Show and Tell

My quilt group, Material Girls, met today for our annual Christmas luncheon. Fun, food, gifts, gabbing, showing and sharing...

So Full of Thanksgiving, but Loving It

Our Thanksgiving came and went almost like a blur. Can you believe it's already December? Maybe our global warming is also speeding up time. I wish we could at least have our holidays with our families in slow motion. My brother, Steve, came with his family and #1 son came home from college with his girlfriend. We only had 14 at the table this year. I say "only" because that might be our smallest group yet. Coming from a family of 12 children, I seem to need large groups around me at the holidays. We had a wonderful time though eating, talking, playing games, watching movies and eating some more. We had tons of great food prepared by many hands. Thank you Steve for making the trip here. It means a lot. My heart (and stomach)are full of thanksgiving for such bounteous blessings and I know they come from a loving Heavenly Father. He loves all of us unconditionally and that's probably the greatest blessing of all.



In the midst of all our fun I received a prize in the mail from a giveaway(Yeah! I actually won something!) by Melly & Me. It's the cutest pattern. My daughter has already declared ownership of it and wants to make them. Melly & Me has lots of cute patterns, go check them out.

Fun in the Mail and in the Air

Look what came in the mail. While reading Sarah Smith's blog, I saw that she was asking for volunteers to test her new product, a microfibre screen cloth. Just the day before I had been so frustrated by my dirty screen and had tried everything, including using the cloth that actually came with the computer. But there were still streaks everywhere. So when I saw Sarah's request, I quickly signed up and to my surprise they came in just a few days. Not only are they cute, but they did a great job, no streaks anywhere. In fact I was pretty ecstatic about it since last week's cleaning was such a failure. I showed my family and they immediately went about the house looking for "screens" to clean and were also impressed. Now they all want one of their own. Thanks Sarah. You definitely have a hit. I'll get the questionnaire back to you soon.


We're getting ready for the guests to arrive this week. We have 2 here already (college son and girlfriend-more on that later), but most of them don't get here until Wednesday, but that didn't stop Nikki from happily giving up her bed for the incoming cousins and setting up post on the pull out sofa. This is half the fun of family coming into town-stirring things up and changing things around in the house even if it's only for a couple of nights. There's a wonderful and undeniable magic in the air during the holidays especially for 7 year olds.

While the Mice are Away...

My DH is pulling a couple of night shifts, so I decided to take matter into my own hands and get one of my honey-do projects finished by myself. I've always thought that a couple shelves over my cutting board area would be very handy, so I put these up and I don't know why I waited so long. It was so easy, just pre-drilled the holes, centered the shelves much like putting a border on a quilt and then leveled it before making it permanent and it makes a huge difference in the room. I wish it was that easy leveling some of my quilts! I'm going to slowly work my way up the power tool ladder until I feel comfortable with a table saw. For some reason, they just scare me. Right now though I'll stick with the power drill, hammer and level and be happy.

I also put up this cute little sign above my window that my daughter made for me. Now back to finishing my quilts.

It worked!

I took the words of advice from friends about how to machine applique and the advice worked. I guess I was using a cheap thread, actually it was just your average thread, Coats. But it kept breaking when I tried to applique with it. So I bought Gutterman thread and put it in the bobbin as well. For years I have had problems using the machine to do my applique and this worked like a charm. Here's the vase where I used a satin stitch and then a close up of the flowers where I experimented with a different stitch. I used #24 stitch on my Elna Heirloom Edition machine. For the leaves, I'll pick a different stitch too. I'm so happy it's working so well. It has opened up the applique world to me now. I'm already thinking about what I can do next.

lamp shade

I saw this lamp shade for sale and I loved it. I think I could easily make one pretty similar. Somewhere I've seen fabric that looks similar to this and that's what I like about this lampshade. I love the earthiness of it and I have a couple of pretty boring run-of-the-mill lampshades that I'd love to redo. If anyone knows where I can find fabric that looks similar to this, let me know.

Cottage Block Exchange

I got my Christmas Cottage Blocks! How exciting to get something like this in the mail. Thank you everyone for such beautiful work, they are all so unique and fun to look at, and especially to Nanette and Terri who coordinated the whole thing. You did a great job and thank you for the extra goodies you sent along. This was my first exchange and it went so smoothly. I'm up for another one now.

I haven't decided how I will put them together yet. Melissa at Cornbread and beans quilting gave me a good idea. She's making a 6-block wall hanging and using the other 3 to make a table runner. That's very tempting.



