Rose Smith Free Offering

I've been following Rose Smith and watching her videos on Ludlow Quilt and Sew for a long time and today she has a great pattern.  It is the Summer Dream Quilt Pattern.  She comes out each Friday with a pattern and the fun part is that she also has a video for that pattern which is very handy if you need to hear how it is done versus just reading it.  Check it out at:

http://www.ludlowquiltandsew.co.uk/2014/01/summer-dream-quilt-pattern/?awt_l=Gvykw&awt_m=Jdnqd1Gp_FJL6K

You can sign up to get emails and notices and such which is nice.  I have these saved in my YouTube favorites as well.  As many of you know I'm trying to do more pieced quilting this year and I know that I can do HST.  I might have to try and make this one.  This Friday you get a bonus though.  Scroll down the page and after the video you will see that she is offering her log cabin ebook free until Tuesday.  That's another pattern I've been thinking of doing so I went and grabbed it up before I forgot and now have it on my kindle!

How cool is that!  Free is good so check it out.

I did it!

:)    I managed to make my little portable iron board for projects.  I went out at lunch today to renew my license plates and decided to make a trip to Walmart to get some cold medicine.  While there I remembered I wanted to get a staple gun for a project.  YAY!  I did it!  I finally made a more portable ironing board.

It's not exciting is it.  I just used leftovers and one of the left overs was plain white THIN muslin.  I don't use it for much of anything so I thought it would work great for this.  It is a 10 x 10" square of birth plywood, 1/2" thick.  It also has two layers of cotton batting on it and all held in place by staples.  That is why I needed the staple gun.  I have nicer cotton fabric that I can put on the cover if this seems to work out.  I also think I will make a variety of sizes of boards if this works out.  They are light enough to be able to carry around to classes (or work).  After that I might have to get a small iron.  a small fat one and not one of the clover irons.  I didn't like those when I had one.

Another project which looks like fun is found at:

http://eclecticallyvintage.com/2013/09/make-it-doodle-lightbulbs-sharpie-crafts/

That's my news for tonight.  For a girl who has problems hammering in nails, this was a major accomplishment.  :)

Last Day of staying at home

Tomorrow I have to go back to work and it will be a little weird.  I've enjoyed, yes even though it was cold, being at home.  It's been nice to be able to work on some projects when I wanted to.  I did manage to finish up my test pattern for The Quilt Pattern Magazine.  I'll be taking pictures of that and filling out the report tomorrow.  I can't wait for it to appear because I love how it turned out.  I love all the fabrics that I used and..well just love it all.

Sorry I can't show it to you yet but sooner or later you'll see it.  :)

If you go over to my page that says Rose of Sharon BOM, you'll see two more pictures of blocks.  I haven't stitched them yet but do have them fused.  Soon I'll be able to start to stitch on them.  I had to match up more embroidery floss.  Now to keep them all in the same place so I won't have to match them all up again.

It's 10 p.m. and I need to sign off and try to get to bed at a decent time in order to get to work on time.  LOL.

Brenda Sutter's Quilt Labels

A friend of mine has started to do quilt labels and I thought I'd help her out by posting what they look like here.  She's very talented and recently she has expanded out to quilt labels.  Here is one example.

This is not one of those 1" x 2" little labels that just say "handmade with love".  This is approximately 11 1/2" wide and 5 1/2" tall.  She can make them in any color and will sell them for $8.  Not only do you get wonderful message (or perhaps contact her to get a quote if you have something more specific) but that $8 would include a name, year and state if space allows it.  It does not, however, cover shipping and handling.  Please keep in mind that the price might change depending on what you would want her to put on the label.  The best thing to do is to contact Ms. Brenda and start to talk to her about what you would like to see on a label and then she can figure out what to charge.

If interested, you can contact her via facebook (Brenda Sutter) or via her email.  She has given me permission to give out her email addy and it is:  Angelwings72598@aol.com . She does request that you put in the subject line "Quilt label".

Good job Brenda! Keep quilting!

