Quilt Monkey

Just Takes 2 Quilt Along

2012-01-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

There's a great quilt along that has just started at the beginning of this year. It is being organized by Gay Bomers of Sentimental Stitches and Brenda Papadakis of Dear Jane fame. They were inspired by the red and white quilts from the Infinite Variety quilt exhibit last year in New York. They have created a free quilt along using blocks featured in some of the quilts from that exhibit. Gay will offer a set of block patterns on her website on the first of the month, and Brenda will offer the next set of patterns on her website on the 15th of each month. The patterns will remain free on their sites for a month, then they will charge a small fee for them after that. So it pays to get in early! They have all the basic information and FAQ's you need on the main Just Takes 2 website.

I've already finished the first set of blocks (posted here) and I can't wait for the next set to become available. I decided to do mine in blue and white instead of red and white. My plan is to make this entire quilt from my stash, and not buy anything for it. We'll see how I do!

Join me - it'll be fun!

Design Wall Monday 01/09/12

2012-01-09T07:15:00.000-08:00

Sorry this picture is a little dark! Today my blocks are on an actual design board instead of my ironing board and there's not a lot of natural light where I have it. I might have to switch back to my ironing board for pictures! I'm working on the Just Takes 2 quilt along, and I now have all six blocks finished from the first set posted. I decided to make mine in blue and white instead of the traditional red and white color scheme. I have tons of blues and a lot of them were still pulled out of my stash from a previously finished project. I'll post more about the quilt along a little later today. I'm really motivated to stay up with this project and get the blocks done as they are posted. So far, so good!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone else's design walls!

Stash Busting - Week 2

2012-01-08T20:26:00.000-08:00

Last week I mentioned that I had finished a quilt top. I posted about it on my Design Wall a while back. It's not a large top, so when I counted up the yardage, it only came out to 3.5 yards. Even though it's not much, I'm off to a good start for 2012! This is for a class I'm teaching beginning tomorrow night at the VMSC. Hey, if anyone's local to Redwood City, CA, come on by at 6:00 pm and sign up and pick up the supply lists!

I also finished a second project today. It is a miniature version of a quilt I made last year. All totalled, I'm guessing it only came out to about 1 yard, but I had to get a fat quarter for the border. Anyway, still going in the right direction! Let's hope I can keep my momentum going.

Fabric in this week: 0.25 yards

Fabric in this year: 0.25 yards

Fabric out this week: 4.50 yards

Fabric out this year: 4.50 yards

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see how everyone else is doing!

Stash Busting 2012 - Week 1

2012-01-01T22:35:00.000-08:00

Well here we are at the beginning of a new year. A time for new beginnings and starting over. As far as the stash busting goes, I have a clean slate! I think I did well in 2011. I fell off the reporting wagon for a while, but most of the reports would have said "nothing in, nothing out". My biggest purchase was two bolts of fabric in the middle of the year. One was a solid white and the other solid black. Having these in my stash has been really handy and I'm glad I got them. However, it made my stash busting kind of, well, a bust. As of today, I am re-committing to my stash busting efforts.

To start the year off right, today I put the final borders on a quilt that I have been working on, which means that I can now count the entire top out of my stash. I haven't worked up the numbers, so I'll report that next Sunday. I have another small project that just needs borders and I'll be able to count that out as well. So far I think I'm off to a good start!

Fabric in this week: 0.00 yards
Fabric in this year: 0.00 yards

Fabric out this week: 0.00 yards
Fabric out this year: 0.00 yards

Check out Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing!

Goodbye Bear

2011-12-31T15:09:00.000-08:00

As 2011 comes to a close, it's time to say goodbye to my longtime buddy, Bear. Bear passed on in mid-November and is finally free from the pains of his illnesses. We spent nearly 17 years together and as anyone with pets knows, he was a part of our family.

His loss was very tough for me and a lot of times I still think I hear or see him around the house. I still look around to see if he is going to "rearrange" my quilt blocks when I lay them out. He always did think he could do it better than me! But he will always be in my heart and I know he is in a much better place now.

Design Wall Monday 12/26/11

2011-12-26T15:52:00.000-08:00

This is more "off" the design wall - finally!! My sister and I started this baby quilt many months ago for a brand new niece. It's tough to work on a quilt together when you live far apart. And procrastinate. So this is what I was doing on Christmas Eve. Machine quilting a zig zag quilt with a cozy flannel backing. I did get it finished (thankfully it wasn't huge). We gave the quilt unbound. Now my sister has it and will do the binding. And now my "design wall" is a little emptier! I couldn't show this quilt earlier because it was a gift. One more quilt up there I can't show, but that will be done in a couple of weeks. I'll get a nice clean picture of this one once the binding is finished.

It's the last Design Wall Monday of 2011! Check out what other people have on their design walls at Judy's blog.

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T11:33:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to everyone! Life's been super busy, but I hope to be blogging again very soon. I wish everyone a healthy and happy holiday.

Design Wall Monday 12/05/11

2011-12-05T10:37:00.000-08:00

I have been in kind of a sewing slump lately. But I needed to get some projects ready for class, so I cruised the internet for inspiration and the dawn of an idea took place. After playing around in EQ7, I came up with a great quilt and then was totally motivated to get working on it. There were so many different ways I could go with the colors that I started to get stuck again. Finally I put my hands on a fat quarter pack of batiks that were ear-marked for another project that won't be happening any time soon. In no time I had my pieces all cut (shown above).

Then I had to decide how to arrange them. These are the corners of bigger pieces layed out on my "design ironing board". Now I just need to do some piecing and it will be done in no time. It's amazing how much you can get done when you get motivated!

Be sure to check out all the Design Walls on Judy L's blog and get motivated like I did!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T09:12:00.000-08:00

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Handmade Holidays 2011

2011-11-08T08:52:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I've been so busy at work and home that I forgot that Handmade Holidays began on 11/01/11 over at Sew! Mama! Sew! Every day in November they have lists of tutorials, recipes, project inspiration and prizes. Every year I love to check in and see what they have for us. It's lots of fun and I've found some great tutorials there. Go check it out and don't forget to go back to the posts that have already posted so you don't miss anything!!

Design Wall Monday 11/07/11

2011-11-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

Foundation paper piecing never looks like much before the sections are all sewn together. Above is what I am currently working on. Not very exciting! It will eventually be a Dear Jane block. It's another one of the simpler ones. I really need to start on the difficult ones so that they are not all left to the end.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on this week!

Stash Busting - Week 45

2011-11-06T17:55:00.000-08:00

I finished the project from Mystery Mondays (pictured above) and I'm super happy with it! Unfortunately, I rushed through the binding and as a result, I'm not really happy with how that part turned out. But it's done. I haven't finished a project to completion for quite a while and this has really motivated me. It was just a little side project in between the other things I'm working on, so it's kind of a bonus piece. All of a sudden I have a cute table topper that's completely finished. I chose to do it in a Halloween theme, so I probably should put it away until next year, but I think I'll leave it out for a while so I can admire it. It's fairly small, but I think I'll count 3/4 yard out of the stash. That's probably a little generous, but it motivates me to bust more stash!

Fabric in this week: 0.00 yards
Fabric out this week: 0.75 yards

Fabric in this year: 38.75 yards
Fabric out this year: 8.75 yards

Go to Judy L's blog to see how other people are doing!

Dear Jane F3

2011-11-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

I also finished F3 this weekend. This was a fairly simple block, so I thought I'd use a directional print fabric for it. Wouldn't you know I flipped two of the outer triangles and got them going the wrong direction! So I had to pull those off and make new ones. In the end it looks like it wouldn't be noticeable becuase they are so small, but at least I know they are correct now!

