Progess in the sweat shop

And no I didn't mean SWEET!  It's been around 90 degrees outside and just about that in the shop.  No air conditioner!  But we must keep sewing despite the elements, purge on, forward!!!  Okay so I really did complain alot the last few days.  However alot of SWEET things happened in the SWEAT shop.    I've managed to get about 10 inches down on the Summer Romance quilt.  Ruler work can really be time consuming and worth every minute of extra time. 

And below is what I pumped out in a matter of about 30 minutes using the HST papers that I recently found online.  They can be printed out for free!   And they knock of alot time in measuring and squaring up.  Look 96 of these cuties in 30 minutes!  Minus one because of human error and overconfidence with a rotary cutter.  Still I'm pleased with the results.  Just a note to Dianne over at Ceshirequilter, Everything is BLUE!



Hst Paper Method

Normally I dont use paper piecing for making HST's.  But I found these papers online that can help me teach my newbies class to make them.  You can find them here to print.  Later in the week I'll be posting a a pdf pattern for Summer Stars quilt that I designed in EQ7.  Its beginner friendly and goes together rather quickly with HST papers.  Of course it can be made using whatever method you choose.  I made these today in about 10 minutes.

 Start by printing out paper and pinning it to 2 pieces of fabric that are right sides together

 Lower your stitch length to about 1.8, change your foot to an open toe and sew on the dashed diaginal lines.  When you get to a corner put your needle down, turn and keep sewing on the dashed line. 

It should look like so.....

Trim off the outer edges(solid lines)

 It should look simular to this

 Now dont cut on the diagonal yet.  Cut the 90 degree lines first!  And then you can make that angle cut.

 The one on the right is the one I cut on the diaganal first...OOPS

And look!  Super easy and fast! Another tip;  leave the papers on to press to the dark.  It gives a much nicer seam with no stretching of fabric.  tip 2; leave the papers on till your ready to piece the blocks.

Carpenters Wheel Quilt

The past few months I've had the pleasure of teaching 2 newbies to quilt.  We started with a BOM from our local quilt shop.  Everything was going grand until life got in the way for a couple of us and then out of nowhere the quilt show decides to close right in the middle of the BOM.   No matter how well planned you think things are they can change without warning...tis life!  These gals were heart broken that they couldn't finish the quilt(even though we were a little behind).  So I decided to come up with something thats simple to make, repeatative, easy to work on alone.  I'll be using HST papers so the gals can take them home and sew on the line all by themselves and when they finish I can show them the magic of paper piecing these little guys.  Accuracy is the number one most important thing in quilting.  The prettiest pattern and fabric becomes quite an eye sore if you can't match up those seam properly.  I think this will give the WOW factor of quilting and teach them a few simple quilting lessons all in one quilt.  

No I didn't make this

This is an example of a Siddi quilt.  These quilts are made totally different than how we quilt.  They start with the backing and then start sewing one piece at a time to the quilt.  Well I guess I should tell you who they are.  They're africans.  Amazing quilts, very artistic.  I wonder how these quilts would be judged at the Paducha quilt show.  Resembles a Gees Bend quilt don't you think? 

I've tried the process of not having a patten and sewing at random but in never looks anything like this.  Even though theres a randomness to this quilt, theres a pattern.  What talent these gals have.

Air Mail!

Sometimes I can be so childish.  When this package arrived today I was like a little kid and giddy.  AIR MAIL!  I got Air mail, from the UK!  Running with my package to show my sweety.  Of course, he being well traveled wasn't impressed.  Okay I'm not well traveled, heck I barely get out more than 20 miles from home.  But he that traveled for years rolled his eyes when I showed him the Air Mail siticker and address.  So of course the envelope was carefully opened so I could keep it safe tucked away in a scrapbook of my not so traveled life.   Anyway a big thank you to Diane over at http://thecheshirequilter.blogspot.com/  How sweet it was to send me these cute squares of fabric.  My son loves squirrels  I plan to make him something with these. 

Finally finished

I've had this customer quilt for quite some time.  At 2am the last stitch was put in the binding.  This morning I tossed it in the washer(per customer request) and at 2pm its ready to be shipped home. 

This quilt top was made in the early 90's with Jenny Beyer fabric.  It was a treat to work on something with a little age. 

Looking for inspiration

I started this back in December.   It was supposed to be finished in time for the Iron quilter contest at Missouri Star Quilts.  But I bit off more than I could quilt with the hand applique.  Anyway its next on the quilt frame and I've no idea how to quilt it.  Pulled out all my books today  looking for inspiration, now I'm searching  cyberland.  As I sit looking at it now I'm thinking I might add another border of white and then scallop....Or maybe wavy cut where the white and blue come together. Something seems missing....  I was hoping to get this done in time for a small quilt show at the start of June but the way its going it doesn't look possible.  However I have named the quilt already "Summer Romance".