Proud of Myself

I've tackled a new project and I'm so proud of myself!  I managed to get past a sticky part so tomorrow I can continue to work on it.  Doesn't that make you feel good when you figure something out and can move on after setting it aside.  I call it "time out" and like putting my gaming dice in time out periodically, my quilting projects have to be put in "time out".  Then when I go back to it the next day, I can look at it better and take a deep breath and go ahead to see where I went wrong.

I probably need to do that more often but at least I did it this time.  :)

So now I will go on to another project for a little bit.  I don't only work on one thing at a time.  Never could do that.  I think I'll go fuse some of my Baltimore blocks.  I'm behind on a couple of them.

Talk to you later.  Everybody stay warm.

Gina and the T-shirt Quilt

Remember when I helped Theresa do the t-shirt quilt for her daughter Gina?  Well here is Gina and her quilt.

Gina standing on the fireplace stoop holding up her quilt

Gina  by the side of her quilt.  She has plenty of room to curl up in it.

She really needed it too.  Her dorm room is cold and even with the extreme weather we are having she said she was able to take two blankets off of her bed because the quilt keeps her so warm.  YAY!

Change of Mind

I washed my new fabric thinking that I would get a chance to iron it tonight and possibly even start to cut it for the test pattern.  Well I managed to get it ironed anyway.  Then as I neatly laid out my fabric, I look at it and think I might be changing my mind.  Has that happened to you?

I might reverse a couple of the fabric to see if they look better that way.  So the rest of the night is to measure my fabric and see if I have to buy more or if I will have enough in case I do change up the fabrics.

Quilting, like life, is always throwing me little curve balls.  Good thing that I know stitch things back together.  :)

Everybody have a great evening.  I've got thinking to do.

Civil War Block and Disappearing Pinwheel

Hi everybody.  I didn't have to work today so I had hopes for getting a lot done.  Well that didn't turn out to be the case but I still managed to get some things done.  I washed the fabric for my text pattern so I can start on that this week.  I'm glad that I didn't start on it today considering my mistakes I made on other things.

I did manage to get my Civil War Block for the BOM done.  It was a churn dash and I had never done one of those before.  It was relatively easy to put together so I might have to make that block more often.  I was so proud with how easy it went together and then I took this picture.

Ummm.  Woo oh George.  Yeah, I put some of it together wrong.  There is a reason I have more than one seam ripper and they are strategically spaced around the apartment.  I picked up the latest one and had that row disassembled in no time.  I thought I might have to take that whole row apartment but didn't have to.  NOW the block looks so much better.

Did you notice that my points turned out pretty good?  Woo hoo!  I wanted to see how it looked with the other blocks so I went to were I kept them.  Hmmm. The Gremlins were at it again and hid them.  I finally found them and laid them out.

As I laid them out, I counted out how many blocks there were.  1..2..3..4..5..6..7......there was suppose to be 8, not seven.  I can hear the Gremlins laughing at this.  I will look further for it but that will be another day.

Then I decided to work on the disappearing pinwheel block as seen on the Missouri Quilt Company YouTube vid.

I started with two 10" squares.  One plain and one patterned.  Sew a quarter inch seam all the way around it and then cut it diagonal corner to diagonal corner and repeat.  When done you will have this.

This is how they do their Half Square Triangles.  open up the triangles and press towards the dark side.  I used two fabrics which are really too thin for most projects so I've decided to use some of my thinner fabrics for test blocks.  Why use up my good stuff when I have other fabric around.  This way it is being used up.  This is one block that I was curious as to how it would go together.  Not sure if I will make another one or a wall hanging or what with them so it was a good time to try out fabric.  One day I might use all of the various "one blocks" that I am doing and put them all together.  

Now that I had my HST all done, you make a pinwheel block.  That might sound easy but I had to watch the watch the video again to make sure I had the wheels going in the right direction.  LOL.  

I trimmed my block to 12.5" so it would match the directions in the video.  :)   You are suppose to be measure your pinwheel block and then divide that number by 3.  You want to have equal parts.  Since I trimmed my block to 12.5" I could use their number.  That turned out to be 2 1/8th.  So I measured 2 1/8th from the CENTER seam and cut.  You need to cut all four sides so a rotating mat would be helpful.  

