quilting canuck

March Madness

2011-03-06T06:17:00.000-08:00

Well, my crafting/creating mojo has left me for a little while. I think that's what's been contributing to my finishitis.

Finishitis (n): A common ailment afflicting many creative-types resulting in many partially completed projects with nary a DONE in sight. Not to be confused with its cousins Finishitupitis and Startitis
Finishitupitis (n): A strange compulsion to finish partially completed projects. This is quite a rare ailment in the crafting world. If you ever catch this, enjoy it as long as you can
Startitis (n): This ailment drives a person to start new projects as fast as they can, often without finishing their current project. It often leads to cases of Finishitis

In the wake of this persistent strain of Finishitis, I've decided that March is for creating without obligations. I'm going to go where ever the muse takes me, not worry about those pesky UFOs screaming for attention or if anything started actually gets finished. I'm just going to see where the muse takes me.

So far, I'm a little surprised where it's taken me...

First it lead me to <gasp> my February UFO Challenge project where I did the sewing for the vines and the applique.

Now it's lead me to this cross-stitch kit that I've had sitting the cupboard for quite some time. To me the image already looks obvious, unlike the Nun and the Penguin. Though, since I know what it's going to end up looking like I'm a little biased. What does it look like to you?

Anyone care to join me in this March Madness?

Dear Jane

2011-03-05T06:08:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more Dear Jane blocks that I've been working on. With this set, it brings my grand total up to 161 blocks. That means that there are only 8! blocks left for the centre. Wow, I can't believe I'm in the single digits!

Of course, after that, it's onto the triangles... :)

UFO Challenge

2011-03-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

Let's just say that I'm meeting the spirit of the UFO challenge if not the intent.

This is a little quilt that I started last year. Looking back, I really can't figure out why I stopped. I must have put it aside (in the middle of appliqueing the flowers no less!) and gotten distracted. But here it is all nicely finished and soon to go to it's new home. (I have just the place on the wall for it)

Now, I've got a debate, should I attempt to finish the February UFO or should I just jump ahead onto March?

Bookmark Love

2011-03-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to receive this bookmark as a gift from my SSCS partner Dawnie in 2009!

I'd always eyed the lovely embroidery that so many people were doing and this little bookmark was just the kick in the pants I needed to actually do it. So, last year I took an embroidery class and actually finished the project. <gasp!> Guess I really did like embroidery. :) Fast forward another 6 months and I've finished the bookmark!

I love it! Thank-you so much Dawnie!

(And I'm off to scout out the *next* project....)

Building Blocks - Line Diagrams

2011-02-14T06:43:00.000-08:00

Over the years of doing Nearly Insane, I've had a few questions asking me how I figure out what to cut. I chose not to provide dimensions for the blocks I was doing since that would mean you didn't need to buy the book and I figure that violates the copy right. So, instead I'm doing a tutorial on how I figure it out.

I've started out with a 6" finished block (that means 6 1/2" unfinished). Sorry, no fancy PDF download. When the line drawings are thick like you see here, I take my measurements from the centre of the line. Though, as long as your consistent, it won't matter. Centre is just easiest for me since I don't have to pay attention to the orientation of the block then.

The Centre of this block (picture below) is a 3" finished (3 1/2" unfinished) square made up of 9 squares that are each 1" finished.

Element A - The 4 1" finished white squares. For a plain square or rectangle what you need to do is take the finished measurements and add 1/2". So, since these ones finish at 1", I cut each square 1 1/2" x 1 1/2".

Element B - The 4 1" finished half-square triangles. These are blue and white in the picture below. To make half-square triangles, you take the finished measurement of the base (in this case 1") and add 1" to the measurement. So, for these ones I cut 2 squares white and 2 squares blue, each measuring 2" square. Then I made them following the tutorial for half-square triangles.

Element C - The centre 1" finished quarter-square triangle. To make quarter square triangles, you take the finished measurement of the hypotenuse (in this case 1") and add 1 1/2" to the measurement. So, for this one I cut a blue and a yellow square, each measuring 2 1/2". Then I cut each square diagonally to make 4 triangles. Got rid of 2 blue and 2 yellow triangles and used the rest to make up the centre.

Next I moved onto the outside.

Elements H & I - These are the flying geese that finish at 1 1/2" by 3". For these I used the fast flying geese method. The base, larger square (swirly pink & yellow fabric in the picture below) made by taking the finished measurement of the base (in this case 3") and adding 1 1/4". So for this block I cut one square of the swirly fabric 4 1/4" square. The smaller outer triangles are made by cutting 4 squares. For these squares you take the finished measurement of the height (in this case 1 1/2") and add 7/8". So for this block I made 4 squares that are 2 3/8" by 2 3/8"

Just for demonstration purposes I used both methods to make the square-in-a-square blocks. Normally I wouldn't do that, I just did it to show you how I work out the measurements for each type.

Elements F & G - For the upper two corners I used the squares method of making the square-in-a-square blocks. For the centre square - Element F (blue in the picture below), you take the finished measurement of the whole square and add 1/2". So, since this block finishes at 1 1/2" by 1 1/2", I cut a blue 2" square. The smaller outer triangles - Element G (yellow in the picture below) are also cut as squares, 4 for each element. To do this, you take the finished measurement of the triangle base ('B' in the square-in-a-square tutorial) and add 1/2". So, for this one I cut 4 yellow squares, each 1 1/4" by 1 1/4".

Elements D & E - For the lower two corners I used the triangles method of making the square-in-a-square blocks. For the centre square - Element D (blue in the picture below), you take the finished measurement of the centre square and add 1/2". So, since Element D finishes at 1 1/8", I cut a blue square 1 5/8" by 1 5/8". The smaller outer triangles - Element E (yellow in the picture below) are triangles. To do this you take the finished measurement of the triangle base ('B' in the square-in-a-square tutorial) and add 1". So, for this block I cut two yellow squares, each 1 3/4" by 1 3/4" and then cut each square in half diagonally to make 4 triangles.

And that is how you figure out what you need to cut from fabric when you're faced with a line diagram for a pattern. The first couple of times I did this, I was double checking and second guessing everything. After I made a few blocks, I started recognizing these elements more and more and can now do most of them in my head (greatly speeding up the cutting process).

And, since I couldn't resist, here is the finished block!

I hope this tutorial helps everyone faced with line diagrams (Like you are with Nearly Insane, or Dear Jane, or ....). If you have any questions or anything is confusing, please let me know.

Cherries Jubilee

2011-02-12T06:36:00.000-08:00

Wow, another finish!

This was also started quite some time ago. Made from the Cherries Jubilee charm pack. (I think I started it when I first got the charm pack, so that gives you an idea of its age).

This was another quick fun one to make that is destined for the quilt wall.

Not a Boy Quilt

2011-02-10T15:19:00.000-08:00

I guess focusing only works for so long...

I have a finish to report! (Though not UFO #3 or the bookmark either)

I started this quilt many many years ago. I had originally picked pink, blue and yellow fabric so it could be a unisex baby quilt. Obviously it didn't turn out that way. Oh well, it's a cute quilt anyways and will be a lovely quilt for a little girl.

Dear Jane

2011-01-18T15:27:00.000-08:00

Focusing works!

I've managed to put the blocks together for Nearly Insane and am continuing on with the zig-zag border shown last week. I have no picture since it's now grown too large to stay up on the design wall, so I'll just tease you with reports until I finish the top...

I also managed to get these 4 Dear Jane blocks completed.

Now I'm off to tackle the bookmark and UFO #3!

Focusing

2011-01-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

May Britt and Hanne have been doing focus projects for quite some time now and every time I've seen it, I've thought it was a great idea. This time, I decided to play along as well. The Christmas projects finishes really showed me what I can do if I focus. I finished as many projects for Christmas as I did in the other 11 months of the year!

Anyways, this is what I'm wanting to focus on first...

The pink and white squares in the upper left are more Dear Jane blocks. The red and white zig-zag is 208! blocks for the Nearly Insane border. The fabric in the lower left hand corner is for my guild's schnibbles of the month that we're doing this year. Next is a bookmark that Dawnie kindly gave me last year for Christmas, after a few technical difficulties, I think I'm finally on my way. Finally, the in lower right hand corner is UFO #3, from Patchwork Penguin's UFO challenge.

We'll see how long this new focus lasts. :)

SSCS Presents

2010-12-29T12:55:00.000-08:00

This is what I received from my lovely SSCS partner Leanne.

I have to ask, Leanne, how did you know!? I love the tablerunner. I love the soft colours. I was thinking of doing something with soft colous for a table I have in the livingroom and then this showed up in the mail. It's perfect!

She also made a project bag. It's already coming in handy. It gets to go to its first sew-day tomorrow.

Thank-you so much Leanne.

12 Days of Christmas

2010-12-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

This is what I gave my partner for our 12 Days of Christmas exchange.

