The Quilt and Needle Blog

Diva Designer Tip 12-11-11

2011-12-11T07:29:00.001-08:00

Fluorescent lights do a lot of damage to fabrics and other materials. Use ultraviolet filters (found at electrical supply stores) to decrease the damage.

Piece out,
Jess

- Posted using BlogPress from Jess' iPhone

A Review on the Mystery quilt

2011-10-18T11:24:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

Did you play along with the mystery with us over the weekend? If so, we would love to see your pretty top! Come over to the forum and show us.

This is a great little quilt. It will perfect for my new baby, once he/she is about toddler size. Actually, my 7 yr old could fit under it. So it will see some long usage, I am sure.

For you beginners, this is the perfect quilt to try out and practice your HST's (half square triangles) and your flying geese. You make 5 different blocks. So you get plenty of practice.

For you who have been quilting awhile, this is an easy quilt. But that does NOT mean it's boring! OH NO! There is a twist or two from your usual pattern, that makes it a fun quilt to put together.

It only takes 5 yards, 1 yard of 5 different fabrics each. So whether you like bright colors, pastels, Americano, 1930s, darks, whatever, it will be smashing in any colorway.

And just because I don't like to leave you without a picture or two....

Just a few, small sneak peeks...

Cause it's not a mystery...if you know what it looks like beforehand.

Thanks for stopping by! Come and join us on the forum.

Dorian

October mystery weekend

2011-10-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

Hello, hello!

The Oct mystery weekend is coming!! YAH! Mark your calenders for Oct 15th &16th. You wont want to miss it. Jess has the best mysteries on the net (in my humble opinion :) LOL )

Anyways, you can order the mystery pattern here, for only $9.95. And you can buy a beautiful kit here, if you want.

You don't have to use a kit though. All you need is five fabulous fabrics that go well together, one yard of each fabric.

These are the ones I am using.

It being Fall, Jess had Fall fabrics in mind when she made this mystery....but...well, this is what I had. LOL. I like Summery fabrics more than Fall ones anyways :) I'm sure it will look beautiful though, no matter what season you use.

I hope you all come over to the forum and join in the discussion and pictures when the weekend is here. You have to be a member of our forums to join to see the mystery threads though.

But we always have lots of fun things going on. So come on down and join the fun.

Diva Designer Tip 11/23/11

2011-09-23T09:08:00.001-07:00

When removing a bobbin (with thread still on it) from the bobbin case, clip the thread tail right next to the case and then remove the bobbin. Pulling a long thread tail through the bobbin case can mess up the spring and/or tension on your bobbin.

Piece out,
Jess

- Posted using BlogPress from Jess' iPhone

Diva Designer Tip 09/20/11

2011-09-20T12:11:00.001-07:00

Ever have wavy borders after quilting? Check to make sure you have a consistent density of quilting over the entire quilt surface. If not, the borders (or the entire quilt) may appear wavy. Go back and add more quilting where needed and your waves should calm down a bit!

Piece out,
Jess

- Posted using BlogPress from Jess' iPhone

I'm still here.....

2011-09-19T06:06:00.000-07:00

So sorry for the quiet blog lately. The last of Summer heat and being pregnant just don't combined very well :) I'm feeling good though, and am hoping to jump back into more quilting/designing and blogging.

I have several projects that I want to do. I'm working on a quilt for our Quilty Aunty's thread on the Q&N forum. We make baby quilts for members expecting a baby/grandbaby/niece/nephew.

I want to make some receiving blankets, burb cloths, and cloth diapers. Does anyone have some good tutorials/patterns for these, you would like to share?

I bought some lovely Flurry.

picture, courtesy of Lola Pink fabrics

I'm making my Secret Santa gift from some of it.

This is the next bundle I want to get.

picture, courtesy of GreenFairy quilts

It's Meadow Friends, by Deb Strain. It's so cute! I think I'll make my own baby quilt from this line.

How about you? have you started on Christmas projects yet? I also tell myself I am going to start on gifts early....and I never do!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by,

Dorian

quilt as you go...hexagon table runner

2011-08-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, I have finally got my tutorial together for my quilt as you go hexagon table runner. Whew! And I am warning you know, my quilting skills have taken a dive this past week or so :( LOL (so just ignore the quilting)

I made three more hexagon flowers out of 4" squares. And sewed them together on the sewing machine. Then I turned under the edges 1/4" and sewed it down. (If you prefer to applique, then don't sew the edges under 1/4")

Next I cut three 14" squares. Laid my ruler on the side, 4" in on the bottom, and 7" up the side, and cut.

Turn the ruler and do the other bottom side.

Flip the whole thing, so the top is on the bottom. And cut as above.

Take four 8.5"x 9" rectangles. Lay them so that the 9" go out to the side. Lay your ruler so the edge is at the bottom left corner, and the 30 degree angle on the ruler is along the left edge of fabric. Cut.

Cut at a 30 degree angle from the bottom right corner also.

Take one triangle, lay if right sides together with a side of the hexagon. Making sure the tips of the triangle, go past the edges of the hex a little bit.

Place two triangles on another hexagon, on opposite sides of each other.

And sew the last one on the last hexagon.

Cut backing and batting at 18"x 46". Fold in half both ways, and finger press to find the middle. (you can use a ruler and pencil too, if you want)

Lay hexagon two in the very center and pin it down. (watching where you put the triangles)

Lay hexagon three on the right side, right sides together. Making sure that the tip of the triangle hangs off the edge of the bottom hexagon about 1//4". Pin and sew with a 1/4" seam.

To get those inner seams to meet just right. I fold back the top piece along the 1/4" mark, before I sew, and make sure those two seams are going to intersect on that 1/4" line. Then put a pin in it.

Open it up and place the hexagon one on the left. Right sides together. Pin and sew like before.

Now cut four 1.5"x 11" strips and two 1.5"x36" ( I already had these strips at 1.5", so didn't want to cut any other ones (yes, being lazy. lol) but you can easily put 2" strips on instead.)

Add the 11" long strips to the ends. Place one, right sides together, making sure they go over the ends of the hexagon. Pin and sew.

Open it up. You can iron if you want, or just finger press it. Place another on the other side, making sure that the corner goes past the green strip. Pin and sew.

Do the same thing for the other end.

Place your long strip, right sides together, making sure to go over the green end strip. Pin and sew.

Do both long sides.

Place your flowers in the center of the hexagons. Either quilt them down or applique them.

Lay your ruler along the end pieces and cut off extra batting/backing. Doing that all the way around. Cutting your ends first. Then the sides.

Quilt as much or as little as you want.

Add the binding, and your done :)

I hope you've enjoy my little tutorial.

Have a great day!

And thanks for stopping by
Dorian

08/25/11 Diva Designer Tip

2011-08-25T12:38:00.001-07:00

If your tension seems off on your machine, try replacing the needle first. Sometimes a fresh needle can fix the problem.

Piece out,
Jess

- Posted using BlogPress from Jess' iPhone

A lazy blogger...

2011-08-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

Gosh, sorry it's been awhile since I made a post! What a lazy blogger I am being lately. There is lots going on in my little world, and it's kind of pushed quilting and blogging to the back.

I'm sorry if there is anyone out there waiting for my hexagon quilt as you go table runner. You all are so quiet, I have no idea if anyone is waiting for the tutorial or not :)

But, none the less, I will try to get that done in the next few days for whomever is interested.

I have finished the baby quilt top I am making. I don't want to post a full picture, as my friend wants to be surprised by it, and she reads this blog. But, I can tell you you can go here (scroll down) to see it!

And because I don't like to post without a picture, here is a little snippet...the monkey 'tail' (wrench) block that I made.

Don't you just love those polk a dots??!! I do. lol

Have a great day all. Thanks for dropping by!

Diva Designer Tip 8/16/11

2011-08-16T10:49:00.001-07:00

Use a pants hanger to hold open your pattern book while working on a quilt. You can even hang it on a convenient wall or bulletin board to save space!

Piece out,
Jess

- Posted using BlogPress from Jess' iPhone

Diva Designer Tip 8/15/2011

2011-08-15T12:47:00.001-07:00

Always "set" your seam first, by pressing it the way it was sewn before pressing the seam one direction or the other. This sinks the thread into the fabric and reduces the bulk of the seam (which is really nice when quilting!).

- Posted using BlogPress from Jess' iPhone

What I'm doing...

2011-08-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

So Summer is coming to a close....at least, by the school calendar it is. So much of the states are broiling, that it's hard to tell. LOL.

Whether you home school like I do, or your kids are in public or private school. Now is the time everyone is getting ready to get back into the routine. Does that mean less sewing time for you? Or more?

For me, I have to juggle the schooling of the kids. So I actually get less time to sew in the Winter months. But as it's so important to give yourself some "ME" time, I make sure I take some sewing time most days.

I finally got these gorgeous Anne Kellie fabrics, and some solids to go with them. This is going to be a baby quilt for my best friends first Grandchild. I got this fabric from Lola Pink. I highly suggest this fabric store. Fast, curtious service! And great prices.

These are SO CUTE! I can't wait to cut into them. The first block I will be doing is the monkey wrench (I think a better name would be monkey TAIL. LOL)...of course! The nursery is going to be decked out in jungle fun, so a monkey quilt fits the bill.

Now I know, most people will say "what a minute, that is snails trail, not monkey wrench". I saw this block here, and that is what she calls it.

Here is a snails trail block. That I got here.

Can you see the subtle difference?

The snails trail block consists of a 4-patch, with THREE layers of squares after it. Whereas the monkey wrench consists of a 4-patch, with FOUR layers of squares after it. Pretty neat, huh?!

So, I am going with this monkey wrench, not the other monkey wrench pattern out there.

I also have some batting, so am going to be doing my hexagon quilt-as-you-go table runner next week. Has any else done some of these hexagon place mats?

I also have all three of my quilt along blocks done. I'm doing this quilt along over at RidgeTopQuilts. You're welcome to come over and do it too. We'll be putting this blocks together next week.

Not to mention the rows for our row robin swap I'm doing on the forum. And getting ready to quilt my first Aunty quilt.

So it looks like I have plenty to keep me busy....how about you? What are you working on?

Have a great day, thanks for stopping by!

Dorian

Diva Designer Tip

2011-08-08T13:26:00.001-07:00

Instead of marking the line to sew on the backs of tons of squares, try using wide sticky notes as a sewing guide. I used the same two sticky notes to sew over 300 seams and saved a chunk of time!

- Posted using BlogPress from Jess' iPhone

A quick note

2011-08-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

Hello out there,

Just a quick note to tell you that all our Diva Designer tips our on their own page now. up top, alongside Tutorials and such.

Here's one from me, although I don't know how much of a tip it is...it's probably just common sense, but sometimes...I just don't seem to have any! LOL

When drafting and making your own patterns. Cut out and sew a sample block from scrap fabric, BEFORE you cut out all the pieces for all the blocks you are going to do!

Sigh, pattern making is not fun all the time!....

Just most of it. lol

Have a great day,

Thanks for stopping by
Dorian

Diva Designer Tip

2011-08-07T08:17:00.001-07:00

Quilters used to use cooking ingredients like cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking powder, and corn starch to pounce mark their quilts for quilting. In a pinch, out if chalk? You might have something in your pantry that will do! (Be sure to test it on a scrap of fabric first, as you would do with anything you put on a quilt to mark it.)

- Posted using BlogPress from Jess' iPhone

Diva Designer Tip

2011-08-04T20:08:00.001-07:00

When working with fusible appliqué, use parchment paper to protect your ironing board cover and other surfaces from the fusible product you choose to use. (I like Steam-a-seam and sometimes Misty Fuse, and I try to cut out the center of the fusible and only fuse the edges of the pieces for a softer end product.)

- Posted using BlogPress from Jess' iPhone

The small clutch, handbag, make-up bag.......

2011-08-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

It comes with all kinds of names, depending on what you do with it I suppose :)

Have a few leftover charms from a charm pack? Or some 5" squares that are in the scrap bin?

Here's a cute little bag to make with them.

You will need:

6 charm squares (or 5" squares)
two- 7 1/4"x 12 1/4" rectangles for lining.
four - 2.5" x 12.5" contrasting strips
a 12" zipper
a 2.5"x 15" strip for a strap
two- 7 1/4" x 12 1/4" rectangles of batting or interfacing.

Fold your strap in half lengthwise, unfold it and fold each long side into the middle. Then fold in half again and sew a seam all the way down the length.

Iron on your interfacing to the lining rectangles, if using.

Take your charm squares (5"squares) and pair them up, right sides together. Draw a line from one corner to the other.

Sew a 1/4" seam on both sides of the line, on all three squares. Cut apart on the drawn line, making 12 HST blocks.

Trim your HST's to 4.5".

Put three of them in a line, in a pleasing manner. Sew them together. Making two sets of three blocks.

Add a contrasting 2.5"x12.5" strips along the top and bottom of each set.

Lay one lining piece right sides down, put batting on (if using), then your front piece, right side up. You can put a few pins in to keep everything together.

Put your zipper right side down on top of the front piece and sew on. Open and make a top seam. On top of the zipper, lay your next front piece, right side down. Put on your batting, if using, then the lining piece, right side up. Sew the sandwhich to the zipper. Open and top stitch.

UNZIP your zipper half way. Fold your strap in half, so it makes a loop. Stick the raw ends of it along the side, about an inch down from the top. (Obviously, I forgot to do this before I sewed my bag together!!)

Fold one side over, so both front sides are facing each other. Sew a seam down one side, across the bottom and up the other side. Taking some back stitches at start and stop. I like to use a 3/8" or 1/2" seam on my bags. Gives them a tiny bit extra stength.

Trim your corners.

If you don't like the raw edge on the inside of your bag. You can put a binding on them now. Or instead, you can make a french seam (which you would do instead of this sewing and trimming). Whip Up has a drawstring bag tutorial, showing how to make a french seam.

Turn right side out. Carefully poking out the corners.

Hope you enjoyed my quick, easy tutorial. This is a perfect little bag for a quick trip to the store, a night on the town, or to use as a make-up bag.

Have fun! And feel free to email/comment if you have any questions.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dorian

Diva Designer Tip 8/1/11

2011-08-01T06:16:00.001-07:00

When cutting triangles, patterns may have you cut some squares once diagonally and some squares on both diagonals. Do you know why? It depends on where the triangle is going to land in the project; the designer is trying to make the straight of grain land on the outside of the block or quilt top.

- Posted using BlogPress from Jess' iPhone

Diva Designer Tip 7/30/11

2011-07-30T11:59:00.001-07:00

Most of us know not to store our rotary mats in direct sunlight, since it will warp them. Also, store them flat (not on end), or you may warp them anyway. Same rules apply to rulers, since they will also warp and distort.

- Posted using BlogPress from Jess' iPhone

Diva Designer Tip 7/28/11

2011-07-29T05:53:00.001-07:00

To avoid the dreaded 'v' syndrome when cutting strips, make sure the fold on your fabric is straight and perpendicular (at a 90 degree angle) to the lines you are cutting.

Piece out,
Jess

Location:Home

Diva Designer Tip 7/28/11

2011-07-28T19:36:00.001-07:00

Don't have wall space for a design wall? Tape batting and/or flannel to the back of a door for a makeshift small design wall. You'll be surprised how handy even a small design wall can be!