You do that on all four sides but make sure you do it from the CENTER.  That will give you nine pieces which will make up your Churn Dash block.  I would have one for you to see but I miscalculated  on one side and cut on 1 1/8th instead of  2 1/8th.  So I had to redo it.  Back to the drawing board.  I decided this time that I would use my water soluable blue pen and drew my line this time before I cut it.

It's a good thing that I did because you can see from the squiggly line that I had to redraw one of the lines.  Since it was water soluable marking pen, a quick spritz of water and it disappeared.  Now I just have to wait for the cloth to dry before I sew it together.

I pinned down the wet fabric and turned it around into the final configuration for the Churn Dash  with a pinwheel in the middle.

You might see small pins in the individual pieces. That's to hold it in place while my fan is blowing on it.  LOL.

Well that is what I did today.  What did you do?

Sunday laziness

No work tomorrow so I can do whatever I want.  I  will probably start on a test project but that will only be if I get the fabric washed tonight.  LOL.    Of course you will have to wait until it is published before I can show you but I know you'll love it.  I really don't have much energy today to do anything but I did run by the office after having breakfast with mom and picked up my external drive.  NOW I can post the 2014 BOMs that I know about.  

I did not hunt up all of these BOMs.  In fact it was really easy since it was posted in one of my yahoo groups.  Here is my version of it.  Feel free to check back each month as a reminder if you want.  You'll also see a notation of what I think I will try to keep up on.  Wish me luck.

2014 BOMs 

http://justtakes2.com/       - Benjamin Biggs Quilt  - yes

http://blog.morningglorydesigns.net/     -   Fiesta de la Flores (Festival of Flowers) – yes

http://cburdy.wordpress.com/    - Sycamore Hill Quilts – yes

http://ajpadilla.com/   - Angie’s Bits ‘n Pieces – walk with me (shoes)– yes

http://fatquartershop.blogspot.it/p/wishes-quilt-along.html   - No

http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/    Pat Sloan Mystery BOM called Globetrotting – yes

http://www.thequiltladies.com/    - probably not

http://curlicuecreations.blogspot.com/p/star-block-of-month-tutorials.html     Star Block of the month Tutorials – probably not

http://www.langleyquiltersguild.com/  - probably not

http://loreen.typepad.com/   -   paper piecing one – not sure

http://www.lynbrown.com/do-you-see-block-of-the-week-reminder/   yes

http://www.opengatequilts.com/    - Blogger Girls BOM   --  probably not.

http://www.p3designs.com/   -  yes but will probably collect more than do.

http://www.p3designs.com/   - Tell it to the Stars – maybe

http://www.persimmonquilts.com/  - probably not

http://projecthouse360.com/  - might not do all but will collect.  Not sure on border but have time to figure it out

http://quiltaddictsanonymous.com/   -   not sure but probably not

http://quiltartdesigns.blogspot.it/p/blog-page_11.html  - paper piecing – no

http://quiltdoodledesigns.blogspot.com/ - offered through craftsy  but free – yes

http://quiltedsnail.blogspot.com/      - no

http://www.sulky-international.de/scripts/clsAIWeb.php?seite_id=200  - yes

http://quilttallahassee.com/activities-and-projects/2014-block-of-the-month/   - At Grandpa’s Pond – maybe

http://www.victorianaquiltdesigns.com/VictorianaQuilters/BlockoftheMonth/BlockoftheMonth.htm  - not sure

http://www.fatcatpatterns.com/boms.html - penguin cheer - yes

http://www.debbiemumm.com/Projects/QuiltBlocks/2014/   - Stars of Honor yes

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.it/2013/11/2014-civil-war-block-of-month-threads.html - no but will follow

http://www.heleenpinkster.nl/English/index.htm - another paper pieced one – no

http://animasquilts.com/2014BasketCase.html - basket blocks - no

http://www.rileyblakedesigns.com/blog/ - no

http://country-threads-chicken-scratch.com/?p=3073 – sampler blocks – no

http://www.quiltersnewsletter.com/issues/Ooh_Rah - not sure

http://quietplay.blogspot.com.au/  - Paper Piecing – no

http://chasenbach.tripod.com/leucht/Page16Lighthouses.html - Lighthouses - no

http://mumscupboard.blogspot.fr/2014/01/up-garden-path.html  -  up the garden path – embroidery (offered through craftsy) – yes

http://paperpanache.com/   -  no

   

The advantage of putting the list here is that I can just click on the link and it should take me to that page.  It might not be the page for the current month but I'm sure I can find it from those links.  You'll also notice I put "no" next to some.  That is for MY personal use.  I'm not saying that they are bad patterns but did not appeal to me or I just knew that I wouldn't do them.  

