christmas Carol. Daisy chose Let It Snow, Let It Snow. The second challenge was to add a 2 1/2" border, followed by the third challenge of setting the block on point by adding corners. Our fourth challenge was to add a 4 1/2" pieced border (if I remember correctly), and the fifth challenge is to set the block on point again by adding corners. Our sixth challenge is to add a 6 1/2" border.

Here is a close-up of Daisy's initial block and pieced border. I think she has done a fantastic job.

This one is my friend's Jo's Round Robin Challenge. Hers is based on the Christmas Carol 'Twas The Night Before Christmas.

Jo did a lot of beautiful embellishments on her challenge quilt. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't really showcase it. Jo is another one who's applique skills are what I term as expert.

I had to take a close-up of her border to showcase her beautiful work. She chose a real creative way to continue her Christmas Carol theme into the outer borders by adding additional applique.

Not bad for a Saturday afternoon... What did you do?

I've Been Busy...

2010-04-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

My week has been busy trying finish up my signature blocks while preparing for a sew-in on Saturday. Initially I thought I'd finish the signature blocks on Tuesday but that didn't happen.

On Tuesday I discovered it isn't a good idea to plug in two irons at the same time and on the same circut. Even if one of the irons is a small one. So I blew a breaker and couldn't find which one needed to be reset. After flipping all of the breakers off and on for about an hour I finally gave up. I had lost all of the power in my sewing studio. It wasn't until an hour or so later that I remembered we have a second electrical box. It's hidden in a different area of the house and was installed during some construction on our house. My sewing studio is wired into this electrical box and I was able to find the flipped switch as soon as I opened the box. Well, now I have power but it's late in the afternoon and I no longer felt like sewing.

The last couple of blocks went together rather quickly...

Except for one hiccup. Because I was making a couple of variations of the block, I had multiple prints per piece and I guess I wasn't paying attention and was stitching two different prints for the heart section of the block.

Here are my three versions of the block. I'm not sure what my favorite one is, but I'm a little partial to the upper left corner one with the soft pink as the background. I really fell in love with the pink/red/floral print and had to go back to the quilt shop and purchase an additional 5 yards of it. I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for, but I have it for when I do.

Here are all my completed and signed blocks. I can't wait to see what everyone else has done. Our swap out is on Saturday during our sew-in so I should have a picture to show you next week.

With my signature blocks completed, I had to run to the quilt shop to pick out two green fat quarters for our drawing on Saturday....

As you can see, I have no self-control. I found the two green fat quarters, as well as five more fat quarters and four yards of a couple of other prints. Love them brights.

I've already been cutting and assembling... (these two prints are from my resources)

Into vibrant Jake's Heart blocks.

As my contribution in a comfort quilt for a friend who is having surgery. Oooh, I really love those brights!

So what's on your work table?

My Weekend Progress...

2010-04-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

I spent many hours in my sewing studio this weekend working on my Signature Swap blocks. For the most part, they went together rather quickly and without too much drama.

Last week I cut all my fabric pieces to size and sorted them according to the piece numbers and whether it was for the heart, background, or signature. If you've seen my tutorial on How To Paper Piece, you know I prefer to store my cut fabric in ziploc bags with the number of pattern piece and it's dimensions written onto the baggie. This way of organizing may not work for everyone, but it works extremely well for me. I'm one of those fanatics who hates to look for things... It breaks the rhythm!

Here is one version of my block, minus my signature. The Signature block pattern creates a 6" finished block and it is taking me about 20 minutes per block as long as I don't have any interruptions. So why am I taking so long to finish them you ask? Well, between the telephone calls, laundry, and husband, I'm lucky if I can get three pieces assembled before I'm interrupted. LOL

I'm hoping to have them completed this afternoon so I can move on to my next project on my To Do List...

So what are you working on?

What I'm Working On...

2010-04-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

I spent today preparing my fabric to begin working on my Signature Swap blocks. I have almost all of the pieces cut so I can start paper piecing. It should go quickly, but we'll see.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to share with you since I didn't do any sewing today. So, I'll leave you with this...

The true meaning of friendship. I hope you're getting lots of sewing / quilting done. I'd love to hear what you're working on.

Giveaway Winner...

2010-04-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

And the winner of my first giveaway is:

Susan, author of Hanging On By A Needle and A Thread blog.

Congratulations Susan! Send me your snail mail address (denajmartin@msn.com) so I can get your package in the mail.

Thank you to everyone who entered. I'll be having another giveaway soon.

Birthday Swap - Block 2

2010-04-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

I made the second block for my Birthday Swap group and have another one in the making for the month of April.

This one was made for my friend Judi. She requested a block of a flower in a size that is divisible by 3. I selected the above block that measures 3" x 6". It's a paper pieced block I found on Piece by Number site. I was not thrilled with the block and how the two sections joined together. I had to resew the joining seam a couple of times and this is the best I could get the stem and the flower to match. Of course, the most important thing is that Judi liked it and she did.

If you haven't already signed up for my giveaway, please do so. I will be selecting the winner Monday. To sign up, see last Monday's post.

What are you working on?

100th Post Giveaway!

2010-04-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

It'd hard to believe that this is my 100th post. When I first began my blog I wasn't confident I would have enough to say to attract any followers. However, through this blog I have met many other bloggers and blog followers who share many of the same interests and ideas as I. To celebrate this milestone I am hosting my first giveaway.

To enter this giveaway, become a follower and leave a comment. If you're already a follower, simply leave a comment and I'll add your name for the giveaway. The winner will be announced next Monday.

Good luck!

Acres and Acres of Tulips...

2010-03-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

Mean only one thing, it's Tulip Festival time here in Skagit Valley.

Every year, beginning on April 1 Skagit Valley hosts the Tulip Festival for the month. Normally, the tulips bloom by the second week of April. But this year, the tulips bloomed early.

Aren't they beautiful? There are literally acres and acres of color as far as the eye can see.

The picture above was taken during the Tulip Festival in a previous year, but the effect can be seen every year.

There are several events occuring during the festival, including a street fair in downtown Mount Vernon. Bus loads of tourists visit the participating farms solely for the purpose of taking pictures of the beautiful blooms.

So, if you're planning on visiting the area to see the tulips this year, you might want to play your visit early so as not to miss the blooms.

Signature Block Swap

2010-03-24T11:53:00.000-07:00

I'm participating in a Signature Block Swap and although I had lots of resources to choose from I decided to purchase new fabric.

Above are the fabrics I selected. I only need two prints plus the white muslin for each block but I decided to make two variations of my blocks and purchased four prints.

The block we're using is called Friendship Heart and it's a paper pieced pattern. It seems simple enough and I should be able to complete them in a relatively short period of time.

So I've added another item to my long list of To Do items. LOL

What's on your To Do List?

Puyallup Sewing Expo

2010-03-22T21:19:00.000-07:00

Every year we are blessed with the Puyallup Sewing Expo held the last weekend of February at the Puyallup Fair Grounds. This annual event is sponsored by Washington State University and is said to be one of the largest sewing expos in the country with over 400 vendors while people attend from all over the United States and other countries. Four days of attending seminars and/or hands-on classes. What can be better than that?

Below are some of my sewing expo highlights:

There were Batiks

And more gorgeous Batiks... If my last name was Gates, I would have bought several of these prints.

Tons of beautiful yarns and other embellishment materials.

Here is a collection of I Spy quilts. I forgot who had these but I think it was either Marti Michell or Kaye Wood.

I was intrigued with this wall hanging at A Quilting Roadshow's booth because it had lights that blinked on and off. Unfortunately, my picture doesn't do it justice. If you're interested, you can contact them by clicking here: A Quilting Roadshow

Isn't this baby quilt spectacular? Shelly Smola, owner of My Fair Lady Designs does beautiful work and some some lovely patterns for children available on her site.

There were several well known guests, including:

Mary Mulari who hosted several classes.

Linda MacPhee who hosted a couple of classes and a fashion show.

Marti Michell who hosted classes and had a very nice booth.

And Eleanor Burns.

On the third day, I demonstrated Brother's Quattro 6000D... I wish I was rich because I'd buy this in a second. But, reality as it is, I am not and I can't justify spending a few thousand dollars to replace a machine that still stitches as nicely as it did when I purchased it. If you're looking for a sewing/embroidery machine, this one is a gem.

I purchased this fabric to make a new ironing board cover. I had a difficult time locating something without a distracting pattern, but I kind of like this one and I purchased enough to make some accessories for my sewing studio too. Spoiler... I'll be posting a tutorial on the ironing board cover sometime soon.

I found a tutorial for a pincushion on Ivory Blush Roses blog and fell in love with it. While I was browsing one of the booths I found these decorative ribbons, beads, and silk fabrics to use just for this project. I can't wait to try it.

I found this at Lorraine Torrence Designs booth and thought I'd give it a shot. I've never used a kit before so I'm hoping I can successfully assemble this wall hanging without running out of fabric. LOL

One day as I was leaving, I noticed a tent set-up outside of the fairgrounds. I decided to take a look after I saw it was filled with fabric and I came upon these prints. The store doesn't have a website listed on their business card, but their name is Trains, Fabrics, etc. and they are located in Tacoma, WA. This was a particularly nice find since I only paid $10 for the six 1/2 yard cuts.

I love Oriental prints. I purchased these from Shibori Dragon's booth. They have a nice shop in Tacoma, WA specializing in Oriental and Batik fabrics.

