I’ve made a wee bit of progress on my EPP project. I finished the red ring and begun appliquéing it to its center.
I glued the ring to the center with a glue stick.
We enjoyed a day at the Grand Canyon.
And a day hiking in Sedona with Daughter #2.
Now we are back at my son’s to love on the littles.
Linking up with Freshly Pieced and Sew Fresh Quilts
I work part time as a reference librarian at my local library. I am so blessed to have a job that I love! One of the best parts of my job is ordering new books. Since I order all the non-fiction titles, I get to order quilt books! Here are a handful of the books I have ordered in the last year. The newest titles were already checked out!
When I get back from Arizona, it will be time to begin ordering books for the next year. So my question to you is, what quilting/sewing book would you like to find on the shelf of your local library?
I appreciate all of your suggestions. And just to thank those of you that are sticking through my not responding to comments while I am away, I have decided to bury a wee giveaway into this post. So when I get back home, I will draw a name from all those commenting on this post and that person will receive a mug rug made by me!
Thanks for your help!
Linking up with Free Motion by the River for Linky Tuesday.
Over the weekend, I showed you how I use my die cutter to help me keep my scraps in check and in a form that I will actually use. I began turning this pile of random strips:
Into pieces like this:
And then used my die cutter to trim them to 3 x 6 inch finished rectangles like this:
Now I will share my plan for them. I have been looking at a lot of lattice type quilts on Pinterest lately and thought that would be a perfect use for these. I sketched out a quick block plan keeping in mind that I wanted to use my die cutter to cut all the pieces. Here is my sketch.
The numbers refer to dies needed. This gives me an odd sized finished block but since all the blocks will be the same, it doesn’t matter to me. I am using a 6 inch quarter square triangle die because the rectangle has a finished size of 6 inches on the long side. Same with the 3 inch QST.
Because I want the edges of my block to be on grain, I have to pay attention to how I place my fabrics on the die.
If I were using this die to cut actual QSTs, I would want the straight of grain to be parallel to the long side of the triangle. Since I am actually using these as half square triangles, I want the straight of grain to be on the short sides. Here are all the pieces cut for four blocks.
And two different arrangements of those four blocks on the design wall.
Sometimes we have to think outside the box when using die cutters. Often the dies we have can serve more than on purpose.
Linking up with Patchwork Times.
I never get as much done as I plan while traveling but I really enjoyed working on my hexies on the plane yesterday. Here is my “work table “.
And my view.
And my progress!
I plan to sneak a bit more stitching in today while traveling to the Grand Canyon with Daughter #2 and Mr. Wonderful.
I can’t tell you how I loved meeting this little boy yesterday!
And my other boy is hard to get a picture of because he never stops moving!
Linking up with Kathy’s Quilts
Cyndy at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework asked me if I would do a guest post for her linky party, Oh Scrap! I was delighted to do so! She specifically asked how I use my die cutter as an aid to managing my scraps. So this is how I handle scrap management.
First, find a container for scraps you want to keep together. Add to this until it is ready to over flow. Really. I don’t want to get all this out to cut a handful of pieces. Most quilters are already at this point.
This pan is filled with mostly scraps from my collection of Denyse Schmidt fabrics. I love her designs and have found that all her lines work so well together. I have a lot more scraps than this, but these are scraps I want to use together. I have a large basket for Civil War Repro fabrics and another bin for solids.
After my pan, basket, or bin is sufficiently full, I start sorting into like sizes and shapes. If you have a die cutter, you will likely have lots of similar shapes left over. This is very handy!
Toss bits that are tinier than you will actually use. Someone might uses bits this size, but I won’t. So out they go.
Next, decide what dies you have that you would like to use and will fit with the scraps that you have. For example, I had a pile of these hexies in this scrap bin. I could have cut them into something else, but I really want to make another hexie quilt at some point.
So I got out the hexie die. I also decided that I would like to cut tumblers, 2 inch finished squares, and 2 inch finished HSTs. So I pulled all of these out.
I started with the biggest scraps cutting as many hexies as I could. Then I started in on the tumblers because that was the next largest shape I planned to use. I layered my fabric scraps cutting up to 10 tumblers at a time (check with your die cutter manufacturer to know how many layers you can safely cut with your machine). When I could cut no more, I moved onto to squares and then the HSTs. I ended up with scraps that were still too big for me to throw away so I cut 1 1/2 inch finished HSTs as well.
When I was all done, these were the scraps that I ended up tossing out.
And here are my neat little piles of scraps all ready to go. Isn’t that ever so much better?
I also had some small strips leftover that didn’t fit any of the dies I had pulled out. I could have placed them on one of my strip dies to cut uniform strips. But I had another idea in mind.
I started randomly sewing these strips together like this.
Then I pulled out another die, 3 x 6 inch finished this time. I cut my random bits into uniform rectangles like this.
These pieces have so many design possibilities. I will show you how I plan to use these in my next Design Wall Monday post.
As I create more scraps, I will add to these piles. Or I could make a mini or bag with what I have cut so far.
The big tips here are to choose shapes that you know you will use. I can think of MANY patterns using these squares and HSTs that I would make.