- Posted using BlogPress from Jess' iPhone

Location:Home

7/27/11 Diva Designer Tip

2011-07-27T05:36:00.001-07:00

When cutting out pieces of fabric for a quilt, use the lines on your ruler, rather than the lines on your cutting mat, to measure. The lines on your cutting mat can become distorted over time and sometimes they aren't accurate to begin with. Piece Out, Jess

- Posted using BlogPress from Jess' iPhone

Location:Home

Happenings on the forum

2011-07-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,

Great tips of the day, thanks Jess!

We are having lots of fun this Summer on the form. Swaps and challenges, baby quilts and ones for soldiers.

Another mug rug swap. Here is the one I got from my friend Bobby in Australia. She sent a lot of little goodies too.

I can't show you the one I made just yet.

We are also having a "it's too pretty to cut" challenge. Here is my pretty. The pretty fabric I had to use is the white with blue butterflies.

And, we've started our annual Secret Santa gift too. Click here if you want to join in the fun (you need to join the Q&N forum too, please). This is one of the funniest! We all give our names and info to the hostess. She picks a secret friend for us. And we make a gift for our friend. Who wont know who her Secret Santa is, until late Nov/early Dec.

And, of course, this weekend is the mystery quilt weekend. And it's ALWAYS fabulous!! Jess makes awesome patterns.

Here is the fabric that I am using.

Jess made this pattern around some lovely fabric by Patti Fried, called Capri.

Jess is sold out of kits. But you can still order your pattern and choose your own fabrics.

Well, that's enough going on, yes? OH, on top of that, I am running my very first quilt a long on my blog :) would love for you to come and join me. It's a Lone star wall quilt design.

Have a great day! And thanks for stopping by,

Dorian

7/26/11 Tip of the Day

2011-07-26T06:23:00.001-07:00

You know that sliver of bar soap that's always left at the end? You can use the edge of it to mark your quilts for quilting.

What do you generally use to mark your quilts?

Location:Home

Quilting Tip 07/25/11

2011-07-25T13:00:00.001-07:00

Tip of the day: Some folks like to put their ironing board next to their sewing table, low enough to iron while sitting, so they can sew and iron without ever standing up. However, I like to get up and walk to my ironing board and give my muscles a good stretch every now and then. Ultimately I can sew longer and get more done if I keep myself moving. Where is your ironing board?

:-) Piece Out, Jess

- Posted using BlogPress from Jess' iPhone

Location:Home

Another fabric swap top....and Summer mystery

2011-07-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

Last Summer the Gals and I traded 10" squares of beach themed fabric. It's a lot of fun swapping fabrics. We haven't done it in awhile....Hmm, I think it's time to do it again! It's fun way to get new fabric.

I had cut and put together some HST blocks, big ones. And had a design made out. I cut some other triangles too, from different fabric. Then I stuck it all in a box and forgot about it.

SO, I finally got it out, couldnt' remember what design I was going to put these in, and couldn't find my pattern anywhere (I have quite a few notebooks with instructions/designs laying all over the place. LOL).

So I just stuck them together like this.

The prints were way too cute to cut up very much.

I love the children playing...

The wind was having fun with my quilt, while I was trying to take pictures.

This makes quilt top number 25!! That I need to quilt!!! And I am going to make another quilt real soon...lol, or quilt top I should say!

As the mystery quilt weekend is coming up soon!

The mystery is scheduled for July 30th and 31st. You still have time to order a pattern or a kit.

So tell me, how many quilt tops do you have to quilt? or are you good about quilting them right away, and they aren't piling up...like mine...LOL

Thanks for stopping by!

Dorian

Hexagons

2011-07-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hello out there, I hope you all are enjoying your Summer. It's been hot for me, in the low 90s. But it's now 'cooled' down some and we even have a chance of Tstorms for the next few days. I love Summer on the Ridge!

Back in 2009, the Gals on the Q&N forum had a fabric swap. Well, we have had a LOT of fabric swaps. LOL, they are so much fun. In this case, we were swapping Sweet 16's. That's sixteen 9"x11" rectangles, all with the floral theme.

I cut my rectangles in 4, and made some 4" hexagons. I wanted them big, so that I can machine sew them together.

Then I sewed these down on some squares.

Those top three are going to go on my quilt-as-you go hexagon table runner. I need to buy some batting, then I can do a tute for you....as I know you all love quilt-as-you-go runners :)

Then I made another one, to show you how my table mats are coming out.

I sandwhiched this top with backing and batting, and quilted it down. Then I started adding some borders.

Now it just needs some binding.

Let me know if you want me to take you step by step thru the quilt-as-you-go process :)

Have a great day and,

Thanks for stopping by
Dorian

Playing with colors

2011-07-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

For some new to the quilting world, choosing colors is one of the hardest parts of creating. Does this blue go well with that pink? Is this red too bright or too dull? Does purple look good next to green?

It’s not only about one color with another, because there are so many different shades and values of each color. That you can make almost any color look good next to another.

The color wheel is a great place to learn about colors and their values. There are primary colors, secondary colors, contrasting ones too. Here are a few different styles that you can choose from, when selecting a color wheel.

There are also nice color cards out there, like for paint, but for fabric. Here’s one from Moda.

These are great tools for learning about color values, and is a good first step. You can play around with this just by looking in a big box of crayons! You know, those large ones that hold a billion colors ;)

Playing with fabric might be more fun though! Go to your local quilt store and look at their fat quarter bundles. This is a great way to see different values and contrasting colors. Most fabric lines have at least 10 different prints, showcasing the various colors to match the focal fabric.

The most important thing though, is too think about what colors YOU like. Or what colors the person you are making something for, likes.

So lets start with your focal fabric (I’m going to pretend shop online with you, while I talk with you about colors).

I’m going to buy some of this darling monkey print, from the Urban Zoologie line, for a baby quilt.

Looking at this fabric you will see four different colors. All in two or three different shades. So those colors are good ones to choose to go with these monkeys.

These lines are part of the Urban zoologie line, as are the dots. So you know the shades of blue/orange/green will all go well with monkeys.

But I like to add some solids or some tone on tone prints too. Or things get too busy. You want a spot or two to rest your eyes.

If you look at solid fabrics, you will see they are usually arranged by the shades of color. You have pastels, dusty’s, bright’s and darks. It a good idea to keep with the same shade throughout your quilt or project. Although mixing lighter colors with the darker ones, will give you a great contrasting pattern. So you have to think about your pattern too. As many have secondary patterns within them, and they show well with contrasting colors.

Although there isn’t no tried and true color rules. You want your project to flow nicely together. So sticking to the same shades, or highly contrasting ones, are a good bet.

For my project, I think the dusty shades will go well. They aren’t too bright nor too dark. Here are some colors I’ve chosen to go with the monkey’s.

You’ll notice that the green is a bit darker than the green in the monkey print, but it’s still in the dusty family. It’s not a bright nor a pastel. The blue is almost the same exact as the light blue on the monkey. And the orange is very close too.

Here's how they look all next to each other.

Summary: Stick with colors in the same category. Contrasting fabrics go well together. Keep in mind the pattern and what you want it to say. Pick a focal fabric, and pull colors from it for your other fabrics. Using shades that are lighter or darker are fine, as long as they are in the same category.

I hope I haven’t confused all you new quilters with my rambling.

These are MY thoughts on colors, and there are thousands of thoughts out there. So please don’t feel my way is the only way. This is just how I do things.

Hope you’re enjoying your Summer.

Baby quilts

2011-06-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

The Gals and I on the forum love making baby quilts. They are small, lovely and fun to do together. If a member is expecting a Grandchild, or niece/nephew/etc. then we all pitch in and make a quilt. We have volunteers to make blocks, send in backing/batting/binding and border fabric, one for piecing, one for quilting.

This is one of my favorite patterns to put together. It is SO CUTE. Especially the soft pastels on the white.

We got the free pattern from quiltpox, thank you!

The pattern is simple, just these two blocks.

I have to add the small white border, then I can ship it off to another member for quilting.

Do you like to make baby quilts too? What is your favorite pattern?

Have a great day,

Thanks for stopping by,

Dorian

Octagonal table topper, part 2

2011-06-19T04:40:00.000-07:00

Hello out there! You are all so quiet, hope you're enjoying the Summer.

I've finished my topper, although I made the large outer border with some applique in mind. I think it just 'screams' for some applique or embroidery. But I am not up to it right now.

For your backing and batting, cut a square that extends about an inch beyond the sides, and center your block on it. Smoothing and pinning as normal (sorry, forgot to take a picture). Quilt and trim.

Do you see my mistake? That fold there . It's from not mitering that corner (the one with the pin in it) at the right angle. I was off a smidge. And didn't realize it till it was quilted. No, I am NOT going to take it out. LOL, I thought about it, but decided that since this was just for me, I will leave it.

Ok, on to the binding. This particular binding is 2" wide. I usually use 2.5", but this one was already made and seemed to fit fine.

Start in the middle of one straight side. When you get to the corner, take a back stitch and snip your thread. You noticed I stopped right at the corner, not 1/4" away from it.

Fold your binding back on itself, matching the fold along the seam.

Hold that fold, and unfold the rest the binding and fit it to the next side. Using a pin to keep that fold in place.

Sew that side, stop at corner, repeat all the way around. Sewing the ends together as you normally would.

Turn your piece over. Fold the binding down, making sure you go OVER the seam line. Put a pin on either side of a corner.

Fold the corner, tucking under the right side, and folding the left over it. Making a nice corner seam. Pin.

After it's all pinned on, sew it down. Either by hand or machine.

Here is my front and back, yes, I machine sew the back of my binding down. You can read how I do it here.

Close up of my quilting. I'm getting good at straight lines...practice, practice! :)

And my finished topper.

Hope you enjoyed my little tute. I love comments, so feel free to jabber away ;) If there is something you would like to see me post about, let me know.

Have a great day!

Thanks for stopping by,

Dorian

Octagonal table topper, part 1

2011-06-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

Well Summer has arrived finally. We are having some partly cloudy, partly sunny days in the 70s, perfect weather!

So I thought I'd do a tutorial on my hexagon table topper. This is a great thing to show case some of those large prints, or those that you are having trouble cutting up.

Start out with a nice sized square, mine is 10"x10".

You want your corners to be cut, so that all 8 of your 'sides', or strait edges are roughly the same size. So you want to cut your square at close to the third mark. I placed my ruler so that I was cutting 3" up and over.

Cut all your corners the same way, the same length. Now all my straight sides are roughly 4".

Pick your border fabric. I chose some red strips that are 2" wide. Cut four of those strips 2" longer than one straight side. So I cut mine 6". Fold one hexagon side in half and pinch, to mark the middle. Do the same for your border strip. Pin at the pinch, and sew with a 1/4" seam.

Add your four 6" border like this.

Take your ruler, place the corner of it right along the edge of one side, and lay the ruler down along the diagonal corner to the outside edge of the other strip. Add an inch, and cut four more strips. Mine are 10" long.

Place one 10" strip on diagonal corner. And sew a 1/4" seam. Place ruler along side it and cut off the ears.

Now to make your hexagon a hexagon, and not a square at this point, place your ruler from one side to the other along the corner strip edge. Making sure you cut off the same length on each side (just like you did your first square).

Cut off all your corners.

Now all my straight sides are now 5.5". My next border is 4.5" in width, and I am going to show you how to miter the corners. So to the 5.5", add twice the width, so 9". Cut eight strips that are 14" long.

Fold one side of the hexagon, and the strip you are going to add to it, pinch to find your middle. And pin together. Sew 1/4" seam, making sure you START and STOP 1/4" from the corner. You can even put a dot at each corner, so you remember to stop/start there. Sewing with the octagon on top.

This time you can add your strips straight around, you don't have to add them on opposite sides and then the corners. Pin back the first strip, so it doesn't get in your way.

When adding your next strips, make sure you start EXACTLY at the end of your previous seam. Not on it, not in front or behind it. Right on the end.

When you have all your border strips on, it will look like this.

These corners are a smidge over 60 degrees. If you have a ruler that measures exact degrees, you can use that to make your miters.

I don't have a ruler like that, so this is what I do. Fold your topper so that two sides are right sides together, matching up all sides.

Lay your ruler along the fold of your topper, making sure the edge is right at the end of the seam on your border.

Draw a line from that tip of the seam, to the bottom of your strip.

Pin and sew RIGHT on that line. Making sure you start at the very end of that seam, not on it, before it or after it.

Cut off the end, leaving a 1/4" seam.

Do that for all your corners. It's so important to get that degree just right. Or your topper wont lay flat (as this one will once I iron it ;)

I'll be back in a few days, to talk about quilting this and adding some embelishments.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dorian

©Copyright D. Lucas, 2011 This is my tutorial. You are welcome to use any of my tutorials for personal use. You are not permitted to use my pictures or my words without linking back to the original and giving me credit for them.

Summer place mats

2011-06-04T04:36:00.000-07:00

Place mats are fun to make. You can take almost any block you like, add a bit to it, and make a place mat out of it. And quilting them as you go, just makes it quicker.

I start out with pencil and paper. Here is about how big I want my middle square.

Then I mark my block out (you would think, us being a home schooling family, that I could find an eraser in this house!! LOL)

I wanted to use the last of my Nicey Jane, showing off the print. But I didn't measure how much of it I had left, so ended up making mine just a little smaller than what the block up above shows.

Pieces all cut and ready to sew.

If you're quilting as you go, you want to make the smaller pieces into bigger ones. Ones that make up rows or columns, or in this case, triangles.

Figure out the rest of the place mat.

Then cut your backing and batting. I like to cut mine about an inch or so larger than what the finished front piece will be. A note here about batting. This is a great time to use those small pieces, just whip stitch them together (or use zigzag on your machine) and cut to the right dimensions.

Layer your batting and backing out (backing, right side DOWN) and smooth it. Then you want to mark the center.

And place your middle piece evenly. Pinning it down. I also like to pin the batting to the backing in a few places (taking them out when I lay pieces down if need be).

I marked the center of all the sides on the square. Then laid my first piece down, pinning the middle of it to the middle of the square. (I am not much of a pinner, but when you quilt as you go especially, pinning helps keep things in place. As you can't do a lot of fudging to make sure things line up right.)

Go around your square, pinning and sewing with a 1/4" seam.

Make sure the pieces you have sewn first, get opened up so that the next pieces are laid on properly.

And now you can iron these flat too. It's important to get your sizes just right, as it's much harder to trim this way.

You can use a small pair of scissor's to cut the dog ears.

Add your sides, pinning really helps with the longer pieces. You can use your scissors to cut off the yellow ends there. But I do it after the top and bottom piece are put on, so that it's more accurate.

Add top and bottom.

Add the next two pieces. Now do you see why I say to make your backing and batting a bit bigger than you need? It's easy to trim this up.

And then add your binding. Can you believe, I forgot to take a picture of it all trimmed and pretty??! LOL. I'll do that when the sun comes up and post it.

Hope you've enjoy my little Summer mat. This is a nice way to use up the last of your little pretty.

Have a great day, thanks for stopping by.

Dorian
©Copyright D. Lucas, 2011 This is my tutorial. You are welcome to use any of my tutorials for personal use. You are not permitted to use my pictures or my words without linking back to the original and giving me credit for them.

A challenge...and a Mystery...

2011-05-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

If you aren't a member of the forum, then you wont know what fun we are having! LOL. I have started a fun challenge. It's called "It's too pretty to cut!" challenge and you can read all about it here.

Basically, you find a pretty FQ or larger piece of fabric in your stash (or heck, go buy one!). You take a picture of it and post it on the thread. Then, you make something fantastic out of it. Your finished project picture is due by July 31st. And then the pieces will be judged. The WINNER get a $50 gift certificate to Jess's store, and the runner up gets a $25 gc to her store!! WOW, what generous gifts.