I don't remember where I found these charm packets but I thought they'd make a nice Disappearing 9-Patch project.

I'm always looking for flannel prints to use whenever I have a baby shower gift to make and these are perfect to add to my resources.

And finally, I found these at one of the booths and thought these were perfect to share with all my quilty friends.

I hope you've enjoyed reading my highlights of the sewing expo. Next I need to get back into my sewing studio so I can get back to posting more regularly while catching up on my blog reading. I'd love to hear what you've been working on lately.

The DIY Dish - Sewing Machine Give-A-Way

2010-02-12T13:41:00.000-08:00

The DIY Dish is a new series of free online videos and to celebrate, they're having a give-a-way. Watch the video to learn more.

Good luck!

Birthday Block Swap - #1

2010-02-11T14:36:00.000-08:00

A couple of postings ago I wrote about the a Birthday Block Swap that I'm participating in. This swap is where a each participant selects a block of their choice, including fabrics and colors, and on her birthday all of the other participants send her a completed block. We've had our first birthday of the year...

Gayle chose a block called Quatrefoils in shades of soft green, yellow, pink, flowers, and butterflies on a cream background. I'm not a collector of pastels or soft colors, as I'm sure most of you know, so it was difficult to find fabrics I could use in my resources. The above floral print was one I received during a luncheon I attended a couple of weeks ago and it has metallic accents which I fell in love with. It also has small butterflies in it. Although the green isn't technically a soft green, I think it goes well with the floral print.

I hope my friend Gayle liked the block... I can't wait until it's my turn to receive blocks.

An Afternoon With Friends

2010-02-09T15:46:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago one of the quilting groups I participate in celebrated its third birthday with a couple of fun events. The first event was a weekend long cyber retreat filled with tons of activities.

My friend Dawn coordinated the cyber retreat as well as acted as host of the event. She had several games, including a fast track round of BINGO, a mystery quilt project, a Jake's Heart block challenge, miscellaneous quilting projects, a random acts of quiltiness challenge, a lotto block challenge, several fat quarter drawings, word games, jokes, recipe sharing, and lots of laughter. The retreat began Friday afternoon and ended Sunday afternoon.

I wasn't able to participate in the cyber retreat because I was at the hospital with my friend, but someone on the list RAQ'd me into the fat quarter drawing and I won. Here are some of the fat quarters that I won. Aren't they great? I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

The lotto block is called Swamp Angel and towards the end of the cyber retreat, Dawn's husband drew the name of the winner and it was Dawn! Even though I didn't participate in the retreat, I made a block for her as appreciation for all her hard work organizing this event. Its a nice block and it went together rather quickly. I'll be mailing it in the next day or so. I sure hope she likes the fabrics I selected.

The second event was a luncheon at the Olive Garden in Tacoma, which is a mid-point for our members. There were about 18 members who were able to attend, which is about half of our membership. We had a great time visiting with each other.

Proof that my friends know me well... My friend Sue was handing out small blocks with little sayings and pictures to everyone and this was mine.

My friend Diane had a basket filled with fat quarters and each participant was to take a fat quarter. Because there was extra, I got an extra one. Afterwards, we were instructed to open up our fat quarters and if there was a sticker inside, we won a prize.

This is what I won. I actually won two sets of two kitchen towels, but I gave one of them to someone. These are so cute!

Someone else had a basket filled with fat quarters circulating too, but I don't remember who it was. Each attendee received a fat quarter and a key fob.

Isn't he adorable?

We had so much fun. A couple of people brought things for show 'n tell and we ended the luncheon with a drawing for fat quarters. My friend Diane's son Caleb drew the name of my friend Molly who won about 20 fat quarters.

What have you been up to lately?

Please Be Patient...

2010-02-04T13:20:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't been posting as regularly as I normally do, but my life has been in turmoil and I haven't had the time to write daily posts or to create in my sewing studio. Please be patient, I promise I'll get back into my regular routine shortly.

Just to give you a little information, my MIL was in the hospital and with not knowing what was wrong and all of the out of town guests, my focus was with her. Thankfully, she is back home and on her way to recovery.

The day before she was released from the hospital, our dear friend passed away. Although he will be greatly missed, his passing will allow his family and close friends some closure and once the memorial is over, the healing process can begin.

I'll be gradually getting back into a routine and will post about my sewing / quilting projects soon. I'd love to hear about what you're busy creating.

Today's Confession

2010-01-21T11:31:00.000-08:00

I began sewing over 38 years ago when I was barely a teenager. Within a year or so I was sewing most of my clothes, plus items for sale at a local consignment store using the same patterns over and over again, but detailing them so no one knew. I can insert a zipper, stitch a buttonhole, stitch an entire outfit, and assemble a queen sized quilt while matching points. BUT, I must confess, I do not mend!

There, I said it. I make no apologies. I'm simply stating a fact. It's not like it is a guarded secret. Everyone in my family knows it, so why shouldn't you? In fact, it was a standing joke in our house as the children were growing up. How, you might be asking yourself?

When the kids were younger and their clothing needed a button sewn back on, or a seam reinforced, I would tell them to put it on top of my sewing table, next to my sewing machine. Just between you and me, there would already be a stack of clothes needing mending there. But don't tell anybody... OK, now for the punchline. The item would sit there until they grew out of it when it would then be placed in the Goodwill box.

I don't know why it's so hard for me to mend clothes but for some reason, I would much rather sew them a new outfit than to fix an old one. And I was always sewing new outfits for them.

Apparently, their father had also succumbed to my affliction... He had a work shirt he needed me to sew the hem in. He hadn't put it on my sewing table because he was still wearing it. One day I was doing laundry and I picked up this work shirt and noticed it was quite heavy. I checked his pockets to see if he had forgotten something in them before I noticed he had duct taped his hem! Problem solved. I thanked him for his assistance. I suppose this could turn into one of those Redneck jokes... You know you're a Redneck when...

I rationize my behavior, quite simply, by stating I'm a Seam Master and not a repairwoman. I create my own creations, not repair someone else's work. I create my creations to last throughout its life so it will be enjoyed by the recipient. I create with a piece of my heart in each and every project, knowing it will bring a warm smile to the heart of whoever uses it.

I'm not saying I've never mended anything, because I have. I just get more enjoyment when I personalize my creations for whoever I'm sewing/quilting it for. And I'm confident my children were happier to receive their new outfit than the old one needing mending.

Now you know my secret behind my signature line. Tell me, what's on your sewing table?

My Letter Carrier Loves Me...

2010-01-19T12:01:00.000-08:00

And just look at all the goodies he delivered to me on Saturday:

I received this Laurel Burch fat quarter from my friend Judi as an RAQ (Random Acts of Quiltiness). I love the bright colors and metallic details.

I received this RAQ fat quarter from an anonymous donor and I know it will be perfect in any project I use it in.

I received these yummy Batik RAQ fat quarters from my friend Billie. I love Batiks and these will be a great addition to my ever growing collection.

Have you RAQ'd someone lately? I know I will be.

Hi! My Name is Dena and I'm a Quilting Addict

2010-01-14T10:31:00.000-08:00

Addicted to Quilting

She Learned to Quilt on MONDAY.

Her stitches all were fine

She forgot to make us dinner

So we all went out to dine

She quilted miniatures on TUESDAY

she says they are a must

They really were quite lovely

But She forgot to dust

On WEDNESDAY it was a sampler.

She says stippling's fun

What Highlights What Shadows!

But The LAUNDRY was'nt done

Nine Patches were on THURSDAY

Green,Yellow,Blue and red.

I guess she really was engrossed

She never made the Bed.

It was wall hangings on FRIDAY.

In colors she adores

It never bothered her at all

That crumbs were on the floor.

I found a maid on SATURDAY
My week is now complete

My wife can quilt the hours away

The house will still be neat.

Well, now its only SUNDAY

I think I,m about to wilt

I cursed,I raved,I ranted

Cause the Maid has learned to QUILT !

~ Author Unknown

Oh no! It's an epidemic... BEWARE

2010-01-12T21:16:00.000-08:00

Quilt Pox

VERY CONTAGIOUS TO ADULTS
SYMPTOMS

Continual complaint as to need for snuggling under a handmade quilt. Patient has blank expression, sometimes deaf to spouse and kids. Has no taste for bedspreads or electric blankets. Hangs out at Quilting Bees. Mumbles to self "Log Cabin", "Double Wedding Ring", "Ohio Rose".

NO KNOWN CURE!

TREATMENT

Medication is useless, Disease is Not Fatal. Victim should attend as many Quilt shows and Quilt shops as possible.

CAUSE

A recent study has indicated that fabric gives off certain Pheromones, that actually hypnotizes women, and causes them to purchase ungodly amounts. Sound tests have also revealed that these fabrics emit a very high-pitched sound, heard only by a select few of the breed of women known as "quilters".

When stored in large quantities in enclosed spaces, the Pheromones cause memory loss and induce the nesting syndrome (similar to the one squirrels have before the onset of winter, therefore, perpetuating their species, and not having a population loss due to their kind being cut up into little pieces and mixed with others. When played backwards on a LP, the sounds are heard as chants "buy me, cut me, sew me"!

In order to overcome the so called 'feeding frenzy effect' that these fabrics cause, one must wear a face mask when entering a storage facility and use ear plugs to avoid being pulled in to their grip. (One must laugh, however, at the sight of women in a fabric store, with WWII Army gas masks and headphones!)

Studies also indicate that aliens have inhabited the earth, helping to spread the effect that these fabrics have on the human woman population. They are called FABRIC STORE / QUILT SHOP CLERKS.