Dear Jane C10

2011-11-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

I have two completed Dear Jane blocks to share today. This is C10, which was in pieces in yesterday's post. I had a heck of a time putting this together. I had to take out several seams and re-sew. It seems pretty straightforward, but sometimes you just have days like that. I think it turned out wonderfully - well worth the effort. I scan my blocks in a scanner to get these pictures, and the only thing I don't like about that is the shadows it puts in the block. It looks wrinkly with dark spots, but the real thing looks great.

One more block to follow shortly!

Design Wall Monday - 10/31/11

2011-10-31T08:51:00.000-07:00

On today's design wall is a partially complete Dear Jane block that I am foundation piecing. The sections are not laid out in the correct order in the picture above, but I'll get them back in order before I put them together. I have a few DJ blocks that are nearly complete, so I'll have some finishes to show shortly.

And finally I also have the finished top of the Mystery Mondays project. It's a cute candle mat. It turned out a lot different that I thought it would and I love it! I'll quilt it just a little and bind it and it will be a completed project. Hey, I can even finally count some fabric out of stash when it's done! I haven't been able to do that for a while! It's Halloween themed, but I won't have it done today. It was so quick and easy that I might make another one. We'll see.

A new Mystery Mondays project starts today, so I might just be too busy with that one to make another one of these.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what's one everyone else's Design Walls!

Design Wall Monday - 10/24/11

2011-10-24T09:17:00.000-07:00

I missed posting last week, but I'm still working on the Mystery Mondays project. I think we must be close to finished now because I only have a couple of pieces left to sew. I'm pretty sure I know how it's going together, but you never know. I haven't printed out the latest instructions yet. I also worked on a Dear Jane block over the weekend, but I didn't grab a picture of it. It's still in a lot of little pieces at the moment.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone else's Design Walls!

Stash Busting - Week 43

2011-10-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

I went to the Pacific International Quilt Festival today. I have tons of pictures that I'll hopefully get posted this week. I actually did not buy very much fabric at all! The only fabric I bought was some fat quarters for my Dear Jane quilt. My personal rule for my own stashbusting is that I will not count any DJ fabric as stash. It is dedicated to this particular project and technically not in my stash. Once I use the fabrics, the scraps will be stash, but I'm not getting that detailed yet. The rest of the things I bought are actually all gifts, so I won't show them here. I'm really happy with the fabrics I chose. They will fit into my quilt perfectly. I could see that the prices of fabrics are really starting to increase. Most of the fat quarters were about $3.00 each, which is about $.50 to $1.00 more than usual. I hope they don't go up too high! I haven't bought fabric lately because I've been using mostly stash, so this may be old news.

There were a few other fat quarters that I wouldn't have minded getting, but they were only being sold in bigger pieces, so I passed on them. See how strong I am!!

As for this week, I'm counting nothing in, but unfortunately nothing out. Hopefully I'll get some things finished soon!

Hanging with Alton Brown

2011-10-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we weren't really hanging out, but we did get to meet him at a book signing for the final book of recipes from his show Good Eats. The Food Network show has just ended after 13 years, but he says there are two episodes that have not aired yet. One should come out around the holidays and one probably around Valentine's day (on dark chocolate). The re-runs of his show is currently running on the Cooking Channel.

There were tons of people at the signing. We got our tickets a while back and were lucky enough to be one of the first 100 people, so we were guaranteed a seat. The rest of the people (I think there were another 100) had to stand. He spoke a bit and then answered lots of questions from the audience. He's just like you see him on his show, very funny and real. It sounds like he's still got a lot of things going on so even though Good Eats has ended, we'll still be able to see him a lot. Lance asked him if there would be any more Feasting on Asphalt shows, but Alton says Food Network doesn't plan to do any more.

All in all, it was a great evening and really fun to meet someone I've admired for a long time.

Design Wall Monday - 10/10/11

2011-10-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

Just one lonely block on my design wall today. It is last week's step from Mystery Mondays. I'm all ready for today's clue. Other than that, not much sewing going on these days. I'm having trouble getting motivated. I will be inspired soon enough, though. The big PIQF quilt show starts this week and runs through Sunday. I go every year and come home raring to sew!

Be sure to check out Judy's blog to see what everyone else is working on!!

Alden Lane Quilt Show 2011

2011-10-08T12:14:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, my Mom, sister and I went over to the Alden Lane Quilt Show in Pleasanton, CA. We try to go every year and this year was wonderful as usual. What was even better was that it was not sweltering hot like in the past few years. In fact, it was a little breezy and even started to sprinkle while we were there. I took a bunch of pictures, but didn't get everything. The wind was blowing the quilts around a bit, so pictures were difficult. The Quilt Show has a great slide show that must have been taken the day before because it looked sunnier and the quilts weren't flying. Check it out here.

There was an interesting color challenge that a group made. I took pictures of those that I'll share soon. I don't want to bog the page down too much with pictures. I'm already looking forward to next year's show!

Design Wall Monday - 10/03/11

2011-10-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

I'm all ready for today's Mystery Mondays step! I pulled my fabrics this weekend and did all of the cutting (shown above). It's a small project, so it didn't take long. As usual I was torn about which fabrics to use from my stash. My first thought was to go Christmas, but I actually have very few Christmas prints in my stash. Then I saw this Halloween fabric that I bought several years ago. It has a real vintage feel to it that I just love. I've been hoarding this piece with no real plan for it. I only needed a 8 1/2" square, but maybe I'll also use it for the back.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone's design walls!

Design Wall Monday - 09/26/11

2011-09-26T08:47:00.000-07:00

These are what's on my design table today (other than my cat). I'm making more snapped coin purses that I had in last week's post to give away in class tonight. The flat one needs snaps and hand sewing and then just one more to make. I tried some piecing on them to keep them interesting. Here's another link to the tutorial. Once you've made one, they go pretty fast. I probably took more time choosing fabric than making them!

Check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is doing!

Why Can't I Get Any Work Done?

2011-09-25T21:24:00.000-07:00

Is it any wonder why I can't get any sewing done?

Mystery Mondays at This & That Blog

2011-09-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

I just heard about Mystery Monday's created by Sherri Falls from This & That Patterns. Now I know I have a lot on my plate right now, but it sure does sound fun. She will post steps to mystery projects every Monday on her blog. This past Monday was the first step of the first project - a table topper. The steps are not extensive. This week is just a supply list so far (next week cutting instructions). What a great way to use of some stash! She's got a great blog - lots of recipes and projects and ideas. Go check her out!

Design Wall Monday - 09/19/11

2011-09-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

The only thing I have left on my Design Wall (Table) is this little coin purse I made this weekend. I had a quilt block there but it looks like I didn't get a picture of it. I saw this on Pinterest and just had to try it out. Here's the link to the tutorial. I was just testing out the pattern and decided not to take the time piece mine, but I really like to look of the pieced front. I think it turned out great, but the snaps I bought are really tight It takes a lot of effort to unsnap them once they are snapped. If I actually used it as a coin purse, I think the coins would go flying. I don't have a lot of experience with snaps, so I didn't know which ones to get. Perhaps a different style of snap would be a better option for this. It can be used for anything - the tutorial shows it being used as a mini sewing kit. Very fun!

Check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone else's Design Wall.

Stash Busting 2011 - Week 38

2011-09-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

I've been so good lately. I've hardly bought anything at all this year, and nothing in the past few months. But then I went into Joann's to pick up something non-fabric related - and it was all over. I had a 20% off coupon in hand - and it was for the entire purchase including sale items. So first thing when I walked in, there was some Halloween fabrics, and they already on sale. With the double savings I couldn't pass it up. I got a yard of a really cute print that had replicas of vintage Halloween postcards. Then I grabbed a half yard of the orange and black stripe. No telling when that would come in handy! I don't really have any Halloween prints in my stash, so you know, I had to remedy that. Then after doing the rest of my shopping, I just had to get a yard of a print that I look at every time I go in the store. It is a really nice wispy floral that just speaks to me for some reason. I figured if I didn't get it now, it would be gone next time. So there's my big splurge. :(

I didn't do much sewing. I started on a little coin purse that I'll show tomorrow. I also made a block for my class tomorrow. I can count those two things out at 1/4 yard total.

