Christmas Table Runner - Santas!

Hi everyone!  A couple of posts ago I showed you one of the "UFO"s (unfinished objects) that I'm working on - a Christmas table runner.  How about a closer look?

I quilted my twisting ribbon/rope/whatever that I like to do in the interlocking black rectangles. In the Santa squares, I did 1/4-inch in, twice, for two boxes.  It's not super creative, but that print is so wonderfully busy that it doesn't need much.

I marked a general arch to twist through in the black rectangles using white chalk - mostly so I'd remember where I was going.  I have a super great tool to remove the chalk marks:

Oh, sure. It might look like an old toothbrush I ran through the dishwasher a time or two ... but ... well, OK. That's exactly what it is - and I haven't found anything that works any better. (It's an extra-soft, in case anyone is wondering.) Just a light brushing - no floss required. ☺

Here it is, all quilted and ready for the binding:

As you can see, my Guide Dog for the Color Blind was extremely helpful in the process.

I would have loved to use the green for the binding, but alas, I only have a few small scraps of it left.  I went with black - which I also used for the back.

Once I get it hand-sewed to the back, I'll be spending some quality time with a tape roller, removing errant husky hairs.  (Black?!?  What was I thinking?!?)

Love how the runner is coming out - it's a "Magic Nine-Patch" block (or Disappearing Nine-Patch) ... with a little special lay-out employed.  Very fun and easy!!!

Thanks for reading!

Half-Square Triangle and Flippy Squares Tutorial!

There are all kinds of great tutorials out there about quick-piecing half-square triangles (HSTs).  Most involve sandwiching two squares of fabric, drawing a ling down one diagonal, sewing 1/4" on either side, then cutting the two HSTs apart on that drawn line.  That's how I normally do mine - or did.  Now I'll be doing it my friend Pam's way!!!  Here's what she's got for us!

Actually, let me back up a little.  Just to be clear ... there are TONS of quilt blocks and borders that use HSTs - they make up the block or part of the block. Look at this part of a Bear's Paw block on one of my quilts:

See how the "points" are actually little squares made up of two triangles? Like this:

In the center of the block above, you should see that it's really a square... made of HSTs.  That's what we're after!  I made that years ago, when I was in my "miniature quilts phase".  Those "squares" are just shy of an inch across.  Yes.  I may well have been crazy, thanks for asking.  Oh, how I wish I'd known Pam's technique for making those babies!  Let's get to it!

(Pam's photos used with permission!)

First, take two fabric squares and line them up, right sides together.  Now get some masking tape!

Cut two small pieces and tape to your sewing machine bed.  (Take care not to tape over the feed dogs.)  Have them meet exactly where your needle comes down!  Measure and mark exactly 1/4" to either side of where the tape meets.

In her example, Pam used 4" squares of fabric.  No need to mark that diagonal line!  All you have to do is line one corner of your fabric squares up with the line you drew down the left-hand piece of masking tape.  The other corner corresponds with "the last nick in the quilting foot".  (Pam sews on a Bernina and is using a #37 foot.)

How long have I been sewing HSTs and never thought of this?!?  And never noticed that the corner would line up with that little notch?!?!   Ha!  OK... moving right along...

Pam said to "just trust your judgement for a few mm's [millimeters - Pam's from South Africa ☺ ] until the corner is in line with the marked line. On smaller squares you do not have this problem." Keep going ...

... and see how they line up? Love it!

Now Pam says, "Turn your square around and do it again or carry on chain piecing with a new square."

All that's left is to cut apart on the diagonal (just line your ruler up with the corners!) and you have two perfect HSTs!

I use flippy squares a lot. They are such an integral part of my quilting repertoire that they are second nature to me. I used them a lot during construction of the Gettysburg Battle Flag Quilt -- check the Cotton Boll block at this link. It's basically marking a small square of fabric on the diagonal and sewing it to the corner of a larger square or rectangle so you get a triangle. (Scroll down in this post in the Quiltville blog until you see "Flippy Corners" - same-oh, same-oh.) Pam has a way for us to tackle flippy squares without marking the center diagonal, too!!!

Here's another of my minis; this one was made using flippy squares:



Those dark triangles were actually squares (flippy squares) in the construction phase.



I love using this method - it's so easy ... and now Pam makes it even faster and easier!  Here's how she does it!

"Line your corner up with the centre mark on the tape," says Pam --

Keep sewing ...

"Now doesn't that beat having to draw lots of lines????" YES!!!

I can't wait to try this out.  Love the idea - especially when you're doing a lot of HSTs and/or flippy squares, all that marking can really be a drag.