My partner loves butterflies and I was planning a little butterfly related quilt until she saw this bundle of fat quarters I had brought to our fall in-city retreat and fell in love with them. I wanted to figure out a way to highlight the totems. Plus I thought it would be great to work in bears paws blocks. Here is the end result.

To go with the mug mat, I added a Christmas mug and made hot chocolate mix and marshmallows.

I decided to wrap the parcels in brown paper and stamp the numbers on the parcels.

If you do that, just keep track of which stamp pad you're using!

SSCS crafting

2010-12-28T07:42:00.000-08:00

Let the unveiling begin!

Here is what I made for my SSCS partner Dawnie.

This is the little ornament that I made for her from a pattern I found here.

This table runner was the main gift. This was a fun project to do and when I was thinking of how to quilt it, I wanted something swirly to accent all the curves. It was funny how many pebble quilted quilts I saw in the three days I was thinking on this. I guess it just called to me.

Not planned, but I love how the back turned out. I think it could even be a reversible table runner!

A few other little gifties found their way into the parcel. This little seam ripper complete with travel bag is wonderful for separating blocks when chain piecing.

I also made these little mug mats. The green one just called and called until I let it travel to Australia. The red one made it into my 12 Days of Christmas parcel which I'll post on tomorrow.

Christmas Crafting

2010-12-26T07:30:00.000-08:00

I did a little sewing for my nephew this Christmas.

I made him a little apron so he can cook just like Daddy. This was a quick and easy pattern that I found here.

My friend's daughter very kindly modeled for these photos. Isn't she adorable.

I also mad a little backpack for him. This was also a pattern I found on the internet. The finished product is wonderful and even has adjustable straps. I won't post the link to the pattern though, it was really confusing and had a lot of errors.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 12

2010-12-24T07:08:00.000-08:00

On the twelvth day of Christmas....

I received a wonderful tree ornament made out of yo-yos and a cute make your own ornament panel.

Tomorrow I finally find out who I can thank for these lovely gifts!

I hope each and everyone of you have a wonderful holiday.

Merry Christmas!

12 Days of Christmas - Day 11

2010-12-23T19:08:00.000-08:00

On the eleventh day of Christmas...

I received pins and beeswax. The pins have a narrower shaft than regular quilting pins so they're great for precision work. hmmmm. Maybe I should make them a special pin cushion... :)

12 Days of Christmas - Day 10

2010-12-22T06:15:00.000-08:00

On the tenth day of Christmas....

I received more batik charm squares and sewing machine needles. The beige fabric underneath is the 'wrapping paper', it's been great to receive this double present.

12 Day of Christmas - Day 9

2010-12-21T06:11:00.000-08:00

On the ninth day of Christmas...

I received a panel to make up two cute ornaments and a pair of scissors that fold up. hmmmm. I wonder if they meet the airline restrictions?

Christmas Presents

2010-12-20T21:04:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more of the Christmas gifts I've been working on. I'm not sure how to rotate the pictures. Does anyone know how? I guess until then, maybe turn your monitor? <grin>

First up is this apron. It's reversible with a pocket on each side. This was a guild project a few years ago and I'm finally making one!

This little wall hanging was a fun one to make. There are a few things that really make me think of Christmas and gingerbread men are one of them.

Christmas Making

2010-12-19T06:19:00.000-08:00

We had our guild Christmas party on last Monday, so I can finally show you one of the things I'd been working on during the Christmas Crafting Blackout.

At our party we do a gift exchange. Each of us bring a little gift and we draw names to see who gets to pick first, second, third, etc. When it is your turn to pick a present, you can take any gift you want, even if someone else has already chosen it. The funny thing is we're all stealing these gifts from each other and they're all UNWRAPPED. We don't actually open any of the gifts until everyone has a gift. Some of the stealing back and forth gets down right hilarious.

I made this casserole carrier. I figured it would help someone bring more tasty goodies to our potlucks. :) I found the pattern for the carrier here. The pattern was well written and it was a fun and quick project to make. I like that it's basically a square so it accommodates many sizes and shapes of casserole dishes.

Christmas Baking

2010-12-18T07:25:00.000-08:00

I was doing some Christmas baking the other day and thought I would share some of it with all of you.

First up is Lussekatter (Lucia Cats). These buns are traditionally served December 12 for St. Lucia day. The figure 8 shape you see above is the traditional 'cat' shape. I don't really see it, but it's not Christmas without these bun for Lucia.

Lussekatter
1 teaspoon saffron threads
1/2 cup sugar
7 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
3 tablespoons active dry yeast
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 1/4 cups flour

Raisins
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk

With a mortar and pestle, grind the saffron and one teaspoon of the sugar together until blended; set aside.

Melt the butter is a saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and add the milk and saffron mixture. This mixture should be 98*F. Heat or cool until the mixture is 98*F.

Place the yeast in a large bowl and pour about 1/4 cup of the saffron mixture over the yeast; stir gently. Sprinkle the salt and 1 tablespoon sugar over the moistened yeast and let sit 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining sugar, the saffron mixture, the beaten egg, and 3 cups of flour. Sprinkle the remaining flour on top and knead the dough for several minutes. Add more flour if the dough gets too sticky. Shape into a ball. Dust the top with flour, cover with a clean bread cloth (or tea towel) and let rise until doubled in size. (About 1 1/2 hours)

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes. Add flour as necessary if the dough gets too sticky. Divide the dough into golf ball sized pieces. Shape the dough into cats (roll into a tube and then form spirals from each end until they meet). Or make them all bun shaped :) Place a raisin in the centre of each spiral and place on a greased baking sheet.

Recover the buns with your bread cloth and let rise until doubled in size (about 30 minutes).

Preheat the oven to 425*F. Beat 1 egg with 3 tablespoons milk. Brush the tops of the buns with this mixture just before baking. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes until golden brown on top and just beginning to brown on the bottom. Cool on a cooling rack.

Next up are a light oatmeal cookie called havreflam. I got this recipe from my uncle when I was baking for my mum's 60th birthday. In Sweden, it is not considered a good party unless there are at least 7 varieties of cookies. My uncle wasn't able to come to Canada for the party, but he collected many traditional cookie recipes for me to make. My first attempt in making them, I made a *minor* mistake in the translation. They ended up tasting good but were nothing like the traditional cookies. The translation has since been corrected and this is the version that people in Sweden will recognize.

Havreflam

5 tablespoons butter
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350*F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper. Melt the butter. In a medium sized bowl, stir the oatmeal and butter together. Let this mixture stand 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, blend the flour and baking powder together. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and egg together until foamy. Add the oatmeal mixture and the flour mixture and stir until just blended. The dough is quite liquid.

Drop the batter on to the cookie sheet by a scant teaspoonful. Leave a fair amount of space between each cookie, it spreads quite a bit when baking.

Bake 6 to 8 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to turn golden. Lift the entire sheet of parchment or wax paper onto the cooling rack. Make sure you let the cookies cool completely before attempting to remove from the paper.

These two cookies have been a family favourite for as long as I can remember. The shortbread with raspberry jam to the left is called Alexander's kakor and the shortbread with chocolate meringue to the right is called Skrynklor. Until recently I'd never known Alexander's kakor as anything but 'granddad's favourites' but when my aunt was here for my mum's birthday she identified them by the official name. Yup, they were my granddad's favourite cookies. When ever we went to visit him, we (read my mum) would make the cookies and carefully pack them and bring them on the airplane just so he could have some. Skrynklor translates to 'wrinkles', they're one of my favourite cookies and fortunately they don't cause wrinkles :)

Skrinklor

Dough:
200 grams butter or margarine
4 tablespoons sugar
600 ml flour

Filling:
1 egg white
150 ml sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa

Cream the butter and sugar. Add flour. Refrigerate the dough while the filling is being prepared.

Whip the egg white until peaks form. Mix the cocoa and sugar together and fold into the egg white.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle and spread the filling evenly onto the rectangle. Roll up the dough. Cut into 1/4 inch slices. Place slices onto baking sheets and bake in a 375*F oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

Alexander's Kakor
Dough:
Make the same dough as for skrinklor but you use less flour. (Usually about 500ml)

Split the dough into 4 equal portions. Roll one portion of the dough into a tube (or long snake if you have kids that still play play-dough :) and place on a cookie sheet. Press a small trough (with your finger) along the entire tube of dough. Place a small amount of raspberry jam along the trough. Make sure you don't fill it too full. The jam bubbles up and makes a mess if you over-fill it.

Repeat this for the other dough portions.

Bake in a 375*F oven for 8-10 minutes.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. Once cooled, mix icing sugar with water until you've got a thick glaze. Spread along the top of the cookies. Once the icing has mostly set, cut the cookies into bit sized pieces.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 8

2010-12-17T07:21:00.000-08:00

On the eighth day of Christmas.....