Fabric in this week: 2.50 yards
Fabric out this week: .25 yards

Fabric in this year: 38.75 yards
Fabric out this year: 8.00 yards

Go to Judy L's blog to see how other people are doing!

Design Wall Monday - 09/12/11

2011-09-12T15:31:00.000-07:00

I've been battling a bad head cold for a few days and I think I'm finally winning. Unfortunately that means I lost most of my weekend. I have the preview night for my quilting class tonight and I had to get the last of my projects and supply lists ready. Above is the Disappearing Four Patch project that I sewed together on Saturday, but was unable to get the borders on yet. It came out a lot smaller than I had anticipated. 30 seemed like a lot of blocks, but they only finish at 8" square, so it's fairly small - I'd say smaller than a twin. I can either put a few borders on it or make more blocks. I haven't decided yet. Maybe a pieced border would look good. We'll see. It's a work in progress! I do love the look of this pattern. If I make it again, I'll probably start with 6" squares instead of 5" squares and maybe make it less scrappy. That way I can still make the same number of blocks, but it will come out bigger.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what is on other people's design walls!

Lunch Fun

2011-09-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

Lance and I both happened to have the day off today, and we heard that there was going to be a food truck event in the parking lot of the Hiller Aviation Museum right here in nearby San Carlos. Actually, they will be out there every Wednesday through October 26th. We watched the Food Network show The Great Food Truck Race last year (Season 2 is currently running), and Nom Nom Truck was one of the finalists. We heard they were going to be there, so we decided to head over.

They served amazing looking Banh Mi on the show and I couldn't wait to try it. And I was definitely glad I did! The grilled pork was to die for! It started at 11 am and we got there shortly thereafter, but the lines were starting already. There were several trucks there, but Nom Nom was definitely the attraction. The line got very long, but we got there before the worst of it.

We also got a Panini from Speedy Panini, which was also great.

And Lance got a fish taco from Streetz Eatz which he said was also good. All in all, a fun little lunch excursion on a lazy day off!

Design Wall Monday - 09/05/11

2011-09-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a Disappearing Four Patch quilt in an effort to use up some of the charm packs that I had in my stash. These ones are more scrappy than the ones that I usually see. I wasn't sure of the dimensions to use and I think if I made it again, I'd make the middle strips a little narrower. Or else I would just start with bigger squares in the four patch. Above I have nine blocks laid out, but the finished project will have 30 (five blocks across and six blocks down). The blocks are all made. I had set them aside because I couldn't decide how I wanted to set them, and was considering sashing with the same width as the strips in the blocks. Today I twisted and turned them different ways and took pictures of each and when I viewed them it was clear to me that this was the best layout. It also happened to be my first plan for the layout. I ended up wasting a bunch of time not knowing how to proceed, and I should have just gone with my first plan. Oh well. I got my runner finished in the meantime. And it will take less time to sew them together without sashing!

Check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone else's design walls!

Stash Busting 2011 - Week 36

2011-09-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

I finally got my fall table runner finished. Well, the top is finished. I have some other things to work on before I can layer it up and quilt it. But at least now I can count the yardage out of my stash. This one was very scrappy and it was difficult to calculate, but I think conservatively I can call this two yards used. It might be a bit more, but I can't tell at this point.

I am proud to say that I haven't bought any new fabric in quite a long time, so Zero yards added!!

I have another project that is moving right along. The 30 blocks are already made - I just need to decide how I want to put them together. This will be on my design wall post tomorrow.

Fabric in this week: 0.00 yards
Fabric out this week: 2.00 yards

Fabric in this year: 36.25 yards
Fabric out this year: 7.75 yards

Design Wall Monday - 08/29/11

2011-08-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

I have a couple more pumpkins on my design wall today. The one on the left was already complete last week. I made another pieced block on the right and an applique block in the middle. This one still needs to be stitched down and then trimmed (the block is oversized right now). I also have two leaf blocks (not shown) that will be part of this project. The applique pumpkin is a little plain, so I might add some embroidered lines to give it a little definition. Unless I run out of time! This one is coming along nicely. I think the thing that is taking the most time is figuring out which fabric I want to use for each part. I guess that's the hazard of having such a big stash - too many choices!!

Check out Judy L's blog to see what other people are working on this week!

Design Wall Monday 08/22/11

2011-08-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

I have pumpkins on my design wall today. I'm designing a fall-themed project and I made the first one as a six inch (finished) square, but after it was finished, I decided that it was a little too small for what I had planned. So I started over and made another one at a 7 1/2" square. This should work out much better. I had also forgotten to mirror the image the first time around, so I fixed that on the second one. I lucked out and this pumpkin block was already in my EQ7 software, so I didn't have to design it from scratch. I have a second block just about finished already. Other than today I haven't done much sewing lately, and now I feel really motivated to get this project finished. It helps that I cleaned my sewing area yesterday - so nice to have room to work!

Check out Judy L's blog for more design walls!

Design Wall Monday 08/15/11

2011-08-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

I haven't done much sewing in the past few weeks. Just too darn tired and also the computer issues have kept me from sewing and posting. However, I realized that I have only one short month (less than that actually), to get my projects together for the Fall session of my quilting class, so I started getting some work done. I've done a lot of planning and designing, and now I think I'm ready to roll. I pulled a bunch of oranges from my stash (above, right) to start on a fall themed project (I see pumpkins in my future!). The only actual sewing I was able to do was to put together the four quadrants of my color wheel, which is not a class project. I need to put some borders or something on it to contain the bias edges while I figure out the rest of the design. My plan is to sew a little every day after work and see how much progress I can make.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on!

Design Wall Monday 07/25/11

2011-07-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

Not much sewing happened this week. I made progress on the project that I started here. It's funny that I had pulled piles of fabrics and I only needed to use a small triangle from each one. Now I just need to put these quadrants together to make the block, which will finish at 12" square. I made it on a whim, with no real idea of what I would do with it. It was just something that I had wanted to do for a while and frankly I didn't feel like working on the project that I had in progress at the time. I really like how it is coming out and it is possible that I'll make this the center of a larger project. Maybe I'll add rows of blocks all the way around in a medallion setting. We'll see. The fabric I ordered for the borders of last week's quilt arrived, so I guess I'll be working on that next.

I had a little scare recently when our computer died. We are very diligent about backing up our data, but when we tried to recover it, we found that not all of the files were being backed up. Specifically, the files were I keep the patterns that I write. I estimate I've written over 40 patterns in the last 5-6 years, and I was starting to panic. Fortunately Lance researched and worked very hard and we found that we were able to pull the hard drive out of the computer and plug it into a reader and recover all of the files. Whew! I think I'll be saving a copy of my files in the "cloud" from now on.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on other people's design walls!

Design Wall Monday - 07/18/11

2011-07-18T13:40:00.000-07:00

I actually have a design "wall" today! This one was too big for the table. My sister and I are working together on a quilt and here's how far we got in one day. I just love the zig zag quilt. It's so impressive looking, and yet so simple to make. We'll be squaring off the sides (no setting triangles) and adding a couple of borders. Working together worked out really great. We both cut and I sewed with she pressed and pinnned and did the layout. I had made this quilt once before shown here, and I didn't realize that we ended up with the same colors as the first one until my sister pointed it out after it was sewn together. Funny how that happened! Now to choose borders...

