Five Shadows

Today was the kick off for the Row by Row Experience. All 50 US States and Canada have quilt shops particapating in this fun Shop Hop. The theme is H2O.

Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shoppe in Roanoke is one of 58 shops particapating from Indiana!

Here is Fabrics and Friends Row that I had the privilege to design along with co-worker Vicki.

My feet could use a cool dip in a refreshing stream right about now!

Each quilt shop provides a free pattern for their Row. All you have to do is stop in between June 21 and September 8, 2015 and ask for the Row by Row Pattern! Some shops are also offering kits for their Rows at a reasonable price.

I happened to be at a quilt shop today for a Lock-In (more about that later in another post) and remembered to ask for their Row by Row. I’m hoping to get to several new-to-me shops this summer!

I’ve been trying some new-to-me quilting techniques while working on this little Paper Pieced Flower Pot.

I signed up for Cindy Needham’s Design It, Quilt It class on Craftsy. She recommends ditch stitching ESS Every Stinking Seam. She also recommends using Superior’s Bottom Line 60 wt thread for ESS. After all the seams are ditched, then she does her free motion quilting (FMQ) design.

I bought a sample pack of thread from Superior Threads last year, but never opened it up.

Today, I got it out and there are several of the types and weights of threads Cindy is using in the class. I filled a bobbin with Bottom Line #637 which just happened to be a great match for the back of the quilt. I used MonoPoly a Monofilament thread (Not recommended by Cindy, but I had it, so why not play with it?) in the Titanium Coated Topstitch needle #70/10 that also came in the sample pack. Superior says these needles last much long than standard needles. I’ll be happy to test that out!

To do ESS I switched out the 1/4″ presser foot for my new Acu Feed Stitch-in-the-Ditch Foot.

Following Cindy’s advice, I stitched in every single seam. It was easy with the seam guide on the Acu Feed foot and this project was not that large. I think I’m going to love the Bottom Line thread. I’ve never sewn with 60 wt thread before, it is so thin.

Next up was the free motion quilting. I kept the Bottom Line in the bobbin but used Master Piece in the needle. Superior says it is for PIECING but hey, the color was right, so I went for it. There was a bright green #128 in the sample pack that I thought would look good, but only did a tiny bit of FMQ. I’m just not sure how to quilt this little potted succulent. I moved on to some decorative stitching along the leaves, and the Master Piece 50 wt was good for that too.

The small wall hanging (20″ wide 31″ long)  was finished with yet another new-to-me technique. I used a Flat Felled Foot to attach the binding.

See the little hook type thing on the front left of the foot? It slips under the binding to guide it in place for stitching.

Above, the binding feeds over the ‘hook’ for nice even stitching.

I saw the technique on A Woman A Day blog: Happy Feet Quilt Binding by Lisa Yarost. Hmmm, maybe I saw it first on Pinterest. This was my first time to use the Flat Felled Foot and the results are not perfect, but I do like the method and will use it again. I didn’t read her article carefully and actually sewed the binding back to front instead of front to back, as she suggests. I was glad I switched it because the stitching is kind of off in places on the back. Which would have been the front, which I would not have been too happy about. On the back, it is ok as it is not as noticeable.

This was a paper piecing project from the book Paper-Pieced Flower Pot Quilts by Anja Townrow.

Critique: Cute designs, nice-ish directions for the paper piecing, but there are no instructions for how to put your potted plant into a quilt. Even though Anja shows each pot in several quilts, for some reason she didn’t include any yardage or piecing instructions for the little quilts in the book. Maybe I’m missing something?  I just winged it. Only attempt these projects if you are confident in paper piecing and like to play with settings!

How about you? Have you made anything with paper piecing? Do you have a favorite method?

Next up is hemming a bridesmaid dress for my daughter, and helping her make wine bottle bags for an upcoming bachelorette party.

I’m linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

I’ll be doing a demo at Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shoppe in Roanoke, IN Saturday, June 20th on paper piecing.

