Progress with Leaders and Enders

Hello Happy Quilters!  Come on in and join me in doing a little happy dance.  I can't tell you how happy it makes me to have finally mastered the leaders and enders method.  This method of piecing 2 quilts at once has been around for many years but Bonnie Hunter is the one who brought it to life.  She has written 2 books just for this method.  You can find them here in her shop.  

 I was hoping to share a video made by Bonnie about this method but she hasn't made a short video tutorial about leaders and enders.  I know she has shown it in some of her quilt cam videos but those are a hour long and you would need to watch or search the entire video to find the moment when she actually shows the process.  So Bonnie if your reading you might want to make a quick YouTube video about leaders and enders.  Of course YouTube has many videos about this process so I chose one that gave Bonnie the credit she deserves.  The video can be found here.

My current project is On Ringo Lake by Bonnie Hunter (the red and green seen below). A previous post showing the quilt pattern can be found here.   In the picture below you can see I've already cut the green and red pieces off of my blue ender(long arrow at the bottom).  Looking back behind my sewing machine at the short yellow arrow is the other blue. This process of using leaders and enders takes a little bit of prep time but once you get them cut and make a mindful decision to do the process it quickly becomes habit.  I've been trying for years to make this a habit and it has finally worked.  At first it seemed to slow me down but somewhere in day 2 and 3 the process became so much of a habit I didn't even notice and it actually seems now to make the piecing process faster for my main red and green quilt.

I'm flying through the finicky little units 20 at a time as I binge watch "The Affair" on Showtime.  It's a good series.  Word of warning, there's a ton of S-E-X scenes and full nudity of both sexes. I know the title and the channel should have tipped me off about the almost porn-ish parts of the series.  I guess I'm a little old fashion and think a lot could have been left to our imagination.  Thank goodness for fast forward.

Anyway back to quilting.  Just a few more red and green units and I'll be ready to start the next clue.  Crossing my fingers for a quilt top finish by next Monday.

I bought a new dog toy call Kong Rewards Ball.  Mr. Podunk says it's the best money I've spent on her in two years.  It keeps her occupied for quite awhile.   Purchased at Meijer but can be found on Amazon here.  I get nothing for you clicking, just a happy customer sharing ideas. 

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Late Christmas Delivery ~ Happy Mail!

 Look what came in the mail this week.  My sweetheart daughter in law, Tabby, sent me this awesome book.  It's one that has been on my wish list for quite a long time.   When Quiltmaker started publishing the yearly 100 blocks I collected almost all of them.  Each magazine was filled with new and creative blocks that I couldn't wait to make but never found the time.   I'm pretty sure this is a collection of all or some of the magazines I already have but I don't care.  I love having them all rolled into one.   My quilt book and magazine collection is almost as large as my fabric stash collection.  A quilter can never have to many books with pretty pictures, right?  

As I flipped through the pages  a few little blocks caught my eye.  Can you guess the designer?  If you've been following me for awhile you probably know the answer.

I remember when Pam made these blocks and shared them on her blog.  Everything she makes is just too darn cute.  And I have all these fabrics tucked away in my stash. 

 I could make them, I want to make them all.  There's a few more of her blocks in the book, so I could make the most darling quilt.  I may need to MOO-VE this project along.   If you are confused about MOO-VE, you can read about it in my previous blog post here.

It would be a quick quilt since all the quilt math is in the book.  In the back of the book is several different layout options.  Everything a gal needs to whip up a quilt.  

In the original magazines there were pull out pages with templates for the applique or embroidery designs.  The book has a CD for printing out the quilt block information and templates.  What a great addition to my Quiltmaker magazine collection.  Thank you Miss Tabby!

I did a little google search for you if you would like to have a copy of your own.  I get nothing if you click on the link.  I just like to help out when I can.  With the postal service running behind I thought Amazon would be the quickest delivery.  Click here.

So how about a little flip through the pages. Enjoy!

Our baby girl getting ready to nap with her baby bunny toy...too cute.

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Moo-ving On Ringo Lake

 Well here we are, a New Year and a time when some of us think about a fresh start.  I'm looking forward to what the new year will bring.  Many of you, like me, might be considering finishing up some UFO's and planning for new quilt-a-longs.  There's a couple quilt-a-longs I've been thinking about joining but nothing is set in stone.  Right now I'm working on a 3 year old mystery quilt called On Ringo Lake by Bonnie Hunter.   Bonnie's patterns are great for scrap busting but I usually cut mine from scraps, fat quarters and yardage.  It would be nice to use up my older uglier fabric but I like my bright happy more up to date fabric.  By the way if you are not familiar with Bonnie and her yearly scrap busting freebie you can find out more about it by clicking here.  This years mystery is going on right now.  Get your free clues before they go away!

Today I'm cutting and piecing reds and greens.

They will be used to make the unit shown below.  

