Ormond Beach Quilts: Longarm Quilting Services

Tuesday Tip: Trimming Threads

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:00:00 +0000

Thank you all for being so patient last week when I needed to take a week off. I'm back home & going 90 mph again- it's great to be back in my routine! I hope this Tuesday tip is helpful for you. In preparation for sending your quilt to a longarmer, you may have heard the request to "trim your threads." Sound familiar? The first time I heard this I had no idea what it meant. Turns out it's pretty important- more so than I initially thought. When you're asked to "trim your threads," you are basically being asked nicely to clean up your quilt. I pulled out a quilt I pieced back in college for an example. Here's a portion of the top. See those dangly threads? Yeah, they need to go away. The longarmer's hopping foot can get caught in them & things can get ugly fast. Also, if they aren't cut before hand, they could actually end up being quilted in & then it's a pain to get them out from under the stitching. Then let's look at the back of the quilt. This is a great picture of a hot mess of threads in the back: Those need to be cut away as well since they could get caught & get tied up together while the longarmer is loading the quilt. Remember- you don't want your quilt to have anything that might cause it to not lie flat! Finally, there's this: Notice my green fabric has frayed a bit? Because I've used white sashing between blocks, that green thread has the possibility of showing through the white fabric when quilted- yikes! That's something you definitely don't want to happen! So take a look at both sides of your quilt before sending it off- it will look that much nicer after a few minutes of trimming threads!

Tuesday Tip- a bit different

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Wed, 15 May 2013 01:19:00 +0000

Life took over this week & I'm currently away from home visiting family unexpectedly, so I didn't have time to prepare an actual tip.

But I do want to share an episode from Thinking Allowed- a BBC Radio 4 show. Back in 2011 they discussed "Craft & Community".
You can listen to it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010mrzc

For me being fully immersed in the quilting & knitting community- I completely agreed with the "pro-craft" interviewee.

But the "anti-craft" interviewee made me think about the perception of crafters in the world & how we many times aren't appreciated & fairly recognized for our contributions.

What do you think?

Thanks for being patient- I hope to have the Tuesday Tip back next week!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tuesday Tip!: The Stay Stitch

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:19:00 +0000

This cute little quilt top was a mystery I did with Stitchin' Tree Quilts in Harlan, Iowa at a retreat back in January. It's a great scrap quilt & a fun play with color value. Since my neutral was more of a medium color, I chose dark scraps for my piecing- but what, this isn't a post about color theory- let me get onto the Tuesday Tip!

See how the outside border is pieced with all the different squares? Here's a close up:

Notice how those seams that piece the border together run off the quilt? This can lead the stitching on the outside edge to become loose:

See how loose those seams are? And that's just from folding & unfolding the quilt top! To keep those seams secure, we can sew a "stay stitch" around the outside edge of the quilt to keep them in place.

This is how I do it: I simply sew around the edge of the quilt, 1/8" from the outside edge. Here it is in more detail:

I first get my "regular sewing foot." This is the foot I use when constructing clothes or appliqueing. Basically it's the foot I use when I'm not piecing a quilt. Now my foot has an 1/8" marking on it. See where my needle is? Look just to the right of that- see that red line? That's my 1/8" line. I line up my fabric to that guide & start sewing as normal.

Now for thread, I don't usually care what color I use for this technique- I just use whatever because since I'm stitching at 1/8" from the edge & I usually sew my binding on at 1/4" or 3/8", it will be hidden in the binding. Here's I've used a dark blue thread. So I continue sewing down the edge of the quilt side, until I get to the end, here I just stitch of the quilt:

Then I turn the quilt top & start the next side from the top:

My corner ends up looking nice & crisp like this:

You may be wondering why I bother sewing to the end, cutting my thread & rotating the quilt & starting again on each side- I do this because I get a crisper corner with my sewing machine. I found if I turned the corner, the corner ended up smaller & not as nice & even something crooked with my sewing machine. So in the end do what works for you- for me, I like the method that may take a little longer & use a little more thread, but I prefer it for the nicer finish. Thank you for joining me again for the Tuesday Tip! The stay stitch makes for a much nicer top to give your longarmer when you have a pieced border or a quilt that has curved edges (like in a Double Wedding Ring.) I hope to see you next week!

