Tackling a Sampler Quilt

Usually, the first thing I do with a sampler quilt is take a photo of it.  Looking at the quilt on a computer screen gives me the opportunity to see the distribution of colours and shapes.  And sparing no expense (OMG, seriously!!  Do you know how expensive INK is for the printer???), I will also print this out so I can doodle some quilting ideas.  It is always a good idea to take a GOOD LOOK at the piecing here - you may find that some of the patches have been stitched in the wrong orientation.  You still have time to fix that - it is much easier before you load the quilt.  Trust me on that.  See HERE.

Step one will be s.i.d. the borders, the setting triangles, and the black chain.  I'm using black thread for that.  And my favorite ruler Janet Lee's Favorite.  This is actually my second of these rulers and I think I'll be buying a third.  It seems they are 'consumables', especially when you zig when you are supposed to zag and take a large chunk out of the edge.  Thankfully said chunks have never come flying at my eyes.

Then, I fire up the IQ and stitch the motifs in the setting triangles.  Pretty, eh?

The IQ is also used for the border.  As you can clearly see (ha ha, pfftt) this border design matches the above motif.

Okey dokey - we are finished with the black thread.  Changing over to olive green... I just love that little border design - Bluebells by My Creative Stitches.

And now we move on to the blocks, with olive thread.  More s.i.d. and some, I dunno, emphasis quilting.  Through the whole quilt, in every bit of that red print I am doing 1/4" inside quilting.

The centers of the blocks are all getting an IQ motif. That is an interesting process because the block centers come in four different sizes and the motif should FIT the area, while leaving a bit of negative space around the edges.

Once the olive green quilting is finished I move on to the cream thread.  For hours and hours of cross-hatching.  Can you say "hello, massage therapist"?

If you click on the pics to look at a large version, you may notice that I have NOT quilted the side borders.  Usually, I quilt the sides as I progress down the quilt.  In this case it would have been done when I was using the black thread.  Then again when I had the olive thread loaded.  This definitely leaves tiny spots on the back where you can see the stops & starts of the stitching as the thread is anchored.  On this particular quilt, the motif was too long to fit in the available space.  When I am ALL THROUGH with this x-hatching I will take the quilt off and reload it with the short sides attached to the leaders and do those other borders.  At that point the whole quilt will get a once-over.  I will likely find a couple of spots where I have missed a motif, or missed some s.i.d. (I have already found some, actually), or neglected to clip some thread tails.  Hopefully I won't find any tiny pleats on the back - they can be a nightmare to fix.

IN THE MEANTIME, here is my salute to spring.  A plastic bag.  Ha ha ha - yes.  But it is covering up my geranium cuttings.

How to Quilt Multiple Placemats, and UFO Report

Here is a little tutorial on how to get a zillion placemats done for Meals on Wheels.

Start with a customer who gives you a large bag of remnants - mostly man-stuff like fishing & camping fabrics.

Add another customer who gives you a box of started scrappy quilt blocks.

Take those two items to your quilt guild, and guilt the members into taking some of that stuff home to make wee placemat tops that measure somewhere in the vicinity of 12-ish inches by 18-ish inches.  While they are groaning and rolling their eyes at you, remind them that they DO NOT NEED TO QUILT THEM.  If they are still giving you a hard time, let your eyes get a little watery as though you might be starting to cry, and tell them about how your mom used to get little gifts from Meals on Wheels and it really cheered her up.  That should work.

When they bring them back to you the next month, take 'em all  home and try to find one backing fabric that will look ok with ALL of the wee tops.  This is definitely a challenge!  Here, you can see that I found a nice neutral in my stash.

Pin those puppies on to a very large hunk of backing fabric which has been matched up with a very large hunk of batting.  Allow three inches of space all around each placemat.  And use a thinner batt - pouffy stuff tends to tip over wine glasses.  Not that seniors drink wine, of course.  :-)

Baste around the edges of each placemat.

Quilt them.  Stay INSIDE each placemat with the stitching - you'll see why in a second.

Cut them apart, leaving a generous one inch of backing all the way around.  Trim off the batting at the edge of the wee top. This way, you can simply turn the backing over to the top, folding over twice, and top stitch in place for binding. 