More batik charm squares and pre-wound bobbins. I won't have to wind bobbins for quite some time, how lucky can a quilter be!?

12 Days of Christmas - Day 7

2010-12-16T07:17:00.000-08:00

On the seventh day of Christmas...

I received quilting needles and a magnetic needle keeper. This should mean no more pins or needles in the foot! :)

12 Days of Christmas - Day 6

2010-12-15T19:17:00.000-08:00

On the sixth day of Christmas....

I received a lint roller and more batik charm squares. I think my secret santa must have had 'a quilter's dream' as her theme when pulling my gifts together. I would have never thought of a lint roller, but what a great idea for those pesky stray threads.

I'm starting to think of ideas for the batik squares. hmmm.... Maybe another quilt??

12 Days of Christmas - Day 5

2010-12-14T07:27:00.000-08:00

On the fifth day of Christmas....

I received a precision screwdriver set. This will be great for all those little tweaks and repairs.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 4

2010-12-13T07:21:00.000-08:00

On the fourth day of Christmas....

I received batik charm squares and a little ruler. These squares are going to be wonderful; I've been collecting batiks for a future applique project. This ruler has sixteenths of an inch markers! That'll be perfect miniatures.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 3

2010-12-12T07:14:00.000-08:00

On the third day of Christmas....

I received a lovely sewing set. It has a pair of stork scissors, which I'd never tried before, along with a thimble and needles.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 2

2010-12-11T07:09:00.000-08:00

On the second day of Christmas....

I received a lovely bundle of batik charm squares and pre-wound bobbins all ready for a little stitching.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 1

2010-12-10T06:59:00.000-08:00

The guild I belong to has been doing a 12 days of Christmas swap. We did this for the first time last year and had such fun that we're doing it again.

Earlier in the year we picked names and have spent the rest of the year finding little gifts. The names are a secret and we won't find out who has been giving us these lovely gifts until the very end.

The person who has been giving to me has been wrapping the gifts in fabric, so I have a double bonus of lovely fabric.

For day 1 I received a tape measure and this lovely printed panel to make ornaments.

SSCS Received

2010-12-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

A wonderful parcel arrived in the mail the other day. My SSCS presents!

I have the wonderful Leanne to thank for these gifties.

Here is the amazing ornament. She has done such fabulous stitching. The little elf is such a sweetie.

These wonderfully squishy gifts are tempting me, but I'll be good and wait until Christmas.

Thank you so much Leanne!

SSCS

2010-11-24T11:45:00.000-08:00

SSCS goodies are on their way!

So, if your name is ______ and you live in ______, keep an eye on the mailbox.

This poor neglected blog was very happy to hear that the Christmas crafting blackout is almost over. Yeah! And boy will there be lots to show after Christmas.

Retreat

2010-10-30T06:50:00.000-07:00

I got to go to a retreat this past month. It's was located a short drive out of town in a wonderful location. This is what we were surrounded by. Isn't it wonderful?

Here was our work room. We had plenty of table space with good light. We were able to allocate a few tables as cutting tables. One of the ladies had these great wooden blocks to place under the table legs to raise the table up to a better height for cutting. Our backs really appreciated it during the weekend.

The theme of retreat for me was Christmas presents, so I can't show anything I worked on. But I got lots of SSCS gifts and other presents mostly done.

So, instead, I'll show you some of the wonderful projects other people did.

This was a Nancy Halvorsen panel one of the ladies embellished with this great border.

This was a cute Halloween banner that one of the ladies made for her classroom.

Each retreat we make a little take away. This year we made these little hedgehog pincushions. They look more like hedgehogs once you add the pins.

Curvacious Log Cabin

2010-10-29T06:44:00.000-07:00

Last year, when my friend and I went to the quilt show in Houston, we each took several classes.

This quilt is one of the classes I took. We each got a little kit with the fabrics and spent the morning learning how to make these curved log cabin blocks.

I left these block sitting for a year (fabric needs to marinate you know) until one of my co-workers asked for a donation to our silent auction fundraiser. I pulled this out and quickly finished it off with a little stippling.

Whetstones and Chips

2010-10-28T06:33:00.000-07:00

This is the third, and sadly final, quilt that we got to see.

This one is Whetstones and Chips, dated from the 1840s and it apparently travelled all the way over from Scotland.

There was amazing applique done along the borders.

A close up of the other motif.

I don't know if you can see it, but a few of the mariners compass blocks needed a few repairs.

This shot shows the quilting. These larger lines are made with three lines of straight quilting placed very close to each other. There were also intricate feathers quilted in and around each of the blocks.

Cherry Basket

2010-10-27T06:24:00.000-07:00

This is the second quilt we had the opportunity to see. I love how timeless the colours in both of the quilts are so timeless. Even though they were made in the 1800's, I can see someone picking out similar colour combinations now. In fact, one of our friends has started scouring the stores to lime green.

This quilt dates from 1840 - 1860. I love how the baskets are oriented sideways on the quilt.

Each of the blocks was outlined with red piping. Isn't that a great idea.

The quilting in this quilt was wonderful. There were lots of interesting bits (that sadly don't show up well in the photos) like maple leaves. I really like the circles the quilter added on the scalloped boarder.

Lobster and Eggs

2010-10-26T18:23:00.000-07:00

Recently some friends and I had the opportunity to see some antique quilts up close and personal.

This first one is a Rose of Sharon pattern. I love the non-traditional colour combination that the maker chose.

Even though the quilt is Rose of Sharon, we kept calling it Lobster and Eggs. Can you see why?

Can you see the fried egg? How about the lobster claw?

This quilt was quite intricately quilted. It was interesting, the maker did a lot of echo quilting all through the background but did not quilt through the large blue or red appliqued bits.

The border had scallops along with these funky chicken feet details.

Retreat

2010-09-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend our guild had an in-city retreat. We've done this a couple of times now and it's been a blast. The husband of one of our members has allowed us to use one of the big meeting rooms at his workplace. So we get a wonderful room with lots of natural light and tables.

This retreat, one of our members made us presents. She made these wonderful seam rippers with little pouches. She custom made the bags to suit each of our preferences and she really got our tastes. If you've never used on of these before, they're amazing for separating your blocks when chain piecing.

I took advantage of the fact that we were in a room with lots of tables and brought a few quilts to baste. Hopefully you'll be seeing them finished in the not too distant future.

I also worked on Dear Jane. Here are the blocks that I finished. I also managed to get a few more pieced that are just waiting for a little applique to complete them.

Windsor Gardens

2010-09-10T05:27:00.000-07:00

A second finish and the month has barely started!

This quilt is raw edge applique done as a quilt as you go project. I took this as a class in at the quilt show in Houston. I really love how it turned out especially when I consider I had no clue what I was making when I picked out these fun fabrics.

One Flower Wednesday

2010-09-08T05:20:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm making slow progress on the garden but progress is progress.

If you want to see more hexagons, check out One Flower Wednesday.

Cape Cod

2010-09-07T17:14:00.000-07:00

This was started at a retreat a couple of years ago as a break from a more complicated quilt that I was working on (Dear Jane). Funnily enough, I'm still working on that one. Hmmm. Maybe I need fewer breaks on that one. :)

I did a wavy organic line quilting on the diagonal. I really like how it turned out. I'll definitely have to try this again.

Hexagon Love Continues

2010-08-24T20:44:00.000-07:00

The love affair continues....

There are others in love with hexagons too! There is even a whole website dedicated to these wonderful flowers. If you want to see more, check out One Flower Wednesday.

Sadly, this is all I have to show for the past two weeks. I wish I could have some fun and amazing tale of adventure but, nope, it was work (and I won't even pretend that anyone but my co-workers are remotely interested). Oh well, life is back to normal and now it can resume it's crafty goodness.

Hexagon Love

2010-08-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

Remember the hexagons I fell in love with? The love affair continues!

Building Blocks - Set in seams

2010-08-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

I was working on these blocks and someone looked at them and said eewww set in seams. They're really quite simple to do and shouldn't scare you off from a block that you're interested.

So, I thought I'd do a little tutorial.

You start off by attaching the first piece the the centre block.

Leaving part of the seam undone. I usually do not bother back stitching with this step.

The next piece is added just as you always would.

Same with the next piece.

And with the next piece. You'll now have something that looks like this. And now you see why we left part of that seam un-sewn.

Now you finish that last seam. I usually don't bother with pining but have done that here so you can see how I fold the block for that last seam. This is the seam when I backstitch to make sure nothing falls apart. When I do the backstitching I overlap it with that first seam I've sewn. This helps reduce some of the bulk in the seam but still secures everything.

And here is the sample block all pressed and ready to go.

Hexagons

2010-07-28T09:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I tried to resist. Really I did!

