Cutting it straight

My youngest son came to visit today.  What a surprise!  We don't see each other much he lives the next county over.  But while he was here I decided to get some help with this.  I paid $16 a yard for this!  It came from the LQS in our small town, of course after spending tons of money in the shop over the last few years she up and closed in a matter of a month.  I was doing the block of the month, that's a sore spot too.  And I was $100 dollars away from getting my gift card that you get after spend  $500.....I could go on forever.  But when I got this out today to use for a backing....UGGG...ERRR!  Okay I've got it off my chest and I promise not to complain anymore about it.  Excuse the mess in the room its what I call the "The Man room".  My sweeties indoor workshop/catchall room.  Its the only spot with enough floor space to square up a 90x 100 piece of fabric. 

Okay moving on...check out this quilt.  It's 13'x15' and wow!  I'm not a fan of skulls or snakes or heavy metal but I find this work by Ben Vemom  to be AMAZING!  You can see more of his work at his blog.  I went on a wild search the other day after being told I was an artist.  And found that there are some really interesting Art quilters out there.  Not my thing but Mr. Venom you get two thumbs up from me. 

Until nest time QUILT OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE!

Lea Pin It

Finding hidden treasures...

I found these Cheater quilt tops in my stash while looking for a certain fabric.  It's amazing what you find!  These were part of an estate sale that I bought a couple of years ago. 

There's enough of both to make 3 quilts each!  Now will I ever do it?   My thoughts were leaning towards cutting them up and making framed blocks, pillows to match, maybe a wall hanging.  Then I thought maybe I should sell them.  Any suggestions?

And now the progress on my wall hanging...things have been slow, because I made some silly mistakes....

....But a few hours later and a couple of numb fingers there's progress....

Until next time QUILT OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE, and make your fingers numb!

Lea Pin It

Its time for change

For those of you that visit regularly you might have noticed I change the look of my blog.  Boredom snuck in last night after I tired of quilting.  And you see the results.  Not sure that I'll keep it this way but for now it works for me. 

I've spent most of today drawing up plans for yesterdays beauty.

 

Now I need to yesterdays scrap to make the insanely small AAQI quilt.  These are the scraps....and I've no flipping idea what to do with them.

Until next time....Quilt out of your comfort zone!

 

Lea



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An artist at work

Oh my goodness I just don't know how I make such a big mess.  I try so hard not to be messy because I loath clutter and messes.  But when I'm designing its a totally different story.  Even with the trash can placed at my feet I still can't seem to hit it!  Oh well.....

 

 

The mess was totally worth the end results.  My plan is to add some of those HST's I've been working on, maybe a simple border.  Really won't know until the design board process.  If you like this pattern you can get it at Erin Russeks Etsy Shop.  It's part of her My Tweets Block of the month that I've been working on...well here and there.

It took a lot of trial and error to get the color placement just perfect for my eyes.  So I've got a few scrap applique pieces that I think may become part of an AAQI Quilt.  At our last guild meeting the program was about these little quilts not much bigger than a piece of paper.  Lisa Dodson taught the class and has some amazing small quilts.  To be honest I've tried making one of these small quilts one time and lets just say I dusted my furniture with it.  We were told at the meeting that we're all artist,  I suppose so, always consider myself a quilter but I guess you're creating and that's what artists do.  My canvas for my artistry is much bigger than 9x13.......

Well until next time...Quilt out of your comfort zone!

Lea Pin It

Piddling around....

I spent most of yesterday cleaning and rearranging the studio.  Today it was back to the sweat shop!  I found my HST project that had been laid aside...

...seeing these again inspired me to look through patterns and the internet to find new ways to use HST's.  Well from there I came up with a plan which involed more applique than HST's.

 

After all that work I needed a break.  Snapped a few photos of the flowers that are finally recovering from the horrible drought.

 



Until next time ...Quilt out of your comfort zone!

Lea Pin It

Are you up for a little Romance?

So glad this one is finally finished!  I'm in love with it!  This quilt was supposed to be for the Iron Quilter Challenge at the Missouri Star Quilt Company but you know how it goes..LIFE.  So I missed the deadline and it became a UFO for a few months.   The little birdie design if from Ivory Spring Blog.  You can find it here.  I changed the feather part up a little bit but it's still her birdie.   I love Wendy's work, and she shares so much of her talents with tons of tutes. 

