Checking In With the Newbies

I thought I'd post an update from Kathy and my niece, Dez.

Kathy has her nine-patch blocks sewn together with the sashing:

It looks mahvelous dahling!!

Kathy had a question about the borders: "How do you make sure the top and bottom borders are the same?"  In answer to her question:  Here are a variety of border "how to" articles:
Adding Borders from YouTube
Written instructions for adding borders

Here is a "Quilt Borders for Dummies" article.

These should help.

Dez has all her blocks done and laid out on her "design floor."

 

Dez asked "How do I add the "triangles" that finish this quilt?

Dez's quilt has blocks set "on point."  "On point"  that means the blocks are set with the "pointy" edges up and down.

Here is a quilt I made for my new grand niece

with the blocks "on point."

Here is the best "help" I've found for finishing quilts made with blocks "on point."



Keep up the good work, ladies.  I'm really impressed with you both.

Sometimes Life Gets In The Way

Don't ya just hate it when life gets in the way of quilting?!  The past couple of weeks work has been busy for me so I have not had a lot of time for quilting (or writing.)  And, am leaving on a business trip tomorrow to Vancouver BC.

I LOVE VANCOUVER BC!!  However, they do not have but one quilt store near downtown.  And, "the one" is on Granville Island, The Clothe Shop.  It is a lovely shop and I go there every chance I get.

Even though work has kept me away from the sewing machine, that does not mean I am not thinking and talking about quilting!  No, no.

I got stuck in the Phoenix airport returning from a software partner's conference in Nebraska....very long wait.  So, not a shy person, I started talking to the woman sitting next to me.... Jo-Anne.  Turns out we were waiting for the same plane to Orange County AND she quilts!!!  We had a perfectly lovely time talking about this and that and lots of talk about quilting.  So much so we did not hear them call our flight and nearly missed it!!! 
EEEKKKKK!!!  (We were waiting at the wrong gate... my fault (she said with an embarrassed look.))




Speaking of Nebraska.  I attend a conference in Lincoln every year.  It is a very informative trip and a bit like a vacation for me because:  About five years ago I met Mary Jo Boyd at this conference.  She is the owner of an on-line quilt shop, The Quilt Bear.  (See my post about The Quilt Bear's thread club HERE.)  Also, my college roommate and Spiritual Sister, Cori, lives in Omaha (with the sweetest husband in the world.)  So the three of us usually have an afternoon for a field trip.  This year we went to the International Quilt Study Center and Museum.  Very nice! Next time you find yourself in Lincoln, stop by.

And, don't forget to visit a few quilt shops, too.  We visited The Cosmic Cow. The gentleman shop owner was very nice and helpful.  He and his wife have opened a second store in Lincoln, "The Udder Shop."  Ha Ha.

My "vocation" (the job that pays the bills and buys the fabric) is as a software trainer to law firms.
I had the privilege of working with a firm in Irvine this past week. And, you guessed it, met a woman WHO QUILTS!  Suzanne!  We only had a few minutes to chat about quilting because I was supposed to be working, after all.  But, she lives near me and I'm hoping we can become good quilting buddies.

Won't really have any time today to quilt... The Babes are coming over to swim but I did want to leave you with this one tutorial....

IF you are on Facebook and IF you have liked "24 Blocks" you may have noticed they are posting a lot of tutorials lately... it's really nice.  Yesterday I watched this one about creating custom labels for your quilts.  Here is the YouTube link.

Do you add labels to your quilts?  If not, you should.  When I'm dead and gone and some future generation finds the quilt I made, they will know who made it and for whom.

That's all for today... Need to run to the store and get snacks for The Babes...let's see:  apples, bread (for grilled cheese sandwiches) cookies and ice cream... that should do it.  Bye.

String Quilting

As I prepare to leave on a business trip tomorrow, I don't really want to start a new, or work on a "real" project, but I do want to spend some time at the sewing machine so I'm still looking at my scraps.

