Pottery and Everything Else

Kaleidoscope Quilt

2011-05-24T20:22:00.003-05:00

This is the finish kaleidoscope quilt, with this pattern from bee beautiful, for my Bee Addicted 2 online quilting bee.

The quilting was done by a friend of mine: TL Kennedy Longarm Quilting. Tracy did a wonderful job maneuvering around those tough points where all the piecing met.

We agreed to leave the kaleidoscope parts not quilted. Just quilting the white background really made that part pop out nicely.

This little beauty went to my co-worker, Penny, who was pregnant with her daughter the same time I was with Little E. We even were in the same birthing class together. Her daughter is such a cutie patootie :) I couldn't resist making this quilt for her.

Vintage Magazines and Pattern Books

2011-05-23T08:01:00.001-05:00

I picked these up at the AAUW annual used book sale. The two on the right are from the late seventies. They are in excellent shape for their age. The heart pattern one is cool. They take and dress up the heart block with using log cabin strips and also one pattern looks like the heart is laced with a ribbon. Not usually my cup of tea, but I thought it had possibilities.

The crochet snowflake pattern book also has this cool pattern to make a crocheted ball ornament. I hadn't seen anything like that before. My family may be getting these for Christmas this year :)

Nittany Block Party April Block

2011-05-23T07:53:00.001-05:00

For Ms. Tracy :) HSTs are my nemesis I tell you! Curses, darn those meddling kids...

Our May block also uses HSTs. I sewed together 28 3" blocks this morning. After work it will be making the second seam on them and then cut, press and put the blocks together.

Me & the Watch Me Grow Chart

2011-03-28T18:28:00.002-05:00

I used the Watch Me Grow pattern on Moda Bake Shop by Vanessa Wilson, a.k.a- Crafty Gemini.

As you can see from the close-up I have already marked out my Little E's birth, 4 month and 6 month heights (21", 27", and 29"). The ruler numbers and slashes were not in the pattern. I used my measuring tape to make the tick marks. Then slid the tape measure under the cream fabric and traced the numbers. I used the archival ink pens to fill in and outline the numbers.

The height of this finished at about 79" x 11".

Finished New Wave Quilt Top

2011-03-28T18:15:00.002-05:00

Using the New Wave quilt pattern by Oh Frasson. Now all I need to do is make a quilt sandwich since I have the back completed too.

I think I will just outline the waves for this one. Maybe a quilting line down the center of the wave too. Nothing overly complex as I do not wish to take away from the design and the fabric on this one.

**Edited: The finished top is 48.5" X 56". I had to trim a half inch off the bottom of the wedges when I messed up aligning the border fabric. It all worked out in the end :) The mess up was totally my fault for not reading the instructions properly :)

First three vertical rows complete

2011-03-17T02:58:00.001-05:00

I have finished five vertical rows for the new wave quilt. From the picture you can see that four of those have been sewn together for the top. The fifth is for the two I am placing on the back. Only four more to go :)

You can also see my stacks of wedges with the sashing sewn on them for the remaining columns on my cutting table.

This is really piecing together quickly!

Oh Frasson's New Wave Quilt

2011-03-15T08:02:00.001-05:00

Using this pattern I purchased from Oh Frasson's blogsite. The pattern and the expanded instructions are wonderful (full of good photos for illustrating the steps). I also purchased the plastic template she recommended as well. It made cutting the wedges super easy.

I was able to quickly cut out the shapes by stacking my fat quarters in sets of three. I am making the lap size, but cut enough wedges to make two vertical columns of the wedges on the back of the quilt too. Six wedges per fat quarter.

Nittany Block Party November 2010 Quilt Top

2011-01-11T09:17:00.001-05:00

For my month in the Nittany Block Party bee, I had my fellow bee babes make a zig-zag block. Here is the top on my design wall. It looks odd because I had to rotate the picture so it would bee the correct orientation :)

I want to thank each and everyone of the babes for their help. I think it is going to be beautiful.

Zig Zag Path block from Maggie Malone's 5500 Quilt Block Designs. Maggie credits Susan Dague with this block circa 1999.

Making improv trees

2011-01-10T19:22:00.002-05:00

Tammy has us making improv trees for her month (December) in the Nittany Block Party bee. My cutting table is always a mess when I make improv blocks. This is actually pretty clean for me during this process.

I try to layout the block on the table and add to it as I build. The brown strips will be the trunks of the trees, but not as thick. I will be adding the grey background to either side of the strips. Then addition grey at the top of the trees.

I finished another block for Tammy over the weekend. I will have to post it when I finish this one too.

Christmas Prezzies From My Honey

2011-01-09T21:15:00.002-05:00

I checked out the book, Grandma's Best Full Size Quilt Blocks from my library recently. It has a lot of nice traditional blocks as well as the history of the patterns and the authentic fabrics for the time period. It has an excellent spiral binding too to make it easier to leave open while you work from it. Justin found this one for me on Amazon.

My other gift was a gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop. I purchased the flying geese template, fabric and pattern from there. AND I still have more money to spend on my gift card :)

Nittany Block Party January

2011-01-05T22:26:00.002-05:00

It is my month to send out fabric, so I chose ModifyTradition's Magic Cross tutorial for my block.
I used my Bliss Fat Quarters, yeah!

Monster Christmas Ornament

2011-01-05T22:25:00.002-05:00

I had some fur fabric in my stash that I was experimenting with. I have seen some cute softie monsters recently and wanted to try one of my own ;)

Magic Cross Diagram

2011-01-04T09:04:00.001-05:00

Nittany Block Party 2011 – January

We will be using the Modify Tradition Magic Cross tutorial this month for my block. I am sending Bliss fabric to the group.

Awkward Family Pet Photos

2010-12-17T14:58:00.001-05:00

Gotta love a pair of cats that would actually sit still long enough to get this picture taken :)

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Charity Quilts

2010-12-16T21:37:00.000-05:00

I finally finished theses lap sized quilts that my friend, Tracy from TL Kennedy Longarm Quilting, quilted for me last January. I donated it to a local group for a charity raffle. I used a couple sets of charm squares I picked up at JoAnne's a couple of years ago. I think they turned out well. I like how simple they are. The colors and the bold prints help carry the tops.

An awesome close up of the great swirl quilting Tracy did for me. You can't tell from this photo, but the thread is a lovely mossy green.

I kept the backs simple to using left overs and some yardage from my stash. My goal was to not go out and purchase any addition fabric for the two quilts.

Sorry about the poor picture on this one. It was last minute and in my office at work right before I delivered the quilts for the raffle.

Another awesome close up of the quilting. This quilt had a lovely red thread for the quilting. It was very striking contrast on the black fabric.

Another simple back using up yardage from my stash.

Snowflake Ornaments

2010-12-16T09:50:00.001-05:00

I made some crochet snowflake ornaments for my son's teachers. I was finally able to starch and block them last night. They were all nice and stiff this morning. I really like how they turned out.

Courage to be You Charity Blocks

2010-12-04T21:05:00.000-05:00

Jennifer over on the 3x6 Sampler Quilt Mini Bee is making quilts for Courage to be You. It is an organization that helps exploited children. I was happy to use my sewing skills to contribute to this worthy cause. Hop on over an pledge a block or two too.

Windmill Liberated

I used Gwen Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking II book for this block. She called it a Windmill block.

Jacks Block Liberated

I used Gwen Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking II book for this block. She called it a Jacks block.

Minimal

Mint Chocolate

This was made from some stips that I still had after making this quilt.

A little bit of love

Amy Butler's, Love fabric line.

Improve Block

Soire'e #2

Lila Tueller Designs, Soire'e fabric line from a charm pack.

Soire'e #1

Lila Tueller Designs, Soire'e fabric line from a charm pack.

Spider Web Quilt for Baby Elliott

2010-12-01T09:35:00.001-05:00

Look what the lovely ladies of my Spider Web bee made me :)

I wasn't able to send out fabric in August to the group because of Little E. So they got together and made me blocks from their stashes.

How great is that! We are gonna be able to do I Spy with this quilt. It's gonna be great.

Thanks again everyone. We love it!

Pressing Seams

2010-11-22T10:32:00.002-05:00

I tried out a new quilt block this weekend called the Capital T Block.

I always get confused about how to press the seams on new blocks. Pressing to the side works for some things but open seems to work better for others. With the end goal being that the seams do not become overly bulky making it hard to quilt through them.

Do you have a set of rules you follow for pressing seams? Like:
- HST are open
- Geese are always to the side

Zig Zag Path Block

2010-10-31T21:41:00.003-05:00

Is it really November already? Boy, time files when your quilting with your online friends :) Here is the tutorial I whipped up for my Nittany Block Party quilting bee for the Zig Zag Path block from Maggie Malone's 5500 Quilt Block Designs. Maggie credits Susan Dague with this block circa 1999.

Fabric

(3) 5.5” x 5.5” Dark Grey Background Fabric
(3) 5.5” x 5.5” Orange Swirly Fabric
(3) 5.5” x 5.5” Blue or Green Thyme Fabric

**Edit 12/14/2010**
If you want to make a 12.5" finished block use the following measurements:
(3) 5" X 5" Background Fabric
(3) 5" x 5" Orange Fabric (A)
(3) 5" x 5" Blue or Green Fabric

This will give you wiggle room when you square up your half-square triangles to 4.5". Additional instructions for making a 12.5" finished square are in italics below.

Making Half-Square Triangles

One of the grey background squares set aside for the middle square of this nine-patch block. Then take the remaining (8) 5.5” squares and create the following pairs (right-sides of the fabric facing one another.

(2) green and orange
(1) green and grey
(1) orange and grey

*Note: The green, blue and orange fabrics are directional prints. We want to make sure they are going in the same direction when we place the right sides facing. Take a look at the folded over edges in the photo above. The green fabric’s print is going up and down with the bulb part at the top. The orange print’s swirls are also going up and down with the fatter part of the swirl at the top.

Now take you ruler and marking pencil and create a diagonal line down the centers of the squares. This is a 45-degree line down the center of the square.

You will be sewing 1/4" seams on either side of this line. Start off by placing your first paired square underneath your sewing machine’s foot. Align the guideline mark to the right where it touches the 1/4” guide on the foot.

Sew from one corner of the square along the guideline to the other corner. Now, you might normally pull off the finished square and add the second one. During which you would have to cut the thread to remove the square completely from the sewing machine.

Let us chain piece these squares instead. Chain piecing is where you keep feeding your squares or pieces of paired fabric though the foot of your machine. It creates this long line of stitched pieces. It speeds up piecing because you are not stopping to cut away each individual piece after you sew it together.

Now back to your freshly sewn squares sitting just past your foot. Pull slightly on the finished square to pull it a little away from the needle and foot area. This will give you a little slack in the thread between your first sewn set of squares and the next.

Then lift up your foot slightly and slide in the second set of squares to be sewn under the foot. You align the guideline to the right of the foot at the 1/4” again. Now slowly start to sew.

Repeat these steps for the third and fourth sets of squares.

In the end, you have all four sets sewn connected to one another by small sections of thread.

Now before you take that last square off, you can cut it away from the rest of the chain and continue to chain the squares through to sew the other seam for the Half Square Triangles.

Leaving the fourth set of squares under your foot. Cut the threads between the three sets still on the chain.

Pull slightly on the squares still under your foot a little away from the needle and foot area. This will give you a little slack in the thread between your last set of sewn squares and the next.

Then lift up your foot slightly and slide a set squares to be sewn under the foot. You align the guideline to the right of the foot at the 1/4” again. Since you have already sewn one seam down the square you will need to sew another seam on the opposite side. Once the square is under your foot, slowly start to sew.

Cut away the square that has only one seam sewn of the front of you new chain. Then chain sew the other three squares. Once again, you already have one seam done on the remaining three squares. Feed the squares into the foot so that the new seam is on the opposite side.

You do not have to do the chain sewing at all. I just like to do it because it makes piecing go faster.

You should now have four squares with two seams on each square.

Take them to your cutting matt. Place your rotary cutter ruler a square where the 1/4” line is aligned with one of your seams.

The edge of the ruler should be aligned with the center guideline you drew. Cut the square in half creating two triangles.

Cut all three remaining squares the same way. You should end up with 8 triangles.

Take your triangles to your ironing board and press the seams out. Flip it over to the right side facing you and press flat.

You have finished 8 Half Square Triangles, HST for short :)

We are going to square up our HSTs a little before combining them to make the finished Zig Zag Path block. So take out your trusty ruler that has a 45-degree line across it. I use my 6” square-up block.

With the right side of the fabric facing you, place the 45-degree guideline of the ruler on the diagonal seam of the HST. Move your squaring template so that you have a little bit of fabric on the side and bottom past the 5” marks of the template. You should see excess fabric now at the top and side.

**Edit 12/14/2010** If you are making a 12.5" finished block, square up your HSTs to 4.5".

Cut off the top and side excess with your rotary blade using the sides of the template as guide. Then flip the template around and align the 45 degree guideline with your center diagonal seam. Align the 5” marks of the template with the sides you just cut the excess off.

You should see excess on the bottom and side of the block now. Once again use your rotary cutter and template to cut away the excess.

Repeat the squaring up process on your 7 remaining HSTs AND the 5.5” grey background square we set aside earlier. You should end up with a pile of small slivers like this :)

**Edit 12/14/2010** If you are making a 12.5" finished block, cut your center background square to 4.5" too.

Now arrange your HSTs and the one solid grey block in the following configuration:

Sew the rows in the following order, pressing the seams open after each step.

You now have the final Zig Zag Path (nine patch) block :)

Summer Bees

2010-10-07T15:23:00.000-05:00

Make you feel fine
Blowing through the jasmine of my mind-ind :)

- Seals and Crofts (1972)

Just a little eye candy for you all. These are all the quilting bee blocks that I have finished over the summer.

1. Bee Addicted 2 September Block 3, 2. Bee Addicted 2 September Block 1, 3. Bee Addicted 2 September Block 2, 4. Bee Addicted August Block 1, 5. Circuit Block Party Block 1 August, 6. Circuit Block Party Block 2 August, 7. Scraptastic Bee September Block 1, 8. Scraptastic Bee September Block 2, 9. Scraptastic Bee August Block 1, 10. Scraptastic Bee August Block 2, 11. Spider Bee July 1, 12. Circuit Block Party July 1, 13. Circuit Block Party July 2, 14. Pinwheel Star for Beatnik Bee July, 15. Half Log Cabin for Nittany Block Party July, 16. Asterisk Blocks for Bee Addicted 2 July, 17. Wonky Star for July Scraptastic Bee, 18. Spider Bee June 3, 19. Bee Liberated: July, 20. Nittany Block Party: June, 21. Bee Liberated: June, 22. Bee Liberated: June #2, 23. Beatnik Bee: June, 24. Bee Addicted 2: June Extras, 25. Bee Addicted 2: June, 26. Bee Addicted 2: June, 27. Scraptastic Bee: June, 28. 3 X 6 Bee Block for Michellesews, 29. 3 X 6 Bee Block for Daveandsusi, 30. 3 X 6 Bee Block for funkygoodstuff, 31. 3 X 6 Bee Block for Quiltedoma, 32. 3 X 6 Bee Block for Chmihen, 33. 3 X 6 Bee Block for Neetermo

And just so you all are not worrying, I delivered our son without complications in early August. We have been limiting where we are posting pictures and detailed information about our son to only those places that are secure. We are trying to be careful. Thanks for understanding :)

In case it takes me a little while to get back here to post, have an excellent fall!