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Gaining control of my BHQ

Just thought I'd share how to get more control when quilting on a frame.  When doing small detail work your machine seems to want to fly all over the place.  Especially if you have a light weight like mine.  After doing hours of research I found that you can make rice bags...like I want to sew a bag.  NOPE!  The directions called for (2) 2 lb bags.   So I decided I would cheat and just roll up some yardage and it worked!  The other thing that you need to do in order to get more control is to lower your quilt till it lays directly on the bed of your machine.  You don't want to much drag or distortion of your backing.  Then lay your weight of choice up against you take up bar.  This works like a charm!  Micro handles also help a great deal.    You can get several different machine micro handles here. Mine have be modified by me. I know it doesn't look pretty but it functional.  I've also taken the front cover off of my machine for better visibility.

Now since my machine is so lightweight I've also weighted it down.  This stays on my machine all the time no matter what type of quilting I' doing.  Because of the extra weight added I NEVER leave my machine in the middle of my frame overnight, its pulled to one end or the other and parked.

And there you have it!  Nothing to it!  So until next time..."Quilt out of your comfort zone!"

Lea Pin It

Try as I might

....I haven't gotten much done today.  I've mangaged however to spend a world record amount of time of the telephone.  Chittin and a Chattin about absolutely nothing.  But the mail man was good to me today...

 

And my dear sweet man made me this little longarm caddy....

And some Doodlin while on the phone....

I saw this video on Erin Russeks Blog and thought I'd share.

 

Until next time "Quilt out of your comfort zone!"

Lea





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Granny Square quilt

Granny squares was a crochet pattern that my mom and grandmother made over and over back in the 70's.  But recently it been all the rage for online quilt alongs.  I first saw the quilt in American Patchwork Quilting October 2010 .  

 How cute that they took a crochet pattern and made it into a quilt pattern, and I love it!  Since then several TUTES and PATTERNS have popped up on the internet.  I recently won a fabric bundle of calicos that reminded me of the 70's and the Granny Square quilt instantly popped into my head.  These fabrics are from the Mr. K's Calico Gardens by Windham Fabrics and their
Windham Blendables .  Oh I almost forgot to tell you how I won them, Quilters Club of America !  I love being a member.  For me it's well worth the $30 a year.  With the discounts from Joanns and others it's worth the money to me.  They also give you a subscription to Easy Quilts Magazine and a year at Qnntv.com which I love!  Do I sound like an advertisement yet...LOL.  Tons of benefits that you really should check into if you too are obessed with quilting. 

Until next time...Get out of that comfy computer chair and into your sewing space and "Quilt out of your comfort zone!"

Lea Pin It

Whats your inspiration?

First off I want to say mom is doing well and bored to death.  Her surgery went well, and she's back to complaining!  She called the other day just to ask me how I stand being at home all day.  My answer....I SEW!  Thanks to all of you that sent your blessing her way.  Now send one my way because I'm having to deal with her while she's off work!....LOL...Love ya Mom! 

Now As everyone already knows Sharon Schambers is an amazing quilter.  An inspiration?  How could she not be.  But have you ever wondered where she gets her inspiration?  When I look at others quilts I wonder how, what, where, when, and who.  Just like a journalist I suppose.  In my simple little mind things just don't seem to click as they do for the Big Girls like Sharon.  So let me share with you what I found today while surfing for quilting ideas.  Architecture is a wonderful place to start, so I thought lets look up that on the Internet.... and then I thought why not just look up!  Literally !  The pictures will pretty much tell the story but all I'm saying is somebody has been looking up.  

These 4 are ceiling tiles.....stay with me...

.....still yet ...hang in there with me...painted ceilings

And now Sharon Schambers and her wonderful quilt!  See how they look similar?

Well now isn't that interesting!  Just take a google trip on Ceiling tiles and you'll be amazed at all the wonderful ideas that you come up with.  Not that I could ever make any of them but it defiantly gets the creative juices flowing.

Till next time Ya'll Quilt out of your comfort zone!



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