Start with the biggest die you have chosen and work down to the smaller dies.
Don’t save something you won’t use anyway. There is nothing virtuous about saving scraps that you won’t use!
I hope this helps! Now head on over to Cyndy’s and link up your scrappy project!
Linking up with Podunk Pretties for Podunk Pickin’s!
The sister quilt is done! I really love how this one came together.
It all started with these 2 1/2 inch strips cut from my collection of Denyse Schmidt prints.
I wanted to choose a pattern that was reminiscent of an Irish Chain. I used Anne Dease’s book, Bits and Pieces and only changed the pattern slightly! Here are some pictures before washing:
And some after washing:
You might remember that I cut my backing too short and had to add a piece while it was on the frame. Here is a peek at the seam that I made.
I can live with that! This quilt ended up 64 x 82 inches. It shrunk up quite a lot, about 4 inches in width and 6 inches in length. But I expected that since I didn’t prewash anything.
My sister received the quilt on Wednesday. I think she liked it. 😊
I’ll be leaving in the morning for Phoenix. I can’t wait! I have posts scheduled for nearly every day that I am away, including a fun guest post for Quilting is More Fun Than Housework! I will likely check in with a few baby pictures as well :).
I will surely keep up with reading every comment. But I may be too busy with my kids and those two cute grandsons to respond much.
Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Richard and Tanya Quilts, Crazy Mom Quilts, Quilt Matters, A Quilting Reader’s Garden, Sew Can She, She Can Quilt
On Tuesday I showed you the EPP project I was looking at from Quiltmania. I decided to see how it would work if I made smaller hexie frames like this.
I didn’t want to sew these together and then find out I didn’t like it so I taped them with painters tape.
Then I tried it out.
Nope. Not working. I didn’t have enough red hexies prepared so I just taped the templates together for m next try.
And tried again.
Yep, that’s better. The pattern called for 10 inch squares of the background to be cut and then these frames would be appliqued on top and the excess cut away. I trimmed mine a bit closer to the actual size needed. I don’t have any of this fabric to waste. I will never be able to get more since I bought it 16 years ago in France. Check out the selvedge.
Here are my background bits.
I only need 7 and I may use only 6 and use something else for the 7th.
I really need to get packing! Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation.
Progress continues on the 16 Patch. The borders for this were not easy! Wanda suggested that I have the birds going in the same directional the way around the quilt. This idea allowed me to keep this little strip of color as which made me very happy.
it took for ever to decide how to center the borders on each side. Once that job was done, it was time to choose a quilting design.
I ended up choosing another complex one but a bit more forgiving than the last.
Each row of quilting takes approximately 35 minutes to stitch. This is time the machine is actually running. It does not include the time it takes to change bobbins, advance the quilt, align the pattern etc. This will be ready to bind before I leave this week but I may save that job until I get my Bernina back from the shop. I really like that machine for bindings.
Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts, Freshly Pieced, Cooking Up Quilts, She Can Quilt
I’ve been pondering a handwork project to take on my trip this week. I still have my scrappy hexie quilt but it is getting a bit unwieldy to take on a plane. I could piece sections and add them when I get back home but the last time I tried that, I ended up with two identical pieces next to each other. Ugh! Anyway I came across the loveliest project over at Cecile’s blog, Patchwork Inspirations. You can see it here. She told me it came from this wonderful French quilting magazine.
I was so excited to hear that as Mr. Wonderful had recently ordered a subscription for me! I first learned of this magazine when we were living in Chatou, France in the late 90’s. It was quite a treat to walk down the street to the local newspaper shop and purchase a copy, in French, of course! Here is the quilt that Cecile is working on.
This center is my favorite part of this quilt. I love how the hexies frame those lovely large prints. I have only made one tiny quilt with EPP and didn’t love the process but I can see how it would be necessary here. I have been intrigued by Kathy’s EPP bow ties as well. It might be time to try this again.
I have a few pieces of Toile de Jouy that I purchased in France and have been saving. Perhaps this is a perfect place to use some of them.
So I bought this paper punch at JoAnns yesterday.
And while watching a movie with hubby last night, I prepared these.
I’m really not sure where I will end up with this. I highly doubt I will make a quilt just like the one in the magazine. But I love the possibilities this presents. We shall see if I actually enjoy this process. My piece may end up very small!
Linking up with Free Motion by the River, Quilt Story
I posted this picture of my vintage Singer 301 in my sewing desk and I had questions about the desk itself. So this post is to show it a bit more clearly. Here is a picture of the whole thing.
I purchased this steel case desk from Good Will a few years ago for $25. At the time, I didn’t yet have my long arm but I did a lot of machine quilting. I wanted a table with more room in front of the machine to support the weight of a large quilt. You can read the details of hubby’s modification of the desk here. And a modification to that here.
The opening that he cut in the desk was sized to fit my Bernina 1030 with the extension table on it. But it works so that I can use this for most of my machines. I sometimes place something under the machine to bring it up to the correct height. Like this.
When we redid the sewing room last year, the desk got a coat of spray paint. If you get a steel case like I did, beware that it is called steel case for a reason! Sparks flew when hubby cut the hole in the top with his skill saw!
Hope these pictures and the link help.
