Monthly Archives: September 2014

King size is BIG!

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I believe I mentioned that I had made a quilt for the new Piecing book that measures 118″ x 118″. Technically that is king size, but mattresses are tall these days, and I’ve added foam toppers to them. It takes a BIG quilt to cover the edges of the mattress (and the edges of the blanket beneath it).

WowieBack

This is the quilt back. I made it bigger, of course—too big. The quilt will not hit the floor.I used 2 Kaffe Fassett fabrics that look nice in the room and with the periwinkle headboard. I think much of the time, the quilt back will be showing. That way I won’t have to worry about the grandkids and cats when they are on the bed. (The quilt top has lots of white in it.)

I thought about quilting this monster myself (for about 1 minute) and then I contacted Angela Walters who has thankfully agreed to quilt it. Yay, Angela!

 

Linda’s Quilt Auction

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Linda is moving from Grand Junction to Buckeye, AZ, in the next few months to a brand new, slightly smaller house. She needs to downsize her collection of quilts—her loss of space is your quilting gain!

This auction featured 4 different quilts, in a variety of styles. All quilts are in excellent condition. Linda has posted a starting bid for each quilt. The auction has ended, but there is likely to be another :-).

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Happy bidding!

Sneeze, squirt…

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If you are a woman who has had children, you know what I’m referring to. Even though kids are wonderful (see end of post) and it’s hard to hold a grudge, it hardly seems fair that you have to cross your legs when you sneeze!

I used to think that this happened just as we got older but Lorna, my DIL who has 3 kids, says that it can happen sooner than that. Lorna is training to be a doula and she knows things about a woman’s body that I don’t. If you don’t know what a doula is, here’s a quick definition, or click here to go to the DONA International web page.

The word “doula” comes from the ancient Greek meaning “a woman who serves” and is now used to refer to a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; or who provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.

Studies have shown that when doulas attend birth, labors are shorter with fewer complications, babies are healthier and they breastfeed more easily.

Anyway—to get back to the sneeze/squirt thing—Lorna said that I should start peeing in the shower. Specifically, that I should squat and pee in the shower. Take a deep breath and get over the ick factor, then click here and read what Heather Dessinger  @mommypotamus has to say.

Lorna said it works. That was a few weeks ago and and do believe that I agree with her, which is all I’m going to say about it :-).

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I got an email from Rebecca. After I replied I thought you all would enjoy both her email and my reply…

Hi, Becky!  I have both of your applique sampler books, have read them through several times, dog eared and highlighted, et cetera. I have also watched your videos.  You must be a wonderful teacher in person!  I’m working on my first needle turned applique block and all was going well until I got to the small leaves.  The block design is my own “Frankenstein” whig rose, combination of several different applique patterns from back issues of Quilter’s Newsletter, and I tried to include as many different shapes and sizes as I could so it would be a good learning piece.

I’m having trouble with the end where the leaf is round in a tight outer curve. I have been trying to finger press carefully along the chalk line, but I end up smearing the chalk and can’t seem to finger press a smooth enough curve exactly on the line—and my leaves are looking a little lumpy where they ought to look smooth. I have tried making my turning allowance narrower and turning only one stitch at a time.  Anyway, your other videos have been so helpful. I would love to see a tutorial on how to do a small, tight outer curve. Rebecca

I’m having trouble with the end where the leaf is round in a tight outer curve. I have been trying to finger press carefully along the chalk line, but I end up smearing the chalk and can’t seem to finger press a smooth enough curve exactly on the line—and my leaves are looking a little lumpy where they ought to look smooth. I have tried making my turning allowance narrower and turning only one stitch at a time.  Anyway, your other videos have been so helpful. I would love to see a tutorial on how to do a small, tight outer curve.

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My reply:

Hi Rebecca:

Your stitching is lovely! Truth be told, you might be too critical of your own work. That said, if it was a circle instead of a leaf, more round would be better.
I wish I could do another video on tight curves and will but it’s going to be a while. I’ve got several weeks of work to do on the next book and barely have time to look up!

However, maybe I can help you with words, if not a video.

First, slow down on those curves. What I mean is that this area is not going to turn under particularly quickly.

Where you see the little bumps at the edge, I suspect that the fabric is pleated, or folded over itself, on the underside. When I sew a curve like that, I can feel the pleat with my fabric-holding-fingers as well as see it with my eyes. It is at that point that you should park your needle and use the point of a damp toothpick to reach underneath and smooth open the pleat.

Some pleats take more fooling with than others. That’s why you need to slow down and just work with it until the edge is smooth.

If your curve flattens out, use the point of the toothpick or needle to move it back into round.

Your stitches look pretty small (close together) but this is an area where you want to be sure that there don’t appear to be gaps between your stitches.

I hope this helps, both Rebecca and others who might be having trouble with curves!

Becky

 

AP&Q One Million Pillowcase Sewathon…

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American Patchwork & Quilting is going to host their first 24-hour sewathon for the One Million Pillowcase Challenge. This is a cause that has touched more than 560,000 people across the United States!

Click here to see if there is a quilt shop near you where you can go join the fun! If there is not an event near you, you can still help by sewing a pillowcase for a local charity and by posting about the sewathon on your own social media (#APQSewathon).

You can follow along on Facebook during the 24-hour event on September 19-20 to see stories, pictures of events, and to add to the count of the pillowcases donated.

Complements in the clouds…

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Blue and orange are complementary colors—opposite each other on a color wheel with 12 wedges. Complementary colors combine well (to put it mildly). Lately I’ve been noticing some especially nice orange clouds floating against blue sky, both at sunrise and sunset.

OrangeClouds-BlueSky_03

Colorful skies are not news to many of you—but I don’t live where I see the horizon often. There’s always something in the way… but every now and then we get a spectacularly showy sky!