So hop on over to the forum and join in the fun.

And that's not all! Jess has the BEST quilt mystery's. She does them 4 times a year, and June is our next weekend. You sign-up, buy the pattern for only $9.95 each (or subscribe for the year, get all 4 mystery patterns for only $34.95).

Here's one of the mystery quilts that I made in 2009.

It's an awesome weekend to have the mystery quilt going on too! June 25th and 26th......my birthday

We are always having fun, what between mystery quilt weekends...we have challenges, swaps, make charity quilts and baby quilts for members.

Hope you can join us :)

Thanks for stopping by

Dorian

Square in square

2011-05-24T04:46:00.000-07:00

Hello Blogland, and my new followers! So glad to have you with us. If you aren't a member of the Q&N forum, come on over and join the fun!

Do you have trouble with making square in square blocks? They can be a little tricky, getting the triangles just right on the square. So I have a few tips to help you out.

The first thing to do is figure out how big your inner square and triangles need to be. Correction: I find that if I make my inner squares 1 3/4" smaller than you want your finished block to be, then they come out right. So they will be the same size on the diagonal, as the finished block. (I'm so sorry about this mistake!! New meds for my fibro...enough said.) EX: if you want your finished block to be 6", then the inner square needs to be 6" on the diagonal.

And to find out how big I need the triangles, I first put my inner square on point. Making sure the points are on lines. I put my ruler on the top point, and measure from there to the side point. And then add 1/4" for the seam allowance. So in this case, I need my triangles to be 3 3/4".I usually add another 1/8" to a 1/4" for some wiggle room.

There is mathmatic formulas, for figuring this out. But I can never remember them :)

Cut out squares the size you need. Then cut in half once diagonally.

You'll need two squares per inner square.

Here is an easy way to get that setting triangle just right. You want it centered on the inner square. So I fold the inner square in half, and just give it a little pinch at the top, where the triangle is going to go. (Ignore the flour on my thumb, I was also making bread. LOL)

The pinch just leaves a little fold mark, which quickly goes away.

Do the same thing for your setting triangle. Pinch.

Right sides together, match pinch marks and then pin.

Sew at a 1/4". Your 'dog ears' should stick out a scant 1/4".

Now just trim.

So my tips are:

Tip 1: cut your setting triangle 1/8" to 1/4" bigger than you need.

Tip 2: Fold pieces in half and pinch to find the middle.

I hope this helps any of you having problems getting that 1/4" seam on your Square in square blocks.

I am making a new scrappy quilt with this. Called butterfly wings. Here's a picture.

Just a starting. But it's what I'm working on now. You can see more pictures/etc on it on my blog, RidgeTopQuilts.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day.

Dorian

Copyright D. Lucas, 2011 This is my tutorial. You are welcome to use any of my tutorials for personal use. You are not permitted to use my pictures or my words without linking back to the original and giving me credit for them.

Quilt as you go....quilt

2011-05-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

So we've given you a few great quilt-as-you-go table runners and place mats. But what about if you want to quilt a small to large quilt, in this manner? How do you do that?

When I first learned to quilt, about 17 yrs ago now, I read all the books I could get my hands on. And some of them were books by Georgia Bonesteel. Who taught me how to quilt-as-you-go....something that I have done very little of. LOL

But anyways, here is the gist of it. It's easy and a GREAT project for practicing machine quilting (which I need a lot of!)

First thing to do is make your blocks. All of them. I made 4, just to show you the technique. Cut out squares from your backing material that is just a bit larger than your blocks, maybe an inch (which I failed to do, so things were tight later on). Cut your batting pieces about 1/2" smaller than your blocks. So you will have squares of backing and batting, enough for as many blocks as you make.

Layer them in the normal way, and pin.

Then quilt each of your blocks individually. And trim your backing to the size of the front.

Now take two blocks, put them right sides together. Pin the backing fabric away from the edge where you are going to sew.

Now pin the edge of the top pieces together, and sew a 1/4" seam.

Here is the front and back.

Keep adding blocks to make the rows as long as you need them.
Then take one row, and lay if face up and another row and lay it face down on top. Pin your backing out of the way, match your seams up, and pin and sew top of the rows together (just like you did for the blocks).

Here is the top of my 4-square.

And here is the back.

Now smooth out one backing so that the edge goes under the edge of the next block.

Now fold over the other edge, 1/4" inch.

And lay it down on top of the first edge. Do this along the whole length of one seam. Start with either the vertical seams or horizontal ones, but do all of them before the next.

Pin and sew. You can either whip stitch this by hand or you can sew it by machine. Going right thru the top layer if you use your machine.

When you've done all the horizontal (or vertical) rows, move to the vertical (or horizontal) rows. Lay down one edge flat, fold the other 1/4" under.

Pin and sew.

And here it is, all done...Except for my machine kept acting up and I am going to have to resew both my horizontal and vertical rows. I can't whip stitch them, as it hurts my hands. So I need to fix the tension or something...sigh~ and I just noticed that my seams weren't matching on the two bottom blocks too...

So it's to the seam ripper I go...and then I can bind it....if I made the machine behave.

Have fun!

Thanks for stopping by

Dorian
Copyright D. Lucas, 2011 This is my tutorial. You are welcome to use any of my tutorials for personal use. You are not permitted to use my pictures or my words without linking back to the original and giving me credit for them.

Forum swaps

2011-05-10T17:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been awhile, I was offline for almost a week. Computer problems are a pain, but I just can't do without the computer :)

So, I worked on my signature blocks. Last year, in April, the gals on the forum made these blocks. And we traded them, so we all ended up with 22 blocks. We all put our names/city/state on them too.

Over the winter, I made all my signature blocks into these bigger blocks.

And this week, I put them into this square quilt top. It measures roughly 65"x 65".

A lovely day for picture taking.

That was a fun swap. I'm glad to see one more UFO, get closer to finished.

We also have recently done a friendship swap, secret of course! We made these cute little bags, and put some thread and other goodies into them. This is the one I received from Debbie.

Isn't it cute!

We also have another mugrug swap going on. I have mine made, need to get it put in the mail.

What kind of swaps do you like to do?

I have another tutorial coming up, later this week, or maybe next. Depends on how quickly I can get it done. So stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by.

Dorian

A 'charming' table runner

2011-04-27T11:19:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd show you another quilt-as-you-go table runner. These are very popular, as they are a quick, easy project. Easily done in a day...unless you have a lot of other obligations :)

This is the same pattern I used for my Spring table runner for my friend Carol.

Lots of patterns are easy to do in this manner. Just piece together the smaller parts, till you have rows, then quilt as you piece the rows onto the backing/batting.

I used a charm package of Fandango. This pattern uses all but 10 squares. I didn't want it any longer/bigger. And I *was* going to put the extra blocks on the back, in a pieced backing...and I forgot!

You will need:

1 charm pack or thirty-two 5" squares
17"x36" backing and batting
binding

The first thing to do is figure out your layout, what colors you want to make into HST's and where you want them. I drew a chart.

Here is what I used (the colors refer to the background of the prints):

2 brown blocks
2 yellow blocks
8 red blocks
8 white blocks
12 green blocks

To make the HST's. Match two squares, right sides together. Draw a line diagonally from one corner to another. And sew 1/4" on BOTH sides of it.

You will need to match:

2 brown squares to 2 green squares = 4 B/G HST's
2 yellow squares to 2 green squares = 4 Y/G HST's
4 red squares to 4 green squares = 8 R/G HST's
4 white squares to 4 green squares = 8 W/G HST's

Leave 4 red and 4 white squares whole for the center.

Chain piece your HST's

Cut apart on the diagonal line you drew. And trim your squares to 4.5" (you will have to trim your 4 red and 4 white squares to 4.5" also).

Lay out all your squares so they match your drawing of where you want them placed. Watching the HST's, so that they are how you want them. My green makes a nice little zig zag around the inner blocks.

Then you want to sew each piece of a row together. Starting at the left is row 1, then towards 8 at the right.
Now you have 8 rows, that look like this. Press your seams down on row 1, up on 2, down on 3, etc.

I laid mine all out like this, then put them in a stack with row 1 on the top. If you have more space, you can leave them laid out how they go, so you don't get them confused when sewing.

Next, take your back fabric and lay it right side down somewhere flat. I choose this fabric. The color is almost the same reddish-orangey in the Fandango line. And it also already has stabilizer ironed on it. So I didn't have to mess with any batting.

Lay your batting on top of your backing, smoothing them both out. If you use spray adhesive stuff, now would be a good time to use it, I think (I've never used it myself).

Lay row one face UP on your backing. The backing size is slightly larger than the table runner will be. So you don't have to line it up with the left side edge. You can leave a little bit of room for movement. Smooth it down, so there is no puckers or anything.

Lay row two face DOWN on top of row one. The seams should be opposite, so they snuggle together. PIN (I had to use more pins than is shown, as these HST's are a bit stretchy).

Now sew your seam, you'll be sewing right onto the backing/batting, so make sure your bottom thread is the color you want to show on the back.

Open up row two and smooth it out.

Lay row 3 on row 2, face down. Smoothing and pinning. Then sew it on.

Continue until you've sewn on all 8 rows. Making sure each row is smooth and lump free, before adding the next one.

Now trim and put your binding on!

And you're all done!

The back is just 6 rows of stitching.

I hope you've enjoyed my little table runner. Would love to see one, if you make it. Just drop me a line in the comment section.

Thanks for stopping by.

Dorian
Copyright D. Lucas, 2011 This is my tutorial. You are welcome to use any of my tutorials for personal use. You are not permitted to use my pictures or my words without linking back to the original and giving me credit for them.

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T04:24:00.000-07:00

From all of us at the Q&N....

Wishing you a blessed Easter....

Full of love...

And lots of chocolate!

Thanks for stopping by,

Dorian

My Pillow

2011-04-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to show you my pillow.

I am not much of a pillow maker. Haven't made one in years. Didn't have a pillow form, so made one..

It wasn't big enough, so my pillow is a little floppy. LOL

At least I'm doing well with my quilting ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

Dorian

Curved seams

2011-04-13T05:13:00.000-07:00

I taught myself how to quilt by reading books gotten from the library, and from old issues of Quilters Newsletter I would find at quilt shows. There was no internet then, no blogs to surf, or google to search with.

So when I learned a new technique, I was never intimidated by it. I never read or heard that others were intimidated by it or that people had a hard time with it.

Curves are simple, albeit frustrating at times. The key is to use lots of pins, and go slowly.

I started out with some colorful squares. (Please forgive the fuzzy pictures, not sure why the camera is doing that on some.)

Cut out my concave (top) and convex (bottom) pieces.

Fold in half and finger press. This will give you the middle of each piece, so you can line them up. No markers to fuss with and the line easily comes out.

Rights sides together, match middle lines and pin.

Then start pinning to the left, or right, about every half inch. Gently pulling the concave piece to fit the lines of the convex piece. Making sure there is no small ruffles.

Here is the other side. This is the side that I like to have face up when sewing. That way you can ease around the big ruffles.

Sometimes it's helpful to cut tiny, itty bitty notches in both pieces of the curve. Helps to ease the two pieces together. You notice that the notches are less than 1/4".

Now put your pieces under the needle and slowly go along the edge, pulling pins as you get to them, and gently easing the the pieces together.

If you get to a ruffle that wont move, you can manipulate the fabric just a bit, to make it smooth again. Taking a pin out and adjusting it as needed.

Here it is, all trimmed and ready for the iron. You will notice the fold lines match perfectly.

I always press the seam up, they sit easier that way.

I am quilting this and making a pillow out of it...notice the top left piece. It has some tiny ruffles there, but those are easily taken out with the iron...apparently I didn't iron well enough ;) .....

I'll show you when it's done.

I hope that I've helped take the intimidation out of curves for you. Feel free to leave comments or questions.

Thanks for stopping by,

Till next time....

Dorian
Copyright D. Lucas, 2011 This is my tutorial. You are welcome to use any of my tutorials for personal use. You are not permitted to use my pictures or my words without linking back to the original and giving me credit for them.

Bindings

2011-04-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

LOL, going from "lesson 1" to bindings...that was a quick trip, huh? ; )

As I am just learning, there aren't any more lessons right now. I'll leave that to the pros. But I did want to talk about binding.

There are many reasons that people don't want to hand stitch the back of the binding down. Some people have hand/nerve problems, some people don't want to take the time, and some people just HATE doing it.

I fall in the first catagory, so I've needed to figure out how to machine bind my quilted stuff. I was surfing some blogs and came across a great tutorial at redpepperquilts. Thank you Rita!

So I want to hit on a few key points here.

This is how you DON'T want it to look. I used to sew from the BACK, but now I know, you sew from the FRONT.

See where the arrows are pointing...your sewing line isn't straight, unless your binding is perfectly straight. Sometimes I would even sew off the binding it's self...not pretty.

So you want to make sure you sew from the FRONT, after pinning.

After you stitch the binding down on the top, bring it around to the back and pin, just covering the sew line from sewing on the front. This is important, to make sure you cover your stitches. This is what happens when you don't....

Point 2, make sure you stitch in the ditch...and I mean RIGHT in the ditch...

'Cause if you don't....see where my off-white stitching is just a SMIDGE outside the ditch....

Then this also happens..

So if that happens to you, you can either resew from the front with your machine. Or you can just whip stitch that little bit down by hand.

There is my 'lesson' on machine piecing bindings. They really are soooooo easy this way.

Now you can put those bindings on much quicker...for those times when you are in a hurry.

Thanks for stopping by....Till next time....

Dorian
Copyright D. Lucas, 2011 This is my tutorial. You are welcome to use any of my tutorials for personal use. You are not permitted to use my pictures or my words without linking back to the original and giving me credit for them.

Delving into machine quilting

2011-03-30T04:57:00.000-07:00

I've been quilting for 17yrs. I've always been a hand quilter. Only machine quilting a few little things here and there. Like pot holders or table runners. I just enjoy hand quilting.

But things change, and due to physical problems, I haven't been able to do much hand quilting this past year or so. I have been machine piecing projects though, and have decided that this is the year to really learn how to machine quilt.

First lesson:

Make sure you use the right presser foot!!

This is the foot I use for piecing. It's just a normal foot, sews a great straight line, but doesn't sew well on thick pieces.

I sand whiched a small project and started sewing. I was using my normal presser foot to quilt with. And it was a disaster. The tension wasn't right, no matter what I did. It was still sewing tight. The foot didn't want to go over the seams very well, so kept getting caught on my fabric, which caused puckers.

Then the light bulb went off, and I remembered that I had a 'quilting' foot! It's not a walking foot. It's just this little foot, that is more open in the front and has rounded ends.

I don't know if you can see the difference in these pictures. Top one is using the quilters foot, bottom the normal foot.

The difference is amazing!! With the quilters foot, you can see in those two pictures, that my curves are better. The stitches don't get bunched together and fabric doesn't bunch up...at least not as much.

The quilters foot glides over the fabric, the tension issues are solved...well, almost (I need to adjust it just a little, the top thread peaks on the backing a little).

I don't think the quilters foot can do free motion quilting. But at least I can do some simple, straight line quilting.

I know that I need lots of practice...

Do you think this stack of pretties will give me the practice I need?? LOL

This is only about a THIRD of the quilt tops I have, that need quilting! I should be pretty good, by the time I'm done :)

Till next time....