I have a very fancy name for this binding, calling it "Back To Front Self Binding".  Ahem.

UFO CHALLENGE UPDATE

Ta da...  Here is the Blooming 9-Patch all done.  Binding finished and everything.  Even labelled.  Now I'm waiting for Margaret to pull the number for months March & April.  I am going on a retreat this weekend so maybe I could do a little work on the next one.

Have I shown you my cutie-patootie lately?

Tutorial for easy coasters - Great Christmas Gift!! (and a stash report)

Christmas is coming.  Don't be caught short when you get invited to dinner - make your hostess gifts NOW.
These are dirt simple.  Each coaster uses five squares, each cut 5" x 5".  You can make 8 coasters and take 25" of fabric off your stash report.  I made a dozen of these so I get to claim one meter of stash.  Yay.  :-)

STASH REPORT
Used since last report:  1 m
Used YTD                  68.95 m
Added since last report    0
Added YTD                119.75 m
NET YTD                   + 50.8 m

On the home front, DH and I went to the mushroom farm last Friday and filled up the truck AND the trailer with mushroom compost - 7 yards (or more).  I've been shoveling that shit stuff ever since.  It really IS poop, though - I'm not being derogatory.  The sweet gal at the farm is the daughter of a new customer, and let me tell you - she really is sweet!  She also gave me a five pound box of portobello mushrooms.  Do you know how many mushrooms that is?  Holy mackerel.  I made a fantastic pot of mushroom soup, tomorrow I'm making a potato/portobello gratin (recipe LINK), and then I will dehydrate the remaining mushrooms for later use.

Dog Beds and Stash Report

Many thanks to those of you who wished me luck on that UFO Challenge 50/50 draw.  I won.  :-)

Sadie's doctor has many dogs of her own and asked me to make a few dog beds for the crates.  I followed instructions by Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber.

DOG BED TUTORIAL

Chop up leftover batting into 2 inch-ish pieces.  Use the back side of your cutting mat so you don't trash the good side.  It's not like you need the lines to do this.

Fill up a large box, more than once.  I was using several years worth of leftover trimmings, both poly and 80/20.

Make a form about the size you want for the crate, PLUS three inches (to allow for the finished depth of the filling). Sew channels in the form. Make sure they are large enough to generously fit your fist & arm.  Stuff with chopped up batting.  I made divisions of 3 x 3 pillow sections.

Sew up pillow sections to close.

Finished.

Now that I have that Bunny Hill UFO finished I have something positive, I mean NEGATIVE to report. 

STASH REPORT

Used this month     13 m.
Used YTD             28.25 m.
Added this month       .25 m.
Added YTD           19.25 m.
Net 2012               (-9.0 m.)
 
Today I collected a dozen little 9-patches leftover from a 2011 project and will start making up blocks with them to be used in a donation quilt.  Probably for chemo patients, since the Caledonia guild is having a challenge for that project.  Stitching on that will happen in between my little explosions of RAIN DANCE.  Everything here is so dry, the grass is gold and crusty like it normally is in late July.  Poor DH is repairing hoses and replacing nozzles every few days, it seems.  When I harvest my first batch of snow peas tomorrow I know it will all be worth it. 

This winter...

This winter has been very mild and will likely lead to an early spring.  I should be happy, right?  Huh.
This winter I broke my arm.  Then two weeks after I got the cast off I started thinking I could get my life back on track.  Nooo, the Universe has a different plan.  Mom fell and broke her hip.  While she was in the hospital I got a cold (which thankfully only lasted a week - I'm grateful for lemons and honey!!).  Now we're on a new round of appointments with the fracture clinic.  I get to push a wheelchair with my healed but sore wrist, and I get to take more time off work since none of my siblings can help.  So, I am officially declaring a little pity party for me and labeling this The Winter That Sucked Canal Water.

This past weekend was the Binbrook Guild annual retreat at Creiff Hills.  Normally I look forward to this with unbridled excitement, but if you read the previous paragraph you might figure out that I just wanted to stay home and cover my head.  I went anyways and had a good time, although I came home tired as hell.  Two weeks ago I was VERY SMART.  I planned ahead and booked a massage appointment for today because I am always twisted right up after sewing for three days straight.  Hah - the massage gal called me this morning and had to cancel because of a child-related emergency.  See previous paragraph and description of this winter.  sheesh.