9 Months

2010-07-21T07:07:00.027-05:00

Well, here I am at 9 months with Little E! We went to the PSU Arboretum to get some photos taken by our friend Dave. He is a really good photographer. Check out his Flickr photos...

Oh and to top things off the kitchen remodel is going swimmingly :) Here's a sneeky-peek into how it looks:

Not much else going on here except getting ready to have Little E. I am hoping to get to some sewing this week and weekend. Let's see if Little E cooperates and gives me enough energy to do that ;)

Free Knitting eBook from Interweave's Knitting Daily Blog

2010-07-02T06:37:00.000-05:00

For all of you who like your eBooks, Interweave has a free download of a knitting book by Kathleen Cubley, "Knitting Techniques for More Successful Knitting". So hop on over get your free book.

Flowers from Little E

2010-06-17T13:46:00.003-05:00

When I came back from lunch today I had these lovelies on my desk :)

The card stated:

Little 'E' is what we have been calling the baby since we are waiting to share the name we picked out :) Apparently, Little 'E' has been scheming with his daddy recently. Hee hee...

Amy's Creative Side: AccuQuilt - Go! Cutter Giveaway!

2010-06-08T10:34:00.001-05:00

Head on over to Amy's blog (Amy's Creative Side) to enter for a chance to win!

Bees, Bees, and More Bees

2010-04-19T16:49:00.000-05:00

So I have been busy trying to get through my commitments to my online quilting bees. I was a little behind because of my morning sickness at the end of December / beginning of January. So I had lots of catching up to do :)

Here are all the blocks I did for my bees for February and March. I really enjoyed making each and every one of them. And my paper piecing skills are really getting challenged. I love it!
1. Bee Addicted 2: March, 2. Bee Addicted 2: March, 3. Beatnik Bee: March, 4. Beatnik Bee: March, 5. Nittany Block Party: March, 6. Nittany Block Party: March, 7. Circuit Block Party: March, 8. Scraptastic Bee: March, 9. Scraptastic Bee: March, 10. Scraptastic Bee: March, 11. Spider Bee: March, 12. Spider Bee: February, 13. Nittany Block Party: February, 14. Bee Addicted 2: February Block for Teaginny, 15. Bee Addicted 2: February Block for Teaginny, 16. Bee Addicted 2: February Blocks for Teaginny, 17. Bee Addicted 2 November Blocks, 18. Circuit Block Party: February Finished Blocks

ORB Round 4: Applique

2010-02-23T08:21:00.002-05:00

***You can find all the past tutorials one on my blog as well.

Other Applique Tutorials from Quilting Library

This is a double sided sticky lightweight webbing so that I can iron on my applique and not have to worry about pinning it to the quilt top. It is great stuff. I highly recommend using this for your applique. You can find it at Walmart and JoAnne's.

Place a sheet of the webbing over the top of your applique. Draw a rough circle on the paper backing. Make sure your drawn circle is smaller than the fabric circle.

Remove one sides backing paper. Place the sticky side against the wrong side of your fabric circle. Then iron away; make sure your iron is hot. It may take a couple of swipes of the iron to get the webbing to melt. The backing paper begins to look more transparent when this happens. Lift up an edge of the backing paper. If the webbing comes away from the fabric, you need to iron longer.

Here is what the webbing looks like after taking off the backing paper. Take your time getting the paper off. Sometimes it sticks to the webbing :)

Place your fabric circle on your quilt top. I am sewing the applique pieces to the top before I make the quilt sandwich. You could wait to add them until after you add the quilting too. But I wanted the quilting to go over my applique pieces.

Iron the fabric in place. The webbing will now stick the fabric circle to the quilt top. Look ma, no pins!

Now you are going to want to choose a coordinating thread for stitching down the circle. I wanted an outlined look for my circles, so I chose a dark brown. You can also chose a thread that coordinates better with your fabric so it blends in better. The choice is yours.

You will be using a zig-zag stitch to sew the circle in place. Above is what your zig-zag stitch should look like. The one side should just barely hit the outside of the circle. Take your time moving the fabric through your machine making small adjustments to follow the curve. I set my stitch length to 1, but you should use a scrap piece of fabric to figure out how long you want you stitch to be. You will not want it to long, but you also do not want it piled on top of each other.

You can backstitch at the beginning and end to secure the stitches. After completing my stitches all the way around the circle, I buried my threads through to the back of the quilt top. I also tied the top and bottom threads in small knots just to be on the safe side once they were together on the back.

Here is what the whole first row and border look like with the appliqued circle applied.

That is it! Repeat these steps for all of you applique circles. When you get to the ones that overlap, one completely on top of the other, just adhere the smaller one first to the larger circle. Then adhere the larger circle to the quilt top. I believe there is one of these between rows 3 and 4.

To complete you quilt, follow the wonderful quilting and binding instructions provided by Dana over on Old Red Barn.

That's it for Round 4! Now onto Pinwheels :)

ORB Round 4: Curved Piecing

2010-02-02T17:56:00.000-05:00

Making a Template

Materials you will need:

Hard paperboard or Cardboard
Thumbtack
String or yarn
Rotary Cutting Fabric Ruler
Fabric cutting matt

Place the cardboard on your cutting board. In the pictures I am using a regular piece of paper, since I already cut out my template. But the process is the same.

Use your rotary cutter ruler to make a vertical line down the right side about 12” in length. Do the same making a horizontal line along the bottom that crosses the vertical line (also 12” in length).

The red circle in the picture above is the center of your circle. This is where we will be placing the thumbtack to draw our curve.

Now scrounge up some string, or yarn and cut a 12”-13” piece and find a thumbtack too. Now tie one end of the string to the thumbtack.

You will want to tie a pencil to the other end of the string, but it needs to be at 10 1/2”.
If you place your thumbtack along the bottom of your cutting board or along a ruler you can pull the string so it is tight to get a feel for where you want to tie the pencil.
It doesn’t have to be exact. Just try your best to hit 10 1/2”.

Okay, now to draw your curve. Place the thumbtack at the intersection of the two lines on your piece of cardboard. You should be able to bury the tack so it sticks in the cardboard.

Now pull the pencil until the string is tight straight line. Line up the pencil with the horizontal line at the bottom.

Carefully move the pencil up the cardboard keeping the string as tight as you can. You will be going to move the pencil in an arch and not a straight line. The string will help you keep the shape of the arch. I had to do this a couple of times to get the shape right. Grabbing the pencil at the lowest point that is comfortable for you will help as well as making sure the string is as low on the pencil as possible too.

Now cut out your “pie piece”. The curve doesn’t have to be perfect. Just take your time. I used a regular pair of scissors to cut out mine.

You will be using this to trace a curved line on your blocks to cut out the 1/4 circle in the corner of the blocks. The two straight sides of the pie piece will be aligned with two of the sides of your block.

For those of you making smaller sized blocks, you can scale down the length of the string to accommodate smaller circles. If you roughly make your string 2” smaller than your finished block size it should be fine. You can also experiment on how large you want your circle. If you draw a square the size of your finished block on a piece of paper, then use the tack and string to draw different sized circles. Find the one you like and then measure the length between where the circle crosses your vertical or horizontal line from the corner of the square.

Layout Your Quilt Top

Now let’s take a moment to layout all the blocks you have made so far. You will want to make sure that all the blocks are squared down to 13” X 13”. Remember, the extra 1/2” is to account for the 1/2" seam of the curved piece. We are not adding any seam allowance to our template. When we are finished piecing, we will square down the excess to make a 12 1/2” x 12 1/2” block.

Now follow the chart and layout all your squares. Disregard the circle bits in the chart for now.

For example the first row would be (left to right):

Blank
9-patch
Blank
String (stop here for 4x5)
String (stop here for 5x6)
9-patch (stop here for 6X7)

Since I am doing the 4x5 layout, my first row is blank, 9-patch, blank, and string.

Now before you start cutting out all these curves, I would recommend doing two blocks at a time only; three tops. Otherwise, you will start to get lost. In some cases, you will be using your extra 9-patch and strings to make the pie piece for another block. I will point this out a little later. For now, let’s get started.

I already completed two blocks, the upper left-most block and the one diagonal from it. Let’s call them 1A and 2B, where the number is the row and the letters are the columns.

Now I am going to do the next two in this set of four blocks, 1B and 2A. I use my template to make sure that the orientation of the curved piece matches the diagram. In this case, it is the upper right corner of the 2A block.

When I pulled the block off the wall, I kept the template in the proper orientation. Placing the block and the template on my cutting table at the same time.

After laying the block and template down, I make sure that the straight edges of the template align with the sides of the block. Then I took a washable marking pencil, you can use a washable marker too, to trace around the curve of the template. I have a black pencil for the light fabrics and a white pencil for the dark fabrics. I can switch between the two while tracing that template.

I then started cutting the 1/4 circle out using a small rotary cutter (18 mm). Take your time. It seems harder than it looks. I like to pull the cutter towards me while cutting. I have more control over it that way. Do the cutting in small spurts. No need to try and do it all in one cut. You can also use scissors for this step as well. Keep as close to the line as you can.

You will now have a pie piece circle shape and an arched square piece.

Do the same for the next block (1B).

Pinning Your Curves

Take your two arched and pie pieces and switch the two pie pieces.

Move one of the sets to the side for a moment. Take the pie piece that is left and fold it in half along the curve to mark the center.

Open up the pie piece so that the right side of the fabric is facing you. Use your washable pencil/marker to make a line at the center where your crease is.

Do the same for the arched piece as well. But this time you are going to leave a pencil mark on the wrong side of the fabric.

Place your arched piece on top of the pie piece right sides of the fabric facing one another. Line up the two center marks.

Move the arched piece up until the two edges align.

Place a pin at the center marks.

Now you are going to want to pin your arched piece along the edge of the pie piece from the center out to the edge. Take your time and use as many pins as you like.

As you can see from my piece, I made sure that the arched pieces end was as parallel to the side of the pie piece as I could get it. You will also notice that some of the arched piece is hanging off the side. Make sure it is only less than a 1/2". This is the part we will trim off after we sew and press.

Do the same for the other side now; working from the center out to the side. You will notice that the arched piece becomes all folded during this process. This is expected. What matters is the 1/4" seam allowance area. Just as long as this area is smooth. You will be fine.

Alternative to Pinning

Now, pinning a curve is all fine and dandy. But personally I think it is a pain in my behind! A lovely alternative to using pins is using an Elmer’s Washable Glue Stick to hold the fabric together while sewing. Yep, you read it correctly. Elmer’s Washable Glue. Believe it or not this stuff washes out easily. So it makes a great ‘pin’ without all the hassle.

Let’s use glue on the second set of pieces instead of pinning. Take your arched and pie pieces. Lay them with the pie piece on the bottom and the arched piece on top (right sides facing). Line up your center marks like we did for pinning. Swip a small amount of glue on the edge of the pie piece near the center.

Try to keep the glue within your 1/4" seam allowance area. Then start at the center and work your way out to the sides using glue instead of pins to hold the two fabrics together.

Use and iron to set the glue as you move along the curved edge.

I used some pins to hold down the excess fabric on the arched piece so it was easier to manipulate it. Here is my glued version finished.

See how smooth the seam allowance area is. Also, I don’t have to stop my machine and pull out pins when I am sewing the curve either.

On To Sewing

Place your piece under the foot aligning the edge with your 1/4" mark on your machine.

Start sewing, but don’t try to straighten out the piece. Feed the curve slowly through the foot aligning the edge the whole way. I use my one had to keep the edge in place while the other one pivots the fabric through the foot.

Here is a video if you want to see it in action:

My piece after sewing:

Take your block to the ironing board. Gently flip the arched piece back so you are viewing the right side of the fabric. You are going to iron the right side; gently making the seam flat.

Trimming

Place your 12 1/2" acrylic square ruler on top of your ironed block. We are now going to square up the block.

You will now see how tight of a margin we have for making the block square. Do the best you can. We can always make up little differences when we sew up the rows.

Do you see how my acrylic ruler has a 45 degree line down the diagonal of the ruler? I use this to make sure that the ruler is aligned with the middle of the block I am trying to square up. The tips of that line are in the corners of my pie piece and the arched piece on top. Once you have your ruler where you want it. Cut away.

Place your squared block back up on your design wall or on the floor where you have your top laid out. Finish your second block. Place the two together on the wall so that the pie pieces are next to each other. You should see the seams line up like this:

Yeah! You now have done curved piecing.

Additional Pairings

As I mentioned above, there are a couple of spots where you will not be able to just grab two blocks and switch the pie pieces for them. One such spot is the three blocks located at 2C, 3B, and 3C.

Here I have cut out the pie pieces and switched them for 2C and 3B.

But now I have a problem. I need a 9-patch block so I can place it’s pie piece in the blank 3C block. This is where I had to grab from my extra 9-patches.

You will also need to do this for blocks:
3D and 4D
5B and 5C

Here is my layout will all the curved pieces cut out.

Finish Trimming

Now that you have all your curved piecing sewn. Collect the rest of the blocks, the ones without curves, and trim them down to 12 1/2" x 12 1/2".

You should be ready to sew up your rows when you finish trimming.

Applique Circles

Over the weekend I will be posting how I attached my applique circles to the top. I am mentioning them here because I am going to attach the circles as I build the top. That way I am not trying to machine sew them on when the whole top is finished. That way I don't have to manipulate the whole top through the machine.

If you want to do this too, just sew all of your rows together. Do not attach the rows to each other though.

Until then, toodles :) And as always, feel free to contact me with any questions.

Catching Up with Bee Commitments

2010-01-17T20:25:00.000-05:00

Scraptastic Bee

Jennifer wanted straight log cabins. She sent us the bird fabric. I added Katie Jump Rope to bring out the blue, green, and orange of the birds. I like the Mondrian looking outlines.

Nittany Block Party

Wanda wanted scrappy log cabins with a people fabric as the center square. I didn't have many people fabrics, so I chose a chicken instead (Metro Market, I believe).

A Spider Bee

Anna sent us the tea stained muslin as the centers and also a bunch of her scraps. She asked us to add from our own scraps to finish the 8 blocks. Don't know if you can tell, but I like saturated colors ;)

ORB Breast Cancer Awareness Charity Quilt

For ORB-Dana's Charity Quilt; The center flower is actually raised. The pattern is from the book Fantastic Fabric Folding by Rebecca Wat. There is a little bit of french knot embroidery in the center too.

Bob Perks Charity Quilts

Yep, there were two :) Thanks to everyone who contributed a square, or two, or four.

I Am (Sorta) Featured on We All Sew

2010-01-12T08:05:00.000-05:00

A little while ago I was contacted by Erika over on www.weallsew.com. She wanted to feature my Flickr photostream on her site. I felt honored that she would include me on her site.

We All Sew has lots of sewing related information; from free patterns and videos on sewing techniques. There is also a section, Sew to Serve, that has links to how to sew for charitable causes. Go over and check it out.

Today, I am officially posted on the site. Under the section Favorite Photo Galleries :) Thanks, Erika!