Here's a little peek at something I'm working on right now. I've got it on my design wall so I can stare at it for a while and figure out what will look best. I tried using a satin stitch (a tight zig zag) to stitch down the applique, but boy, my machine did not like that. The thread kept breaking and I'm not sure what was going on. I'm going to change to a higher quality thread and put a new needle on and see if that makes a difference. But if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. For now it's safe and sound on the design wall.

Friendship block

In my quilt group, Material Girls, each month one of us brings a pattern for a block and sometimes they bring fabric swatches so we can make good matches and then we each make 1 or 2 blocks for that person. It's been so interesting to see which block we'll be doing each month and it forces us to put together patterns, fabrics and designs that a lot of times we would have never picked. Here is the friendship block this month that I just made for Jeanie. She gave us the center square and the 4 corner squares and then asked us to use red, white or black in the strips. I think it turned out darling and can't wait to see all the rest of the squares at our next meeting. It's my turn next month and I'm having a hard time coming up with an idea.




On another note, I saw this design for a wall hanging and since I'm a Bear scout den leader I thought maybe they could make something like this using straws and cutting them into various lengths. If I can find straws in Christmas colors (red, green, gold, silver) I thought it would make a cute wreath wall hanging. We'll see. It may be too labor intensive for 9 year olds, but I thought it was pretty and interesting.

Out with the old...

I don't know what happened to my mind the other day while making a bias binding for my quilt. I couldn't find my little bias making tool, so I remembered from a quilt class years ago that if you pin into your ironing board with 2 pins, leaving the exact opening you want for the size bias you're making, you can just fold it and pull it through and iron it all in one smooth move. Well, it was going along swimmingly just as I had remembered until I lifted up my iron. What made me think I could leave my iron in the down position for such a long time (I made an extra long piece of binding) and not see any effects from it on the ironing board. My big board cover was burned (although I must say my binding turned out beautifully). Was this the price I had to pay? Not only was it burned, but the next day I must have still had a blank spot in my brain because as I began my new project and was ironing a pretty off white background piece I noticed the residue from the burn on the board was transferring to my white fabric. Ughh! Luckily it washed out. So this time I ironed it once more but on the other side of the ironing board this time. This other side only had a few heart shaped figures left over from an ambitious fusible webbing incident.

Then it dawned on me, make a new cover. My big ironing board is just a large rectangular piece of plywood on top of my regular ironing board and it has been wonderful. My first cover was just a gun metal grey color. I never really thought much of it. So first I looked through all my fabric that was at least 1 1/2 to 2 yards long (not many to choose from) and this is what I found. I quickly cut it to size, staple gunned it to the back leaving all the previous existing layers and look how great it looks now. I never thought I'd say this, but I actually enjoy looking at my ironing board every time I walk in the room now.

Snippets anyone?

I know this is an old book, but this is such a fun method. It's from Cindy Walter's book Snippet Sensations. This is quick and rewarding. It goes together very fast and if you like putting floral arrangements together, you'd probably do a much better job than me. Iron Steam-a-Seam onto the back of your fabric choices, then snip away and position onto a background. It has a light stickiness to it and it's repositionable. It will become permanent when you iron it to the background. Just machine quilt over the top of it. Tons of possibilities.

Oh to be 13 again!

My DD (in the green) got together with her friends at middle school and decided, planned, shopped and executed this year's Halloween costume. They went together as a rainbow. They looked darling as they traversed the streets of our neighborhood, skipping, chanting and singing as they went. So carefree, so innocent. Oh to be 13 again!

My quilt group show and tell

Usually we just put our show and tell on our group blog Material Girls Idaho, but we had such a great showing yesterday I thought I'd share it here too. Aren't my friends amazingly talented!

Young Women's Evening of Excellence

Tomorrow night the young women in our church (12 - 18 yrs old) will present their Evening of Excellence. Each girl showcases something they have achieved some excellence in this past year. Since DD Kristina has been sewing small projects all year and has a couple quilt tops in the works too, she and I came up with the idea of making a pillowcase. I found this cute fabric with all their Young Women values on it and we knew it would be perfect. It's from ldsfabric.com. Kristina says she saw the green and had to have it. It's flannel too which will be nice and cozy for a pillow. She found some red fabric in my stash and picked it for the accent stripe. Here are the simple directions for making one:
3/4 yd main fabric
1/4 yd border (cut to 9" wide)
3/4 yd trim (cut to 1 1/2" wide)
Iron trim in half lengthwise. Place border right side up. Place main fabric on top of border also right side up. Then place trim on top of both layers with raw edges even at top. Sew through all layers 1/4" seam.
Open out border. Press the seam towards the border. Also turn under top edge of border 1/4" and press. Fold border in half, press. Make sure it covers the seam line. Top stitch close to folded edge.
Fold pillowcase in half with right sides together. Stitch 1/4" around the side and bottom. Zig zag around the the edges for a nicely finished seam. Turn right side out and enjoy a good night's sleep!