My tumbler top is together and can officially go on the TFUQ list.

After I finished the tumblers I put together the Block of the Month which will be due at the end of March.  I used a new-to-me method of applique.  This is really soft since there is no fusible web involved.

APPLIQUE TUTORIAL

• invisible thread in the top
• fusible thread in the bobbin
• mark the outlines on the selected fabrics with a sharp pencil, or whatever you can see
• stitch just a wee bit inside the lines using the above listed thread combination
• trim with sharp scissors ON the marked lines
• place the pieces on the background fabric
• fuse with a hot iron & steam
• applique in place with a blanket stitch and decorative thread (note - I have not done that yet in the photo... or in real life... maybe tomorrow)

Now, I am going to do that 'cover-my-head' thing.  Good night.

Buzz Saw & Border tutorial, Urn Panel, Red Hats & Cherry recipe

This is a cute little quilt made from an Urn panel. It is quilted with clamshells.

Buzz Saw quilt from the book Open A Can Of Worms.

The quilting didn't show up very well in the photo.  I used a combination of Terry Twist and a ribbon design.  Click the photo for a large version.

Border Tutorial
Once again, I am using my favorite marking tool:  TAILOR'S CHALK.  This quilt is made from 2 1/2" strips which makes a nice built-in 2" grid(after seam allowances).  I used the piecing as a guide and marked the 2" divisions.  I did stitch-in-the-ditch to separate the top from the borders, then treated the two borders as one.  I just got a little creative with a feather motif to fill the corner.  The whole border is continuous, and gets a little extra zing from a variegated thread.  The chalk just brushes off.

I was a lucky, lucky girl this week, with TWO pool parties to attend.  Thursday was Red Hat day.  Hanna treated us to a swim in her pool and hamburgers on the BBQ, cooked courtesy of her DH.  After the burgers were done he beat a hasty retreat to his friend's house.  The rest of us brought pot luck salads & desserts.  I figure by now her neighbours have all signed the petition that she is not allowed to have us over again because we broke the noise bylaw.  :-)  Then Saturday was a swim and dinner party at a friend of DH's.  The ladies ended up going in the house around 9 pm because we couldn't hear ourselves talk.  And we needed to complain about our hubbys.

ZUCCHINI REPORT

Picked  2
Eaten  5
Given Away  0 (again??  really??)
Compost 0
Total YTD 49
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Cherry Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake
Serves 10, adapted from Bon Appetit via Smitten Kitchen

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
3 cups whole pitted fresh Bing cherries (*I used half cherries and half fresh blueberries)
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, separated
3/4 tsp vanilla bean paste OR vanilla extract
1/2 cup light coconut milk
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1. Position rack in the center of the oven. Preheat to 350.  Combine 1/4 cup butter with brown sugar and vinegar in a skillet.  Stir over medium heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves.  Increase heat to high.  Add cherries and bring to a boil.  Set aside. (*this is DELICIOUS.  It would make a wonderful topping for ice cream)

2. Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.  Using an electric mixer, beat 1/2 cup butter in a separate large bowl.  Add sugar.  Beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Beat in egg yolks and vanilla.  Add flour mixture alternatively with coconut milk in two additions each, beating just until blended and scraping down the sides after each addition.

3. Using clean, dry beaters, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until foamy.  Add cream of tartar and beat until whites are stiff  but not dry.  Using a rubber spatula, fold 1/4 of the egg white mix into the batter.  Fold in remaining whites in three additions.

4. Pour the cherries into a 10-inch springform pan.  Pour the batter over the cherries, spreading evenly to cover the cherries.  Cover the bottom half of the pan with aluminum foil to prevent leakage.  Bake cake until top is golden and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.  Cool in pan, on rack, for 5 minutes.  Run a spatula around the sides to loosen.  Remove sides of springform pan.  Place a large serving platter on top of the cake, and flip over.  Remove the base of the springform pan from the top of the cake.  If necessary, rearrange any cherries that may have come unhinged.  Let cake cool at least 45 minutes.  Cut into wedges and serve.

