29 September 2010

Brown bags. . .

Well I shouldn't have JUST posted the contest entry.  I should have posted some of the stuff I have gotten done. . . But I blame it on being tired.  yeah I was tired ;)

What I have to tell you about tonight is the brown bag quilt contest.

There is more information about it here. (There is also a button on my side bar you can click) You sign up, send 2 yards of fabric to someone, they send 2 yards to you.  it's a great way to meet people and get out of your comfort zone!

I received my fabrics (and just got mine shipped! procrastinate much!) I received my fabric from Scrappy Pieces.

And here is the fabric I got:
It's going to be interesting putting this together, but these are not fabrics I would have picked out on my own!  I might have an idea of how to put them together. . . but we'll see!

I need to go to bed! I will talk to you all later!

26 September 2010

AccuQuilt Go Cutter Giveaway - repost!

Milliesquilting is doing a give away for an accuQuilt go cutter, and I thought I would go ahead and give it a whirl!


It's pretty easy to enter.  You comment on the post.  You get one entry.  You are following her you get one entry and if you repost it, you get another entry!


So this is me posting an entry about this!!

X-Blocks

 So today I met up with Heather today and she took me to my first real quilt shop.  From the time I started sewing Jo-Ann's was where I usually bought fabric.  But I think I might explore a little bit.  Next weekend there is a shop hop, that I might do!

 The shop was Needle & Thread.  I liked it a lot!! Not only was the woman working very friendly, they had some of the cutest patterns!! But I was good.  And didn't buy fabric.

These are some finished projects that I saw and want to somehow reproduce myself!

Those are NOT pictures printed on fabric, there are little corners to hold the pictures in there!! I would LOVE to make some of those! Hello Christmas presents!
I want to know what pattern this is!
And these! I really liked them both.  And as I went shopping through I found out that they are actually made the same way!! And I did BUY something. . .
The template for X-blocks!  Now I know I technically could have probably done this on my own, but I think it will work a lot better with this!!  And this is where I show you a mini tutorial on how to make X-blocks (the pattern is called pocketful of posies I believe)

While at one shop I saw a very neat nine patch with Halloween fabrics, and I realized that I have Halloween blocks and I could make something similar to that.  And then I got home, and realized that I could use the Halloween fabric to make the X-blocks!


Now I cut my fabric into 3 1/4" squares, now this could also be done with strips.  But I had bought some little pieces of fabric at a shop 9"x14", so I wouldn't have been able to get much of a strip!

I was going to use a purple Hallowen fabrics for the inside square, and then I realized I had a solid purple I could use!! Thanks Kathy!!

So you sew your fabrics into a 9 patch (I will try to remember to explain how I laid out my squares and why these are in the order they are in)

Then you put the template on the nine patch and match the lines.  I was using the solid lines.



And this is what your finished block looks like!


You do end up with some left overs, but I think you'll see them again ;)


I only made 4 blocks.  I didn't run out of my off white, but I am going to need to get some more, and I didn't want the new to all be with new, so I couldn't make many more tonight.

Hopefully you can see the pinwheel in there.  When it's all done there will be a black pinwheel and orange pinwheel.

Now what to do with my first Halloween quilt?!

I hope you all have an awesome Sunday!

24 September 2010

You know you're a quilter when. . .

 This was posted in a online quilters group I am a part of.  It orginally came from quiltingboard.com  The ones after 90 were added from my group :)

Which ones are you?  I must say, I was quite surprised at how many were me!

I was chatting with Jan and we both talked about something we did in common. . . and I mentioned this list to her, so I thought I would take the time to post it!!  I hope you all enjoy!

