I had a wonderful summer! With my DH drove up thru CA to Newport Oregon then over mostly Route 20 to end up in Boston! Then my husband had to return for work, so a friend from Sweden came and we drove the way back - it was a wonderful trip.
I stopped at a few quilting shops along the way on the way east. I had planned to keep track of my expenses, but now see that all my purchases did not get recorded with receipts or prices - or even the names of the stores - so I did a lousy job of keeping track.
I was overwhelmed with all the fabric in the stores, and in the end just picked white on white. I'm hoping the fabric gets used and isn't just packed away...!
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Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Sunday, November 1, 2015
QFK Green Quilt Finished and Baby Quilt with Block Lotto Winnings Finished too!
I finally finished the green Quilts For Kids (started Jan 2015) project last summer. I brought it with me to the east coast and used it to help my friend make a quilt for her granddaughter.
We only had the regular walking foot for the machine so were only able to do straight stitching. I was disappointed to not be able to introduce her to FMQing, but it was very freeing also to just do the stitch in the ditch and to get the projects done!
First went around each block. Goofed in one place near the middle so just added another line so the quilting was symmetrical. Then went around the borders.
When it was time to do the borders realized:
1. I didn't have enough pins with me to pin the bindings the way I have done in the past, and also didn't have any glue or snapping pins to keep the border in place.2. There was extra batting and fabric all around the quilt.
So instead of trimming the batting even with the top and wasting the batting, we cut the batting so it was even on all sides (but sticking out about an inch) and trimmed the background so it was even and would cover the new batting plus about inch so the edge could be finished.
Then we just folded and sewed, pinning on side down at a time. I did the top then the sides - but now I'm not sure that is the correct order.
The binding then added two inches to the size of the quilt and looked like another border instead of binding.
The wider binding made it very simple to finish this quilt and I think I will just do it for all my charity quilts. Then it will mean I can finish them so they can be donated and used!
As a lesson I showed her how to do a step with my green quilt, and she then did the sewing on her baby quilt.
We'd prefer more quilting, but sometimes it's better to just get something done...
The wider binding made it very simple to finish this quilt and I think I will just do it for all my charity quilts. Then it will mean I can finish them so they can be donated and used!
As a lesson I showed her how to do a step with my green quilt, and she then did the sewing on her baby quilt.
We'd prefer more quilting, but sometimes it's better to just get something done...
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| A finish! | ||||
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| A finish! Here is where I wrote about the Block Lotto blocks... |
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T-shirts Refashions
My husband and I have been dieting. That's a different story.
The side effect is that we are able to go through our closet and are finding many pieces of clothes that no longer fit. So far I'm just removing and not really replacing a lot of new things. When we took our road trip we would stop at different thrift shops to get new pants that fit better so I do have those.
Amazing that I had so many clothes in different sizes waiting to be worn again for so many years. Some had never been worn before. They were just taking up space and making me feel like I shouldn't buy any new things!
We take things we are no longer using to Goodwill or if Amvets are coming by I leave them for them to recycle.
I've been putting some denim items in my to-be sewing room, thinking that I'd use the denim in some other project. But lately I'm finding t-shirts that aren't good enough to give to goodwill, but not bad enough to cut into cleaning rags, so I'm starting a stack of them too.
A few years ago - gee it might have been ten years ago - I gave my son's girlfriend a book with ideas for revamping t-shirts along with a stack of used t-shirts. She had come over a few times to sew and I was dreaming this would be a new project for the two of us to bond over. I'm not sure if she ever did anything with the book or shirts. She was a confident and skilled sewer, much better than me. She has been pretty busy with gainful employment and living. I know she is not painting or knitting or doing any of her crafty things. When they have spare time they rock climb!
Anyway, I'll have this stack of t-shirts and have found some nice posts with ideas of things to do with them, so just posting here to remind myself of t-shirt refashions...
https://www.pinterest.com/curlysue77/t-shirt-refashion/
http://andreasnotebook.com/t-shirt-upcyles.html
For many years I was the one wearing the plain t-shirt and jeans. No style. Just clean. At some point I discovered (make that was-horrified-to-realize) that I was more comfortable in men's t-shirts. It's nice to be able to go into a store and buy regular women's sizes again.