Learning something new

Ten years ago I made my first full size quilt.  Not knowing what I was doing I just put simple quilting around the block.  Longarms didn't even exist in my world I knew nothing of modern day quilting.  In 2004 I bought my first quilting magazine, and realized that there was a whole world of quilting out there that I was missing out on.  So I made another, and another ......Doing simple stitches like stitching in the ditch, straight lines.  Wanting so badly to do the FANCY stuff.  Practicing and practicing, cussing and seam rippers.  Finally last year I sent a quilt out to be quilted by someone else.  I was dissappointed and inspired at the same time.  I paid $60 to get a quilt longarmed and then had to bring it home and try to fix what I didn't like.  She was new to the longarm business and was really cheap so I didn't have the heart to tell her.  At that point I said to myself that I could do this myself.  Scrimping and saving I bought the best machine I could afford.  Going from 0 to 60 in a very short time.  I skipped right over the easy stuff like all over patterns and started doing custom work and feathers. 

The point to this story is I've never done a panto! But would love to quilt for a living.  Many quilt makers want pantos on quilts.  Even though its not my style, not what I love I decided to once more work outside my comfort zone.  Now I just need to figure out how to use these. 

This company is great!  Ordered on Saturday and they arrived in the mail on Tuesday!

Theres a cute giveaway I'd really like to have!

I found this little giveaway today, well a follower told me about it.  You can find it here and enter for a chance to win also.  Isn't this cute!  Good luck!

The Jinny Beyer Quilt

She's almost done.  Many issues with thread and heavy seams.  But after all the trouble its coming out nicely.  I think the owner will be quite pleased when she sees her vintage top quilted.  Those corner blocks look like they need more, might try adding something.  Anyone have any suggestions?



Also went out and picked up the new 100 Blocks Vol 5.  I love looking at all these inspiring and creative blocks.  I've gotta have every issue(and I do).

This one is my favorite!  Recently I've fallen in love with applique, but not only does this have applique but a cute little cathedral window like turn down on the basket. 

On the cutting table

Here it is, my new cutting table.  My old one was an old folding table.  Now to decide if I should paint it or not.  Sweety is frowning on the painting.  You know it's a guy thing, he hates painted wood.  Had he used all the same color wood staining or just a clear coat would have been fine.  Cherry and birch are so contrasting.  So watcha think, paint or stain?

After getting all my stuff in my table I decided I better get outside for awhile.  Neglecting my veggie and flower gardens has produced some interesting results.  Not sure this fella is gonna be good eating, biggest radish I've ever grown.

And the wild flower patch, well its become the WILD WEED PATCH.

However the daisy around the house have done quite well this year after moving to there new spot.  My favorite flower, they just seem so happy.

Lets talk thread

Ask any quilter what thread is best and you'll get a wide range of answers.  Ranging from cottons to silk.  Personally I've been a Polyester gal for the last year.  Not just any poly thread it had to be floriani . 

Well in all my internet browsing I'm running into a pattern.  Many of the longarm quilters out there in cyberland are using a silk thread.  Really!  It gives a much better back tracking.  It hides this method much better.  Well after checking out the thread its a 100 weight thread.  Now thats fine, super fine.  I found this amazing, only because of shredding issues.  Embroidery thread shreds if you have a heavy seam, or if your quilt is to taunt.  So it made me wonder about the Silks.  So off to cyber land to do some research.  And yes there are some adjustments to make to your machine and tricks to the silk thread.  Then I found that Invisafil is much cheaper, stronger and is a blend of cotton and poly and also is 100 weight.   Of course its on its way to my house!  Cant wait to try out this new to me thread.  

A blast from the past

This quilt came to me from a family member several months ago.  It was the first and only top she had made several years ago.  She couldn't remember exacly when it was made.  Well not saying she did a bad job because she did lovely not to have had any experience with quilting.  Anyway I had to do some fixing in order to get it on my frame.  While doing so I noticed there was a salvage edge....and look what I found!  It a Jinny Beyer fabric from the 90's!  Wow this is totally different from her line of fabrics today.  Any other quilter would've cut these salvages off and I'd never known!  Some mistakes can be happy ones!

Playin Catchup

Procrastination is something I do well.  Letting this project get 3 months behind was an easy thing to do.  Over the weekend I decided to play the catchup game.  These fabrics were an impulse buy over a year ago.  Totally out of my comfort zone with the color and print.  Things are coming together quite nicely.  Now to figure out how I'll set them in a quilt when all 12 are finished.  An on point settting is jumping out at me just because it's more of a challenge(well for me it is..HEHE)

But now I'm on top of the procrastination problem, or so I think.  Thinking ahead I cut out several extra squares for the next few months!  Now lets see if they get sewn together on time.  Its a great little sew along that is really simple and easy to follow.  There's still time to join in if you interested you can find it here.