Fun Quilting Dodads

This is the final post for the Road to California Quilt Show.
Between beautiful quilts and lots and lots of vendor booths,
there was so much to see.  Here are a few memorable items.

Rulers and Such

Part of learning to quilt my own quilts is getting nice designs.
I've seen several videos on YouTube using rulers and quilting templates for quilting at home on your domestic machine.



Quilter's Rule

There were rulers of all kinds every where you looked including rulers for quilting.  The process does seem a bit intimidating to me, but in time....

Here is a link to an interesting how-to video.
And, here.


If you live in Southern California, or are willing to travel,
Cozy Creative Center in El Cajon offers free FMQ* classes.

There were a number of vendors selling a product you paint onto your ruler

to keep it from slip-sliding away. 

This one is Ruler Magic.

Here is a YouTube video. 

Nancy of the Needlers** introduced us to another method for keeping rulers from slipping using shelf liner.  Watch a video here. It's cheap and looks like an easy solution to a slippery problem.

 
Tools
 

My favorite unsewing tool (seam ripper) is from Clover.
I buy them by the three-pack on Amazon because not only do I have many, many dates with Jack (the ripper), but I seem lose them.  I don't know where they disappear to, they must be off with my missing socks.








The Hot Hemmer and Hot Ruler were two more Clover accessories I think I could use.




   Here is a video.





Quilter's Paradise Slit 'N Sew Templates and software.  I have used Quilter's Paradise on-line calculators for years.  Fast and user friendly even from your phone when you are at the fabric store wondering how much of that perfect backing fabric you need.  Well now it appears they have developed software you can use for designing your own quilts.  Admittedly I have not looked at this very closely as I use Electric Quilt but It might be worth a look-see.  And it looks like it is free. Free is a very good price!
  
Patterns  Of Course there were loads and loads of patterns.  Here are just a few of my favorites.

Witches Quilt Amy Bradley Designs

Halloween is not my favorite holiday but I do like Halloween colors and fabrics.  

The kitty on this pattern attracted my attention.  I thought she was so cute.

Fiesta by Modern 180

The star design was intriguing.

I really liked this star. I wonder if I could recreate this in Electric Quilt?

The Pink Pump by Laura Heine is stunning in black.

The Pink Pump

There are a lot of video links in this post, more than usual, but I hope you find them helpful.
That's it for the Road to California for this year.


*FMQ:  Free Motion Quilting
**Needlers:  Our Tuesday night group

Quilt Show Take-Aways

Vendor Hall
It really did look like this.

I went to the show knowing I'd find gobbs and gobbs of fun, wonderful quilt stuff.  And, I was not disappointed.  But, I also had a budget (my money tree has not started producing yet.)  My strategy was to visit the booths, and yes we do look in every one...mostly, and mark down on the map what I liked and the booth number where it was found.  It actually worked pretty well.





I only came away with two things. But, I still managed to go over my budget. (sad face goes here)

The Oregon wall hanging pattern speaks for itself.  As I am a Portland girl, I just could not pass it up.

Before I talk about my other purchase, 

I need to give you a bit of background.

The first two quilts I ever made were QAYG **.  One, a simple 4-patch and the other  a BOM* from Cool Cottons in Portland, Oregon.  Back then I knew so little about quilting that when the group was talking about sashing I thought they were saying slashing!   I thought that was a bit strange, but oh well ...  the group did eventually correct me. Imagine my embarrassment.

I  did not like the finished result of QAYG at all. They looked sloppy and wonky.  I've never done one since.  But, I did not think I would EVER pay to have someone else quilt them, either...too expensive.  That, of course, changed because if you don't QAYG and you don't send them out the only thing left is to tie them.  I have tied a few....functional but not as pretty as quilting. (You could quilt them yourself on your domestic machine...I learned a whole new vocabulary quilting them myself.)

Simple 4 patch for my son.
QAYG

BOM that I gave to my friend, Peggy.
QAYG

Enter Mr. Flynn.  At another quilt show (I think it was Paducah)
 I met Mr Flynn and purchased the Flynn Method for free motion quilting.

Think of it as the poor-woman's answer to a sit-down quilter, like the Tin Lizzie or the Handi Quilter Sweet 16.

It looked so easy!  I was so motivated!  It is still in the box 10 years later!!!

Every show I attend I stop and talk to Mr. Flynn, as I did this year.  I promised him THIS year, I would take it out of the box.  And I will keep my promise.

Now, back to the present time:  as we were perusing the vendor booths (I'd only purchased one item so far and feeling pretty proud of myself)  I happened on a booth with a sign "THIS METHOD FOR QAYG WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE."   Being the smart-aleck that I am, I scoffed.  But, I gave her a few minutes of my time.

IT DID CHANGE MY LIFE....AND TOOK ME OVER MY BUDGET! I bought her kit.

All the Instructions

All The Tools

I could not possibly describe how this works, so here is a link to the website with videos on how this works.
Here is a link to a very short  demo video.

The process in a nut shell.
The last circle is the finished sashing.

The result is very attractive, looks really easy and I  think I'm going to liked it very much.

One more post tomorrow to talk about some Honorable Mentions.
Things I would have purchased if I hadn't already run out of money.

Ciao.




*BOM = Block of the Month
**QAYG = Quilt as You Go

Field Trip !!!