ORB Round 4: String Block and Appliqué Circles

2010-01-10T18:47:00.002-05:00

Appliquéd Circles

Okay now before we head down the path of cutting all your beautiful fabric into strips for your string blocks, let’s quickly talk about your appliquéd circles.

I have seen two different approaches to appliquéing circles: fusible interfacing and some kind of template you iron around to tuck your edges under.

Anna Maria Horner has a tutorial on how to use a template and foil to iron those pesky edges under for a perfect circle.

While I have done this method successfully with appliqué, I had been searching for an easier way to do them in mass. I found that using the fusible interfacing method not only gives you nice edges, but it also allows you to fuse the appliqué to the quilt top and not have to do a lot of pinning while sewing the appliqué.

Kris, over at Summer At Grandma’s House, has an excellent tutorial on how to do the fusible interfacing method on circles.

Now you are all thinking that is all fine and dandy, but how do I make the template or mark a perfect circle on a piece of fabric. Well, there are several methods.

You could:

go out and purchase on of those handy dandy Olfa circle cutters like the one ~~Dena~~ DeeRoo won.
use plates, bowls, glasses and lids as a template to mark around. Everyone has these items in their kitchen.
use a thumb tack and a piece of string tied to a pencil to make a compass to draw your circles.
purchase a ruler compass from Dick Blick. Though I had a hard time finding a ruler that the darn thing fit on. I ended up using a metal yardstick ruler from Micheal’s.

Any of these options will get you perfect circles. The kitchen items and string/tumbtack options are the most economical. But if you want to invest in the Olfa cutter or the compass ruler, have at it. Be warned though, the Olfa cutter only gives you circles up to 8 1/2” in diameter. We need 15” ones.

Regardless of which tutorial you choose to follow, you will need to make circle templates. In Anna's you will use the template to iron around. In Kris', you will use it to mark a sewing line for the edge of your circle.

Materials you can use for templates are the heat resistant template plastic you get at your local quilt shop, posterboard, or paperboard, like frozen pizza and cereal boxes. A really thin piece of cardboard would work too. I like using the posterboard. It is easy to come by and it comes in a variety of sizes. Get the white kind though, since we don’t want any dye leaching onto your pretty fabric now would we. Also the plastic template stuff only comes in 12” X 18”; certainly not big enough for our largest circle.

In the end, what you need are three different sizes of circles for you appliqué. I suggest using whatever you have laying around your house to make your templates. Just make sure there is enough size difference between the three for visual impact. My design has a 5” difference between each size.

Options 1, 2, and 3 all have the same number of appliquéd circles. So follow this chart for the size of quilt you are doing. Option 4 doesn’t have appliquéd circles.

6X7
(2) 15" Circles
(6) 10" Circles
(8) 5" Circles

5X6
(1) 15" Circles
(4) 10" Circles
(4) 5" Circles

4X5
(4) 10" Circles
(3) 5" Circles

You will want to cut out a square that is a 1/4” larger that the ending circle size. So for our 15” circles, you will want to cut out a 15 1/4” X 15 1/4” square.

Then follow the tutorial of your choice to make your appliquéd circles. Set them aside and we will sew them on a little later.

Stings

Check out the breakdown pdf to get the number of string blocks you need to make.

Here is a tutorial from the Sometimes Crafter, Christina, on how to make string blocks using paper piecing. Now don’t freak out about the paper-piecing bit. It is super duper easy. No fretting, okay.

The only deviation from the tutorial we will make is for those of you making Option 1. Since this design uses curved piecing you will need to make your sting blocks a half inch larger, 13” x 13”, to accommodate the curved piecing step. Options 2 and 4 should make their string block paper-pieces just like Christina does in her tutorial: 12 1/2" X 12 1/2".

Walmart, Staples, and other stores with office supplies have paper on a roll that you can use for your paper-piecing. They come in a variety of widths. Just make sure that the weight of the paper is a small number. The larger the number the heavier the paper.

Heavy paper = harder for your needle to punch through when sewing = harder to tear the paper away from your fabric when you are done :)

My prototype above uses 2 1/2” strips for the string block. But you could use various widths of fabric if you like to give it more variety. The longest strip you will need to go across the diagonal of the block is 18 1/2” long for the 13" X 13" block and 17 3/4" for the 12 1/2" X 12 1/2" block.

If you would like to make your strings with 2 1/2” strips you will need the following sizes for each block:

(1) 18 1/2” X 2 1/2”
(2) 16 1/2” X 2 1/2”
(2) 12 1/2” X 2 1/2”
(2) 8 1/2” X 2 1/2”
(2) 4 1/2” X 3”

Those last two strips are bit wider to make sure that you do not have a seam right at the corner. I wanted to eliminate bulk here to make it easier to sew later on.

Happy Sewing! And as always, post any questions you may have to this thread.

Pajama Pants

2009-12-11T08:48:00.000-05:00

So last night I had my first ever sewing class at Stitch Your Art Out in Pine Grove Mills, PA. Kim Davis was my instructor for the class. And what a wonderful teacher she is; very patient. I had such a wonderful time working with Kim and my classmates chatting away about life and sewing. I cannot wait until next Thursday.

We are making pajama pants. I am using Red Letter Day by Lizzy House from Andover Fabrics. I just couldn't pass up making pajamas from the geese and duck print. Kim suggested that I need to get a pair of yellow duckie slippers to complete my bedtime attire :)
I promise to post pictures of me in the pajamas when I am finished. But I probably won't have the slippers.

We were able to trace the pattern from the master pattern using a cool Pattern Ease stuff. Much easier to handle than that tissue stuff in commercial patterns. And OMG so much pinning! I am not used to so much pinning since most of quilt construction is smaller than 6" and I don't have to pin.

Then carefully cutting out the fabric. My biggest problem in the past was raising up the fabric to much and distorting the tissue. But with my flat sided Fiskars I was able to keep the fabric flat on the surface of the table; for the most part ;) I am glad I spent a little money on their purchase.

We were also able to sew the two back and two front pieces together at the crotch. I ended up getting one inseam finished and ironed before we had to pack up and leave. My "homework" is to finish my second inseam.

What is interesting to me is that the pattern author has us make a 1/2" seam and then cut it down to 1/4" before finishing the seam. I am sure there is a reason behind this, but I have no idea why we would do this. Then the whole bit about finishing seams.

I know that fabrics fray, duh? Why didn't I think about this when I tried to make clothing before? Just goes to show you how much better I learn stuff in the classroom setting. Reading a commercial pattern for me is like reading Greek. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Kim suggested finishing the seam using pinking shears, a zig-zag, or a second straight seam inside my original seam. I chose to use a zig-zag since I don't have a Serger and am not a big fan of the pinking shears. They always hurt my had to operate them. Maybe I should get them oiled or something; )

I am hoping that finishing the seams will add some strength to them. As any clothing I have made in the past has not stood up to wearing and washing. But then again, I didn't finish my seams on that clothing AND really know what I was doing in the first place :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Brrrrrrr...

2009-12-10T09:50:00.014-05:00

It's a little chilly in my office today. So I am wearing my monster gloves to keep warm. Along with a fleece jacket and a fleece blanket :) These lovely monster gloves are from my Handmade Swap and the lovely Kayla.

I also finished up my ORB Secret Santa gift too. I am putting it in the mail tomorrow for a special ORB buddy. Nope, I am not telling who, so don't bother askn' :)

The wallet is made with IKEA home dec weight fabric I picked up a while back. The dots in the middle are a Micheal Miller, I think. The fat quarters are Leanika from Dena Designs over at the Fat Quarter Shop. And the journal cover is Snow Flowers by Dena Designs.

Oh, and my younger sister posted picture of her drive home last night. Lots of snow blowing over in Illinois. I wonder how the roads are this morning? I am glad to say that she made it home safely.

Bumbles Bounce

2009-12-09T09:52:00.001-05:00

Our two newest ornaments from Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer TV Special by Rankin and Bass. The Bumble (a.k.a. the Abominable Snow Monster of the North) with Rudolf and Yukon Cornelius with his sled dogs. I love all of the Rankin and Bass holiday specials. The stop motion animation is incredible.

I had totally forgotten about purchasing these ornaments. It was a wonderful surprise to pull them out of their boxes last night and put them on our tree. Yes, hubby and I were actually able to put our up this year. See, we have to travel sometimes around the holidays. And with three mischievous cats, we decide not to tempt fate and leave them munchies when we are away from home.

I purchased LED lights for the tree as well. I love them and feel better about keeping the tree on and not consuming to much energy to do it. Expensive little things though, 11.99 for 60 lights. But I know I did the right thing :)

ORB Round 4 Sting Tutorial
I should be posting the next tutorial for the string block this weekend. I had hoped to get it done this week. But it just isn't working out.

College Professor

2009-11-20T08:31:00.000-05:00

My ceramics professor, Gil, in college recently moved to rural Boone county near Louisville, Kentucky. He and his wife, Yuki, have lots of animals. You know dogs, ginea pig and...chickens. Gil recently wrote an article about his chickens and the circle of life. Check it out. It is a great read.

We had such great times at the ceramic building during college. Gil introduced me to humus and lots of other interesting foods. He was such a calming influence on all his students. Patient, helpful and always there when you had questions about art as well as life in general. I will always remember the small amount of time I spent sharing a studio with Gil and Yuki.

Beatnik Bee

2009-11-19T21:55:00.003-05:00

One last bee getting started. But this one is a themed bee. ~~We are still looking for two more members. So send me an email if you would like to join.~~ [Edited: We are all filled up now, thanks!]

An online quilting bee is where 12 members work over a year to make quilting blocks for one another. For the Beatnik Bee, we wanted to stretch our design skills a little by taking traditional blocks and changing them to a little more modern in flavor. For example,

stretching traditional blocks to make them rectangles instead of perfectly square
or making them a bit larger, like a single block for the whole quilt.
or taking a modern painter and thinking up a way to design a block that is inspired by one of their paintings, like Franz_Kline.
or using modern fabrics for a traditional block.

Like I said, stretching our design hats. The Beatnik Bee is an off shoot of the Block Party Quilt Along group.

Charity Quilt

2009-11-17T10:08:00.004-05:00

A while back I asked for block donations for a charity quilt. You all responded with such enthusiasm to help out the Bob Perks Cancer Assistance Fund, the JWC's charity recipient for the next two years. The quilters in the blogsphere are so generous.

Well, I finally got around to sewing the top together. I was pleasantly surprised to find out you all had sent me enough blocks to make not one, but TWO, tops. Here is a picture of the first one. I hope to sew together the other one tonight.

Thanks again!

ORB Round 4: Cutting and Piecing Your Snowball Blocks

2009-11-15T20:18:00.000-05:00

You will need five squares to complete one snowball block.

(1) 12 3/4" X 12 3/4" squares (main square)
(4) 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" squares (corner squares)

The amount of squares you will need for each size of top for Option 2:

(42) 12 3/4" X 12 3/4" (main squares)
(168) 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" (corner squares)

(30) 12 3/4" X 12 3/4" (main squares)
(120) 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" (corner squares)

(20) 12 3/4" X 12 3/4" (main squares)
(80) 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" (corner squares)

Your corner squares will be a different fabric from your main squares, so make sure you mix and match your fabrics to accomidate this. Here are some completed squares.

Cutting your fat quarters

You should have the following number of fat quarters for the top specified:

(47) for the 6x7 top
(31) for the 5x6 top
(22) for the 4x5 top

Cutting one fat quarter will produce all the pieces you need to complete a single snowball block:

(1) 12 3/4" X 12 3/4" squares (main square)
(4) 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" squares (corner squares)

Cut the following number of fat quarters using the directions below:

For the 6x7 top, you will need to cut 42 fat quarters.
For the 5x6 top, you will need to cut 30 fat quarters.
For the 4x5 top, you will need to cut 20 fat quarters.

1) Square up your fat quarter

2) Cut 12 3/4" from the bottom

3) Cut 12 3/4" from left side

4) Take top strip (22" X 5") and cut it down to 4 1/2"

5) Cut (4) 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" blocks from strip

Cutting your 1/2 yard cuts

You should have the following number of 1/2 yards for the top specified:

(17) for the 6x7 top
(13) for the 5x6 top
(8) for the 4x5 top

Cutting one 1/2 yard cut will produce:

(3) 12 3/4" X 12 3/4" squares (main square)
(9) 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" squares (corner squares)

As you can see, you will only produce enough corner pieces to complete (2) of the (3) main squares you get from cutting 1/2 yard. This leaves us about (3) corner squares short of completing the third main square. I have included instructions on how to get the remaining corner squares in a seperate set of instructions labled Cutting a 1/2 Yard To Get More Corner Squares.

Only cut the following number of 1/2 yard using directions in this section:

For the 6x7 top, you will need to cut (14) 1/2 yard cuts producing:

(42) 12 3/4" X 12 3/4" squares (main square)
(126) 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" squares
Leaving us (42) 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" corner squares to cut from the three remaining 1/2 yard cuts.

For the 5x6 top, you will need to cut (10) 1/2 yard cuts producing:

(30) 12 3/4" X 12 3/4" squares (main square)
(90) 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" squares
Leaving us (30) 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" corner squares to cut from the three remaining 1/2 yard cuts.

For the 4x5 top, you will need to cut (6) 1/2 yard cuts producing:

(18) 12 3/4" X 12 3/4" squares (main square)
(54) 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" squares
Leaving us (26) 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" corner squares and (2) 12 3/4" X 12 3/4" main squares to cut from the two remaining 1/2 yard cuts.

1) This is still folded in half. Place your fold to the right and the selvages to the left. Square up the top and the bottom of the folded 1/2 yard cut. Do not cut off the selvage yet.

2) Cut 12 3/4" from the bottom. Move the top strip off to the side for the moment.

3) Cut selvage off the left side of the bottom piece. Get as close as you can to the end of the selvage for the cut.

4) Cut 12 3/4" from left.

5) Makes (2) 12 3/4" x 12 3/4" squares.

6) Unfold the fabric leftover from the last cut (about 7" X 12.75")

7) Cut 12 3/4" from the left again. Keep the 12 3/4" x 12 3/4" square. Place the ~3" X 12 3/4" strip to the side.

8) Cut strip to 4 1/2". This is the strip from the first cut. It should be approximately 5" x WOF (width of fabric). This still has the selvage on it.

9) Open the strip; Cut off the selvage. Get as close as you can to the end of the selvage. You are cutting a single layer. Make sure you unfold the piece of fabric before cutting.

10) Cut 4 1/2" from the left. You can use your ruler horizontal lines to align with the top and bottom of the strip. This will make your ruler squared to the fabric. Then cut 4 1/2" from the left edge. Continue to cut 4 1/2" from the new left edge until you cannot get anymore 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" squares from the strip.

11) (9) 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" squares are produced from your 4 1/2 X WOF strip

Cutting a 1/2 Yard To Get More Corner Squares

For the 6x7 top, we still need (42) corner squares:
1) Cut (4) 4.5" x width of fabric from the 1/2 yard.

2) Open a strip; Cut off the selvage. Get as close as you can to the end of the selvage. You are cutting a single layer. Make sure you unfold the piece of fabric before cutting.

3) Cut 4 1/2" from the left. You can use your ruler horizontal lines to align with the top and bottom of the strip. This will make your ruler squared to the fabric. Then cut 4 1/2" from the left edge. Continue to cut 4 1/2" from the new left edge until you cannot get anymore 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" squares from the strip.