J's Christmas Quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Thu, 02 May 2013 14:40:00 +0000

I was looking at my quilt photos & realized I didn't blog about J's Christmas quilt for 2012!

For the past 2 Christmas', I've made J a special quilt with distinct custom quilting. For the 2012 quilt, he actually noticed the pattern in a magazine when we were at a quilt shop. I was busy picking out other fabrics & before I knew it, there was a pile of fabric bolts next to me & him smiling saying "I want a quilt with these fabrics!" He had found a modern pattern (that I basically completely changed) that he chose batiks for (big surprise about the batiks if you know J).

I was able to piece it at a quilt retreat with friends back in June of 2012 & then it sat on the shelf. Then about December 22 I realized I didn't have a quilt for him, so I dug the top out & grabbed some Hawaiian fabric for the backing.

Since I wanted to create a secondary pattern with the quilting, I pulled out my circle templates & quilted radiating circles in a random pattern. It was so much fun to just plop a template on the quilt & have at it!

And best of all- he loved the quilt & the circle design!

Tuesday Tip! Spinning Seams

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:20:00 +0000

I'm very excited to let you know that I'll be starting a "Tuesday Tip" series on the blog! These will cover a variety of topics to help you make your quilts flatter and smoother before sending them to a longarmer. They will be in a variety of formats: photos, videos, etc- until I find out what works best for me.

Today's tip is actually a video (please be patient! This is my first video!) on how to spin seams. I received an email from a student this weekend about the best ways to press their seams & I wanted to share with them how to "spin their seams" so I decided to take the opportunity to share it with everyone!

Enjoy & please let me know your thoughts & if you have any questions you'd like answered about prepping a quilt for a longarmer. Linking up with Small Blog Meet

Quilts of Valor

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:15:00 +0000

Here are some more quilts!

These have such a special story- Quilts from the Bluffs worked with a 4-H group in Council Bluffs to make several tops for Quilts of Valor. Each child was paired with a adult & they worked together to sew the quilt top.

I was asked to quilt 2 tops & choose to use Sue Schmeiden's EZPZ Stars & Loops. You can see a better picture of it here:

I'm very thankful I was able to help out again for such a great program!

Kona Bay Fabric Contest

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 02:08:00 +0000

At the beginning of the year, Kona Bay Fabrics announced their fabric contest for the Asian Star quilt, a free pattern on their website. The first 10 people who made the quilt top & submitted a picture of it won 3, 1 yard fabric cuts!

I had actually already started this top, but it got put aside for other projects- but of course when I saw there was a contest.... I pulled it out & finished the top.

We took this picture on an incredibly windy day, so it was either a picture of the quilt top flying away or me with my eyes closed!

Anyways, I was very excited when I got the email from Kona Bay asking me to pick out the 3, 1 yard cuts I wanted! This is what I chose:

Not sure what I will make with it yet, but it sure is pretty to look at & pet!

A T-Shirt Quilt for a Friend

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 02:29:00 +0000

A few years ago, when we moved to Nebraska, a close friend asked me to make her a t-shirt quilt. I picked up the t-shirts on one of my trips to Texas & knew from the shear amount of t-shirts that I would do some improv piecing to make this a one-of-a-kind quilt. Needless to say, I didn't expect it to take as long as it did!

I started the cutting & piecing & the size of the quilt quickly grew & grew & grew! Very soon I ran out of interfacing (I honestly don't remember how many yards I ended up purchasing, but it was a lot!) & then I ran out of space to layout the quilt. So I actually took graph paper & cut out little pieces of paper in proportion to the the t-shirts & organized them on a poster board. It was awkward & probably not the most efficient way, but it worked with what I needed.