But since I have these used items it might be good sewing project to remake them just to practice learning the procedures and concepts. Would be fun to have my own large t-shirt made into a dolman t-shirt!
It's hard to know what to keep and what not to keep. It's a burden and a gift to have so many things.
Found a post today on decluttering that was interesting.
http://www.thriftydecorchick.com/2011/01/but-first-we-declutter.html
She says each year she cycles thru the house to get rid of things and to clean up (she also does many beautiful projects in the cleared out spaces). In 2011 she started with that area so she had energy to really do it completely. Also, because previously she had been putting things she wasn't using in the basement she already knew much of it was going out the door. I just left a comment on her blog asking how the basement looks now - we'll see if she posts a new photo to inspire me! : )
The side effect is that we are able to go through our closet and are finding many pieces of clothes that no longer fit. So far I'm just removing and not really replacing a lot of new things. When we took our road trip we would stop at different thrift shops to get new pants that fit better so I do have those.
Amazing that I had so many clothes in different sizes waiting to be worn again for so many years. Some had never been worn before. They were just taking up space and making me feel like I shouldn't buy any new things!
We take things we are no longer using to Goodwill or if Amvets are coming by I leave them for them to recycle.
I've been putting some denim items in my to-be sewing room, thinking that I'd use the denim in some other project. But lately I'm finding t-shirts that aren't good enough to give to goodwill, but not bad enough to cut into cleaning rags, so I'm starting a stack of them too.
A few years ago - gee it might have been ten years ago - I gave my son's girlfriend a book with ideas for revamping t-shirts along with a stack of used t-shirts. She had come over a few times to sew and I was dreaming this would be a new project for the two of us to bond over. I'm not sure if she ever did anything with the book or shirts. She was a confident and skilled sewer, much better than me. She has been pretty busy with gainful employment and living. I know she is not painting or knitting or doing any of her crafty things. When they have spare time they rock climb!
Anyway, I'll have this stack of t-shirts and have found some nice posts with ideas of things to do with them, so just posting here to remind myself of t-shirt refashions...
https://www.pinterest.com/curlysue77/t-shirt-refashion/
http://andreasnotebook.com/t-shirt-upcyles.html
For many years I was the one wearing the plain t-shirt and jeans. No style. Just clean. At some point I discovered (make that was-horrified-to-realize) that I was more comfortable in men's t-shirts. It's nice to be able to go into a store and buy regular women's sizes again.
But since I have these used items it might be good sewing project to remake them just to practice learning the procedures and concepts. Would be fun to have my own large t-shirt made into a dolman t-shirt!
It's hard to know what to keep and what not to keep. It's a burden and a gift to have so many things.
Found a post today on decluttering that was interesting.
http://www.thriftydecorchick.com/2011/01/but-first-we-declutter.html
She says each year she cycles thru the house to get rid of things and to clean up (she also does many beautiful projects in the cleared out spaces). In 2011 she started with that area so she had energy to really do it completely. Also, because previously she had been putting things she wasn't using in the basement she already knew much of it was going out the door. I just left a comment on her blog asking how the basement looks now - we'll see if she posts a new photo to inspire me! : )
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
MAQ: Tessellating Windmill Pillow Class
I went to the Mid-Appalachian Quilters July 2015 event and took the Tessellating Windmill Pillow Class to learn how make the design - and how to put a zipper in!
First we arranged the charms we had brought to class so the different colors would be distributed.
Here is how I put my blocks - now I can see two places where the colors were too similar and I wish I had done differently...
The instructor, Heather, had taught this design many times, so her in-class tips were helpful... But as you can see, there were many pieces to keep track of!
The zipper directions were posted on the Moda website for a different pillow design that is also really cute...
The template made this design rather easy to do, buy oh it was easy to mix the pieces up. I've thought this design was so interesting and I'm glad I made it, but determined after the class that I didn't enjoy making it at all.