4) (9) 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" squares are produced from your 4 1/2 X WOF strip

5) Repeat Steps 2 - 4 on the remaining (3) strips.

6) You will still need (6) more corner blocks. Take another 1/2 yard and open it so that you have a single layer of fabric on your cutting board.

7) Cut a 13 1/2" from the left of the opened half yard.

8) Take the 13 1/2" x 18" square and cut (2) 4 1/2" strips from it.

9) Cut (3) 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" squares from each strip.

For the 5x6 top, we still need (30) corner squares:
1) Cut (4) 4.5" x width of fabric from the 1/2 yard.

2) Open a strip; Cut off the selvage. Get as close as you can to the end of the selvage. You are cutting a single layer. Make sure you unfold the piece of fabric before cutting.

3) Cut 4 1/2" from the left. You can use your ruler horizontal lines to align with the top and bottom of the strip. This will make your ruler squared to the fabric. Then cut 4 1/2" from the left edge. Continue to cut 4 1/2" from the new left edge until you cannot get anymore 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" squares from the strip.

4) (9) 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" squares are produced from your 4 1/2 X WOF strip

5) Repeat Steps 2 - 4 for the remaining (3) strips

For the 4x5 top, you still need (26) corner squares and (2) main squares. Take one of your two remaining 1/2 yards and:

1) This is still folded in half. Place your fold to the right and the selvages to the left. Square up the top and the bottom of the folded 1/2 yard cut. Do not cut off the selvage yet.

2) Cut 12 3/4" from the bottom. Move the top strip off to the side for the moment.

3) Cut selvage off the left side of the bottom piece. Get as close as you can to the end of the selvage for the cut.

4) Cut 12 3/4" from left.

5) Makes (2) 12 3/4" x 12 3/4" squares.

6) Unfold the fabric leftover from the last cut (about 7" X 12.75")

7) Cut (2) 4 1/2" strips.

8) Cut (3) 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" squares from each strip.

9) Cut strip from the top to 4 1/2". This is the strip from the first cut. It should be approximately 5" x WOF (width of fabric). This still has the selvage on it.

10) Open the strip; Cut off the selvage. Get as close as you can to the end of the selvage. You are cutting a single layer. Make sure you unfold the piece of fabric before cutting.

11) Cut 4 1/2" from the left. You can use your ruler horizontal lines to align with the top and bottom of the strip. This will make your ruler squared to the fabric. Then cut 4 1/2" from the left edge. Continue to cut 4 1/2" from the new left edge until you cannot get anymore 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" squares from the strip.

12) (9) 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" squares are produced from your 4 1/2 X WOF strip

You should now have all (20) main squares and (69) corner squares. We still need (11) corner squares.

Take your last 1/2 yard cut and:
1) Cut (2) 4.5" x width of fabric from the 1/2 yard.

2) Open a strip; Cut off the selvage. Get as close as you can to the end of the selvage. You are cutting a single layer. Make sure you unfold the piece of fabric before cutting.

3) Cut 4 1/2" from the left. You can use your ruler horizontal lines to align with the top and bottom of the strip. This will make your ruler squared to the fabric. Then cut 4 1/2" from the left edge. Continue to cut 4 1/2" from the new left edge until you cannot get anymore 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" squares from the strip.

4) (9) 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" squares are produced from your 4 1/2 X WOF strip

5) Repeat Steps 2 - 4 to the remaining strip.

Assembling your block

1) Take one 12 3/4" X 12 3/4" square and lay it right side facing you. This is your main square.

2) Place one 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" square in each corner of the main square. You need to use a different fabric for the 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" squares than what your bigger main square is. In my example, I have a large flower print as the main square and the light blue and white fabric as the 4 corner squares.

3) Make a sewing line across the diagonal of each of the four squares.

You can see all my sewing lines on the four corner squares. Yes, its a different square. Forgot to take a picture of this step finished with the original block :)

4) Pin all four corner fabrics to the main square.

5) You are going to sew on your line. Not to the right or left of it like we did in the zig-zag quilt. Sew all four corners like this.

6) You need to cut off the extra fabric at your corners. Place you 1/4" line of your ruler on your seam

Remove the extra fabric and place it in a pile. You can sew these scraps together later if you like.

Here is what the block looks like after cutting all four of your corners.

7) Iron your seams open.

Finished Snowball Block

Here are my two finished snowball blocks. As you can see, you will have a secondary set of squares created in the quilt from the corners of four of these blocks coming together.

Happy Sewing!

ORB Round 4: Crazy 9-Patch Piecing

2009-11-13T17:14:00.000-05:00

Piecing Crazy 9-patch Blocks
I am a big believer in not recreating something that already has a great tutorial available on the web. I also don't like to take credit for something that I had no hand in inventing. So to give credit where credit is due, go over to AllSorts (Jenny B) to learn how to piece the Crazy 9-patch together.

Please read the following before following Jenny B's instructions:
**Note: We are going with 15" blocks because you will lose an inch off each side during the piecing process. Then we are going to square up the blocks for curved piecing. We will then lose another 1/2" of each side during the curved piecing process. The extra measurement at this step is so that we have enough room to square it up and it still be large enough to account for the loss of the 1/2" in the next step and still have 12 1/2" block when we are finished.

Instead of cutting your blocks into 12" x 12" squares, you should have:

12 stacked 15" X 15" blocks for the 6X7 versions of option 1, 3 & 4
9 stacked 15" X 15" blocks for the 5X6, 4X5 versions of option 1, 3 & 4

For those of you using 12 blocks:

If you are using 12 different fabrics, go ahead and stack all of the blocks alternating the fabrics so that no two blocks of the same color or print are touching one another.
If you have 9 different prints with 3 of those repeating once like I suggested:

Take the 3 squares that are your repeats. They should be 3 different fabrics. Stack these one on top of another. Then follow my instructions below for piecing this stack together.
Then take the other 9 squares and stack them so that you do not have two fabrics that are the same color or print next to one another.

For those of you using 9 blocks:

Go ahead and stack all of the blocks alternating the fabrics so that no two blocks of the same color, or print are touching one another.

Additional Challenge
For those of you that want to be a little more adventurous, you can also make this block using curved piecing. Jenny B's instructions are for straight piecing. Follow the steps below to add a twist to this block.

Straight Piecing Crazy 9-Patch Example

Curved Piecing Crazy 9-Patch Example

Yeah! Our first curved piecing. We are only going to do "slight" curves here. Bigger curves will come later I promise. Instead of cutting straight lines in the blocks like Allsorts suggest, make a slightly curved cut to the stack of blocks.

Before we get to actually cutting your fabric. Let me walk through piecing a gently curve.

1) Make your curve only slight. We don't want circles here. Only gentle swoops :)

2) Take your two pieces and find their centers. Fold them in half and finger press a line for the center.

3) Line up the two pieces, right sides facing one another by lining up the two center creases you just made.

4) Pin the centers together; making sure to keep the edges aligned. **Notice I am switching to my muslin example at this point. I did the same process with my final fabric as I did with the muslin. The final fabric will creep its way back into the pictures in a couple more steps. :)

5) Pin the outer edges of the pieces making sure that the seam edges are aligned just like you would for a straight seam.

6) Now pin out from them middle to the sides making sure that the 1/4" closes to the edge where the seam is going to be is flat. Keep negotiating the top pieces fabric until it all lays flat. The top piece will be rumpled. That is okay. Just as long as the area around where we are going to sew our seam is flat your piecing will lay flat during our ironing step later.

**NOTE: I will show you an alternate, and easier, way to "pin" the pieces together for sewing in a little bit. We just need to finish the pinning example first.

7) Sew your seam like you normally would by gently guiding the fabric through your machine keeping the edge aligned with the 1/4" seam mark on your machine (or the edge of your foot). Remove the pins before sewing over them. Keep the fabric as flat as you can while sewing.

8) Now we need to iron the seams flat on the back of the block. This is what your piece will look like before ironing it out. Don't worry. It will lay flat.

You need to press the seams out on the back. Otherwise there will be too much bulk later on when you are trying to cut your third and fourth cuts for the 9-patch block. If you need to make small snips along the fabric on the back to get it to lay flat do so. Just make sure you do not cut the seam.

9) This is what your finished curved seam should look similar too. All nice an ironed flat.

Alternative to Pinning

An alternative to pinning a curved piece, is to use... yeah, you guessed it glue! Specifically, Elmer's Washable Glue Stick. I learned this trick from another blogger, but I can't remember her name. She used it for gluing the binding down to the back of the quilt to make it easier to hand sew the binding with no pining involved.

The glue washed out fine on a quilt that I used it to glue the binding down. Though if you are worried about residue for a quilt intended to be an heirloom, you may want to stick with the pinning. I am okay with gluing. My quilts are going to be used and washed repeatably.

1) So instead of pinning your two pieces together at the center folds as stated above in step 4, add a little bit of glue along the edge of the bottom piece. Make sure you try to only put the glue on the 1/4" seam area. Otherwise you will have to tug a little on the block to get it to lay flat for ironing later. As you can see in my photo, I was not very careful ;)

2) Start in the middle and work your way out to the side. You should end up with the sides ending at the exact same point. Don't worry about the rest of the upper piece being all rumpled. Just as long as the area next to the edge is flat for your 1/4" seam you will be fine.

**Same point with my final fabric. See how it is a little wobbly too.

3) This is the piece with the glue in place. Next you are going to want to set it with your iron. Not to long; just enough to get it to set (dry) the glue.

4) You can see that setting the glue also makes the edges lay a little flatter too.

5) Once again, sew your seam like you normally would by gently guiding the fabric through your machine keeping the edge aligned with the 1/4" seam mark on your machine (or the edge of your foot).

6) Flatten your seams in the back and iron the right-side flat too. You may need to use a tool to get the fabric in the back apart to iron flat. I used a small flat head screwdriver. Just gently pry apart the fabric. The glue is not permanent, but it is very good at its job of keeping the fabric together :)

The following image matches the one above with my final fabrics after ironing my seams and front flat.

You will do these steps for each of the seams on your stacks of squares. Now to walk you though piecing your 3 Stack and 9 Stack of squares.

Piecing 3 Stack
**Only for those of you creating Option 1, 3 or 4 with a 6 block by 7 block top.

1) Take your stack of 3 squares and make sure they are all aligned in a stack.

2) Make a cut, straight or curved your choice, going from the bottom to the top of the stack. You will be going through all three squares in the stack. So go slowly. My example will be using curves. For straight ones, use your rotary cutter ruler to make sure the cut is straight.

3) Take the top piece in the stack of pieces you just cut off from the main square and place it at the bottom of the pile.

4) Follow the curved piecing instructions from above. You will need to follow the instructions for each of the 3 squares in the stack. Make sure while you are sewing your seams and gluing/pinning your pieces together to keep them in order.

This is what it should look like after finishing your ironing.

5) Now we will make our second cut. Stack the squares up again so they are all aligned. Cut slowly from the bottom to the top again going through all three squares. My example is using curves. For straight ones, use your rotary cutter ruler to make sure the cut is straight.

6) Now take the top two from the side stack and move them to the bottom.

7) Follow the curved piecing instructions from above again; keeping your squares in order while sewing and ironing them. Here is what the top square looks like after the second cut has been sewn and ironed.

8) Stack up your three squares again. Turn the stack 90 degrees clockwise. Then make your third cut; once again going from the bottom to top through all three squares. My example is using curves. For straight ones, use your rotary cutter ruler to make sure the cut is straight.

9) Move the top piece from the stack you just cut off of the main squares to the bottom of the pile.

10) Follow the curved piecing instructions again. Here is the top square after sewing and ironing.

11) Stack up your squares one last time. Placing the last set of seams you sewed on the right. Then make your fourth cut on the left side of the stack going from bottom to top. My example is using curves. For straight ones, use your rotary cutter ruler to make sure the cut is straight.

11) Move the top two pieces from the side stack to the bottom.

12) Follow the curved piecing instructions one last time. And iron your blocks flat.

13) Finally, square up your 3 finished blocks to 13" X 13". Here is what my three finished blocks look like.

Piecing 9 Stack

Follow JennyB's instructions for cutting up your stack of 9 blocks. If you want to do the curved piecing, just follow my curved piecing instructions above every time Jenny has cut the stack of squares and asks you to sew the pieces together.

Snowball Cutting & Sewing Instructions
I will be posting the snowball block instructions on Monday, November 16th. Until then, happy sewing!

Giveaway This Week
BTW! FlossieBlossoms will be giving away a sewing organizer this week. Make sure you keep your eyes peeled on the ORB Discussion Threads for her post.

2009-11-10T12:53:00.002-05:00

Hawthorn Threads is having a giveaway (http://www.hawthornethreads.com)! I recently ordered from them and found their prices and service to be spot on. You get discounts per yard the more you buy.

Photo Courtesy of Hawthorn Threads

They had the Kiwi Timeless Traditions Fabrics I have been searching as well as some harder to find prints. Go on and hop over there to sign up to win!!

Online Quilting Bees

2009-11-07T15:44:00.003-05:00

12 Squared Oct.
Uploaded by handmadebyalissa on 6 Nov 09, 12.34PM EST.

I am Bee Momma for a couple of online quilting bees that will start in January of 2010.

These bees spun off of the Block Party Quilt Along flickr group. Block Party was one of the first online quilting groups. As a matter of fact, Handmade By Alissa one of the organizers of the Block Party group made the two blocks in the picture above.

Block Party is making a book about the online modern quilting community. They will be posting to their blog quarterly instructions on blocks. You can follow along and post pictures of your finished blocks/quilts to their flickr group. You may even be included in their book.

What is an online bee you ask? Well it is when 12 members of the online community get together and promise to make blocks for one another for a full year.

Each member is assigned a month of the year. When it is your month, you send out instructions and fabric to the other members on what type of block you want them to make. Then by the end of the month they will send you back a completed block. The rest of the year, you make blocks for the other members and mail them back by the end of the month. Easy peesy right!

Well, one of my bees is all filled up. But my other one, Circuit Block Party, needs a couple of more members. We have a mixture of U.S. and international members. Lots of fun to be had. Come join us!

So if you are interested, please send me an email, heidielliott72@gmail.com. I need 3 more people.

Thanks!

ORB4 Round 4 - Week 2, Cutting Crazy 9-patch and Blank Blocks

2009-11-04T17:57:00.001-05:00

Well hello everyone! We are on week 2 of round 4 in the Old Red Barn Quilt Along. See my previous post for information on the designs and fabric requirements if you want to join in the fun!

And now for the cutting instructions!

Cutting Instructions for Crazy 9-patch and Blank Blocks:

Option 1: Wild Circle Suprise
Option 3: Little of This, Little of That ...
Option 4: Look Ma, No Curves!

**Note: Option 2: Snowball Supreme does not have crazy 9-patch or blank type blocks in the design. The cutting and sewing instructions for the snowball block will be posted Monday, November 16th.

Download the PDF with the instructions on how to cut up your fat quarters or 1/2 yard cuts. Each option has it's own page of instructions.

Option 4 Changes
I had to make a minor change for Option 4. The snowball blocks are now blank block types. After making the snowball block, I found out it would require a really odd cutting measurements to make it work with the string and crazy-9's in this option. The easiest solution was to change them into blanks.

