Retreat and Debbie Caffery Workshop

July has been a good month.  We have had unseasonably mild weather here in E. Central Illinois.  Not to say that we haven't had some hot and humid days.  But as I am writing this wearing sweatpants and thinking about a sweater, well, I think you get the point!

One of the fun things for this month is getting started on a new project with Chocolate Chicks, one of my small groups.  We are doing a Churn Dash Stash Buster.  This is how we are doing it.  This month our hostess Cyndee entertained us (about 12 quilters) with appetizers and soft drinks.  She passed out a pattern for the Churn Dash that she wants, along with a fat quarter of a cream fabric to each quilter that she wants used as her background.  We are to use from our stash fabric for the churn dash.  She requested a print that reads "Red Solo Cup"! I think this nailed it!  I used three different prints from my stash.  She will receive three 7.5" finished blocks from each member, so she will have enough to make a quilt!  Each member takes a turn hosting! Simple appetizers, nothing fancy.  We have found out that there are so many different variations of the churn dash pattern.

I went to retreat with the Materials Girls (another small group I belong to) for a long weekend of sewing and girl fun!  We stayed at The Old Brick Inn in Chrisman!  Joy, the innkeeper, is a delightful hostess.  We ate wonderful meals in a cozy atmosphere.  I worked on several projects while there.  This was a miniature I had purchased the kit for at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show this winter.  It is now on the to be quilted pile!

Last week my local guild hosted Debbie Caffrey for a lecture and two workshops!  I was unable to attend her PowerCutting workshop on Friday, but I was able to take her workshop Open a Can of Worms. There we learned some power cutting techniques, how to use the half square triangle ruler to make half square triangles and trapezoids.  These blocks I got done in the morning.

These I got done in the afternoon, sort of like extra credit!  These fabrics are the same fabrics I used in the Kaye England workshop a few months ago.  They are Christmas prints, so I will be able to make a sampler of workshop blocks at some point in time!  The diamond shape I am going to make a small medallion quilt with it!

Guest Blogger

I was the guest blogger today on Teri Lucas' blog that is devoted to faith and quilting!  I am very excited to be included in this venture!

A stained glass window in Notre Dame.
 

There's an app for that!

I would have to say that I am middle of the road when it comes to being tech savvy.  I do not shun all the new technology, nor am I first in line to get the latest and greatest.  I was very late in getting an iPod, and only got one when I saw a patient with an iTouch (pre iPad) and thought of all the wonderful things I could do with it besides listen to music.  I also resisted getting a smartphone.  Of course, that is all ancient history, as I am the proud owner of a Samsung Galaxy S4!
I am sure that I am not using it to its greatest capabilities.  I do depend on it for my calendar.  And I do use the camera.  And today I learned how to take screenshots...on purpose!  I have taken them accidently, but was never too sure how I did it.  The reason I wanted to know this new skill was to tell you about an app that I absolutely love!
At a quilting retreat I was thinking that I needed a way to inventory or category my quilting books, on my phone, so I would stop buying duplicate books.  God bless Amazon, which doesn't let me buy the same book twice from them.  But I don't always buy my books from Amazon, so I needed something more dependable.  That's when I thought, surely there is an app for that!  I asked our techy guru quilter if she knew if that was available.  She didn't know off hand, but a quick search found that there were several options available!

As I have an Android, I opted for Book Catalogue.  It is free (yea!) and got good reviews on several sites.  There are many similar options available to Apple products.

You can easily locate your books that you have added by author, or by books.  You can collapse or expand as needed. 

By touching a title, you can see a picture of the cover and all the pertinent details about the book.  There is even a place for you to make notes about the book.  And you can note if you have loaned a book to someone!

Adding a book is as easy as scanning the ISBN barcode that is located on the back cover of the book.  Older books will not have a barcode, but you can manually enter the ISBN.  The app will search Amazon, Google, and other internet areas for the book and bring up the information.  It also will tell you if you already have this catalogued.

I give this app a definite thumbs up!  Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Modern Mystery Quilt and good news!

Last fall, the  American Quilter's Society in their weekly OnPoint emagazine had a weekly Modern Mystery Quilt designed by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr.  I have always wanted to try my hand in the modern quilt movement (which I really think of as more of a minimalist look) so I downloaded the pattern dutifully every week. I did not start cutting and sewing until after I had all 6 weeks in hand.  Yeah, it is kinda like reading the last page of a novel to see how it ends before you start the book (I don't do that!).  But I will say that I had decided from the get go that I wanted to use a light grey as my background or field fabric (as they say in the modern movement) and I wanted to use soft blues and greens, something that looks like sea glass (or what this prairie girl thinks sea glass should look like!)

I had a lot of fun playing with the colors in this quilt!  I also amassed a large number of aquas! Having recently taken a class with Susan Cleveland and learned her Piping Hot
Curves technique, I decided to add red piping to my circles to make them pop!  I think of the circles as portholes!

 

My first thought was to use the open areas to do some intricate quilting.  But the quilt was telling me it wanted something different.  As you can see, I decided to do a sun-type pattern in the circles, with small circles in the central axis.  The rest of the quilt was quilted with long meandering sinewy lines to give the impression of rain trickling down a window!

On to the good news!  I entered two quilt in the Midwest Heritage Quilt Show at the Vermilion County Museum.  This is a judged show that runs the month of July at the museum in Danville, IL.  My miniature "Pieced Baskets" won a first place ribbon!  This quilt was started in a class that I took with Sally Collins. 