See what others are doing on Judy L's blog!

Pop Top Gifts

2011-07-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

I recently found this tutorial on Our Best Bites, one of the cooking blogs that I read regularly. I have been having so much fun with these! It's a great way to package a little gift or just some sweets. I originally made some for Mother's Day gifts, and filled them with See's Candy. I didn't take any pictures of those, but then I made a few more recently for Father's Day and a Graduation gift (two shown above). Candy and nuts went into the Father's Day cans and candy surrounding a gift card for the Graduation can. They are so easy and everyone is stumped as to how they are made! Go to the tutorial link above for a step by step tutorial - but basically what you do is buy a can of anything that has a pop-top, such as mixed fruit or pineapple. The mixed fruit comes in smaller cans, so I got pineapple, which comes in bigger cans for the bigger items like the gift card. Open the bottom of the can with a can opener (I have the safe style which kind of un-crimps the bottom). Empty the contents into a container for later use. Wash and dry the inside of the can making sure you don't bend it out of shape. Fill with treats or a small gift. Glue the bottom back onto the can (we used crazy glue) and allow to dry completely. As noted in the tutorial, you might want to put a small piece of tissue paper in the bottom of the can before gluing in case any drips inside. Cover the outside of the can with decorative scrapbooking paper and a label, and you are done! These are super easy to make and are always received well. However, sometimes people think that something is going to jump out at them - of course, you could to that too!

Design Wall Monday - 07/11/11

2011-07-11T09:40:00.000-07:00

I've finally got another project in progress on my Design "Table"! I've been roadblocked working a project for quilt class in the fall. So for whatever reason, I felt that I couldn't work on anything else until I made decisions on how to set that project. Let's just say that I got over that feeling this weekend and started pulling fabrics to make a color wheel block. For a very long time, I've been seeing lots of interpretations of a foundation pieced block with flying geese going in a circle. I mentally bookmarked it to come back to at a later date. Well CrazyMom showed one last week and I finally decided to just do it. I don't know where it will go - a one-block wall hanging or possibly a center medallion for a bigger quilt - the possibilities are endless. I chose to do a color wheel with a black background. I had trouble printing the foundation the right size - had to do some creative enlarging/cutting/pasting. Above are the 12 colors that I've chosen so far - I may tweek them before I start. Most of these came straight out of my scrap bag. The reds are not reading very true in this picture. They were right under the lamp. I only need a tiny piece from each fabric so most of this will go right back in the stash. Unless I build it bigger...

Stash Busting 2011 - Week 28

2011-07-10T18:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the unintentional blogging break. Lots of things going on at work and at home, and I haven't had the energy to blog much. I do have some things that I am working on that I'll show this week. But today is for my stash report. I'm reporting for the past several weeks. Let's see, I have a yard of a beautiful aqua and brown paisley print left over from a large piece that I had cut up into fat quarters and given to my quilt class on the last day before the summer break. Also, my husband went to visit his family down in Clovis, where my favorite fabric shop (Quilter's Paradise) is located. He is such a sweetheart that he stopped in an picked up a couple of fat quarters as a surprise for me (above). He said he wanted to try to pick fabrics in a style that I didn't already have. He did a great job! Lastly, I did give my sister a yard of solid black from the bolt I bought recently - so yay - one yard down! I'm still working on the mini basket quilt, but I haven't finished the top, so I won't count that fabric out yet. Here are my totals so far:

Fabric in this week: 1.50 yards
Fabric out this week: 1.00 yards

Fabric in this year: 36.25 yards
Fabric out this year: 5.75 yards

Check out Judy L's blog to see how everyone else is doing!

Design Wall Monday 06/13/11

2011-06-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

Here's what is on my design "table" today. I'm not sure I'm crazy about it. It is going to be a miniature version of my Scrappy Baskets quilt, which I'll be teaching later this month. I wanted to play with the coloring, so I used one fabric for all of the basket handles and used some pink and aqua charm squares mostly from my Bliss charm pack. I'll keep putting it together to see how I like it once it's complete. It often happens that I don't really like a project until it is done. I already like it better seeing it in the picture over real-life.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what is on other Design Walls!

Dear Jane L8

2011-06-07T21:15:00.000-07:00

I finished Dear Jane block L8 last night in class. I'm happy to say that this one went together with no problems and really didn't take me very long at all! I've started on another couple of projects, so I may be putting Jane on the back burner for a while -- but I sure did get a lot of them done in the meantime!

Dear Jane B3

2011-05-30T14:26:00.000-07:00

Above is my latest Dear Jane block that I finished this weekend. I'm kicking myself because I didn't plan ahead and press my seams so that they were opposing when I put it together. The intersections are a little bulky, but they meet just fine. I was so far into the block that I decided not to re-make it. Maybe if there were 30 hours in the day...

Dear Jane G4

2011-05-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

Things have been crazy busy at work recently, and I really haven't done any sewing outside of the Monday night classes. Above is Dear Jane block G4, which was complete except for trimming, which I did today. Now I have my workspace cleared off and ready for some sewing today, but I just can't decide what to work on. I'll be co-teaching a three day workshop in June where I had planned to teach a project that I already taught recently. But inspiration struck and now there are two new projects vying to be taught instead. Of course I would have to complete one from start to finish in about a week, which seems impossible, but for some reason I want to give it a shot. Now I'm trying to decide which one to actually make. This probably sounds about as confusing as it is in my head. Perhaps I'll just read my book for while instead and let it stew!

Stash Busting 2011 - Week 20

2011-05-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted about Stashbusting lately because there's been nothing-in and nothing-out. But I must confess some purchases! The three fat quarters above were purchased at a Sew Many Quilts, a quilt shop in the town where my sister lives. I also got a few pieces for my Dear Jane quilt, but I haven't been adding those to the official stash because they are dedicated to that project. The three above just spoke to me for some reason - especially the orange one on the right. My bigger purchase is actually going to help me bust my stash (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!). I bought two bolts of fabric from The Fat Quarter Shop recently. I bought a bolt of solid white and a bolt of solid black. They have really good deals on their Moda and Robert Kaufmann solids, and I was able to combine that with a coupon and was very pleased with what I ended up paying. The way I figure it, now that I have these fabrics on hand, I won't have to go out and buy background fabrics whenever I want to make a quilt. I have plenty of stash, but it is mostly smaller pieces - not much yardage. Let's see how long I can go now without buying anything (except for the DJ quilt). It's a personal challenge!!

Fabric in this week: 30.75 yards
Fabric out this week: 0.00 yards

Fabric in this year: 34.75 yards
Fabric out this year: 4.75 yards

Dear Jane K8

2011-05-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

I like this block a lot! I had it almost complete back on Monday, and it took me until today to finish it up. I'm really on a roll with these Dear Jane blocks lately. I promise to post something else non-DJ related soon! I did make some fabric purchases, so I'll have to ~~confess~~ report those tomorrow. Also the Bloggers Quilt Festival is going on, and I'd really like to post something for that, too. If all goes well, I should have some new posts up soon!

Dear Jane K9

2011-05-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

This is probably the block that I'm least pleased with so far as far as workmanship goes. It's a fairly simple block, but there are a couple of seams that don't match up that bother me. In the scheme of things they are not a big deal and I'll probably never fix them, but becuase it's my most recent block so they are on my mind. However, I have another block nearly finished and I'm sure I'll forget all about those pesky mis-matched seams soon!

Dear Jane E9

2011-05-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

Another Dear Jane block done! I got the majority of this block done on Monday night at class. I only needed to add the borders to the sides, which I did today. Twice. Yes, I put the borders on with wider strips than I needed, so that I could trim the block down to the exact size. However, I trimmed it completely wrong! Two sides were narrow and two sides were wide. Ugh. I had to pull all four borders off and then sew new ones back on so that I could trim it properly. Maybe today was not a good day to sew! It is all done (correctly) now so I can add this one to the list!