Pam, thank you so much!  Your photos and descriptions make the process so very clear!  Easy, quick and accurate - just perfect!

Thanks to Pam - and thank you for reading!

Lots To Cover!

Hi everyone!  Yes, I know ... I need to get better about updating this blog!  Things have been sort of busy here - but I have managed to get some sewing done!

Before I get to my latest projects, I am THRILLED to announce that one of my friends has entered the sewing/quilting blog world!  Please check out her blog One Little Birdie.  She's an amazingly talented artist and I know you'll just love seeing her latest creations.  Would it be too corny for me to say that a Little Birdie told me she'll also be selling some of her items?  (Go ahead and groan...)  Very exciting!!!  Good luck, my friend, and welcome to the quilty blogosphere!

I finished all of the bags I was making for the Beads of Courage program that I told you about in my last post!

They're in the mail, heading out to Tucson. It was really fun making them, playing with fabrics I don't normally work with. If one bag or one fabric brings a smile to the face of one child in the Beads of Courage program, then I'm a happy camper.

After I finished the bags, I decided to grab some of the webbing I ordered a while ago and make my boys some new collars and leashes!

Zim in his new collar and leash!

Dave's new collar and leash

I think these are my favorites so far. Maybe. They're cool!  Dave's doesn't photograph well from a distance.  Guess it's good camouflage.  LOL!

I was thinking of putting up a tutorial for the limited slip collars. Would you all be interested in that? I always love reading and following other people's tutes and think I should try doing one. Any interest? Please leave a comment or email me! (Or FB me!)

Speaking of tutorials! My friend Pam in South Africa has put together a great one - how to do half-square triangles quickly, easily, and accurately - and flippy squares, too! I'll be sharing that with you tomorrow or so. She makes it all so clear!

As per right now, I'm quilting a Christmas table runner that I pieced a long time ago. I'm trying VERY hard to wrap up some "UFO"s, and this one was first up!

I really like it! I hope a family member agrees... hmm...

The boys also helped me reorganize the Studio a bit. I'll post pix eventually, either here or on their blog. We did some moving around in the living room, and I "inherited" a tall, glass-shelved unit. It's perfect for stacking projects, finished and "un".   :)

Thanks for reading!

More Placemats!

Remember a while ago I showed you some coffee-themed placemats? Hmm... I had great excuses in that post for not having posted for a while, too. Hmm. I notice a trend. Anyway, I finally got the other coffee-themed placemats done - in the brighter colors.

I conceivably could use the four of them together. They have a few of the same fabrics as the other ones, but bolder, splashier ones, too. Here's a close-up:

The pinwheels in each of the placemats are left over from a quilt I made for one of my wonderful nieces. They just either didn't have enough contrast or something - but they work just great for our placemats!

What a fun way to use up some scraps!!!

Here's a cool tip for you! You know those sleeves made of nylon netting that you get at the grocery store? They hold tomatoes or grapes or other produce? Save them! They are GREAT for holding interfacing onto tubes or for holding cording onto their spools!

Isn't that great?  Love that stuff!  Very handy!

As to what I've been working on - you can see lots of my "mess" spread around the background of that photo.  I'm making bags for the Beads of Courage program.  If you're looking for a great way to contribute to a really worthwhile cause, please follow the link provided and check them out.  I'm having so much fun picking out fabrics I think kids would like!

Also in the design stages of a new bag.  I've gone slightly past the "sketch it in the fogged-up shower door" stage, but not much beyond that.  I'll keep you posted!

Thanks for reading!

The Other Fabric Baskets

I know - "define 'a day or two'", right? I got side tracked.

So... I loved following Ayumi's tutorial, as I said the other day. The basket came out so cute and I will definitely be making more! I wanted to make some larger fabric baskets, too - so I sort of followed the tute at this link. More or less. Give or take. I may have colored outside the lines...

In the little basket, I just used cotton batting. For a basket that size, it was perfect. For a larger basket, I knew I'd need something a little stiffer, to help the basket hold its shape. For the large basket, I used some Soft & Stable my friend Donna sent me! (Thanks, Donna!)

The pinning stage

It was perfect! Easy to work with, soft to the feel, but even with this pretty tall basket, it looks GREAT!

Instead of turning the basket right-side-out through a hole in the lining, you stuff the lining in, turn the lining down 1/2 an inch, turn the outside down 1/2 an inch, then do some top stitching.

That photo gives a good look at one of those times I "go reeeeeally slowly", as mentioned in the previous post. I made great use of my #8 denim foot, a 90 needle, and my leveling bars, for those of you playing along on the home version.