You might also notice that I might attempt to do some piecing in 2014.  That is a big step outside of my comfort zone.  That is one of my goals for 2014.  To learn a new technique or to get better at one that I currently know.  An example would be Paper Piecing.  I just did that small mug rug but I need to do more in order to get better at it as well as to commit it to memory.  I used to have a small add a quarter ruler that I had bought for paper piecing.  It...disappeared.  Now that I am trying to learn it more in 2014, I decided to order another one.  Quilting supplies are like potato chips.  It's hard to just order one thing.  I ended up ordering two add a quarter rulers.  One six inch and one 12 inch.  :)

Which BOMs are you going to work on?

So cute.....so distracting

I won't get a chance to do any quilting until probably Sunday afternoon but I still wanted to post something.  I went to JoAnne's and got some fabric for a test pattern that I'm doing (ie, no sneak peaks) and I'll get that washed this weekend.  Hopefully I will get it all ironed so I can start to work on it on Sunday afternoon.

This morning I tried to organize the BOMs for 2014.  I will post it here but I left it at work.  Go figure, right?  If I'm in that area I might pop in and grab my external drive which I think I left on my desk.  I don't work Monday so have time to post it.

In the meantime, have some cute pictures.  Searching for cute pictures is almost as addicting and distracting as quilting.  That means it must fit in right?

I hope you enjoyed them.

Cathedral Window - Finished

Ahh.  It's a good start to the new year.  I finished the January bucket list - Cathedral Window.  Of course I changed my mind about what I was going to make so that might have helped.  I was going to do a mini wall hanging for my office.  It would have been approximately 18" x 18" but then I realized that it would fit better if I did a vertical mini.  That enabled me to finish it today.

Remember in my other post that I said that the name Cathedral Window came from seeing the fabric through those window panes?  Just for fun I attached the project to my lamp and they are right.  You can see it pretty good.  Of course since my dark blue fabric has a fish theme, which normally wasn't visible, you might have to be a passenger with Captain Nemo on the Nautilus to look out through the windows and see the fish.  :)

The size wasn't the only thing that I changed my mind on.  I started out doing this by hand and then basting the window pane.  I ended up changing to doing it all by machine.  My fingers thanked me.


I also had breakfast with mother today and gave her the present that Nancy had made her.  She loved it!  As you can see she had to examine every part of it and adjust the hat and finally I had to put it on her bed.

See that yellow pillow on her bed?  The Salvation Army gave each residence of the nursing home one of them for Christmas this year.  It matches the yellow in the kitten throw and the yellow hat .  She was very pleased.

How is your day going?

A semi tutorial on how to do Cathedral Windows

The bucket list is Cathedral windows and I will e doing it this month.  I have a good start but know that I might forget how to do certain steps if I don't write them down.  I decided that I didn't like any one tutorial that I found so I decided to take steps from multiple tutorials.  Some decisions I made were:

Use the 9" block since I found directions for that size.  It wasn't too hard but it took a bit to find what size to use for the inset of the Cathedral Window.  I also found that the block got named Cathedral Window because it reminded people of the church windows when the block/quilt was held up to the light and the sun shone through the block.  I have a stained glass printed material which I thought to use but, of course, I couldn't find it.  One of my pictures that I'll be posting shows a light pink inset but I didn't think it was enough of a contrast so I changed it up to darker blue and like it better now.  So how did I do my block?  It all starts with a 9" block.