Dorian

Another rainy Saturday

2011-03-26T05:19:00.000-07:00

The rain and snow are still coming down here. We are finally going to see a relief from it on Tuesday. Now I love snow, but I am tired of being cold. The older I get, the more it affects me.

So the mystery quilt weekend is done. I have another top to add to my pile that needs quilting. I am hoping that this Summer is going to be a turning point for me, and I'll be able to get some tops quilted up. Here's a sneak peek.

This block is very interesting to me. I think I am going to have to make more and play with them. I love have the X looks like it's floating.

Saturday's are usually days that I put aside my chores, except for cooking, and spend time in the sewing room. It's my one dedicated morning. This morning I am working on a new bag pattern.

Here are a few bags I've made recently.

I call these my Ditty Bags. Cute huh?!

I made this satchel bag awhile back.

Today I will finish up doing a Satchel bag for the boys. It has lots and lots of pockets, places for clipping things like flashlights and compasses. And a place for a water bottle. It will be a great bag for a little boy (or girl) to take outside and explore nature with.

Well that's what I've been up to. How about you? Making anything new?

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time....

Dorian

Snow day = sewing and baking

2011-03-18T15:31:00.000-07:00

Well it's another snow day here in Northern California. It's cold, and slushy and wont last long, but I am ready for some sunshine. It's looking like March is going to be a very wet month.

So, what do you do on a cold, snowy day?? You sew a fun mystery quilt and bake some yummy cinnamon rolls! At least, that's what I did today :)

Here is a few sneak peeks of Jess's mystery quilt this month. You still have time to buy the pattern, the fun starts tomorrow.

I know, not much of a peek...

Don't want to ruin the mystery though....

Sorry for the tease!! LOL

Speaking of mystery quilts. Did you know that Jess is one of the nominees for Pattern Designer, in the Golden Quilters Awards, put on my SewCalGal. You can go here, to vote (leave a comment on that post).

Have a great weekend!

And good luck Jess!!

Till next time,

Dorian

Mitered corners

2011-03-09T05:59:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone, hope that Spring time is coming to you all soon. I can certainly feel it when I head off my mountain and go into the valley. The allergies are AWFUL down there! I'm soooo glad to be up and out of it.

I thought I'd do a tutorial on mitered corners this morning. I'm sure there are a few different ways to do them, but this is the way I learned, and it's so easy! So, here we go.

Many patterns tell you to cut your borders at least 10" longer than what your quilt top is, when you want mitered corners. Even if you don't need that much, it gives you room so that you have enough. I often don't have extra, or I don't want to cut extra, for this. So I measure real close.

In my example here, my border is 2.25" wide. So when I cut the border fabric, I make sure I added 4.5" (that's 2.25" extra at each end) to how long a side is. This is a table runner, so I had 2 long lenghts, and 2 shorter lengths.

Fold your border piece in half, and mark the middle. Fold your project in half, and mark the middle. Lay your border rights sides together with your project, matching your middle marks, and pin. You can see that I overlap the project by 2.25" on each side.

Pin all along the border and sew at 1/4". Making sure you START and STOP 1/4" away from each side. Taking a few back stitches.

Find the middle of the next side border and that side of the project. Pin together. When you sew this next side on, be sure to START sewing right where your previous border seam is. That will be 1/4" from the project edge, NOT the first border edge

Pin all along and sew. Making sure to STOP at 1/4" from the next edge.

Continue around your project till all four of your borders are on.

Now, take one corner and fold it over till the top border meets the side border. You want to make a triangle and line the top and side border up.

Here's a close up, sorry it's blurry (it doesn't look blurry on the camera, and I don't realize it is till I put it on the computer).

You want to draw a 45 degree line, from the very corner of your project, to the corner of the border. If you gave yourself more room when cutting the border lengths, then your line wont reach the corner of the border. So make sure you use your 45 degree line on the ruler.

Now you want to pin this, so it doesn't move when you sew. Sew ON the line you just drew. Making sure you start right where your previous seams end at the corner.

Cut off the excess, making sure to leave 1/4" seam.

Fold open, and repeat for all 4 corners.

And now you have beautiful mitered corners.

If you want to do a pieced border this way. When you are measuring and making your border, you need to remember to add in the width of each border, on each side. So in this case, my pieced border would half to be 4.5" longer, and then a corner of it would be cut off when I mitered the corners.

Hope this is helpful to some of you out there. It really is very easy. The important part is making sure you start and stop a 1/4" away from the edges of the project. In order to have the seams match perfectly in the corners. Very much like set in seams :)

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,

Dorian
Copyright D. Lucas, 2011 This is my tutorial. You are welcome to use any of my tutorials for personal use. You are not permitted to use my pictures or my words without linking back to the original and giving me credit for them.

It's March already

2011-03-05T04:14:00.000-08:00

And those on the forum knows what that means....RETREAT! A quilting retreat for those lucky enough to go. From March 16th to the 21st, in Texas.

It also means a new mystery quilt though, can't wait for that! You can buy your pattern here.

March is going to bring in Spring. And we'll all welcome it with our mug rug swap. A cute swap full of Spring fabrics.

I can't wait for my roses to start blooming and the wild flowers to start popping up. Right now my rose bushes are looking pretty sad. The cold snow we had the past few weeks has broken a lot of the vines. So once our chance of frost is gone, I'll get the snippers out and trim them up.

We also have a thread challenge going on. There are some very pretty projects in that thread.

But after that is over with.....we are going to start a "It's too pretty to cut" challenge!!! WOOOHOOO! This is a fun challenge/contest. In the past, we've done it with fabric that is...well .... just not our style. But what one person thinks of as Ugly, the next doesn't. So that was a lot of fun. In this challenge, we'll cut into a pretty piece of fabric we've been hoarding, one we just haven't been able to cut up. Look for a thread on the forum for that in the next few weeks.

Well that's what's going on around the forum. Hope you can hop over and spend some time with us.

Till next time...

Dorian

Squaring the bottom of a bag

2011-02-24T15:22:00.000-08:00

Squaring the bottom of a handbag or tote is easy to do. Here are two simple ways.

I like this first way, don't know why, they are both easy. But this is the way I tend to do it.

Put your fabrics right sides together. Pin and sew a 1/4" (or 1/2") on both sides and the bottom.

Cut out a square on both bottom corners. For smaller bags I cut a 2" square, for larger ones a 3".

Match the bottom seam to a side seam. Pinching the fabric together and pinning.

Sew a 1/4" seam in from the edge. Do this to both corners.

Turn right side out. And Ta-Da, your square bottom.

The second way to do this. Is super easy. Match your fabrics right sides together, pin and sew both sides and bottom.

But instead of cutting the corners, pinch the corner so that the bottom seam matches the side seam.

Mark a line where you want to sew. I went in only 1" on this bag, as it's only a 5" bag.

Sew and cut a 1/4" away from the seam.

Turn right side out.

You can see more pictures on this on my Library bag tutorial.

Have fun!

Till next time...

Dorian
Copyright D. Lucas, 2011 This is my tutorial. You are welcome to use any of my tutorials for personal use. You are not permitted to use my pictures or my words without linking back to the original and giving me credit for them.

Mug Rugs

2011-02-18T17:38:00.000-08:00

The mug rugs are running rampant. LOL. Such cute little bits of fabric, pieced together and quilted so quickly. There are swaps and contests galore out in blog land.

Here is one I did for a contest over at Madame Samms'.

They are so easy to make. And PERFECT for practicing your newfound machine quilting skills (which I obviously need LOTS more work on. LOL)

You can make your own design, with scraps from your scrap basket...I just put some of these together till I had a pleasing design.

Sew together. And trim.

You can also use a block from any pattern out there. Here are a few darling ones. The first one comes from Happy Zombie, I love it!

Here's one from Jennifer, I love the pocket!

Back to mine...

If it's not big enough, no problem, just add a few pieces till it's the right size for you.

Then layer it, quilt it and bind it. Ta-da! super easy.

We are having a mug rug swap at the Q&N! Click here to join us. It's a secret one (we LOVE secret's on the forum!), which means we wont know who is making us a mug rug, till it arrives on the doorstep. Lots of fun.

Hope to see you there!

Till next time....

Dorian

Prairie Points

2011-02-10T11:35:00.000-08:00

I just love Prairie points (or PP from now on) on a quilt. They just put the right finishing touch on it. Especially baby quilts! Or mug rugs! Or even purses. I saw a darling wall hanging of a sailboat, that used PPs as the waves! it was soooo cute!! (Sorry blogger who did it, I have forgotten where I've seen it.)

This one, at the top there, was a Aunty quilt we did on the forum for one of our members' grandchild.

Sandy has asked for a tutorial, and I am more than happy to oblige :) So here we go.

Cut your squares for the PP's the size you want the base of the triangle...the base is the side that is going to be sewn onto the quilt. So if you want a 3 1/2" triangle, then cut 3 1/2" squares. How many triangles you need, depends on how big your triangles are. I divide the finished PP measurement (in this case I use 3") into the length of a side. So for a 30" unfinished top, I would make 10 triangles for that side. Sometimes I use more or less than that number though.

So, here's your square.

Fold it in half diagonally.

And then fold it in half again (ironing makes it look pretty and easier to handle).
Now you have one side (the base) which is raw edges, and two sides that are folded.

Open up the corner where the last fold was made, just a little bit to slip in the next triangle. I like to put it in about a half an inch. Then sew, using a scant 1/4" seam (some people use 1/8"). Stopping about halfway thru the triangle, to put the next one in. (Line the edges up of course, I just stuck the yellow one out to show you.)

Continue on in this manner until all your triangles for ONE side is sewn in a row.

When all your triangles are sewn in a row, it's time to put them on the quilt.

I am not much into pinning and ironing, lol, but this is a time for both.

Iron the backing and top edges down 1/4".

Slip the row of triangles in between. Making sure your line of sewing is not going to show.

At the corner, put the very tip of your triangle right inside the edge of the opposing side.

Lay the top ironed edge over the triangle and pin the row in place.

Here's what it looks like looking down on it from the edge.

You notice that where the two triangles meet, is right at the very edge. You don't want it sticking up further, and you don't want it too far into the sandwhich either.

Sew the sandwhiched triangles, using 1/4" seam. Starting and stopping about 1/2" away from the corner. Taking a few back stitches.

Do the same thing for the next side. Lining up the end triangle with the one that is already sewn on (you want a nice, straight line across that corner point).

When you sew this one down, you can start at your stopping place on the first side, then just pivot at the corner.

Continue till all sides are done.

******

There is another way to fold your triangles, using rectangles. You fold the two top corners down to meet in the middle, at the bottom edge, then fold in half. But squares are easier for me.

Alternatively you can sew all your triangles together in one loooooong line, and then when you pin it on, make sure that you line the triangles up right, so that where two triangles meet, is right at the corner. So it looks this.

(My two corner triangles actually make a straight line across the corner....this angle must be wrong or something....no, really they do! LOL)

*****

I hope that helps Sandy! And anyone else who wants to do this darling finish. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment, and I'll get back to you.

Till next time...

Dorian
Copyright D. Lucas, 2011 This is my tutorial. You are welcome to use any of my tutorials for personal use. You are not permitted to use my pictures or my words without linking back to the original and giving me credit for them.

A smaller bag

2011-02-08T14:11:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

I decided to make my library bag in a smaller size. The large one is great for families like mine, who do a lot of reading. But a smaller bag is good for elderly or busy parents with small ones in tow..LOL.

So I thought I'd see how easy it was to scale it down.

And it was easy! This one is 3" smaller height wise and length wise, and 4" smaller on the sides. A perfect size for smaller loads.

******

Here is another finished scrappy star. I call in Summer star...original yes?! LOL

It was made with scraps from my scrap basket too. You would think my basket would be looking less full...but it seems to be endless.

I was going to add some more 8 pt stars to the border. But I've come up with another scrappy quilt idea instead. So will be using those diamonds that are already cut out, for it.

**********

Have you seen this website maryquilts ? She has some awesome scrap quilt patterns. All for free! I'm thinking a lot of these would be great for our charity quilts. It's given me lots of ideas. Thanks Mary!

Thats all from me today...

Till next time.

Dorian

Half square triangles...

2011-01-31T13:41:00.000-08:00

Or HST's are they are frequently called. There are many ways of making them. And us quilters are always trying to find a fast, reliable way to make them so they come out accurate. As we all know, triangles are a bit stretchy due to the bias cut. And that can make them a little tricky.

I am a self-taught quilter. I learned from books from the library. I am always learning something new too. And every day we have new quilters out there, so if my little tutorials help them, then I'm happy.

So for those of you who are new to quilting, or those who just need a few tips to help your piecing. He's two quick, easy ways of doing HST's.

This first way is great if you don't have a lot of them to make. Of if you have a lot of squares, and you want to cut them into triangles quickly.

First, take two squares that are 1 1/2" larger than the HST that you want. Place them right sides together. Then sew a 1/4" seam all the way around.

Then you want to cut on BOTH diagonals.

Ta-da...4 perfect HST's.....after you trim them :)

This next way is my favorite way. I don't know if it's because I learned how to do it first, or what.

Take 2 WOF(width of fabric) strips, the width being 1/2" larger than what you want your HST's to be. On the wrong side of the lighter fabric, mark vertical lines to make squares. So if your strip is 3 1/2" wide, then mark every 3 1/2" down your strip.

Then mark a zig-zag line from corner to corner of your squares. And sew 1/4" on BOTH sides of the diagonal line.

Here's a close up.

Now cut on all solid lines.

Ta-da...perfect HST's...again, after you trim them...

I hope this was helpful to some of you.

Have a great day. And come see us on the forum.

Dorian
Copyright D. Lucas, 2011 This is my tutorial. You are welcome to use any of my tutorials for personal use. You are not permitted to use my pictures or my words without linking back to the original and giving me credit for them.

Our next guest...

2011-01-23T05:55:00.000-08:00

...Is Gerda. Gerda is a lovely Canadian gal. She came up with a cute sewing mat, to stick under your sewing machine. And has shared her pattern with us.

" I was in my local quilt shop one day, and the ownder had just gotten in a bolt of the fabric I used. I saw it, and knew I had to have some. I had seen a couple of sewing mats on blogs, and knew I could figure out how to make one for myself. I'm always looking for my scissors/snips and seam ripper, and knew this would help a lot. It was pretty easy to figure out and make. The quilt shop owner really liked it and asked if I would write up a pattern she could use to sell the fabric, so I did. And then I wanted to gift my online friends with the pattern, so I did! LOL" Gerda said.

And then she posted her fun little mat tutorial on our forum too, as a Christmas gift to us all.

SEWING MACHINE MAT WITH POCKETS

Materials needed: .5 m main fabric
.5 m backing/pocket lining
17 ½” x 19 ½” piece of thin batting
* 3 ½” x 15” non-slip fabric (optional)

Cutting: Of the main fabric, cut one (1) piece 17 ½” x 19 ½” AND one (1) piece 4 ½” x 19 ½”

Of the contrast/backing fabric, cut one (1) piece 17 ½” x 19 ½” AND one (1) piece 5 ½” x 19 ½”

IF USING NON-SLIP BACKING: Cut (1) piece 11 ¾” x 19 ½” And one (1) piece 3” x 19 ½ ”

AND two (2) pieces 3” x 3 ½” (backing)

Sewing:

1. *Piece the back – Sew the 3” x 3 1/2” pieces to the short ends of the non-slip fabric .

2. If NOT using non-slip backing, use the 17 ½” x 19 ½” piece.

3. To piece the backing, including the non-slip back- sew the pieced strip to the 3”x19 ½” strip, then add the 11 ¾” x 19 ½” piece to the bottom of the pieced strip.

