Stash

My friend, Deb, sends me funny things all the time and when I received this cartoon, I thought I would share it with my blog followers.  We all have our favorite places to hide our stash and over the years I've heard about some very strange and funny places.  I haven't tried the oven yet!  I hope this little cartoon brightens your day with a laugh like it did mine.

Until next time . . .
Debbie

Artist's Toolbox

I'm not sure if it is the time of year or what but lately I have been into taking classes and learning.  I've been wanting to learn more about art quilts so found another class at Quilt University called Artist's Toolbox.  This one is taught by Lyric Kincaid who has been featured in Quilting Arts magazine.  When going through the supply list for this class, I noticed that an optional supply is her book, Art + Quilt: Design Principles and Creativity Exercises.

I decided to order the book as I think it will make the class even more interesting.  When it comes to quilting, I am a quilter who has to have a pattern.  I don't consider myself a 'creative' person and definitely not an artist.  Even so, I am hoping that this class will help me become more creative and at the very least help me to think outside the box!

I really enjoyed the last class I took at Quilt University and over the weekend finished my 2 fabric applique class project:

 
My next step is to layer and quilt.  I plan to do echo quilting which is easy and enjoyable : )

Until next time . . .
Debbie

Quilt University Class

Although I am pretty experienced at needle-turn or hand applique, I am always wanting to improve my skills and learn new and better ways to do things.  With that in mind, I checked out Quilt University and found a class on 2 fabric applique quilts taught by Nancy Chong.  Nancy has an outstanding reputation as being a very thorough, excellent teacher.  Even though the class started shortly before we left for vacation, I signed up for it anyway and after getting home from vacation this past Thursday, decided to start.

Nancy gives you a choice of 3 different patterns to use and I chose the candles pattern thinking that it would be a nice wall hanging during the holiday season.  For 2 fabric applique quilts, you choose a light and dark fabric that complement each other.  Here are the fabrics I chose:

 

 

You have the choice of using either the dark or the light as your foreground fabric.  I wanted the light for the background so proceeded to trace my design on the dark fabric using Transdoodle transfer paper.  I can't say enough for this product.  You place the Transdoodle paper between your pattern and your fabric.  I used a ball point stylus to trace over the lines of the pattern and was very happy with the results as the lines are crisp and easy to see:

It looks a little weird at this point but not to worry ~ the light fabric is behind the dark!

Afer tracing the design you pin and baste on the dark fabric.  Then, you cut on the traced line.  I made dash marks about 3/16 inch from the edge as a guide for turning.  I've been stitching on this project each evening while watching TV and here's my progress so far:

I'm really enjoying this process and have learned a lot from Nancy's class.  This is the prelude to taking the plung and making a king sized Hawaiian quilt.  Luckily, Nancy is offering a class on 'How to make a Hawaiian Quilt' in January and, for me, that will be the perfect time to start.

I have to say that I had a wonderful vacation and saw many beautiful areas from the Colorado Rocky Mountains to the Black Hills of South Dakota.  After 3 weeks of traveling it feels so good to be home and it really is true that there's no place like home.

Until next time  . . .
Debbie

On Vacation

On August 21st, my husband, 2 dogs and I left for a long vacation.  The first leg of our vacation lead us to Estes Park, Colorado, gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park.  If you ever get the chance to visit here, do it!  Beauty surrounds you from all areas and there are many things do do. 

The town of Estes Park is filled with little bridges like this one that go over beautiful streams, and all of this surrounds a quaint downtown area full of different gift shops and restaurant.  I found some neat little items in various shops to take home and my husband and I hiked all over the place in the 2 days we stayed.

We asked another tourist to snap a picture of us together by this beautiful stream in a park-like setting.  All in all it was a great trip!

The next leg of our journey took us to Gillette, Wyoming where we had made plans to spend some time with our grandson.  Prior to arriving in Gillette, I had to stop at the Fig Leaf Quilt Shop in Ft. Collins, Colorado.  This is a unique shop in that a couple owns it, and the husband has a furniture store while the wife has the quilt shop all in one building.  When you walk in, you first see beautiful furniture settings and then you meander back to the shop, which is huge!  Lots and lots of tempting fabrics, quilts, patterns and notions.  I left with lots of goodies!  The Fig Leaf Quilt Shop was featured in Better Homes and Gardens Quilt Sampler magazine Spring/Summer issue.  You can also visit their website by clicking HERE  They have a very nice web site and also an online store.

Spending time with grandchildren is always fun and this time was no exception.  I just wish I had the energy of a 14-year-old but think I did pretty good keeping up with him!

 Of course I also had to check out the quilt shop in Gillette, Wyoming, called The Quilt Nook.  They don't have a web site that I know of but the shop was very nice with over 5,000 bolts of fabrics so I didn't leave empty handed : D

The next leg of our journey and where we currently are is in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  This is another beautiful place and so far we have seen the Crazy Horse Monument. 