Dear Jane C11

2011-05-01T14:46:00.000-07:00

C11 is the latest Dear Jane block that I made. I wanted to do one with applique, and this one was simple enough. I opted not to do what Jane Stickle did, which was to applique four small blocks, each with two quarter-cirlcles, and then sew those together to make the larger block. Instead I cut one large shape of the light background fabric and then appliqued it onto the orange fabric. This way I was able to place the center circle over a motif in the orange print. I think it came out pretty nice and it really didn't take me long at all. I was a little worried about the orange color shadowing through the light fabric, so I cut away the orange underneath before I added the borders.

Dear Jane H1

2011-04-30T17:22:00.000-07:00

I finished up the second Dear Jane block that I had started on Monday night. I love how this viney print looks in this block. I have a project box for this quilt and I have been picking up fabrics for it as I see them. The prints are in a mixture of scales. The blocks are so small that I have been mostly using very small scale prints, so it was nice to be able to use one that had a little more going on. Next up, I am going to prepare an applique block, as I haven't done one of those in a while. The pieced ones are much easier to work on in class, so I have been focusing mostly on those so far.

Dear Jane D1

2011-04-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hey, I'm on a roll! Actually I'm just in between projects right now, so I am squeezing in some Dear Jane blocks before I start a new quilt. This one went together really quickly last night. I even got a second block most of the way finished. With any luck, I'll be showing that one in a day or two.

Dear Jane D9

2011-04-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

While cleaning up my sewing area to start a new project (a rare occasion indeed!), I found a Dear Jane block that I forgot I had made, but was waiting for borders. I had other things to do (of course), but I decided to go ahead and put those borders on and call it done! I really like this one (do I say that about all of them??). It looks better in person than in this scan picture. I'm not sure if it is just the settings on my monitor, but it looks really washed out. It's very vibrant in real life.

Dear Jane L9

2011-04-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

I finished a Dear Jane block last week. I'm not sure I like how they look when I scan them as shown above. Maybe I should play with the scan settings a little. I really didn't think this block was going to work out at all when I was piecing it, but I kept on sewing, knowing I would probably have to re-make it. But then when I got corners on and it was finished, I really liked it! One more block done. I have a few that are almost finished, but just need a little applique. I'll have to round those up and finish them one of these days!

Happy Easter 2011

2011-04-24T11:16:00.001-07:00

Stash Busting 2011 - Week 15

2011-04-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

I haven 't really been posting Stash reports lately because I constantly have "no fabric in, no fabric out" weeks, which are not really interesting enough to post about. However, this week I finished two class projects that came entirely out of my stash. It didn't really make a dent in any way, but at least nothing came in! I finished the blue stacked coins quilt that I've been working on for months! It's really not a difficult quilt, but I haven't had much time to focus on it. It's not a huge quilt, so this was a total of 3 yards. I also finished a mini quilt called Button Jar - also from stash. And hot off the sewing machine, I finished a block for the class Block Lottery. Oh, I just remembered I finished three blocks for the Just One Star program. Between these last three things, I'm going to count a total of 1 yard out. 4 yards total out of my stash - that's getting me motivated to get some more projects done!! Here's the report for 2011 so far:

Fabric in this week: 0.00 yards
Fabric out this week: 4.00 yards

Fabric in this year: 4.00 yards
Fabric out this year: 4.75 yards

The Family that Sews Together...

2011-04-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

My Internet has been out for days at home. I can still check things here and there from work, but I am suffering the withdrawals of blog surfing! I thought I'd pop in here for a moment to share some pictures that my sister sent me.

My sister, Cindy, recently moved her sewing area to a more accessible spot in her home, and she is probably getting more sewing done than I am! Above are my nephews Jackson and Max. Jackson decided to make Tasha a little pillow with some of my sister's scraps while Max looks on.

And here's Tasha where all cats love to be - on top of a quilt in progress! Cindy has since finished this top and it looks great! I'll try to get a picture of that from her soon.

What the Hail?

2011-03-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

Last Friday (actually Saturday morning) we had a crazy hail storm in Redwood City. It had been rainy for a few days, but then around 3:00 am the wind started howling - you could almost hear it swirling around. Then came the hail. It was so loud and lasted so long I really got worried that our windows and skylight might break in. Never in my life have I experienced hail like this. The streets and rooftops were white as snow. As you can see above, it was still there in our backyard when we got up in the morning.

In the morning, Lance gathered some of the hail pellets and took a picture to show how big they were - even hours later. I think it's rained everyday since then, and I'm really getting tired of it!! I can't wait for the sunshine to show up again. I hear we'll get a break on Sunday - I hope that's true!

Call for Quilts for Japan

2011-03-23T15:14:00.000-07:00

Quilter's Newsletter Magazine is collecting comfort quilts for those impacted by the devastation in Japan, in conjuction with Patchwork Tsushin, a leading Japanese quilting magazine. Information is available here at the Quilter's Newsletter website.

National Quilting Day 2011!

2011-03-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today is National Quilting Day! However, I won't be able to do any quilting. Instead I'll be out with some friends taking a day trip up to Napa for some wine tasting. But I'll be back to it tomorrow. Above is one of my favorite quilts (still just a top right now). I'm teaching it in my class this session, and the ladies are making some great versions. I actually made this one several years ago, but I do remember it was one of the first that came mostly from stash. I didn't have a border fabric when I started it, and it sat for years waiting for the right fabric to come along. I was so pleased when I found this border print that had all the right colors.

I hope you are all happily quilting away today!

Featherweight Parts

2011-03-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

For 20 years I pretty much exclusively sewed on an old Singer Featherweight, as a lot of quilters do. A couple of years ago I graduated to a "big girl" sewing machine - a Bernina Aurora 440QE - which I use at home. But I still use my Featherweight in classes and any time I sew outside the home.

Lots of ladies in class also have Featherweights and ask me about parts and maintenance. I can never remember off the top of my head where it is that I bought parts online, but I have finally looked it up again for reference (theirs and mine).

I have no affiliation with this site, but am just a satisfied customer. I shop at 221parts.com. They pretty much have anything you might need for a featherweight. I bought a new foot pedal for my machine because I find the one that comes standard with it to be terribly difficult to use. Also - ever lost a bobbin case? They have those, and 1/4" feet too.

They also have the chart for dating your machine, which is kind of fun. I'm sure there are lots of places to buy parts and accessories for a featherweight - I'm just recommending 221parts.com because I've been happy with my purchases there in the past.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2011!

2011-03-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

Just One Star (can comfort a soldier)

2011-03-16T08:17:00.000-07:00

Moda fabrics is participating in a program called Just One Star in conjuction with Quilts of Valor. The goal is to have quilters make the star block shown above and send them in to be made into quilts for soldiers. They are looking to get 1800 blocks in order to make 100 quilts. You can read about it on Moda's blog here. They have all of the infomormation and links on their site, but if you want to jump right to the pattern file, you can go here. They need to be either medium blue or red for the star, and a light fabric for the background. It doesn't take very long at all to make one, and the result is oversized, which they will trim down later. The finished quilts will look like the picture below (borrowed from their website):

It's a quick block to make, so let's all make one and send it in! I think I'll make a red one and send it along with the blue one above. And I'll reduce my stash by a very tiny bit as well!!

Design Wall Monday - 03/14/11

2011-03-14T09:11:00.000-07:00

Here's what's going on at the old design "table" and design "ironing board"! I'm making (slow) progress on the blue quilt that started as a messy pile, and then became orderly piles.