I then had the top pieced (after quite a while) & realized I wouldn't have enough fabric for the backing so I purchased a wide-back online. After it arrived, I liked it, but I wasn't sure it would work, but J thought the fabric was perfect, so then I had to figure a batting. The top was very heavy due to all the t-shirts & interfacing, & given that my friend now lives in Southern California, I knew a cotton batting wouldn't be best, but I also didn't want low quality polyester. After talking with some local longarmers, I decided on a nice poly batting from Pellon.

So then I needed to decide on the quilting- I went with a large overall stipple. Typically I don't stipple, but it's works great in this quilt as it keeps it together nicely without taking away from the t-shirt designs.

After getting the binding on, I mailed it to my friend & it was so hard to wait the 4 days for her to receive the package! When she got it, she immediately let me know she loved it & I couldn't have been happier for her!

Honestly,that's my favorite part of making quilts for people- getting to see their face or hear their excitement when they see their quilt finished or quilted!

Linking up with Fresh Sewing Day

Nebraska Shop Hop Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 01:14:00 +0000

Day 2 started bright & early as LuAnn needed to get to Heartwell, Nebraska for the spring meeting of MPMQ.

Last Fall LuAnn & I volunteered to be co-presidents for the next 2 years & this was our first meeting. We asked Kris Vierra of http://www.kcustomquilting.com/ to come be our speaker. She talked about how to do freehand feathers to fit any space with little or no marking. We all learned a lot & I was eager to get home to practice some new techniques! Then we invited members to show the first quilt they longarmed & what they consider to be their best. It was great to see how everyone has improved over time!

After the meeting wrapped up, we headed to the Jane's Quilt Shop in Heartwell where I picked up a cute pair of scissors & a charm pack.

Then we headed to Grand Island where they have THREE quilt shops!

At Fabric Girl I got a skinny bolt of a great cream blender & a few fat quarters, as well as the Soft & Stable I needed for the Areoplane bag.

Then I walked into Material Girls. Oh My. I heard about this store. I knew about this store, but I'd never been in before. It was so amazing I walked around in a coma for about an hour before I got serious about shopping. If you find yourself anywhere near Grand Island, you HAVE TO VISIT THIS STORE! It's truly a "modern" quilt shop & the displays are one of a kind! You actually don't feel like your in the middle of Nebraska anymore- I felt like I'd walked into a shop off of King Street in Old Town Alexandria! In the end I actually didn't get any fabric (although I really wished I had waited to choose the fabric for my Areoplane bag here....) but I was able to get the rest of the stabilizers for the Areoplane bag as well as a machine quilting book & some Rinse Away for machine applique.

We then headed to Nana's Country Quilt Shoppe which is a very cute shop, but honestly I was getting tired of shopping & had already purchased everything I planned on getting, so I didn't make any purchases. However they did recommend Sin City for dinner. We split "The Sammy"- a mushroom Swiss burger which was delicious!

On the way back to Omaha we stopped at Picket Fence Quilt Shop in Aurora & The Quilt Basket in York. Again, I didn't buy anything at either of these shops, but I have to say I was very close to buying an Accuquilt kit in York. Which amazes me! Here LuAnn & I had been to what- 10 shops in 48 hours & at the last shop there was still something different I was interested in!

So I've never been on this kind of quilt-super-shopping trip before, but definitely had a great time seeing all the different styles of shops, samples of quilts, restaurants, classes & friends! Needless to say I crashed hard Saturday evening & slept in on Sunday!

Nebraska Shop Hop Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:49:00 +0000

The Nebraska Shop Hop started last Thursday!

I've participated the last 2 years, but this year I knew I'd do more as the Spring meeting for the Midwest Professional Machine Quilters (MPMQ) which is held in central Nebraska was going to be during shop hop.

So early Friday morning my friend LuAnn picked me up & we started off! We visited a total of 5 shops that day.

First we went to Quilt Stitches in Beatrice where I picked up some more Stonehenge for my Labyrinth quilt. Lucky for me the perfect fabric was actually on a skinny bolt for a reduced price!

