Lisa Lisa and the Quilt Jam

3-D Challenge

2020-01-19T15:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know it's January 19th and I'm just now sharing my final project as an Island Batik Ambassador for 2019. I started it in 2019, so it still counts, right? :) I've had it done for about two weeks, but I couldn't decide how to bind it. It still doesn't have a binding, so if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. One thought I've had is matched binding like I've done previously. If you haven't seen matched binding, check out the tutorial by A Quilter's Table. It's a little time consuming, but fun!

Our guidelines were to "bring your inner artist out by using optical illusions, textures, trapunto, whatever else will make you quilt pop into life!"

The fabric, thread, and batting in this post were provided to me by Island Batik, Aurifil, and Hobbs.

I chose to make a wall hanging using the Tumbling Blocks (no Y-Seams!) tutorial by Teresa Down Under. The only tool you need is a 60-degree triangle ruler or a square ruler with 60-degree marks. I used one of my many Omnigrip rulers with 60-degree marks.

I quilted it on my brand new Janome Memory Craft 6650 that I got from Santa using Aurifil 50 wt thread in a light gray with the Hobbs Thermore batting again because I just really like that stuff for wallhangings! I haven't tried much free motion quilting since I sold my longarm last year. As you know, FMQ on a domestic machine is VERY different from FMQ on a longarm! I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually...or maybe I won't. ha ha! It doesn't really matter as long as I'm having fun and doing what I want to do!

This year of challenges with Island Batik went by really fast! I appreciate the opportunity to participate in the ambassador program with Island Batik, Aurifil Thread, Hobbs Batting, and Accuilt! One last project that I didn't get to show (because it was going to Quilt Market in Houston) is this adorable stuffed animal. The pattern is from Funky Friends Factory and his name is Larry the Lion. Let me tell ya - sewing stuffed animals is hard! But his cuteness is worth the work!

November Tool Time Challenge

2019-12-17T02:00:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm running a bit late for my Island Batik challenge for November, but here it is! Our challenge was to use a specialty quilting tool (ruler, template, etc). I had this all in my head and ready to go, and then the preparation for Thanksgiving started, and having my son and his girlfriend here definitely took priority over everything else! But they've gone back to Seattle, and life got back to normal for the most part. As you can see, it's all pieced, but it's not yet quilted. I'm waiting for my Christmas present to arrive before doing that ;) I'll be sure to write a blog post once my present has been opened! I'm so excited, but I'll wait until I actually have it in my hot little hands before revealing exactly what it is ;) No, it's NOT another longarm. LOL

The items in this post were provided by Island Batik and Aurifil.

It's really challenging to get decent pics these days in the Pacific Northwest. Most days, it's foggy outside when I leave for work in the morning, and it's dark by the time I get home. I can't wait for longer days with lots of sunlight! Trust me, this is full of color! So much purple 💜

The tool that I used was the 10-degree Wedge ruler by Cheryl Phillips (Phillips Fiber Art) I used Black Pearl by Kathy Engle, which is the same fabric that I used in my ghost for the October challenge, but it's such a great line that I decided to use more of it this month since I had a lot of 2.5" strips.

While this ruler can make a really long lengths for a circle, half-circle, etc., I chose to make smaller wedges using the #11 mark, cutting my 2.5" strips 8.5" long. I have actually made a full circle baby quilt using the full length of the ruler. Super easy and super fast! The ruler is 23" long, so just imagine what a great baby quilt or playmat this would make!

I was able to get four wedges out of each 2.5" strip.

I like using the 10-degree ruler because I know that it will take 36 wedges to make a complete (360-degree) circle, 18" to make a half-circle, and 9" to make a quarter-circle. I like the easy math :)

As you can see in the pic, I chose to make two half-circles and two quarter-circles, then did a random design from top to bottom.

I used Aurifil #2568 50 wt (Mulberry), which is so pretty! I used a raw edge applique technique and then flipped it over and cut the extra background fabric off the back of the appliqued section to reduce the thickness. That's a little trick I learned from Natalia Bonner a few years ago ;)

The quilt top is 46" x 63" - the perfect size for a small person (me!) and her dog (Dutch!) on the couch!

I still have one more project to make to complete my year as an Island Batik Ambassador, so stay tuned!

I hope that you have a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones ❤

Spooky Table Topper - Island Batik Challenge

2019-10-31T02:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

The items in this post (except for the candy!) were provided by Island Batik, Aurifil, and Hobbs Batting

This month's challenge for Island Batik was Top It Off - making a table topper or runner using an applique technique.

I can always use more Halloween decorations!

👻 And who doesn't need another ghost in the house? 👻

I've wanted to make one of these cute blocks since I bought the pattern last year.

It's the Ghost quilt pattern by Then Came June and Pen and Paper Patterns.

And it's so fun to make! 👻

The ghost is not a separate piece that was appliqued onto the background, as with traditional applique. I chose to piece one ghost block using the pattern instructions and then use a running stitch to give the look of applique.

I used three prints from Black Pearl by Kathy Engle.

I used this really cool pink variegated 12-wt Aurifil thread (#4660) for the hand applique stitch and 50-wt Aurifil #2568 for the piecing and wavy quilting using my Baby Lock Jazz.

I used the 80/20 black Hobbs batting for this project.

As with every type of Hobbs batting I've used so far, this is an excellent product!

Check out all the other projects made by the Island Batik Ambassadors

Carolina Asmussen ~Carolina Asmussen

Gene Black ~ Gene Black

Pamela Boatright ~ Pamela Quilts

Connie K Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Anja Clyke ~ Anja Quilts

Tina Dillard ~ Quilting Affection Designs

Becca Fenstermaker ~Pretty Piney

Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter

Barbara Gaddy ~ Bejeweled Quilts by Barb

Dione Gardner-Stephen ~ Clever Chameleon

Sarah Goer ~ Sarah Goer Quilts

Vasudha Govindan ~ Storied Quilts

Lori Haase ~ Dakota City Quilter II

Joanne Hart ~ Unicornharts

Mania (Magdalini) Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for Quilts

Carla Henton ~ Create in the Sticks

Stephanie Jacobson ~ Steph Jacobson Designs

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Joan Kawano ~ Moosestash Quilting

Kim Lapacek ~ Persimon Dreams

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Leanne Parsons ~ Devoted Quilter

Bea Lee ~ BeaQuilter

Toby Lischko ~ Gateway Quilts & Stuff

Bill Locke ~ Studio Bill Locke

Denise Looney ~ For the Love of Geese

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Sally Manke ~ Sally Manke

Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack's Blog

Kathleen McCormick ~ KathleenMcCormick

Carol Moellers ~ Carol Moellers Designs

Karen Neary ~ Sew Karen-ly Created

Jackie O’Brien ~ If These Threads Could Talk

Laura Piland ~ Slice of Pi Quilts

Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde

Vicki Schlimmer ~ Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Sherry Shish ~ Powered by Quilting

