Saturday, August 25, 2012

Blog Hop Give Away

Quilting Gallery is again sponsoring a Blog Hop Party Give Away. See icon on left. Hope you can join us. My give away is a Share the Joy charm pack with 1/3 yard red for an outer border and 1/8 yard of white for an inner border...or do as you like. Just sewing the 5 inch squares together with a 1 inch inner border and 3 inch outer border will make a 35 by 39.9 inch top. Hope you like. To enter give away just leave a comment telling me what is your favorite holiday.


 
If someone knows why blogger will sometimes turn my pics please let me know. This is so crazy.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Pumpkinville by Bunny Hill Designs

I am back to appliquing evenings after taking some time off. It feels wonderful to be doing Pumpkinville by Bunny Hill Designs. The peaches, creams, greens, oranges, warm browns are so soothing and the design is simply done. Although I have not been a fan of embroidery I am getting much better at my stitches and don't mind the added touches here and there. Here is block number one.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Blog Party Give Away



Just a reminder about the Blog Hop Party Give Away starting Saturday, the 25th. I've already decided to give away a charm pack or 2 of Share the Joy. I will be making my purchase tomorrow and will get pics up ASAP. I may have to get a couple of charm packs in this line for myself. I really, really like it and hope you do too.

Another Atkinson's Design

Just couldn't resist making this handy little "reader" to hold a Nook or whatever brand of reader you use. Terry Atkinson provides different measurements to accommodate different size readers. This was a fast little project to make...3 hours tops. It takes less fabric than the 3 fatt quarters the pattern suggests so using your stash is an easy option. This was the first time I used Terry Atkinson's directions for doing machine binding. It worked so well. I used Quilter's Basting Glue instead of stitch witchery which I didn't have on hand. Definitely recommend this pattern.



Pocket for light as well as another pocket to hold list of books to download, maybe??


Halloween Costume Miniature

I've been busy getting this little gem quilted and the pattern written. The costume fabric for the centers of the blocks is all cut up for kits to make this miniature. The shop had all the fabrics except the stripe so I substituted black with orange and yellow dots for the sashing and inner border. I also used that fabric for the binding on my quilt. It measures 15 by 18 1/2 inches.


Saturday, August 4, 2012

Nine Patch Tutorial

Trisha from Seattle, Washington has this tutorial for making 2 nine patch blocks at the same time. Just had to share.

http://tlcstitches.blogspot.com/2010/08/9-patches.html

Friday, August 3, 2012

Does Your Backing Match the Front of Your Quilts?

For the first time I am stepping way out my box in choosing the backing for a wedding quilt I am making for a friend of my husbands. Bride and groom are skydivers, the bride with orange hair. Yes, I said orange. I chose a very simple pattern in the new ombre fabrics from Clothworks for the top. I also used the pattern that came from the manufacturer replacing a couple of the fabrics with purple for the bride. Lots of bias edges which made putting the first border on a little tricky. It will quilt out, right??




The ombre fabrics not only look awesome but FEEL wonderful. They would great for applique pieces too.



Because I made the front of the quilt more to the groom's liking I went a little crazy in picking out the backing more to the bride's liking....orange, bright and in batiks. Never have I chosen a quilt and its backing so different from each other. The quilting will be an all over teardrop swirly pattern so it can be a reversible quilt. Quilt is 62 X71, perfect for the sofa.


I like this quilt and the fabric so much I am going to get more fabric and make my nephew's graduation quilt changing the purple to more blues...lots of blues. Can you believe I have his quilt all set almost like a year ahead of time? That is soooo not me. If my brother happens to be reading this blog...don't tell Davy. I work on Sunday and will get the fabric then....what I do best, buying fabric!!!!

Using Glue in Quilts

On my sewing forum...a yahoo group...the discussion was about using Elmer's clear and white school glue. I have used glue for bias strips for stems in applique but it was a special purchased glue from a quilt shop. What I have learned is that there are many uses of glue and Elmer's school is washable so it is perfect to use on quilts. Many are using glue on bindings before stitching down. Here is a gal who is using glue for lots of things.

http://sandyquilts.blogspot.com/2008/05/elmers-washable-school-glue-and-quilts.html

My thought is to definitely wash the quilt once completed to get the glue out of the fabric especially for giving away.  For a wall hanging I am not sure if it would matter. I like the idea
of a glue stick so my fingers aren't sticking onto everything and have heard you can get the clear Elmers in stick form as well the white glue. Having the glue get clogged up in the hole is no fun either and I confess to throwing away the whole bottle when it hasn't worked "right". White glue dries clear so I am not sure the advantage to the clear glue. One commenter said the clear didn't stick as well as the white. Let me know if you tried using glue or what you have heard...pros and cons.