Monday, September 30, 2013

Smooth sailing

Here's my progress on Autumn in my Garden.




                    This is one fun project, everything is coming together easily and perfectly.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Sunny Flowers

My sunflower centers now have petals!


The pattern is Autumn in my Garden by the gals at the Buggy Barn.

Have a great weekend!


Thursday, September 26, 2013

Sunflower

Well those red and yellow half square triangles fit nicely on my sunflower centers and the yellow, gold, and yellow-orange fabric looks just fine.  This is just the perfect fall project and adding the red and yellow pieces  to the brown centers was like a ray of sunshine lighting up my sewing room.




Winner, Winner

Melissa is the winner of the Collection for a Cause Fat Quarter Bundle with this comment,

"My best friend happens to be my mom. Every good thing I have learned, I learned from her. I learned some bad things from her, too. My favorite thing about my mom is the kooky/weird/out there/strange sense of humor that she has. It's a good thing she passed it on to me or we wouldn't get along as well as we do. 

I enjoyed reading all your favorite things about your Moms, thanks so much for sharing!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Wordless Wednesday . . .

or not. 

It took me two days to piece and trim my 320 half square triangle units for Autumn in my Garden.  Next up, turning these squares into sunflower petals.


Odds and Ends I've been meaning to pass along;

1.  The Buggy Barn has announced that due to popular demand, and since the book with the pattern Autumn in my Garden is out of print, they are now selling just the pattern.  It's available here.  All the easier for you to make that quilt too!

2.  Hilda, at Every Stitch, finished her Carolina Lily quilt the end of August, it's one of the most amazing quilts I've ever seen online.  If you happened to miss the post where Hilda blogged about the completed quilt click here, you won't want to miss it.  Even if you didn't miss it the first time, go look at it again, I've been back several times and am amazed every time.

This giveaway is now closed! 

3.  And finally, a few weeks ago I was the lucky winner of 65 ten inch squares of Tula Pink fabric from Moda Lissa.  She's cleaned out her stash and has been giving away fabric almost every day for the last two weeks.  

Since winning the fabric made my day, I thought I would share that feeling with someone else.  So I looked through my stash and decided I could part with this, Collection for a Cause, Historical Blenders by Howard Marcus for Moda.  It's still in its protective wrap.



I'm running this giveaway the same way Lissa is running hers, leave a comment today, the winner will be announced tomorrow.  I always get a kick out of reading the comments when I ask a question that allows me to get to know you better, here's this giveaway's question, "What is/was your favorite thing about your mom?"  If the USPS will deliver to your address you're eligible to win.  Please leave a way for me to contact you should you win.

This giveaway is now closed! 

That's if for Wordless Wednesday, thanks for stopping by!


Monday, September 23, 2013

Fall Catchup

We're just two days into Fall and I'm already behind.

Last year, Nicole/Sisters Choice, Lisa/Stashmaster, and I attended the fun week of quilt activities at the Buggy Barn.  The last day was a huge outdoor quilt show and this quilt caught our eye.

This is Autumn in my Garden from the Buggy Barn book A Little Bit Crazy.


While on the trip we decided to have a little sew along and make this quilt.  To make things even more fun we swapped fabric, to make a super scrappy version of this quilt.

Here are our reds.



Here are our yellows.  Yellows are hard, my stack had more of an orange tint to them, Nicole's were more gold, Lisa probably did the best job with swapping actual yellows.


And here are all the brown strips I needed to make those flower centers.



And I have made them.  Someone threw in some light browns in their stack and I love the little bit of sparkle they add to those blocks.  I would have stuck with dark browns and blacks, I'm so glad Lisa or Nicole thought to include those strips.




And here are my blocks looking a little more like sunflowers.  What a difference those yellow corners make  to those blocks!


Next up, 320 half squares triangles.  


Since I couldn't stop playing with my last project, Lisa and Nicole got a jump on me and are well into their projects, stop by their blogs to check out their tops.