I told myself all sorts of sensible things. I looked at all the other projects I've started but not yet finished. I reminded myself that I'm working on both Nearly Insane and Dear Jane. I looked at my UFO list I'm supposed to be focusing on.

But this fabric just called out to made into little hexagons.

I finally gave in. Aren't they cute!

Stitching

2010-07-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

I have a finish and it's not even the end of the month. Shocking!

This was a class that a friend and I took back in February to learn embroidery. I decided to frame it rather than turn it into something quilty.

Split 9-patch

2010-06-30T22:12:00.000-07:00

Isn't it amazing what a little fabric can do? All of these quilts are the exact same pattern. Can you see it?

June Finishes

2010-06-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

I have a bunch of finished this month!

This first is a pincushion. It's made by folding fabric and then stuffing it with crushed walnuts. This is much bigger than the pincushion but gives you an idea of the method used.

This next quilt is a testament to enders and leaders. I started this charity quilt as a stash buster. It has all sorts of fabrics that 'just don't go together' but when you see the quilt finished, it looks amazing. (Or at least I think so. :) And I hardly notice that coral block right next to the fuchsia barbie doll pink one... :) It was quilted for me by a wonderful friend who recently got a long arm quilting machine. She did a fabulous job.

Not bad for a few 9-patches and 1/4 square triangles...

I made these little crocheted eggies for my nephew's second birthday.

Hi little eggies.

Hi little chickies! (Cracking open the shell finds the chickies, no yolks here!)

May finishes

2010-06-28T21:20:00.000-07:00

I actually had a finish for last month. (I just didn't get it posted in time.)

This was on my UFO list for 2010. This was a border round robin started with my guild back in august 2007. It percolated for a few years until I finally figured out how to quilt it. (It didn't hurt to have a deadline either. My guild entered our quilts in as a group display as part of a local show last month)

This yellow quilt is mine. It started off as this.

These are the rest of our border round robin quilts. I think they turned out rather spectacularly.

OPAM

2010-06-27T18:57:00.000-07:00

Wow! Where has the time gone!!?? I can't believe it's been this long since the last post. There has been so much going on lately. I think I'm going to have to do a series of catch-up posts. Not the boring or horrible stuff of course, but the fun quilty stuff.

First up is this amazing quilt. I got this from Peg as a prize for finishing something in the One Project A Month challenge. Isn't it amazing? Plus, it came with this lovely stitchery pattern which is wonderful because I've been really enjoying the embroidery and there are fewer patterns in Canada (It's not the most popular thing here.)

Winding Ways

2010-03-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

Remember all those pictures of the blocks in progress??

Well, despite all the distractions that attempted to derail this, I've pieced the top! Now it's time to add it to the flimsy pile.... :)

And how are the distractions doing??

Here is the stitchery. I'm almost done, just need to finish the border. Then I need to decide what to do with it. Any suggestions?

And the pile of knitted squares???

Well, it's slowly turning into a blanket. I'm on the fifth row. It'll take a while (it's made out of sock yarn)

Nearly Insane

2010-03-29T20:58:00.000-07:00

I've also had this minor little distraction going on this last little while...

This is the Nearly Insane quilt... I've got roughly 22 block left, but just couldn't resist a little preview....

March Finishes

2010-03-29T20:34:00.000-07:00

I have a finish for the month. (Though surprisingly (or not) not winding ways)

This is Some Swell Swell.

This is made using the swell charm pack 'Swell'.
It actually one of the quilts from my 2010 UFO list. Yeah!! One down and ten more to go.

Ornament Exchange

2010-03-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

I was going to take down the ornaments (since it seems the world is now preparing for Easter) and realized that I hadn't actually posted about them. I found this ornament stand at Ikea and thought it'd be a great way to highlight the new ornaments each year.

You'll likely recognize the gingerbread man from the SSCS swap.

The other ornaments are from the annual ornament exchange. I've been exchanging ornaments with the same wonderful people scattered around the world since 1994. (Yup, we're now all blessed with wonderful, unique, handmade decorations for our trees)

I really love looking at them. Hmmm. How bad do you think it'd be to keep them up all year?

In City Retreat

2010-02-28T19:54:00.001-08:00

Last weekend my guild had an in-city retreat. One of our members found a wonderful room with lots of great natural light, lots of room, huge tables, and comfy chairs. It was amazing.

We did get a little overwhelmed with our projects. (Not sure if you can see it in the picture below, but under the white pile, you can see shoes.) Good news is, we only lost one! :)

Several months ago (like last year), we did a charm pack night. We had a show & tell of all sorts of quilts made from charm packs. That night inspired a second night. We each picked a charm pack and created these split 9-patch quilts from them. (If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll create a tutorial for them). I love seeing the exact same pattern turn out so differently just because of the fabric choices.

Speaking of things turning out differently, just because of fabric choices... Do you remember these quilts? One and Two. Well, here are two more of our guild BOMs.

Building blocks

2010-02-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

I made these blocks for my nephew for Christmas.

I made each block a single colour and then added different pictures on each side for each block.

You can nest them together so you can have fun with "in the box, out of the box, in the box, out..."

And, of course, stack them up (and knock them over!)

I found the tutorial for the blocks here. It's a great tutorial. Wonderful explanations and photos. Very easy to follow.

Distractions

2010-02-14T14:22:00.000-08:00

Apparently I was doing too well with focus... I found a few distractions....

I did pretty good with Winding ways and got the blocks all the way to the final step.

But then I found this cool knitted blanket pattern and I started knitting squares...

But then I took an embroidery class with a friend so we could learn how to do all those amazing embroidery projects that we keep seeing out there. This is the class project so far...

Apparently it is time to start focusing again. :)

2010 UFO Challenge

2010-01-23T13:09:00.000-08:00

Nancy of Patchwork Penguin started a UFO challenge for this year. For this challenge, you create a numbered list of 10 UFOs. Each month a number is randomly chosen, that that is the UFO you work on for that month. At first I was quite gung ho to sign up and do this, but then I realized. Gee! I'm enjoying focusing on something and seeing it through to the end. And, what If I'm in the middle of something else? And the odds are pretty good, I wouldn't actually finish in the month. But I really liked the idea....

So, I'm going to do a modified challenge for myself. I ended up choosing 11 (apparently I've never been good at following the rules) things I'd really like to finish this year. I've taken pictures and I'd like to track how well I do against this over the coming year.

1) Winding Ways

This is a quilt I've always loved. (Yes, I actually quite enjoy curved piecing.) I fell in love with the two fabrics many years ago and bought them with the eye to making a winding ways quilt, just so I could justify buying the fabric. :)

2) Several years ago we made aprons in my guild. I was one of the people that really really wanted to make the aprons. I forget what happened that night, but I showed up that night but all my supplies were at home. Fast forward a couple of years and I still really really want to make that apron, with the same fabrics I'd originally picked.

3) This is a cute little kit purchased from one of the local quilt shops. Within a week of buying it, I got it to this point. (That was last year) Now all it needs is a little embroidery and I'd have a cute adorable little Valentine's wall hanging just in time.

4) This is the quilt top for a baby quilt that I started years ago. I picked pink/blue/yellow so that it would be gender neutral but it ended up girly. (And my friends had a boy!)

5) This is from a class I took at the Houston quilt show in October. All it really needs is a little quilting (I'm seeing quite the theme here), and maybe some applique in the middle. One thing that did slow me down a little is that they're not really my colours (it was a class provided kit) so I'm really not sure what I want to do with it when it's done.

6) This was also from a class at the Houston quilt show. I love it *and* it's already quilted! All it needs is a little ribbon and a binding. I got a little sidetracked from this one with all the pre-Christmas crafting but I can't wait to get back to this one.

7) This quilt is called Soaring Complements. This is a class that I took many many years ago. I finished the top within a week of the class and it's sat there ever since. This one, I felt my quilting skills weren't good enough to do the top justice. I've been practicing over the years and have started progressing beyond stitch-in-the-ditch and basic stippling, so I think I just have to get my nerve up and just do it.

8) This top is made from a 'Cape Cod' charm pack. It was a charm pack that I just threw into the bag before leaving on a quilt retreat. At the retreat I got board of working on Dear Jane blocks (A *whole* weekend of Dear Jane was a bit much) and pulled this out.

9) That some swell Swell

This quilt is made from a 'Swell' charm pack. I was playing with fractured 9-patches. I really love how it turned out (and once again, just need to quilt it)

10) This is made from a 'Cherries Jubilee' charm pack. I just loved the bright cheeriness of this charm pack. It's another one that just needs the quilting.

11) And last, but definitely not least...

This is a border round robin that I did with my guild a couple of years ago. Each person started off with the centre block and passed it onto the next person who added a border, who passed it onto the next person who added a border, and so on. At the end of the cycle, we had the grand unveiling and got to see the fabulous quilts (that just need quilting!) everyone made together.