4. Layer the main fabric right side up on the batting. Quilt as desired.

5. Piece the pocket section – Along one long edge, sew the narrower piece to the wider backing fabric/contrast piece. Press seam to one side, then with wrong sides together, align long edges and press. You will now have the main fabric with a narrow trim on the top (fold).

6. Pin the pocket section on the main fabric, at the bottom. Pin the backing WRONG side up onto the front (main) fabric. Sew ¼” seam all around, leaving an opening of about 5” to turn.

7. Turn right sides out, make the corners as pointy as possible. Slip stitch the opening closed.

8. Finger press (or iron, making sure you don’t touch the non-slip fabric, if used) the edges to a knife edge. Pin and topstitch all around.

9. Decide if you want 3 or 4 pockets. Stitch through all thicknesses of the pocket section ONLY, making sure to backstitch or lock beginning/ends of stitched lines in place. DONE!

2009 Gerda W. Vantuil,

Thank you Gerda for a great sewing mat!!

************

We have our Valentines swap under way, over on the forum. Everyone who wanted to play lists their 2 favorite colors and a fun notion/sewing gadget they want. Whether it be thread, a new cutter, etc.

Then their names goes into a hat and Cupid draws names. We don't know who are Valentine is, till we get our gift in the mail. It's lots of fun!

We have some fabric swaps going on too. And notes are being passed back and forth as to when we'll be doing another 'ugly' contest. Or if maybe we should do a 'this is too pretty to cut' contest.

Come on over and check out the fun!

Have a great, quilt-y day...

Till next time
Dorian

Library bag tutorial

2011-01-12T15:09:00.000-08:00

Hello out there. Here is my bag tutorial, as promised. Please go easy on me, this is my first tutorial...I hope all my math is correct :) Please feel free to leave me a comment if you are having problems or have questions and I'll do my best to help.

You can click on the pictures to see them bigger.

Ok, here we goooooo....

I have used 3 different fabrics. But you can use 1, 2, 3 or even 4. You'll need pieces for the front, back, 2 sides, bottom and the same for a lining. I did my lining all in the same color.

Fabric 1

Cut one 9 1/2" x 15" piece
Cut one 6 1/2" square piece
Cut one 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" piece
Cut two 5" x 9 1/2" pieces
Cut two 6" square pieces

Fabric 2

Cut two 15" x 15" pieces-lining pieces
Cut four 10" x 15" pieces-3 for lining, 1 for outside bottom
Cut two 6 1/2" x 15" pieces

Fabric 3

Cut two 10" x 15" pieces

Cut two 4" x 43" pieces for the strap, of whichever color you want. I used Color 2.

One 6" zipper

Here is mine. The fabric on the left is Fabric 2, then 3, then 1.

STEP 1 - STRAPS

Take your 4" x 43" strap pieces and fold them lengthwise, press, and open. Then fold in the two long sides, so they meet in the middle,and press.

Fold in half lengthwise and sew along the open side. Then sew on the other side too. (sorry for the fuzzy picture)

STEP 2 - RECESSED POCKET

Your pocket pieces are Fabric 1-two 6" squares, the 6 1/2" square and the 3 1/2"x 6 1/2" piece.

Lay one 6" pocket piece face up, put the zipper edge along the pocket edge, right side up. And then lay your 3 1/2"x6 1/2" piece on top of the zipper, right side down. Pin.
Using your zipper foot, sew a 1/4" seam.

Fold the 3 1/2"x 6 1/2" piece open, and top stitch along the seam.

Now do the same thing on the other side of the zipper, using the 6"square on the bottom, and the 6 1/2" square on the top.

Open and top stitch that seam also.

Now take both your outside pieces (the 3 1/2"x 6 1/2" and the 6 1/2" square) and fold them over to the left. Leaving your zipper laying flat, and your two 6" square pieces laying to the right.

One of your 6" square pieces will be a little shorter now, than the other, due to the zipper lying flat. Trim that piece to match the other and sew around all three sides of it, from zipper to zipper, pivoting at the corners.

Fold the 6 1/2" piece down over the pocket, so that you can see the zipper and 3 1/2" piece. Press.

Take your two 5" x 9 1/2" pieces and sew them to either side of your zip pocket, going right over your zipper teeth. You may have to lift the presser foot up to do this. Press.

Step 3 - FRONT AND BACK

Place one strap right along these two side seams (both sides of zipper), hanging 1" over the bottom of the bag, and looping at the top, pin in place.
Lay a Fabric 2- 9 1/2" x 15" piece along the bottom, right side down. Pin and sew a 1/4" seam.

Take your other strap, measure 3 1/2" in on your Fabric 1- 9 1/2"x 15" back piece. On both sides, pin your straps in the same way as the front, and pin on the other Fabric 2 - 6 1/2" x 15" piece. Sew, then press open.

Starting at the bottom of one strap, sew up the length of it, toward the loop. Stop 3/4" from the top of the bag. Pivot and sew, pivot and sew down the length, pivot and sew to where you first started. (I sewed right on the seams of the handles.)Do this to all four pieces of straps.

STEP 4 - SIDES

Using your 10" x 15" fabrics, sew your side fabric piece to a bottom fabric piece, on the 10" sides. Then add another side piece. I used fabric 3 for my sides, and fabric 2 for the bottom.

Do this with your lining pieces too.

Lay the front of your bag right side up. Place the side panel right side down, pin and sew a 1/4" seam (you can use a 1/2" seam for more strength if you want.) Stopping at your 1/4" seam line (the seam that sews your side to the bottom). Back stitching at start and ending.

Now line your bottom piece up with the bottom of the bag front. You'll have to make sure the side panel is out of the way.

Pin and sew a 1/4" seam, making sure to back stitch, and stop at the next 1/4" seam.
Pin the next side panel to the side of the bag, keeping the bottom piece out of the way. Pin and sew.

When you are done, it should look like this.

Now sew the back onto the side and bottom pieces in the same way. You will end up with a 'box', like this (after turning right side out). Turn right side out.

STEP 5 - LINING

Sew your side/bottom/side to one piece of your 15" lining square.
Then sew the next 15" lining square to it, in the same manner you did the outside bag. You'll end up with another 'box' the same size as your outside bag. DO NOT turn your lining bag right side out!

Fold down the top edge 1/2" on both the lining bag and the front bag. Sew all the way around. Making sure to keep the straps out of the way. Here's how mine looks like sewing.

Place your lining bag inside the outer bag, matching up side seams. Pin and sew all the way around, again, watching out for those straps.

Now wasn't that easy?

I would love to see pictures of any bags you make. These are made heafty by using a strong weave cloth, like broadcloth, for the lining and outside bottom and straps.

And easy to make any size!

********************
I just found Fabric Tuesday, on The Quilt story blog, and thought I'd link my bag up on it. Wow, a lot of firsts for me this week :)

It looks like Quilt Story has a bunch of fun things going on. I am thinking of doing their block party next month too! Go check it out, looks like a lot of fun.

Hope you enjoyed my tutorial. Till next time....

Dorian
Copyright D. Lucas, 2011 This is my tutorial. You are welcome to use any of my tutorials for personal use. You are not permitted to use my pictures or my words without linking back to the original and giving me credit for them.

Thrift store finds

2011-01-09T04:16:00.000-08:00

A belated Happy New Year to you all. I hope the year has started off well for everyone. Did you have a good Christmas? I got a nice, new cutting mat! Which I desperately needed :)

A week or so before Christmas, my dh and I were visiting our local thrift store. I am always finding great sewing things there. Usually it's machines, I've brought home two from this thrift store.

But this time, we found a cutter. It works great for cutting strips up, and doesn't hurt my hand to use it.

You lift up the cutting bar, place your fabric where needed (it has a few rulers on the base, those red strips), put your hand on that little deely-bob sticking up and push forward with it. That has the rotory cutter under it.

It's as easy as that. The part that takes the longest is setting it up to the right length.

Then a few days ago, we were in another, newer thrift store. They had some fabric! Most of it was clothing fabric though. Not anything I would use in my quilts. But they had this one bolt of broadcloth, I think that's what it is (I am not that great at what fabric is, unless it's cotton, lol). This cloth is cool because it already has interfacing ironed on it!! The WHOLE bolt was like that! I thought, wow, that will make great bags!

Isn't it a beautiful coral color!! And, it's 60" wide! I got the last 3 yards on the bolt...for only $1.50 a yrd!!

So I took it out yesterday and got right to work. I wanted a new library bag. The one I have is a great canvas one. It's big too, but I wanted something else. And I new that this fabric would be sturdy enough for one. My family of 5 are voracious readers, so a big book bag is in order.

Here is what the front looks like, this is just the shell, without the lining.

Do you see the zipper? It is a recessed pocket for your library card, keys, whatever. My first time doing one! I think it turned out great.

Keep one eye on the blog, I'll be doing my FIRST tutorial, making this bag!

******

On the forum news, we've started our Robin for this year. This time it's a Row Robin, our first one we have done on the forum. Here is my row.

It is a Jacobs Ladder variation. This picture only shows part of it, it's actually 36" long. We wanted to make wall hangings, so they will be a bit taller than wide, but not by much.

****

Well that's all for today. I hope you come back and cheer me on when I post my first tute! I'm a bit nervous.

Till next time....

Dorian

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T04:58:00.000-08:00

All of us at the Quilt and Needle, are wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas, and a wonderful New Year!

More Christmas memories....

2010-12-18T05:31:00.001-08:00

This time, the memories come from Nola. A custom of her family. Welcome back Nola.

Strange but Wonderful - - -

one of my family's Christmas customs

Have you ever seen real candles lit on a real Christmas tree? Oh, I know – very dangerous! But oh so beautiful to behold! My family always had two Christmas trees – a long-needled Scotch pine for upstairs, and a short-needled variety for the family room in the basement. This family room in itself is quite a sight to see – knotty-pine paneling (aka “boxcar siding”) on the walls, a big stone fireplace, made from rocks called geodes from Bedford, Indiana, Mom's homemade braided rugs on the floors, most of the furnishings are antiques, including oil lamps for light.

But – back to the Christmas trees. Sometimes the tree for the family room was a cut tree and sometimes a live tree with a ball of dirt attached. It would be planted in the yard after the holidays. We had these antique candle holders that had formerly belonged to my grandpa's brother, Uncle Phil. They consisted of a circle of tin cut in a fan shape. Every other blade is bent up to form a cup for the little candle. This piece of tin is soldered to a heavy wire hook, on the end of which is a Plaster of Paris ball, painted red. The ball is for weight to hold the candle upright.

On Christmas night, after the meal was eaten and the dishes washed and put away, and long after the gifts were opened and enjoyed, either Dad or Mom would put a couple more logs on the fire in the fireplace. My brother, being the older of us, always got the honor of lighting the candles on the tree. We always made sure there was a bucket of water beside the tree – just in case!

The candles would be lit, the lights turned off, and we'd sit, usually in near silence, for nearly an hour while the candles slowly burned down. It was a wonderful time to meditate, to remember Christmases past, and for a small kid, a struggle to stay awake! As the candles burned down, my brother would take the brass candle snuffer and extinguish them one by one. For some reason the green candles always seemed to burn down quicker than the rest! After the candles were all out, we'd usually sit for a few more minutes, reflecting on the wonderful Christmas we'd enjoyed.

We kept our trees up until after New Year's Day. On New Year's Eve we'd repeat the candle lighting ceremony. Sometime after New Year's the trees would be taken down, the ornaments and those antique candle holders stored away to wait for the next Christmas. And no, we never set the tree on fire! The only accident we ever had was when I was a teenager – I leaned too close to one of the candles and caught my bangs on fire!

Wow, what a wonderful story. Thank you Nola! That must of been a beautiful site. The tree with the candles all lit...

What are some of your customs? I would love to hear them.

Till next time....

Dorian

Christmas memories

2010-12-11T04:33:00.000-08:00

Christmas memories can be fun. I grew up with 3 sisters and clearly remember all the fun Barbie doll stuff we got. One year it was a 3 story pink Barbie house we all had to share! What joy that was on Christmas morning, coming down the stairs to see that near the tree. One year it was a Barbie car, that was a lot of fun also.

And Christmas memories can be sad and depressing too. After my parents got divorced, those next few Christmas's were quite sad. Divorce is so hard on kids, who don't understand what is going on.

I have a hard time at Christmas still. Oh, I love the look of wonder and excitement on our children's faces. I love buying them just the right gifts, of decorating the house with their paper snowmen and making cookies to frost and decorate. We all love driving around at night and looking at the lights and displays. But my 3 sisters, Mom, Dad and I are all scattered in different states. No more of Mom's divinity candy (unless she makes some and sends it to us), no more going to church and hearing the sweet sound of Moms voice as she sings. Well, there are lots of no more's in my book. And I try not to dwell on the sad. So I wont continued to go down that road in this post. Back to the fun...

One year, we were able to get our then 3 yr old daughter a pink Barbie ride on jeep, the kind with the battery in it. You should of heard her scream of delight that Christmas morning. Her and older brother, and when younger brother was big enough, him too,had the best fun on that thing. They drove it till the battery would not work anymore, then they 'drove' it some more. Sometimes down a hill, sometimes with big brother pulling it. That jeep gave the kids at least 6 yrs of fun!

I mentioned divinity candy, and it IS divine!! I have yet attempted to make it on my own. I guess that is what makes it special, if Moms makes it and sends me some. But for myself, another treat that is made mostly just at Christmas is fudge. Both chocolate and peanut butter. These are a MUST at this time of year. Here are my recipes, I found them on the net about 5 yrs ago. I'm sorry, don't know where I found them or who put them out there. But they are scrumpious!

CHOCOLATE FUDGE

2 C brown sugar
1/2 C cocoa
1/2 C butter
1/2 C milk
2 tsp vanilla
3 C powder sugar

Put powder sugar in a large bowl.

In a medium sized pot, melt butter, add milk, brown sugar and cocoa. Bring to boil, and boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Take off heat, stir in vanilla. Pour over powder sugar and beat till most the lumps are gone.

Pour into round cake pan, pie plate, etc and let cool.

PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

2 1/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C butter
1/2 C milk
3/4 C peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 C powder sugar

Put powder sugar in large bowl.

Melt butter, add milk and brown sugar. Bring to boil, and boil for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and add vanilla and peanut butter. Stir. Pour over powder sugar and beat till most the lumps are gone.

Pour into round cake pan, pie tin, etc. Cool

These fudge recipes are great to give someone in a pretty tin!

I hope you have lots fond, happy memories of Christmas past.

Enjoy the fudge!

Till next time....

Dorian

Sashiko tutorial

2010-12-07T06:11:00.000-08:00

Our next guest blogger is Jeri. Jeri lives in TX near Jess and is lucky enough to work with Jess and hang out at her house.

Jeri has given us a small tutorial on Sashiko.

Sashiko

“Bless you” as my friend Cathy said when I told her about my latest project. No, I didn’t really sneeze. Sashiko is a form of Japanese embroidery. Typically done on dark blue cloth with white thread, much of Sashiko’s beauty lies in the simplistic stitches that create intricate designs.

Here are the steps I follow to create sashiko designs.

1. First print out the design you like on card stock.

2. Cut out the parts you want to show up when you chalk your template.

Oops, I forgot to take a picture of the next few steps. So hear it is in word form.

3.Spray the wrong side of your template with temporary adhesive, and place it where you want it on your fabric.