Sedona Joy, which was a 2012 Block of the Month through The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims, won a second place ribbon! The original quilt was designed by Sarah Vedeler.  After month 6, I started changing up her design.  I had some issues with the set in seams, which then translated into trouble with getting it to lay flat for the quilting.  I am eager to see the judge's comments!

 

 

More Hexie Tips

I had a question from my Top Ten Hexie Tips that I would like to address today, and also some other tips that I failed to post!

The question was about the cross stich in the corner.  As you can see in the picture, it is a simple cross stitch.  It doesn't have to be pretty, because it will be taken out.  The purpose is to secure that corner until it can be sewn down!

My next tip is about using pins to secure the paper to your fabric.  I find that if I use small, applique pins where the seams are supposed to be, it helps keep it securely in place until I get it basted.

This is where I keep my hexie supplies.  I got the cabinet from a girlfriend's garage sale!  What? Doesn't everyone have a sombrero in their sunroom?

The top swings up to give me a place to store threads, needles, and other sewing notions.  In the drawers I keep my paper templates, books, and patterns.

Dang! Sorry the picture is sidewises!  These are the acrylic templates that you use to easily put your registration marks on your paper templates.

Of course, you can reuse the paper templates, so I had to find a way of organizing them so I could easily find them again.  I came up with placing the paper templates with its corresponding acrylic template in individual ziplock bags (the ones that the paper templates come in from Paper Pieces are perfect for this)!  If I were truly anal, I would make a label to put on the bag. 

Basting hexies makes a lot of little scraps.  I made this little thread catcher to hold the fabric scraps and thread scraps.  I don't throw the fabric scaps away.  I save them and put them into dog beds that our guild makes for our local humane society.

So I have piqued your interest in hexies? Mickey Depre would love to have you join her Craftsy class!  She has shared this link, http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.craftsy.com%2Fpiecedhexies&h=uAQGMAn3M, to get 33% off!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Giving credit where credit is due

It dawned on me that I failed to give credit yesterday to the hexies that were pictured in my top ten tips.

This is a block of the month through Quilting on the Square!  The quilt is called Moxie Girl, and is designed by Mickey Depre and Mary Pfeiler!

Mea culpa!

Top Ten Tips for Hexies, or, Lessons learned from being a "Stunt" Quilter!

As you recall from my last blog, I have been a "ghost" or "stunt" quilter for Mickey Depre.  So you can imagine that I have learned a few tricks about working with hexies along the way!  This post does not contain many pictures, but I do have a few tips!

1. A Steady Betty  is a great tool to use when you are working with lots of pieces on your lap.

It holds your pieces and keeps them from sliding.  Acts as a mini design wall.  And it gives you a place to park your pins and needles!

2. When you are basting your hexies, use up your cheap thread.  You know the stuff...it was the bargain "3 spools for a buck" at the big box store.  The stuff you bought when you first started quilting.  When you are basting, you are just gonna remove those stitches any way, so why waste your good, quality thread.  A good contrast to your fabric is great, to make it easier to find those basting stitching when it is time to remove them.

3.  When basting pieced hexies, you will have seams in corners, and along edges, that you want to make sure remain in their places.  I like to do a cross stitch in those corners, and through those seam junctions to make sure they behave.  This is important if you want your final product to have seams that line up

4. And speaking of removing stitches (see #2), a good sharp seam ripper is always a good thing.  They can get dull, just like any other instrument.  Replace them when they start to give you fits.  My personal favorite is the Alex Anderson 4 in 1 tool.  It has a great seam ripper, along with a stilletto, a wooden press, and a point turner.

5.  Speaking of stillettos (great segues, eh!), I use that stilletto when I am removing the paper after I have removed the basting stitches.  I find that it gets into the corners without disturbing the seam.

6. Before you remove the papers from the edge hexies, you will want to prep those edges that have not been joined to a partner.  A light starch or Mary Ellen's Best Press will keep those edges crisp.  Rather than spray, I like to pour some into a little bowl and "paint" it on those edges with a small flat paint brush.  I then press till dry.  It gives a nice crisp edge that holds until you can applique or do your finishing.

7. When sewing your hexies together, Mickey has recommended 100# silk thread.  The other day I grabbed my travel box to piece some hexies, and failed to put my silk thread in.  I did have some  Aurifil 50wt Mako cotton with me.  In my opinion, it worked just as well as the finer silk, and was much easier to work with.

8. Replace your hand needles.  Hopefully, we all know to replace our sewing machine needles after 8 hours of use.  Our hand needles can become dull also.  I am so guilty of using the same needle for YEARS.  But a fresh, sharp needle just makes stitching much easier.  I don't have a personal favorite, although I do like the longer needles, as it is easier for me to grasp.

9. A needle threader is a true Godsend!  I have two that I like.  Clover's Desk Needle Threader and Bohin Desktop Needle threader.  They both work well.

10. Finally, I just learned this trick from another blog.  Instead of using a whip stitch to sew your hexies together, try a ladder stitch.  It makes an invisible seam, and is just as easy to do!  With what ever method you use to sew your hexies together, make sure that you securely stitch your corners and your end to make sure they don't come unraveled.

Well, that is all the tips that I can think of!  Everyone, have a great day!