Anita Skjellanger , Quilt in a not-Shell

Laticia "Tish" Stemple ~ Tish's Adventures in Wonderland

Jennifer Strauser ~ Dizzy Quilter

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Terri Vanden Bosch ~ Lizard Creek Quilts

Alison Vermilya ~ Little Bunny Quilts

Sandra Walker ~ mmm! quilts

Suzy Webster ~ Adventerous Applique and Quilting

(Debora) Anne Weins ~ Sweetgrass Creative Designs

Geraldine Wilkins ~ Living Water Quilter

Janet Yamamoto ~ Whispers of Yore

Child's Play - September Island Batik Challenge

2019-10-06T15:49:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone! It's been a while because my August Island Batik challenge was due the first week of the month, and then I spent the rest of the month making clothes and doing fun stuff because it was my birthday month! And then September's project ended up being late because I also volunteered to make a stuffed animal for Quilt Market (which I can't show you yet) and I had absolutely no idea how difficult making a stuffed animal was! Oh. My. Word.

So.....here it is October 6th, and I just finished attaching the binding yesterday afternoon.

The items used in this post were provided to me by Island Batik

Our theme this month was Child's Play, using the Accuquilt Block on Board die that we received in our July box, and the size requirement was 45x60 inches. The finished quilt is to be given to a child that we love or a child that needs comfort. I have a call out to a local organization that I'm hoping will be able to provide this to a child in need.

I received the Spider Web die, which makes a beautiful black & white spider web, perfect for Halloween!! 🕸🕷

BUT, I wanted to use some of the colorful fabrics that I've received from Island Batik so I chose the 10" squares of Kaleidoscope, along with some of the other coordinating fabrics.

I decided to check out the patterns on the Accuquilt website first to get some ideas Did you know that there are a bunch of FREE patterns on their website? I decided on the Clover Hollow Spider Web pattern. It's an awesome pattern, and it would have gone together rather quickly if I hadn't limited myself to working with 10" squares for the majority of the quilt top. I had to get resourceful with my cutting and discovered something kinda fun - Did you know that you can get FOUR 4x6 pieces out of a 10" square? Yep! I needed a 4x6 piece to cover the spider web die (except for that larger white piece), so I played around with it on paper to find the best use of my fabric. So I was able to get four of each shape out of one 10" square.

Now, you would think that one spider web "block" would look like a spider web, right? Well, it doesn't! One 6-1/2" block" is a quarter of two separate webs.

You can see how they go together in this pic. This pattern calls for sashing and cornerstone blocks. Otherwise, the four sections would go together to create a complete web. Oh, and speaking of those sashing strips - I also have an Accuquilt 1-1/2" strip die that I purchased recently because I have plans to make a queen-size quilt for our bed. That might be a little crazy, but it's going to be a lot of awesome!

I also used my 2-1/2" strip die for the binding strips out of the same red fabric.

As September was coming to an end and I was still nowhere near finishing this quilt, I decided to stop making webs and start piecing the rows. I don't typically like to add borders to my quilts, but this wasn't anywhere near the required size, so I added 5" borders.

I thought I would dread basting a quilt after I got rid of my longarm earlier this year, but I really don't mind it. This Kwik Klip really does help make the job a lot easier, and I don't break any nails!

Because I was running behind, I decided to do straight-line quilting using one of my favorite threads - Aurifil #2024 40 wt. Before I got my longarm in 2017, I had straight-line quilted almost all of my quilts. Then I started adventuring into echo quilting and other walking-foot designs. I still love straight lines or straightish lines because they're simple and don't take away from the piecing. I used Hobbs Tuscany Cotton Wool blend. This batting is SO nice to work with! I think this might be one of my absolute favorite battings and will definitely be using this again!

As I pieced each of the rows and quilted the straight lines, I kept thinking how the sashing looked like roads and the webs looked like traffic circles, so I got our collection of Hot Wheels & Matchbox cars out of the garage (belonging to my husband and 30-year-old son). How fun is this!?!

Don't forget to check out all of the other Island Batik Ambassadors!

Carolina Asmussen ~Carolina Asmussen

Gene Black ~ Gene Black

Pamela Boatright ~ Pamela Quilts

Connie K Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Anja Clyke ~ Anja Quilts

Tina Dillard ~ Quilting Affection Designs

Becca Fenstermaker ~Pretty Piney

Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter

Barbara Gaddy ~ Bejeweled Quilts by Barb

Dione Gardner-Stephen ~ Clever Chameleon

Sarah Goer ~ Sarah Goer Quilts

Vasudha Govindan ~ Storied Quilts

Lori Haase ~ Dakota City Quilter II

Joanne Hart ~ Unicornharts

Mania (Magdalini) Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for Quilts

Carla Henton ~ Create in the Sticks

Stephanie Jacobson ~ Steph Jacobson Designs

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Joan Kawano ~ Moosestash Quilting

Kim Lapacek ~ Persimon Dreams

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Leanne Parsons ~ Devoted Quilter

Bea Lee ~ BeaQuilter

Toby Lischko ~ Gateway Quilts & Stuff

Bill Locke ~ Studio Bill Locke

Denise Looney ~ For the Love of Geese

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Sally Manke ~ Sally Manke

Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack's Blog

Kathleen McCormick ~ KathleenMcCormick

Carol Moellers ~ Carol Moellers Designs

Karen Neary ~ Sew Karen-ly Created

Jackie O’Brien ~ If These Threads Could Talk

Laura Piland ~ Slice of Pi Quilts

Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde

Vicki Schlimmer ~ Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Sherry Shish ~ Powered by Quilting

Anita Skjellanger , Quilt in a not-Shell

Laticia "Tish" Stemple ~ Tish's Adventures in Wonderland

Jennifer Strauser ~ Dizzy Quilter

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Terri Vanden Bosch ~ Lizard Creek Quilts

Alison Vermilya ~ Little Bunny Quilts

Sandra Walker ~ mmm! quilts

Suzy Webster ~ Adventerous Applique and Quilting

(Debora) Anne Weins ~ Sweetgrass Creative Designs

Geraldine Wilkins ~ Living Water Quilter

Janet Yamamoto ~ Whispers of Yore

Beat the Heat Blog Hop

2019-08-06T02:30:00.000-07:00

Who's ready to Beat the Heat? It's a little warm here in the Pacific Northwest, but I'm loving every minute of it! For those of you who would rather be inside scrolling on your phones, checking out all the fun quilty stuff, just sit back and relax and start hopping to the Island Batik Ambassador blogs for a look at the new fabric lines coming out and for a chance to win some fabric of your own, including one at the end of this post!

You may remember my box opening video in February where I shared everything that Island Batik sent to me in my first of two boxes, and I showed some "surprise" packages that I couldn't share until a later time. Well, it's finally time!

