All Pieced Together

Like all of you out there in Blogland, it's been a few days since I have been able to sew anything. But now it is time to get back to quilting.
I finished the last seam this morning on my Diamond baby quilt. I think I may add a narrow border, only because sometimes the points get cut off when I add the binding. I usually use a little wider than a 1/4" seam allowance when I put on bindings. Just have to see if I can find something in my stash that will work. My daughter Jill gave me a machine quilting book for Christmas and it is inspiring me to try something different in my quilting. Can't wait to give it a try.

Blocks On the Floor

Last post, I showed you all the squares I had cut out with my new GO cutter.

And this is what I have done with them.

Only with my camera, can I see a pattern going on. I hope you can see some kind of order. Once I have all the blocks made, I will fiddle with the arrangement some more.




What is it with a dog and quilt blocks on the floor? Is there some kind of perceived softness? Is there a voice in the fabric saying " Let's cuddle up"?
Because there are other places to lay down in my sewing room.




In the end, the fabric won out and Tess fell asleep.

A New Way To Cut It All Up

My Christmas shopping is practically done. Yipee! that's a first for me. I usually wait until the last minute. I don't know what inspired me. It's a bit easier this year. Two of my Bah Humbug children decided they didn't want to exchange presents this year. First born Jill to the rescue! They all decided to drastically limit the quantity and the money spent. And I'm OK with that.

So, now I have time to do what I like to do. Make quilts, of course! I bought myself an early Christmas present this year. You could say it is a business expense. I am getting ready for my first show in February, by cutting tons of 3-1/2" squares with my new GO cutter. .
These will all turn into Half-Square triangles made with Stitching Lines.





I think I need to cut some orange squares. that's next.
I learned quickly the key to success in cutting with the GO cutter. I have to put the fabric on the die in the right direction. And a piece of paper on top of the fabric seems to be needed to get accurate cuts. But that's a small price to pay for the speed of cutting. I think I really like this cutter.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

It's almost Black Friday. And who doesn't like and want a discount. I know I do! Check out my Etsy shop and use the code blackfridayblog when you check out. It's easy and free to join Etsy if you never have. Registration is just your name and email.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I wish I could say I was ready, but I procrastinate way too much, so still have plenty to do. I am cooking gluten and dairy free this year, so I am trying out new things.

I need to keep my hands off of this:
Chex Ginger-Honey Crunch. It is absolutely delicious.

Mug Rug Again

I finished another Mug Rug.

Peacock fabric for the back and binding.

Two makes a set!

Mug Rug

I used to put my coffee cup on a coaster. That's what I called it. But someone always comes up with a better name. Now it's a "Mug Rug" and I love that name. I made one today. It's bigger and better than just a plain old coaster. But it also took me a little longer to make. Here are the steps.



I cut 2" squares from three different color families, one from each of 24 fabrics. The photo shows the yellow squares only. I had already made the other blocks before I started this tutorial.

Then I made Half-Square triangles using my Stitching Lines.







I pressed the Half-Square triangles to the dark side. You could press them to the lighter side if you like.

I made the HST's larger than I needed, so then I squared them up to 1-1/2"

I placed the HST's where I wanted them.
The seam on the upper left square is pressed up, the seam on the upper right side is pressed down. the lower squares are opposite. Then everyone is happy and seams fit together nicely!


I sewed the HST's together and pressed them all in the same direction.

I made two identical blocks.

I sewed the two halves together.

And then I removed the last few stitches between first stitching line and cut edge.

I pressed half of the seam one way, and the other half the other direction.
Then I arranged how I wanted the blocks.

And sewed them all together.. Again I removed the last few stitches at each intersection, so I could press the seams all flat.
This photo shows all the seams going every which way. But it makes for a nice flat quilt top.

Here is the front side, all nice and trimmed and squared up.

I added a 1" cut border to the four sides.

I stacked up the three layers.... backing, batting and top.

I quilted it with a simple "Stitch in the Ditch".

Now it is bound and done.
Just big enough for a mug and some goodies.

One Top Done

I have been sewing away. Still working on two projects at once. Last night I finished the first top and I have been busily writing directions for it. Lots of illustrations to make. How can a simple pattern take so much instruction. I need to simplify!
It looks like this. Ha! Not really. I still don't want to show it to you, but you can see the pretty colors.



Jungle Flower is coming along nicely. Strips and squares are all cut and ready to go. It's just that life gets in the way and these are all the Alternate blocks I have made. I hope that the border fabric will look OK. It's pretty and very traditional, not always my cup of tea. If not, it won't be the first quilt where I have had to replace the border after it is all made.