I've been looking at tutorials about string quilting lately so thought I'd give it a try tonight.

Here is a great tutorial by Missouri Star Quilt Company.  She combines String Piecing with Paper Piecing... don't sweat...it's easy.. and fun ...  and fast! 

Here are my four blocks.

Four Blocks... three different positions...

I think I'll make a couple more before I go to bed.

OCD and Scraps

Someone told me once that we are ALL "OCD" it's just a matter of degrees.  At least for me, I think that is true...  You know how the supermarket will have a promotion where you can get a whole set of dishes by collecting 'points' or stamps or something?  I never do those because if I start I MUST HAVE the whole set... and what if they are all gone before I've collected the required amount of points????

When I first started quilting my Auntie told me to keep ALL my scraps....they will be used for something sooner or later.  I always do what I'm told...so I saved every little piece of scrap.
Before long, I had a big pile-o-scraps.

Sooner or later you have to do something with those scraps.  Occasionally I dig through the pile for a tiny piece of some color or pattern I need on a project.  But mostly they just pile up.

What to do, what to do.

First you must tame them.











I started by dragging a small pile of them along with me when I travel for work...yep, a pile of scraps, a rotary cutter, a ruler and a small mat.  I would sit in the hotel room at night, set up the iron board in front of the TV and cut scraps.  I'd cut them into 1.5 inch, 2 inch, 2.5 inch, etc....all depended on how big the scrap was.  (If the "scrap" is bigger than 5 inches...it's not a scrap and back into the stash it would go.)  Very satisfying, I must say (and kept me out of the hotel bar.)

Back at the ranch (aka, home, in the sewing room) I store these scraps in plastic shoe boxes ($1 each at the dollar store.)


I've made several quilts from these scraps, here are a couple..














I tried to keep my scrap bin under control (and here is where my OCD kicks in).  I obsess about this scrap bin every time I throw more scraps on the pile. But, I'm losing the battle.  So, I decided not to fret about it any more.   When I die, the kids can deal with the pile.  In the meantime, here are a some things to do with scraps.

Bonnie Hunter  She has a "method" for cutting and using scraps.  (I discovered one the quilts above, on the right, is a Bonnie Hunter pattern.  I didn't know it when I made it...I'd seen a picture on Pinterest.)  Check out her blog.  She does trunk shows (check out her schedule) and she writes books.  Very creative lady.

Pinterest.  Search for "scrap quilting."  All kinds of fun ideas.

If you are on Facebook, check out Thrifty Quilters.  Lots of scrapy ideas.

String blocks is another fun way to use up scraps that are already strips...such as binding leftovers.

Last night I was in the mood to JUST SEW, I made these from the scraps I've been saving to stuff a dog's bed...

 Always listen to your Aunties, I guess mine was right...save those scraps.

Un-Stuck

In my last post, I was stuck on two projects.... yes, I have two projects going.

.... ah...ok, I confess... I have a lot of projects going. 
I usually have a "main" project and then a smattering of things I work on when the mood strikes.
But in my own defense.... I'm not alone (you know who you are.)

Two of these, a baby quilt for a niece, and a paper piece project I've been dinking around with for a year, are the two I was stuck on.  I took an "open sew" class at Piecemakers (my local quilt shop) and got help from the instructor.



I'm happy and proud to say... the baby quilt is FINISHED and at the quilter.  YEAH!!!






















The paper piece project is also back on track.
It has a way to go before it is an actual quilt.  (I need 30 of these bad boys.  I have 13.)



 This is the third time I've had to ask for help with this paper piecing block.  So, now I'm making at least one every single night (that I sew) so I will not forget! 

TIP:  When I got help from Lorene at Piecemakers, this time I used my phone to take pictures of the steps.  It was truly helpful.  Give it a try.

 The moral of this story is "slow and steady wins the race."   So, keep at it.