This is the Clockworks line by Kathy Engle. Just look at all these fun designs! The blues are my favorite!

I had so many ideas for what to make with these fabrics, but so many of those ideas involved cutting it into small pieces, as most quilts do :) I wanted a design that showed off each of the prints, so spent a lot of time (probably too much, as usual) going through all of my quilting books, looking for THE one to jump out, and I think I found it!

I used the Checkerboard Dots pattern in the Skip the Borders book by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts. This is a fun quilt to make, and I think it shows off each of the prints so well!

I used this old compass of my father-in-law's to cut out all the fusible circles. It's pretty handy. I think I'll keep it in my sewing room now :)

The pattern calls for 32 different prints, but I didn't have that many, so I cut out one of each print and then chose my favorite prints to use more than once :)

I used Hobbs Heirloom Natural cotton batting with scrim, which is really nice, and I LOVE the weight of it!

I quilted randomly spaced horizontal straight lines and then two vertical lines down the center(ish) of each circle using Aurifil 50 wt. #5020 (light military green) and the walking foot on my Baby Lock Jazz.

I used my favorite binding technique (seen in pic above and below) - matched binding - using the excellent tutorial by Debbie at A Quilter's Table.

Be sure to check out the Island Batik website for a chance to win some amazing fabric, and there you'll find links to all the other ambassadors' websites where there will be even more giveaways!

And here's what you can win from me! These are my leftovers from making this quilt - over 2 pounds of fabric!

All you need to do is leave a comment here on this post telling me what you're doing this summer to beat the heat. That's it! U.S. residents only.

The blog hop ends on August 30th, so I'll keep my giveaway open until September 7, 2019. That gives you a few days to catch up and get through all the blogs to enter all the giveaways :) Good luck!

Artsy Fartsy

2019-07-31T03:00:00.000-07:00

Artsy fartsy.

THAT is the theme of July's challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors, using three different weights of Aurifil thread.

What in the world was I supposed to do with this prompt? I am NOT an artsy fartsy quilter by a long shot. My favorite quilts to make are not difficult, my quilting is fairly simple, and I don't ever do anything artsy fartsy. But I thought, "Oh, I'll just make a small item with some embroidery on it, and it'll be so cute!" Yeah....no. Embroidery is hard! In my 50+ years on this earth, I've fallen in deep with cross-stitching, crocheting, knitting, sewing, quilting....but I've never seriously tackled embroidery.

I got out this book that my mother-in-law bought for me SO many years ago because it has everything about needlework in it, and I learned how to make a blanket stitch.

After stressing about it for way too long, I decided to just be myself. I got out my colored pencils and drawing pad and started playing before I started cutting.

I got out a Dresden template and some summery fabric and just played. This was actually my third attempt after the first two projects just didn't feel right.

I used three different weights of Aurifl thread: 50 wt #5024 & #2021, 40 wt #2024, and 28 wt # 2150.

I used Darlene Zimmerman's EZ Quilting Easy Dresden Ruler to cut out 10 orange and 10 yellow wedges using the 5" mark. I used my handy dandy Olfa 28 mm rotary cutter because it's my absolute favorite cutter! The fabric pictured here is Island Batik Ogee Petal Sunshine. Isn't it bright and summery?

I used Hobbs Thermore batting again this month because it really is the perfect batting for a wall hanging or, as the packaging shows....quilted clothing, which I just might get around to one of these days!

I used a Clover Hera Marker to make grid lines, which did NOT come out as planned, but that's my own fault for marking it when I should have been in bed sleeping, but I wanted to be ready to start fresh in the morning, when everything would already be marked! ha ha!

Just check out my hand stitching around the edges and my blanket stitch! OK, it's not perfect, but that's okay. It really does look handstitched, and that's exactly what I was going for! :) This is about as artsy fartsy as I could get.

I was second-guessing my decision to do this the entire time...even up until I was writing this blog post, but I'm actually quite happy with the result, and it will really brighten up my new sewing room! The real flowers are from our front yard, grown by my dude.

Finished dimensions are 18x20.

Try it! You'll like it!

2019-06-30T10:10:00.001-07:00

The items mentioned in this post were provided to me by Island Batik, Hobbs batting, and Aurifil thread.

I thought this month's Island Batik challenge was going to be easy - Just try a new technique! Not too difficult, right? Well, ideas kept popping in my head and I just couldn't make a decision. You know how that goes!

I finally started going through my Pinterest boards. I've never gotten into Pinterest like so many of you have, but I've definitely created a few boards when I've spent some time browsing. One of those boards was for 3-D quilts, so I decided it would be fun to make a mini (15.5" x 19.5") shadow quilt aka floating block quilt!

How cool is this? I used the Soul Song collection, which is probably my favorite of all of the fabric I received from Island Batik.

All it took was a 2.5" square of each print to make this mini quilt! I used the tutorial from Studio Dragonfly Quilts. She used a 3" square, but I was working with 2.5" strips so adjusted for that.

I swear I couldn't see how in the world this was going to eventually look 3-D as I was piecing it.

I even sent pics to friends & family asking if it looked 3-D to them. Ha ha! They assured me that it did.

I used Hobbs Thermore batting. As you can see, it can be used for quilted clothing, wall hangings, miniature quilts, and other small quilting projects. This is a very thin batting which was perfect for this small project!

I used Aurifil 2026 50-wt thread for piecing because it's what I have on my machine 99.9% of the time :) and Aurifil 2024 40-wt thread for quilting.

Have you made a 3-D quilt? I'd love to see it if you have! Just post your link in the comments so I can take a peek!

Be sure to check out the projects from the other Island Batik Ambassadors!

Carolina Asmussen ~Carolina Asmussen

Gene Black ~ Gene Black

Pamela Boatright ~ Pamela Quilts

Connie K Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Anja Clyke ~ Anja Quilts

Tina Dillard ~ Quilting Affection Designs

Becca Fenstermaker ~Pretty Piney

Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter

Barbara Gaddy ~ Bejeweled Quilts by Barb

Dione Gardner-Stephen ~ Clever Chameleon

Sarah Goer ~ Sarah Goer Quilts

Vasudha Govindan ~ Storied Quilts

Lori Haase ~ Dakota City Quilter II

Joanne Hart ~ Unicornharts

Mania (Magdalini) Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for Quilts

Carla Henton ~ Create in the Sticks

Stephanie Jacobson ~ Steph Jacobson Designs

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Joan Kawano ~ Moosestash Quilting

Kim Lapacek ~ Persimon Dreams

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Leanne Parsons ~ Devoted Quilter