 

The Crazy Horse Monument is still in progress and when finished will look like this: 





 We've also seen the Mt. Rushmore Memorial.  Since I'm originally from South Dakota, I've seen this before but my husband has not.  Every time I see it, I'm in awe of the talent it took to create such a beautiful work. 

Today we are going to go on the scenic Tramway here in Keystone, South Dakota.  It takes you to the top of a mountain range where you can have a bite to eat and then you have your choice of sliding down a 2,000 foot slide or taking the Tramway down.  The slide looks like a lot of fun but after all of the surgery I've recently had, I think I better take the Tramway.

While we've been traveling, I've been stitching on my Dutch Treat blocks and have made good progress.  Each morning and evening in our hotel room, I work on them while relaxing.






On Monday we are headed to my hometown of Platte, South Dakota to visit friends and relatives.  After a few days in Platte we will finally be headed back home to Glen Carbon, Illinois, and I have to say that I am anxious to get back home and back to my regular schedule.

Until next time . . .
Debbie

Jinny Beyer ~ The Queen of Color

It seems like every time I get excited about starting a new quilt, I'm left with deciding on what color theme or fabric style I want to use.  Sometimes I choose really great colors that go together beautifully and other times, even though I think it will turn out great, it doesn't.  I think we've all seem quilts that really sing with color and texture are are . . .  well, just vibrant!  Then we may see a quilt that is beautifully made but lacks something.  I call this the 'Wow Effect.'

So how do we go about choosing the fabrics that will make our quilts sing?  One tool that I've recently started using is Jinny Beyer's Portable Palette.

This tool has really helped me decide on what fabrics I want to use together.  I can play with colors at home, decide on a theme I like, and then take the Portable Palate with me when I go fabric shopping.  I consider Jinny Beyer to be the 'queen of color' and don't think I have ever seen a quilt that Jinny has made that didn't have the 'Wow Effect.'  When Jinny teaches her color confidence class, she has her students use her portable palate.  Jinny just came out with an instructional video on her web site that shows you exactly how to use her portable palette.


I found this video to be very helpful, and it is fun to do the exercises that Jinny shares on it. For me, it was well worth the time it takes to watch.

I have been an admirer of Jinny Beyer for years and many times have referred to her as "My Quilting Hero."  I hope this video will inspire you and that you will play around with different colors in your fabric stash to create your next quilting project.

Until next time . . .

Debbie

Quilt in a Day Rulers & Progress on Quilts

It's hard to believe that we are in the final month of summer already here in the USA!  I know that a big part of my summer was spent recuperating from surgery.  Anyway, I am back to sewing 100% and have really been busy.  Before going into my progress on various projects, I wanted to take some time to talk about Eleanor Burn's and her quick and easy techniques using her specialty rulers.

One of my favorite techniques of Eleanor's is making my flying geese units using her flying geese rulers.  At first when I read and saw her way of making flying geese units, I was a bit skeptical but then I tried it and was so pleased with the results.  Instead of me showing you how quick and easy these rulers work, click HERE to view the video and have Eleanor herself teach you.

I don't have any affiliation with Quilt in a Day or Eleanor Burns.  I just wanted to share this technique of hers with you.  I have learned a lot from Eleanor's instruction, and I think you will too : )

Lately, I have been a busy bee working on various quilt projects.  I've been spending a lot of time working on my Cornucopia of Thanks quilt blocks and cornerstones.  I've decided to make my quilt king sized so adding 4 blocks of my choosing.  This week I completed one of the four. 

This one is called Turley's Inn and was designed by Marti Michell for Patchwork Party this past year.

I think this one will fit in well with the other blocks in the quilt.

I also finished the BOM for August called Prosperity.  This one looks way harder than it really is, and I was surprised at how fast I got it done.

I am really enjoying working on this quilt as a BOM.  This BOM is a group project that we are doing in my SBS & Other Elm Creek Quilts Yahoo group.  If you are interested in joining in on the fun, you can do so very easily by clicking this icon:

Click to join SBS-and-OtherElmCreekQuilts

We are also doing the Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt together.  Each month we announce a new block challenge and are having fun watching each other's and our own progress as our quilt grows.

Here are a 2 more of the blocks for this month.  I only have 2 more to finish before the 15th.

Economy

Bow Tie

I hope all of you are having a great week and that you all get some time just for you : )

Until next time . . .
Debbie

A New Tablerunner

In the last week, my husband and I have been doing some redecorating in various rooms of our home.  Every once in awhile it's nice to put some fresh new paint on the walls, change out the window treatments, etc. 