Finally! 3 finished tops this week! They have been a long time coming!

Dance of the Dragonflies, a Southwind Designs pattern. This was made for Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shoppe owner, Deb Roehm. I’m hoping to show the technique as a demo sometime in the future at the shop. Perhaps a quilt from the Southwind Designs line could even be a future class at Fabrics and Friends.

The block is sewn together using squares and rectangles and dimensional squares folded diagonally and stitched into the seams. Once all pieced, you go back and fold the dimensional pieces and stitch the curves in place. The technique is a bit time consuming, but gives a nice finish affect!

This is Dot to Dot, a pattern using the Quick Curve ruler from Sew Kind Of Wonderful. I have to tell you, I love that ruler! This is the third of four quilt tops I have completed with the Quick Curve ruler. Plus I’ve sewn up several other blocks from their pattern line for demos at Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shoppe, Roanoke, IN. I used Moda’s Horizon by Kate Spain Layer Cake for the prints. I’ve made one for the shop and will be making one for me too! The top is 56″ square. You only need 18 – 10″ print squares for this size top, so that means 2 from one Layer Cake, plus pieces left over to use for demos.

This quilt top started from another Sew Kind of Wonderful pattern called Two-Step Topper that I more than quadrupled in size. The original pattern was a 30″ square but designed with no sashing. I went sash happy, dividing the Drunkard’s Path type units with a tone on tone white with a pop of teal in the center. Then I sashed those blocks with a gray linen. The top is now 70″ x 80″ and is going with my daughter to college in the Fall. She picked out  Follie, a lovely white, black, and teal  print by Lotta Jandotter for Wyndham Fabrics for the back.  And she wants a black binding.

Close up of the fabrics.

I’ll be linking to Linky Tuesday and To-Do Tuesday if the links are still open.

I’m also linking to Vicki’s UFO Busting Link Up.

Next up is a paper piecing project.

Self-binding Baby Blankets are my current ‘go-to’ for baby showers.

Here are just a few, made from two coordinating flannels.

Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shoppe just got in a shipment of Riley Blake Flannels. The top/right blanket are Riley Blake. The other 2 blankets are older prints, I don’t know the manufacturer.

Tomorrow is Featherweight Club at the quilt shop. Here are last month’s blocks.

The club meeting sneaks up on me ever month! I just made the blocks yesterday. So much for avoiding last minute to sewing!

Not photoed is the table runner I free motion quilted but still have the binding to tack down. And also the Dance of the Dragonflies is almost complete! I cut out the border pieces today. Pictures promised next time!

I’m linking to Linky Tuesday and To-Do Tuesday.

This week’s list will be binding the table runner and finish piecing Dance of the Dragonflies. I know, I listed them last week, but successfully worked on both, even tho not complete! I had forgotten about the Featherweight Club and then had a few baby blankets that needed to be made. That is life, right!?

Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shoppe in Roanoke, IN carries part of the line of Bloc-Loc rulers. This week I’ve played with the rulers for Half Rectangle Triangles and also Half Square Triangles. These are handy little rulers that help with squaring up rectangles and squares for accurate piecing.

They are a bit pricey but, I do recommend adding them to your selection of quilting tools. I have found myself grabbing the ruler for HST often, as it is very useful for trimming multiple sizes of HST. I own the 5 1/2″ HST Ruler. This week I have added the 4 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ HRT set to my favorite tool list. I also want to purchase the set of Flying Geese rulers, as I have borrowed a friend’s. The Flying Geese rulers are useful for trimming other units than just geese too!

BTW, the little 4 1/2″ blocks in the photo are all made from the trimmings of the larger blocks I made. The large block is 16″ finished.

Previous To-Do List:  ✔︎Dance of the Dragonflies (pieced),  ✔︎cleaning out my sewing room (rearranged)

This weeks To-Do List:  Finish Dance of the Dragonflies, quilt table runner – pictures of both to follow.