We've challenged ourselves to finish these quilts this year because we'll be entering them into the local quilt show this May! as a group project.

With a little steady progress and a little focus, hopefully this is the year that I see these quilts done. Here's hoping that everyone working on UFOs this year have a wonderful year full of finishes and lots of enjoyment of the process.

15 Minutes - Update

2010-01-21T20:55:00.001-08:00

Wow!

It's amazing what a little consistency and focus will do.

I'm still managing with 15 minutes a day. Yeah!!!

I can't believe that just last week I was so excited to be part way through step 2.

Now I've finished step 4 and have started on step 5!

It's really started to give an idea of what the final blocks will look like.

I hope everyone else is enjoying an upswing in their crafting mojo too.

SSCS

2010-01-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I neglected to post a picture of the SSCS gift that I made this year.

This is the little ornament.

And here is the quilt. This is a Kim Diehl pattern.

15 Minutes a Day

2010-01-13T06:25:00.000-08:00

I started off this year with the idea to spend 15 minutes a day sewing. I figured finding 15 minutes in a day shouldn't be too tough, especially for something so enjoyable.

It's been amazing to see what can be accomplished with 15 minutes a day. (Granted some of the days turned into more)

This pile you see before you started the beginning of the year as two intact pieces of fabric. I now have step one done for all blocks.

And I even made a pretty good dent in step 2!

Last night I went to a friends house for some sewing and a visit, so instead of winding ways (above) I finished another Dear Jane block. It's the applique block here with the other blocks I finished over the holidays.

First Finishes of the Year

2010-01-12T20:13:00.001-08:00

In my guild we did a 12 days of Christmas swap. At the beginning of December we gave our lucky recipient their 12 gifts to open as they chose for a count down to Christmas. (Who we were getting these lovely presents from was a secret until the last gift)

These are the wonderful presents I got to open throughout December.

I also got this ball of yarn.

Which magically transformed itself into this cute hat! (And my first finish of the new year)

Plus, I finished this strawberry pincushion. It feels amazing. The body of the strawberry is velvet while the leaves and stem are beads.

Spoiled Rotten

2009-12-28T21:31:00.001-08:00

My SSCS partner Dawnie has well and truly spoiled me.

Her gifts are amazing. Two wonderful Christmas stitcheries to help the Yuletide spirit along each year. The bag (to feed my bag fetish) is amazing. I took the picture of the end, I'm not sure if you can see it, but there is a cute little sewing machine attached. I love all the little details she's added to all of her work like little tags, pulls, and back pockets. (I tried to take a picture, but it failed miserably) Plus, new projects to drool over. An adorable hatched and patched bookmark kit and a magazine with wonderful projects.

I absolutely love everything!

Guild block of the month

2009-12-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

I've posted a few of these blocks in the past. My guild has been doing a block of the month these past 15 months. We've each had a turn to pick a 12" finished block for everyone to complete and then each month we made that block for ourselves.

I'm a fan of blue. :) For my blocks I chose to work out of my stash. Here are my last three blocks.

And here are all the finished blocks!

I really love how they've turned out. Plus, it's going to be wonderful to see how different they've all turned out. My friend is showing her finished blocks here, can you even tell that they're the same blocks!?

Presents!

2009-11-27T10:53:00.001-08:00

Wow! Today's been a wonderful day! Not only do I have a day off. It's snowing! (Though, it may be more significant to note that it is the end of November and this is really our first! snow).

Plus, I heard the front door open this morning, and look what I found! Presents.

The first was a little gift from a very sweet neighbour.

The second is my SSCS parcel! It made it's way over the ocean sooo quickly. Can you see all the goodies that are calling my name?

The wonderful gingerbread man ornament!? I have a real soft spot for gingerbread men at Christmas. For me, it's one of the things that is really Christmas. It may be because we grew up with a traditional Swedish song about three gingerbread men - tre peparkaksgubbar.

And, most importantly, who do I get to thank for all these lovely goodies?? The lovely Dawnie of a new to me blog - Itching for Stitching.

In with a Bang!

2009-11-09T20:24:00.001-08:00

Wow! I know, I can't believe it either! I've actually finished something and it's still the beginning of the month. Even more shocking is that I have 3! finished quilts to show.

Granted all three of them have been sitting around for a while just needing the binding...

To give you an idea of scale, the blue one measures 46 cm x 46 cm (18" x 18").

I also finished working on the SSCS. (But I can't post that one until after Christmas)

October finishes

2009-10-31T19:42:00.001-07:00

I have a few finished for this month. Yeah!

First up are our traveling companions for the quilt show in Houston. (I finished them the day we flew out!)

I then finally finished this little thread catcher/pin cushion/organizer. I found the pattern for this one on sew mama sew.

I also needed to take a cutting mat for some of my classes at Houston. Nothing I had would fit the mat so I created this bag and took the mat, rulers, and other supplies as carry on.

I also managed to *finally* finish this quilt. I started this one many many many years ago, but it's done now and in time for Christmas 2009! I actually quilted this one myself and did something a little different in each of the squares. It was actually a fun way to practice quilting.

Houston - Part III

2009-10-31T18:59:00.000-07:00

Gee, I guess we all like quilts.

While at the quilt show in Houston, they also had a pieced clothing competition. I recognized one of the outfits from a blog I've been following - Blue Birds of Happiness!

And here are more pictures of the stunning and amazing quilts.

I love how they made this quilt more than just a lone star plopped on a quilt.

Swirly and twirly, is there anything more to say?

This one is teeny tiny. I think it was 9"x9" finished?

This is a quilt, not a photo!

I used to think I wasn't much for the art quilts or the abstract quilts. I think my tastes may be opening up more. There were quite a few that caught my eye.

Can you find the turtles? Lizards? Butterflies?

I just love the colours in this one.

This one was such a fun quilt.

Circles, circles, circles. This one was even more amazing close up. Actually looking at the details of the amazing work close up was a real treat.

I just love this bird.

This was another quits from the antique collection. All of the quilts in the collection were in amazing shape and real show pieces.

My friend and I both said that this trip was a once in a life time thing but, you know what, we both want to go again!

Houston - Part II

2009-10-29T17:24:00.001-07:00

You want to see quilts!???.... :)

I've not posted any of the winning quilts. You can see them on the festival quilt site.

These amazing quilts are the ones that weren't good enough or in non-juried collections. And they were all stunning. The caliber of quilts was amazing. It was quite inspiring (and maybe a little intimidating... :)

This was from the antique quilts collection. Aren't the colours amazing.

This was a fabulous hexagon quilt also from the antique quilts collection.

I think this one was either the antique collection or the texas guilds collection. (Sadly, it blurred together a little in my mind) This is actually one of the blocks my guild is doing for this year's charity quilts.

I just love all the things you can do with a simple log cabin.

The applique on this one was pretty spectacular. This is one a couple members of my guild would love.

I think I'm developing quite the obsession with medallion quilts. I may be seeing one in my future.... (After Dear Jane and Nearly Insane are finished of course)

And look! Dear Jane! I really loved how this one was quilted. Instead of making the outer triangles, she quilted them in!

This was from the Canadian quilts. Touques!

This quilt was just stunning in the clarity of colours.

I'm not sure if there is anything you can say about this one, except wow!

I like the swirly lines of this one. Plus how even though this was constructed from mostly solids there is a lot of movement in colour.

I'm a sucker for curves and swirls. Plus I love how 3D it looks. As soon as we saw this one, my friend said that this was a me quilt. And she's entirely right.

Pink and white. :) This was from the collection of Hawaiian quilts that were made by Japanese women. This one was to remember their wedding which took place on one of the islands.

I love the simplicity of this one. This quilt was inspired by the Shakers.

Isn't this one stunning.

Houston

2009-10-25T19:56:00.001-07:00

My friend and I got to go to the quilt show in Houston last week!

We both took tonnes and tonnes of pictures. So you'll have to bear with me. This will be spread out over several posts...

Here we are in the airplane going to the show. We're really excited. Plus! One of the airline attendants goes to the show each year. She gave us tonnes of tips for the show; like bring index cards. That way if you see something at one of the 1100 vendors you can write down the item and booth number and find it again.

This was our first day of classes. We showed up early, before the festival to take lots and lots of classes. In the window you can see everything setup for market. We weren't able to attend but left lots of nose prints on glass as we tried to sneak peeks.

We attended lots of great classes. (I've got pictures of the projects for another post.) In each class they provided machines for each of the students. I took lots of classes on regular machines.

My friend, the lucky bum, just bought a long arm machine so she took lots of long arm classes.

The quilt festival opened Wednesday. The Tuesday prior they had an evening event where they announced all the winners. If you attend, you get to see the wining quilts early!

We got to take a tour of NASA!

They also combined the NASA tour with a little shopping. (In case we didn't get enough of it at the festival. :)

We attended a class on all sorts of applique techniques. We learned that there are as many ways to applique as there are to skin a cat.