Friday, September 20, 2013

All Done

One more colorful quilt for my lifetime quilt list.  I'll be in great shape next spring when I'm ready to change the look of my home from fall and winter colors to spring and summer colors.

I'm still calling this hst, it surely does need a better name.



This is Lifetime Quilt Number 115
It finished at approximately 60" x 60"
The majority of the fabric is Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille.
There's no formal pattern, it just came together as I went along.
It has approximately 1,168 pieces.
The HSTs finish at two inches.


Well I'm done working with bright and happy colors for now.  I've got a couple of friends going to town on a quilt called "Autumn in my Garden" a pattern by the gals at the Buggy Barn, I plan to sew along with them.  The colors are more fall colors, but still bright and I'm eager to get to them.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

HST - A decision and a little tweaking

"tweaking", does anyone besides me think of "You've Got Mail" when the word "tweaking" comes up?  "A project that needs tweaking?" says Tom Hanks to Meg Ryan.  

Anyway, I digress, I've gotten some great pictures and links to other half square triangle quilts and half square triangle quilts that used Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille for Moda, thanks for the help!  I'm not the only one who enjoys making these blocks.  I'm pleased to report I've finally come up with a plan for my blocks. 

 Instead of connecting all the big blocks, I've decided to separate them with some sashing.  My favorite thing about my blocks are the blocks of color, I've decided to keep those blocks distinctive by adding the sashing.



So once I came up with a plan, I needed to come up with 2 more blocks.  The first thing I did was tweak these two blocks 


to create this block,


this block,


and this block.


And since I created two navy blue blocks, I decided to take the navy blue out of  this block to make it more green, 


and made this block.


That left one more spot so I created another orange block.



So I'm finally happy with all 9 blocks.  All I need now is a little sashing, a border, and this one will be done.


I'm sort of sad to be done with those Happy Go Lucky hsts, I may need to make some more sometime.

One last thing, I use the Easy Angle to piece my hsts. I've used that tool for years, it just suits me, but I still make them a tad big and square them up.  Several folks have been asking about that, I should have thought to include that little piece of information in the very first post, so thanks for asking!




Monday, September 16, 2013

Jelly Roll Jam




Kimberly and the fine staff at the Fat Quarter Shop are sponsoring a fun event this week called the Jelly Roll Jam and I'm jamming along with them.

I was asked to make their pattern, Jelly Roll Jam, using a jellyroll of Hope Chest by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts for Moda.  One jelly roll will make two quilt tops!  And the pattern is free!!


This is Lifetime Quilt Number 111
It's called Jelly Roll Jam One
It finished at 36 1/2" x 36 1/2"
The fabric is Hope Chest by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts for Moda
It has approximately 108 pieces.


This is Lifetime Quilt Number 110
It's called Jelly Roll Jam Two
It finished at 36 1/2"  x 36 1/2 "
The fabric is Hope Chest by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts for Moda
It has approximately 108 pieces.

I was able to make both quilt tops in one afternoon.

In order to get the best placement of the fabric, the pattern instructs you to create three strip sets from 18 different pieces of jelly roll fabric.  To help me keep track of the sets I labeled these scraps that were left over after subcutting the units.  This maybe doesn't make much sense to you now, but once you study the pattern you may find this tip helpful.



So here's the important information for the Jelly Roll Jam.

The pattern is free and available to you here:  

There's also an instructional video available to you here:

And there's more, all jelly rolls at the Fat Quarter Shop are on sale this week, 20% off!  The sale runs today, Monday, September 15th through Sunday, September 22nd.

My tops have been mailed all around the country, quilted, photographed, videoed, and arrived back home this weekend, and I think they look pretty good on my red couches, a matched set, a first for the red couches.




I wasn't the only one asked to create a sample quilt for the Jelly Roll Jam.  Here are a few others.




Be sure to stop by these blogs to see the Jelly Roll Jam Quilts they created, it's like a little surprise Jelly Rolly Jam parade. 