Bea Lee ~ BeaQuilter

Toby Lischko ~ Gateway Quilts & Stuff

Bill Locke ~ Studio Bill Locke

Denise Looney ~ For the Love of Geese

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Sally Manke ~ Sally Manke

Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack's Blog

Kathleen McCormick ~ KathleenMcCormick

Carol Moellers ~ Carol Moellers Designs

Karen Neary ~ Sew Karen-ly Created

Jackie O’Brien ~ If These Threads Could Talk

Laura Piland ~ Slice of Pi Quilts

Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde

Vicki Schlimmer ~ Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Sherry Shish ~ Powered by Quilting

Anita Skjellanger , Quilt in a not-Shell

Laticia "Tish" Stemple ~ Tish's Adventures in Wonderland

Jennifer Strauser ~ Dizzy Quilter

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Terri Vanden Bosch ~ Lizard Creek Quilts

Alison Vermilya ~ Little Bunny Quilts

Sandra Walker ~ mmm! quilts

Suzy Webster ~ Adventerous Applique and Quilting

(Debora) Anne Weins ~ Sweetgrass Creative Designs

Geraldine Wilkins ~ Living Water Quilter

Janet Yamamoto ~ Whispers of Yore

Make it Modern with Hobbs

2019-05-31T11:46:00.003-07:00

The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik and Hobbs Batting.

Welcome back! I can't believe how fast time is flying this year! Our spring here in the Pacific Northwest has been really nice, but I'm really looking forward to the summer months -- My favorite time of year!

And it's the last day of May, so it must be time (just in time!) to share my Island Batik project with you!

This month's sponsor for the Island Batik ambassador challenge is Hobbs batting. The theme is Make it Modern.

Hobbs provided us with SO much batting to use for our monthly projects (Thank you, Hobbs!), and this month I chose the Tuscany Silk batting, which is lightweight, 90% very fine imported silk filaments and 10% fine polyester. If you're looking for a drapey batting, this is it!

For my modern quilt, I decided to use some bright colors (not in 🌈 order😜), some negative space using a solid gray fabric, a modern font/text pattern, and walking foot quilting.

The bright colors are from the 5"x40" stashbuilder strips; the gray background fabric is one of the solids available from Island Batik (**Island Batik solids are amazing and do not fray!); and the pattern I chose is a new font/text pattern called Curfont from Jen Carlton Bailly

I used the book Walk by Jacquie Gering to get some ideas for quilting. I quilted two 18" square blocks using the "shattered quilting" technique and made a smaller strip between those two blocks using just straight line quilting. I then did some outlining and straight line quilting on the text panel. All of the piecing and quilting was done using Aurifil 50 wt thread, #2600 using my Baby Lock Jazz sewing machine that I recently purchased.

I used Leah Day's technique for joining pre-quilted blocks together. If the thought of quilting a big quilt on your domestic sewing machine is overwhelming, this is a great way to start!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'm planning on getting a headstart on next month's challenge using a new technique. I have a few ideas already....now I just need to decide which one!

Don't forget to take a peek at the modern quilts made by the other Island Batik Ambassadors!

Carolina Asmussen ~Carolina Asmussen

Gene Black ~ Gene Black

Pamela Boatright ~ Pamela Quilts

Connie K Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Anja Clyke ~ Anja Quilts

Tina Dillard ~ Quilting Affection Designs

Becca Fenstermaker ~Pretty Piney

Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter

Barbara Gaddy ~ Bejeweled Quilts by Barb

Dione Gardner-Stephen ~ Clever Chameleon

Sarah Goer ~ Sarah Goer Quilts

Vasudha Govindan ~ Storied Quilts

Lori Haase ~ Dakota City Quilter II

Joanne Hart ~ Unicornharts

Mania (Magdalini) Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for Quilts

Carla Henton ~ Create in the Sticks

Stephanie Jacobson ~ Steph Jacobson Designs

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Joan Kawano ~ Moosestash Quilting

Kim Lapacek ~ Persimon Dreams

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Leanne Parsons ~ Devoted Quilter

Bea Lee ~ BeaQuilter

Toby Lischko ~ Gateway Quilts & Stuff

Bill Locke ~ Studio Bill Locke

Denise Looney ~ For the Love of Geese

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Sally Manke ~ Sally Manke

Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack's Blog

Kathleen McCormick ~ KathleenMcCormick

Carol Moellers ~ Carol Moellers Designs

Karen Neary ~ Sew Karen-ly Created

Jackie O’Brien ~ If These Threads Could Talk

Laura Piland ~ Slice of Pi Quilts

Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde

Vicki Schlimmer ~ Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Sherry Shish ~ Powered by Quilting

Anita Skjellanger , Quilt in a not-Shell

Laticia "Tish" Stemple ~ Tish's Adventures in Wonderland

Jennifer Strauser ~ Dizzy Quilter

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Terri Vanden Bosch ~ Lizard Creek Quilts

Alison Vermilya ~ Little Bunny Quilts

Sandra Walker ~ mmm! quilts

Suzy Webster ~ Adventerous Applique and Quilting

(Debora) Anne Weins ~ Sweetgrass Creative Designs

Geraldine Wilkins ~ Living Water Quilter

Janet Yamamoto ~ Whispers of Yore

Ready. Set. GO!

2019-04-29T21:11:00.001-07:00

It's April! I'm not sure how this month flew by so fast, but it did, and I somehow managed to finish a quilt even though I was without a sewing machine for a week! I'm excited to show you this fun quilt that I made for this month's Island Batik challenge.

I used my walking foot on my new-to-me Baby Lock Jazz to make "organic" wavy lines using Aurifil 50 wt #2021 (one of my absolute favorite because it blends with everything!) and Hobbs 80/20 bleached batting.

Our challenge was to make a baby quilt (40" to 48" square) using Accuquilt dies.

As you may recall from a few posts back, the Island Batik Ambassadors received an Accuquilt Ready. Set. GO! package that was AMAZING! This included the 8" GO! Qube set of dies AND the Quilt in a Day GO! Qube book full of awesome block patterns!

Check out how the Accuquilt label matches my paint!

I flipped through the book a million times and finally decided to go with the Susannah block. And then I sorted through all of my Island Batik fabric to decide on which ones to use, and that always takes me FOREVER, especially with all the fabric that Island Batik sent to me! I decided to use the solid black and white along with two of the orange stash builder strips (5" x WOF).

I didn't set a stopwatch to see how long it took to cut these pieces, but I can tell you it wasn't long at all!

The entire quilt....in pieces! Crazy, right?

....and the scraps from all that cutting. That's it!

If you haven't had a chance to play with an Accuquilt, I would encourage you to find a sewing center or, better yet, a quilty friend who has an Accuquilt and try it out! It's a great way to organize your scraps....or make a quilt in a day!

Disclosure: The products featured in this post were provided to me free of charge by Island Batik, Accuquilt, Aurifil and Hobbs Batting.