I was posting little snippets of what I was doing on FaceBook as I worked, and mentioned batiks about ... a million times or so. Give or take. That led to a great question by my cousin Jill.  She wanted to know what exactly is a batik?  Is it different from regular fabric?  I'm cutting and pasting my answer in, because I really can't come up with anything much better.  LOL.  "Batiks traditionally are from Indonesia, though they're made in other areas now.  They have a higher thread count - a tight weave, if you will - and have almost a silky feel to them.  They're traditionally hand-dyed, using a wax resist to add pattern.  Usually are saturated colors... really, really gorgeous."  That covers it pretty well.  I thought I'd see if a photo would help show the difference!  One of these is a batik; one is a hand-dye -- pretty, but not a batik.

Keeping in mind what I said above, can you tell which is the batik?

Dave, Guide Dog for the Color Blind points out the batik

Way to go, Dave! He knows the blue fabric has a tighter weave, a silky feel and is saturated with color! Dave has great taste, doesn't he?  He was  sleeping  doing something important when I chose the fabs for the large basket, so I didn't use any greens.  (Greens are my hardest colors to differentiate.)  He did come down to the Studio when I was putting the medium one together, so I let him choose some greens for me.



Pretty cool. I do love the green in there, I just can't tell which one/s go or don't go.



For the medium basket, I decided not to add the handles - basically so it would fit on the shelf easily! I used batting on the outside and heavy interfacing in the lining. I think both were good choices for a basket this size - and frankly, this lining came out best of all three baskets. So there you go.

I did a little more quilting on this basket than the others.



I'm not sure why. I could do that twisty thing all day, though.



I love how it contrasts with the double line of top stitching.

I had a blast making these baskets and they're all hard at work on my new shelf. I will be making more for sure - I think they'd make great Christmas gifts!!

Thanks for reading!

Fabric Basket!

Readers of my Siberian Huskies' blog saw a little fabric basket I made the other day.  I followed a wonderful tutorial over on Pink Penguin; Ayumi's directions and photos were great and I had a cute basket in no time at all!

As I was putting it together and doing a little quilting on the outside...

...I thought back to a question Trace asked about how I get my squiggly lines so even.  I just "eye ball" them, using the presser foot or some other visible mark (like a seam or a mark on my sewing machine) to keep the spacing about "right".  The lines themselves are not the same, nor do I want them the same (it gives more movement to have them in kind of random squiggles).  Check the back of what I was sewing on above:

See what I mean? The squiggles were placed at seam lines, but I didn't give a lot of thought or care to how the squigs were squiggling. Does that make sense to anyone out there? I may have lost myself on that one. Let's move on.

When I do want straight lines, I just go reeeeeeeeeeally slowly, using the presser foot and the edge of the fabric or the line of stitches as guides.

Some people use a double needle (twin needles that plug into your machine) but I have only used a double needle once (in my "How To Use Your Bernina" class) and I wasn't terribly comfortable with the process. I'm not sure exactly what the problem was, but I just don't have any double needles and can do the double top-stitching without it... so there you go.

Ayumi has you leave an opening in your lining, so you sew the two "sides" (outside of the basket and the lining) together completely, then turn it right side out through that opening.

 Don't text and sew. 

Oops. Yes, I sewed it together wrong and my lining was inside out... but that's OK; I was having fun texting with a friend - and that's why God gave us seam rippers.

The little basket came together in no time at all. My trusty Guide Dog for the Color Blind helped me choose the fabrics (I will NOT use green unless he comes to the Studio to help me!) and was pleased with our joint effort. He posed with the basket and I did a little special effects on the pic:



We're a good team!



I've since made a couple larger fabric baskets. I have a new shelf in my bathroom and am using the baskets for storage on it. I'll show you those in a day or two!

Thanks for reading!

Fruit Stripe Gum

I more or less made this up as I went along, using a roll of 2.5" strips my cousin Jill sent me. I had a vague idea in my head and went with it. I think the blocks only took a few hours to put together.

I sewed the blocks together into the top yesterday afternoon:

CUTE!

In the back of my mind, while I worked on it, was a gum I used to love when I was a kid. I could picture it, but couldn't come up with the name. My hubby Googled it for me last night - Fruit Stripe Gum!!! Remember that?!?  See the connection?  Ha!  I love it!  Maybe I need to put some zebra stripes on there somewhere.  Maybe the back.

Speaking of which... here's what I'm probably using for the back:

The pink, the green, the purple, and frankly, probably some of that green, too.  Oh.  And I'm binding using the pink and blue.  Because... yes.  I used the whole roll of 2.5" strips for the top, so I have no more of any of those fabs.  Oops.  Maybe these new fabs would blend in better if I did throw some of the zebra stripe in...

Thanks for reading!