Any questions, pleas feel free to let me know.

Instructions for piecing the crazy 9's and blanks will be posted sometime next week. Snowball cutting instructions will be posted Monday, November 9th.

Happy Cutting! And look for another giveaway soon over on the ORB Flickr discussion threads.

**Edited 11/7/09
Several people were having problems with the written instructions. So I made some step by step photos of the cutting process. The photos are on flickr in sets (see the links below).

These are only for the crazy 9 patches and blank blocks. Strings and snowballs are still in the works.

1/2 Yard Cut
Fat Quarter (Crazy 9)
Fat Quarter (Blank)

The pictures in the sets are labeled step 1, step 2, etc. Each photo has a description to help you through the step.

ORB4 4 - Curves and More: Week 2, Winner for the Fat Quarter Pack

2009-11-02T08:33:00.002-05:00

I know I promised the cutting instructions today, but I felt uncomfortable having you cut up your beautiful fabric before I went through and made some prototype blocks :) So I spent most of Sunday afternoon doing just that instead of finishing the cutting diagrams.

I went through and cut up some fat quarters using my cutting instructions. Then I finished out each type of block, crazy 9-patch, snowball, blank, and string, to make sure that everything ended up correctly. To wet your appetites for the instructions, I included pictures of the prototypes, hee hee... See below.

Instructions should be posted no later than Wednesday, November 4th. Thanks so much for your patience. I promise it will be worth the wait. More diagrams and pictures to help you on your way. Even video too! (Thanks to my wonderful husband recording me sewing.)

Giveaway Winner

So without further ado, the winner of the beautiful fat quarter set by Jennifer Paganelli, "Dance with Me" is Lara's Theme!

And a surprise second place winner, that gets the October 2009 edition of American Patchwork Quilting (cover photo above) is Sunflower43.

Please contact me via Flickr mail to claim your prize!

Quilt History

Quilts have such a rich history. When I was researching blocks for this round I stumbled upon the history of the Drunkard's Path block. Drunkard's Path is just one of many ways to arrange some curved piecing blocks. This particular block cuts out a 1/4 circle from the corner of a square block.

I just love how interesting the pattern is for Drunkard's Path. My father-in-law has a quilt made by his grandmother, my husband's great-grandmother, using this pattern. The red fabric has even faded to a brown. I love looking at the quilt every time we visit my father-in-law.

The history of the pattern is interesting in that the pattern was renamed to fit into the Temperance movement. Hence, the name Drunkard's Path :) Drunk... Abstinence of alcohol movement... Get it? :) The traditional colors for the pattern were either red with white background or blue with white background.

Prototype Photos

Blank Prototype
Completely boring in muslin but it did the trick :)

String Prototype
I wanted to see if cutting two fat quarters would actually yield two string blocks. You would want to add a little more variety to the fabrics. I just alternated.

Crazy 9-Patch Prototype
Now I have given away part of the surprise :) I will be including instructions on how to make a curvy crazy 9-patch

Snowball Prototype
Now normally the center fabric would be different from the four corner blocks. But once again I used muslin instead of cutting up my real fabric. You may want to try this technique sometime to work though ideas and not use up valuable fabric. At $9.00+ a yard it gets pricey :)

All Four Block Prototypes
Now you wouldn't cut the string blocks so that the circles would end up like this :) You would make sure to turn them so that the stripes are running different directions. I just needed to make sure that the aligned and ended up the proper size.

November Bee Addicted 2 Fabric

2009-10-31T12:22:00.002-05:00

Notyetvegan sent us a black and white print with two solids to make her blocks for the month of November in the Bee Addicted 2 Quilting Bee Flickr group. She wants some improvisational blocks that measure in one of these sizes:'
6.5x 6.5
6.5 x 12.5
6.5 x 18.5
12.5 x 12.5
12.5 x 18.5
18.5 x 18.5

Her fabrics are the three folded at the right of the photo. I pulled from my scraps and stash with the Poppy Passion (B&W), the blue Katie Jump Rope, and the orange batik. This is going to be lots of fun.

Charity Quilt

Hey Diddle Diddle Woolies contribution to the charity quilt. I received them early last week, but have been unable to post them :) I am in love with the swirls and dots! Thanks, Bren!

Old Red Barn Round 4: Curved Piecing

Don't forget that round four has started over on the Old Red Barn Flickr group. Visit my previous post on how to enter the giveaway as well as the designs for the next round: Old Red Barn Round 4: Curves and More

On Monday, November 3 I will be choosing a winner and posting the cutting instructions for the Crazy 9-patch and Blank blocks. See you then :)

Giveaway at the Canton Village Quilt Works

2009-10-28T14:59:00.001-05:00

The Canton Village Quilt Works is having a giveaway of goodies she received at the Quilt Market. Hop on over for a chance to win!

Old Red Barn Round 4: Curves and More

2009-10-25T20:57:00.003-05:00

Welcome to round four of the Old Red Barn Quilt Along! This round is going to be a smorgasbord of blocks for you all. We will be doing the following block types and techniques:

Curved Piecing
Applique Circles
Crazy 9-patch
String
Snowball

Now don't you worry or get intimidated by the diagrams below. We will be taking things one step at a time. And everything will be easy-peasy :) I included some designs that do not include curved piecing and applique just in case you are still a little shy about trying them. So without further ado, here are the designs.

**~~Each link goes to a PDF google document that has all the fabric requirements for that design.~~ I made some errors in the fabric requirments for these designs. There is the new document that has general instructions and requirements information for all four designs. The pdf links below will only be the diagrams for that option (links were edited to point to the new pdfs). And another PDF that shows the number of each type of block for each option.

Option 1: Wild Circle Surprise
This option has a little bit of everything in it for you: string and crazy 9-patch blocks, curved piecing and appliquéd circles.

Option 2: Snowball Surpreme
This option does not include any curved piecing, but does include some appliquéd circles on top of the snowball square. This is for anyone who is still nervous about curved piecing. The snowball block uses straight sewing to make an octagon that looks like a circle.

Option 3: Little of This, Little of That...
This option also has no curved piecing, but includes lots of string and crazy 9-patch blocks. I also included some appliquéd circles on this one to add some depth.

Option 4: Look Ma, No Curves!
This option has no appliqué or curved piecing, just a little bit string, crazy 9-patch and snowball block types.

I will be doing Option 1 since it has all of the blocks and techniques in it. This will also be the quilt that will be up for a giveaway at the end of this round. Until that time, hop on over to the flickr group for the first giveaway, a fat quarter bundle from Jennifer Paganelli called Dance with Me.

To enter, just leave a comment on the discussion thread. On Sunday, November 1st, I will randomly draw a winner. I will contact you via your Flickr account mail for your address to mail you your prize sometime on Monday, November 2nd.

Good Luck!

Bee Addicted 2 October Blocks

2009-10-16T07:24:00.000-05:00

Bee Addicted 2 member Went_ot has the month of October. She sent us these beautiful vintage sheets to make a 16 X 16 block. Her fabrics were used for the block in the upper left photo below. Went_ot is making bento boxes. I can't wait to see it finished.

I dipped into my own vintage sheet stash and am making her a couple more blocks. I am also including some of the sheets I used if she wants to piece a border or part of the back of the quilt.

ORB Round 1 Quilt Finished

2009-10-11T18:32:00.001-05:00

I took a quick picture of the label for my Round 1 ORB Quilt Along before sewing it on. I was in a rush today to get the label on as well as a hanging sleeve. The quilt needed to be dropped off for our local quilt show by 5pm today. Yikes! Talk about waiting til the last minute. I will be sure to share pictures of it when it returns from the show.

The quilt show is October 25 and 26. I plan on sharing photos with you all of the event. It is organized by the Centre Pieces Quilt Guild. I joined this group of quilters in September. I am looking forward to the show and leaning new things through the guild.

Back to the lable... As you can see I used what little scraps I had left from the front of the quilt to encase the label. This is the first time I used a print out of a font from my computer to trace for the lettering. I really like how it turned out.

I ironed freezer paper to the back of the label fabric (white middle piece). Then I taped it to the sheet of paper that I printed out on my laser printer. I held the sheet of paper up to the window so that I could see the type through the fabric. I then traced it with a pencil. The finishing touch was using a very fine tipped archival marker to write over the pencil lines.

After the tracing, I sewed on the border like you would courthouse square blocks. First the top and bottom edges. Then the left and right edges; making sure to cut off the excess after sewing each pairs.

Then I sewed a 1/4 inch all the way around the block. This was so I could have a guide to iron under edge. But also to make sure the seams on the border pieces stayed in place.

I used an Elmer's Glue stick to glue the edge under. That way I didn't have to fuss with it during my sewing. I used the glue stick and the iron to set it. I read about this trick in a tutorial online, but can't remember where. If any of you know, can you comment with the link :)

And let me tell you! Boy, does it work! Sewing this label and the binding for this quilt was a breeze using the glue down technique. No bunching, no holding the binding in place, no pinning, no clips. Ahhhh...

Have a great week :)

Mums and Quilting Completed

2009-10-09T14:54:00.008-05:00

Mums

I have these lovely mums growing in my flower boxes at the front of my house. I picked some to brighten my hobby room while I finish the binding on my rails quilt.

Quilting Finished!

I took some quick pictures of the now quilted, yeah!, rail fences quilt from Old Red Barn Co. Sew-a-long Round 1. I made these "wonky" concentric square patterns for the quilting. The lime green strip at the right of the last picture is the binding.

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2009

2009-10-09T07:22:00.003-05:00

This is my favorite quilt to date. This doll-sized crazy 9-patch was made for one of my nieces back in March of 2008. I hadn't been quilting long at this point. And this was my first non-strippy quilt attempt. I found the tutorial for the crazy 9-patch on Jenny Beck Harris' All Sorts blog. I fell in love with the vintage fabrics she used in her tutorial.

I just love this quilt. It makes me smile every time I look at these pictures. To me everything seemed to gel perfectly for this quilt. The fabrics are bright, cheery, and vintage looking. There are actual vintage reproductions in there too. The quilting was one of my first "original" free-motion designs that went beautifully with the quilt. It is also one of the first quilts that I did with a border. Though, that really isn't saying to much since I had just started quilting the previous fall (2007) :)

The Crazy 9 Patch block was so much fun to sew. The finished quilt looks like I spent a lot of time piecing all those small rectangles together when actually most of it was done through cutting a stack of blocks and resewing them together again.

The scrappy border pulls out most of the fabrics from the middle. I really like scrappy borders because the use up the leftover fabric from the block creation. I tend to enjoy scrappy quilts the best because they are "reusing" something that may have been discarded. Not exactly recycling but definitely using up what one has on hand.

And to top it off this quilt went to one of my nieces, like I mentioned before. I feel like I am keeping a family tradition where the aunts make the nieces quilts. I received one from my grandmother and my aunts when I was about 8 or 10.

The quilt was red and white. The red fabric had little strawberries all over it. It was a simple quilt with alternating blocks of red and white, but the white blocks had these large appliqued strawberries on them made from the red strawberry fabric. To give you some backstory, my nickname in my mother's family was strawberry, so I of course received a strawberry quilt. I still have the quilt even though it is in sad need of repair.

Now go pop over to Park City Girl's blog and see the rest of the show! :)

More Photos

Backing for the Quilt

A close up of the flower motif after washing.

A close up of the flower quilting motif with my guidelines still showing before I washed the quilt.

Quilt top before quilting

Goodies from The Fat Quarter Shop

2009-10-07T07:51:00.019-05:00

Giveaway!
[Edited Later]

Rosa Maria is having her first giveaway. Two lovely bags/purses she made. Hop on over and leave a comment for a chance to win!

[Edit Finished]

Goodies

My goodies arrived from the Fat Quarter Shop earlier this week. I have been eyeballing the Monaco by Dena Designs for a while now. It was on sale, so hop over and get yourself some.

The Fat Quarter Shop is really responsive to shipping the order in a timely manner. I have never had something missing or need to return anything either. They have a good selection and their sale prices are great.

The other fat quarter bundles are Finona by Anna Griffin at 50% off stacked in the back there. Then Apple by Timeless Treasures Fabrics to the left of Monaco. They have these cute little owls on them as well as flower and apple designs too. Too cute!

StephanieAllgood's Blocks Arrived

Stephanieallgood's blocks came in the mail yesterday. Look at these lovelies. I am getting all shades of blue and totally loving it. I can't wait to see this charity quilt come together.

More Charity Blocks Arrived

2009-10-05T17:07:00.000-05:00

With the arrival of four more blocks today, the total blocks I have received to date is 26. How awesome is that! The online crafters are so generous. I couldn't have done this quilt without all their assistance. Here is my Flickr set of all the blocks if you want to have a peek. For more information on on how to participate see this post. To learn more about the charity see the Bob Perks Cancer Assistance Fund site.

New Arrivals

Jody From NJ's blocks arrived today. That swirly print is just luscious. And I just love circle prints. Can't get enough of them. Thanks a bunch, Jody!

Karmmj6's blocks arrived today also. I love the smoky like swirls and the solid is a very rich teal. This will set off the blocks with brown in them very nicely. Thanks, Karmmj6!

3 More Block Arrivals

2009-10-02T13:20:00.000-05:00

I received BaileyGirl5's blocks in the mail today. Nanotchka's and DenaWaynes's came earlier in the week. Thanks for these lovelies, ladies!

BaileyGirl5 sent a cute note on paper with a picture of a dog. I think us crafty types love our animals. Lots of cat and dog owners are running amuk here on ORB Flickr :)

Nanotchka's contribution to my charity quilt. Her 15 year old grand niece was diagnosed with cancer several years ago. Nanotchka made a quilt for her niece using blue fabrics (her niece's favorite color). She also recently made that same niece a purple homecoming dress. The square is made from some of the leftover fabric from the original quilt. Such a touching story.

DenaWayne also enclosed a fat quarter of her blue and brown flower print fabric to use in the quilt. That was very thoughtful of you, Dena. Thanks!

IBOL Thank You

2009-09-30T17:33:00.001-05:00

IBOL Thank You
Originally uploaded by heidielliott.

Look what I received in the mail today! A thank you card from Mr. IBOL himself. IBOL, Iraqi Bundles of Love, is the brainchild of Art. He asked the blogworld to send him packages stuffed to the gills with thead, fabric, yarn, etc. to distribute to the Iraqi people near where he is stationed. packages of supplies to leave behind for the people he has served over in Iraq. According to Mr. IBOL, they re-use everything. So I packed up some of my stash, needles, thread, and yarns and shipped them to him at the end of August 2009.

Check out his blog; they are in the delivery stage right now.

Old Red Barn Co. Sew-a-Long Round 4

2009-09-29T19:32:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone! I just wanted you all to know about the next round in the Old Red Barn Quilt Along group over on flickr. We have had three rounds so far with the following quilts and leaders:

Round 3: Wonky Log Cabins- John, Quilt Dad
Round 2: Zig-zags - Amy, Park City Girl
Round 1: Rails - Dana Old Red Barn Co.