Here we are very tired and very sad to be leaving but our brains were full so it was time to leave.

More Jane

2009-09-22T07:08:00.001-07:00

Well, life has been a little crazy lately but it looks like things are getting back towards normal.

I can tell this is happening because, look!, more Jane blocks!

Now I'm off to catch up on things like all the lovely comments people have been leaving and other fun things.

Water Sports

2009-09-13T19:02:00.001-07:00

Things have been quite hectic here lately so there hasn't been much time for quilting. There was time though for a little rafting trip. This was our beautiful, unseasonably warm weather that we were able to take advantage of.

We picked up a few friends along the way.

And managed to get a little wet...

On the quilty side of life, my guild started a UFO challenge. We're challenging ourselves to finish UFOs this year and at the kick-off we had a show & tell of some of our UFOs. Here are two (sadly neither one is mine) that started off as Round Robins a couple of years ago. These blocks have the theme of 4-patches and 9-patches. (we're trying to figure out which person contributed which block)

This is another round robin. In this one we were supplied the fabric and patterns and asked to create one of the blocks.

With a Thread to Spare

2009-08-30T14:12:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture below, but there is a tiny bit of thread beside this month's finish. That is all the thread that was left after quilting this quilt. It's funny, as I noticed the thread running out, I started quilting faster. As if, somehow, that would make the thread last longer. This is the muddy quilt from quite some time ago. I've finally gotten around to quilting and binding it.

Since I've been so Dear Jane inspired/obsessed lately, it wouldn't be a post without a few more blocks. I'm now down to 30 blocks before starting triangles!

A Matter of Scale

2009-08-28T15:46:00.001-07:00

I seem to be working in two very different scales these days. The little pink block is another Dear Jane block. The large blue one is my guild's next block for our Block of the Month. Yup, there is a slight difference in the sizes...

I've been on a big of a Dear Jane roll lately, so I couldn't stop at just one block and had to do a few more. I'm getting pretty excited. I've got under 40 blocks left before I move onto the triangles!

Y-seams

2009-08-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

Y-seams can seem a little scary at first but if you keep a few things in mind they're not bad at all.

For all the seams that meet in the Y - sew up to the 1/4" seam allowance but no further. Then backstitch.

I take Y-seams in two steps always sewing from the outside to the inside. This helps to prevent puckers in the fabric and ensures that your corner fabric doesn't stretch out. Pin your fabric together and mark 1/4 inch from the end. Sew up to but not past the pin (picture below). Stopping a thread or two before the pin is better than going slightly over. Backstitch. (You need to backstitch in the corner because there will be nothing preventing you seam from unravelling.)

Now you do the same thing for the other side. Remember to stop just before the pin and backstitch. If you notice from the picture below, I fold the fabric out of the way so that I'm not fighting the fabric while sewing.

Then you press so that your Y piece (the triangle in this picture) is flat. If you need to, you can trim a little of the bulk of the seam in the corner to help things lay a little flatter.

Dear Jane

2009-08-15T16:07:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure what happened with the comments for the previous posts. Sorry. I think I have it fixed now.

Our heat wave has broken and I'm starting back into more quilting. I've been working on quilting a larger quilt as part of finish it Fridays. It's almost done so I hope to be posting it soon.

In the meantime I've been plugging away on Dear Jane blocks. Here are a few more finished.

Block of the Month

2009-08-02T21:25:00.000-07:00

My guild is doing a block of the month this year. Each month one of the participants picks out a pattern for us to do. We're each making our own blocks and will be having the grand unveiling at our Christmas party.

It's been great seeing how different the blocks are turning out and I can't wait to see them all done. Just to give you an idea of what fabric choices do for you. Here are my last two blocks. And here is the set done by one of the guild members.

July Finishes

2009-07-31T21:10:00.001-07:00

I have 3 finishes this month!

I almost had another but, alas, I still need one more coat of paint to finish the back deck...

In the middle I have another mini quilt finished. This is a rail fence made from 30's prints.

On each side are sock sacks. I found the tutorial for them here. They were quick and easy to make. Even with the zippered front pockets!

As we head into the home stretch, I hope everyone else is still inspired to finish more with the OPAM challenge. I'm really look forward to seeing what everyone else is doing each month.

Quilty Happenings

2009-07-26T17:25:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago now, some friends and I went to a little outdoor quilt show that is put on by Lorraine Stagness every two years. Here are their pictures.

Here are some of the pictures I took.

I love blue and yellow. I also love quilts with movement.

This one is just stunning. Plus I really like the look of flying geese going around in a circle.

Every time I see chickens I can't help but think of chookyblue and take a picture. See the mice in the barn?

Isn't the applique stunning? I have a quilts like this in my future. (At some point after Nearly Insane and Dear Jane are done. :)

This is another one with great movement. Plus, I now notice pinwheels everywhere. (We have a quilter in our guild that is pinwheel crazy)

This one is just so bright and I love all the spiky bits.

This one, I just couldn't resist the colours. I love all of these more folk arty colours together.

I love how they used the piping and created the wavy design.

I'm just a sucker for optical illusions in quilting.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of the show. Can you believe that all these quilts are made by one lady and her two sisters? And that they put on a show (about 200 quilts) every two years?

A Parliament of Owls

2009-07-16T19:16:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine very kindly reminded me that I'd yet to post about the owls.

For our spring retreat we usually make a take-away. It's usually something small and quick to make so we'll always have a finish for the weekend.

This spring we made Owls. We used the Tutowlrial given by Moonstitches.

Here is a picture of Owloysious and his possie. Aren't they adorable?!

My brother says that they're members of the Owl-Qaeda but I think we all know that he's wrong!

Building Blocks - Fast Flying Geese

2009-07-05T20:01:00.001-07:00

I've been thinking of doing a series of building blocks type tutorials for a while now.

I'll be doing mini-tutorials on different types of blocks that are typically pieces in larger more complex blocks.

This block is the flying geese block. Flying goose?

This method is great because it has no waste. It can be problematic if you don't want to make flying geese in multiples of 4.

Note: A and B are the finished measurements.

For the large middle triangle (Red in the picture below) you'll want to cut 1 square: B + 1-1/4" by B + 1-1/4".

For the outer smaller outer triangles (White with red hearts in the picture below) you'll want to cut 4 squares: A + 7/8" by A + 7/8".

On the smaller squares, draw a line across the diagonal.

Lay out two of your smaller squares on top of the larger square as shown in the picture below.

Sew 1/4" away from the line. Do this on both sides of the line.

Cut along the line to split the block.

Press towards the small triangles. I love how this step looks like hearts.

On each side, place the remaining two squares as shown in the picture below.

Again, sew 1/4" away from the line on both sides of the line.

Cut along the line to split the blocks. Press towards the small outer triangles.

Here are your 4 flying geese ready for trimming.

Building Blocks - 9-patch

2009-07-05T19:32:00.001-07:00

I've been thinking of doing a series of building blocks type tutorials for a while now.

I'll be doing mini-tutorials on different types of blocks that are typically pieces in larger more complex blocks.

This block is the 9-patch. I'm starting off with smaller pieced blocks, but I'm sure you can imagine this as just plain fabric.

If you're cutting pieces for the block, you'd cut each piece the finished size plus 1/2".

Here are your 9 pieces all laid out and ready to go.

First I sew the pieces of the outer column to the middle column.

Pressing is the key to a successful 9-patch. I make sure that the pressing on the middle row goes in the opposite direction of the upper and lower rows. This way you can butt your seams together and get nicer corners. Usually I press towards the dark if I'm making a plain 9-patch. If it's a piece 9-patch like this one, I look at the seams. I press towards the least amount of seaming to help the block lye flatter. I'm not sure if you can see the pressing in the block below.

Now repeat with the remaining column. Once again paying attention to how you press your seams.

Now sew one row to the middle row. For pressing, my first consideration is what am I sewing the block to. Do I need to make sure the seams work for this? Otherwise I'll press towards the side that has the least amount of seams or the most dark pieces.

Once you've attached the last row. Press following the considerations above. Then you've got your 9-patch!

Building Blocks - Half Square Triangles

2009-07-05T19:19:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking of doing a series of building blocks type tutorials for a while now.

I'll be doing mini-tutorials on different types of blocks that are typically pieces in larger more complex blocks.

This is the half square triangle.

Cut one square of your light "finished square" + 1 inch by "finished square" + 1 inch.

Cut one square of your dark with the same dimensions.

If you do not like trimming your squares make the dimensions for your squares "finished square" + 7/8".

On your light fabric, draw a line along the diagonal.

Line your squares up for sewing, right sides together.

Sew 1/4" away from your drawn line. On both sides of the line.

This is what it will look like when you've finished your sewing. Cut along your drawn line to create two blocks.