4.Use some form of marking system to fill in the blank spaces. I use a Pounce, but tailors chalk works as well.

5. Now your piece should look like this.

6. I use white embroidery thread and go around the outline of the stencil. I can’t remember the name of the stitch, so here is a picture.

7. My final tip is to pay attention to stitch length and space length. You want these to be as even as possible. If you have several uneven stitches in a row, take a break.

I hope this has been a useful introduction to Sashiko. To see the finished product (someday), check out the forums.
Thank you Jeri! Looks like a fun project.

We are having thread challenge on the forum. If you are interested in participating, come on over to the forum and check it out, here. Then sign up as a member of the forum, and join in the fun. We would love to have you!

Till next time...

Dorian

Our first guest

2010-12-04T04:11:00.000-08:00

Guest blogger that is.

Nola lives in Indiana, on a nice little farm. She has animals to attend to, and family all around her. Here is what she is doing for some Christmas gifts this year.

"ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS –
pillowcases, fleece blankets & pj’s - made with love by Grandma!

Guess I had too much fun earlier this year learning to make the Sausage Roll Pillowcases! Now my grand-girls have asked for pillowcases for Christmas – Monkey print for Lauren and Frog print for Caitlynn. My daughter decided her new man would like a set too, so I'm making Motorcycle pillowcases for Ryan – orange flames for the body with a motorcycle print for the cuff. And his two girls (soon to be my step-grand-girls) are both getting a set – wild colorful print for Ashlyn and something with lots of blue for Hayllie.

My son John collects military trucks (not scale model ones – the huge full-size things!) He has two from the Korean war era – an M211 6 x 6 and an M37/42 radio command truck. Also has an M715 from the Viet Nam war, complete with a bullet hole in the hood. While at a fabric store last weekend I found this really cute camo flannel with little army trucks on it! Yep, you guessed it! John is getting camo pillowcases for Christmas!

And fleece blankets!! OH MY! I can't see the top of my dining room table for the stacks of fleece waiting to be converted into blankets! This all started when my Esther made a motorcycle print fleece blanket for Ryan for his birthday. His family saw it and now they all want blankets – a snowman blanket for Grandma, a West Virginia sports blanket for Grandpa (he's from West Va.), a log cabin in the snow for Ryan's mom, a Farmall tractor blanket for my hubby's boss, and a red plaid for my John. There's even one just for me - pink and brown plaid! Ryan's girls want to learn how to make the knotted fleece blankets, so Esther bought fleece for them – she and I will get the fringe cut, then she will give them the fleece for Christmas – sort of a “do-it-yourself” Christmas gift!

And then there are the pajamas for the little girls! They were walking through the fabric department at Wal-Mart singing “Llama, llama, pink pajamas” (guess it's a story the youngest girl learned in school)! Caitie found frog flannel and Lauren spied the monkey flannel – so I guess I'll be sewing up some pj’s too!

Sigh! Guess I'll have to put all my quilt projects and plans on the back burner 'til after Christmas! Not even sure I'll have time to put up the Christmas tree! I'm off now to start cutting out all those pillowcases!"

Thank you Nola, sounds like you are pretty busy! Can't wait to see your creations.

Have a great day all,

Till next time,

Dorian

2010-12-01T20:05:00.000-08:00

Are You Ready??
It's Time For The Quilt & Needle’s
Third Anniversary/Winter Mystery Quilt Weekend!
Join Us for the Fun!! December 4 & 5, 2010

It's time to celebrate the Quilt & Needle’s Third Anniversary! The Winter Mystery Quilt Weekend is this weekend, December 4th and 5th, and I do hope you will join us over at the Quilt and Needle Forum as we sew-n-solve the clues to Jess’ newest Mystery Quilt Pattern! Jess has again designed this year’s Winter Mystery Pattern in three different sizes for you to choose from: 60” square, 80” square or 100” square! You do NOT want to miss out on this newest mystery design - it is absolutely stunning! You can order your Mystery Pattern here and be ready to join the fun in December. You can also still order all four of the 2010 Mystery Quilt Patterns at a specially discounted group price here. If you choose this option, you will be emailed the patterns for the March Mystery, the Summer Mystery and the Fall Mystery when your order is processed.

Winter Mystery Quilt Pattern

The Moda Swirl fabrics Jess has specially chosen for this design absolutely scream “Winter”!! Aren’t they just delicious?? These fabrics remind me of snow swirls and ice skating – perfect for this time of year! You can order your fabric kit for the Winter Mystery Quilt here. Also, remember, when you buy a Fabric Kit, the Mystery Pattern is included in the price of your kit! And don't forget to order your Backing Fabric when you order your kit! Just let Jess know which fabric you wish to use for your backing or let her choose the backing fabric for you! Either way, it's the perfect way to finish your one-of-a-kind Jessica J. E. Smith designer original quilt!

Winter 2010 Mystery Quilt Fabric Kit for 100" size

Winter 2010 Mystery Quilt Fabric Kit for 80" size

Winter 2010 Mystery Quilt Fabric kit for 60" size

If you prefer another colorway than the blue Moda Swirls, Jess wants you to know that this pattern will work well in any color way, with any theme of fabrics, so feel free to shop your stash after purchasing the pattern.

Jess and I also LOVE to see pictures of your quilty creations sewn from Jess’ patterns!! Forum members who join us for any Mystery Weekends are welcome to post and share photos of their quilts on the Forum. If you are not a Forum Member and have made a quilt from any of Jess’ patterns, we would love to see your quilt! Just email a photo to me at cindy@thequiltandneedle.com and I will post your photo to the Quilt and Needle Forum album for that pattern’s quilts and post the photo to our Facebook albums, too!!

So, until next time, friends, remember: When all else fails, just fondle the fabric!!

Cindy Prince, aka MisisipiMenace, aka Miss Tassels
and
Jessica J.E. Smith
The Quilt and Needle
http://www.thequiltandneedle.com/

Christmas is coming...

2010-12-01T04:21:00.000-08:00

It will be here sooner than we think. I am just amazed at how quickly days are going.

I thought it would be fun to share Christmas recipes, stories, memories...and of course, quilts with you this month. I also have some guest bloggers this month. A few with Christmas stories, a few with quilt related info.

I love to be in the kitchen, baking and cooking for my family. And Christmas time is one of the funnest times to be cooking. There are sooo many yummy treats out there. I love making food gifts for friends and family.

So to kick it off, I am going to share with you my families favorite Christmas cookie recipe. I started this about 8 yrs ago, or so. I was given a Nestle Toll House cookie cookbook one year, and this is where the recipe comes from. My husband is a huge chocolate fan, so when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it. And the kids love decorating them too. We made our first batch yesterday.

(this image was taken off google images)

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies Recipe

2 c Semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
2 3/4 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp each salt, ground ginger, and cinnamon
3 tbls butter or margarine
3 tbls sugar
1/2 c molasses
1/4 water

Melt 1 1/2 c choco chips.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon in bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until creamy, beat in molasses and melted chocolate. Gradually add in flour mixture alternating w/water. Beat until smooth. Cover and chill for 1 hr, or until firm.

Roll half the dough to 1/4" thickness. Cut into shapes. Repeat w/other half.

Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 5 to 6 minutes or until edges are set but centers are still slightly soft.

Either frost w/a mixture of powder sugar and water or melt remaining chocolate chips and drizzle over cookies.

We've had a few snow weekends, finally! My kids and I love the snow. It's been the perfect days for hiding in my sewing corner of the family room. That's where the wood stove is! So not only is it toasty warm, but I have beautiful views to look at, while I am sewing away.

Last year, I made these stockings for my family. My youngest son didn't want a homemade one, he was happy with his fuzzy one from Walmart with a puppy dog on it. But this year, he says I can make him one :)

What are you making this year?

I have some mug rugs to make (Yes, I have joined the craze!! I was told it's a good way to practice my new found machine quilting skills :) a few bags, maybe some pillow cases, a bedside caddy.....just to name a few things.

This coming weekend the Q&N is having our third anniversary mystery quilt weekend!! I'm sure it's going to be another gorgeous quilt, from our leader and great friend, Jess. Kits are available in the shop. And you can buy the pattern here.

I hope to see you join us!

Stay tuned, I'll be posting a bit more this month...I hope!

Till next time
Dorian

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-22T14:48:00.000-08:00

All of us at the Quilt and Needle would like to wish you all out in blog land, a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your day is full of family, friends, good food and lots of laughter.

Here at the homestead, it's just going to be my little family of five. There is only one of us who likes dark meat, but most of it goes in the freezer, and then eventually to the dogs. So we decided to go with a half a turkey this year, the white half :) It's going to be odd cooking just the breast/back. But I'm sure it will be tasty. We have all the fixings ready, and my dd and I will be cooking up a storm on Wednesday, getting all the pies and breads made or ready to go in the oven on Thursday.

*******************
On the quilting front; I did the Oct mystery quilt in Christmas colors. I only did the medallion part of it, as my Christmas stash pile is sadly lacking. It's very scrappy, I made it with the 10" layer cakes that we swapped last year. It's a another great mystery, and you can still buy the pattern!

I think this would look great on the table, as a table cloth. But I will eventually quilt it and give it to my Mom. One of the red fabrics I used has a silouette of Elvis Presley, and she's always been a fan.

My practicing on the machine quilting is going well. Here is a small tree skirt I made.

And my pink baby quilt I was working on is just about done. I just need to do the binding. And decide if I want to quilt in the small border.

I have a laptop bag pattern I am working on. As well as a few more quilt patterns. I hope by the New Year I'll be ready to start selling some things. Wish me luck!

And I've finished piecing a top for one of our charity groups. This is a lovely pattern. My dh really like the color combo's.

The picture at the top of the blog is of our first snow fall of the season. We got 4" over the weekend. And now it's almost all gone. But we are expecting more this coming weekend. It's going to be fun having a white Christmas for once.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Till next time~

Dorian

Another mystery quilt

2010-11-11T04:23:00.000-08:00

If you missed the Oct mystery quilt, and want to join the Gals at the Q&N in doing it again, we'll be having another mystery weekend this weekend! That's the 13th and 14th. You can buy the pattern here. It's another fabulous design! Would look gorgeous is Christmas colors.

Sign ups for our next Robin is coming to an end also. So if you want to join in that, come on over to the board and join us. This year it's going to be a row robin. We haven't done one yet, but it will be just as fun as ever. I love adding to someone else's work. It stretches the mind and sometimes makes you work outside your comfy box...which is a good thing.

********
On the home front. I am finally getting the hang of machine quilting! I don't have a long arm, just using my 1930's model White. I love this machine. It's so tough and durable. Right now I am just doing straight line quilting. I don't know if I will ever move on to free motion quilting or not. So for now, I am enjoying doing it this way. Here's what I'm working on.

I know.... I have much practicing to do. But I bet my neice will still love this quilt when it's done :)

I've also started my list of things to make for Christmas. I've found directions for fabric boxes and baskets, darling mug rugs and candle rugs, chocolate goodies and more. I love the Christmas season!

The skies have been beautiful lately. We've been having lots of clouds moving about, sometimes giving us some rain. Here is a sunset picture I took about a week ago.

I hope you'll come join the fun on the board.

Till next time!!

Dorian

I've been busy

2010-10-31T10:48:00.000-07:00

After testing all of Jess's beautiful quilt patterns, for the past 4 yrs! (well, almost, I can't believe it's been that long!) I have decided to give my hand a try at pattern making. Like a lot of you, I have patterns bouncing around my head, trying to get out :)

So the past few weeks I've been working on those. I have 2 baby quilt tops all done, now I need to do some quilting on them and finish writing the patterns up. And one more I'm working on. They are easy, fun and stash busting! Here is a sneak peak at them.

I also have 4 'big' people quilt patterns and at least 3 bag patterns that I am trying to get written up. I am going to be making some, and selling them...at least, that is the plan. Wish me luck :)

******
Over on the forum, we had a delightful mystery quilt weekend. If you missed it, you'll have another chance in a few weeks. I think it's the second weekend in Nov. So mark your calendars and come play. It's another fabulous pattern by Jess!

Our round robins from this year are starting to trickle home. I got my beautiful one in the mail a few days ago. I just LOVE IT. The Ladies did a fantastic job on it. Here's a picture.

Isn't it beautiful?

*****

We are finally getting some cold weather at my house, no snow yet, but lots of rain. It's the perfect time to sit at the sewing machine, feel the woodstove crackling at my back, and sip hot tea or cocoa.

I hope you can come see us on the forum, and join in the fun sometime.

Till next time.

Dorian

Scrappy stars...done

2010-10-09T05:43:00.000-07:00

I've finished my scrappy stars top. It is much different from the one on the link I showed you. I had put all the smaller stars together, with no sashing, and just did not like the way it looked. I've learned that you really have to watch the color placement of each strip. Next time, I'll make the strips better, so that the stars emerge as they should.

But I like this top. I think it looks good with the sashings. When I made the larger 'stars', I had thought, before I pieced them into the top, that they came out good. But once you put them together, you can see that the colors of the strips are not quite right there either. You need to use dark/light on the outer two strips, and a medium/light for the middle strip, in order for the pattern to come out. Oh well, I still like it. And I'm sure it will help to keep a Veteran warm. This is just a lap size, but something nice to snuggle under while watching tv, etc.

Here are some block pieces I am making for a "storm at sea" quilt. It's for our Sept QOV (Quilt of Valor) recipient. I am going to be piecing this beautiful top. It's made in batiks of purples, blues and greens. It's going to be gorgeous!

***********
Other happenings around the forum. We have moved the Oct mystery dates to the 22nd/23rd. So you have plenty of time to buy the pattern. And I'm sure if you ask Jess, she can kit it for you if you'd like.

We all have our Secret Santa friend, so have been browsing patterns and going thru fabrics, looking for just the right thing. I love this swap! It's so much fun making something for a friend, without her knowing who is doing it.

I also have the sign-ups for next years Round Robin going on. This year we are doing a Row by Row robin. You can find the thread here. Come on over and join us, it's lots of great fun!

************

Fall has finally arrived at my house. It's been beautiful weather, cloudy, rainy, and the next day sunny. Highs have been getting in the 60's and 70's. And cool at night. We have the woodstove going in the mornings and lots of firewood being cut up and stacked. I LOVE this time of year :)

Hope you all have a great day.

Till next time.

Dorian

Thrift store finds

2010-09-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

How many of you are thrift store goers? I love going to the thrift stores! I am always finding lots of great stuff.

I am a homeschooler, and love going to the local thrift store to see what I can find. Recently, I acquired these books. They are brand new, and only ONE dollar a piece!

We are also do-it-yourselfers, and the thrift stores are great finds for home improvement and do-it-yourself project books. Not to mention old and new fiction books. And as we are all verocious readers, this is a good deal.

There are also lots of crafts items at the thrifts stores. Like buttons and zippers. Ribbon and lace. yarn and knitting needles.

But my very favorite thing to find at the thrift store, is this:

Isn't she a beauty? It's a New Home, made in the 1930s, as far as I can tell, from the information I have read on them. In the 1950s, the New Home company was taken over by Janome sewing company. Now I just need to find another treadle, so the White I have at home wont feel so lonely, with my two old electrics :)

Oh, want to guess how much I paid for this machine??

Ready.....$16!

Yes, SIXTEEN dollars. Amazing!!

This machine came with a quilters foot and a little seam regulator...I'm not sure what the name of it is. But you put it on your presser bar, and it helps you to keep the same distance between quilting rows. So maybe I'll finally learn to do some machine quilting :)

Of course, thrift stores have a lot of other great things in them too. But these are the things that I usually bring home.

