It's a Sew Day!!!

The schools are closing, the snow is falling, and my students cancelled. That sounds like the perfect sew day for me.

I also decided it was the perfect day for a pot of vegetable soup in the Crock Pot.

Since the doctors suggest I eliminate meat and dairy from my diet I eat a lot of vegetables, so not only is this perfect for my diet but one of dear hubby's favorites so I will provide you with the recipe today.

Vegetable Soup

2 cups frozen carrots

1 cup frozen corn

1 can green beans, undrained

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cups diced potatoes, I just scrub mine well and leave the peeling on

2 cups finely shredded cabbage
2 cups water

1 can diced tomatoes

1 8oz. can tomato sauce

1 tsp. seasoned salt

Just put in a large crock pot on high for about 6 hours and you're ready to enjoy.

Now it is mandatory that you go sew for those 6 hours, because you must work up an appetite for your soup.

For me, I have a list:

1. Work on the Pineapple blocks for the guild quilt, more about that tomorrow

2. Audition some background fabric for my cancer quilt

3. Start the 16 heart blocks for Angelyn's quilt.

Hope you are able to get some sewing in today,,,,if not, just enjoy the journey!

Triangle Tango: A Free Pattern

Since I had given tutorials on Half Square Triangle and Square in a Square I thought it would be fun to put them together into a quick table topper/wall quilt for you to try out the tutorials.
First we will construct the center.

Cut 8 color A squares and 8 Color B squares and following the tutorial for Perfect Half Square Triangles, make 16 HST's.

After trimming, your HST's should measure a perfect 3 1/2". 

Arrange the HST's as pictured above.

Now sew them into rows.

And  then sew two rows together, then the other two rows and join the center seam.  Press well.  I made sure I pressed each row alternately so my seams would be nestled together nicely.

Set this aside and make the Square in a Square units.

You will need 16  4 1/2" squares and 64  2 1/2" squares.  Follow the tutorial for making Square in a Square blocks.

Sew two rows of 3 Square in a Square units and 2 rows of 5 Square in a Square units.  I chose to press the seams open to reduce bulk on these units since I would not be nestling seams.

Sew the 3 block rows to the top and bottom and the 5 block rows to the sides.  I am not a pinner and if the individual blocks are square they should sew together without cutting off points, but if you are unsure, pin where the half square triangle are and have your Square in a Square on top.  If you sew about one or two threads to the right of the top of the Square in a Square blocks, the points should come out perfect.

The piece measures 20 1/2" and will finish 20"  feel free to add more borders if you wish.  For me this will serve a dual role as a table topper and hot mat .  My ever practical hubby made a comment as we were getting ready to serve Christmas dinner that we only had small hot pads and we needed one large one instead of three small once to cover the table to hold a hot casserole or the liner pan from the roaster.  So this piece will have Insul Bright and Warm and Natural for batting and will be a table topper until it is pressed into service as a jumbo hot pad.

If you make the pattern leave me a comment and tell me how you got along.  Hope you enjoy the pattern.  Have a great day!

Weekend Sew Time

I generally don't get a lot of quality sew time during the week, but knew this weekend might allow me to finish the first 32 blocks of the Log Cabin Heart quilt for Angelyn and her husband for their 33rd wedding anniversary.  The next set of blocks will be Log Cabin Hearts and there are only 16 of them so with a few more hours of sew time I should have all my blocks for the top.

I really like the small squares going diagonally across the block.  Since I chain sewed these blocks, I had all 32 before I knew what they looked like.  For sewing the blue logs I just chained each of my blocks one after the other on one of my strips of fabric and then cut them apart and squared them up.  For the white log that was not possible.  Each white strip had to be cut to the correct size and a dark blue square sewn to the end of it and then each of them was sewn to the block.
The more I look at these squares, the more anxious I get to experiment with a scrap quilt using this block pattern.   Ohhh so many quilts, so little time.  Have a great day.

Preparing Paper Piecing Patterns

I am on the committee for our Opportunity Quilt this year and the chosen pattern is a Pineapple to be paper pieced by the committee.  We met and talked about the usual things, size, colors, borders, etc.  A trip was made to our local quilt shop to purchase fabric and a sew date at my home was scheduled for next week.  The fabric was left with me and I volunteered to print the foundation paper.