Two a Day

Do you do this?
I've got two projects going at one time.
I have set myself a daily goal to work on both each day. Does that slow me down or speed me up? Who knows, but I don't get so bored with my sewing that way!

I am making a new Jungle Flower. After taking the same one to numerous quilt shows, I thought it would be time for something new hanging in my booth. Tomorrow I will start on the Alternate Block.
And I am working on a new design at the same time. So I set up a second machine and am making twice the mess!




Ha! I blurred it on purpose! I don't want you to really see it. LOL

And my phone is working today. After getting a message that it didn't have a SIM card in the phone, I left it plugged into iTunes all night and it worked today. It just doesn't have all the apps back on it and I am afraid to add them back at this point. But at least I have a working phone and I can get my email off my phone.

Bad, Bad Phone

Has anybody had an IPhone that has crashed?

I am so frustrated with my phone.

My first IPhone lost its Blue-tooth ability. It was under warranty so Apple replaced it. I don't think it was with a new phone, but a refurbished phone. Now this second phone started crashing on me on an almost daily basis. This last weekend, all the apps stopped working. So I did a restore a couple of times, and it actually looked like it was back to working.......for about an hour....then all by itself.....with nobody touching it....it beeped and crashed again. The phone had been working until tonight. Now it doesn't work and I haven't done anything to it. So I am trying another restore as I write this.
I am frustrated. Hope Andy gets over here this week to take a look at it.

BUMMER!!!

Primrose

Finally. It is done and it is here!

I don't know if I have ever blogged about this before, but the very first pattern I wrote was for a company called Quiltsmart. It was a book called Primrose. There were three patterns inside, one called Primrose, one called Primrose Garden and one called Worms on Parade. I first started working on it sometime in 1999. Quiltsmart makes preprinted interfacing for doing applique patterns. After the company reorganized a few years back, they started changing the book format, into kits that include instructions and the interfacing. Finally, Primrose got its turn and today I received the finished product in the mail.



The cover of the book showed Primrose Garden.



The cover on the kit shows Primrose. And Worms on Parade is no longer.
Hope it does well for them, and me.

On the Wall

I finished it......My Diamond Quilt.

And it is hanging on my wall. I apologize for the poor quality photos. They are from my phone and it was getting late in the afternoon, so the light was bad. Plus, they look a little blurry, so I guess my hand was shaking.
Anyway, it is so nice to make something just for me.
Once I got it up, I could see that I should have made it a couple rows longer, but what is done is done. And I am happy with it. Amie Potter did a great quilting job as usual.
I used a striped batik for the binding. It was a "bear' to needle through. My finger can attest to that. It is still sore. Sometimes batiks can be like that and then sometimes a needle will just glide through.

Tess is sleeping in her favorite spot. She is on top of her own quilt. I didn't make it for her. It's just an old one that I no longer care about. And she doesn't seem to care what they look like!

Update

Hello Out there, I am back. Never really went far. I thought today, I would show what I have been working on lately.

This is going to be another baby quilt. The print was just too cute to pass up. So while I was at the last quilt show in Whittier, I made up all the Half-Square triangles, while demonstrating Stitching Lines.



In-between the quilt shows in Santa Barbara and Whittier, I made these notebooks. Another great way to use up scraps. These are all in my Etsy shop.
I have had requests for a pattern or tutorial for making these notebooks. I am still thinking about it.






The other thing we have been working on is painting our master bath.
It still had the builder white paint, and wow had it yellowed, not to mention the peeling paint inside the skylight.
Anyway, we picked out our own white. I know, very creative! It has been a month long ordeal. What with the prep work, weekend commitments and just an unbelievable amount of corners and hard to reach places.
What a pain. This week, I am painting the doors. Two doors, one side each, each day, on top of sawhorses in the room. I swear, my next house will have 8 foot ceilings! And maybe cottage cheese ceilings!
Now off to lunch with my friend

Quilting and Binding Done

I finished the binding on my Spanish Tiles quilt this morning. Amie Potter did a beautiful job quilting it, as usual. It's so nice to have a wonderful friend who does wonderful quilting. Thank you Amie! I just hand over my quilts to her and she does her thing. Love it!!

It will be nice to have a new Spanish Tiles hanging in my booth. Seems the colors are perfect for this time of year. I am vending at a show in Santa Barbara this weekend and looking forward to visiting the area.

Sorry about the photos. The light was really bad in my house today.





Amie quilted my big Diamond quilt and I have sewn on the binding by machine. I still have to do the hand stitching and then can't wait to post a photo. Maybe next week.

Something Different

I have been busy making some little padded notebooks. Sometimes I have to get away from quilting. You guys know how that it is. Anyway I listed them in my Etsy shop.



I have made a bunch more. I will be listing those later in the week.