It would have worked out nicely if Judy had pulled "blue" for her monochromatic challenge this month, but that's okay. I Like this project, but I don't Love it. We'll see how I feel when it is all together. I usually change my mind about projects several times while making them. One thing I'm not crazy about is that it is square. I might add a row or maybe half rows to the top and bottom to make it rectangular. I'll decide that later.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone's design walls!

Stash Busting 2011 - Week 11

2011-03-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

There hasn't been much going on in the stashbusting department lately. Soon I'll have a couple of finishes which is exciting. The only thing I've added is the above two half-yard cuts of Anna Maria Horner voiles that I got at the San Francisco Quilt Guild's show a couple of weekends ago. I've been wanting to get a little of this fabric for a while now, but I haven't seen it at any of the local shops. This goes straight into the stash becuase I don't have a project set for them yet. But I do love how soft they are! I'll keep these on my sewing table for a while so I can touch them every now and then.

Here are my numbers for the year:

Fabric in this week: 1.00 yards
Fabric out this week: 0.00 yards

Fabric in this year: 4.00 yards
Fabric out this year: 0.75 yards

Check out Judy L's blog to see how others are doing!

Design Wall Monday - 02/28/11

2011-02-28T13:15:00.000-08:00

Well life has been very busy lately. I do accounting work for a living and this time of year is a bear! Aside from that, Lance and I have been trading colds, and also he was in an accident recently. Nothing major, but he's pretty banged up. I've been really unmotivated to sew or do anything else for a while. The quilting class that I teach keeps me moving along somewhat, but I had found myself stalled. Fortunately, a quilt show in San Francisco over the weekend and trolling the internet for quilty inspiration may just have brought me out of it! I took lots of pictures that hopefully I'll be able to post as a slideshow soon. Above is my design ~~wall~~ ironing board for today. Lots and lots of strips from my blue stash. I'll mix these with tan for a masculine look. Some of those are wrong side up, so they look lighter than they really are. After I finish this one, I have another quilt lined up to make with stash that I am really excited about. Can't wait to start on it - but only after this top is done!

Check out Judy L's blog for more Design Walls!

Happy Valentine's Day 2011

2011-02-14T08:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Tonight I'll be in class. Lance and I will go out next weekend for a nice dinner. We've been trading off colds - not fun. Nothing much new with me on the sewing front. I plan to do a lot of cutting tonight and make myself a "kit". Then I can just sew, sew like the wind! (obscure movie reference!) As far as stash busting goes, nothing in and nothing out for a couple of weeks now. Hopefully I'll have some busted soon!

Design Wall Monday 01/31/11

2011-01-31T10:02:00.000-08:00

Here's my design "table" for today. I prepped a block to work on tonight in class (along with some Dear Jane blocks that I also prepped). This is going to be a Woven Heart block as shown in this tutorial. I'm not sure what it will become, but I thought I would make one to start and see if any of the students would be interested in a Valentine's project using it (to be determined). We are getting awfully close to the 14th, so it may not happen, but it will be nice to have one block made. It also helps that I still have my big bag of pink fabric scraps sitting on my work table.

To see the fabric basket I made from last week's Design Wall Monday, see this post.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone else's design walls!

Stash Busting 2011 - Week 5

2011-01-30T18:11:00.000-08:00

I finished the basket that I was planning on Monday. I'm really happy with how it came out. I had some fabric in my stash that was printed in rows of people working in cubicles. It was the perfect fit for a birthday gift for one of my husband's co-workers. I used this for the top part of the basket instead of sewing squares together. The scale of the printed row was just right. I filled it with cookies before he brought it and she just loved it! That's about the extent of my sewing this week. It doesn't really take much fabric, but it did all come from my stash, so we'll call it 1/4 yard out, and nothing in. I'm getting there slowly but surely!!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see how other people are doing.

Design Wall Monday - 01/24/11

2011-01-24T12:12:00.000-08:00

I need to do something about these dark pictures! You can tell that my lamp is in the left-hand side. This is my design "table" as of right now. The little pink four-patch from last week grew into a block. This will be for the Block Lottery program in the class I teach (starting tonight). The block at the top is part of a demo for the same class. It will eventually become a basket block. I'll post pictures of the finished class projects soon. The other fabric shown is one of my favorites. I got it a few years ago and didn't know what to do with it - I just knew I liked it. It is rows of people at work cubicles. Tonight I'm going to use it to make a fabric basket for one of my husband's co-workers using this tried and true tutorial from Pink Penguin. I've made several of these over the past few years and they are always a hit. Instead of piecing together squares for the top portion, I will put a solid strip of the novelty fabric. I think it will be really cute and will take less time than sewing together all of those squares!

Check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on!

Design Wall Monday 01/17/11

2011-01-17T09:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, so my design "table" doesn't look like much. This is about all I got done this weekend. One lonely four patch and a pile of blue fabric. But believe it or not, this is what I'm working on right now. The four patch was to be the beginning of this project - but I decided to make changes and now I'm not sure where it's going at all. At least those four pieces came out of my scrap bin! As for the blue pile, these also came from my scrap bin. I was pulling fabrics to make this quilt from Moda Bake Shop. I thought I'd use all blues from my stash and use a really nice tan fabric for the sashing strips that's been aging in my stash for several years. The tan (not pictured) is one of those fabrics that I really like - so much that I haven't wanted to cut into it. Why do we do that? So even though it looks like a pile of nothing, there are a couple of projects there!

Check out Judy L's blog to see what other people have on their design walls!

Stash Busting 2011 - Week 3

2011-01-16T22:24:00.000-08:00

Well I didn't think I was going to buy fabric so early in the year, but I couldn't pass up a great inventory reduction sale on line recently. Now I just need to work harder this year! I got a fat quarter pack of Birdy, a purple fat quarter for my Dear Jane quilt, and a half yard of an orange print.

Check out Judy L's blog to see how other people are doing!

Fabric in this week: 3.00 yards
Fabric out this week: 0.00 yards

Fabric in this year: 3.00 yards
Fabric out this year: 0.50 yards

Homemade Pressing Spray

2011-01-12T09:25:00.000-08:00

Sorry, no picture today because I haven't acutally tried this out yet... I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Freda's Hive, and today she mentioned that she made her own pressing spray, similar to Best Press. Here is a link to the post and recipe that she used. They say that it works just as well as the name brand at a tiny fraction of the cost. I may just have to try this out!

Stash Busting 2011 - Week 2

2011-01-09T22:03:00.000-08:00

Well it's a new year, which means I begin anew with my stashbusting efforts. I fell off with my reporting last year, but I'm pretty confident when I say that I came in about even with my fabric in and fabric out. I didn't make any big purchases, and I didn't make any big finishes - just small ones on both sides. I did finish a rather large quilt that I had been working on for well over a year that I made for my in-laws. However, it was a block of the month that I didn't count into the stash.

So I begin again. No purchases this week. Above is one of my last fabrics purchases back in November - a Bliss charm pack. I did use some of it this weekend in a class project. I finished the mini quilt this evening. I'm going to call it a half yard used. Yay! I busted some stash already!!

Check out Judy L's blog for other stash busters!

Fabric in: 0.00 yards
Fabric out: .50 yards

So Sweet

2010-12-27T09:28:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! Mine was great - but more on that later. First a little eye-candy. My sister has a new addition to their family. This is Natasha, a kitten they adopted a few days ago. She is so completely adorable I could hardly stand it. If I weren't so worried about my own cat being displeased by smelling her on my clothes (he has "behavioral" problems) I probably would have spent the entire day playing with her and holding her. I do so love little kitties!!! BTW, this was one of the few pictures where she is standing still - she's a bundle of energy.

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T09:56:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Max turns 6!

2010-12-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

My younger nephew, Max, turned 6 yesterday! The family got together over the weekend and celebrated at Chuck E. Cheese's where the boys had a ball!