I think I've been infected...

Only A Quilter...

2010-01-11T11:53:00.000-08:00

One of the group's I participate on held an Online Retreat in celebration of the group's third birthday. Although I didn't participate because of other obligations, I did read several of the messages posted by participants. Below is from one of the posts.

Only A Quilter…

Only a Quilter says, "I really don't need another project," then offers to make a quilt for a friend.

Only a Quilter's family would put up with, understand and love a quilter.

Only a Quilter invites everyone to see her sewing room, then says, "Don't look at the mess."

Only a Quilter has a welcome mat at the door to her home and an "Enter at Your Own Risk" sign on the door of her sewing room.

Only a Quilter would rush to finish a gift quilt. Not so it's done in time for the recipient's birthday, but so it's done in time for Show and Tell.

Only a Quilter would let three later-arriving patients go ahead of her at the doctor's office because she is on the verge of completing a block.

Only a Quilter would spend more hours sewing several hundreds of buttons on a quilt to embellish it, but wouldn't take five minutes to replace a button on a pair of pants.

Only a Quilter would spend hours shopping for the "Just Right" fabric and find out later that she had it in her stash.

Only a Quilter would spend an hour ironing wrinkles out of fabric but have a basket full of wrinkled clothes.

My friend Daisy submitted the original post and my other friend Karen added the last two. Although the statements are quite funny on their own, they are so very true!

How many of these statements can you relate to?

Baby Gift Finished!

2010-01-08T08:01:00.000-08:00

I managed to finish another baby gift yesterday morning but I had to leave to drive down to Seattle before I could post about it and I didn't get home until late last night. But I do have pictures to show you.

One of my daughters has a friend who is expecting her first baby any time now and I made her a receiving blanket and burp cloth set.

The baby's father is an avid hunter and we wanted to make the gift a little extra special for him. So we happened across these two camouflage like prints and thought they were perfect.

Then I located this design in a set I had purchased from OESD and I thought the camouflage diaper and helmet was perfect for the burp cloth. I then decided to make some bias binding using some flannel with a camouflage print.

Perhaps not exactly a baby theme, but I think it's adorable. Don't you?

Yesterday as I walked into my sewing studio to begin sewing, I noticed the trees outside had a reddish tint to them and as I walked outside I could see the sky was tinted in beautiful sherbet colors so I just had to run and get my camera to share my spectacular sunrise.

As you can see my home is surrounded by trees. Aren't the colors just amazing? What a beautiful way to start a day. I hope yours is just as magnificent.

The Mind of an 8-Year Old

2010-01-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

I spent about 4 hours in my sewing studio today working on a gift for one of my daughter's friends and since it isn't finished yet, I don't have any pictures to share. Instead, I thought I'd share a little tale with everyone.

I went to live with my maternal grandmother when I was eight years old after my mother died. My uncle, who was about seventeen years old and a senior in high school, also lived with us. We lived in a large colonial home in Tacoma, Washington on the top of a hill overlooking the Commencement Bay. In fact, I had a picturesque view of the water. Truly a Kodak moment.

My uncle would use a double-edged razor to shave with and I must have watched him shave a hundred times or more. I don't recall any particular thoughts racing through my mind as I watched but then again, do we ever really know what goes on inside an eight year old's mind?

One day, for whatever reason, I decided to shave. Of course, I didn't have any facial hair like my uncle, so I did the next best thing... I shaved my arms! Not my underarms, but my forearms. Imagine, if you can, an eight year old shaving using a double-edged razor without using any shaving cream. After I managed to shave both of my forearms I happened to spot a can of Right Guard (do they even make Right Guard anymore?) and decided to spray it on both forearms. OMG! Don't ever spray something with alcohol in it on your freshly, shaved with a double-edged razor and without shaving cream forearm. I was on fire!

They say you learn from your mistakes. I've learned its OK to laugh at yourself and share those laughs with others.

So, what tales do you have to share?

Today is Mail Day

2010-01-05T18:48:00.000-08:00

No, I didn't get anything in the mail. But I've been busy preparing a couple of packages to mail.

I spent yesterday sewing these Jake's Heart blocks for a friend of mine who is assembling a comfort quilt for her sister who is starting chemo therapy. She wanted them to be scrappy, but I'm not a big scrappy person so instead, I decided to make four blocks with each in different prints.

The next package is some fabric being sent to a friend who won a round of BINGO. Usually we send the winner a fat quarter, but because I'm delayed in sending it I am sending her a 1/2 yard. She loves cats and bright colors so I think this will go nicely with her resources.

Lastly, I am mailing another piece of fabric to another BINGO winner. She requested a Christmas print and since I'm late, I decided to send her a 1/2 yard cut too. I just love this fabric and wish I had purchased more for my own resources.

So, what did you do today?

Birthday Block Swap

2010-01-04T07:42:00.000-08:00

One of the quilting group's I participate in have an annual Birthday Block Swap in which members can participate in. Its really a fun swap where each participant selects a block and personalizes it with her choice of fabrics and/or colors. Then when their birthday comes around, each participant send her a block they made just for her. Who doesn't enjoy receiving squishies in the mail?

My selection for this year is called Queen Charlotte's Crown and I've chosen Batiks in shades of purple, yellow/orange, and fuschia.

One of the swap's requirements is each participant has to make a sample of the block. The purpose of this is to ensure the block's instructions are accurate and it also allows the recipient to show the other participants what they want. Above is my sample. I just love how well the colors go together.

I drew the block in Electic Quilt so I could play around with the colors and quilt layouts. Above is what my end quilt will look like after I've assembled all of my blocks.

What do you think?

I'm Back!

2009-12-30T12:09:00.000-08:00

Well, sort of... Thank you to those of you who have written to me in the last month inquiring how I’m doing. I appreciate your concern and value your friendship.

Just before Thanksgiving I came down with bronchitis induced by an allergy. Bummer! And not the best time to be sick either. I was sick for about 3 weeks and hadn’t been in my sewing studio during that time… Resulting in missing my Round Robin Challenge deadline of December 5th. As if this wasn’t enough to deal with, a very close friend of ours had a heart attack on December 8th and has not regained consciousness. We’ve been traveling about 150 miles, roundtrip, several times a week to provide support for his wife. He’s been moved to a long-term acute care hospital and we still don’t know what his prognosis is, but we’re praying and hoping he will recover.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas spent with family and friends. I will be continuing my posts after the first of January.

I wish all of you a belated Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with the love of family and friends, enough happiness to fill each day with a warmth and glow in your heart, and many hours of enjoyment sharing your quilting, sewing, needlework, or whatever you enjoy doing to express your creativity.

BTW, if you're interested, Alex Anderson is offering twelve free redwork designs until January 5th. Each design features a different flower. Go to her site and download your twelve designs before they are removed. See you next year!

November's Challenge Block

2009-11-16T20:46:00.000-08:00

This month's challenge block was selected by my friend Daisy. I was able to assemble it last week after I discovered I didn't have any solid-like red fabric for my Round Robin Challenge.

The block is called Puss In The Corner 2 and it went together very quickly. I modified the block by reversing the light and dark print and although I had planned to use my white-on-white fabric for the corners, I wasn't paying attention as I was sewing and skipped over the substitution. The center square would make a great home for an applique or embroidery design.

Here are my monthly challenge blocks to date. I can't wait to see what December's challenge block is.

Ever Have One of Those Days...

2009-11-12T15:34:00.000-08:00

When you’ve built up the momentum while you’re working on a project only to discover you don’t have everything you need? And this one thing you don’t have prevents you from progressing? Total frustration!

I was working on my Round Robin Challenge. I’ve completed my drawing. I’ve traced all my appliqué and cut the shapes out. I even started to pull out my fabric selection! STOP! How can it be? I know I have some somewhere! I don’t have any RED! Not one little piece of a solid like red…

So here I sit, On Hold. Waiting… I’ll have to go into town on Friday to pick up some red fabric.

This little break has provided an opportunity for me to work on a few other things. I’ve taken pictures but I’m not going to show all of them to you today because I need something to show you while I’m working on my Round Robin Challenge… After I buy some red fabric, of course.

Last Saturday I was in Anacortes for our November sew-in. Although I had several things I planned to work on, I only accomplished one.

Some of the members of an online group I participate in were at a weekend retreat and one of our members challenged the remaining members to make as many Jake’s Heart blocks as possible. I thought I did quite well by assembling four blocks, until it was announced on Monday another member completed fifteen. Boy was I lazy!

Above is a picture of my four. I used 30’s reproduction fabrics because these will be used in a comfort quilt for one of our members who likes 30’s prints. I think the fabrics go quite well together.

I’ll have another picture to share with you next time. Hope everyone is sewing up a storm.

Absence...

2009-11-10T13:18:00.000-08:00

I haven't been very good about keeping up with my blog posts the last couple of weeks and I apologize for that. I haven't forgotten you... I've been working on my Round Robin Challenge and since I can't post pictures, I haven't posted much about it. Hopefully I'll have more to share with you later in the week. Hope the you're busy sewing!

Working in Secret

2009-11-05T07:05:00.000-08:00

I’ve been busy in my sewing studio, spending a couple of hours a day on a project I can’t share. Oh, I can tell you a bit about it, but I can’t show any pictures. Bummer…

One of the quilting groups I meet with each month has started an annual Round Robin Challenge project. Traditionally, Round Robin challenges require member’s projects to make its rounds among a group of participants and each participant adds an additional ‘round’ or part of each member’s quilt based on the challenge instructions before it finally arrives back to the originator. For our challenge, the quilts are not passed around. Instead, each participant completes each round on their own quilt. Sounds like fun, huh?