Then we headed to Sew Bee It Quilt Shop in Hebron, Nebraska. Here I picked up a kit with the official Nebraska shop hop fabric. Each shop created their own pattern using the shop hop fabric & it was fun to see how each shop used the fabric in their style. Here's a better pic of the pattern:

I made a slight change to this & decided to use the county fabric in the setting triangles instead of the border print.

Next on the list was Calico Cottage in Hastings where I found the perfect fabric for my Aeroplane bag!

Then we headed to Pat's Creative in Holdrege. Wow did this place have fabric!! Here I was able to pick up the remaining Stonehenge fabric for the Labyrinth quilt. The Faceted Jewels pattern is for all my batik scraps- I've got about a bin of scraps I've been wanting to use in this pattern for quite some time. I also came across a cute fabric I couldn't pass up- "Love Letters from the Cat!"

Then we headed to The Quilter's Cottage in Kearney where I got Angela Walters' latest book, a table runner book from Atkinson designs for 40% off, a Brown Sugar Bali Pop from Hoffman fabrics (this has a special plan!) & some cute fat quarters.

At this point it was evening & we were exhausted so we met up with LuAnn's sister-in-law, Deb for dinner at Whiskey Creek in Kearney. I'd heard it was a great restaurant & I *loved* the hickory grilled veggies!

Then we headed to Deb's farm where we spent the evening chatting & eating the most delicious Angel Food cake she made using her farm raised chickens!

The first day of shop hop fun was wonderful & I can't wait to tell you about day 2!

February's Block of the Month

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:25:00 +0000

This past Monday we met for February's Block of the Month. This month's block was "Dutchman's Puzzle" where we learned flying geese.

In prepping for the class I debated teaching several different methods & finally chose to teach the old fashioned method. We get to play with flying geese again, so I'll teach another method then- but I think that since this is really a beginner's class- it's good to start with the basics & grow from there.

The blocks again came out great! I love the variety of color schemes!

One lady just joined our class & this is her Grecian Square:

Another great month! I can't wait for March!

Block of the Month

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:42:00 +0000

In January I began teaching a Block of the Month class at A Quilting Place. It's completely designed by me and it's really a skill building quilt for beginners.

The first block was the Grecian Square or Greek Cross.

Didn't everyone do a great job? I think all the blocks look outstanding! Several of the ladies were nervous at first, but once the assembled the block, they gained confidence.

I'll post February's block in a few days.

Do You Have Quilting Gremlins?

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:28:00 +0000

First, watch this video from Patricia Lawless...

So, do you have Quilting Gremlins?

And I'm not talking about the little things that move your rotary cutter & hide your pieced blocks!

What I'm mean is- do you have those voices in your head that say "you're not a good quilter" or "you're not talented enough to make that quilt."

Sound familiar?

I've heard many, many piecers give me their quilt top & tell me it's a terrible. I've heard guild members say they'll never be able to do "difficult" quilts. I've heard students say they'll never improve.

So here's what I want to tell you- you ARE a good enough quilter! Your work IS NOT terrible! Jump in & try that pattern you've always loved but have hesitated about starting.

This is our craft, our hobby! It's supposed to be fun & freeing & expanding- so squash those gremlins & try that new technique you've been scared of....

A Failed Project, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:27:00 +0000

Remember the Failed Project?

Well I searched around & found a matching green, changed the borders & came up with this:

Much, much happier to this project now!

The quilting went very quickly- I knew from the instant I saw the pattern I wanted straight lines in the borders. I didn't use a ruler or mark anything- just free handed it & "winged" it. I did a meander of leaves in the center. Not the best looking leaves, but it's just for me & it is just a table topper after all. As I tell my students, that wonky leaf is where the salt & pepper shakers go!

Scones

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 21:16:00 +0000

Note: This is a repost from a few years ago when I blogged about scones. I recently talked about scones on Facebook & people asked me for the recipe, so I thought it deserved a repost. Enjoy!

Like scones?

I adore scones. All kinds. Bacon/Cheddar, Apple, Cranberry/Orange, but most of all, I love the plain ol' regular raisin kind.