So once the walls started coming alive, I decided that I needed something new and pretty for my kitchen table and started searching my stash for fabrics that would coordinate with my kitchen window treatments.  My search took me to Bittersweet by Nancy Halvorsen.  This fabric was originally purchased for my Cornucopia of Thanks quilt.  Even so, I couldn't resist using it because it matched my kitchen colors perfectly.  I found a pattern in my pattern drawer from Atkinson Designs and put together this easy and fun to sew tablerunner:

I think I am going to make some other cute kitchen accessories with this fabric too like potholders and maybe use as a border for some tea towels.  My tablerunner needs to be quilted and bound, and I will do that today.  It really cheers up my table!
I will have to buy some more of the Bittersweet fabric so I will have enough to finish my Cornucopia of Thanks blocks but that's okay because fabric shopping is definitely high on the list of my favorite things to do : )
Wishing all of you a great day and hope that you get a little free time to sew.

Until next time . . .
Debbie

Cornucopia of Thanks ~ July Block

I'm getting back in to my normal sewing groove and yesterday finished the assigned block for the Cornucopia of Thanks BOM, Providence.

Providence from the Cornucopia of Thanks
pattern by Jennifer Chiaverini

This block had lots of templates, which I'm not a huge fan of unless I can use Marti Michell's templates.  I'm happy that I've finished this one and hope that our block next month is one without templates!

Until next time . . .

Debbie

Making Quilts from Swap Blocks

As you know, I have been cleaning, organizing and going through all of the fabric, patterns, scraps, etc., in my sewing studio.  As I was going through some of my pattern drawers, I ran across swap blocks from a 2008 Red & White Sylvia's Bridal Sampler block swap.  I guess in the back of my mind I knew that I had these blocks ~ somewhere ~ and always thought that ~ some day ~ I would put them together into a quilt.  Well, that day finally came and here's the design that I came up with:

These blocks are just stuck to my design wall now (other than the the 6 to the right which I've sashed).  I decided to use a medallion type block setting and chose this Mariner's Compass block that I found in Jennifer Chiaverini's pattern book, More Elm Creek Quilts.  This block came from Jennifer's pattern, Round Robin.  Since I participated in my quilting group's Round Robin activity using this pattern, I was familiar with the block and it went together quickly.  I like the size of this quilt as it is but thinking that I could add another row to the top and bottom and to each side so it could cover a twin size bed.  As you can see, I got some beautiful red & white blocks from our swap.  I plan to work on this throughout the week and hopefully by week's end, I will have it all together and ready for the long-arm quilter. 

This is just one of many quilts I plan to get together from swap blocks.  It's amazes me how many I have participated in and how many pretty blocks I received that are just sitting in Ziplock bags.  Just off the top of my head, I would say that I have five (5) different quilts that I need to make from swap blocks.  There will be no more swaps for this girl until she makes quilts with the ones she already has . . . and that's a promise I've made to myself!

I'm in a Farmer's Wife Sampler block challenge and finished up the June blocks over the weekend.  We needed to make 6 blocks for June and I finished 2 blocks earlier (pictured below in previous blog post).  Yesterday, I made 6 more blocks for my FWS quilt:



Although this past week was a busy one for me, it was also a very enjoyable one as I am getting back to my sewing projects that sat dormant for weeks while I was recovering from surgery.  I hope I can make as more or even more progress this week!

Until next time . . .
Debbie

Getting back to sewing!

Yesterday I spent the greater part of the afternoon/early evening in my sewing room and finally made some progress on planned projects prior to my surgery. 

One project that my Yahoo group, SBS and Other Elm Creek Quilts, is doing this year is a BOM using Jennifer Chiaverini's Cornucopia of Thanks pattern.  This was started in June and yesterday I completed June's block, Augusta.

Augusta from the Cornucopia of Thanks
pattern by Jennifer Chiaverini

After finishing my Augusta block, I was on a roll and decided to start tackling some Farmer's Wife Sampler (FWS) blocks.  For those of you who have been following my blog, you know that I had several FWS blocks finished.  I initially began this quilt with a fabric collection from Moda called Ruby by Bonnie & Camille.  It's a great fabric line; however, the more FWS blocks I sewed, the more I realized that it wasn't the best choice for this quilt.  So while I was recuperating from surgery, I surfed the Internet looking for other options and mainly focused on fabric collections with a variety of small prints in florals, dots and geometrics.  What I finally settled on was a controlled, scrappy quilt using 1930s fabrics on a common background. 

Here are the re-do's of Railroad and Prairie Queen:


Railroad from the Farmer's Wife Sampler
pattern book by Laurie Aaron Hird

Prairie Queen from the Farmer's Wife Sampler
pattern book by Laurie Aaron Hird



I think the smaller prints show each block's design better.  I have to say that I am enjoying sewing these little blocks more using the smaller prints, and this is the first time I've used 1930s fabrics for an entire quilt.

If you are into sewing and quilting as much as I am then you can imagine how good it feels to get back to it after being away for 6+ weeks.  I'm hoping to make a lot more progress in the days and weeks ahead!

Until next time . . .

Debbie