Press towards the dark. Here is your block, untrimmed.

Here is the half square triangle, trimmed.

Building Blocks - Square-in-a-Square II

2009-07-05T18:57:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking of doing a series of building blocks type tutorials for a while now.

Cut your centre diamond square (the square-in-a-square block in the picture below) C + 1/2" by C + 1/2".

For the triangles (White with heart fabric below) I cut two squares B + 1" by B + 1". I prefer to trim my blocks when they're finished. It makes the next steps easier. If you're a wonderful sewer and don't want to trim then cut your squares B + 7/8" by B + 7/8".

Sew two of the triangles on opposite sides with a 1/4" seam allowance.

If I am sewing anything with points, like this block, I'll sew it upside down. (Like the picture below) You can see a little X in the seam below. If you sew just one thread into the seam allowance beside that X, you'll end up with perfect points without needing to pin.

Here is a close-up of the X.

And here is the point you end up with. All without needing to pin. (Yes, I'm lazy. I'll avoid extra steps wherever possible.)

Anyways, back to the block. Press towards the outer triangles regardless of whether or not they're the lighter colour and trim the dog ears.

Now, repeat for the other sides. Here are the triangles sewn with a 1/4" seam.

Here is the square-in-a-square - untrimmed.

And here it is trimmed.

I'll be doing mini-tutorials on different types of blocks that are typically pieces in larger more complex blocks.

I'm starting off with the Square-in-a-Square. There are two ways to make this one. This second one I call the triangles method. (If anyone knows the real name, please let me know.)

This is the one I use if "C" works out to be a multiple of 1/8" or if the centre diamond is a block.

Building Blocks - Square-in-a-Square I

2009-07-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking of doing a series of building blocks type tutorials for a while now.

I'll be doing mini-tutorials on different types of blocks that are typically pieces in larger more complex blocks.

I'm starting off with the Square-in-a-Square. There are two ways to make this one. The first one I call the squares method. (If anyone knows the real name, please let me know.)

I generally use this method if the measurement "C" below does not work out to an 1/8" measurement. It is a little wasteful with fabric, but has its uses. The line diagram below shows a square-in-a-square block with the lines being the finished size.

For the inner diamond, (Dark red in the picture below) cut a square that is A + 1/2" by A + 1/2".

For the outer edges, (Lighter red in the picture below) cut 4 squares that are B + 1/2" by B + 1/2".

On the four smaller squares, draw a line diagonally on the squares. This will be your sewing line.

Place two squares on opposite sides (see the picture below) and sew along the drawn lines. If you can, sew one thread beside the line towards the outer edge. This helps to give you a little room when trimming the finished block and makes your points sharper.

Take your ruler and rotary cutter and trim 1/4" from your sewing line.

Then press. I press towards the outside, even if the outer triangles are the lighter fabric. This helps make the block lay flatter.

Repeat this for the other two sides.

Once again, trim leaving a 1/4" seam

Again, press towards the outside, regardless of your colours. And here you have a completed square-in-a-square block using the squares method.

Finishes, Finishes, Finishes!

2009-06-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

My nephew turned 1 the other day. So, now I can show you what I made for him. I found the tutorial for this on here. As soon as I saw it, I thought it was the perfect thing for a little boy. We, of course, couldn't let Kevin the space man leave without a photo op. I suspect Owloysious is teaching Kevin all sorts of ways in which he can be a corrupting influence.

A few weeks ago I was looking at the rather large pile of quilt tops I have waiting to be turned into quilts. So, I started Finish it Fridays. I figured if I re-arranged a few things, I could carve out a few hours on Friday's after work to work on UFOs. This last Friday a few friends joined me to make a fun evening of it. These 4 mini quilts are what I've managed to accomplish since I started doing this.

And, just because. I finished a few more Jane blocks.

Quilt Show - General Quilts

2009-06-08T19:32:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of quilts scattered around the park.

The colours in this one really caught my eye. (And these are not the types of colours I'm usually drawn to.)

I love how this one takes the same block and breaks it out.

Maybe this will be the next quilt after Nearly Insane is done. :)

I found this one with its simple flowers quite striking.

This one was called 'The Embarrassed Zebra'. What a great name.

I heart this log cabin setting. :)

I thought this was a great pattern. Two fabrics and one block. It's great how changing the dimensions of the one block created such a neat geometric effect.

Funky hearts.

I can't imagine where you'd even start to create a picture out of fabric.

This is one of the 'One Block Wonders'. These have been catching my eye lately....

Quilt Show - Quilter of Distinction

2009-06-07T16:08:00.000-07:00

This year there were two special displays at the park. An antique quilt display that was something special for this year. (But went over really well and they had quite a few people indicate that they had antique quilts they were willing to put in the show next year, so here's hoping). I was going to write it up and show pictures, but Mrs Sew n' Sew did a great job of it, so I'll just direct you to her blog.

The other special display was the Quilter of Distinction. Each year a local quilter is chosen to be featured in the show. This year was Aie Rossmann.

Here is an overview of the whole display.

The amazing thing to keep in mind when you look at her quilts is that until very recently she did everything by hand.

I love all the bright colours she uses.

This a a yo-yo quilt. It said that she did all of these yo-yos on car trips. hmmm. I wonder how many car trips it would take to make a quilt.

I love this one. You can't really see it in the picture, but her quilting is amazing. Very tiny and very even.

This one struck me because it's quite different from her usual brights on black. There were a few quilts here that took elements from her other designs and used them is really interesting new ways. There was one that you really had to look hard at to recognize that it came from the other pattern.

This is one of her Affairs of the Heart blocks framed. I thought that was a neat idea for stray blocks.

This is what you saw if you looked over the balcony. Not quite what you think of when you see quilts. :) Though, it was a great place to send husbands and kids. :)

Quilt Show - Knotty quilters

2009-06-06T19:27:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I had the good fortune to attend the big annual quilt show. There are over 500 quilts to look at. Weather-wise it was wonderful. Hot and sunny. No rain all weekend so the organizers were able to hang the quilts outside. (Much better than this weekend where we woke up to a blanket of snow covering to world.)

The show is held at a historical park. Isn't it a wonderful location for quilts?

I'll have to stretch the pictures over a couple of posts. Even though my camera batteries died before I saw the whole show, I managed to take lots and lots of pictures... :)

I belong to a wonderful quilt guild called the knotty quilters. I think the name sums up our group pretty well. :) These are some of the quilts our group submitted this year.

This one was created when one of our members found out she was going to be a grandmother for the first time. It turned out quite differently than she was first planning, her thoughts were to go with the traditional blue and pink, her children had other ideas. :)

This one is called 'Lucy's geese'. If you'd like to hear the story behind the name, you can check out her blog.

This one was from the pattern 'Indian Summer' which one of the ladies showed us how to make last year. This was the only one that was finished in time for the show.

Actually, this year, there was not one single quilt that stood out as 'the' quilt for the year. Each year, I've mad a bit of a game of 'spot the repeats'. This started several years ago when the rag quilts first became all the rage. Walking around the park that year, you couldn't help but see rag quilts each time you went around a corner. After that, each year, we've started looking to see if there is a particular pattern or style that stood out. I'm happy to say that this year we got to see 500 different quilts with very few repeating patterns or styles.

This one is a mariners compass surrounded by piles and piles of half-square triangles. It's all batiks. The colours are even richer in real life. The compasses are paper-pieced with everything else pieced.

This jacket was made by the same lady who made the quilt in the previous picture. (Pretty talented, isn't she). She didn't enter it into the pieced clothing competition and boy did she get in trouble for it. : ) The 'committee' has told her that she's to enter it into the competition next year, or else!

Recognize this one? :)

5.5 Weeks!

2009-05-17T20:43:00.001-07:00

My friend and I took our machines in for routine maintenance the other day. It was supposed to take up to two weeks to get our machines back. Not too bad, we could live with that. 5 1/2 weeks later!!! We finally got our machines back. Yes, we were not happy campers. On the plus side, our machines are in good working order now.

To make up for the sewing machine drought, I've been sewing up a storm lately. :) Even if I should be spending more time working...

I got caught up on our guild's block of the month.

Plus, a picture of our next block was sent out and I was on a roll... :)

This used to be a swell charm pack. I'll likely be turning this into a mini quilt.

And, it can't be a random posting without a few more Jane blocks.

Well, I'm off. I've also got 4 applique tops that I'm leaning towards making mini quilts with. (The original kits were pillows). Plus, I'm prepping for retreat. We do a little make and take each year. So, each year I kit up our make and take and create samples for next year's choices. I'll do my best to remember to take pictures.

March Finishes

2009-03-31T16:37:00.000-07:00

Well, with all that extra time to stitch, I have two finishes to report for this month.

Another little quilt top is finally quilted and bound. This one was an enders and leaders project from way back when. I highly recommend doing those sorts of projects. It was like I got the quilt top for free.