1. You pay more attention to the quilts in the movie than what the actors are saying.
2. Meals are an interruption
3. you see a nice shirt, skirt or dress, you mentally go through your stash to see if you have coordinating fabric and figure out what block the garment would look best in.
4. you rewind or pause a movie to get a better look at the quilt in the background.
5. you stop driving or walking to dig out a camera, cell phone, or paper and pen to capture an image of something for a new quilt idea.
6. You wish quilters got credit in films like actors and tech staff do.
7. you go to bed, you think about what you want to sew in the morning instead of what you plan to make for breakfast.
8. you trace a design in a hospital waiting room.
9. you look at the tile design on the floor and figure out how to piece it in fabric.
10. You pick threads off your clothes every time you walk out the door.
11. You pick threads off your spouse, the dogs, the cat...
12. You see quilt designs everywhere.
13. You dream about quilts
14. You are distracted by the carpet pattern underneath the buffet table.
15. You color your small square window panes in a nice 9-patch design
16. You plan your vacations around the locations of fabric stores.
17. You realize the fabric you are sitting on at the fast food joint would make a great quilt.
18. You copy tile patterns from hotels, churches, old government buildings...
19. Nobody eats in the dining room because your "project" is taking up the entire table.
20. You buy antique quilt at the swap meet even though it has too many holes.
21. Your dog has a coat made from an antique quilt.
22. You are covered with threads all the time.
23. you can't just sit and watch TV; you have to be sewing or quilting at the same time.
24. Your car is trained to turn in to every fabric store parking lot it passes.
25. You come home to find a purple bin filled with fabrics at your door that "a friend" bought at a garage sale and knew you would like it.
26. A neighbor says he likes the humming sound of your sewing machine late at night.
27. Your friends' clothes remind you of quilt blocks
28. you can't leave home without your sewing machine
29. You are thrilled to find a shirt, skirt or dress at the thrift shop that will work great in your next project.
30. A friend hands you a giant bag of her husband's old silk ties.
31. you go to a well-stocked quilt store and you can't find any accessories that you do NOT have
32. You miss your sewing machine more than your family
33. you disappear for the weekend into your sewing room
34. You save greeting cards and pictures from magazines for a future quilt design
35. you look for fabric that's based on ancient tile designs
36. you lay out floor and wall tiles based on a quilt pattern.
37. you are attracted to a man's tie because the fabric would look great in a quilt.
38. you tell your kids/spouse "Just one more row!"
39. you tell your family "whoever finds thread in their food wins a prize" at dinner time.
40. you find the stair railing in the courthouse has a very interesting pattern
41. you cut up carpet tile squares into triangles for the floor.
42. you bore your non-quilting friends with endless talk about quilting
43. you run out of storage space for fabric and unfinished projects.
44. you would rather spend money on fabric than new shoes or clothes.
45. you are directionally challenged, yet you can find quilt stores that are hidden in the woods
44. you quit volunteering at church because they threw away some antique quilts.
45. you sit down at your sewing machine at 7PM and before you know it, your neighbor is banging on the wall at 11:30PM and he wants to sleep.
46. your vacation consists of attending quilt shows and fabric shopping.
47. You decorate pies and cakes to look like quilts.
48. you go on vacation, you bring a list of all the quilt stores within driving distance of your destination.
49. you hear that someone sewed through their finger and your first thought is "That's awful! Another broken needle!"
50. You prepare to paint your barn or garage by looking at quilt block patterns.
51. your automatic response to any request from any family member is "just let me finish this one seam"
52. you observe that the quilting in the toilet paper could have been done better.
53. you wake up in the middle of the night and wonder if you can sneak out to the quilting room.
54. your husband automatically turns the car around because you spotted a quilt shop on a side road
55. you meet another quilter for the first time and chat for an hour before either of you realize it
56  you seriously consider stealing your best friend's shirt because it's just the right color.
57. when your granddaughter brings the picture she drew in art class home from school and you want to turn it into a quilt.
58. you wake up earlier when you're on vacation than when you're working so you can have more quilting time
59. you get into the car and you realize you are still wearing a thimble.
60. you try to surprise your kids with a "fun new place to visit" and they reply "let me guess - a quilt shop?"
61. you take your sewing machine on a 10-day road trip.
62. you want to re-create the stained-glass window from church as a quilt.
63. The first place you visit in the library is the new display quilt.
64. you envision all the horses in the pasture wearing quilted blankets.
65. you make the dog wait to go out so you can finish a seam.
66. you ask to trace cardboard butterflies hanging in a florist's window.
67. your machine is out for its annual tune-up and you clean your house for "something to do"
68  you don't iron clothing, but you do iron scraps of fabric
69. you delay surgery to attend the state quilt convention
70  you "borrow" a napkin from a fancy restaurant so you can make a quilt designed like it.
71. you can't stay out of fabric stores, even though you already own enough fabric for a lifetime.
72. you redesign your kitchen to include an island large enough to baste a queen-size quilt.
73. you start sewing at 2AM because you have a lot of blocks to finish.
74. you don't remember the names of the towns you visited, but you do remember how to get to the local Quilt Store in that town.
75. you can measure a block from a computer image.
76. you can't stand the heat, but will sew in an unairconditioned room for hours, sweat rolling down your face.
77. you are in an airplane looking out the window and see many many quilt patterns on the ground.
78. your children/grandchildren refuse to go out with you when they find out you are only going to a fabric shop.
79. the ONLY shopping you like to do is for fabric.
80. you must stop at the fabric store before going to the grocery store (when you are out grocery shopping)
81. you practice quilting feathers and other designs with the lawn mower.
82. you are trying to figure out how to reproduce the light and shadow on the ceiling tiles in a quilt while laying back in a dentist's chair.
83. your spouse is trained to call you to the computer when he sees a quilt in a house listing photo.
84. you impress people with your ability to know the dimensions of something without a ruler.
85. someone says "what nice points", you take it as a compliment.
86. you offer to take your neighbor's donation box to the drop off so you can root through it for clothing that would make a nice addition to your stash.
87. you photograph brickwork for a future quilt design.
88. you select gift wrap because the pattern would look good in a quilt.
89. you cut a nice looking tie off someone's neck to use in a project.
90. you recognize yourself in this list.