My mom made him a Disappearing Nine Patch (D9P) quilt with a fussy cut dog print that came out really great! I love the way she planned the print and colors. I wouldn't have immediately known this was a D9P pattern if she hadn't told me!

Here's my two nephews together - Jackson and Max. Love those boys!!

Holiday Bingo Game 2010

2010-12-06T14:32:00.000-08:00

The Quilt Shoppe is having another Bingo game on their blog for the holidays. It was fun last time around even though I didn't win. Go to their site for all of the information you need here. The game starts on Friday, December 10 and you need to get your words registered with them the day before. They have daily prizes as well as a grand prize. Can't wait to start!!

Dear Jane Block J-6

2010-12-02T10:12:00.000-08:00

Here's my latest Dear Jane block - created over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I paper pieced this one even though I probably could have made it without the paper. The pieces are SO tiny! I don't have the block in front of my right now, but I'd say the squares in the center are 1/2" or smaller. I have other projects to work on and finish before the beginning of the year, so I'll probably put my DJ on hold again for a little while.

Dear Jane Block K-12

2010-11-30T11:37:00.000-08:00

I've had a couple of finished Dear Jane blocks to be posted waiting in the wings. Just too darn busy over the Thansksgiving holiday. The good thing about these blocks is that they are so small (4 1/2" finished) that they fit in my scanner and I don't need a camera to get them posted! This one was a quickie - paper pieced on one foundation. Another one will be coming soon!

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-25T11:59:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving holiday!

Dear Jane Block I-8

2010-11-20T19:26:00.000-08:00

I finished another Dear Jane block today! I had the center portion finished a few weeks ago, but I wasn't able to put the last pieces on until today. It felt great to get something done that wasn't for a deadline! Today I also finished the binding on a quilt that will be a Christmas gift, so that was quite a relief. Tomorrow I might just work on another DJ block. Things are going to be getting very busy with the holidays coming, so this weekend I plan to do fun things for me. We'll see how much actually gets done...

Tote Bag Roundup

2010-11-19T07:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the generic line drawing picture today, but I'm sitll dealing with my camera issues. I just wanted to link up to Skip to My Lou, which has a listing of tote bag tutorials. I've been wanting to make some easy market bags, possibly for Christmas gifts. There are a few on this list that look like winners. Hop over to this post to find links to 10 tutorials.

Sweet Zips

2010-11-17T10:04:00.001-08:00

I made a couple of these cute zippered pouches for gifts recently and I wanted to share them with you. Unfortunately, my camera is wheezing its last dying breaths at the moment, and I wasn't able to get any pictures of my own before I gave them away. The picture above is from Terry Atkinson (shown with permission), who generously posted the pattern on her blog for free during the Falloween blog hop last month. You can get the pattern on this blog post, which also explains who she is. If you don't know her by name, you certainly know her patterns. She's designed some famous ones, such as Yellow Brick Road. I can't remember how many times I've made that particular pattern. It is a favorite for baby/child quilts. However, I never seem to be able to find it when I need it, so I think I've bought it about three times! Someday when I get my act (and sewing room) together, I'll have a pile of the same pattern!

More Holiday Blog Hopping!

2010-11-15T12:32:00.000-08:00

Another blog hop is going on this week. I sure love these - lots of great ideas and new-to-me blogs to read as well! Each blog you visit will have a project as well as a cookie recipe. You can find the master list here. Each designer will present one project on their day, but they will all have cookie recipes every day - that's a lot of recipes! Be sure to comment on each post to be entered for a grand prize drawing, as well as daily giveaways. Happy Hopping!

Veterans Day 2010

2010-11-11T08:22:00.000-08:00

Heartfelt thanks to all who have served.

Handmade Holidays 2010

2010-11-02T08:41:00.000-07:00

I almost missed the start of Handmade Holidays over at Sew, Mama, Sew! This is the fourth year that they've had Handmade Holidays and it is something that I've really started to look forward to each year. The Sew, Mama, Sew! blog will feature links to tutorials every day in November to help us get going on making holiday gifts. Each day has a theme, and they will have several links to theme-appropriate gift tutorials, as well as links for a recipe, a printable, and a shop. You can also enter to win prizes each day. I have found some great ideas in years past. Check it out soon (and often)!!

Yay Giants!

2010-11-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

That Girl's Quilt Along

2010-10-28T13:01:00.001-07:00

Jennifer from That Girl, That Quilt is having a quilt along with weekly posts on her blog. It looks like a good one! Fast to make and, even better, stash busting! You'll need a charm pack (or 40 5" squares), and some solid fabrics. She's already gotten started, but is still in the beginning stages. Right now she's on the fabric cutting step. I have so many things going on right now, but I might have to sneak this one in...

You can find the previous posts here: First post (not the quilt in the picture), Week 1 (supply list), and Week 2 (cutting).

Design Wall Monday - 10/04/10

2010-10-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

This Dear Jane block (J4) as well as block L12 are on my design wall right now. I am in between projects and I decided to make a couple of these since I haven't made any in quite a while. I started with this one because it was simple and I wanted to ease back into it. L12 was more difficult. Very small (foundation) piecing, which is done. Now I just need to applique four teeny tiny triangles onto the corners. I'm not great at applique and I'm not looking forward to doing such small pieces. Just gotta do it, though!

Check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone's design walls!

Stash Busting 2010 - Week 40

2010-10-03T20:13:00.000-07:00

I haven't made a stash busting report in a while. I didn't do much sewing over the summer and then I started to lose track of what I had been using. I need to start using a spreadsheet to track as I go. I believe I've used about 5 yards since my last stash post. I made the entire pinwheel quilt and pillow from stash (yay!!). Now to figure out how much I've purchased. I'm pretty sure I've only bought 1/2 yard for a possible border that I didn't end up using. I've certainly looked at a lot of fabric online that I would love to buy!

Check out Judy L's blog to see how the others are doing!

Fabric added this week: 0.50 yards
Fabric used this week: 5.00 yards

Fabric added this year: 24.00 yards
Fabric used this year: 25.00 yards

I'm Still Here

2010-09-21T10:44:00.001-07:00

I'm still here! I feel like I keep saying that lately. Lots going on and then there's that pesky work thing that takes up most of my day...

The fall session of the quilting class that I teach began last night and I have a pretty good size crowd this time around. The pillow that I was working on in my last post (last month) came together very quickly and is one of the projects that I am presenting in class. Everyone seems pretty excited about it, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Now I just need to make a matching one for Lance to keep the peace! I draw the line at making one for Bear, our cat. He claims everything as his own anyway, so he's got plenty.

Next I made a twisted pinwheel quilt that was really fun and surprisingly easy to put together. These have become really popular lately, but the concept has actually been around for years. My mom pulled out a pattern from the early 90's that used the same technique! It just goes to show that there's rarely (if ever) anything truely new in the quilt world! And best of all, the entire quilt top was made from stash fabric, as was the pillow!!

The third project is the same one that I taught at a local quilt shop in the Summer. This one is so fast it can be put together in a day. One student is on her second top and we only just had the first class! To be fair, I gave pre-cutting instructions at the end of the last session, and she figured out the rest on her own. No stash used on this one - I splurged and bought everything I needed. I don't have a lot of batiks in my stash and I felt that they would look really good in this design.

Now I need to calculate all of the stash I used so I can add it to my (non) weekly report. I've been lax on that so I need to put a little work in on that. Next up, two charity quilts, one Christmas gift and a lovely quilt show this weekend.