Churn Dash Mix-Up - Vintage Reimagined

2019-03-31T17:56:00.001-07:00

As an Island Batik Ambassador, I have been provided with some of the items mentioned in this post, including Island Batik fabric, Aurifil Thread, Hobbs Batting, and Accuquilt Go!

Welcome back! It's been a little bit, but I've been super busy with life stuff like applying for a job, interviewing for a job, getting an offer for that job, and then finally starting that job! Whew! It's been crazy, but I think I'm finally catching up, and I have a fun quilt to share with you!

When I learned that the March challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors was Vintage Reimagined, I knew exactly what to do --- pull out ALL the vintage quilts in the house for some inspiration! I'll share the story of these quilts and some close-up shots in another blog post. In short, they were part of the package when we purchased our very first home in 1989. While I didn't know the maker of these quilts personally, I did know that we were now responsible for taking on the "job" of using these quilts just as they were meant to be used -- to provide warmth and love.

I chose this red, white, and blue churn dash quilt as my inspiration for this challenge. It's one of my favorites and this is one of the quilts that we used and loved until it fell apart. 💓

Our challenge quilt needed to be a minimum of 36" square, so I got out the graph paper and started drawing churn dash blocks and coloring them in with my colored pencils. I went online to search for 12" churn dash blocks because I was sure that someone had already done the math for me :) and I was right! I found this tutorial by Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life. But I needed to add a little more...something to mix it up...a churn dash reimagined. Hmmm.....So I did a little more online searching and found several variations AND also discovered that there were different names for the same block! Who knew??? I did some more coloring on my graph paper and eventually came up with a plan! This pic also includes my original quilting design, which changed just a little ;)

That took WAY longer than I thought it would, and they're not even complicated blocks! Decisions, decisions.....🙄

I got out the Accuquilt Go! (one of the many awesome benefits of being an Island Batik Ambassador!) and started cutting the pieces needed. This is just a small set of the pieces I cut, and it all went so fast!! I used the 4.5" die, the 5" die, and the 2.5" x 4"5 die. Super fast!

I used the Island Batik white solid, several of the 5 x WOF strips in shades of blue, as well as the 2.5" red strips of text fabric in the Soul Song collection. Some of the blues - the rain drops and the trees - were perfect to represent the Pacific Northwest, where I've lived for the past 26 years. I used Hobbs 80/20 bleached batting and Aurifil 40 wt thread, #2024 for quilting.

My dude (aka quilt holder) and I walked around downtown to find just the right spot for taking a good pic, and I think this is the perfect one! Our downtown has some spectacular murals!

I went with a "simple" quilting design with some stitch-in-the-ditch and echoing. All of the quilting was done on my domestic machine -- Husqvarna Viking Scandinavia 300 -- using a walking foot. This is the first decent-sized quilt I've quilted since closing my longarming business, and I enjoyed every single minute of it. Yes, it takes much longer, but that's okay as long as I make my deadline ;)

I opted for a fun binding technique - matched binding. I used this on my dude's birthday quilt a few years ago. You can find a tutorial from A Quilter's Table here.

There are some pretty amazing quilts from the other Island Batik Ambassadors this month! Check them out!

Carolina Asmussen ~Carolina Asmussen

Gene Black ~ Gene Black

Pamela Boatright ~ Pamela Quilts

Connie K Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Anja Clyke ~ Anja Quilts

Tina Dillard ~ Quilting Affection Designs

Becca Fenstermaker ~Pretty Piney

Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter

Barbara Gaddy ~ Bejeweled Quilts by Barb

Dione Gardner-Stephen ~ Clever Chameleon

Sarah Goer ~ Sarah Goer Quilts

Vasudha Govindan ~ Storied Quilts

Lori Haase ~ Dakota City Quilter II

Joanne Hart ~ Unicornharts

Mania (Magdalini) Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for Quilts

Carla Henton ~ Create in the Sticks

Stephanie Jacobson ~ Steph Jacobson Designs

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Joan Kawano ~ Moosestash Quilting

Kim Lapacek ~ Persimon Dreams

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Leanne Parsons ~ Devoted Quilter

Bea Lee ~ BeaQuilter

Toby Lischko ~ Gateway Quilts & Stuff

Bill Locke ~ Studio Bill Locke

Denise Looney ~ For the Love of Geese

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Sally Manke ~ Sally Manke

Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack's Blog

Kathleen McCormick ~ KathleenMcCormick

Carol Moellers ~ Carol Moellers Designs

Karen Neary ~ Sew Karen-ly Created

Jackie O’Brien ~ If These Threads Could Talk

Laura Piland ~ Slice of Pi Quilts

Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde

Vicki Schlimmer ~ Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Sherry Shish ~ Powered by Quilting

Anita Skjellanger , Quilt in a not-Shell

Laticia "Tish" Stemple ~ Tish's Adventures in Wonderland

Jennifer Strauser ~ Dizzy Quilter

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Terri Vanden Bosch ~ Lizard Creek Quilts

Alison Vermilya ~ Little Bunny Quilts

Sandra Walker ~ mmm! quilts

Suzy Webster ~ Adventerous Applique and Quilting

(Debora) Anne Weins ~ Sweetgrass Creative Designs

Geraldine Wilkins ~ Living Water Quilter

Janet Yamamoto ~ Whispers of Yore

Magnificent Mini

2019-02-13T18:23:00.001-08:00

As an Island Batik Ambassador, I have been provided with the fabric and batting in this post, but not the M&Ms :)

Who doesn't love a quick mini quilt? When I saw that my first challenge as an Island Batik Ambassador was to make a "Magnificent Mini" quilt for February, I knew exactly which one I was going to make! The LOVE quilt in the Keeping Cursive Alive mini series by Kelli Fannin Quilts.

While it's a perfect pattern for making with scraps because it's made out of really small pieces, I decided to really challenge myself and use just four prints. I used one of the 2.5" strips of Soul Song and three of the stash builder strips which are 5" x WOF (width of fabric). While I didn't use all of that fabric, I did take the pink floral and the low-volume rain dot all the way down to some seriously tiny scraps! And I got pretty crafty using up of those scraps to make this all come together!! I'll share a tip sometime soon on what I did with one of these pieces 😉

Check out these tiny triangles left over from trimming! They measure 3/4" from base to point! I'm trying to decide what I'm going to do with these. I just can't throw them away!!

I used Hobbs 80/20 batting and Aurifil 50 wt. thread, #2026 which is pretty much my go-to color for piecing. I used my walking foot to quilt wavy lines. Easy peasy! Since this is a mini quilt, it didn't take long at all!

For my mini quilts, I don't use a double fold binding like I do with larger quilts that will get a lot of use. I just cut strips 1.5" wide and the length that I need, then machine stitch them to the front, then flip over and handstitch it to the back. Again, super easy because it's just a mini!