Perhaps it has something to do with my love of England. Perhaps it's related to my baking obsession.

At any rate, I've spent the last 10 years or so perfecting my scone recipe & I thought I'd share it with ya'll.

Ingredients:

2 c. flour

1/3 c. sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

6 tbsp. unsalted butter

1/2 c. or so of raisins (I actually use 3 handfuls)

1 egg

1/2 c.- 2/3c. full whipping cream (plus some more, I'll explain below)

Directions:

- In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder & salt.

- Cut in butter with a pastry blender until butter is pea sized. Using a pastry blender is important- if you don't have one- run out to Target NOW & get one. Doesn't have to be fancy or expensive, you just need one. (I'm still using the one I bought in college- which either came from Target or the utensil aisle of the grocery store.) It's also important here to keep working the pastry blender until the butter is in little bits. You might think you can skimp, but I can tell you from past experience- spend time here! It will be well worth the time!

- Add in raisins or cranberries or any other dried berry. I don't measure very precisely here- I just throw in a few handfuls until it looks good- not too few, but not so many that it overpowers everything else.

- Mix in the egg. Yes, it will look strange- the yolk covering the raisins, just go with it. I've tried switching the raisin/egg order & it doesn't come out as good. If I enjoyed science more, I could probably explain exactly what's going on here, but since science is one of my least favorite subjects, you'll just have to trust me!

- Add cream. Yes, use the full fat stuff. I've used everything from cream to skim milk. (Yes, this was my version of experimenting in college.) The "fattier" the liquid, the richer taste. The skim milk scones aren't bad, they're just more like biscuits with raisins. (Note, this is as close to being scientific in baking as I get.) Ok, so once you've poured the milk in & mixed it in, you might notice that you have a nice scone ball & then there are lots of flour bits at the bottom of the bowl. This is where I add more cream- just about a tablespoon at a time, until all the flour bits stick to the big scone ball, but not so much that the scone ball wants to stick to your spoon.

- Then I plop it on my stoneware, where I knead it there. Not too much- you just want to mold until it's a nice big circle about 3/4" thick, being sure to work in any leftover flour bits. Cut the giant scone into 6 pieces & then spread apart for baking. The rationale of kneading on the stoneware is twofold- 1st, it's one less dish to wash; 2nd, the scone should still be a little "crumbly" so having it already on the pan where it's going to bake on can prevent potential disasters when one transfers the scone from kneading area to baking pan. (Not that I've ever had scones fall apart on me....... :)

- Bake at 425 degrees until tops are golden brown. This takes our oven about 20 minutes or so.

- Serve & drink with beverage of choice, if there are any leftovers, store in a airtight container.

Chocolate Dump Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 21:11:00 +0000

It's December! & that means I'll be baking up a storm over here (as well as quilting my heart out!) You might think this blog will be turning into the "12 days of Desserts", but don't worry- there will still be quilting :)

This was a Pinterest recipe I made for the Wednesday night potluck at my church. I volunteered to make desserts for Advent to experiment with the recipes that have been building up in my "sweet tooth" board over on Pinterest.

This is a dump cake that was originally posted by Kim of This Little Life of Mine. Aside from looking delightful & chocolaty- she mentioned this was the first dessert to go at one of her church potlucks & the kids couldn't stop raving about it's yummyness!

I made it mostly like she said, but here's my variation:

- 1 box of Devil's Food cake mix (Duncan Hines is my favorite)
- 1 3/4 cup milk
- 1 small box of chocolate instant pudding
- 1 bag of Toll House semi sweet chocolate chunks

Mix the cake mix & milk together. Then add in pudding. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. It will be thick! Sprinkle chocolate on top & gently press in. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

It comes out more like a brownie than a cake. Next time I will use milk chocolate chips for a smoother taste.

Enjoy!

Ollllddddd UFO Done!

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 01:22:00 +0000

This is an old UFO! I pieced this top back in High School when I was making tons of charity quilts.

I thought most of them were finished & given away years ago, but while unpacking more boxes from Texas I found this quilt top.