Applique--Not!

I seem to struggle with applique, at least the kind where you turn under the edges. I'm loving the fact that we're going through a raw edge fad right now and I have used raw edge applique in many quilts now. But my attempts at the traditional applique never look quite as clean as I'd like. I find it frustrating. So after my parents took a trip to Hawaii and my mom brought me back a book on Hawaiian quilting, I felt compelled to give it a try again, BUT this time I just drew the design onto the fabric background and used fabric paint to get the desired effect. I hand quilted around the edges, purposely making the stitches larger and darker than my regular hand quilting and I loved how it turned out. No stress, no disappointment!

Cracked Wheat Cereal-Mmmmm

Here's the recipe for one of my all time favorite breakfasts. You can crack the wheat in your blender by just pulsing it a few times. Then all you have to do is remember the night before to get started on it and in the morning you'll have a sweet, warm and chewy soul satisfying bowl of cracked wheat cereal. I add a little milk to mine and warm it in the microwave. It's a great way to warm up these cool fall mornings.

Wonderful Wool and Cottages too

This was my first attempt at working with wool. It's a familiar pattern that I changed just slightly and made it for my sister in law. In fact every time I see it at her house, I secretly want it back. Is that bad?
For the frame I bought some molding from Home Depot and stained it. Wool was so wonderful to work with, it's like butter to sew through, and now that I'm better at doing the buttonhole stitch, I would love to make another piece. My only hesitation is that I would have to start purchasing all different colors and varieties of wool to add to my already overcrowded closet full of quilting fabric. Maybe I can hide it somewhere else!


I've been working all afternoon on my Christmas cottage blocks for the exchange. Here's one of the 11 I'll be sending in the mail in the next day or two.

Quilt tops and swirly skirts

It took me a while, but I finally made a decision about what fabric to use for the border and now I love it. I've made the back for it already and I used flannel for the center. I wanted flannel for the entire back, but I bought the end of the bolt and that's all they had. Luckily I had plenty of the brown print I had used on the front border. My little camera doesn't do the colors any justice though, which makes me sad. Wish you could see how the colors pop.






My sister, the Apron Lady, has a fun new pattern for a swirl skirt and lucky me, my girls get to be the guinea pigs and try out all her new stuff. Nikki loves her skirt and has worn it several days to school. She makes it look good over anything. I can tell these will be a big hit with my girls. The pattern will be available real soon. The best part is that they literally take about a half hour to sew. My kind of project!

Memories

One of the best parts of quilting is having something tangible that evokes memories. Sometimes those memories come from the fabric itself like when we use pieces of the cute little dresses our daughters wore when they were young. Sometimes I remember exactly what I was doing at that point in my life when a particular quilt was made. Other times a quilt has been some well needed therapy, a bit of sanity in a sometimes chaotic world. I made this quilt when we moved from the coast of South Carolina to our home here in Idaho. I needed something to remind me of the beautiful coastline that had been our home for many years. The shark's tooth holds a fun memory of the many hours we spent searching the sand for fossilized shark's teeth. Each time we found one, it became a personal victory and a fun family competition. Each square has meaning. I'm so happy I made this quilt. Each time I walk by it I feel a soft southern humid wind breeze by my face and a whiff of salty marsh mud fills the air.

On the road again...

The schools around here had a couple days off last weekend so we packed up and took a quick trip to visit my son at college in Rexburg. Of course, we had to stop by Amy's store The Quilt Shoppe in Ridby to see what was new. I was looking for some fabric to make borders for my snuggly quilt. Amy has such cute samples on all of her walls and tables I just had to take some pictures to show. It's fun to browse around.











My niece Mary is also at college but she works in Amy's shop part time. She likes working there so much that she's decided she'd like to open a quilt shop of her own one day. I hope she opens it in my neighborhood! Amy is on the left in the bottom picture and my niece is on the right. Now I'm off to pick up my sewing machine from the shop so I can start working on my Christmas cottage blocks for the exchange I'm doing.

Snuggle Quilt

I love the feeling of finishing a new quilt top. Actually I haven't added my borders yet, but the end is in sight and it looks a lot better in person. I'm making this quilt for some winter snuggling. I'm going to put flannel on the back so that it's nice and soft and I'll even wash it a couple times after I quilt it. I really like how it's turned out and I've used lots of scraps from my stash which was my goal. I can't wait to use it.