I have volunteered to lead round four. But we haven't decided what type of block we want to try next. So, hop over to the discussion thread and chime in if you have a preference. And join us in the fun. I promise it will be worth it. I will be having giveaways during the round so you will want to keep an eye on the discussion threads in the flickr group and my posts here :)

Here are some of the current suggestions for what block we might do:

Circles: Pieced and applique

Crazy nine-patch:

or disappearing nine patch.

spider or string

Just so you know we can easily incorporate the circles into one of these other blocks like I did for this quilt:

More Blocks Received & Wonky Cabins

2009-09-28T07:24:00.006-05:00

Wonky Cabins

So I made another set of four wonky cabin blocks (Old Red Barn Quilt Along Round 3 led by Quilt Dad). This time I used my two left over blocks and instead of appliqueing the falling off block, I pieced it in. See the upper right block. I like this set just as much as the last one. I am 50/50 on the pieced versus appliqued falling off block though.

I started to piece a border around the other set of four wonky cabins. I had plenty of left over brown solids from two other quilt projects. After adding the solid brown border, I plan to add a strip pieced border of all the different fabrics I used in the center blocks.

Silly Kitty

So my hubby was sitting with Gobo on his lap while working on his computer Sunday. Justin decided to take the cat with him momentarily to the garage to look for something. Placing the cat near his shoulders to carry him, Gobo decided he wanted to be on Justin's shoulders for his ride to and from the garage. Well, after sitting down to do some more stuff on his computer, Justin asked me to look at what Gobo was doing. This is what I saw.

Gobo looks like a leopard in a tree to me. Gobo sat that way for quite a while and then jumped down to lay on his back in the sun on the floor.

Goofy cat....

Charity Quilt Blocks

I received LyndaG1's blocks on Friday. Thanks, Lynda!

These two blocks are from RebeccasRags. These make me want to book a flight to a tropical island somewhere ;) The one of the right has little surf boards on it.

Dana's Block for the Charity Quilt

2009-09-24T18:08:00.001-05:00

Dana's Block
Originally uploaded by heidielliott.

I received a block from Dana (Old Red Barn Co) today for my charity quilt. I love how scrappy this looks. Thanks, Dana!

More Charity Blocks Have Arrived

2009-09-24T07:14:00.000-05:00

New Arrivals

I received some more block donations for the charity quilt yesterday. Here is the line-up:

These lovelies are from DeeRoo G. Don't cha just love that wonky star!

These blocks are from our funny friend over the pond, Ochil_Lynz. The dark blue squares are butterflies (a little hard to tell in this photo :) ). The quilt is going to be superb, ladies!

The camera turned the block on the left a little yellow. It is actually more tan/brown. I love the large paisley print that A Peek at Donna's World used.

Wonky Log Cabin Center Medallion Take 2

My second attempt at this center set of blocks. DeeRoo G was very helpful in providing some feedback about switching around the order. When I switched them around the squares didn't quite fit size wise. I realized it was because they were constructed going the same direction. So when I rotated them; they didn't fit.

I made two new ones being very careful to construct them going the right direction with the logs for each spot. Whew! Then I wanted to add a little something to the bottom right square as it still was visually skinny compared to the others. So I added an appliqued round of logs that appears to be falling off the main set.

Block from TeaGinny

2009-09-21T16:59:00.006-05:00

I received this block today in the mail from Teaginny (flickr) for the BPCAF Charity Quilt. Thanks, Teaginny. I love it :)

The white square has these swirly pokie-dots.

Working on Unfinished Projects

2009-09-21T07:11:00.001-05:00

Bob Perks Cancer Assistance Fund / Elves Charity Quilt Progress

After posting about this charity quilt last week here and on the Old Red Barn Quilt Along Flickr group, I have had lots of lovely quilters sign up to send me a block or two.

In the case of Annie of Blue Gables, she sent me four! They are so lovely. Here they are in all their blue calico glory.

I will try to keep posting the donated blocks as they come in. I plan on providing a map of who/where the squares came from on the label of the quilt, so the new owner will know all about how wonderfully generous you quilters are.

Old Red Barn Round 1 Top Finished

I finally finished the Old Red Barn Quilt Along Round 1 top. YEAH! I will be piecing the back tonight and hopefully quilting it tomorrow. I am entering this in a local quilt show. It will be the first time I have ever entered one. I am excited and nervous all at the same time.

These are shots of the finished quilt top from the back. I love how it looks like stain glass.

Backing

I used the ends from the strip sets to make the band in the middle. The pink fabric is actually half white background on one side and half pink background on the other side. They are the negatives of one another. It sorta matches the trellis prints from Flights of Fancy. It is Kisii Window by Maggie Maye for Micheal Miller.

Wonky Log Cabins ORB Round 3

2009-09-20T19:54:00.013-05:00

Here is my stab at wonky log cabins for Round 3 of the Old Red Barn Quilt Along Round 3 led by Quilt Dad. I am really liking these. I plan to make a medallion like quilt out of this by continuing to add borders around this central block.

Roses & Books for Me

2009-09-20T07:13:00.001-05:00

Surprises

I was picked up from work on Thursday by my husband. And these lovelies were what greeted me in the car. He is such a sweetie. They are sitting on my computer desk in my sewing room.

Roses smell so good. I also love all the different colors they come in. Their petals are so soft and silky. I love getting flowers. They always make me smile. Not just roses, any kind of flower :)

Informal Book Club

So a friend of mine sent me a letter in the mail requesting me to participate in an informal book club. I usually do not participate in these kinds of things, but I didn't want my friend not to get her books. So I sent out my letters to my 6 friends with her mailing address enclosed. Then I dutifully sent off a book to a lady in DuBois, PA :)

I was totally not expecting to get any books from the club. But over the past couple of days I have received two packages. These are the books sent to me from relatives of my friend Susan in Alabama. She must have asked them to participate ;)

The 50 acres and a Poodle has a history. It has been passed around Susan's family for reading. I feel honored that they would include me in that tradition. Aunt Kathy said that I was like family :) Too Sweet! The history with Susan and myself is that my husband and I introduced Alabama Susan to her husband, Tim, back in college. Tim was a high school classmate of my husband. Susan was a friend of ours in college.

DQS7 Quilt Received

2009-09-19T11:27:00.002-05:00

DQS7 Quilt Received
Originally uploaded by heidielliott.

My DQS7 quilt from sweetteamom. I love it!

I came home from work on Thursday to a package at my front door. It is even more stunning in person. Pictures really never do quilts any justice.

And get this, I am participating in an online quilting bee ran by Sweet Tea Mom. She's so sneeky. I had no idea that she was my partner.

Now I need to find a spot for it my sewing room, hmmmm. Oh, and the chocolate was perfect. It made my after work blahs disappear. The cat paw ribbon and the kitten note pad are spot on. I love my furry friends.

Charity Quilt

2009-09-16T13:36:00.008-05:00

As I have mentioned before, I am a member of the local Junior Woman's Club (JWC) that is a service organization. The club raises money for local charities.

For the next two years it is the Bob Perks Cancer Assistance Fund. Bob Perks was a State College, PA native and a founding member of Coaches vs. Cancer here at Penn State. After Mr. Perks died of skin cancer in 2005, his wife, Doreen, established the fund to help individuals and families dealing with cancer. The fund provides money for those families basic necessities.

Every year the JWC's biggest fundraiser is around the beginning of December. They provide a place for children to purchase gifts for their family at reasonable prices (all under $5.00). It is called the Elves' Gift Shop.

Last year I made a quilt and donated it to the Silent Auction that is a part of the Elves event. I would like to do the same this year. I was wondering if any of my wonderful readers would like to donate a square to the quilt.

Requirements I have are:

Any color of blue fabric will do. I will be adding a chocolate brown border, so if your blue is mixed with brown even better. Mixing in solids of neutral blocks is fine as well. Or even blues and neutral combo prints is fine. If the fabric has a blue color in it and/or a neutral, you are good to go :)
The finished block is squared to 12.5" x 12.5".
The block can be:

a four-patch
(4, 6.5" x 6.5" squares before sewing)

or a nine-patch
(9, 4.5" x 4.5" squares before sewing)

I would like to have the square to me by October 19th. I have that week off and would want to focus on making the quilt.

Feel free to fold up the square and mail it to me in a standard envelope. No sense in trying to keep it flat while getting it to me. The postal rate will be a lot cheaper too :)

Let me know if you are interested by leaving a comment below with your address. If you don't feel comfortable with leaving your email address, send me a message at heidielliott72@gmail.com.

Do not feel like you have to participate at all. But any assistance is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Twinings Tins

2009-09-13T15:19:00.002-05:00

My husband is a big loose tea drinker in the morning at his work. Recently he brought home his stash of empty one. I looked at these things and though, hmmm..., I should be able to do something with these. It seems a shame to set them out in the recycling.

So Saturday nigh I experimented with putting fabric sleeves on them. I figured we could use them as pencil holders or something. We can sell them at the JWC Elves event this December. Since the tins are basically "free" and the fabric is from my scraps. The cost is very minimal (as I will be donating them ;)

The fabric has about a 7mm (1/4") fold on the top and bottom to make a nice edge. The length is 30 cm before it is sewn together to make the sleeve; 7mm seam on that too.

Operation Organize Sewing Room

2009-09-12T16:49:00.001-05:00

Originally uploaded by heidielliott.

I am trying to turn these piles into a nicely ironed, folded, and organized by color fabric stash. Wish me luck :)

Online Quilting Bee and Recent Sewing Finds

2009-09-04T20:10:00.001-05:00

Bee Addicted 2 Online Quilting Bee

I joined an online quilting bee recently. Our quilting bee has twelve participants that committed to a year long exchange of quilting blocks. Each member will send out fabric and instructions for block construction one month out of the year. The member that sends out the fabric/instructions then receives 11+ completed blocks back (one or more from each of the other members). During the other 11 months of the year, you get fabric from the other participants to make blocks for them :)

Linzi_4444 signed up for September. She wanted wonky log cabin blocks sashed in white muslin. She also allowed us to contribute to the blocks with coordinating fabric from our stash. I contributed a bit of Wildwood and a batik that I had left over from some other projects.

I was able to get two blocks completed for her. This first one has the sashing fabric already applied and cropped to the 12.5 X 12.5 final size. The second one doesn't have the sashing fabric. Linzi said she would take care of it when she gets the block back.

Sewing Supplies & Books

A couple of weekends ago, I went to the Hershey, PA area on a little weekend road trip. We stopped at this rummage sale and I found these beauties. Aren't those teddy bears from the 70's adorable and kinda creepy at the same time (orange, blue and red bears in picture). As best as I can tell the two quilting patterns at the bottom are from the 30's.

We have this great surplus store about a 45-minute drive from our house in Altoona, PA. We were on our way to Johnstown, PA last weekend and just "happened" to be driving by Surplus City. Alright... alright, I made my husband drive by the place. Sheesh!

Zippers werre 25 cents each the spool of trim was only 2.99. The Gutterman thread is from Joann's; not cheap :) The fabric was all around 3.75 a yard. I swear I just cannot help myself. OH, and they had interfacing for only a 1.00 a yard, all weights!

I had some books on my Amazon wish list based on recommendations from the participants of the Old Red Barn Quilt Along and Doll Quilt Swap. Digital Textile Design, Frank Lloyd Wright inspired quilts and Collaborative Quilting are new books, but I was lucky enough to find Curves in Motion, Trapunto and Log Cabin Curves book at the same place I picked up all those patterns above.

Junior Woman's Club Elves

I am a member of the local Junior Woman's Club (JWC) that is a service organization. The club raises money for local charities. For the next two years it is the Bob Perks Cancer Assistance Fund. Bob Perks was a State College native and a founding member of Coaches vs. Cancer. After Mr. Perks died of skin cancer in 2005, his wife, Doreen, established the fund to help individuals and families dealing with cancer. The fund provides money for their basic necessities.

Every year the JWC's biggest fundraiser is around the beginning of December. They provide a place for children to purchase gifts for their family at reasonable prices (all under $5.00). It is called the Elves' Gift Shop.

I have been assigned to help with the Mother's table again. I have been making some bracelets with my bead stash. I am also going to try and make some checkbook covers too. I found a clearance sale micro suede fabric at 54" with butterflies stitched on it. I have until the beginning of November to get them done :) I might even donate another one of my quilts again this year for a silent auction that they hold during the Elves Gift Shop event.

And the winner is...

2009-08-30T16:55:00.000-05:00

The winner of the mini-quilt is: Emma of Sampaguita Quilts in Austrailia.

Our three checkbook cover winners are:

Congratulations! Thanks everyone for stopping by and participating :) I will be contacting the winners for postal addresses today.

Cheers!

Mini Quilt Giveaway

2009-08-22T21:49:00.000-05:00

After almost three years in the blogverse and just short of 100 posts, I have decided to have a giveaway. My stomach is such a flutter :)

Okay, so, I was making some doll quilts in an effort to find one that fit my Doll Quilt Swap 7 partner. I ended up making three. One I think fits her. And another one is perfect for another obligation I have. So that leaves me with number three, this improvisational quilt, called "Sunrise".

I whipped this little baby up one afternoon while I was tinkering with circle piecing. I really enjoyed going through the discovery process of making a scrappy-artsy quilt. I love it so much, I want to offer it up as the giveaway prize :)

Some lucky commenter will win this 16 X 22 mini-quilt. Three runners-up will each receive one of the checkbook covers pictured below.

Okay, here are the rules:

1) Leave a comment on this post telling me what is your favorite way to use your scraps from your stash by midnight (EST) Saturday, Aug. 28th, 2009.

2) I will give commenters an extra 3 entries for posting about my giveaway on their blog. Please leave the link to your blog in your comment so I can find ya :)

I will draw a winner on Sun. August 30th, 2009. Good luck everyone!

Finished Doll Quilt Swap 7 Quilt

2009-08-15T14:22:00.009-05:00

I finally finished my DQS7 quilt. I decided to sent the Tumblers quilt to my partner and the purple log-cabinish quilt to my Pay It Forward partner. The improvisational abstract quilt will soon be posted here in a giveaway, so check back in the next week for the post.

In the meantime, here are the pictures :)

Finished DQS7 Front and Back

"Tumblers" is finished! Yeah! All nice and crinkley from the washing. I really like the triangles on this one. I repeated the triangle shapes in the quilting as well. The binding is from what was left of the fat quarters after cutting out the triangles. The binding is hand finished. I never was good at keeping binding straight enough to machine sew it completely on a quilt, so I machine sew it to the top and then pull it to the back and hand stitch it.

Pay It Forward Mini Quilt

You will have to look at the picture of the back to see the quilting design, but it crinkled very nicely. This lovely is going all the way to Utah :) I will hopefully get it shipped on Monday. Look out for it Anita (Annie Of Blue Gables).

I made all these random squares across the quilt. You really cannot tell from the front. The prints are really strong and the quilting gets pulled to the background visually.

Abstract Mini-Quilt Quilting Close-Up

I am finishing the binding on this one, but I wanted to give you a peek at the quilting close up. I ran some of the purple thread out onto the black border. At the top there is also some yellow thread on the border that mimics the rectangles on the yellow fabric. Overall I like how it turned out. Maybe it will get really puffy when it is washed :)

Iraqi Bundles of Love (IBOL)

2009-08-15T14:19:00.001-05:00

I spied the Iraqi Bundles of Love donation campaign from Jacquie's blog, who spied it on Kristen's blog. Kristen's huband, a.k.a, Mr. Incredible, a.k.a, Mr. IBOL will be collecting packages of supplies to leave behind for the people he has served over in Iraq. According to Mr. IBOL, they re-use everything. So I packed up some of my stash, needles, thread, and yarns to ship to him by September 7, 2009.