Oh my, sometimes I just have to laugh at myself! Like when looking over my list for last week’s sewing. I forgot when coming up with the list that Easter was last weekend! Can I say “a little sewing might have gotten accomplished”??  :-)

Here is a picture of my darling 3 month old granddaughter, Lillah. Her momma, Kim, took the photo Easter morning.

And here is Lillah with her Grandpa, my hubby John, after Easter dinner at our house.

That was the only picture that I know of taken at our home Easter Sunday. Too bad as the whole family was over, we missed a good photo op time. We had a wonderful time together and a lovely afternoon walk in the warm NE Indiana weather.  All Lillah’s aunts had fun holding and cuddling with her. Grandma didn’t get much time with her tho. That’s OK as it was so nice having all our adult children home for our celebration, plus getting to see them interact with Lillah.

Sewing! I got the binding  and buttons sewn on Stitcher’s Garden. She’s all done now!

And I pieced  3 blocks for the Featherweight Club, meeting Wednesday, April 8th, at Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shoppe, Roanoke, IN. I think they are so cute! The blocks and the machine! ha ha! The 12″ block – Windblown was a new one for me.

And here is the first block for the Curves without Piecing pattern: Dance of the Dragonflies. Actually two blocks. The first block shows what the piecing looks like before you go back and stitch the curves. The block on the right shows the finished block. Interesting process, a bit tedious. These are small 6″ blocks with out the sashing. But I do like the results, and I’m sure I’ll get quicker with the piecing now that I’m familiar with it.

This week I have a sewing date with friends and I plan on taking the Jolene Star and Sweet Mint patterns to work on. So those two are on my To-Do list for this week. I’ll save the baby quilt I never seem to get to until next week. At least the kitchen table where I spray baste baby quilts is all cleaned off, so I’ll have a better chance at getting to it soon! Fingers crossed!

Linking to  Freemotion by the River – Linky Tuesday and Stitch All The Things – To-do Tuesday.

More pillowcases! I’ve been having fun pairing up fabrics for the pillowcases. That task is more time consuming than the actual sewing them together. I think I’m just about at a stopping point. After I pair fabrics in my stash with the new Riley Blake Chevrons and Riley Blake Dots I just purchased from Craftsy, I’ll be moving on to other projects.

Pillowcases will be donated to ConKerr Cancer.

22 made this past week, 50 total this year

Last week I linked up to Stitch All The Things To-Do Tuesday List. It seems I’m having difficulty following my own list! Those baby quilts that need quilting? They have been left untouched. But all those pillowcases make up for something, right!?  Plus I get the Stitcher’s Garden quilt back from the longarm quilter – that was unexpected!  Of course binding that quilt went to the top of my list. I put a flange binding for it and returned it to the quilt shop. Oops! I’ll have to get it back for pictures.

My To-Do Tuesday list this week:

personal sewing goals: How about one baby quilt FMQed and bound? Featherweight Club – 3 blocks.

quilt shop sewing goals: Prep and sew one block (maybe more?) of Dance of the Dragonflies by Annette Ornelas. Continue working on the Laundry Basket Quilts Jolene Star table topper and a Sweet Mint table runner, patterns by Edyta Sitar.

I’m linking to Connie’s Linky Tuesday and Christine’s To-Do Tuesday

Do you have a favorite charity you sew for and donate to?

A friend and I started a Featherweight Club at Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shoppe, Roanoke, IN where we both work part time. Check out the Facebook page to see Vicki’s lovely blocks.

Above are my first month blocks, using Timeless Tradition BOM by Bits ‘n Pieces. The Featherweight machine was purchased from blog friend, Vicki Welsh when she listed it on Ebay last year. I switched out that hot-burn-your-fingers light bulb to an LED bulb I found at Stitch All the Things. We put in a group order and Brad offers free shipping. If you happen to be searching for a better light bulb for your Featherweight, go to Brad.