I'm off to do some more sewing on my strippy stars quilt. I have a new plan, I was just not happy with the way it as coming out. I'll show you when I am done.

Have a wonderful, quilty day.

Till next time,
Dorian

Progress and a finish

2010-09-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

I am making progress on my scrappy stars. They are a bit hard to see, maybe that's why I have such a hard time with strips and scraps. It seems so busy. I am going to put a slim border around this set, and then make some stars that are just a bit bigger. That way I don't have to trim strips down any, and wont be wasting them. The bigger stars will go around this middle section.

At least......that is the plan, we'll see how it goes.

As for my finish, it is my Phires Compass. The wind was blowing a bit and pull and stretching it, but here it is. I just love the colors in this quilt.
******

On the forum news. We have a lovely black and white swap going on. I hope you were able to join us. Debbieann came up with a gorgeous quilt pattern for us to use with these layer cakes, if we want to.

Our mystery quilt weekend in coming up on Oct 2nd and 3rd. You don't want to miss that! The patterns are always fantastic.

We also have a secret Santa and a Christmas ornament swap going on. You can join us here and here.

Lots of fun going on. My household is getting ready for our first winter in our new home. We'll be getting SNOW! I can't wait!! I love snow, and so do my kids. And that thought wants me to get all my quilt tops, I think I have 15 now!, quilted. I think I need to learn machine quilting...

Have a great day!

Till next time,

Dorian

Blackberries

2010-09-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

Blackberries signal the end of Summer, here in my next of the woods. My family and I have been busily picking them. They are nutrious, yummy and free! They grow all over the mountains here, and it only takes us about 20 minutes to drive to a creek where they grow so abundantly.

I've been making pies, cobblers and jam the past few days. I use whole wheat flour and honey in my recipes, so it makes this delisious goodness a bit more healthy for us :)

My fabric has taken on a 'blackberry' theme too. Here is a purse I made. With my dd's help (she is only 12!), I finally figured out the zippered pocket. I wanted it done a specific way, so that I had two large pouches on either side of a large zippered pouch. And then I have two small pockets on the inside and the black fabric on the outside, is also pockets. So plenty of room to keep all my stuff.

Those are not actually blackberries on the black fabric, but they are some sort of berries, and their leaves look similar to wild mountain blackberries.

I've also been working on Jess's pattern that she made for Northcott. You can contact Jess for the pattern.

I am testing this pattern, and I can tell you, it is FABULOUS. If you haven't made a Jess pattern yet, you are in for a treat. She has beautiful creations, well written patterns, with lots of visual aids.

My version I think I will rename "Blackberries and cream" Heehehe...as that is what it reminds me of. Here is part of it, I am still working on the border.

We are getting more blackberries tomorrow...I love seeing a larder full of Summer goodness!

Have a great day.

Till next time,

Dorian

2010-08-31T17:59:00.000-07:00

It's time for our second Mystery Pattern contest! The prize is a free copy of Jess' new 2010 Fall Mystery pattern for the upcoming Mystery Weekend on September 18th & 19th!

For the next week and a half, all you have to do is post a picture of a quilt that you have completed during 2010! If your quilt is completely finished, as in quilted and bound, then your name goes into the pot twice for that entry. If your entry is of the completed quilt top only, then you still get a chance with your name going into the pot once. Only ONE picture per entry but you may enter as many photos as you like to this blog posting as well as to the Quilt & Needle's Forum thread and our Facebook status - however, you can only win once!

So get your photos out and posted by midnight CDT (that's central daylight time) September 10th! Jess and I will draw the winner's name from all comment entries and let y'all know on Saturday, September 11th. We will contact the winner on September 11th to get their email address to send their prize on the Mystery Quilt Weekend.

We are looking forward to mucho eye candy!

By the way, if the chosen winner has already purchased this 2010 Fall Mystery pattern, the winner may select one of the previously published patterns from the Quilt & Needle webstore

Tonight's Discussion Session - 1/4" Seams and Proper Stitch Lengths!

2010-08-27T06:16:00.000-07:00

Join Jess and me tonight as Jess gets back to the basics of piecing quilt blocks! Jess is going to discuss 1/4" seam allowances and stitch lengths and why these techniques are so important to the construction of a great quilt! We encourage ALL quilters of every skill level to join us tonight (Friday, August 27, 2010) in the Snug Chatroom at 6:00 P.M. Central as our more experienced quilters will have the opportunity to share their wealth of knowledge, hints and tips with other quilters who have yet to have as many quilty moments with their craft. This promises to be a lively and informative Discussion Session! Looking forward to see you there!

Cindy
a/k/a MisisipiMenace and Ms. Tassels

Frustrations...and turning it around

2010-08-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of 'those' days? You know, the days when nothing you do is right...when Mr. seam ripper is your best friend.

My dear husband made me a sign for 'those' days. I used to have it hanging over my sewing table, but it got packed away and I haven't unearthed it yet. I need to though, as it reminds me :

"BAD DAY? Go away, not here should you play!"

That's what the sign says. LOL. And it reminds me when I'm having one of 'those' days, the best thing to do is go and read, or blow up balloons for my 6yr old, or anything else but sew.

I was having one of 'those' days last week. And stupidly decided that this scrappy stars pattern that I found here: http://stashmanicure.blogspot.com/2010/08/scrappy-stars-tutorial.html would make the perfect pattern for one of our charity groups. Our Snug society group, where we make lap quilts for a Veteran's organization.

So, I got out some strips that I have and happily pulled all the red, white and blues out. Then I cut the strips 8" long and happily sewed them together......and this is where it went all wrong. Even though I had printed out the tutorial, I figured I didn't need to look at it, as I pretty much understood what I had to do...that was the first mistake. I clearly failed to read the part that said "Each rectangle (that you cut) will be 4"x 7 1/2"!

But I still hadn't realized this....I merrily sewed whites to blues, and two different reds together, then put three of the strips together so it went white/blue...red/red....white/blue I wanted to make sure that the whites where in the 'corners' so that they would make a white star.

Luckily I only sewed about 15 strips together, before I had to lay 4 of them together in a square to see the star......and that's when I realized the mistake I made! My strips were 2" wide...and I cut them 8" long. So that when the three strip pieces were together, they made a 4.5"x11" rectangle....and you can't put those dimension rectangles together in the proper way to make this work! Your 3 strip block has to be a square, so that you can turn every other one horizontal.

That's when I knew it was time to pull out my sign....

Fast forward to today. I decided that I would cut the length of the strips that I already had pieced together down to match the width. So that I now have 4.5' squares, and when you put 4 of those together, you come up with a star....

Can you see the star?

So now, I have strips that are 3" wide and some that are 3.5" or 4" wide. What I plan to do is make different sized scrappy stars, and still put them together into a lap sized quilt. I think it will look great!

******
Now that my Australian friend recieved her table runner I made, I thought I'd show it all to you.

So put a sign on your wall, and when you're having one of 'those' days....go do something else instead of sewing.

Have a great day.

Dorian

Procrastinating...

2010-08-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

How many of you do that? Procrastinate...that's what I am doing right now. I should be doing this:
But I hate trimming! Anyone else hate the process too?? I KNOW that trimming my blocks is the best thing, as then they are all prepped and pretty so they sew together more easily. But honestly, it is a B-O-R-I-N-G task.

So, instead I decided to come and do some chatting, and surfing. I need to update the album on our forum, for the Sweet Child charity quilts that we make. I love making quilts for those who need some extra love.

We have 3 different charity organizations that we donate to. Every month we make a quilt or two, all blocks, backing fabric and batting are lovingly donated by our members, and lovingly put together and quilted, by which ever member has the time and want to do it.

So far this year, we have made 20 quilts!! HURRAY!! We decided to take January off, to catch up. As last year we had SO many tops made. We needed to give the quilters time to catch up. We also decided that the months of Nov. and Dec. will be our catchup months from now on. As those two months is so busy for us crafters.

So back to my procastination....I've been having fun out in blog land lately. There is so much inspiration out there! Not only from other quilters/crafters, but also from nature, buildings, home decor, etc. I was looking on this blog http://ankastreasures.wordpress.com/ AMAZING pictures of buildings in Europe. Look at all those patterns. Just gets the mind whirling with all the possibilities.

Another great blog for inspiration is http://lizzyhouse.typepad.com/cherry_house_quilts/ Has anyone bought Cherry's book, City Quilts? I haven't seen it yet, but there are lots of photos of her quilts, on her blog, that got inspired by the city around her. Just fantastic!!

I am slowly starting to see patterns everywhere I look. I don't have a quilt program for my computer yet. But I love to draw, so I keep a few sketch books and pens/pencils handy for any ideas.

Ok, I've procrastinated long enough....back to the cutting board!

Till nex time....

Dorian

Table Runners

2010-08-06T06:17:00.000-07:00

It looks like the year of the table runner in my house. Since table runners are smaller versions of quilts, it's much easier to get them finish and displayed, than a bed sized quilt :)

Here are some sneak peaks at the three I've been working on this Summer. One of them is one it's way to Australia. My table runner swap partner lives there. I don't want to show the whole thing off yet, as I don't want her to see it till she gets it.

The other two are for some good friends of mine. Again, I don't want them to see the whole thing yet, so that's why the sneak peeks only.

Looks like I still need lots of practice in the applique area...I'm sure my friend will love it anyways....don't friends always?!

One of these days, I'll make one or two to go on my own table :) I just enjoy making things for others.

I like flower fabrics, can you tell? The top runner is made with the Roses line of fabrics by Jackie Robinson. I just love this line! The roses are so beautiful.

The second runner also has some Maywood flowers, some from the He Loves Me Too line, and some from Little Lulu. Maywood is one of my favorite manufactorers.

The bottom runner has some of my favorite fabric in it also. Connie, from here at the Q&N, hand dyed the blue and green fabrics. They are SO lovely and soft!

What do you have on your table?

Till next time...

Dorian

Summer Funk??

2010-07-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

Is anyone is a Summer funk when it comes to sewing? Too much lazing around enjoying the sun and water? Well, come join us on Saturday the 31st. Hop on to the forum and join in the virtual quilting bee.

There are a few members of our forum that have the Summer blues big time, so we are all going to gather round our computers and hop up to our sewing machines, back and forth...back and forth...and "make-something-for-yourself".

I have recently done up a nice, cozy curtain for one of our bedroom windows. We live in snow country now, we will need something to help keep the heat in, and cold out. Isn't it bright and cheerful??

So I'll be making another one this Saturday, for our other window. It wont be just like this one, but same colors, similar style.

We are starting to come to an end in our Round Robin swap. I'm so excited! I'm a non-peeker, I haven't looked at my round robin since I sent off the medallion. So I have no idea what it looks like, I just know it's going to be awesome though!

Our Summer table runner swap is nearing the finish date too. We have some lovely runners already made and sent to swap partners. You can view them here:

http://www.thequiltandneedle.com/forums/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?albumid=103

I have my partner's runner all finished, just need to pop it in the mail. It's going to Australia, so I want to get it out as soon as I can. I can't wait to see what my partner has made me!

If you missed last weeks Summer Mystery, head over to the Q&N store and buy it! It's another cute, lovely mystery pattern from Jess.

OH, and Jess is holding a sale this weekend! You don't want to miss that. Head over to the Q&N store, and see what goodies she has at 25% off all fabric and kits! including sale stuff that is already reduced!!! WoOHOO!

Have a great day all, hope to see some of you at the forum!

Till next time...

Dorian

WINNER ANNOUNCED!

2010-07-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

YAY!!!! Congrats to Delia of New Hampshire! Sammy Joe drew her name as the winner of the Summer Mystery Quilt Pattern contest. Delia has already chosen her fabrics to use when she receives her prize pattern!

Here is Delia's tip that she posted on our Quilt and Needle Forum:
"My tip is to use large, plastic paper clips to hold your binding in place for hand-stitching. They clamp down nicely, don't hurt or stain the fabric, can be easily moved along out of your way, and won't prick your fingers. Oh, and they're cheap. Love 'em"

Thanks for the great tip, Delia!

CONTEST! Win a 2010 Summer Mystery Pattern!

2010-06-27T05:57:00.000-07:00

Jess and I have decided to host a little contest! The prize is a free copy of Jess' new 2010 Summer Mystery pattern for the upcoming Mystery Weekend on July 17th & 18th!

For the next two weeks, all you have to do is leave a comment stating your favorite tip or trick about quilting! Only ONE tip or trick per comment but you may comment as many times as you like to this blog posting as well as to the Quilt and Needle Forum thread and our Facebook status - however, you can only win once!

So get your thinking caps on and get your favorite quilty tips and tricks posted by midnight CDT (that's central daylight time) July 9th! Jess and I will draw the winner's name from all comment entries and let y'all know on Saturday, July 10th. We will contact the winner on July 10th to get their email address to send their prize on the Mystery Quilt Weekend.

We are looking forward to the wealth of your quilty experiences!

By the way, if the chosen winner has already purchased this 2010 Summer Mystery pattern, the winner may select one of the previously published patterns from the Quilt & Needle webstore.
Cindy

Summertime!

2010-06-21T04:25:00.000-07:00

Well Summertime has arrived! I am really enjoying our new place. No more hot, hot summers for 4 or 5 months. We'll get some heat later in the Summer, but right now it's warm and sunny with some breezes. Just perfect in my opinion!

I've really been enjoying all the creative blogs out there. It helps to keep the inspiration up and find new and fun things to make. My 1930s swap fabric has been calling to me. At first, I was going to match it up with some nice, bright white and do a Irish chain pattern. But I don't keep white in the house, only buy it if I need it for some charity blocks or baby blocks. So I couldn't wait to go buy some white, and just decided to do something different with the 30s fabrics....I wished I would of waited. I use some of the fabric in a pinwheels pattern, and have decided that it's just too 'busy'. I should of used some solid, either for the pinwheels or the background...so it's back to the drawing board. I'll have to get some solids to use, or go with white.

We're gearing up for Summer at the Q&N too. We have a table runner swap in progress right now. Gilly from Australia is my swap partner. I had fun coming up with a pattern for her, to fit her octagonal kitchen table. Can't show it to you yet though, as it's a surprise and I don't want to Gilly to see it.

We also have a mystery weekend coming up next month. I'll give you a positive date on that soon. That will be super, as always! Jess makes awesome mystery quilts.

What are you doing with your Summer? Any vacation plans? My summer will be full of getting our new place in shape. And getting ready for the cold winter months.

Stop by the Q&N, and see what we're up to. We have lots and lots of albums full of inspiration for you!

Till next time...

Dorian

Awww, Spring again...

2010-05-16T06:17:00.000-07:00

At least it is for me. My family and I have moved into a dream spot for us. We are up out of the valley now, into the pines of the mtns. At 3500 ft in elevation, it's just perfect. The kids and I get the snow we love to play in, and Daddy still gets a decent growing season for our veggies.

So I am getting Spring weather all over again. Which is fine with me, I love Spring. All the beautiful flowers are starting to bloom. I have purple and yellow Iris's and lots of red rose bushes. These were already planted here. So now I get the fun of finding more flowers to go with all these.

Planting flowers is kind of like putting together a patchwork quilt. LOL. You pick your colors that go well together, and put them in a pleasing pattern. So Spring flowers always make me want to choose lovely Spring colors and flowers for my quilts and things that I make.