My friend Susannah is leading our challenge and we received our first set of instructions at our October sew-in. Our challenge is to complete a 22 ½” block using a Christmas carol as the theme. Since most Christmas carols are full of visual imagery, it was quite the challenge to pick just one.

If you close your eyes as you’re naming Christmas carols, an image appears for each one. For instance, the carol Winter Wonderland might conjure up visions of trees covered in freshly fallen snow, a bluebird flying away, some bells, a snowman, and maybe even a fire. All seen as people are walking along a path littered with footprints. Another example is the carol It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas. The lyrics talk about looking for all the signs Christmas is here; candy canes at the five and dime, toys in every store, holly hanging on your door, very visual. I could see a small town, maybe something out of the 50’s. Snow covered walkway, store windows dressed for the season, and neighbors greeting each other as they walk among the shops.

My theme is based on the Christmas carol I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. Of course, seeing an image in my mind is easier than putting it on a 22 ½” block. I think this is one of those times when I have to keep reminding myself it doesn’t have to be perfect.

I can’t wait until December 5th so I can see what everyone else has done.

Bias Binding Tutorial

2009-10-27T08:33:00.001-07:00

I've received several inquiries on how to make bias binding and although there are several ways to make bias binding, some easier than others, I thought I'd develop a tutorial on my favorite method.

I always use binding made on the bias because it provides a stronger finish than binding cut on the crosswise or lengthwise grain. In addition, it easily follows curved edges while giving a professional looking finish and it isn’t any more difficult to make once you have found a technique that works for you.

I purchase fabric specifically for binding in one yard pieces. After I have several prints, I spend the day making binding for use on future projects. By making my binding ahead of time, it allows me to keep my momentum instead of having to stop working on my project to make binding. I probably have at least 20 different prints of binding at any given time in my resources.

After ironing and starching the fabric, lay your fabric on a flat surface with the selvage edges on the side. Take one upper corner and bring it even with the lower edge of your fabric. The folded edge is your bias. To double-check you have a true bias, gently pull on the folded edge. A bias edge will stretch.

Cut off the excess fabric.

The next steps involve folding your bias fold. To do this correctly, you will need to ensure your bias edge remains perpendicular with itself. This will maintain the 45 degree angle of your fabric piece.

Taking the upper point of your folded bias edge and bring it down to match with the lower point.

Taking those two points of the folded bias edge, bring them perpendicular to the fold to the opposite side.

Your piece will look like this, with the original bias edge fold perpendicular to itself, giving you four layers.

Turn your fabric, with the bias fold to your left.

Using a Shape Cut ruler, I line-up the lower edge with the bottom fold and the left edge about 1/8" from the fold so I can trim the fold off and straighten my fabric edge before cutting my strips. If you don't have the Shape Cut ruler, you can use an acrylic ruler to cut your strips. I like the Shape Cut ruler because it allows me to straighten my fabric edge and to cut several strips without having to reposition my ruler.

Cut your strips at 2 1/2" widths.

I reposition my strips as shown in the above photo before repositioning my Shape Cut ruler to straighten the edge of my strips.

After I've straightened my edges.

Lay one strip on top of the other, as shown. By overlapping the edges instead of lining the edges up, you ensure you will achieve a true 45 degree seam.

Placing a pin in the inside corner, line the edge of your ruler from corner to corner. (Corner to corner is actually the edge where the strips meet.) Using your favorite marking tool, draw a seam line at the 45 degree angle.

Stitch your seam line.

Open your seam to verify it has been stitched correctly.

Trim to a 1/4" seam line.

Press your seam open and trim the 'ears'.

Matching the long edges together, press your bias binding being careful not to stretch it. For this demonstration, I cut four 2 1/2" strips which made approximately 280" of binding, enough for a couple of projects.

Another One Bites The Dust...

2009-10-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who has left a comment and words of encouragement. I've finished quilting my second quilt. This one was a little more challenging because it is considerably larger than my first one.

I pieced the Nursery Rhyme quilt about ten years ago and its been sitting in my sewing studio waiting to be quilted. It was my first attempt at the Attic Window block and although I struggled with it at first, I think I did pretty good with it. Sorry I wasn't able to get a picture of the entire quilt... I'm going to square it up and sew the binding on before giving it to one of my grandkids.

Here is a close-up of my quilting stitches. I'm finding the more I quilt, the better my technique is. My next challenge is my Musical Angels Quilt. I've purchased a couple different quilting threads to audition before I actually start quilting it. Wish me luck!

A Quilting I Will Go...

2009-10-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

I fear I've been neglectful on my blog posts. I'm sorry. I've been quite busy and haven't had the time to sit down and write my posts. In fact, I haven't had time to visit blogs either. But, I have been sewing/quilting...

Last Saturday I spent the day at a sew-in. We had so much fun and it was a full-house with approximately fourteen women sewing, talking, laughing, and snacking. I always look forward to these events.

One of the comfort quilts assembled by one of the groups I participate on was presented during our sew-in. My friend Sheila did a spectacular job on the quilting. To see the beautiful quilting just click on the picture to enlargen it.

The other project I've been working on is my machine quilting skills. I'm proud to say I have successfully machine quilted an entire project. I decided this was the only way I am going to build up my skills and confidence. It's just a whole cloth quilt for my granddaughter to use as a lap quilt or for her baby dolls.

Initially I was going to do some sort of oversized spiral designs, but as you can see from this picture I wasn't very good at it so I changed to an overall meandering/stippling design.

By the time I was finishing the quilt my technique had improved tremendously and most of the meandering/stippling design was well shaped and evenly distributed.

I even achieved pretty even stitches... How great is that? I'm almost finished with my second free motion machine quilt too. I'm on a roll! LOL

Receiving Blanket Tutorial

2009-10-16T18:38:00.001-07:00

These receiving blankets go together very quickly and make excellent baby gifts. Although I'm using flannel in this tutorial, you can use also use a cotton batiste or knit. To get started you'll need two coordinating prints, each 1 1/4 yards each. I always prewash my fabrics before I begin cutting them to size.

The finished blanket will be approximately 43" x 43", depending on the amount of shrinkage you experienced with your fabrics. After washing and ironing my fabric, I then need to straighten my fabric pieces. With right-sides-together, I layer my fabric pieces and to keep them from shifting, I place pins around all four sides. Be sure to give yourself enough allowance so you can trim your sides without hitting your pins with the rotary cutter.

After folding my fabric in half, matching my selvege edges, I place my ruler using the fold to ensure I have a straight edge. I always verify all four edges of the fabric pieces will be trimmed.

Cut with your rotary cutter.

To round my corners I use this ruler manufactured by Katie Lane Quilts.

The ruler is called Corners Radial Rule and is very easy to use. You simply line the two straight sides with the sides of the piece and trim along the curved edge.

See how nicely it trims the corner? These rulers come in two sizes and each size has two sizes of corner.

Before stitching the seamline, I always mark my beginning and ending with two pins perpindicular to the seam. If I had to guess, I'd say I allow about a 3 1/2" to 4" opening to turn the fabric to the right side.

I prefer to move my needle position to 6.5 and line the edge of my fabric to the edge of my regular foot. This give me about a 3/8" seam. Instead of backstitching, I prefer to shorten my stitch to .5 at the beginning and ending of the seam line. I think it gives a stronger seam preventing the stitches from coming out as I'm turning the fabrics to the right side.

A word of caution, flannel produces a lot of lint in the bobbin case so be sure to clean your bobbin case out after stitching your seams together. I also add a drop of sewing machine oil on the race of the bobbin case. I do not recommend using canned air because it can add moisture onto your machine parts causing damage. Also, you don't want to risk forcing small pieces of lint or thread into areas you can't see or reach resulting in stitching problems.

After I've stitched my seams, I clip each corner so the seam will lie flat after I've turned it to the right side.

I then press my seam. Where my opening is, I press the seam allowance on both sides before I turn the piece to the right side.

After turning to the right side, I press all sides of the blanket and using glass head pins, I pin the opening, matching the edges.

Moving my needle position to 8.5 and my stitch length to 3.0, I edgestitched the blanket being careful not to stitch over the pins.

As an alternative finish, you could apply a bias binding or serge your edges. I've even used a cotton batting and quilted the layers before attaching a binding. Any method would work nicely.

Here's a completed receiving blanket with a burp cloth. They make a great set. If you want a pdf file of this tutorial just make a request in your comment. Make sure you leave me your email address so I can email it to you.

My Creative Space

2009-10-14T11:38:00.001-07:00

I don't have a design wall in my sewing studio. Mostly because two of the walls are lined with large windows and the other two consist of a lateral file cabinet, a floor to ceiling bookcase, and a couple of oversized units used for storage. So, in absence of a design wall I refer to my Creative Space to describe my current projects.

Lately, most of my sewing time has been making baby gifts. Seems everyone is having a baby… In the last couple of weeks I’ve made twelve burp cloth and receiving blanket sets and I have a couple more sets to complete before I’m finished.

Another project I’ve been working on is a tutorial for the receiving blankets. I need to finalize the written instructions before I post it and I hope to have it posted by the end of this week.