 

On The Road Again! A few of us Needlers* hopped into the car and headed to Ontario, CA (about an hour away) to spend the day guacking at quilts and perusing vendor's booths at the 25th annual Road to California Quilt Show. Our Fitbits certainly showed we got our steps in that day.

We did not have the opportunity to meet Jenny Doan of Missouri Star as I had hoped, but we DID meet the Quilting Cowboy and he is every bit as handsome in person! (hubba hubba)  If you don't know who these two are, check out their videos on YouTube.

And the Quilts!!!  There is really no way to capture with my iPhone just how beautiful these quilts are.

 Best of Show.  Marilyn Badger, creator. 
It was truly stunning AND designed in Electric Quilt.
How many hours do you think went into this quilt?

Here are just a few pictures I managed to capture before my phone ran out of juice.

Super Bloom
Glendale Quilt Guild Opportunity Quilt.

I've always loved this pattern, and
I really like her color choices.

Created from a photo.  The creator is very talented, indeed!
It made me want to capture my mom & dad's Kentucky home in a quilt. (alas, it is now sold)
The reality is I'm NOT that talented.

Never forget the men and women who fight for our freedom.

A quilt of a quilt show!  How creative!
Creator, Laura Peterson
A confession, I didn't actually see this quilt at the show.
I saw it on the R2CA website.
But I like it all the  same.

As I mentioned, my iPhone could not even begin to capture the detail, creativity and beauty.  You will just need to mark your calendar for next year.  It is always toward the end of January.  Check their website. And in the meantime, check out this link to see this year's show winners.

Tomorrow I will share what I took away from the show, both in booty and inspiration.


*Needlers:  The group of ladies who meet on Tuesday nights.

Magical Healing Powers

When life throws a curve ball, what do you do?  Why, make a quilt, of course!

A couple of years ago there was a big upset in my son's house that ultimately lead to a divorce.  It was pretty traumatic, sad and a painful period for everyone.

Fast forward a couple of years, by God's Grace a lot of healing has happened and now not only do I have a new, beautiful grand-daughter but apparently I'm also inheriting some additional family members.

We moms can only do what we can do.  Raise them the best we know how and then roll with the punches.  Don't forget to pray like crazy.  But we have a lot of power to bring peace, unity and forgiveness to the mix.

Sewing indeed mends the soul.  For both the person sewing and for the person receiving.  The New Little Miss will go a long way for bringing the family unit together because who couldn't love a new baby, right?  The #1 g-son said "Grandma, just holding her makes you happy."  But she cannot do it alone.

They like to have "movie night"  so I decided to make lap quilts for all.  I'm going to start with the mom of this new unit.

Last night when the Needlers* met, I went through one of my scrap bins (yes, that was "binS" with an "s")  It happened to be a bin full of strips saved over years. I know you can all relate.   Charlotte S. suggested a scrappy log cabin lap quilt.  Lord knows I have plenty of strips....with some to spare.  Hummmm....good idea.

I fired up Electric Quilt and played around with some designs.  This is the one I settled on.

Finished size, 46" by 55"

Oh, you may be asking if I finished Storm at Sea (which is for "The Original" in the picture above.)  Ah, you probably know the answer to that....truth be told, I'm still struggling with color placement.  An easy project like a log cabin will be a nice diversion.

*Needlers is our quilt group that get together each Tuesday night in the Mezzanine room in the building where I live.

Storm At Sea

My son is a ship's captain.  He actually pilot's a boat.

Not this type.
Handsome, No?
Love a man in uniform.

More this type. 
He is still handsome, though.

When I wake up to a red sky,
I always take that opportunity to pray for his day.

My next quilt project will be "Storm At Sea" for my son 

using a package of 24 batik fat quarters given to me by my Quilting Auntie.

I attempted to design the block in Electric Quilt (EQ).  It actually is a pretty easy block to draw.

Doesn't this block look like it has curved lines? 
Nope, they are all straight lines. 
It is the color placement that gives this quilt "waves."

I was having a problem with the corner blocks so I posted the issue on the EQ Facebook page. Then someone posted there is an example of this quilt already in EQ!

That certainly made it easier, but did take some of the fun out of it.


 

Next step is to use the coloring page to determine where the colors will go to keep the wave effect.

Storm at Sea, Sweet
Ummm, probably not.

Finally, choose a design.  Different color placement, different effect.














 

Storm at Sea, Scrappy
Hard to see the "waves."

Storm at Sea, Variegated

Storm at Sea, Center Medallion
I  I like this one the best,
but I do not think the fabrics I have
will make this possible....another project?

Storm at Sea, Graduating Colors
which would work well with the
number of fabrics I have.

Honestly, I can't wait to get started.

FINISHED! Finally!!

All the Christmas quilts have been gifted and I'm ready to start 2020 with a clean slate.

The Little Princess loves her quilt.

The penguin made it to the new great, great nephew.

I must admit, I had the most fun with this one.

My brother and S-I-L lap quilts are all finished and

 winging their way to Texas as we speak. 

(Not in time to comfort Linda after knee replacement,

sorry to say.)

Now What?!

Before the Quilting Auntie passed into glory, she gave me a pack of batik fat quarters.
I think it is time to break it open. There are 24 fat quarters.






On my UFO Challenge sheet for 2020
is Storm At Sea. 
I've always wanted to make one.  I think this will be my next project.

Storm At Sea, example.

Let the games begin.