Let Me Count The Ways

How many different quilt sites are you following on Facebook?  I bet I follow a dozen, or more.  Some because I want to learn more about that designer, or technique.  Some because I just plain like them.  Here are a few of my favorites:

 

Sew Very Easy:  I LIKE this lady!  She is probably one of my most favorites.
Her YouTube videos are always informative and she has a nice voice, as well as beautiful hands!  A recent YouTube video is a tour of her sewing studio.  Watch it HERE.

 

 

 

Panel Quilts:  I'll admit, I do use panels.  Some are just too cute to pass up.  Some I use for quick baby quilts, such as the one I just finished last night. So, what do you do with a panel to cute-it-up? 
Lots of ideas here.

Here is a quilt I made for my great-niece in 2014, Olivia.  And I recently found this panel again by posting on this site and asking if anyone had it!  Surprise!  Not only did someone have it, she sent it to me FOR FREE!  Gotta love it!

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Quilt Enthusiasts:  Because scraps happen. When I was a little girl living in Southern California, we'd drive past this "disappearing mountain."  I was fascinated by its shrinking and the bulldozers working, moving "earth" around.  It was called Lime Mountain.  I learned it was part of a cement-making plant and Lime Mountain would eventually disappear altogether.  

Even though I've given away a mountain of scraps lately, unlike Lime Mountain
Mt. Scrapmore rebuilds itself!  More-and-more scraps by the minute!  Start here for ideas.

Speaking of scraps, Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Studio: Who hasn't been inspired by Bonnie Hunter?! Her website has TONS of free patterns and a new mystery quilt each year.  You've seen this one before;  completed by Charlotte-the-Tall a couple of years ago.  On Ringo Lake.  We teased Miss Charlotte to no end about the number of HST and flying geese she made for this quilt.

 

Getting Started - Quilting with Westalee Rulers:  Learning to free motion quilt has been on my bucket list for a long time.  I've been inspired by these rulers....haven't actually purchased any yet. 
Click HERE for a YouTube video.

 Jen Kingwell Designs and Gypsy Wife Quilt Group I liked the Gypsy Wife the very first time I saw it ... at a Desert Lily's Quilt Show in Yuma, AZ with the quilting Auntie.  I have the pattern, it is still on my UFO list ... one of these days....  

Truth be told, I like ALL Jen Kingwell patterns!

 

Quilting Free Patterns: What more needs to be said.... FREE pretty much says it all. 
Plus I do get inspiration.

Here is a log cabin from this site that I really, really like. 
I love the colors.

Even though I could figure out the pattern  and color placement with EQ8*, it's nice to have someone do the heavy thinking for me.

 

Click Here for the pattern. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last, but certainly not least, Quilt Along with Pat Sloan: If you like L-O-T-S of content, this is the site for you.  Lots of questions, lots of patterns.  

Pat, herself, reads these posts and often answers.  Hats off to her!

I could go on...but, truly, there is no end.  Check out some of these. 
You may pick up a new skill or even a new favorite.

*Electric Quilt 8

 

It's THAT Time of Year

It's Spring....
           ....It's Prom Season
                  ....... and, It's Graduation time

My cutie, patootie nephew has been graduated....OK, so it was a year ago... With all the graduations in the air I'm reminded that I promised to make a quilt from his basketball and football tee shirts.

He has been playing sports since he could walk:  His mom gave me a pile of his shirts.

My first chore was to cut them up, removing the sleeves, neckline and separating the backs from the fronts.  Some of them were pretty worn and I did briefly wonder if I would use the VERY worn shirts.  I decided "yes."  They will add character and they may be some of Joe's favorites.

This gave me nice flat pieces to work with.  At this point they are all different sizes.

The next step is to prepare the blocks

and pick a pattern.

Of course I turned to the internet for more information about preparing the blocks.  I found this one presented by Nancy's Notions on YouTube.  Click Here She makes it look pretty easy.

Doing a Google search for the Tee Shirt Pressing Clothe, it can be purchased at Walmart and Jo-Ann Fabrics.  The Tee Shirt Transformation Ruler can also be purchased at Jo-Ann Fabrics...it's spendy...$35 (plus tax.)  (And, honestly, will I ever make another tee shirt quilt????????? Who knows.)

My Aunt, who has one tee shirt quilt under her belt, gave me the guide pictured below so I opted to not spend the $35 on a special ruler.  If you know someone handy in the garage, perhaps they will make you a similar guide ...

The last step will be assembling the quilt.

A few years ago at the Desert Lily's Quilt Show I bought this product (pictured left.)
The woman doing demonstration make it look like it practically sewed itself...so of course I bought it.

Looking at the instructions, I am not sure if I will use it or not, but I'm going to lay it all out and then decide.

Follow this link to a video demonstrating this product.  Click Here




Now that we have all the steps.... let's see what we can make, shall we?

Welcome To The Quilted Q - Day 1

Nyla Stoughton's Ribbon for this Needle-turn Applique Quilt.
Desert Lily's Quilt Show January 2014 - Yuma, AZ

This Blog is dedicated to my Aunt Nyla, who got me addicted.  She encourages me, motivates me and occasionally chastises me in all things Quilt.  Thank you, Auntie!  You are the reason my retirement account is so low...all my hard-earned cash going out to stimulate the quilting economy!

I have been quilting for only about 5 years. I'm still  a "newbie" by a lot of standards.  I have a long way to go to catch up with some of my fellow quilters, i.e., My Auntie (above) and my friend Dawn White who actually creates her own patterns and GETS PAID to speak at guild meetings and retreats. (check out her blog HERE)

In my "travels" I've run into new, younger-than-me quilters.  (Such as my niece, Desiree Goss.) I feel so smart and experienced!  (It's all smoke and mirrors, but don't tell anyone.)
I've had several people ask me to help them "get started."  So, I decided to start a Blog as a place to post things to help new quilters get started.

This Blog still needs to be "formatted" and made pretty.  But every day I come across things I want to share.  So I will start living in this Blog and build it up and "pretty it up" as we go.

My Very First Quilt - 1983 - for my son, Matt.
I didn't think of it as a quilt at the time.  I was just "creating."
I still have this quilt - AND the pattern.