Bonnie's colors for the quilt were way out of my color comfort zone.  And to be honest I have almost no orange or salmon in my stash.  So changing up the colors was a must.  Her quilt is on the left my quilt is on the right.  I drew it up in EQ so I could decide on the colors I wanted to use.

Since these fabrics have been folded and shoved in a box for about a year they need a good pressing. Oh how I love red.  Rarely do I make a quilt without it.  Have you noticed red fabric is getting harder to find?  The new trend of more muted colors are cramping my style but my budget is loving it!

I'm not sure where I picked up this cute little fat quarter by Bonnie and Camille.  I love the messages hidden in the print.

This one is my favorite....Let what you love be what you do.  It's a shorter way of saying if you find a job doing what you love, you'll never work a day in your life.  So true.  When I quilt every day I feel amazing and the world seems right no matter what kind of drama is going on outside my studio.  I love quilting and it's never a chore, it calms my soul and feeds my spirit like nothing else.

So what could I do to make it this year better?  I'm already doing what I love but there's always room for improvement.  Last year my word of  the year was Simplify.  I feel like I did a pretty good job of just doing this and that without worrying about deadlines or things that "should" be done.  I just went with the flow and let things happen.  Well this year I'd like have a little more structure and movement.  A change is needed.  I like change and adventure.  It keeps the mind sharp and the world interesting.  So my word of the year is MOVE.

What does MOO-VE mean to me?  It's about action and change.  Staying busy, creating and enjoy the process of moving.  Here's a few examples for my year of MOO-VE. 

1.  MOVE a few UFO's to the finished pile
2.  MOVE the finished quilts to the patterns written pile

3.  Get up and MOVE for at least an hour a day with a daily walk, rain or shine.

4.  MOVE those unorganized fabrics....organize!

5.  One you may find to be a little strange is the reason for the cow above.  I'm going to change my diet from a Ketovore to Carnivore.  I've been eating a 95% carnivore diet for a little over a year.  54 weeks to be exact.  Starting tomorrow I'll be going 100% carnivore.  No more coffee, no more cheeses and no more cream in the coffee that I'll no longer be drinking.  Just meat, animal fat, butter and water.  I know this may seem like a drastic MOO-VE but it's due to health issues I've been dealing with for about 4 years.  If the MOO-VE makes things worse then I can always MOO-VE back to some veggies. I've had some amazing health changes and benefits in the last year and would love to see even more.

So what do are you planning for the new year?  Leave a comment below, I love hearing from all of you.  And I might want to join in the fun! 

...and for those of you who love fur babies...Khaleesi is very vocal these days!

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Stockings and Gingerbread

 Whoa!  It's been awhile since my last blog post, so I thought I would share what I've been up to over the last few weeks(months).  How about we keep this short, sweet and to the point. CHRISTMAS!  A little of this and a little of that.  And a lot time spent writing, editing and testing.

This is my latest pattern Gingerbread Man Twist.  Designed as a somewhat scrappy quilt.  The quilt and pillow can be made using 8 FQ's and 4 F8.  Of course you'll need some yardage for the background, borders, backing and binding.   Available in both immediate download PDF and the traditional Mailed pattern.  The pattern includes instructions for the quilt and the pillow.  It's a little late in the year to start a quilt for Christmas unless you are planning for next year!   Well I know there's a few of you out there that could make both of these in time for this Christmas.  But for most of us we are at the point of finishing up what we already had planned for the year or we're looking for a quick little project.  The pillow would be perfect for an afternoon project.  It finishes at 20" x 20" and uses a quick method of making the pinwheels.  I also included 2 different cutting directions for them.  One is for the quilter who like to trim up Hst's and the other is for those who don't.  

The full sized applique Gingerbread Man is also included in the pattern, along with different ideas and instructions for embellishments such as ricrac, lace, and those fancy machine stitches we hardly ever use.  I used 2 different stitches on my pillow and then a hand French knot for the eyes.  On my quilt I used a cotton lacey trim and buttons(shown below).  On both the pillow and quilt I used the same machine blanket stitch to secure them to the quilt block.

I can't wait to share this and my other new pattern Stockings with my grandkids.   We have a tradition in our family of reading Twas the Night Before Christmas while cuddled up together on the couch or bed. 

The Stockings quilt is great scrap buster.  I pulled fabrics from my scrap stash to make both the pillow and quilt.  

If you are not a scrappy quilt or bright quilts  kind of person, both of these patterns work well in any color pallet or with yardage.

The Stockings quilt is available in a instant PDF Download or Traditional Mailed pattern.

All of my Mailed patterns from this point forward will printed as Booklets. 

If this video works you will see the new booklet style with no sound.  If it doesn't work you can watch the same video on the Etsy listings for these 2 quilt patterns.  Stockings pattern video Here and Gingerbread Man Twist Here.

Sneak peak at my next pattern.

Thanks for stopping by my little spot in Podunk.   See you in a few!

   

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