Here is where you can find more information. Mr. IBOL suggests using his ABO address and using the $11.95 flat rate US Postal System boxes for the shipping, i.e. $11.95, no matter the weight :)

Catching Up with You All

2009-08-14T17:32:00.012-05:00

Some random photos...

Bee Addicted 2

I joined a quilting bee over on Flickr called Bee Addicted 2. I am so excited. It is my first year long bee. I can't wait to get started :) My first attempt at the group button, by the way :)

While I was working on it I found this cool avatar creator and made this:

I love her pony tails :) The skull earring and her lovely purple completion. What more could a girl ask for?

So what if she looks a little vampire-zombie-ish... the girl is styln' in a X-Men, Storm kinda way :)

Gobo in the Meatloaf Position

Our male cat all bundled down in the "meatloaf" position. This is where Gobo usually says, "Come'on mom, just take the picture...." :)

The term meatloaf position comes from a cartoon cell by the cartoonist B. Kliban.

"Famous Meatloaves Cat -- One hell of a nice animal, frequently mistaken for a meatloaf." - B. Kliban

Kliban drew cute cartoons of striped cats. Here is a gallery of Kliban's work.

TiggleGiggles

Tiffany of TiggleGiggle's sent out a consolation prize of a fat quarter to all of the people who didn't win her book give-away on her blog. What a sweetie :) Thanks Tiffany!

Pansy

Our office had these beautiful flowers in a planter outside it's main doors. I couldn't resist taking a picture of them all dotted with water.

Tumblers Quilt

2009-08-10T18:44:00.000-05:00

MimiPark over on Flickr called these blocks "elongated tumblers", so in honor of her I have named my Doll Quilt Swap 7 (see Flickr group) quilt: "Tumblers".

Finished Dimensions: 21 3/4" X 23"
Finished Size of Two Triangles: 3 3/4" X 5 1/8"
Border: 3"

This is the first time I have tried to sew triangles (non-half square ones anyway). I used a paper template to do all the cutting for these. I placed a 1/4" line on the template to make it easier to line up with my ruler. That way I wouldn't have to get the ruler lined up with the very edge of the ruler to cut out the 24 triangles for the quilt :)

The fabrics, prints only, are from Melissa Averinos' Sugar Snap. The solids are batiks I piced up at my local fabric shop. They have these cool snaky looking lines that end in circles

Here is the pdf for the template if you want to give these tumblers a try.

Doll Quilt Swap 7

2009-08-02T13:28:00.000-05:00

The circle and two of the stripes are pieced in while the other three stripes are applique. Not quite sure if this should be the one I send to my partner. I have another more traditional design to try out too.

The whole quilt was improvised. I just grabbed all my orange, pink, yellow and red scraps to make up the hodge-podge half of the quilt. I really enjoyed the process. I wanted to try the curved piecing on this quilt too. Basically I used a Drunkard's Path pattern and instead of turning the circle out, I turned it in to make a completed circle.

Sisters and Shoes

2009-07-28T19:50:00.002-05:00

This last week I spent sometime with my family back in Illinois. I have two sisters, one older, Kim, and one younger, Crystal. Kim is turning 40 this year, so Crystal and I decided to take her to Chicago for the weekend for her birthday.

From left to right: Crystal, Heidi, and Kim

I arrived in Chicago last Wednesday and spent most of the day wondering around to different fabric shops in the downtown area:

The Needle Shop: A cute shop that teaches sewing and sells some designer fabrics at the corner of Hoyne and Charleston in Bucktown, Chicago. The staff was very friendly :) They have a nice selection of home dec, linen and cotton fabrics as well as notions, patterns and books.I had a lovely walk, about 6 blocks, from the CTA Blue Line's Western stop to the shop. If you are in the neighborhood, Arturo's is a wonderful place to stop for lunch.
Fishman's Fabrics: Found near the loop in downtown Chicago, Fishman's is close to Vogue and Rainbow fabric near the corner of South Desplaines Street and Roosevelt Road. They are currently under renovations (July 2009), but are still open for business. Not much quilting cottons but lots of other great fabrics to offer: velvets, gingham, vinyl, leather, lace, satins, wools, tweeds, ribbons, zippers, etc.
New Rainbow Fabrics: Across the street from Vogue on Roosevelt Road, this shop had a good selection of apparel fabrics. They had some beautiful silk baroque at the front of the store. They have a large selection of linen too.
Vogue Fabrics: Close to Rainbow and Fishman's, this store was the mother load for different fabrics. Everything from cottons to silk to batik to apparel and home dec. They have a whole section for notions and a wall-o-buttons. Definitely worth the stop to peruse the store. I walked off with some batiks :)

At about 6:00pm on Wednesday, I took the Amtrak train down to Kewanee so my sister and mom could pick me up. Only $16.00 for my ticket. Not bad compared to $250.00 to rent a car one way for the same trip. The train was not crowded and it was relaxing not to have to drive out of Chicago and be on the road for three hours by myself. Definitely and option for future travel...

Thursday was spent in and around Peoria, IL. A trip to the zoo with my niece and nephews was excellent. Lunch was at Avanti's, mmm Italian... and the best bread ever. Friday morning was spent with my mom in Toulon, IL having a good lunch at a local diner, Connie's Country Kitchen. As a matter of fact, Connie's was the place I worked at during high school as a waitress. The burgers are still just as good as ever!

We spent Friday night driving to Chicago. We had a lovely breakfast at a restaurant close to our hotel then headed to the CTA train station at O'hare. After a lovely train ride, we walked around downtown Chicago visiting the Art Institute, some shops on Michigan Avenue and Navy Pier. Lunch was at a burger joint at Navy Pier called Billy Goat Tavern. You may have heard of this place, but the funnest part about it is that Saturday Night Live did a skit based on this restaurant. The famous "Cheezborger, Cheezborger, Cheezborger... Pepsi, no Coke... Chips, no fries" skit :) There is actually a guy "taking the orders" by yelling out Cheezborger. I couldn't help but smile every time he did.

We then took the blue train out of downtown and stopped off at Damen to visit the shopping district there. They have vintage clothing, music and book stores in this shopping district. We didn't stay long since we were tired and there was a music festival going on in the area. LOTS of people...

Shoes

My nephew was wearing these adorable Lightning McQueen shoes during my visit. I couldn't resist getting a picture of them.

Pay It Forward: Gift Received

2009-07-16T21:40:00.000-05:00

Kristie over at Artisan Clay had a Pay It Forward post. The rules of her giveaway were that you had to also participate by "paying it forward" to five other people, i.e., send a handmade gift their way sometime in 2009.

Well, I signed up. Yesterday I received these lovelies in the mail from Kristie.

Image from Kristie's post on July 16, 2009, because my photos of these wonderful cups and beads/buttons were awful.

Aren't these the coolest. I cannot wait to incorporate her beads into a sewing project of mine.

By the way, I still have four slots left to fullfill my portion of the "Creative People Pay It Forward". I have only had one taker on my offer. Maybe I can convince some of my quilting pals over on the Doll Quilt Swap Filckr pool to hop in on the Pay It Forward Fun!

Which leads me to... Doll Quilt Swap #7 is looking for participants. So head on over to the Flickr Group for more information on how to join. In the meantime, here are the quilt I sent out:

#5 Sent to Quilting in the Valleys (Gina)

#6 Sent to Fissiett (http://whatidobesidework.blogspot.com/)

Here are the ones I received:

#5 from Needles-n-Notions

#6 from imagingermonkey

Giveaway over at Fabric Shopper

2009-07-14T08:43:00.000-05:00

Pretty Ditty Apron Pattern and 3 Yards of Fabric

The Fabric Shopper is giving away a pretty apron pattern and three yards of fabric. Take a look-see on their blog to see how to enter.

Simon and Me

2009-07-07T07:44:00.000-05:00

Just a couple of quick side notes
1) There are still 4 slots available for the Pay It Forward post. See my post for more details.
2) In the spirit of Old Red Barn's Quilt-a-Long, I think I am brewing up some ideas for a sew-a-long/give-away for my 100th post. More to come soon.
3) Give away over at the Fabric Shopper: Amy Butler bag.

Now on to Simon and me...

My husband snapped this photo of me and my new friend, Simon, just outside of Daine Koss's booth (Cutesy but not Cutesy) at the Art Star Craft Bazaar in Philadelphia, PA. I just love Diane's work. I had been watching her Etsy shop for a while now. I just couldn't decide which creature to have her ship to me. Then I noticed that she would be at the show in Philadelphia. My husband and I packed up the Honda Fit and made the three plus hour drive to Philly for the show. It was wonderful. (More Photos)

Simon is now living in my craft studio. He likes looking out the window at all the birds in our neighbor's trees as well as all the bunnies that hop across our yards. Sometimes you can hear him chitter like a cat :)

I also saw My Ugly Kitty's, Renee at the show. It was really cool because she did a double take and said, "Hey, I know you..." She later told me that she recognized me by my hat. My profile picture over on Flickr has me in this hat too. I think that is where she saw me. You can always find me in a crowd :)

I sent some pictures into her friends of Quasi page about a year ago and have been following her blog ever since. All three of my kitties joined Quasi's "adorkable" friends page. Renee is a really talented print artist. She makes custom silkscreened invitations and other stationary. I just love her work.

Works in Progress

2009-07-06T20:33:00.008-05:00

Old Red Barn Quilt Along: Back Started

Okay so I am working kinda backwards, but I had a bit of time waiting from some fabric to wash and dry. So I filled the time with sewing together the leftover blocks from the 14 strip sets. These blocks ended up 12" x 6". All together they are about 77.5" in width. Just the right size to make it across the width of the back of the quilt. Now I just need to find the right fabric to finish out the back, hmmmm. Solid or patterned, solid or patterned. I will keep you posted.

Brown and Green Quilt Progress

This is the one that I want to be finished before I leave to visit my family near the end of this month. I finished the front and started working on the back this weekend. I can never just have a plain back, darn it! So I started sewing together some left-over pieces from the Marque quilt I finished in May.

Here is what the strips looked like before I sewed them together.

They make an excellent hodge-podge of colors. I plan to alternate the starting height of the patchwork blocks so that it is not a straight line across the back of the quilt. I am using a dark brown solid fabric to finish up the vertical strips. It would look something like this.

You can also see all my doodles for figuring out how much yardage I needed as well as the cutting plan.

Swaps and Such

2009-07-02T07:35:00.000-05:00

Spring Blooms Mini-Quilt Swap by The Quilting Gallery

This is the quilt I received from Kari over at Fresh Cut Quilts Pattern Co.. She did such a wonderful job on this using vintage prints and a beautiful glass button circa early 1900's. You can see the button in the middle of that cute red flower in the center of the quilt. Kari used a stray, mismatched in size, quilt block for this. She even told me she had a hard time parting with all the lovely vintage prints as she loves them just as much as I do. Well, Kari, I will take good care of them. As you can see from my other pictures, your quilt is already hanging in my studio next to all my lovely swap quilts. Thank you so much!

I, on the other hand, have been a little delinquent on getting mine finished for my partner. To my defense, I ran into some snags getting it completed. Though I should have planned a little better. I should be able to ship it off tomorrow. I just need to add some beads at the center of the flowers to finish off the design (see below).

The flowers are a three dimensional block pattern from the book Fantastic Fabric Folding by Rebecca Wat called "Inside Out Flowers". The butterfly is applique as well as all the leaves. I traced a picture of a butterfly to get the dimensions. The antenna on the butterfly is my first attempt at embroidery. I like how it turned out :) I will post a close up of the bead work after I finish it tonight.

Old Red Barn Co. Sew-a-Long: Week 4

2009-06-10T10:55:00.000-05:00

I am a little behind, but I expect to have all of the strip sets sewn and cut sometime this week. Here is a picture of the first four sets sewn but not cut.

I pinned about 10 strip sets last night. Tonight will be sewing them together. Friday night will be cutting out the squares. I am waiting until all my sets are finished so I can see how small I must cut the blocks based on the shortest measurement of all the strip sets. My first ones came out to about 12.25" They were supposed to be around 12.5. I will see if I can at least be consistent to the 12.25 across all of the final 10 sets.

Week 4 will be sewing all the blocks in rows and finishing the quilt's top. See this blog post for more information. Check out the Flickr Group Photo Pool to see what everyone is up to :)

Art Star Craft Bazaar

2009-06-08T23:30:00.000-05:00

My husband and I went to the Art Star Craft Bazaar that was held in Philadelphia, PA on Saturday, May 30 and Sunday, May 31, 2009. Above is a picture of all my purchases.

Pink cards from My Ugly Kitty
Table runner from Sara Smedley.
Fuzzy adorable monster from Cutesy But Not Cutesy

The fuzzy adorable red monster is named Simon :) You will see some of the pictures Simon took of his walk around Philly below after he come home with us from the fair. Simon loves taking pictures, snuggling and long walks. But only if the walks end up with dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Mmmmm, poblano peppers stuffed with dried fruit, walnuts and beef covered in a creamy walnut sauce...

Irises from the gardens next to Christ Church on 2nd Street in Philadelphia.

Drain found near Penn's Landing where the Art Star Craft Bazaar was held.

I just love this orange scooter. We found it parked on the sidewalk in an alley we cut through during our walk down 2nd Street toward Race Street. Our final destination was the Clay Studio. Lots of yummy ceramic art there. We both enjoyed the Small Favors IV show that was being exhibited during that weekend.

This little guy was found across the street from Christ Church founded in 1695. Later on I found another one just like him but as a paper print instead of with wood. I love how the paint is flaking off of him.

Finished Wedding Quilts

2009-06-08T11:16:00.004-05:00

Heather and Scott Wedding Quilt

From "The Modern Quilt Workshop" book by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr; Marque Pattern

That is me in the red vest on the left. My friend Heather, on the right, is the recipient of the quilt. Heather and Scott were married in May 2008. The quilt is almost a year late... Doh! She liked it despite its lateness :)

The quilting is a simple zig-zag. I needed something simple enough for it to work for both sides of the quilt since it is reversible. And speaking of reversible here is the other side.

From "The Modern Quilt Workshop" book by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr; Love Beads Pattern

The dots are not appliqued. They are pieced. And if you want to see a picture of them all pinned take a peek at this set over on Flickr. If I had to do it again, and I will since I am venturing into curved piecing, I would clip the seams so they will lay flatter next time. I just ironed them really well on this one and snipped the curve a little bit.

Hough Wedding Quilt

I posted some shots a while back on this quilt without the quilting being done. Here are the final pictures taken of the quilt before it was whisked away to Pittsburgh for the wedding. I used Amy Butler fabrics and some others that I picked up in my travels for this one.

You can also see that my hubby like to take a picture of me with the quilt. If I had my druthers, I wouldn't be in the photo ;)

Front side of the quilt; Log cabin like blocks about 13" x 13"

Back side of the quilt

Week 2: Old Red Barn Sew-a-Long

2009-05-28T07:45:00.001-05:00

Week 2: Cut Fabric

All my 2 1/2" strips have been cut and are piled on my cutting table. Though my iron bit the dust right in the middle of trying to get all the fabric flat and creased nicely for cutting. I had to hunt up an old iron to finish the task ;(

You can still join the us. Go visit Old Red Barn Sew-A-Long for more information. Here is the flickr group for all the sew-a-long too.