Avoid turning to quilt side borders {and shoes :-) }

I am working on a One Block Wonder quilt.  I love these quilts - they are always so striking from a distance.  Because they are really busy, I usually recommend a pantograph of some kind.  In this case the owner chose clamshells along with two border treatments.

I avoid turning the quilt to do the side borders whenever possible.  It adds about an hour to the working time and quilting is already expensive, right?  I don't want to charge any more than necessary.  Here I have loosely chalked in a spine which was measured and planned before the quilt was loaded.  I quilt the leaves & curls as far as I can then lock my stitches.  When I advance the quilt I pick up where I left off.  Kinda like the rinse & repeat instructions on your shampoo.  You can see the thread tail where I started this stretch of border.

My biggest worry before I started this quilt was ... just how far will a 500 yard spool of Valdani thread take me?  I spent an hour before I took my first stitch finding a (somewhat) local store where I could get another spool if I needed one.  I am about two thirds of the way through quilting and I think I will make it.  Fingers crossed.

On a completely unrelated but always timely topic: SHOES.  My favorite thing in all the world, besides my dog & DH.  (DH & my dog?  hmm, could be a Freudian slip.)  Anyhow... there was a story in the paper the other day stating the average woman owns 17 pair of shoes.  Pfftt.  Where did they find those lightweights????  Without even digging I counted 26 in my front hall closet.  Not including boots or slippers or work shoes or the layer underneath the layer I could count. 

no template tutuorial & big sobby mess

When I need a shape I don't have, I make one out of paper.

Pin it on and stitch around it.

Here, I've filled in with Ribbon Candy.

Curlycue feathers around the outside.  Pretty.

The big sobby mess is me.  I'm a Pisces, so I'm emotional at the best of times.  

I have been trying to get my head around the most awful thing.  There was a murder last week - brutal, multiple stab wounds, sexual assault.  The victim was my high school physics teacher.  She was ... 73?  

I was in school for 14 years, if you include kindergarten.  I only remember 3 teachers.  (I apologize now, to all my friends and relatives who are teachers.  I know how hard you try.) Mr. Sabourin, the french teacher.  Mmm - school girl crush.  Mr. Dalgleish, my teacher for the 2 years I was in the enrichment program.  He used to do fun things with us, trying to keep our interest and challenge our thinking.  And Mrs. Gleave, rest her soul.

I have thought of that woman so many times over the last near 40 years it is silly.  I'm pretty sure everyone who knows me has heard me say:

     "I had a physics teacher in high school who always used to say 'a short pencil is better than a long memory' ".  She was SUCH a character.  Didn't think twice about embarrassing her students (me included).  But funny, too.  She used to check if we had comic books hidden behind our textbook if she actually caught us READING our textbook.  The only day she ever missed class was to stay home for the vet when her horse was sick.

My friend lost her husband to cancer a few days ago, much too young.  I feel so, so, sad for them.  Then the shock of the murder - it was just all too much.  I'm not sleeping well, I'm distracted, and still can't think about Mrs. Gleave without imagining the horror of her last hour on earth.  Then squashing out a few more tears.  I don't understand who would do that?  Why?  I just don't understand.  It is so senseless, and so ... permanent.  A life gone forever.

Double Wedding Ring

Situation: the customer and I have discussed quilting and decided on feathers for the insets and continuous curve for the background plaid. Now, it's up to me to work out the actual feather design. I flip open my catalogue from The Stencil Company looking for inspiration. I find what I'm looking for and convert it to a single line design that I can quilt using only a few chalk registration lines.

Step 1) get out the Pam Clark stencil and the Pounce Pad. Center it on the inset and pounce away.

Step 2) this has been practiced several times off quilt until I'm comfortable with my design placement. Quilt all four quadrants.

Step 3) get out the Miracle Brush and swipe off the chalk.

Ta da!!!This evening I picked my first bouquet of the year. I'm not sure why I waited so long, the daffys have been blooming for two weeks or more. The pink is quince (watch out for the thorns - ask me how I know?) and the greenery is white pine. The fragrance is heaven.