Design Wall Monday - 08/23/10

2010-08-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

Here's my design "table" for this week. I thought I'd try out a technique I've had in my head for a while now. I appliqued (fused) a "K" onto fabric and will turn it into a pillow. I think this one will be fairly simple, but I have all sorts of ideas for piecing around the letter. I bought the print fabric a year or two ago and didn't have a plan for it - I just liked the unusual design. It's hard to tell from this picture, but there are lots of overlapping circles, and inside each circle is a design - mostly flowers and leaves, but some have clock faces and other things. I keep pulling it out of the stash to try to use it, but nothing worked before. This will be perfect for this pillow. I think it will turn out very elegant looking.

Hop over to Judy L's blog to see what is on other people's design walls!

Design Wall Monday 8/16/10

2010-08-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

Well I didn't get much farther from last week. The top is all together and I decided not to put borders on it. I got delayed because I really wanted to use Minkee for the backing and I couldn't find it at my usual LQS at first. But I did find some this weekend, so I'm back on track and hopefully I'll have the whole thing done by Thursday when it supposed to be given to the new baby. The picture above was taken when I was cutting the Minkee to size. I always forget that Minkee is a little heavy, so I need to go out and get a thinner batting so it doesn't end up too heavy for the baby. I'll just tie this one instead of quilting.

While I was at the shop getting the backing, I finally broke down and got some Paper Pieces to make hexagons - or "hexies" as they are being called now. They are SO popular right now and there are all kinds of tutorials for making them so that you don't have to baste them to the paper foundations. I prepped two just to get it out of my system. They go pretty fast, so we'll see what happens with those. Maybe nothing or maybe a pillow or something. We'll see...

I'm So Excited!!

2010-08-13T13:48:00.000-07:00

I am a huge fan of The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. It is an on-line quilt show where members can view a new episode premiering every two weeks. But it's more than that. It is also an on-line quilting community with forums, patterns, projects, and a blog that is updated at least once daily. Last I heard, there were over 30,000 members (probably a lot more now) from all over the world. Each member gets a profile that they can update if they choose, and even post pictures of quilts that they have made. In an effort to create a database of quilts, when a member posts a quilt, they fill out all kinds of information about it, like when it was made, size, techniques used, etc.

Anyway, here's the exciting part -- a while back they started featuring a Quilt of the Day pulled from the database of member quilt photos. I recently got an e-mail from them saying they were going to feature one of MY quilts as a Quilt of the Day! How awesome! There are literally thousands of quilts on their site and they picked one of mine! I'm on cloud nine!

You don't need to be a member to look at their blog, so anyone can hop on over there on Tuesday, August 17th to see my Double Pinwheel quilt.

Design Wall Monday

2010-08-09T08:10:00.000-07:00

In addidtion to hosting the stash reports on Sundays, Judy over at Patchwork Times has Design Wall Mondays, where everyone links to their post showing what is currently on their design wall. I don't really have a usable design wall right now, but I do have my dining room table! I've been working on this baby quilt and I'm just about done. Here I have the blocks sewn in to rows, but the rows are separate. there are actually five rows there, but I couldn't fit them all on the table. My preliminary design printout from EQ7 is there, too.

Below is a closer up view of the focus fabric. Monkeys, of course!

Stash Busting 2010 - Week 32

2010-08-08T21:51:00.000-07:00

I hadn't been doing much sewing this summer. I guess I really needed a little quilting break. So many deadlines started to take the fun out of it all. However, I did still manage to buy some fabric since I posted last. Gee, how ever did that happen!! Above is a fat quarter pack from the popular Hope Valley line. It 's not my usual colors, but I like looking at them and I can't wait to figure something out to use them in.

It also suddenly happened that I had a baby quilt to make, so I decided to do a quick pattern that I had already worked out for my class. Just an cute all-over print boxed with two different fabrics. I found a great monkey fabric that I really wanted to show more of, so I altered my original pattern slightly by making the focus print square bigger and the box borders narrower. The fabrics are below. I ended up not using the plain green with the tiny brown dots in this quilt, but I have enough fabric left over to make another baby quilt in possibly a different pattern.

So I have 2 yards of the Hope Valley fabric, and I ended up with 4 1/2 yards of the baby quilt fabric. I wanted to get some Minkee for the backing of the baby quilt, but my LQS isn't carrying it anymore. I'll either have to order it online or try for another shop farther away. Which means I'll have more to add next week.

Fabric added this week: 6.50 yards

Fabric used this week: 0.00 yards

Fabric added this year: 23.50 yards

Fabric used this year: 20.00 yards

Total stash busted this year: -3.50 yards

I'm a Henderson

2010-07-19T12:22:00.001-07:00

I've been a huge fan of the Bizarro comics since I was in high school, and now that I read Dan Piraro's blog, I have found out that this was around the time he only just started in the comics business. I (of course) found the above comic especially funny, and I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing the image from his blog. He also has an iPhone app where you can see all of his daily comics as they are released, which Lance has already downloaded onto his iTouch. If I were ever inclined to get an iPhone, this would be the first app I would get!

Summer Drought

2010-07-07T13:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of postings lately! My quilt classes are finally finished until September and I've been savoring a little non-sewing time. And I've also been sick with a summer cold, which has not been fun. I'll be back to sewing soon, hopefully on a few Dear Jane blocks. It's been a while since I've made one of those and I can't wait to get back to it!

I did find a new blog that sounds really interesting, called Quilt Story. The gals behind the blog were inspired by different quilts they would see online that have interesting stories behind them, so they started a blog to highlight such quilts. The blog has only been around a few months, so it will be interesting to back to the beginning and read through all of the posts. Enjoy!

Stash Busting 2010 - Week 25

2010-06-20T20:57:00.001-07:00

Not much going on this week in the sewing department. I had made the green block above a little over a week ago for Anna Maria Horner's Rainbow Around the Block program. I didn't get around to posting it until now. I made the pink block this weekend. She is asking for monochromatic 12" blocks to put together for flood victims in Tennessee. If you are interested, the pattern for the green block can be found here, and the pattern for the pink block can be found here. Both great resources for free quilt patterns!

Nothing added this week. Between the two blocks I'll call it 1/4 yard out of the stash.

Fabric added this week: 0.00 yards

Fabric used this week: 0.25 yards

Fabric added this year: 17.00 yards
Fabric used this year: 20.00 yards

Total stash busted this year: 3.00 yards

Stashbusting 2010 - Week 24

2010-06-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

I finished the quilt for the summer class, which I'll also be teaching in the Fall. I went with all batik fabrics on this one. I haven't used batiks for a while and I thought the mottled colors lent themselves well to this type of design. I'm really pleased with it, and it went together very quickly. So now I'll be teaching the Zig Zag quilt as well as this one at the three-day workshop later this month.

I did add to my stash since I posted last. I bought all of the fabric for this quilt plus 1/4 yard, which came to 4.5 yards. But then I get to count 4.25 yards back out for finishing the top!

Fabric added this week: 4.50 yards

Fabric used this week: 4.25 yards

Fabric added this year: 17.00 yards

Fabric used this year: 19.75 yards

Total fabric used this year: 2.75 yards

Jelly Roll Quilt Along Blocks 3 & 4

2010-06-09T20:24:00.001-07:00

I got the next two blocks done for the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along. They've actually been done for a little while, but I haven't had a chance to post them until now. I'm still three blocks behind, but I have some other things to finish before I can make another one. I'm having a lot of fun with this project and it feels good to use all stash for something!

Quilt Blocks for Flood Victims

2010-06-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

You may have heard about the recent devastating floods in the Nashville area of Tennessee. Anna Maria Horner is a fabric designer and quilting/sewing author who lives in the area, and has decided to help out her community. She has put together a program called Rainbow Around the Block, where you can make 12 1/2" blocks (see specifics) and send them to her. She has a crew that will assemble the blocks into quilts and distribute to local families. She will also accept completed quilts -- hop over to her site for all of the details and help out our community!