Diary of a Quilter: http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/
Quilting Gallery: http://quiltinggallery.com/
Pile O Fabric: http://pileofabric.com/
Red Pepper Quilts: http://www.redpepperquilts.com/
I’m a Ginger Monkey: http://imagingermonkey.blogspot.com/


And finally, if you're a frequent reader of my blog you are aware that I'm a piecer, not a quilter.  I would not have been able to participate in this sew along without the help of Abby at Latimer Lane Quilting.  Abby agreed to squeeze in these project around her vacation and other commitments.  Not only did she quilt the tops she also put on the binding.  Thanks so much Abby.



As you can see here, each quilt was finished using a different quilting pattern, one large and one small, both perfect.  Abby is going to talk about her quilting on these tops on her blog today, here, be sure to hop on over and read all about it.  

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Winner Winner . . .

I received some great comments on my bag post that I thought I would share, 

Wendy suggested I quilt using a double needle!  I love that idea and will try that on the next item I quilt, you may want to try it too,

additionally, if you don't want to rip the cover off a book to keep from having a saggy bottom, Kathie recommended a product called foam core.




I also got a couple of questions about the handles.  For those of you wanting to buy these handles I've been told they are hard to find but sometimes are available on Etsy.

The leather handles do not come with instructions but the magazine did a nice job of explaining how to attach them to the bag.  The handles come in 6 pieces, two front/outside handles and 4 inside tabs.  There are little holes punched into the leather of the pieces which makes attaching them very easy.  The pattern directions tell you where to place the handles on the bag, that's easy too.   The directions say to attach the pieces using perle cotton.  I attached the front handle, in the appropriate place, using regular thread, I guess you could say I basted it into place.  



Once it was set I used the perle cotton to attach the back piece to the front piece through the quilted fabric.  The pieces are well manufactured, the front and back matched up perfectly, I had no trouble at all getting everything into place.


This is my only experience with handles and it could not have gone any easier.

Thanks to those who shared how they spent their summer in their comments.  It's so nice to get caught up with you!  Time spent with family was definitely the most popular pastime with home improvement projects coming in second, but some very lucky folks also took some amazing trips.

Finally, I have some great news, Carrie Nelson, of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co and the designer of this bag pattern has donated a kit to the giveaway, so I have two kits to giveaway.  Carrie is also supplying the magazines for the bag pattern for both kits.  Thanks so much Carrie!!

And the winners selected using Random Number Generator are:

Comment #43 - Sorcha Girl / Clara 
and 
Comment #61 - Helen

Two last bag stories, I had my bag sitting out after taking pictures of my handles for this blog post and my  husband said, "that bag is adorable", which about made me faint, I don't think that man has ever used the world "adorable" but he's right, and that's what I'm calling it, "My Adorable Bag", and finally, I needed to carry a couple of items to an appointment on Thursday, the perfect opportunity to use my new bag for the first time, but it was raining, and I just didn't want it to get wet.  I'm sure the perfect day that I'll carry that bag is coming, sooner or later, but until then, it looks great hanging on my sewing room doorknob. 

Thanks to all who participated in the giveaway!




Friday, September 13, 2013

HST Update

Give me a yellow . . . 

Y E L L O W ! !




Give me a grey . . . 

G R E Y !


What's that make?

T H I S !



Not that I know what this is exactly, but that's not stopping me!!

So far all of the fabric I have used is Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille for Moda.

Monique Dillard of Open Gate Quilts, and the designer of the "Fit to be . . " rulers is giving away all her rulers over at the Moda Cutting Table.  I'm a big fan of Monique's rulers and always use them for my flying geese.  If you would like the opportunity to own all her rulers don't miss out on the giveaway, here.




Wednesday, September 11, 2013

I Made a Bag!

Homemade bags have been around for ages, and have seemed to really gain in popularity in the last few years, but for some reason I just never saw a bag that I would make, then actually carry.  I guess I was just needing the right bag.  And I found it.