In my earlier post I used a muslin which was light and after reading some posts found out that you actually want a little heavier material.  There was this WOW fabric that I really like the pattern but don't like doing hand work on it.  I must have been out of my mind  when I made the decision to use it  because I wasn't thinking that I would have to do hand work.  Oh well...live and learn.  If I make a larger quilt instead of a mini or just a block, I will have to find a happy medium.  One article mentioned that broadcloth was a good choice.

I cut my material into 9" squares.

I really DO like the fabric pattern

Lay the fabric so that the right side is facing down on your table.  Then fold the fabric in half.

Then  you need to fold the fabric in half again.

Easy so far right?

Unfold your square and you'll see the fold lines.  Now take one of the corners and fold it toward the center. Pin it if you wish.  

Fold the other three corners towards the center.  Some people iron each fold as they go along.  I finger pressed mine (yeah, I got lazy).  Do what works for you.  The more accurate you get the more it will pay off down the road.  I discovered that the hard way.

I am now ready to do some stitching.  One tutorial said to just tack the center where all four points come in.  Another tutorial showed doing a zig zag stitch from corner to corner.  I decided to do the zig zag and while it worked pretty good....I had to remember after sewing with a straight line (that will come later) I had to remember to change my zig zag stitch.  I had my machine at 2.5 for the zig zag and forgot to change it one time so stitched at a 1 and it didn't cross over both sides so once I figured out what I did wrong I had to restitch it.  No biggie but hopefully I'll remember it now that I'm writing it down.

Once you stitch down one side turn it around and stitch the other side.  At this point you should have the right side of the fabric showing on both sides of your square.  Once again it is time to do some more folding.  Remember how you folded the corners earlier?  You'll be doing the same thing again and eventually you'll have some squares that look like this.

That looks simple enough right?  Now you need to sew two of the blocks together.  One tutorial said to slip stitch it together.  Another just used the sewing machine.  I used the sewing machine.  This time it's a straight stitch that I used.  you will be opening up one flap from each of the folds and put them together (non folded sides together).  You then sew along the creased line.

Open it back up and then you can lay down your center fabric on the triangle.  I used a square that was just a shade over 2 1/2".  2 1/2" was JUST a little small so I enlarged it by another 1/8".  That worked out a lot better.  Don't be afraid to adjust.  Cut a couple of squares to test it out first and once you have your desired length you can finish cutting out the rest.  The center square is good for using up some left over fabrics and you can do a scrappy quilt.  Experiment and see what you like.

That wasn't a good choice even though I love the fabric.  It was nice greens, pinks and blues with a metallic sheen to it but just wasn't enough of a contrast so I switched over to the dark blue.  I also decided to use some Roxanne's Baste It Glue to hold the fabric in place.  I still needed to attach those two sections and you do that just like you did before.  Open up so that you have a triangle facing another triangle and  (non folded sides together) and sew across the folded lines.

Before you know it, you will have:

Notice how I turned down the corners so that the white frames the blue?  That's your window frame.  Just fold it down.  You might find it easier to see in this next picture.  It's from Hyena in Petticoats page which I found totally helpful.

By the way, if you want to do your Cathedral Window as a quilt as you go, you can put squares cut to the same length as your window insert in before you fold down your "window frame".   If you'd like to check out Hyena in Petticoats Cathedral Window tutorial yourself the link is:

http://hyena-in-petticoats.blogspot.com/2007/08/cathedral-window-quilt-tutorial.html

I would like to thank Rose Smith and Hyena in Petticoats for having tutorials which helped me figure out what to do.

So how about some feedback.  Was this helpful? 

PS:  Ready for a chuckle?  I told you that I had problems with stitching with this fabric?  I wasn't kidding.  Here is a picture of what happened to my "straight" needle while I was basting my window frames. 

It's ok to laugh.  I laughed when I saw it too.  :)

Awww Moments

I don't have anything new to add to the blog today as far as sewing goes.  I will be working on a different method of doing Cathedral Windows this weekend and hope to have pictures some time for that.  In the meantime, take a step back  and take a deep breath to relax a bit.  Look at these cute puppies...at least I think they are cute.  Enjoy and I'll catch you up next time on what I've been up to.  :)

Hi there.  What are you up to?

Not much...How about you?

     

It's Friday....Let's dance!