A third project I’m working on is a group challenge. As many of you know, a group of us get together once a month for an all day sew-in in Anacortes. One of our members, Susannah, is working on a group challenge with another group she participates in and we’ve been admiring her progress. At our last sew-in Susannah offered to host a challenge for our group and several of us took her up on it.

Each month, Susannah will announce a challenge as we add rows/layers to our quilt. She gave each participant a piece of fabric in a peppermint print and each project must contain a 3” x 3” square in the completed project. It doesn’t have to be a one piece, but the total used of this print must equal at least this amount.

For this month’s challenge, each participant must create a 22.5” block in a Christmas Carol as their theme. The possibilities are endless and I’ve been designing my block based on the song I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. Although I have tons of ideas racing through my mind and since it’s a challenge, I’m not able to show anything to you… At least not yet. I have until our December sew-in to complete my block. I sure hope I can meet this challenge in time. LOL

And then, I was browsing through a quilt shop and picked up these deliciously looking charm packets. Where is it written that quilters have to have the characteristic of an overachiever? I’ve been quilting for about thirteen years and I don’t think I’ve met one yet who works on one project at a time. In fact, most have several going at the same time.

Its mind boggling the torture I put myself through sometimes. I’m my own worst enemy. But as my closest friends tell me, I’d be bored otherwise. What’s your theory? I'd love to hear it.

The Letter Carrier Was Good To Me...

2009-10-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

Not only did she deliver my friendship bag, but she also delivered my winning prize from Jocelyn, the Happy Cottage Quilter. I just love these fabrics, especially the red print. I've been looking for the perfect project to use it in and I know it will look great. Thanks Jocelyn! Don't forget to visit her blog, Happy Cottage Quilter. She always has sometime great to write about.

I've Received My Friendship Bag!

2009-10-12T13:03:00.001-07:00

I received my friendship bag from my swap partner Cynthia. I love all the bright colors and I know the fat quarters she included will work nicely in one of my projects. Cynthia lives in North Caroline and is the grandmother of two. She's new to quilting but I think she did an awesome job on her first friendship bag. Thank you Cynthia!

How To Make A Burp Cloth Tutorial

2009-10-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

I drafted this pattern when I was pregnant with my first child and it has gotten a lot of use. These are so much nicer than what you can purchase in the store because they are larger and will stay on your shoulder better, plus they are absorbent. Since you're sewing them, you can use fabrics to coordinate with outfits for special occasions like church or weddings. Of course, a real bonus is that they're quick and easy to make but look as though you spent hours.

The first step is to make the pattern. By measuring the main points, you can easily create the shape as shown above. The length of the burp cloth is 17-inches with the mid-width measuring 7 1/4-inches. On each end of the burp cloth measures 9 1/2-inches across. Because I frequently use this pattern, I ironed a fusible interfacing to one side of the pattern paper before cutting out the pattern to give it stability. Just remember to use a dry iron when you adhere the stabilizer to the paper. I also use a dry press cloth to prevent any of the adhesive from getting on my iron.

Each burp cloth requires two pieces of fabric; one for the front and one for the backing. I traditionally make my burp cloths using a terry toweling with a cotton or knit backing. I purchase towels on sale to use for the front of the burp cloth. Usually I can find them on sale for around $2 to $3 and since I’m able to cut six burp cloths out of one towel, that’s quite a savings. Another version is to use cotton batting (Warm & Natural) sandwiched by two pieces of batiste fabric for an heirloom effect. I have tried flannel in the past, but I don't like using flannel for the front side because it is not absorbent like cotton or terry. It works great for the backing though.

Whether you add embellishments using applique or machine embroidery, you'll need to identify the design placement. To do this, fold the burp cloth in half lengthwise.

Placing pins on each end to mark the center.

Next, fold the burp cloth in half to mark the center of the width with pins on each end.

Open the burp cloth up and fold the lower end up to the center pins marking the center width. This will allow you to mark the center of the burp cloth half where the design will be placed. Mark with pins.

Lightly spray a temporary adhesive to a water soluable stabilizer and place onto the burp cloth were the design will be sewn, adhesive side down. Using a ruler, line the ends of the ruler with the two pins marking the lengthwise center.

Using your favorite marking tool, mark the lengthwise center in the general area of the lower width marks.

Repeat this step with the lower width markings.

Your marking should look like this. By using the water soluable stabilizer, you ensure the markings will not damage your fabric.

If you are doing machine embroidery, hoop an adhesive stabilizer in the appropriate sized hoop for your design. In this demonstration, I used HydroStick Tearaway.

The markings you've made for your design are great tools for placing the burp cloth in the proper placement in the hoop. Simply line up your lower pins with your center markings on the hoop. I prefer to line this up prior to activating the adhesive on the stabilizer. Once I have it aligned, I fold up the burp cloth and moisten my adhesive before I fold it back down and press it onto the stabilizer.

Place the hoop onto your machine and align your needle with the center of your marking.

Here is the finished design after I have removed the excess water soluable stabilizer.

For the version using cotton batting and two pieces of cotton batiste/fabric, I embroider the design using a water solubable stabilizer, hooped with the batiste. I then layer the three layers: backing, cotton batting, top.

Pin the three layers together.

For the backing of the version using the terry toweling, I have folded 1/2 yard of coordinating cotton fabric in half, selvage to selvage edge, and in half again giving you four layers. Pin the pattern to the fabric and cut.

Pin the backing piece to the terry towel, wrong-sides-together.

I prefer to overcast the edges of the burp cloths before finishing the edges. This will hold all the layers together to prevent shifting while attaching the binding. I used a simple zig zag stitch with a 2.5mm width and 2.0mm length.

There are several methods I use for finishing these, including piping, decorative serging, envelope method with a simple edgestitch, or bias binding. For these, I attached bias binding. If you are attaching binding, it must be bias binding because of the curves of the burp cloth. I make my own binding cut in 2 1/2-inches width. It takes approximately 66-inches for the burp cloths.

Using the French bias binding method, line the raw edge of the binding with the raw edge of the burp cloth leaving a 3-inch tail on the front side of the burp cloth. I move my needle over to 6.5 when applying the binding.

I stop sewing at approximately 4-inches away from the beginning of the binding stitching. Remove the burp cloth from your machine and lay the binding to the end and fold back as shown in the picture above.

Fold the end back approximately 1/4" and press.

Set the beginning of the bias binding tail inside the end as shown in the picture above.

Fold the end over.

Finish stitching the binding to the burp cloth. Fold the binding to the back side of the burp cloth making sure to cover the first stitching and attach. I prefer to hand stitch but you can certainly stitch it down by machine.

Here is the finished binding. The hand stitches are invisible from both the front and back sides of the burp cloth, giving it a professional appearance.

Here are the two versions opened up.

Cute teddy bear design as stitched-out on the terry toweling. This is a design set by Nancy Zieman.

This is an heirloom design stitched on the cotton batiste. The design is from a design set by Hatched In Africa.

I hope you're able to understand my instructions. If you're interested in a pdf file of this tutorial, please let me know. Be sure I have your email address, otherwise I won't be able to send the file to you. Lastly, please let me know if you have any questions.

October Challenge Block

2009-10-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I spent the day with a group of friends while sewing, eating, laughing, snacking, sharing, and eating... All day. We have so much fun at these sew-ins and I always look forward to them. This one was extra special because we got to play pass-the-baby-around. Each of us got to nurture our 'Oh, she's such a cute baby!' craving. I also spent the day working on two Jake Heart blocks for a comfort quilt for one of our members and this month's challenge block.

This month's challenge block was selected by my friend Diane. The block is called Tails and Nines which is one I'd not see before. She adapted this from a larger block and although I did a search on Google for it, I was not able to locate a pattern to share with you. It is an easy block and would make a great baby or child's quilt.

Here are this year's challenge blocks so far. I can't wait to see what November's will be.

My Swap Partner Has Received Her Friendship Bag

2009-10-05T12:08:00.000-07:00

I received a wonderful email for my Friendship Bag Swap partner, Mariana announcing she has received her friendship bag with all the contents. Mariana lives in Portugal with her daughter Mafalda and is the author of a wonderful blog, Mae da Mafaldinna, where she writes about her life with Mafalda and her quilting. She does beautiful work. Be sure to visit her blog and browse abit. Although it is written in Portuguese, it is also translated into English.

I Won! I Won!

2009-10-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

I won Jocelyn’s giveaway over at the Happy Cottage Quilter blog. I’m so excited!

Jocelyn writes a great blog and is a spectacular lady. She makes beautiful quilts and does a wonderful job of taking her readers on exciting adventures. If you visit her blog, be sure to leave a comment to say hello.

Thank you Jocelyn! I’m gonna be doing the Happy Dance all day.

Baby Gift Finished!

2009-10-02T16:37:00.000-07:00

Whew! I didn't think I was going to make it, but I did.

Here are two receiving blankets to go along with the two burp cloths I made yesterday. These are approximately 43" x 43" in size, much larger than what you find in the store and the recipient will get lots of use out of them. They're large enough to wrap the baby in while they are young and they also are perfect as a nap blanket when they are toddler age. In fact, my grandchildren used them in pre-school for when they had quiet time.

I'm always getting requests for these sets because they make great baby gifts. I'll write up a tutorial on how to make these sets if there is interest.

Shhhh... Can You Keep A Secret?

2009-10-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

Someone has had a baby and I've been busy sewing baby gifts... Actually, one baby has already arrived and the other one is due any day now.

Here's a picture of the fabrics I'm using for their gifts. Aren't they perfect for a baby?