Just to give you an idea of the scale, here is the quilt with my second finish of the month. My first pair of socks! The socks are a plain knit women's sock made from the pattons stretch sock yarn.

I hope everyone else is still feeling inspired and finishing all sorts of projects this year.

Smarch

2009-03-29T15:42:00.003-07:00

This has been an interesting month. My computer died! It was good in that it taught me that I'm addicted to the computer. Plus showed me just how much time I spend/waste on it. :)

Despite being super swamped at work, with no computer to distract, I did finish a couple of things. I also worked on many more. Though, I'll save that for another post. :) Wouldn't want to shock anyone with too much in one post...

Mid month I went out to a show in Millerville with a few friends. This is a little show that their guild puts on every two years. All I can say is that they have some very talented people in their guild.

This picture gives you an idea of the overall show.

This one is an amazing demonstration of thread play. I wish I had take some close ups. The stitch work was amazing.

This one was a cute miniature that is giving me ideas. :)

This one had hearts made of that fiber that you iron into fabric and then play with.

This is a quilt stretched on a frame hanging on the wall. What a neat way to display your quilts. Plus, I just like it. :)

I thought this log cabin was quite striking. The strips are very narrow. What a lot of work.

Every time I see a chicken or rooster in a quilt I think of chookyblue and just have to take a picture.

I hope you enjoyed this virtual taste of the quilt show. Locally we're heading into quilt show season and I can't wait!

Allergic to Finishing?

2009-02-28T19:08:00.001-08:00

I met some friends for coffee today.... at a local fabric shop.... :)

They were having a sale on batiks. I couldn't resist... I found two really nice reds and a maroon that I couldn't pass up. I also fell in love with this non-batik that I really have no project for. Yet! I'm sure I'll be starting on it soon. :)

I think I must be allergic to finishing things. It took me one whole month to finish a quilt. (Actual work time less than 4 hours. :)

Instead of working on the quilt I planned to finish in February, I started a new project.

First up - a super secret project, though didn't finish... (No photos to show until it's been finished and received)

Last weekend I realized that the end of the month was waaaayyyy too close. So I went to the LQS to pick up thread finish the quilt. While I did buy the thread, I also picked up this adorable kit. There is some stitching to do on the neutral fabric. I'll post when I finish. :)

I've also been on a bit of a knitting kick. I started these socks... (At least I got past the first one. :)

I also finished off the stitching on this little project I started last year while working on the penguin and the nun. (I needed something not brown to work on) I'm not sure how I'll finish this one, so it'll sit for a while now.

And finally! I finished something! (About two hours ago :)

It's very clear I need OPAM to push me to finish that last little step.

New Month, New Projects

2009-02-01T18:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks for your kind words on January's quilt. I like it too. :)

This quilt is what I've chosen for February's finish. I made this quilt top at a retreat over a year ago now. I think it's done aging and is ready for quilting now. :)

In between all this finishing, I'm still working on starting more. Wouldn't want to shock my system completely. :) I started the New Year's mystery at quiltville - Double Delight. Here are my blocks from steps 1A & 1B. You're looking at 240 square-in-a-square blocks all trimmed.

I also finished off a few more Dear Jane blocks. It's been neglected for a little too long and was screaming for more blocks. :)

A Finish!

2009-01-31T17:45:00.001-08:00

With a mere 7 hours left in the month, I finished something!! This is what happened with the blocks from the previous post. It's also a UFO that has gone through 2 moves with me. And! Not only is it done, but it's hanging up too!

Yeah! Thanks for the push to finish something May Britt and Kris.

One Project a Month Challenge

2009-01-11T20:26:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a start to the New Year.

Jacquie never suspected that the SSCS gift I was making was for her and she liked it!! Yeah!! It was so much fun when Donna handed out our elf assignments and I realized that it was someone's blog that I followed and enjoyed already. It was great to re-stalk her blog on a mission. Fortunately for me, Jacquie is a prolific blogger and she gave me lots of ideas on what I could do for her.

She very kindly gave me this award:

Thank-you. Even though it's past Christmas, I'm still passing it along. I'd pass it along to Donna but she doesn't like being passed along these sorts of awards, so Donna consider it passed along in spirit.

The other people that bring Christmas around for me every year are my Ornament Exchange group: BK, SR, and ennavic. We've been exchanging handmade ornaments with each other since 1994. Every year the most amazing creations find their way in my mailbox and over the years we've gotten the 4 most beautiful Christmas trees in the world. (In my unbiased opinion of course. :)

These are the beautiful ornaments I received this year.

These are the ornaments I made for this year. (Obviously I missed the memo that this year's ornaments were neutrals... :)

I decided that I really need to do something about that unmoving UFO list on the side of my blog. No sooner had I made that decision then May Britt and Kris announced a challenge for 2009 - The One Project a Month Challenge.

My first project for January will be this one:

It's sooooo close to done, it's sad.

SSCS

2008-12-28T20:30:00.001-08:00

I received the most wonderful SSCS gifts from Lorraine H from Australia. Two beautiful wall hangings that are absolutely perfect for my quilting clothesline and some wonderful fabrics. Including an amazing one with all sorts of Australian animals. I'm going to have to figure out something to do the fabrics justice.

This is what I sent off to my partner. I don't know if you recall the fabrics from earlier? I really enjoyed playing with the colours and pattern scales.

Advent Sewing

2008-12-21T17:13:00.001-08:00

We had our guild Christmas party last week and now I can finally unveil one of the projects I've been working on. A part of our Christmas party is a gift exchange. I made an advent calendar for a gift. Here it is hanging out on the mantle.

A close-up. If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll post a tutorial.

These were the wonderful Christmas presents I received. I don't have a picture of the amazing knitted stocking. It's now hanging out and I've been hinting that it should really be filled for Christmas. :) My present was in the stocking and wrapped in the chicken fabric. Another guild member was doing the best sort of stash busting (for us). She went through her stash and cut fat quarters from her Christmas fabrics and gifted them to us.

When I unwrapped the fabric, I found this wonderful moose and cool ornament. I can now go around the house saying 'the moose is loose'. :)

Last week I wasn't all that thrilled with how block 50 turned out on the Nearly Insane quilt, so I made another one. Yup, I'm that insane, tackling Y seams not once but twice!

Christmas is in the Air

2008-12-07T22:03:00.000-08:00

It's snowing and snowing and snowing today! It's the light fluffy snow that makes me think of Christmas every time I see it.

I've been working away, but there isn't too much to show right now. Just like everyone else, there will be more to show after Christmas.

Beyond Christmas secrets, I've been pretty focused on the nearly insane blocks.

I also caught up on my guild's block of the month. Even though I've posted one before, it's neat to see all of them together, so I've posted all 4. What I'm finding funny is our last BOM is the left hand block of the first picture and this weeks block for NI is block 50. Can you tell that they're the same block?

Time Passes

2008-11-16T19:00:00.000-08:00

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been.

I've been busy working on lots of things that can't be shown just yet. (Christmas and SSCS) Though, I do have a few things. I finally got to visit my little nephew a couple of weeks ago and now can finally show you the I spy quilt I made for him.

This is a little sneak peek of the secret project(s)....

I've also been away to a couple of sew days and a retreat. I was needing a bit of a Jane break, so I made some miniature quilts instead. :) The blue quilt measures about 15"x15". (You can see the 'muddy' quilt hiding out. I've now got the three tops waiting for quilting. (After the Christmas projects.)

I didn't take a complete Jane break. I did manage a few blocks. Including the toughest Jane block. (The star inside the larger star is 1" square!)

Quilting

2008-10-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

Between work and illness I've not been doing too much quilting these days. But I do have a few things to show.

A couple more Nearly Insane blocks.

And a few more Dear Jane blocks.

All Jane All the Time

2008-09-28T16:18:00.000-07:00

That's what things have been feeling like this past little while. I guess that's why I started a few more projects. At least, that's my story and I'm sticking with it. :)

In keeping with tradition, a few more Dear Jane blocks.

I finished the top for the "muddy" quilt. This quilt is 14"x14". (Since it was recently pointed out that scale does not translate well in pictures. :)

The second nearly insane block.

My guild has decided to do a Block of the Month this year. Each person is picking a 12" (finished) block for us to do. At the end of the year, we'll have the unveiling of our very different quilts made from the same blocks. This is our first block. As I was making it, I kept thinking "Well, I double checked measurements as I cut" The block was soooo big. I measured it when I was done just to confirm it was 12" and not 18". I think this is a sign I've spent too long doing miniatures. :)

Wow. I've been much more prolific this week than I thought. (I've also been working on my SSCS gift too. I'd post a teaser but can't figure out a picture that doesn't give too much away. I will say that I'm liking how it is turning out so far. I'm a little tempted to keep it for myself. I may just have to make one for myself. :)