If you're ever in a funk and need to sew a little something to bring you out of it, try making a mini, even if it's just a mug rug, and I guarantee you'll feel better!

Be sure to check out the other Magnificent Minis from all of the Island Batik Ambassadors

Carolina Asmussen ~Carolina Asmussen

Gene Black ~ Gene Black

Pamela Boatright ~ Pamela Quilts

Connie K Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River

Anja Clyke ~ Anja Quilts

Tina Dillard ~ Quilting Affection Designs

Becca Fenstermaker ~Pretty Piney

Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter

Barbara Gaddy ~ Bejeweled Quilts by Barb

Dione Gardner-Stephen ~ Clever Chameleon

Sarah Goer ~ Sarah Goer Quilts

Vasudha Govindan ~ Storied Quilts

Lori Haase ~ Dakota City Quilter II

Joanne Hart ~ Unicornharts

Mania (Magdalini) Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for Quilts

Carla Henton ~ Create in the Sticks

Stephanie Jacobson ~ Steph Jacobson Designs

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Joan Kawano ~ Moosestash Quilting

Kim Lapacek ~ Persimon Dreams

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Leanne Parsons ~ Devoted Quilter

Bea Lee ~ BeaQuilter

Toby Lischko ~ Gateway Quilts & Stuff

Bill Locke ~ Studio Bill Locke

Denise Looney ~ For the Love of Geese

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Sally Manke ~ Sally Manke

Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack's Blog

Kathleen McCormick ~ KathleenMcCormick

Carol Moellers ~ Carol Moellers Designs

Karen Neary ~ Sew Karen-ly Created

Jackie O’Brien ~ If These Threads Could Talk

Laura Piland ~ Slice of Pi Quilts

Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde

Vicki Schlimmer ~ Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail

Sherry Shish ~ Powered by Quilting

Anita Skjellanger , Quilt in a not-Shell

Laticia "Tish" Stemple ~ Tish's Adventures in Wonderland

Jennifer Strauser ~ Dizzy Quilter

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Terri Vanden Bosch ~ Lizard Creek Quilts

Alison Vermilya ~ Little Bunny Quilts

Sandra Walker ~ mmm! quilts

Suzy Webster ~ Adventerous Applique and Quilting

(Debora) Anne Weins ~ Sweetgrass Creative Designs

Geraldine Wilkins ~ Living Water Quilter

Janet Yamamoto ~ Whispers of Yore

Island Batik Ambassador

2019-02-04T08:38:00.001-08:00

That's right! I'm an Island Batik Ambassador!

I'm so excited and I can't wait to show you more!

Check out my video to see what I've received from Island Batik and their industry partners!

Disclaimer: I'm not a professional movie producer and have no idea what I'm doing here! You are definitely going to want to open this to full screen on a laptop (or bigger!) screen.

Check out some of the beautiful prints!

Thanks to Island Batik, Hobbs Batting, Aurifil, and Accuquilt!

This is going to be a great year!

Check out Island Batik's latest blog post for a list of this year's ambassadors!

Be sure to follow me here, on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram, as well as Island Batik on their blog, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for all the latest news, blog hops, and giveaways!

Y-Seam Hexies?? Nope!

2019-01-31T17:33:00.001-08:00

I'm doing my best to finish up projects that I started years ago, but new projects just keep popping up! I'm sure if you're a quilter reading this blog, you know exactly what I'm talking about! I finally got this quilt top finished recently. It's not quilted yet, but I'm okay with that.

It sure helps to have a tall person (aka my dude) to help with holding up my quilts ;)

If it looks like a hexie quilt, but not quite, there's a reason for that!!! I cut out a bunch of hexies using my Hex n' More ruler FOUR years ago. I knew there would be Y seams involved and I was mostly okay with that, even though I hadn't attempted Y seams. However, when I sewed my columns together, I neglected to leave 1/4" at the end of each seam. I know...you're probably thinking "If you knew you were doing Y seams, why would you sew all the way to the edge?" 🙄

After about two years, I finally started removing the threads 1/4" on every single hexie. Every. Single. One. And then I was done. I put them all back in their container and shoved it back on the shelf.

Fast forward to 2019, when I was finally in the mood to finish it! And then I attempted a Y seam, and said NOPE! I figured it would take me six months to do it, and I wanted it done now! I'm not afraid of Y seams, but I didn't want to spend that kind of time for this particular quilt. So I got out the Hex n' More ruler again and decided to do half hexies. I didn't want to waste too much of this beautiful fabric (Bijoux by Bari J) by using the next size down marked on the ruler, so I decided to make my own template. NOTE TO SELF: Measure twice (or more!), cut once!! They're really, really close to hexies. Close enough for me anyway. Or, as my father-in-law used to say....."good enough for who it's for."

The backing will be the lovely floral brown print in the picture above. I'm so glad I bought that at the same time that I bought the bundle! Stay tuned for the finished quilt, sometime in the next four years :)

One down, two to go!

2018-12-14T17:44:00.001-08:00

Remember the Christmas stockings that I posted about recently? Well, check this out!

I used a 12-wt Aurifil thread to quilt the front of the stocking and 40 wt on the back.

Just two more to go! All three of them will have the same red fabric on the front, but different white fabrics. And they're all being made using my stash! 🎄 Fabric is Cotton & Steel Tinsel from a while back (maybe 2015?) Stocking template is a free download from Sunny Day Supply

Stay tuned for the other two, hopefully in the next day or two!

Too Many Quilts?

2018-12-13T09:51:00.001-08:00

As we were rearranging the living room to make room for the Christmas tree, I started piling all of the quilts in one place. The stack was growing and growing. Then I got the quilts out of our bedroom and added them to the stack.

This stack includes the very first quilt that I made, quilts that I quilted on my domestic machine, and some quilted on my longarm, and even one that needs to be repaired because a special little dog ripped out the stitches with his tiny little puppy nails. This isn't even all of them. By the time I took this picture, we already had the Christmas quilts back on the couches and a couple others that we like to cozy up with in the morning.

There's also one hanging on the wall, one draped over the banister, two rolled up waiting for binding, and of course quite a few more in various stages of completion 😄

Do you have a lot of quilts in your home? Is there any such thing as too many quilts? Personally, I don't think so. My dude seems to have a different opinion. 🙄 I'm not quite sure how to prepare him for all of the quilts that will no doubt be added to our home over the next 20+ years. Any suggestions? 😁

Christmas Cross-Stitch

2018-12-10T18:16:00.001-08:00

As I've been organizing my sewing room, I'm finding all sorts of good holiday stuff! You know, like the gingerbread countdown to Christmas, unfinished pillows and wall hangings (see previous posts). 🙄

I'm also finding completed Christmas cross-stitch projects that I've never framed!