This bag pattern is in the Fall edition of Quilts and More, it's available right now wherever you buy your quilty magazines.  This bag was designed by Carrie Nelson and she was offering kits for this bag on her online shop, so I ordered one. 


The kit came with fabric for the outside and inside and the cute polka dot handles.

The first order of business, piecing the front and back.  And that was a breeze, piecing is what I do.


For my batting I used Soft and Stable, because I wanted my bag to stand up and look neat, not slouch down in a hump.  This stuff is great, I could not recommend it more highly.  It was easy to work with and gave my bag the exact look I wanted.



Next up was the quilting, that's not what I do.  I played around with some stitches on my machine and the blue marking pen I sometimes notice other real quilters use.



In the end I just went with a straight stitch, in the ditch from left to right, and every 1/4" top to bottom.
I had not quilted anything since I made my 3 Countdown to Christmas pillows.  It seemed like it took forever to quilt those two pieces of fabric.  I think it took at least 2 hours per side.  But I love the look, that might be my favorite thing about the bag, the quilting!



Rookie mistake, what else can I say?



Every now and then I would draw a line down the back of the piece to make sure I wasn't getting off track on my vertical lines.  I would use the horizontal lines as my guide to line up my vertical lines.  I checked it about every 8 to 10 stitches.


The directions for this pattern were wonderful and easy to follow.  Here's the bottom of my bag. In one try!  I was thrilled with how it all came together, and looked neat, not sloppy.



Here's the inside of the bag, all pieced.


Here's the inside of the bag with the lining.  My lining is a little big, I maybe trimmed off more of the outside of the bag after it was quilted and squared up, so that's on me.  But I've bought purses with worse lining than this and I'm OK with it.  After all, this is my first bag, and I think there's a learning curve with this type of project.


I didn't want  my bag to have a saggy bottom so I added some support.  I just took the front cover off an old political book that had been on my bookshelf for over 20 years.  I picked this book because it was the right size and had a very substantial cover.


I just made a little case and slid it in.


So here's my finished bag, a bag I love and can hardly wait to carry.  I don't make little side projects like this very often, I've made a sewing machine cover and 3 pillow covers and that's about it, so I'm very proud of myself for trying something new, and thrilled that the end result doesn't have that look that screams, "look at me, I'm homemade".  I've never read a bag pattern before this one, maybe they are all the same, but this pattern was very easy for a beginner to follow and has some nice details that make the bag look stylish, like the stitching around the top and how the lining is a good inch below the outer print inside the bag.  Believe me, if you've been too scared to try to make a bag try this pattern, I had no troubles at all.


This is Lifetime Bag Number 1!
The fabric is Road 15 by Sweetwater for Moda
It finished at 13 inches top to bottom,  12 inches wide at the base, and 17 inches wide at the top.
There are approximately 80 pieces, counting the handles.

After making 114 quilts I'm amazed by how proud I am of myself over this silly little bag, but I just love it and I will use it.  I love it so much that I want you to have one too.


The kits that were available when the magazine first came out have all been sold, except for one.  I bought one of the last ones for a giveaway.  So if you are like me, and never thought you could or would make a bag, or even if you are a real bag lady with a dozen bags but need one more, leave a comment on today's post for a chance to win a kit.  You will need to supply the batting and some backing for the pieced sides.  The kit does not come with the pattern, but Carrie has volunteered to supply a magazine with this kit. Thanks Carrie, I'm glad I don't have to give mine away, I may make another one!

Leave a comment on this post by the end of day Saturday, September 14th.  If the USPS will deliver to your address you are eligible to enter.  I will announce the winner on Sunday, please leave a way that I can contact you in your comment.  In your comment I would like to hear about the favorite thing you did or made this summer.  I went to Paris and I made a bag, I had a great summer!

Giveaway now closed, thank you for stopping by.