I took advantage of Craftsy‘s recent sale for my Birthday!

I ordered the Free Spirit Box of 14 one yard cuts, Cotton + Steel Good Fortune Quilt Kit, some die cut hexes and layer cakes. When my order arrived it was missing the Free Spirit Box but came with a Robert Kaufman mystery box.  Oh my. NOT at all what I expected or wanted. But Craftsy was quick to fix the mistake and sent the Free Spirit Box and said I could keep the Robert Kaufman box.

Box on left – I didn’t order but got to keep in the mixup. The bright happy Free Spirit on the right is what I ordered and got in the second shipping. Only there were three one yard cuts of the same print in the Free Spirit box. Hmm. When I read the description, it seems to imply that there are 14 different one yard cuts per box.

This bird print is the one I got triplicate of. It is cute and I’ll use it in a baby quilt, so I’m not complaining, just saying I got 11 prints of 14 cuts. Maybe that is usual? Anyway, I was pleased with how Craftsy quickly correcting the shipping mistake. Plus they offered free shipping on my next order. I just ordered several more one yard cuts and some Auriful thread yesterday.

This the the Cotten + Steel kit. I love the bright colors and prints!

To-Do Tuesday List:

This week I have several baby quilts I want to FMQ and bind. And a pile of pillowcase pieces cut and ready to serge into pillowcases for ConKer Cancer.

I’m linking up to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

Happy Quilting!

With Easter just around the corner, it is time to pull out the bunny patterns at Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shoppe and demo a bit of machine appliqué.

Here is a cute little bunny in a tulip ready to share some Easter cheer.

The pattern is part of Blooming Bunnies by Eat Cake Graphics. I’ll be demoing Misty Fuse and decorative machine stitching using this bunny pattern Saturday, March 14th, at Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shoppe, Roanoke, IN 10-4.

Spring also brings plans for the upcoming Row by Row Experience Shop Hop 2015!  And here is Fabrics and Friends Row. The theme this year is H2O. Fellow employee Vicki and I came up with this design:

dimensions are 8 1/2″ by 36 1/2″.  The Row by Row Experience begins June 21st and runs through September 8th. Each participating quilt shop creates and provides free patterns for their Row.  Kits available for purchase, and of course there will be prizes! Why not ask your favorite quilt shops if they are participating this year? It’s open to all quilt shops in the USA and Canada.

This week I have attempted to sew up three different projects using the BasiX Template for using 2 1/2″ strips. Aren’t these just so cute?

The blocks pictured below are from one of two patterns that come with the template. I was going to make three blocks for a table runner, but ran out of the cream fabric. And wouldn’t you know it, I go to the quilt shop and that bolt is gone. Fortunately, they do re-order Moda Solids, I’ll have to be patient and wait.

This next design is also included with the template. I chose to make a table runner using strips from Moda’s Rustic Weave Jelly Roll.

The next pattern is called Twinkle Toes. I used the same Moda Rustic Weave Jelly Roll for the blocks, adding a white dot on black for the pinwheels and a solid white for the background. I love it! It is so bright and cheery. Still needs an outer border which I’ll find fabric for during my next trip to the LQS. But, I must say, I had a dickens of a time with the pattern. Seems the yardage is wrong as well as dimensions in some of the steps. I went to the Quilt Queen Designs website (xblocks.com) to see if they list corrections for patterns, and although I did find one correction for another pattern, I couldn’t find any corrections for Twinkles Toes.

Do you ever find mistakes in patterns and then check out the designer’s website to see if corrections are listed?  I do, and am always happy when I find they do have a corrections page.

I’ll be demoing X-Blocks and BasiX templates this Saturday at Fabrics and Friends Quilt Shoppe in Roanoke, IN from 10-3.

Update! I just revisited xblocks.com and there IS a revision for Twinkle Toes dated 2-16-15.  I’m glad to know I’m not crazy, and they do post corrections!

I’m linking to Connie’s Linky Tuesday.