I decided to use this as a practice piece for a freehand flower meander. It's largely over quilted, but it was fun & I became comfortable with the design and I completed a UFO! Wohoo!

Quilts From the Bluffs

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 02:14:00 +0000

I recently got in touch with Jeanine who leads Quilts From the Bluffs, a quilting ministry out of Council Bluffs.

She was in need of a longarmer for their many quilts tops pieced by their prolific piecers & with the new machine I needed practice tops.

She eagerly gave me 10 tops to work on at our first meeting & this is one of them:

I quilted a wave through every string (no matter how wide or narrow) with King Tut thread. Incidently, this was also the first quilt I completed on the new longarm back in August- it was so much fun playing with the new machine!

Quilt Retreat Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 01:13:00 +0000

I recently went on 2 different quilting retreats & on the first, I decided to work on something frivilous that didn't have a purpose & didn't have a deadline & was just for fun.

I pulled out this kit of my mom's from my stash & since it was Christmasy, that would be the project.

So while it's not really my style, it required accuracy & with the few pattern errors-a bit more thinking!

I already have some quilting ideas in mind- but it will have to wait a bit for that!

A Finish!

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 16:12:00 +0000

So here's a quilt I pieced & quilted in the same year! For myself! I know- who would have thought?

You might remember my talking about piecing the quilt.

It came together very easily & since I actually bought the backing & binding at the same time (another marvelous idea!)- I had it prepped & ready to go on my "to be quilted" shelf in no time.

Then last Friday came around & I decided to give myself a challenge. To see how fast I could quilt this 70x70 quilt in my free motion custom style- without getting hung up on perfection & overthinking the quilting & all those things that keep me from quilting my own quilts.

So I loaded it onto the frame without a quilting design in mind & pow! It came to me! Wavy lines! The red plus signs would go in one direction & the blue in the opposite- I could then travel from plus sign to plus sign to keep thread breakage at a minimum & still do all the red's in a red thread & blue in blue thread- perfect!

So I "winged" it! & timed myself & finished the whole quilt in 2.25 hours!

Put the binding on at a retreat that evening & hand stitched it down a week later. Voila! A finished quilt! & for myself! That I didn't overthink & stress & just had fun with!

I may be my new favorite quilt.....

(Sorry for the washed out photos- it's actually a very bright quilt.)

Waking Up From a Long Nap

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:41:00 +0000

You may have noticed the inactivity recently. Let's just say the blog needed to nap while other things where being dealt with like....

- Selling my old longarm
- Buying a new longarm
- Playing with the new longarm
- Quilting for customers
- Doing guild stuff
- Working on church stuff
- Going my to niece's beautiful wedding
- Helping family in Texas
- Getting sick
- Getting migraines
- Going on quilt retreats
- Resting my body

I'm sure I left out a bunch, but you get the idea.

But we're awake over here now (the chilly morning help that!) So expect some more blogs about goings on & happenings.

In the meantime, have a great quilty weekend!

Random Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 15:17:00 +0000

The cat pic should be a dead give away- I got nothing.

Well, actually I have a lot- problem is an overall lack of energy.

So here's a *really* quick update.

We had the 1st meeting of the Omaha Modern Quilt Guild! We had some wonderful energetic women volunteer to be a part of the Executive Board- I'm so excited to see what's going to happen with this group!

I sold my quilting machine & am in the process of purchasing a new one!!!

I'm doing a major organization/clear-out/decluttering in my studio before the new quilting machine arrives.

I'm now the Communications Chairperson at our church & we're working on some great social media plans!

Despite the record heat & drought conditions, our little garden is producing tomatoes faster than we can eat them- looks like we'll try to can tomato sauce again- hopefully it goes better than last time!

I started taking a Cyclates class at my local YMCA. It's 30 minutes spinning & 30 minutes Pilates. Super fun & it's my new favorite class!

I finished the book "Quiet". This is a must read for everyone! Whether you're an introvert or extrovert, this book has great insight into who introverts are & why they're that way. Go to your library NOW & check it out!

