A New Machine and a New Year.

I surprised the granddaughter's this week with a new sewing machine.  Brother Project Runway Special Edition.  It is highly rated by Consumer Reports as a beginning machine and I read some great reviews on the web.  I got a great deal at my local Mulqueen's Sewing Center.  They were excited when I delivered it to their home.

R-2 (youngest granddaughter) started sewing lessons from Mema (that's me) in December.  She made a pillowcase using the burrito method.  If you haven't seen this method of constructing a pillowcase, just Google burrito pillowcase.

Her next project was a cat.  I found the pattern on Craftsy.   R-2 decided she wanted a gray cat which was the first project on the new machine.  She decided the pattern needed "arms" and a tail.  She drew a pattern and sew "arms" and a tail.  It turned out very cute. 

R-1 (oldest granddaughter)  decided she wanted to join in the fun and made this travel pillow following directions from Crafty Gemini.  If you haven't seen the Crafty Gemini videos, you should check them out.  She makes sewing fun and the granddaughter's love to watch her videos.

The girls made four of the neck pillows on their last sewing day of Christmas Vacation.  They even made Mema one.  We had fun picking out fleece at JoAnn's and fleece was 50% off that day!

Happy New Year

I made this banner in 2015 for a Swap for All Seasons.  I thought the words were appropriate for the beginning of a new year.  Hope for a Wonderful 2016 and Faith that I can make each day count.  I started a calendar of my creative activities.  2015 was spent as a member of Quiltmaker Magazine's Scrap Squad.  My last quilt will be shown of Quilty Pleasure blog in February.  My plans are to spend a part of each day working in my studio.  Today I worked on the center panel for my last Scrap Squad quilt.

It's been a long three months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has been over three months since I last posted.  I've experienced some health issues with my right knee.  There have been times when I was unable to walk due to the extreme pain.  Needless to say this put a damper on much of my quilting and sewing.   I should say that I am much better due to a month of therapy.  I'm scheduled to do another month and then evaluation to see if surgery is needed.

I was able to complete a Scrap Squad quilt that was featured on the Quilty Pleasures blog.  The quilt was made from my stash of Christmas fabrics.  It will be on display during the holiday season.

 

I named this quilt Snowy Diamonds.  It was a great way to use up some of those Christmas scraps that I've been collecting for years.

 

 

I plan to add more post of projects as time allows. 

Mini Sampler Swap

It has taken me awhile to post about the Mini Sampler Swap.  You can read about it by clicking the image on the left side of my blog or here.

This is the January sampler I made.  It includes 30s reproduction fabric, a vintage hankie, lace, rick rack, and a flower and button.

 

I received a sampler from Linda.  You can see the sampler on her blog.  I will post a photo of my entire clothes line of samplers later.

 

Here is the sampler I made for Linda in February. The base if from a vintage barkcloth drapery,  I added vintage crochet lace, sequins, and a butterfly.  I also added some mini clothes pins.

 

 

I received a sampler from Heidi that was also on vintage fabric.  I'll post a photo of it later.

 

 

 

 

 

Miss Mattie's Flower Garden

 

My second Scrap Squad quilt was featured on the Quilty Pleasures Blog last week.  I named this quilt after my MaMa Skaggs.  Her name was Mattie.  You can see the original quilt on the blog post.  I used the original block pattern but rearranged the blocks to get a diagonal line that resulted in large diagonal squares. 

 

I auditioned using the scrappy fabric in the center of squares but ultimately decided to go with a solid gray block in the center.  The embroidery design is by Anita Goodesigns. 

 

I decided to use the left overs to make a scrappy border and quilted on my new Avante quilting machine.  I guess you would called it semi-custom quilting.  I did most of the quilt without using the computer but the triangle blocks are Prostitcher designs.

 

I love this quilt!

 

Keeping it on the "Q.T." Quilting Tip # 4

It's time for another Keeping It on the "QT" Tip.  Tip # 4. 

 Painter's Tape is a quilter's Best Friend.

Stitch-and-Flip is a popular quilting technique for attaching corner patches to units.  Instructions usually include something like this "Mark a diagonal line on the patch from corner to corner and sew on the marked line."

For my second Scrap Squad quilt, the pattern called for 192 Stitch-and-Flip units.  That's a lot of diagonal lines!  So I decided to use Painter's Tape to mark my machine instead of marking all those lines.

Why Painter's Tape?  It doesn't leave any sticky mess when you remove it from your machine.  Below you can see the tape on machine.  The tape is placed from just in front of the needle (not over the feed dogs).  Tape should be aligned with the needle.  Most machines will have marking you can use as a guide.

 

Place your patch on the corner of the unit with right sides together.  Place top corner under presser foot aligned with needle and bottom corner lined up on Painter's Tape.

 

 

Stitch across the diagonal.

 

 

This method works perfectly and you don't have to mark anything.  A real time saver when you are making 192 of these little corners.

 

You would then trim seam allowance to 1/4".  Flip the patch open and press.

 

Thanks for stopping by.  My next Scrap Squad quilt will be featured on Quilty Pleasures Blog on Friday.

 

Happy Scrappy Quilting!!!

 

@ the Circus quilt

My first Scrap Quilt was published in March.  Here is a photo of the quilt.

I named the quilt "@ the circus".  I used my Handi Quilter Avante and did an edge to edge quilt design.   Below is a photo of the design.  The design is by Anne Bright.

 

Here is a link to the Scrappy Pleasures Blog post

 

I am now working on my next quilt for Scrap Squad.  It used reproduction 1930s fabric.

 

Here is a peek at the fabric.

 

Thanks for stopping by.