Here are two burp cloths for the baby who is already here. I used a pattern that I drafted when I was pregnant with my oldest. These are great because they stay on the shoulder and are absorbant when you need it.

Here is a close-up of the beautiful stitches on the yellow burp cloth. I'll be working on more gifts tomorrow and will post more pictures then. Remember, this is a secret so you can't tell anyone.

My First Quilting Project

2009-09-29T20:05:00.000-07:00

Today I thought I'd share a picture of first quilting project. I made this about thirteen years ago and although it is full of mistakes, I proudly display it to remind me of what I can accomplish without boundaries.

I'm completely self-taught, getting the majority of my quilting knowledge from books or articles I've read, quilting programs on TV, other quilter's who so generously share their knowledge and experience, and from my own experiences... or lessons learned as I like to refer to it.

I had purchased a set of Kaye Woods' Starmaker templates and began to 'practice' making cuts with one of them. My first project is the result of my practicing.

Back then I knew nothing about squaring up blocks or measuring from the center for the length and width of the border before cutting my strips. I wasn't even concerned about matching points yet. I'm sure I managed to match one or two, but when I look at it hanging up on my wall, I don't see whether the points are matching or whether it lies flat. What I see is the results of someone's creative expression, all done without boundaries.

Sometimes I think we set ourselves up to fail if we always follow the rules. And perhaps these rules are important when it comes to critical areas such as getting your project to lie flat, but in other areas I think they’re meant to be broken; or at least bent a little.

So the next time you’re selecting fabric for your next project and you just love those orange and lime green prints with a splash of purple, use them to your heart’s content. Let your boundaries down and cut away. And above all, have fun doing it!

Beware of Flying Pumpkins!

2009-09-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

Here in Skagit Valley, the competition between modern built Trebuchets ruled the weekend. What is a Trebuchet, you ask? Trebuchets were weapons used in medival times to catapult large, heavy stones towards the enemy. But, in modern times, we've added a little twist. Instead of stones, we use PUMPKINS! We are so easily amused. LOL

As you can see, we take our competition held during the annual Harvest Festival very seriously. Safety first!

And if you think the sign was put up as a joke, the surveyor walking in the field wearing a hard hat should reinforce how dangerous it can get during the competition.

There were six Trebuchets in this year's competition. All of them designed and built by the individual teams. Each team was given six opportunities to catapult their pumpkins at a designated target. The winning team is the one with the furthest and most accurate attempts.

Each of them bearing their own signature name.

Some of the teams stayed true to the original design.

While others re-designed the weapon using more modern methods. The Gourdinator, pictured above, was the winner of the competition with their pumpkins flying overhead up to 1,000 ft. I tried to get pictures of the pumpkins hurling through the air, but it wasn't working out.

Here is the surveyor, measuring where the catapulting pumpkin landed.

His partner standing at the landing point.

The Harvest Festival is a small family event with tons of activities for children of all ages. At the Hay Toss, kids sift through all the hay to find candy buried beneath.

Many of the younger kids enjoyed the huge pumpkin air bounce. (Is that what they call these?)

Others stood in line for several minutes to have their faces painted.

What fun to roll a pumpkin at the bowling pins. Every child was awarded a prize after their turn at each game.

At the Tire Toss, instead of using pumpkins to throw through the hole, they used little bean bags.

At this game, the kids tossed small bean bags at the large painted pumpkin. The bags had velcro on them and would stick on the pumpkin's face.

Of course, we had to have the Ring Toss game!

There was a table set up so kids could paint pictures to frame.

Here they threw darts at the balloons.

Lots of kids lined up to play the Tic Tac Toe Toss.

We even had kids fishing for prizes!

And then there's the Milk Bottle game. I was never good at this game.

Here is a budding young artist painting her pumkin. She was so cute, painting her pumpkin with her sunglasses on.

Lastly, there were tables set up for kids, young and old, to build there own zuchinni race cars for competition.

As you can see, this required a lot of concentration.

But it was well worth the effort. Aren't these just the cutest little zuchinni cars? Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a picture of any of the races as it was just too crowded. But I know everyone had fun, regardless of who won. What a fun day we had. I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

It's a Giveaway of Yummy Fabrics!

2009-09-24T09:05:00.000-07:00

While trying to catch up on reading blogs this morning I came a cross a yummy giveaway I'd like to share. Designer Sandi Henderson's, author of the Portabellopixie blog, new fabric line, Meadowsweet, is going to be released in November and she's offering a yummy collection of fat quarters to a lucky visitor of her blog. Be sure to visit Sandi's blog and enter to win. Don't forget to tell her I said hello and good luck on the giveaway.

In The Mail

2009-09-23T11:13:00.000-07:00

and off to my Friendship Bag Swap recipient...

I filled the friendship bag with eight fat-eighths Batik prints, a spool of Robison-Anton variegated thread, and some coasters I made. I love the yummy colors of the Batik prints!

The recipient of my friendship bag has a young daughter and they recently moved into a new home where she now has her own bedroom. I made this doorknob hanger for her. It should go nicely with the bright, vibrant colors of her bedroom. (The edges of the hanger were still a little damp when I took the picture so the edges look a little funky in the picture.)

Here is the friendship bag, filled to its top with goodies. The doorknob hanger is too big, but will be included in the package.

I’ve enjoyed this swap, especially coming up with ideas of what to fill it with. These would make great gifts for random acts of kindness too…

Tools

2009-09-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

Recently, I read a post on a blog where the author gave a list of her favorite things. For her, it was her husband, animals, and other important things in her life. (I apologize, I do not remember which blog it is was to reference.) This got me to thinking. What are some of my favorite tools in my sewing studio. Not the ones that are common place like a favorite seam ripper or pin cushion. But the ones that are used all the time and make a particular task or technique manageable. Well, here are a couple of my favorite tools...

Each year I attend the Puyallup Sewing Expo and visit one of my favorite vendors. I don't remember their name, but they are located in Bellingham WA. They sell medical supplies that can be used as sewing tools and this is where I purchase for first favorite tool.

The picture above is of a pair of long tweezers. It's about 5 inches in length and works great for reaching into hard to reach places (like a bobbin case) to remove lint and threads. I also use this for holding onto thread tails so I can cut them closely.

These are a pair of Havel's Snip-Eze and are perfect for clipping threads close. I use these when I'm doing machine embroidery, quilting, and hand sewing. Anytime I want to clip the thread as close as possible. Their design makes it very easy on my hands too.

I'm not sure who manufactures this as it was given to me when I purchased my Pfaff 2144/2170 by my dealer. This thread rack is a great tool when I'm using multiple colors of thread when I'm doing machine embroidery. I have assigned a number to each spool so I can organize my embroidery thread in order. Very effective way to stay organized and to stitch through an embroidery design quickly. I could see where this would also be a great tool to use when doing free motion quilting and using multiple thread types/colors. (In case you're wondering, the bobbins on the lower level are used as place holders when I'm using the same color multiple times in a design.)

This tool is a must have for all quilters. It's a Shape Cut™ manufactured by June Tailor. The 'grid' is a 12" x 12" and has slots for cutting strips in 1/2" intervals. This makes strip cutting go so quickly.

I have another June Tailor ruler called a Quarter Cut™. This one is smaller with a ‘grid’ of 6” x 12” and has slots at ¼” intervals. The reason I don’t use this as often as the Shape Cut™ is because the grid is so short I have to fold my fabric too many times, risking the integrity of my strips.

June Tailor also manufactures another ruler called Shape Cut™ Pro. This has a larger ‘grid’ measuring 20” x 23” and would be perfect for large cuts of fabric. However, the intervals of the slots is at 2 ½”. Great if you’re cutting Jelly Rolls or Charm Squares, but not for strip piecing the average quilt.

Well, these are just a few of my favorite tools in my sewing studio. I’ll feature more a little later.

Free Motion Machine Quilting

2009-09-16T09:42:00.001-07:00

Although I haven't written about my challenge in learning how to free motion machine quilt, doesn't mean I haven't been practicing. I've spent several hours practicing but because of other obligations, I have not worked on it for the last few days and need to.

This is what my stitching looked like when I first started. I know the picture isn't real clear, but if you click on the picture it will enlargen and you can see the stitching detail better.

This is what my stitching looks like now. As you can see it isn't perfect but I've definitely made some improvement. The purpose of using this large scale fabric was to give me the opportunity to work on the various shapes and although it looks like it would be a simple pattern to follow, it wasn't. There is a pretty big learning curve. Of course, because I'm using Pfaff's Fabric Mover for quilting, I'm not only learning how to free motion machine quilt but I'm also learning how to use this tool. What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment.

Here is the backside. I’m not sure why, but it appears the batting is being forced thru the fabric and leaving little specks in the quilting. I’m using Warm & Natural and have never seen anything like it before. I suppose it could also be the fabric as it is lesser quality than what I would normally work with. I’ve adjusted the tension several times without much success. I’m hoping it will disappear after I’ve washed the piece. I’m welcome to suggestions on how to eliminate this if you have some.

I’m not completely comfortable with the process but I am improving. I think one of my biggest struggles is my need for perfection. This last picture is a clear example of this. When I look at the front side of the quilting piece I zero in on all the mistakes. Places where my stitching didn’t fall exactly on the line or my stitching lines cross. However, when I look at the back side, I can see a pretty intricate design and it looks OK.