I started cross-stitching in my twenties. I was so amazed at my mother-in-law's counted cross-stitch projects and I wanted to learn! She patiently taught me more than once and I was hooked when I finally got it. I cross-stitched for many years and still have all of my DMC floss, needles, hoops, etc. I'm sure I'll pick it up again, someday when I'm not sewing and quilting every day 🙄

Here's another one I found! I even have a frame for this one already that's the same color as that deep red ribbon.

I admit that I have a lot of WIPs, but just look at all the stuff that I've finished! Ha ha ha! And I KNOW for a fact that most of my crafty friends have just as much unfinished stuff as I do! You know who you are 😁😁

Christmas Stockings

2018-12-09T21:53:00.001-08:00

I posted on Facebook and Instagram the other day about my plan to make new Christmas stockings this year. We've had the same stockings for over 20 years. We're ready for a change. We decided that we would try to keep the color scheme fairly simple, maybe just red and white.

While I'm not set on having just Christmas-themed fabrics, that's where I started when I got to my sewing room.

Then I came across my scraps and some yardage of the Cotton & Steel Tinsel fabric that I used in my Christmas quilt last year.

This is some of the best fabric! I used the Bundle Buster Quilt pattern by Yvonne Fuchs (Quilting Jet Girl) to make this fun quilt. If you have a FQ bundle just hanging around, use this pattern to turn it into a quilt in a day....seriously. OK, mine took a little longer than a day because I cut the fat quarters the wrong way and had to order more fabric. Oops! And that's how I ended up with extra fabric 😀

Sooooo....this is what I have left over from that quilt, and I think it's plenty to make three stockings!

I'm using the FREE stocking template from Sunny Day Supply. I'm using the wide template because I want BIG stockings! These should go together pretty fast since I'm not going to do a ton of piecing or quilting on them. Keepin' it simple....mostly because Christmas is in 16 days😏

Baking for the holidays - Maple Roasted Pecans

2018-12-07T19:49:00.001-08:00

I love the holidays and how I always get in the mood to bake ALL the goodies! While it's not necessarily good for my waistline, it's SO good for my soul! Baking had been my passion for a very long time, and I even had the thought of one day opening up a bakery, but quilting replaced baking in 2008. I still bake but mostly just around the holidays. I'd much rather be sewing!

Last night, I made some Maple Roasted Pecans for my dude to give to friends at work. We always taste test before they leave the house, and they did not disappoint! If you want the recipe, keep reading!

When these are first thrown in the pan, you'd never know that they are eventually going to turn into something so delicious.

There are only three ingredients in this recipe. Ready?

4 cups pecans (mostly halves, if possible)
1 cup powdered sugar
2 oz maple syrup

Heat pecans & powdered sugar in a saute pan over low-medium heat until caramelized, folding constantly. ***This takes quite a while!
When sugar has almost completely caramelized, stir in maple syrup and cook 3 more minutes, stirring constantly.
Spread evenly on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Separate pecans and allow to cool.

I saw on the news recently that there's a pecan shortage this year so I stocked up at Costco last week.

Oh, and if you really like pecans, I have a great pecan pie recipe! Let me know if you want it, and I'd be happy to share it with you ;)

Countdown to Christmas

2018-12-06T14:01:00.003-08:00

Well, I missed day 5 of the 31-Day Blog Writing Challenge, but I'm not gonna worry too much about that. At least I'm back today, right?

What kid doesn't like to count down to Christmas? The excitement of a little surprise every single day before the BIG day! 🎅

When our son was little, I made a gingerbread man countdown, using a gingerbread man cookie cutter, brown grocery bag, and some puff paint. He and I decorated the gingerbread men each year with the paint, and then I would write something fun inside each one. I know I still have those around here somewhere, probably in one of the many boxes of Christmas decorations.

After several years of making these, I thought it would be a good idea to make a permanent one out of felt. I thought it would be cute to stuff them, so I made just one.....and that was enough to make me come up with another design. Although it was adorable, I knew it would take me forever.

So I decided to leave the stuffing out and just sew around the edges, and eventually add the face & buttons, although it appears that hasn't happened....yet.

The pocket on the back is for a piece of paper with the fun activity of the day written on it.

I just love the homemade look of this! I started these close to 20 years ago and then they got put away in a cute little snowflake bag and were never finished. My son is 29 years old now so probably doesn't want it, but I kinda want to finish it. This should be a relaxing little project to work on while watching Christmas movies, right? 🎄🎄🎄

Handmade Christmas

2018-12-04T20:49:00.001-08:00

I'm just now getting around to decorating for Christmas, and while I have plenty of handmade decorations already, I always want to make more. I haven't started any new ones yet this year, but there's still time, right??? I decided a while back that I wanted something simple for the dining room windows, so I made these simple valances.

I just cut two width-of-fabric strips about 15" wide, sewed them end to end, and backed them with a solid white fabric. As you can see, I just use those little rings with the clips to hang them. My idea was that I could change them out for the different holidays. Great idea, right? Ha! I have two sets -- This set for Christmas, and the other set for the rest of the year :)

I made matching pillows that were super simple. I found this great pillow cover tutorial by Jaybird Quilts on Sew Mama Sew and have used this multiple times. The tutorial doesn't show how to make the patchwork, just the construction of the cover with an envelope back, and it gives the measurements for multiple pillow form sizes. Oh, and don't forget to check out the Handmade Holidays at Sew Mama Sew!

We always love to decorate with these beautiful ribbon pinecone ornaments that my mother-in-law used to make.

I found this beautiful little tree at one of our downtown shops and it's perfect to hang them on. I think someday I'll make some more of these to fill up the tree.

I've been trying to not start anything new, but I recently found this really cool fabric star ornament so might have to try just one ;)

If you're looking for some fun handmade items, be sure to check out Handmade Holidays on Sew Mama Sew!

Happy Holiday Sewing!

Scraps, Scraps, and More Scraps

2018-12-03T20:37:00.000-08:00

I've been quilting for about 10 years now, so I've accumulated some scraps from all of the quilts I've made. SO many scraps! There are quilters who throw out their scraps, but I just can't bring myself to do that. And I can't give them away either. I want them all. I'll even take yours if you want to give them to me :)

I tried sorting them by color into separate 2-gallon bags. That worked for a while, but it became a pain in the rear when I had to empty the bags every time I made a house for my Village quilt. Yes, this quilt is made entirely of scraps, except for a very small amount of white fat quarters for the background.

Whenever I would bring up the subject of needing a better scrap storage system, my dude would say something like "Well, you're going to run out of scraps eventually and then you won't need all that storage." Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

I think after I made the Village quilt and still had so many scraps, he realized that my scraps weren't going anywhere anytime soon and there was no way that pile was getting any smaller. So I ordered these really cool Ikea Algot baskets.

I have them sorted by color, and there's a separate basket for selvages and solids. It's working pretty well for me so far.