We're tired!  Nap time.

Shhh.  My penguin an I are taking a nap.

Goodies in the Mail

YIPPEE!!!!!   I went to the post office and my fabric from Thousands of Bolts was there.  This is what I picked out with my gift certificate that I got for Christmas.  Did I say thank you Shelley?  If not...THANK YOU...THANK YOU.   These are the two stonehenge wide back fabrics.  I love them.  They are the wide fabric (102") but I'm not sure what I'll use them for.  I will let them visit their brothers and sister Stonehenge fabric until I do.

Here are the other two fabric.  They are labeled "blue" but the colors are more like a sage green or something.

I think it would work out well in a civil war or repro project.

Then I spent some time tonight looking on YouTube for Cathedral Windows.  I watched a couple and then just decided to jump in and wing it. Mind you, this was at 10:30 p.m. when I decided this.  I have to work tomorrow so I must turn off brain and get to bed.  Here is a mock up of my experiment.

I know what I will want to change on it.  This was done cutting a 10" block and then kept folding it.  :)  The center is 2.5" and seems to work relatively well.  I think that I will do what one of the videos suggested first.  It said to baste 1/4" all the way around the squares before I start to fold.  That will help with the corners I think.   I hand stitched the two blocks together but will do one mock up with using the sewing machine.  

That's it for tonight.  I really must get to bed.  LOL.

Everybody have a good night/day.

finished small project

I finished up on the little mug rug today.  I figured out what I was doing wrong with my paper piecing.  Now I just have to remember what I figured out for the next time I do one.  I think that doing one a month will be good.  I did use Missouri Quilt Company's paper piecing paper.  I drew the pattern on with a sharpie and that helped see my numbers.  I love how easily that paper comes off.

Next time I will have to watch more carefully where I put that mottled tan.  I should have switched the long line of gold with the triangle of mottled tan I think.  But I'm not "displeased" with how it turned out.

Play Day 2

It's Play Day 2 and I'm going to spend it being frustrated.  I am going to make it through a paper piecing a mug rug.  The design is one that is for a facebook group BOM that.  Supposedly the blocks can be used as a post card, a mug rug, or save them all up and make a small wall hanging at the end of the year.  I will probably either do the mug rugs or the small wall hanging.   Here is the sample of what it is suppose to look like.  Mine will be done in some greens and gold.  Not sure yet what I will do for decorative stitching.

Most of you readers have heard me also mention my yahoo group which has the bucket list.  Well the bucket list drawing for January is Cathedral Windows.  When I got my Quilting Daily email this morning, they were advertising a pre order for The Quilter's Applique Workshop.  One of the pictures they had on it showed a Cathedral Window table runner.

Isn't that a terrific looking table runner?  I was thinking about getting the book but I'm not sure.  The pre-order cost is $20 with the regular price being $27 (both numbers rounded up).  The e-book version, by itself, is also $27.  I will have to think on it a bit more.  I think if I do the pre-order I get the e-book for free and an immediate download.  The paperback book is out in February

If you are interested here is a link for it.  I'm not affiliated with Interweave.  I'm just passing on the link so you can see if it is something you'd like.

http://www.interweavestore.com/the-quilters-applique-workshop?a=qp140107&mid=358703&rid=3502636

That's about it for now.  I need to go back and figure out this paper piecing thing.  I think I know which step I did wrong but will have to do it again to see if I am right.  Progress updates later on.

Stay warm.  I'll be back at work tomorrow since my car started today and I took her out and she is running quite nicely.

Play Day No. 1

Is everybody keeping warm where you are at?

I had a wonderful play day today.   I spent my time with short amounts of time at the computer since it was in front of the window and then I moved to the winged back chair which was further into the room.  Both places I made sure that I had some lap quilts around my legs.

Not sure why it took so long to do this one....

Do you remember what it is suppose to look like?  This picture is the one taken and featured in Fons and Porter.

These are my blocks all done.  I haven't cut out any of the sashings yet but at least I got all nine blocks done.

Now it is time for supper so stay warm and since I don't have to work tomorrow either I'll have to figure out what else to work on.  :)

Have a great evening.