Along the same topic, I found a great site that focuses on free motion machine quilting. Leah Day, author of 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting Filler Designs blog, features a new free motion quilting filler design each day. While she takes you thru her creative process, she provides videos demonstrating the logistics of stitching out the design as well as guidelines and tips for achieving success. Great site!

I’ll continue to practice to gain more confidence and skill before I attempt to machine quilt my musical angels quilt. In the meantime I’ll work on other projects while I persist on learning how to free motion machine quilt.

How To Paper Piece Tutorial

2009-09-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

I’m still enjoying fine tuning my paper piecing technique while making my scrappy basket blocks in 1930’s prints and I’m really please with how my baskets are turning out. Because of the frustration I experienced when I had attempted to learn how to paper piece I thought I’d put my talents into writing a tutorial on this method of quilting. My hope is to provide clear and concise instructions so others don’t experience the difficulties and frustrations I did.

You’ll first want to gather all of your supplies. These include:
1) small cutting mat
2) pressing surface
3) iron – set on dry heat
4) ruler – I chose to use a 6” x 12” because some of my seams are diagonal and long
5) rotary cutter
6) seam ripper
7) thread clippers
8) card stock card – I didn’t have an index card but a legal sized envelope worked great
9) size 14 needle
10) set your sewing machine for a straight stitch at a 1.5mm stitch length
11) copies of your paper pieced block printed on paper piecing paper – there are several brands to choose from; I selected one manufactured by Patchwork, it comes in a package of 100 sheets

I used a block drafted by Carol Doak and she provides recommended cutting dimensions for each piece required to complete the block. However, if you were to use a block where these dimensions were not provided, you could easily figure out this size yourself. Place your ruler onto your block to measure the piece. Measure the height and width of the piece and add ½” to each side. This is the dimension to use to cut your piece.

Because there are so many pieces, all a different size and many similar, organizing is a key to success. There are several good methods you could choose from but I decided to place my pieces into snack or sandwich sized Ziploc type bags with the piece number and dimensions written on the outside. I organized them in sequence on a baking sheet.

To begin, I placed piece #1 over piece 1 on my block pattern. I eyeballed ¼” seam over the stitching line for piece #2 on the wrong side of the block. I know this seems backwards, but it will work out. I promise.

I then placed piece #2, right sides together, edges matching, onto piece #1

By holding both pieces securely in place, I flipped the pattern over to the printed side and lined up my needle to the line between piece #1 and piece #2. With the needle in the down position, I lift up the pattern to verify my pattern pieces have not shifted and the edges are meeting.

Make sure you have shortened your stitch length to 1.5mm before you begin stitching. You will want to backstitch 2 or 3 stitches at the beginning and ending of each seam.

After stitching the first two pieces I placed the edge of the envelope / index card to the stitching line.

Fold the pattern paper over and crease the paper.

Trim the seam allowance to ¼”.

Fold the pattern paper back and press your seam.

You could finger press your seam but I found I had better results when I pressed with the iron. This is the perfect time to use that small iron you purchased for sew-ins or classes.

Initially, I was told to trim my seam allowances after I had sewn the seam. However, as I progressed in perfecting my paper piecing technique, I learned it worked better for me to trim the remaining seam allowances before I stitched the seam. (I will show why I came to this conclusion a little later.) With this mind, place the envelope / index card edge onto your stitching line for piece #3 and trim the seam to ¼”.

Place piece #3, right sides together with the edge centered on the stitching line.

Place your needle in the down position onto the stitching line.

Lift the pattern paper to verify the pieces have not shifted and the edges line up. Stitch seam and press.

If you turn your pattern paper over to the printed side you will see where each seam begins and ends.

Place your envelope / index card onto the stitching line for piece #4 and fold the pattern paper back. Because the connecting stitching lines have been backstitched you’ll need to carefully pull the paper back to ‘pop’ a couple of stitches so you can fold on the stitching line. Trim to a ¼” seam.

Having trimmed the seam before stitching allows you to see where to place the next piece more clearly while giving you a placement line for the piece. This is especially helpful for odd shaped pieces.

Center the fabric for piece #4 over the stitching line lining up the edges of the pieces. Lining up the edges will ensure a ¼” seam. Notice this piece is triangular. By placing the long side of the triangle on the long side of the triangle on the pattern piece will make certain the piece will cover the shape properly.

Holding the pieces securely, flip the pattern to the printed side. With the needle in the down position, verify the piece has not shift and the edges are lined up. Stitch the seam making certain to backstitch at the beginning and ending of the seam. After sewing the seam, verify you have maintained a ¼” seam and press.

Using the same method as before, place the edge of the envelope / index card on the stitching line for piece #5 and trim to a ¼” seam allowance.

Centering piece #5 on the stitching line, holding onto the pieces securely while flipping the pattern over to the printed side. Verify the pieces have not shifted before stitching the seam line.

Verify your ¼” seam and press.

Using the same method for trimming seam allowance, trim the seam allowance for piece #6.

As you can see from the picture, piece #6 is another triangular shape and the long edge is at a different angle than for pieces #4 and #5.

Matching the long side of the triangle, verify you have proper placement of the piece to ensure coverage.

Center piece #6 while lining up the edges.

Securely hold the pieces together while flipping to the print side of the pattern. With the needle in the down position, verify the pieces have not shifted and the edges are lined up.

Stitch the seam for piece #6.

Verify you have maintained the ¼” seam allowance and press.

Verify there is adequate coverage on all seam lines for piece #6.

Piece #7 is the same shape as piece #6.

Trim the seam allowance for piece #7 as shown for piece #6. Line up the piece to ensure coverage.

Center the piece with the stitching line and line up the edges.

Holding the pieces securely, flip to the printed side and verify the pieces have not shifted and the edges line up.

Stitch the seam.

Verify you have the ¼” seam allowance and press.

Confirm there is at least ¼” seam allowance for all sides.

All the seams have been pressed.

Place the edge of the envelope / index card on the stitching line for piece #8.

Trim to a ¼” seam allowance.

Trimming the seam first allows full view of the area for piece #8.

Center the piece and line up the edges for piece #8.

Holding securely, flip the pattern to the printed side, confirm the pieces have not shifted and stitch the seam. Verify you have maintained a ¼” seam and press.

Trim the seam allowance to ¼” for piece #9.

Trimming to the ¼” seam makes the stitching lines for piece #9 visible for easier placement of the fabric.

Center the fabric for piece #9 on the stitching line and line up the edges.

Hold the pieces securely as while flipping over to the printed side of the pattern. With the needle in the needle down position, verify the pieces have not shifted and the edges are lined up. Stitch the seam, confirm the ¼” seam allowance has been maintained, and press.

Confirm there is adequate seam allowance on all sides of the piece.

Trim the seam allowance for piece #10, line up the fabric, flip to the printed side holding the pieces securely, and stitch.

Verify the ¼” seam allowance and press.

Trim the seam allowance for piece #11. Center the fabric on the stitching line, hold the pieces securely and flip to printed side. Stitch, confirm ¼” seam allowance, and press.

Place the edge of the envelope / index card on the stitching line for piece #12.

Fold the pattern paper over to expose the seam allowance.

Trim the seam allowance to a ¼”.

This is another instance where if the seam allowance was not trimmed prior to stitching, it would be very difficult to line up the fabric and ensure complete coverage.

Center the fabric on the stitching line, hold securely and flip to printed side, verify pieces have not shifted, stitch seam and press.

Center piece #12 and line up the edges, hold the pieces securely and flip to printed side, verify pieces have not shifted, stitch seam and press.

Using the same method as before, trim the seam allowance to ¼” for piece #13. Center the fabric over the stitching line, hold pieces securely and flip to printed side.

Verify the pieces have not shifted and stitch seam.

Press seam.

Trim the seam allowance for piece #14, line up the fabric, hold firmly and flip to printed side.

Confirm pieces have not shifted, stitch seam and press.

Pieces #15 and #16 are very small. For this reason, I trimmed the seam allowance to 1/8” instead of the standard ¼”.

Trimming both pieces to 1/8” will allow the ability to visually see the outline of the pieces for proper placement of the fabric.

Here is what the block looks like after trimming the seam allowance for both pieces.

Here is a shot of the small triangle for pieces #15 and #16.

Center the fabric piece on the seam, hold firmly and flip to the printed side of the pattern, and confirm the pieces have not shifted.

Stitch the seam and press.

Confirm there is adequate seam allowance for all sides of the piece.

Follow the same process for sewing piece #16.

Trim the seam allowance for piece #17. Center the fabric on the stitch line.

Hold the pieces securely, flip to the printed side of the pattern piece, verify the pieces have not shifted, and stitch the seam.

Press the seam and confirm fabric adequately covers the pattern piece.

Trim the seam allowance for piece #18, center the fabric over the pattern piece, hold pieces securely and flip to printed side.

Verify the pieces have not shifted and stitch seam.

Press seam.

Follow the same process for stitching pieces #19 and #20.

Turn the pattern over to the printed side. The pattern has an outline that runs the circumference of the block. The line is the seam line for assembling the blocks and it ensures a ¼” seam allowance. But there is another purpose too.

By stitching around the block using this outline as a guide, the block will retain its shape and size until it is stitched to another block or sashing.

I used the outline as a guide and placed my seam just to the right of the outline. This will guarantee this seam will not be visible when I assemble my blocks.

Next, trim to a ¼” seam allowance on all four sides of the block.

All of the sides have been trimmed to ¼”.

Here is the completed block. At the point when I’m ready to assemble the blocks together, the blocks will be stitched together before the paper is removed.