Final Fabric Selection for Old Red Barn Sew-A-Long

2009-05-25T20:38:00.006-05:00

Week 1: Gather Materials

Here are the final 12 1/2 yard cuts for the Old Red Barn Sew-A-Long quilt. Lots of Flights of Fancy with a little bit of Amy Butler and Denyse Schmidt. I had been looking for a use of the green and white fabric second in from the left. The green matches very well. I am super excited to finally get to use it. I picked it up in San Francisco at Britex Fabrics. This is a 4 story wonder of a store with lots of fabric and notions to choose from; I highly recommend popping in if you are ever in the neighborhood. The staff is very friendly and helpful.

My husband and I took a short road trip it Altoona, Pennsylvania this weekend. We stopped at Surplus City. I always find lots of goodies when I stop here. They have a good selection of quilting cottons. I always find some Michael Miller here. I walked away with quite the load of fabric this time as well as some Ric Rack and ribbon. I am thinking about using the Ric Rack on the blossom quilt I am making.

In addition to stopping at Surplus City, we ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Campesino. Mmmmm.... Yummy!

Finally, I got started on a quilt that needs to be done before the end of the summer. I was able to make great progress on it. I cut out the pieces on Sunday night and did most of the sewing on Monday. I think it is coming along well. I have plenty of extra fabric, so I should be able to piece the back of this quilt too.

Old Red Barn Co. Sew-a-Long and Janome Machine Giveaway

2009-05-20T17:20:00.002-05:00

Week 1: Gather Materials

Okay, so I need 12 1/2 yard prints and 1 yard for the binding. I get extra credits in the giveaway if I use Paula Prass' Flights of Fancy. I don't have to use only Flights of Fancy, though. I spotted some nice prints in this line over at Fat Quarter Shop. So I might get a couple to add to the mix. I rounded up some other prints that are in the running:

More next week...

Spring Blooms Mini Quilt Swap Main Block Finished & 2 More Project Improv Blocks

2009-05-19T06:55:00.001-05:00

The flowers are a three dimensional block pattern from the book Fantastic Fabric Folding by Rebecca Wat called "Inside Out Flowers". I am going to add some applique as well. Maybe some stems and some pink flowers. I am still deciding on what I want to do. I think I might be able to figure out how to do an origami butterfly or bird possibly too. I want to add some beads for the flower centers as well. I will keep you all posted on its progress.

The top left picture is of a larger flower that did not get incorporated into the quilt. I didn't like the shade of pink with the orange, red and yellow. It just didn't seem bright enough. The picture on the bottom is of my prototype square. I tried my hand at embroidery at the center, but I am not thrilled with how it turned out. Otherwise I like the prototype square a lot.

I sent two more blocks to Tall Praire Grass Studios yesterday for the Project Improv project. Here they are:

I still haven't progressed very far on the improv quilt I started, but I have done other improv projects, like my Mission Quilt. So I don't feel too bad. We have a three day weekend coming up so I hope to get a bit of sewing done this weekend :)

Facebook Flair

2009-05-18T16:13:00.000-05:00

Okay, so my sister got me hooked on Facebook. I have found so many old classmates and friends since I joined a couple of months ago. That being said, there are parts of Facebook that I just cannot get into. Fortunately, Facebook allows you to easily ignore the things you consider noise :)

Aside from the pictures posted by my friends, one of the applications of Facebook I do like it the "pieces of flair". I am a fan of the movie Office Space and every time I get a piece of flair sent to me, I think about the movie. Here are a clip; WARNING: one of the characters in the clip does obscene gestures :)

Basically JoAnna after being approached by her boss previously in the movie about her not having more buttons on her suspenders (pieces of flair), is fed up and quits her job. In the movie, everytime you see JoAnna at work, she is being reprimanded by her boss for only wearing the minimum number of buttons on her suspenders. Her boss is not concerned about her work habits, only that she chooses not to where more buttons and be super happy like her male co-worker that has so many buttons on his suspenders that there is no suspender showing anymore. The movie is about how dull and silly work can be sometimes, especially processes and policies. For instance, focusing on a rule instead of the how well people are actually getting the work done. In another scene, the main character Peter is reprimanded for not putting a cover sheet on a TPS report by every single one of his bosses. It is a very tongue and cheek look at office life.

Disclaimer: If you want to see the movie, I should let you know that it contains adult content and humor.

Here is my flair board from Facebook:

One of my favorites is the frog button, it says: "If life gives you scraps... Quilt!" My younger sister found that one for me. The blue one, "I'm a damsel, I'm in distress, I can handle this, Have a nice day." is a line from Disney's Hercules animated film by the character Megara. It is one of my husband's favorite lines from the movie.

I found the "boombox", or radio for those of you who didn't grow up in the 80's ;), button myself. It says: "I often bust out with random dance moves". Not that I am a dancer by any means. Its just when the mood strikes I dance. Not a pretty sight most of the time, but every once in a while I can look semi graceful :)

And no pieces of flair board would be complete without at least one Hello Kitty character, a reference to vampires and a Calvin and Hobbs quote :)

Doll Quilt Swap 6 Received

2009-05-13T07:53:00.002-05:00

Thank you soooo much imagingermonkey (flickr)! I got home from work yesterday to find a package on my counter. I squeaked like a little girl and tore open the package. I had such a rough work day yesterday. Receiving this made my day and also made me forget all my work troubles.

BTW, my husband absolutely adores the coasters and the quilt too. I will post som more close ups this evening.

Spring Blooms Mini Quilt Swap

2009-05-01T18:34:00.001-05:00

Okay, I am officially addicted to swaps. I joined another one over at Quilting Gallery called Spring Blooms Mini Quilt Swap. You must make a sping-inspired mini quilt for your partner. It is a mystery swap so I will not know who is sending me a quilt.

The deadline for signing up is May 4th, so hurry on over. The mailing deadline is June 21st.

Lots of fun!

***Update 5/1/09***
I just found a Quilt-a-Long over at Crazy Mom Quilts. We are making 9 patches, yeah! Let's see if I can keep up....

Pay it Forward

2009-04-30T08:18:00.004-05:00

I saw this post go by this morning on Artisan Clay. And Kristie saw it on this blog (http://scdiva.blogspot.com/2009/04/pay-it-forward.html). I always like to make things for people, so I decided to participate. I am totally borrowing Kristie's rules, so here we go:

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. This is an adventure!

2. What I create will be just for you with love and good wishes. It will be made of actual materials, not of cyberspace.

3. It will be done this year (2009).

4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be!

5. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your Blog and create five things for the first 5 people to respond to your post.

6. Send your mailing address after I contact you.

IMPORTANT: This offer is null and void if you do not post on your own blog to pay this forward.

Cheers!

Just Finished and Current Projects

2009-04-21T13:14:00.000-05:00

So I am participating in Tall Grass Praire Studio's Spring to Finish where we are trying to finish as many works in progress as we can by the end of April. I finished one project where I used one of my prototype squares to finish a doll quilt for one of my best friend's daughter.

Dragonfly Pinwheels

I used all my scraps from the front to make the back, yeah!

I love the swirl quilting pattern in the border.

Another project that I am trying to finish is actually due by this weekend, as the wedding I am making it for is this Saturday :) EEEK! I am making good progress on the quilt.

I used fabric from my stash that I purchased in Austin, TX. I loved all the pastels together with the brown fabric. It is a very subtle in color quilt for me. I usually am a bright colors kinda a gal, but I needed to break out of that mold a little. (Sorry about the fuzzy, discolored photos...)

I had a plan for using log-cabin like blocks but nothing past that they needed to be at least 12.5 x 12.5 inches when finished.

I have the front and back finished. I am starting to quilt it on my frame in the basement. I ran into a snag, because I started to do different quilting patterns for inside the blocks, i.e., different from the border quilting. I didn't like it at all, so I decided to rip out the quilting and just do a single pattern over the whole quilt. We'll see how it goes. Once I get the binding on and have it washed I will post the final pictures.

Bush Fire Quilts

2009-04-13T07:18:00.000-05:00

I hopped over the the Bush Fire Quilt Flickr pool and they have finished some of the first collaborative quilts, yeah! They are all so lovely. Mine is the one third row down, third from the left :)

Spring to Finish

2009-04-06T11:57:00.003-05:00

I am joining Tall Grass Praire Studio's Spring to Finish. Jacquie is challenging herself and others to finish her/their works in progress (WIP) by the end of April. The challenge is to finish at least one; posting your finished project on your blog. On April 30th, hop over to Jacquie's blog to list all the projects you finished. She will be giving away a prize at the end of the month. The more projects you finish, the more entries you get for the drawing.

I have at least two to three to finish myself.

Fischer Price Toys

2009-04-01T07:29:00.000-05:00

Melissa from YummyGoods was so kind to share some of her thrift store finds with us today. One of them was the Fisher-Price xylophone. In the past, she shared the Little People's Barn that she found as well. It got me kinda nostalgic for the toys of my childhood so I went over to Flickr and found a Fisher-Price Toys group. Here are some highlights:

Sesame Street Apartment Set:

Castle:

Doll Quilt Swap 6: Finished

2009-03-29T18:01:00.000-05:00

Well I finished the back and the quilting for my doll quilt. I also was able to figure out a way to add tabs to the top of the quilt so that it can be hung on the wall on a rod. I was able to do this by sewing the sandwich together right-sides together with the batting on the back. Then turning it rightside out. I stuck the tabs into the top seam so that they would be securly attached when I flipped the quilt rightside out.

Now for what you really want to see, the finished results.
Front

Backside

Here is a close up of the squares after sewing along the two pencil guidelines I made earlier.

I aligned my ruler along one of my seams using the 1/4" guide line. It should place the edge of the ruler directly on the center cut line I made with my pencil earlier. This is the line that went from corner to corner at a 45 degree angle.

I am cutting along the center line with my rotary cutter. My ruler is placed to that the 1/4" guide is on the seam I just finished sewing.

Square cut into two triangles before pressing them out into squares again.

This is what both sides of the cut square look like. One half is the single triangle of the Sugar Snap fabric while the other is the orange and lavender double triangle. As you can see I ironed the orange and lavender seam open. This will help later so that the center of the final block will not be so bulky.

After pressing the seams open and ironing the right side so the square is as flat as it is going to be, I trimmed the ends of the fabric hanging off at the corners. I used my scissors for this instead of my rotary blade. It made it go much faster.

Double triangles sewn, trimmed and pressed. These are ready to sewn together into groups of four.

Before sewing the final blocks together I laid them out to make sure I had the double triangles pointing in the right directions and the inner pinwheels had all the same colored spokes.

This is what the blocks looked like after sewing up two of the four squares together. When I flipped the two squares so that their right sides were facing, I marked in pencil which side I was supposed to sew. That way I could maneuver the two squares to align and pin them without having to remember which side should be sewn.

When I was prototyping I tried pressing the seams in one direction instead of open. This caused a lot of bulk at the center of the square by the time I was finished. So for the final prototype I tried pressing the seam open and the bulkiness in the middle was lessened.

An awfully yellow picture, but this is the final layout of the double pinwheel blocks for the back side of the quilt. It will have a background/border of that dark maroon color in the Sugar Snap triangles.

Here is the final back with its border and quilting done.

Leftover Blocks from the Double PinWheel Back

I had two leftover blocks from the back, so I decided to make some potholders to send with the quilt to my doll quilt swap partner. Here are the sandwiched tops, batting and backing pinned and ready to be quilted.

This is what the two potholders look like after quilting.

The final potholders with bias tape I made from scraps. I did this very similarly to making binding for a quilt. I added pieces together at 45 degree angles so I could have one long piece. I ironed a center crease into the fabric. Then I ironed both raw edges into the center aligning at the crease.

Giveaway over at WonderMommy

2009-03-26T08:13:00.000-05:00

There is a giveaway over at WonderMommy for Anna Maria Horner fabric. Two fabulous yards of it! I wonder if she will ship internationally :)

I have more to post on my doll quilt swap progress, but it will have to wait. Until then I have picts posted over on flickr.

Finished Front for DQS6 - Start of Back

2009-03-23T12:22:00.000-05:00

So I was a good little camper this weekend and finished the front of my doll quilt for the DSQ6.

Design
Here are the doors that were the inspiration for the quilt:

They are from a mission near San Antonio, TX. I love how rustic and rugged these looked. The pattern in them screamed quilt to me. I made a drawing from the photo of what I wanted to make. As I progressed though, I had to adapt to the smaller dimensions of the swap (anything between 12" x 12" - 24" x 24").

I had to drop the final two rows and I am going to be about a 1/2 inch over 24" height-wise. For the sake of creativity and balance I am leaving that little half inch in. Sorry :)

Progress shots

I started piecing together the three tall panels across row. I measured a little but nothing to exact. Mostly just holding the fabric up to my cutting board and getting an approximation.

After doing the first row and adding the background fabric around the three tall panels, I realized that I would have to plan out the other two rows a little more to stay within the constraints. I used rough sketches to plan out sizes of the piecing for the two fat panel row. This worked better and I was able to keep it at a manageable width to align with the three panel row.

The final row I also planned out and it went the quickest. The final row ended up at the top of the quilt because by this point I realized that I would not be able to do all five as I originally planned. So I departed at this point and placed it at the top so that I would have the three tall panel row in the middle.

Before adding the border fabric I noticed that the white scraps were standing out a little to much and the final row did not have any white in it.

So I added some scraps to the bottom right corner of the border to balance out the stark white.

Here is the final version of the front of the quilt:

Back for the quilt
I like piecing the backs for quilts as much as the front, so I decided to do a pinwheel design for the back. My partner seems to like both modern-ish quilts and classic pieced ones. This is the first time I have done a pinwheel, so I wanted to do some prototypes before cutting out from the actual fabric.

I did several versions with scraps I had in my stash, but ended up successful with making the squares 4.5" x 4.5" so that the final block would be 6.5" x 6.5". This allows me a little extra (about 1/4") to trim down to the right size. The blocks will be encased in a border and not touching, so I don't have to worry about the pinwheels matching up with the one next to it so much. Yeah, yeah, kinda cheating, but for my first time I can live with it :)

I selected a little bit more whimsical fabric for the backing. Pinwheels seem whimsical to me. There is a little bit of Sugar Snap in here by Melissa Averinos (FreeSpirit Fabrics). The Sugar Snap fabrics will be the big pinwheel in the block. This part of the block is the large blue circle fabric in the prototype blocks above.

I pulled the colors from the Sugar Snap for the smaller interior pinwheel and the background fabric. Orange and lavender will make up the smaller interior pinwheel (like the purple firefly and navy blue circle fabrics from the prototype). Here is the stack of pressed orange and lavender triangles.

Finally, I pinned all the orange and lavender triangles to the Sugar Snap squares. I drew guides on the back to make sewing the triangles easier. I did the same on the orange/lavender ones. I used my rotary cutting ruler that has a 1/4" mark (see through ruler) to create the two sewing guides on either side of the center line.

After sewing these up, I will take pictures of the squares sewn but not cut apart yet. That way you can see which lines are sewn and which one I use for cutting the squares apart.

That's it for now. I will post more progress on the back soon.