The piecing is finished...

A few random photos of my spring flowers in my neglected yard....could it be I'd rather quilt than yard work? Anyway, it has been a long hard winter and up North, we are so tired of snow and sleet and it is so refreshing to have some evidence of spring.

The piecing and embroidery are complete on "Over the River and Through the Woods". I just need to piece my back. I have leftover blocks and flying geese that I thought I would work in the back as well as all the scraps from the top. Yahoo......

Spring break at the Hampton--that is quilt retreat at the Hampton Inn

Saturday, I got to attend a quilt retreat sponsored by Red Rooster Quilts and Treasures at the Hampton Inn. What fun it was to associate with people who all loved fabric and sewing. The company was fabulous, the food divine and the classes were really fun. I came home with a lot of loot and some additional knowledge. I took the sewing kit class. Some new things I learned: How to begin and end the buttonhole stitch--I can stitch the stitch, but have always had trouble with the beginning and the end. The buttons were all hand dyed by the teacher, Mariann Golich. She uses the liquid Rit dye and it gives the buttons an antique look. I also learned how to make a twisted cord. Fun technique!!

Here is the front of the sewing kit. It uses prarie cloth and wool on the outside.
When you open it up, there is a pocket under the far left flap. The red heart is to hold the pins and needles. The center heart holds your small scissors. The long pocket on the right under the flap can hold other sewing treasures, for example, floss. Fun project. It is finished and I rate it 10/10.

We had a fabulous trunk show by Leslie Bergeson. She has been making quilts since the 80's and had a lovely trunk show.

Sorry about the pictures, I had to take them from a sideways angle, but you get the idea. This quilter is after my own heart. She has done a few Kim Diehl quilts, which has to be one of my favorite designers.

Oops, you get to see this beauty twice....

Love this tumbler quilt....gotta make one of these...there was also a hexagon quilt which my picture wasn't the greatest. Gotta make one of them too!!

This little beauty is all appliqued. It was a real stunner.

This quilt is from all her left over blocks from other quilts. It has this warm folksy folk art feel to it. Love it!!



Hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed the trunk show!!

Off to the quilters...

The quilt is all set and ready to get quilted. I wanted to do a mitered border, but the print did not yield 4 identical cuts only 3, so I did 2 and 2. It is what is afterall. One quilt down....many more to go!! I apologize for the bad lighting and the picture quality. I have very limited space to take a picture and it was early in the morning.

I just finished the last 2 blocks of this quilt. Time to let the setting begin. This quilt is set on point with sashing and cornerstones and finally borders. Stay tuned for the final result before we take it to the quilter on Friday.

I have now completed a total of 16 blocks. Two more to go and then I'll begin the setting. Stay tuned for more posts on this beauty.

Here are two more blocks to add to the collection. The 16 patch block was really fun to sew.

This block is part of the four cornerstones. There will be 4 blocks the same to bring it all together.

Here are the next three blocks that I have completed. They were really fun to put together, but I think my favorite is the Oriental Star.

This block is by far the hardest as it has "Y" seams and it is all bias. Thank heavens for a wonderful quilter who will make my sewing look great. So far I have a total of 5 blocks done. I'm on real time restraints to get this done, so I'm hoping the piecing will be done this week!!

Brittany's quilt

Follow along with me as I create 15 different stars (the 15th one is repeated 3 times for the cornerstones) for Brittany's wedding quilt. I get to mix and match these gorgeous fabrics from Marcus Brothers on this Civil War collection.

Here's just a bit of the quilt I just finished for the store. It is really lovely. The fabrics are too gorgeous. I've done a few quilts with this pattern but they were all sewn with different techniques. This one was by far the easiest.

Curtis and I spent a wonderful afternoon in town today. Our first stop was in an antique shop, where I found this great brooch for my bag. What fun it is to step back through time. Saw some treddle sewing machines. I think I might want one. Saw a lot of wooden spools with thread on them and a lot of old buttons.....a sewer's heaven to say the least. Can't wait until we go back....

Happy Belated Birthday to you Shari...Happy Belated Birthday to you. Happy Belated Birthday to youuuuuuuuuu, Happy Belated Birthday to you!! Here's hoping this year is the greatest. I thought all day of you on Monday. Hope it was a good day for you!!

April's quilt guild.....Patchwork Friends

The first 3 pictures are from our guest speaker, who is a fiber artist. She really is a talented lady. The trout was free motion embroidery on a standard sewing machine.

The following pictures are from the show and share.

Oops, this is one half of our auction quilt this year. It has little embroidered blocks of flower babies. It is really precious.

This quilt is made from left over friendship blocks from last year. It will be donated to Quilts of Valor for our armed forces soldiers injured in action.

This is the block jack for this month. Shabby Chic flowers....

The New and Improved

I took the mini quilt apart and put a red binding on it. I think it really helps to finish off the little quilt. I feel a little better about it now. Isn't it interesting how we finish something and it doesn't quite meet our expectations. This happens all too often with my sewing and forces me to get a little more inventive to solve the problem.

TUTORIAL FOR JOURNAL COVERS--FINALLY!!

I start with a composition notebook. You can purchase these at Wal-mart, the dollar store, where ever they sell paper supplies. They measure 7 1/2" x 9 3/4". To make the fabric cover, you need to either "build" fabric out of scraps, or you can make it out of "whole" fabric (not pieced). Approximate dimensions for the finished pieced fabric should be about 13 1/2" x 21-23".

When the outer layer fabric is pieced or cut to size, cut a piece of flannel the same size and edge finish all around the perimeter or serge the two layers together. (I serge mine).

Take the composition notebook and place on right side of flat fabric. Center it between top and bottom and side to side. Fold over the sides onto the journal and take a ruler and draw lines where the journal begins at the top and ends at the bottom like in the picture.

Sew on the lines starting and stopping with a backstitch. Trim down one side as shown on all 4 seams to eliminate bulk.

Press top and bottom areas through the center to be even with the seam area. Insert your journal to make sure you have a good fit. Make necessary adjustments. If you were careful when you drew lines to fit the journal, you should be just fine.



Now, you are ready to embellish. I really like to be able to tie the journal shut. You can make a belt, sash, run twill tape down the center, just sew tape or ribbon at the ends. Remember with ribbon and twill tape to fray check your ends prior to adding them.

I like to do different embellishments. Experiment and get creative. This one used felt, embroidery floss, a yo yo and a button. Most importantly, enjoy the journey and make it your own!!