If anyone is interested, I do have a pdf version of this tutorial. Just make a note in your comment and I’ll send it to you. Remember, I will need your email address to send it, so if you’re set as a no-reply response, you will need to include your email address in your comment. Thanks!

It's Giveaway Time At Sew-Fantastic

2009-09-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

Terri, author of the Sew-Fantastic blog is featuring a giveaway in celebration of her 1000th sale in etsy. Visit Terri's blog for a chance to win one or more of eight prizes.

Friendship Bag Swap

2009-09-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

I'm participating in a Friendship Bag Swap coordinated by Mishka at Quilting Gallery. There are 26 countries and 41 states that make-up the 288 participants. Although I don't have to mail my friendship bag until October 6th, I wanted to get it mailed sooner because the recipient lives outside of the United States and I'm not sure how long it will take for it to be delivered.

Here is my completed friendship bag. I used a pattern featured on Moda Bake Shop, called Charmed Gift Bag. I modified the pattern slightly so the bag is more of a box shape because I will be adding some goodies in the bag before I mail it. I love how it turned out.

Here is a look inside the bag. The insert allows the bag to sit upright. I hope the recipient likes it.

Welcome to my kitchen today

2009-09-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

While at my sew-in last Saturday, one of my friends was generous enough to give me some rhubarb stalks from her garden. I love rhubarb.... Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam and Rhubarb Custard Pie are two of my favorites. I didn't have any strawberries to make the jam, but I had more than enough rhubarb to make a pie while freezing another 18 cups. Yummy!

Rhubarb Custard Pie
400° 50 – 60 minutes

9-inch 2 crust pie crust

4 Tbsp flour
3 eggs

1 tsp nutmeg
2 2/3 Tbsp milk

4 cups rhubarb, cut
2 cups sugar

1 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 400°. Beat eggs, slightly. Add milk. Mix together and stir in sugar, flour, and nutmeg. Add the rhubarb. Fill pie crust shell with mixture and dot with butter. Place top crust and seal edge. Cut vents in top crust to allow steam to escape as the pie bakes.

Bake in 400° oven for 50 – 60 minutes. Cool pie to room temperature before placing into refrigerator.

2 Crust Pie Crust

2 ½ cups flour

1 cup butter, cut into small cubes and frozen
1 tsp salt

4 to 8 Tbsp ice water
1 tsp sugar

In food processor, add flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse to mix. Add frozen butter and pulse until mixture resembles sand. Add ice water, one tablespoon at a time, and pulse just until mixed. You have enough water when the mixture holds together when pressed.

Place a piece of plastic wrap onto counter and spoon half of mixture onto plastic wrap. Tightly wrap pie dough with plastic wrap compressing pie dough as you wrap. Repeat for remaining pie dough. Place into refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Remove pie dough from refrigerator and roll dough out to fit pie plate on a lightly floured surface. Line pie plate and add filling. Repeat for top crust.

100th Post Give-Away

2009-09-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

Be sure to visit missymack blog and help her celebrate her 100th post. She's having a great give-away one lucky reader. While you're there, check out her great free BOM.

Scrappy Baskets

2009-09-08T08:24:00.000-07:00

I’m what I consider to be a traditional quilter with a hidden desire to add some spark to my designs. Of course I haven’t given way to this desire… Not yet, anyway. I tend to carry this theme in other areas of my life as well.

For instance, baking. I’ve made everything from scratch since I was a young girl. I could bake bread, roll out a pie crust, and bake a cake on my own since I was about eleven years old. However, just let me attempt to use a box shortcut and everything falls apart. Not so much with boxed cake mixes, but I’ve tried bread mixes and have never been very successful with them. Usually I get a very heavy, flat as a pancake loaf of bread. Not very appealing to the eye or stomach, huh? Perhaps it’s my love of creating and personalizing that stumps my success. Even when I bake from scratch I tend to modify the recipes. If it’s a newly tried recipe, I generally follow the recipe step-by-step. But after the first go around, the gloves are off and I modifying the recipe to make it mine. So, perhaps this is why I’ve never been able to conquer paper piecing.

I’ve tried to teach myself how to paper piece several times. In fact, a couple of years ago one of the quilting groups I participate in has a Washington State Block Swap (the blocks are our interpretation of the state of Washington) each year and I had the bright idea to use a paper pieced pattern for my block. It was a friendship star and I had purchased several prints of tulips, daffodils, apples, strawberries, corn, and other flowers or produce grown locally. The pattern was one I had found on the internet and it didn’t come with any instructions. This didn’t deter me because I had watched several demonstrations on paper piecing and it looked simple enough. I thought if I could hand piece an eight pointed star or complete a stack-n-whack block, I could surely stitch together a ‘stitch-by-number’ block. HAH!

Being the organizer that I am, I cut my fabrics into smaller pieces and laid them out according to their number corresponding with my pattern. I printed out several copies of my pattern, inserted a new needle in my machine, wound a couple of extra bobbins, and placed my ruler, small cutting mat, and rotary cutter next to my machine on my sewing table. I started my first block. I carefully lined up the first two pieces, shortened my stitch length, and began stitching. Simple enough. At least it was until I went to finger press my pieces. Because the shapes were angular, the pieces didn’t completely cover the shape. Ripping out 1.5mm stitches is not an easy task, especially when you are doing it with every piece. Within 5 minutes the paper began to fall apart and I was having some very wicked thoughts. Oh, did I mention my husband was sitting in my sewing studio with me? Well, he was until I began to verbalize my wicked thoughts. He promptly got up and went out to his shop until the smoke cleared.

Let’s fast forward to Saturday, September 5, 2009:

It’s a sew-in day with several of my quilting friends and I’ve been prepping all week on projects I want to work on. My friend, Diane, does beautiful work using the paper piecing method and she has offered several times to teach me how to paper piece. I always thought I was a lost cause because I’ve failed so many times. So I selected two different blocks to start with, both of them designed by Carol Doak. I found her patterns to be very user-friendly. She provides cutting information for each piece needed to complete the block which is a huge timesaver.

I arrived at the sew-in and got all of my things organized. After reviewing the blocks I selected, Diane felt the scrappy baskets would be a good one to start with. She sat with me for about 15 minutes and went over the basics and had me stitch a couple of the pieces on my pattern. Diane was so helpful in making sure I had the basics. She is a great teacher. She has a knack for identifying and organizing each step so you can easily understand the process.

I was so successful on Saturday that I stitched two blocks at the sew-in and have stitched four more at home. What do you think of them?

I'm no longer intimidated with paper piecing and am having lots of fun stitching these. I highly recommend Carol Doak's patterns. For the beginner, having the dimensions for cutting the individual pieces is a huge timesaver, not to mention keeping your frustration level down to a minimum. She even has a Yahoo! Group for added support and monthly challenges. Lastly, havinga friend who so generously takes the time to teach this method of quilting is invaluable. Thank you Diane. Without your help this method would not have had such an easy learning curve.

September's Challenge Block

2009-09-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

Although I haven't posted for a week, I have been busy in my sewing studio. I was able to complete September's Challenge Block last Saturday while at a sew-in.

This month, my friend Jo, author of the Pieceful Afternoon blog, selected Triangle Chain Block as our challenge block. The block itself went together rather quickly, but I'm not a fan of the sewing instructions. I found I used the written directions for cutting the pieces and assembled it on my own. I really like this block and think it will go nicely in my sampler quilt at the end of a year.

Fabric Tinting Tutorial and A Give-Away

2009-08-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

I came across a technique today that I was not familiar with and thought I'd share it with you. Plus, the author if the tutorial is having a Give-Away too.

Norma, author of Petit Debutant blog posted a tutorial on a technique for tinting fabric using colored pencils. The tutorial is well written and the end results are beautiful. Click here for the tutorial: Fabric Tinting Tutorial

But wait, there’s more. She is hosting a Give-Away. The winner of the Give-Away will receive the necessary supplies to do some fabric tinting on one of their own projects. Visit Petit Debutant to see how you can enter her Give-Away.

Have fun!

Trends and Traditions is Celebrating with a Give-Away

2009-08-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

To celebrate her first year anniversary in blogland, Heather Mulder Peterson, author of Trends and Traditions blog, is having a Give-Away. Heather designs and publishes quilt patterns and as prizes for her Give-Away is offering a couple of quilts and a stack of charm squares with a couple of patterns. Visit Trends and Traditions to learn more on how you can enter her Give-Away.

A Peep Into My Sewing Studio

2009-08-24T13:20:00.001-07:00

I always considered myself to be rather organized in my sewing room. My philosophy has always been like goes with like, something I picked-up while in college, in chemistry no less. Throughout my sewing / quilting studio you’ll see where I have followed this method; scissors are all together, needles are organized by type and size, fabric is arranged by color or theme, embroidery thread is stored by type and color, etc. Everything is kept relatively neat and organized… until you get to my cutting table.

My project status is at an awkward state right and it seems to be spilling into my sewing studio. For instance, I’ve finished the top to my musical angels quilt and it’s ready to be machine quilted except I’m not ready to machine quilt it until my machine quilting technique is perfected. While I’ve been working on my machine quilting technique I’ve also been working on a couple of other small projects.

Here's a picture of my cutting table from Angle #1...

Angle #2...

And, Angle #3...

This is going to be a coaster. I still need to finish the edge with a satin stitch.

These will also be coasters but I'm not sure how I will finish the edge. These designs are larger than the first one I showed and I'm not sure I want to do an edge finish.