91. Sofas are for quilts to sit on, not people.
92. You think it's entirely normal to find needles in the bed.
93. When you see something pretty, your usual way of expressing praise is, "That would make a lovely quilt!"
94. You ignore the main portion of a painting because you're too busy looking at the potential quilt designs in the border.
95. When you hear that someone is pregnant, it takes you no more than ten seconds to offer them a baby quilt. 
96. You sew through your finger, but rather than get a band-aid, you stick that finger in your mouth (so you don't bleed on the fabric) and finish the seam one handed.
97. You keep crayons and graph paper at work in case inspiration strikes.
98. You consider learning to weave to make your own fabric.  
 


19 September 2010

FREE FABRIC!!

 So my MIL was cleaning up her storage rooms.  And she had some fabric that she isn't going to use/used in the past and has left overs.
 These are some veloury type fabric, it might even be velvet. . .I don't know what I am going to do with it yet, but you will see it again ;)
 These are just a variety of cottons. . .There is a solid purple I am looking forward to using!!
AND THIS!! is the cream of the crop!  These were made by my husband's great grandmother.  She made a quilt like that for all her grandkids (my hubby's aunts and uncles) and these are the left overs!!

I don't know how to sew them, so I will have to do some research, but they are hand sewn, and SO cool!

12 September 2010

It's no longer a mystery!

 Well it's no longer a mystery. . .I will give it away!

String Spool Tutorial
So here is my brown block with the sides added. . .I chose purple a) because I LOVE purple and this is for *my* sewing room! b) because I got a GREAT deal on the fabric at Hobby Lobby!
And here are some of the finished blocks.  I wanted a white for the spools, but I didn't find a white I liked, so I went with a light brown. . .I am also going to do them a little different than hers, I am going to make them look like there are on a "shelf" with dark brown fabric between the rows of spools!


From making the spools I had some triangles, so I made some pinwheels!  they are pretty small as you can see by the mat! Barely 2"! I might incorporate these into it some how.

09 September 2010

It's a mystery PART deux!

So Jan was the only one that commented. . .So I am going to tease some more!

Here is what I got done tonight. . .

 Here is what the strips/strings ended up looking like once I sewed them on the foundation paper (in this case not only was I reusing old fabric, I was reusing an old phone book! and then some val*pak coupons ;) )
 Then I cut them down.  4"x6 inches. . .Getting any ideas of what I am making?

And just in case you heard foundation and strings and thought I was making a string quilt, I am here to tell you I am not. . .But I did make one last fall. . .and here ^^ is a picture of it.  It was all made of scraps or fabric that I already had and needed to do something with!

Of course it's not finished :p It's just a top, that needs a bottom. . .it will get there some day ;)

Well I need to get to bed!! It's getting late for me!

08 September 2010

It's a mystery!

So I WANTED to post this last night. . .But my internet was being SLOOOOW, it's still being kind of slow with Netflix this afternoon too :/ I might have to pop in a DVD instead for the time being!

But my post!

We just moved, and I was unpacking my "sewing area".  I no longer have a room, but half of the living room.  NOT that I am complaining! It's MUCH MUCH bigger than my last sewing room, and maybe bigger than my first sewing room?  But it's not a room, it's more an area. . .I do have a view of our big screen from my sewing area.

I unpacked a few things, my sewing room has always been the first thing that has been unpacked! It's the most important right?!

So I wanted to work on something but not everything is unpacked, so I couldn't just pull out one of my projects. . .

So I decided to start something, and you get some "hints" of what it is.  When I have some more done I will post the link, but I am going to be a tease for now!

On to the important stuff!! PICTURES!!



So here are two pictures of my sewing area ^^ on one side you can see my machine, computer, and some other random stuff (bottom pic) on the other you can see boxes and boxes and boxes, and my desk, which is where I will probably put our printer.  I am not 100% sure how I am going to do the rest of it (as is evident by the machine in the middle of the room :p)
And here is the mystery stuff ;) Any ideas on what you think it is?  I will tell you they are strips from my strip scrap box (that sounds weird!) But that is all I am saying ;)

01 September 2010

Way back machine

Well we have fully moved, in that all of our "junk" is in one place now.  Now it's time to unpack, and once my sewing room is "up and running" then I will post pictures of it.  For now though it's time to take a trip into the "way back machine".

We're going to go "way back" to my first quilt, and some of my high school sewing projects.

I posted a while ago about how I got started sewing, so hopefully this is the pictorial about how I got started ;)

 This is my first quilt.  It is similar to my grandma's quilt in that it has some old Tee-shirts.  Some were her shirts, one was grandpa's. . .
 most of the time it sits in a bag, which I know goes against everything I said about quilts I give people. . .but it's special to me. . .and SO not straight as you can see by this pic :p It's hard to explain. . .I am sure once we have kids it will be a good blanket to throw on the floor under the baby.  It's filled with pretty thick batting.
 These are some pajama's I made.  I STILL wear them!! I love them!
These were just some cute pjs.  I still have them, but don't wear them as often.