& that's gonna be it for today- I'm taking 2 days to rest & recover from life recently, so I'm gonna go get back to that!

See you in a bit!

A Failed Project, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:47:00 +0000

So I was at A Quilting Place/Stashbusters one evening & I found a great pattern from a local designer that I wanted to use for a class.

It's a great pattern that uses 5" charms, plays a little with triangles, but not too much & has some nice borders- best of all it's small enough so it would make a great table topper so it's useful & cost efficient.

Sounds so easy right?

Yeah, projects like that are always bound to take you 5 hours!

Which this did! & we're not even done yet!

The first problem was that I decided to work with a fabric line. I don't work well with fabric lines- I feel they are too restrictive & don't lend any creativity to the end product. I prefer my "scrappy" look where I just search for fabrics that work.

So I started with a charm pack from Moda called "Grand Finale" & picked up some additional fabric in the line that I thought would make a nice border.

So after making several amateur mistakes (due to my inability to read patterns...reality is I tend just to look at the pictures) I came up with this:

At which point I was so mad it didn't work out I folded it up & put it away.

Then I got my act together & searched online for someone who sold the solid green that coordinated with this line.

I should have known in the beginning, but it's an issue of letting the eye rest. The charms are so busy your eye keeps jumping around & has no place to settle to take it all in. (A dear friend actually talked about this recently. As soon as I saw what I pieced, I couldn't believe I ignored her advice!)

But then again, it's hard to choose borders when the piece isn't together- or even when you can't fully see the charm squares b/c they're wrapped up in a package.

It reminded me of a line Jaye of Art Quilt Maker said on a podcast with Sandy from Quilting for the Rest of Us- "Make Visual Decisions Visually."

When I first heard that it just flew through my ears & I didn't really understand it. But now I get it. You can't expect to make a color/fabric/design choice if you can't see what your putting it against! I needed to have my center assembled first, then I could audition borders.

So the good thing is, this actually isn't a failed project, it's just not done like I want it to be.

But more importantly, I want it to be done right.

So I'll take the time & make "Visual Decisions Visually."

Linking up with Freshly Pieced's "WIP Wednesday":

Apple Harvest Mini Quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:17:00 +0000

Here's September's mini quilt- an apple farm!

I love how the buttons are used for apples- did you notice the apples on the ground? I *love* those!

This mini quilt reminds me of the 1 time I went apple picking with a friend. We were living in the DC area & I was feeling the "closeness" of the city & tried to take a hike every weekend. This weekend J was out of town at a family wedding (which, aside from this story, I'm sorry I missed b/c there were some great stories that came out of that wedding!) & I asked a friend if she wanted to hike a towpath up in Maryland.

We finally get up there & discover it wasn't actually a hike....more like a walk on a very well laid out path..... But that's ok- we were sports- we were going to do this anyways! Well we get talking & talking & didn't really pay attention to how far we were going until she mentioned "uh, should we turn back?" Then of course I realize that it was an In & Out hike, not a Roundabout!!! (I knew this, but it just didn't register....) So we start back & after looking at the map we ended up walking like 11 miles that day- needless to say, we were tired.

But we'd been having such a great time together we didn't realize how tired we were.....

So on our way home when I noticed an apple farm on the side of the road...

Yeah, we had to stop.

I had never picked apples before & was having a great time & got a little carried away.....

Well.....a lot carried away & the next morning when I woke around noon, I walked into the kitchen & realized I picked TONS of apples.

J came home that night from the wedding to remember & just starred at our kitchen- it was covered in apples! Not quite what he was expecting!

Needless to say, we were eating a lot of yummy apples well into winter & my friend & I had a great apple story, so it was all good in the end :)

Another Donation Quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Robin) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 15:48:00 +0000

Here's another quilt for Quilts Beyond Borders:

I did a basic stipple & used the same machine binding technique (back to front) like the previous donation quilt:

It was fun & fast- every time I quilt a top like this (with a very basic pattern), I'm reminded how much fun machine quilting can be- it's really just doodling & playing on a quilt top- really- what could be more fun???