Lately I have got the bag 'bug'. I just love making bags! Hand bags, tote bags, grocery bags...there are so many beautiful patterns out there. Here is my laptop bag. I used the gorgeous Roses Fabrics from Jackie Robinson, of Maywood.

Her fabrics are so lushish!! I just love roses.

Speaking of Jackie Robinson, are any of you doing her quilt block challenge? That was what I was working on last month. I am so excited!! Thanks to Jess and her Mom, Connie, here at the Q&N, I have found my inner self who has been just dying to make my own patterns. Thank you Jess and Connie!!! (Wish me lucky everyone, please!) Here is Jackie's contest:

http://www.animasquilts.com/SplitStripe.html

Ok, bag to the bags...
On the Q&N yesterday we had a Saturday Special. That's where Cindy will decide upon a theme, or maybe share a pattern, and we all do it and share pictures, etc. Yesterday's theme was handbags. Here is the link to that thread:

http://www.thequiltandneedle.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=1577&posts=57&start=1

I shared a bag that I made a pattern for. It was just a sample bag, now I have to work out the kinks and remake it. I love my black leather purse, but it is showing signs of wear. So I am trying to copy it a bit, not exactly, but close. Here it is:

It's still missing it's strap, but I was too busy with sick kids yesterday to finish it.

We are also gearing up for next months Mystery quilt. So hope on over and join us, Jess's mysteries are wonderful! And it's only $9.95 to do one!!

Hope to see you soon!!

Dorian

April Showers....

2010-04-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

Bring May flowers...so the saying goes. If that's the case, our hillside is going to be nothing but flowers next month :)

But all this rain helps me to stay inside and visit with Mr White, my treadle sewing machine. I have been working on some secret blocks, I'll tell you about them next month. Once done with those, I've been trying to get myself caught up on the blocks for our forum.

Our charity quilts are moving along smoothly. We've made one for each of our 3 charity groups, for Feb, March and well on our way into the April ones. You're welcome to come join us in this endeaver.

Someone said that something must of been put in the water system, as we have lots and lots of baby quilts to make this year too! LOL Not only are a few of our members expecting a bundle of joy, but many, many of the Grandma's are expecting Grandbabies too. And we all love making baby quilts, so we've been making them like crazy!

I can't wait for us to get our swap fabric back this time. We are doing a '30s repo swap, and I know what quilt pattern I want to make. It's Spring....so flowers, right?!...and one of my favorite blocks, the Irish Chain. I think I might applique some flowers in the big squares. Then again, these beauties would look lovely in a Jacob's ladder pattern too, with a crisp, white background...hmm, decisions, decisions... So many wonderful patterns to choose from. And the 30s prints are in high style right now. I am seeing loads of great patterns with them, all with crisp, white backgrounds. What is your favorite pattern to do with these 30's fabrics?

Keep your sewing machines humming merrily along, and come join us for a chat and fun :)

Till next time,

Dorian

The Fun of March

2010-03-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

March seems to be the time when the quilting bug starts really hitting. There are retreats and quilt shows popping up all over the place. Must be Springtime. Unfortantely, my LQS just recently closed, I have to drive an hour North or South to get to a quilt store. Not only that, but the local quilt guild only puts on a show every other year.

So hear I am, listening to the talk of the Ladies on the Q&N who went to Tomball to the retreat Jess has there every year. Wanting to go to a quilt show. Or at least go browse a shop. Guess it's time for a town trip :) Another of our members was talking about a local shop hop she went on. How fun is that! I need to find an area nearby that does those. And then I remember, and see ads for, the online shop hop. Cool, at least I can go window shopping on my computer.

I am having a great time. Finding new stores, and seeing all the new fabs and gadgets coming out. I'm going to try real hard to find most the bunnies too. I've decided to make folders on my favorites list, one for each of my favorite designers/manufacturers. The stores that I find on the shop hop that have a lot of my favorties for good prices, go into a folder. My favorites list has grown quite a bit in the last few days. LOL.

More fun in March. Jess always has a mystery quilt when she goes to the retreat. If you haven't tried one of her mystery quilts yet, you are really missing out. She is a fabulous designer! I choose bright, Spring colors for my mystery this year. And it sure does bring in the sunshine.

And to top that off, we are having a lovely 1930's repro fabric swap! I've just ordered my fabric (found it when I was shop hopping ) and can't wait to get a bunch of lovelies back. I have a great pattern for a hexagon table cloth that would look adorable in these.

Have fun hopping and shopping. Don't forget to stop in Jess's store and look at her yummy fabric kits.

Till next time.

Dorian

Embracing Change

2010-03-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

Hello friends and fellow quilters,

As many of you know, exciting things have been happening in the Smith household over the past half year. We welcomed our second child, Sapphire, into our lives on August 17. She is a "woman" with a voice and is already keeping Billy (my DH), Sammy (our 3-year-old) and myself on our toes!

In October I made my annual trip to Quilt Market in Houston. The trip was fruitful - I picked up a position teaching at the LQS and signed on to design quilt patterns with Northcott fabrics.

In December we learned that Billy was accepted into the Nurse Practitioner program at Texas Tech University Health Science Center, and he started classes in January. He has been working very hard for a very long time to reach his career goals, and (I think I speak for all of us) when I say that we are elated that an end to all of his training is finally in sight. August of 2012 (just when Sammy starts Kindergarten) marks the end of his journey!

Each of these new endeavors brings along with it many challenges. Since the early part of winter, I have been pondering how The Quilt and Needle can adapt to help meet these challenges. Billy and I believe that our children benefit from having a stay at home Mom, and we ardently hope that I can continue to work at home while raising our babies.

After much consultation with my peers and many hours spent praying and meditating on the subject, I have decided on a new fee structure for our Mystery Quilt Weekends. Participation in a single Mystery Quilt Weekend (with pattern) will now be $9.95. If you would like to sign up for the entire year (all four Mystery Quilt Weekends with patterns), you can do so at the discounted price of $34.95. Visit The Quilt and Needle Store for more information. (If you purchase a kit or retreat package from us, the Mystery Quilt Weekend and pattern are included!)

Many of our projects, clubs, activities, etc. will continue to be free of charge and anyone is welcome to participate. I enjoy the open atmosphere of our online community and hope that we will continue to grow and learn from one another for many years to come!

Additionally, we will begin phasing out the "fabric from the bolt" section of our website and begin concentrating only on kits for our original patterns, 5-yard-bundles, and bolt ends and remnants at a discount. Kits for our Mystery Quilt Weekends will continue to be available in our store for your convenience.

I hope you understand the reasoning behind these changes. I am a quilt designer, shop owner and quilting teacher. I am a wife. I am a mother. I am a woman. I am sincerely grateful to each of you for the support you have given me in all that I am, and all that I hope to be.

With warmest regards,

Jessica J.E. Smith

Happy Valentines Day

2010-02-14T11:11:00.000-08:00

I hope you all are having a lovely day. Full of laughter and fun. It's chilly here in N. Cal. But no snow in the valley, just up on the mountains. A good day for hanging out in the sewing room. I have been getting some projects done and out the door. Making room for more :)

On the Q&N, we make baby quilts for our expecting Moms or for our members Grandchildren. The latest one, I've just finished putting Prairie points on and got it sent off. This is for BJ's newest Granddaughter, born just a few weeks ago. Isn't is precious!

We've also started making quilts for our charity groups again. We are going into our 3rd year doing this! We have three different charity organizations that we make quilts for. We have volunteers to make the blocks, donate the batting and backing, someone pieces it and another quilts it. I am so proud to be part of this great group of Woman who devote some of their precious sewing time to making quilts for needy children, families and Veterans. We've made over 100 quilts so far!!!

And I've been working on a border for a round robin medallion that I have. We have started our second robin and are just having a blast. We have 3 groups, and my group is going fast, as two of the Ladies in it are expecting babies later in the year, and we want to get these done before they have bundles of joy to care for :)

On the personnal front, I am being remiss in getting my window quilt done. My excuse is that I just don't have the right fabric to finish it :) Maybe I'll have to do some shopping to see what I can find. I have ordered 3 patterns though, that I would like to do sometime this year. And I am anxiously awaiting our next Mystery quilt, which will be next month. If you haven't done one of Jess's mysteries, now is the time to start. Her's are always gorgeous!

So many patterns, so little time....as my good friend Pat is always saying. I hope you find something crafty to do with your day. Enjoy it and enjoy your family.

Till next time,

Dorian

Rainy Day Blues

2010-01-26T04:56:00.000-08:00

The rain is our Winter here in Far Northern California. I live down too low to get snow, although every once in a blue moon we'll get a half an inch or so. That hasn't happened for about 7yrs though. But our mountains are covered with the beautiful white stuff. And just looking at it makes me want to snuggle under a quilt or two.

I am in the process of making a window quilt. Our house is small, so there isn't much room for wall quilts. I need a new curtain on this particular window anyway, so why not make it a quilt! Then I have a cover for my window from the cool air trying to come in AND make a pretty for the 'wall'. I wont quilt this, just 'tack' it every so often, so it gets done and on the window, instead of getting put away with all my other quilt tops.

The round robins we are doing on the forum and coming along so nicely. I love seeing what borders people are putting on these. And the Gals doing the Easter bunny swaps are having fun deciding how they are going to decorate their fabric egg blocks.

We are also getting our charity quilts under way for this year. We've decided to cut back a few months, so that we have time to catch up. The quilt tops tend to pile up as they are all voluteer's doing the quilting and they only have so much time to devote to these. I so enjoy looking thru the albums though, and seeing all the pretty quilts we make for the three groups we donate them to.

Well that's all the news from my rainy part of the world. I hope all your machines are stitching nicely, and pretty things are being made.

Till next time.

Dorian

To make a resolution...or not...

2010-01-09T05:09:00.001-08:00

Here's hoping you all had a wonderful Holiday season. Now is the time that people start thinking about resolutions. I've never been a resolution type gal myself...but yesterday I was sitting on my bed contemplating all the beautiful quilt tops I have. And I started thinking that maybe it's time to make a resolution to get them all quilted.

I have ELEVEN tops that need quilting! I am not a machine quilter. I own two sewing machines and they are both about 100 yrs old. I love sewing with these machines. They are strong and built to last! But I've never been good at actually quilting on them. Piecing yes, quilting no. And besides that, I enjoy hand quilting. I can sit and rest my weary bod and do something useful at the same time. The problem is, this past year I've had a lot of physical problems, and they are not letting me do much hand quilting. Hence, a bunch of tops...as I just can't resist testing Jess's beautiful quilt patterns!

I took all my tops and laid them out one by one on the bed. And I've decided that I love each and every one of them. The next one always seem to be my 'favorite'. And I have tons of ideas as to color for making these quilts all over again. The patterns are fabulous! So what's a girl to do?.....Go on making more tops, and hope one day I can quilt them all!! LOL

We have a new swap starting on the forum. An Easter one, full of colorful fabric eggs and chocolate bunnies http://www.thequiltandneedle.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=1371&posts=9&start=1 We would love for you to join us.

The Round robin is also off to a good start. I've finished my first border already...I am weeks early!....but it's so much fun. I just couldn't have this darling medallion sitting around without doing something with it. We have 3 different groups going, 6 or 7 people in each group. You can visit our albums and see the medallions and follow along with their progress here: http://www.thequiltandneedle.com/forums/photos/photo-main.asp

Our Round robin we completed last year is one of my quilt tops I was admiring yesterday. I am considering making a window quilt out of it...to cover our window in the living room. Then not only would I have a heavy curtain to keep the cold out...but it would be a beautiful quilt on the wall to admire too....decisions, decisions...make a resolution to get these beauties quilted...or just going on making more to add to the pile! ...maybe a little of both... :)

Happy quilting to you all.

Dorian

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T05:13:00.000-08:00

A very merry Christmas to you all out there. I hope you've got your shopping done, and family is drawing close.

My stockings are done and hanging up. They sure do brighten the room with their Christmas-y colors. And most of my hand made gifts are done too. I am still working on my husbands birthday present, his birthday is the day after Christmas, so I better hurry!

His birthday gift is made from an 'ugly' fat quarter I was sent, in our yearly 'ugly' fat quarter challenge. This year Jess gave us a twist on it. We all sent her our 'ugly' FQ's and she swapped them around and sent them back out. So we all ended up with an FQ that someone didn't want. Luckily, the one sent to me is not ugly to my husband. You can read about it and follow us along here: http://www.thequiltandneedle.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=1222&posts=204&start=1

Another of my favorite swaps going on, it's turning out to be a yearly thing too, is our Round Robin. We have our groups picked and getting our medallions made. I already have my first medallion to put a border on. So I can get right to that after Christmas.

Here's wishing you all a wonderful holiday season, and a terrific, crafty New Year!!

Dorian

Busy Little Bees....

2009-11-28T05:31:00.000-08:00

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, and are continuing to have a great weekend. We are all so busy around the forum this time of year. We have so many fun swaps going, plus our own creations for our home and family. By the end of the year, we'll all be happy for some rest! LOL

It's cool now, in my part of the world. The days have been sunny, but the evenings are cool enough for a fire. I've been enjoying sitting in my rocking chair, hand sewing on my lap. I'm working on my Secret Santa gift, I have to hurry and finish, as the deadline for sending it is drawing near.

I've also finished a Christmas stocking, only 4 more to do for my family. We had a Saturday Special on the forum, in which we made stockings and posted pictures and 'talked'. Here is mine.

Our Fall table runner swap is over with, and boy are there some beauties! What a lot of talent there is in on the forum! This one is mine, made by my friend Colleen. If you would like to see more of them, you can find the album here:
http://www.thequiltandneedle.com/forums/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?albumid=82

And we are all gearing up for next years Round Robin too!! I love Round Robins. You get to add borders to your friends medallions, and have them add to yours. Then you have a lovely wall hanging or quilt, and everytime you look at it, you'll think of your friends. It also helps you to think outside your own box. You might have to work with colors you don't normally. You have to consider what has been done by someone else before you, hoping that the border you chose to do will be just right. It's lots of fun. I think that my medallion this time, will be the Carpenters wheel, and I'll make it with some gorgeous died fabric that Connie made. Her products are in the quilt and needle store. It's going to be lovely! I can't wait to get started on it....But I still have stockings to make, secret santa gift to finish, an armchair cozy to finish....

It's a windy day, perfect for sitting inside with the radio on....sewing machine humming! Have a great day everyone.

Dorian

November Snug Society Quilters Give Back Projects

2009-11-08T20:08:00.000-08:00

“Many Hands Make Light Work!”

NOVEMBER’S SNUG SOCIETY QUILTERS GIVE BACK PROJECTS: Thanksgiving is right around the corner. What better way to express your thankfulness for all your blessings than to be a blessing to someone else! The Snug Society projects will provide the way to do just that, to be a comfort to others in need.

The November “I Spy” quilt will be blocks made of warm colors, such as oranges, reds, browns, yellows and golds. You can find block sizes and cutting information here. This quilt will benefit a resident of the Pine Ridge Native American Reservation in South Dakota.

Our November Sweet Child quilt blocks will feature fairies bordered by turquoise, green or purple. You can also make pieced block centers from these colors rather than using “fairy-themed” fabrics. You can find information on this project here. These quilts provide comfort to children from abusive situations that are counseled at Harmony Home in Texas.

The November Snug Uniblocks will feature autumnal colors (oranges, reds, browns, yellows and golds) with white or off-white backgrounds. You can find this quarter’s block pattern and other information about these quilts here. The quilts from this project will be sent to comfort wounded veterans in hospitals here in the States as well as abroad.

August 2009 Snug UniBlock Quilt Top