October Challenge Block

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

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!

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!

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?

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

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!

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!

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

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

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.