I gave my template to one of the ladies I sit next to at the once a month sewing session that I attend. Just wasn't fun for me to have to keep track of the pieces and so disappointing to see that the colors were not ordered as well as they could have been. Perhaps if I had picked different fabrics, or just was a faster sewer this would have been something to make again...
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Thinking of Kitchen
http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/55682234?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u1959&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery0
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| The open shelves might be nice as it preserves the window light and in our case would be view too! |
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| Having the appliances on the wall opens the center. Having moveable island makes it flexible space? Not sure how to get at the hanging items though... |
Friday, October 23, 2015
Cultural Fusion: Hour Glass - and basting in a pinch!
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| * New (to me) way to baste! |
I've finally pulled out my machine and sewed the Cultural Fusion Hour Glass blocks together, added some borders and basted the result. The block was fun to make. I thought I had picked a good number of blue and green fabrics, but while cutting I starting doubting myself and added some more yellowish material and mixed myself up on how I was doing it too. So some of my blocks are not following the guidelines but the results are still striking.
I'm making this quilt for a local charity. They organized a sewing session last weekend that I attended. The ladies there picked the fabric for the borders and gave me the batting, a thick polyester something I've not used before. If I had thought ahead I would have made more hour glass blocks for the frame, but I just have borders now. The other ladies were also using that batting, so I could see how lovely the stitching shows on the quilts.
We meet once a month to sew from 9 to 4 - all day. The location (a church) has a person who sets up the sewing tables including (higher) cutting tables and ironing boards. We just have to contribute one quilt a year and spend one day each year only working on their projects. Oh and we each bring a salad to share for lunch with the others. Last weekend I made a grape salad, more like a dessert - it was well received.
Grape Dessert Salad - (Because it's near Halloween my husband named it eye ball salad topped with crumbled bones.)
1. Clean and put in a dish - about 4 lbs of assorted grapes (mine were frozen as they were over bought for a party we held a few weeks ago)
2. Cream together: 8 oz sour cream, 8 oz cream cheese, and about 1/4 c sugar. Add to the grapes and mix
3. Right before serving top with some brown sugar and nuts.
The ladies are very nice, I feel very lucky to be included in the group.
I still haven't quilted my tumbler quilt, it has all my pinmoors as it's basted and waiting for me to finish - but I wanted to get this hour glass charity quilt at least started during the day long session. * I taped the backing down so it was taut on the table and then just put the batting and top of that on the table. I used regular straight pins to baste! When I finished I took the tape that had been used on the backing and put little pieces on the sharp tips of the pins. It worked! I was able to stitch the seams and then remove the pins without sticking myself once! So now I just need to decide on how to add a FMQing design and finish the binding!
I'm looking forward to making more quilts from Sujata's book, Cultural Fusion. Several folks are making rail fences following her guidelines, I'll be joining in! The results are posted on this website - http://culturalfusionquilts.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Winner: Received: Machine Quilting with Style (from Martingale)
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I followed most of the blogs postings about Christa Watson's book: Machine Quilting with Style, and was so happy to learn that I won the ebook version from Martingale.
This is my first quilting ebook, it will be nice to have access without having to find an actual book on a shelf.
The projects are really attractive. I'm really going to make many of these! I'm looking forward to participating in Christa Watson's quilt along for the facets design - January 2016. Grab a book so you can sew along too!
So thank you again to Martingale for picking me to receive the eBook version of Christa's first book!
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| Facets Quilt from Machine Quilting with Style |
Thursday, July 30, 2015
MAQ Winner:
I forgot to post that I won the drawing at MAQ 2015 for this lovely Debby Kratovil quilt. Just as they were drawing the names, I had told my husband if I won I would give the quilt to our friend who really like aqua and beautiful quilts. After MAQ we drove to her house where I presented the quilt. She then gave the quilt to her daughter who lives in Northern California. The quilt has been on the wall at that house since then. Adding a lot of beauty there. I just noticed the image on the group's facebook page so grabbed it to share here!
Posted 3-22-2019 but dated closer to the event...
Monday, July 6, 2015
Striped Design
This would make a terrific quilt with sample fabrics! It's on my list to make for Quilts for Kids next fall!
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