Black Friday

After a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, what comes next but a great day of sewing.  I used to get up at 4 or 5 am and hit the sales on the day after Thanksgiving, but I no longer want to fight the crowds so the next best thing is a day of sewing.  My Mother is getting ready to start Kidney dialysis and she has always wanted a school house quilt so I wanted to make her the quilt to keep warm during her dialysis.  Like me she loves red. So I have chosen to make the quilt in red and white swirls...  Don't you love Moda swirls.  It think I have the swirls in all colors.

Alot of strips......

Isn't chain piecing great....

More cutting.....

Love those strip units.....

And now the sub cutting... Shape Cut works great for cutting strips...

Alot more sewing this weekend....  More pictures to follow.....

Quilt in process

Working on the January project for "The Sassy Stitchers Club" at Patchwork Cottage.  Pieced and on the design board, just have to sew it together..  What a bright quilt to start off the new year...Have to get ahead with the holidays fast approaching.

Road trip instead of quilting

Decided to take Friday off work to quilt.  Had all intentions of quilting all day.  I needed 9 more inches of a red batik so I thought I'd take a quick road trip to Sew Memorable in Dawsonville with my friend Pam thinking that is where the fabric came from, no such luck.  I was close to Dahlonega so I thought lets check out "The Common Thread".  No luck again.  Came home and my friend Lisa needed fabric so we went in the opposite direction to Dragonfly in Watkinsville.  Needless to say, I got no quilting done, but I had two great road trips with two friends.   Moral of the story -  don't buy just a 1/2 yard if you are buying stash fabric.  If you really like a fabric that you are putting in your stash such as neutrals, whites, etc. buy 1 or 2 yards. 

Pine Cone Ornaments

We had a fun day at Dragonfly Quilt Shop making pine cone ornaments and round Christmas balls.  I was glad to meet some new people and see some familiar faces.
These ornaments make a quick gift or look great hanging on your tree.  They are easy to make and a good project to work on while you are watching TV (no sewing required). Great project to work on with your kids or grand kids to make lasting memories.

                                                      This one is below a Margaret original. 



Products I Use: (Aurifil Thread, Clover, OLFA, SCHMETZ Needles)

Aurifil Thread  - Love their thread.  I quilt a lot. I use their large spool of thread for piecing.  I just seems like it lasts forever and I have very little problems with the thread breaking.  They have a large variety of thread colors and weights for all your quilting and sewing projects.



                   
Clover   - I use all the following products.

Chaco Liners and refills - I like the way the powder rolls out from the tiny rotary wheel and allows you to draw a thin line.

    

 

Seam ripper - I like the tip on their seam ripper.  It is thinner then a lot of others.  The thinner tip allows you to rip out stitches easier and not put a hole in your fabric.

Patchwork pins - I like the sharp points.  They go into your fabric smoothly without leaving a hole.  They work great when  you are nesting seams.

Protect and grip thimble - Stays on your finger and doesn't fly off your finger when you move your hand. 
I like the flat metal tip on the thimble. I allows you to push the pin through the fabric without poking your finger.



Olfa Rotary Cutters, Cutting Mats and Rulers- Olfa's rotary cutters cut through fabric very smoothly.  Very easy to close as you make each cut.  They also have an ergonomic rotary cuttery that closes automatically.  I like to use this one when I teach my kids classes. It is safer because they don't have to remember to close the blade when they finish cutting.
They also have really nice cutting mats and variety of different rulers.

   
 

SCHMETZ Needles - I use their needles in my machine.  They have a large variety of needles for all your quilting and sewing needs.  
 

Reading Patterns

I always get a lot of questions from my students on how to read a pattern.  Sometimes one page patterns are just as hard to follow then multi page patterns. 

Suggestions:  Always read the entire pattern before cutting any fabric. All the cutting instructions may not be right up front.

I use my highlighter alot to highlight key facts such as your block should finish off at
"---" or press seams in a certain direction or you should have 10 "X" blocks and 12 "Y" blocks.   Sometimes we get busy sewing and so excited about what all the fabric looks like together that we skip over some tiny details in the pattern.

The other suggestion is if you making a block for the first, get out your scrap fabric and make a sample block.  This way you won't waste your fabric esp if you have just enough to do the project. 
Then when you are finished put that scrap block into a box.  Once you have a build up of test blocks, make a scrappy quilt.  What a great way to have a charity quilt ready to donate when someone calls on you to make a quilt. 

Pattern designing isn't as easy as alot may think.  The pattern designers put alot of time into their patterns.  Some put alot of information to be helpful and sometimes they cannot put everything into a pattern because the pattern would go on for days.  We just have to read them thoroughly before starting a project.  I don't know where we would be without all the great designers we have out there.  Remember quilting is for fun.

Love, Laugh and Learn (Beginners Class)

Just finished teaching another beginners class at Patchwork Cottage.  Again another great class and a great group of ladies.  I am always so excited to meet new quilters and teach beginners.  They are always so excited about learning to quilt. 

The first class seems a little intimidating when you learn to measure and cut fabric, how to read a ruler and most scary is how to use the rotary cutter. Then you start to sew and learn about the 1/4 inch seam.  Now you are sewing and your machine messes up and you feel like you want to give up, then comes squaring off those blocks, learning about the sashing and borders.  Don't give up because at the end you will have a beautiful quilt.  It won't be perfect (because after all it is your first quilt) but it is your quilt that you make.  Just remember how far you came in just a few weeks, look at what you have learned.  When you stop and think that when you walked into the class, you didn't know how to properly read a ruler and were scared to make that first cut.  OK, maybe some of your points are off, but in the class you learned why they were off so next time you know what to do different.  Pat yourself on the back, you stuck with it and you have your first quilt.

Remember advanced quilters, we were all there and we all make it through that first quilt. We kept practing and we got better.  One day it clicks and you say I remember that from class. Then we are out shoping for new patterns and new fabric and the quilting bug has you.

I do believe as a beginner you have to relax, have fun and laugh.  When Mita asked me to teach the beginners class at her shop, we wanted to come up with a catchy name.  We
came up with "Love, Laugh and Learn".  We wanted everyone to "love" what they were making "laugh" along the way and "learn" to quilt.  Don't give up, take another class, meet other ladies that quilt and your quilting journey begins.   You will meet so many wonderful people in quilting and will make some everlasting friendship. 

Below are some of the blocks we put on the design board.  Each one is different.  It is fun to see how a block can look so different by your color choices.  They really did a great job.  Once they sew the sashing, corners stones and borders their blocks will pop and they will see all their hard work paid off.