I've been working on a few different scrap projects. I just keep them up on my design wall and keep adding to them.

This is the X-Plus block by Amy Badskirt

And there's the popular Plus block. I'm not even sure which tutorial I used for this, but you can just search for "plus block" and you'll find a ton of tutorials out there for whatever size block you want to make!

And last but not least, the Scrap Vortex quilt by Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts. I started sewing my scraps together for this earlier this year. I haven't even made a dent in my pile, so I can easily make a few king-size quilts....eventually :)

Do you save your scraps or give them away? If you throw them away, please reconsider and send them to me :) Kidding! But I'm sure there is a local group who would gladly accept them to make scrap quilts!

The Magic of Sewing

2018-12-02T15:33:00.001-08:00

Have you ever noticed how the process of making a quilt is kinda magical as you're piecing and things are slowly coming together? Like this Measure Twice quilt that I made about two years ago, for example.

It's pieced in small sections (just like you would make quilt blocks but they don't look like anything in particular like a quilt block might) and then you piece those sections together. Each section on its own isn't very impressive, but once you start putting them all together, it's magical! And all of a sudden you have a gigantic pair of scissors! Pattern is Measure Twice by Katy Jones that was in an older Love Patchwork & Quilting Magazine.

Or this one! It's the cutest little....or BIG panda ever! This is the Bamboozle pattern by my good friend Kelli Fannin. I made this for a friend/neighbor when her baby was born last year. It was so fast & fun to make!!

Then there's the magic of garment sewing. Have you seen the reversible Metamorphic dress from Sew Liberated? I made one of those earlier this year. So fun to make!

And just last night, I was sewing together a Farrow dress by Grainline Studio. When the instructions stated how to attach the top section of the front of the dress to the bottom section of the front, I had to tilt my head and do a flip to get a good look at the pics to make sure I was understanding it correctly. I was seriously trying to figure out how in the world this was going to work, especially when it came to the magic of the pockets. All it took was a little stitching, flipping, and pressing, and a slit front pocket appeared! Look close in the second pic where there are two pens clipped to the pocket. Pattern designers amaze me, and I'm so grateful for them!!!

As frustrating as it can be sometimes when trying to figure out a pattern, it really is fun and exciting, and magical! Hope you find some magic in your everyday sewing, too!

I'm Back!

2018-12-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Welcome!! I'm Lisa Lisa, and Quilting is my Jam!

It's been over a year since I've blogged and I have really missed it! When I saw the 31-Day Blog Writing Challenge by Cheryl Sleboda of Muppin, I knew this was the perfect kick in the pants that I needed to get going again!

I started this little blog in 2012 as a way to document my quilting journey, and then I discovered Instagram, and down the rabbit hole I went. So that's where I've been posting my sewing and quilting pics for quite some time. But I've heard quite a few people say that they don't even read the posts on Instagram....they just scroll on through to see the pics. Don't get me wrong, I love Instagram!!!! A lot! Maybe too much. But I do miss sitting down at my computer and writing a little story to share my makes, and sometimes even receiving comments from other quilters and sewists.

To see what I've been making, take a peek at the Instagram pics in my sidebar ➨➨
As you can see, I've branched out a little from quilting, but quilts are still my favorite things to sew!

So, with this challenge, our goal is to post every single day in December. And while I'm sure I won't be writing a post on Christmas Eve & Christmas, I will plan ahead and schedule my posts. I can do this!

Thank you so much for stopping by! I sure hope you'll stop by again to take a peek at what I'm making and to make sure I'm posting every day ;)

~ Lisa

Charleston Mini Quilt

2017-05-15T17:57:00.001-07:00

It's been a little while since I've posted anything here on the blog, but I've had so much going on (really good stuff!) and am excited to share some of that with you! I love my most recent finish so much, and I know my mom (the recipient) does, too! Don't worry....there are lots of pics included because I know that's what you really want to see!

I finished this mini quilt for my mom for Mother's Day. She's really hard to buy for (although she says she doesn't really need or expect anything) so I like to make her something when I can. I was born in Charleston, SC, and lived just outside of Charleston until I got married (a long time ago). My mom still lives in the area, as do a lot of other family members, so I still get to visit the area occasionally. In the past, I've cross-stitched some Charleston-themed gifts for her, which she loves, so I knew she would really like something made with the new Charleston fabrics by Amy Sinibaldi by Art Gallery Fabrics. I ordered mine online from Winter Creek Cloth one morning, and it was on my doorstep that afternoon! Ha ha! My friends Dana & Lynn own the shop, so that's pretty convenient!

Since I waited until the last minute (as usual) to decide what I wanted to make, I knew it needed to be fast, so NO paper piecing! I decided to use this improv pillow tutorial from Quilting in the Rain as inspiration for a mini quilt to hang on the wall. It's about 12" x 18" and can easily hang on nails using a dowel placed in corner pockets (scroll down for pic). Look at all of these fabrics....SO sweet! I used 50 wt Aurifil thread for the piecing and 40 wt Aurifil for the quilting.

I used this tutorial from Crazy Mom Quilts for binding tiny things.

It was perfect!

I even cut the "Charleston" out of the selvedge to use as part of the quilt!

I used another tutorial from Crazy Mom Quilts as inspiration for making a card using some of the fabric.

I have more to share with you, but I'll save it for another post. I'm determined to start blogging regularly again. I've really been thinking about why I started blogging in the first place - to document my quilting - to tell my story. So, that's what I'm going to do...again. And I still enjoy reading blogs, but I've been making an effort to actually start commenting again. Stay tuned and happy quilting!

Winner of Giveaway

2016-11-19T21:45:00.001-08:00

Welcome back! Thank you to all who stopped by and entered the SewPro Blog Hop Giveaway! I appreciate each and every one of you! I decided to record a video of the giveaway. I don't think I've ever recorded myself and posted it on the internet...ever!

And it was a flop. I tried and tried and tried to post my video, but I kept getting an error when trying to load it because it was too big of a file! Maybe I talk too much??? So....I posted it on Facebook instead - https://www.facebook.com/thequiltjam/

Anyway, the winner was Kelli Fannin of Kellin Fannin Quilt Designs and http://thatlookslikeitneedsstitches.blogspot.com/

Congratulations, Kelli! I'm so excited that you won!

I've learned a few things about myself by recording this.
I say "and" a lot.
I look up and away a lot.
I make weird faces.
I bug out my eyes a lot (but I already knew that because my dude is always telling me to put my eyes back in my head!)

Oh well. I guess that's who I am. LOL.

I hope you'll come back to check out my quilty adventures!
If you're on Instagram, you can find me in two places - @lisalisaandthequiltjam and @upstairsbirdie My longarm quilting website is www.upstairsbirdie.com

Even if you didn't win this giveaway, all first-time customers will receive 25% off of the quilting cost! Check out my website for details!