I had previously searched Quilter's Cache for a pattern and had printed it off using regular paper on my little inexpensive printer I use with my Electric Quilt.  I measured the test square and it was perfect.  So this morning my wonderful hubby volunteered to run the copies onto the foundation paper for me on his printer.  I was every so appreciative of his offer and asked him to let me measure one before printing the remainder.  The printing took an unusually long time and that in its self raised a red flag for me and sure enough upon measuring the pattern was off.  Not only the test square but the pattern itself was off considerably.  We discussed using my little printer but hubby wanted to try another larger  printer.  Hubby likes things like that so we are a two person household with three working printers and I was so happy that was the case because the larger printer printed quickly and 100% accurately.
So my point in all this to measure, measure, measure when preparing your foundations for paper piecing.  I know this has been said a lot but can't be stressed enough, same brand of printers but different models do not print the same.
Enjoy your weekend and I hope you get to set aside a little time for quilting.

Square In A Square Tutorial

Last week one of my students asked "how do I  know the formula to make different blocks in the size I want without a pattern"?  Every once in a while, a new student comes along that likes "to do her own thing" along with learning from printed pattern, this is that kind of student.  She drew for me a half square triangle, a square in a square and flying geese.  I went over the drafting of each of these three blocks and thought I would go over a square in a square in this tutorial.

As an example we will work with a 4" FINISHED block.  For each block you will need 1- 4 1/2"
square, this is the same size as your desired block before it is finished and 4- 2 1/2"  squares.  These squares are half the size of the block before finishing.
(Another example if you wanted a 6 " finished block you would need 1- 6 1/2" square and 4- 3 1/2" squares.)  You always divide the finished block size in half and add seam allowance to get your smaller square dimension.

Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of each of the 2 1/2" squares.

Lay two squares with the diagonal lines going in the same direction on your large square.

Sew on the two drawn lines.

Press the triangles open to make sure everything is square.

Lay the triangle back down and trim to a 1/4".

Place the other two drawn squares on your block making sure the diagonal line is in the proper position on each square, and sew on diagonal line.  After sewing press and trim.

The Square in a Square now measures 4 1/2" and will finish 4".

Have a fun day and enjoy the journey!

It's Visit Your Local Quilt Shop Day

I have always been an advocate of shopping at your Local Quilt Shop.  Not only are they a wealth of inspiration, but are close at hand when you are of need of fabric or supplies.
If you are in the Kansas City, Missouri area, it would be worth your drive to the beautiful small town of Excelsior Springs, where the Wooden Spool is located.  The shop is nestled in the heart of down town among other quaint shops.The owner Jamie always greets you with a smile and is willing to help you in any way she can.  She carries the latest fabrics, a nice variety of threads, patterns, books and notions.
True inspiration comes from the ever changing samples that adorn her walls.  Beautiful projects of all sizes.  Generally a kit is provided, but you will always find the book or pattern and fabric variety to choose your own unique style.
She keeps her customers busy with, Block of the Month's, Mystery Quilts, classes and clubs.
Don't forget to visit your Local Quilt Shop and tell them how much you appreciate them.

Giving Your Quilts a Little TLC

We all love making quilts and take care in their construction, choosing the best color combination, precision piecing or applique, appropriate quilting designs  and so on.  One area where I admit I fall short is refolding of my quilts in a timely manner.
About a week ago I was pulling a few quilts to change out for Valentine decorating season and came upon a piece that I had forgotten about, I recognized the backing and realized it was a Valentine piece and also remembered I had not displayed it last year.....so how long had it been lying on the bottom on the quilt storage shelf?  I'm guessing about 2 years.  Oh my, that is not good.

And my concerns were realized when I opened the quilt.  Deep creases did not shake out,  You can tell just how it was folded.  This photo was taken this morning and the creases remain almost as prominent as when it was hung about a week ago.
Leaving the piece folded on the same crease line for a period of time, can break down the fibers and as the years pass the fabric will deteriorate and become frayed in that area.  When I take it down for storing I will fold it in thirds and make sure it is not on the bottom of the stack.
A few other tips for preservation of your quilts is to never lay them directly on a wooden shelf, each quilt should have its own protective bag or pillowcase to keep it free of dust and chemicals that the quilt may come in contact with.  Any substance that has been applied to protect the shelf could be harmful to your quilts.  Many think a cedar chest is a safe place for their quilts, but cedar chests are designed for woolens and can cause brown spots to form on our cotton quilts.  And please don't store your quilts in a plastic bag.  Cotton being a natural fiber needs to breathe and that is not possible if it is encased in plastic and also I personally know a lady who had placed her quilt in a large black trash bag to take to the quilt show and had set the bag by the door and went to retrieve other items, upon returning she had found that her husband thinking it was trash and thinking he was being very efficient put the bag on the curb.  They ran to the curb but the disposal people had already  collected the bag and all of her hard work was gone.  If you must put your quilt in a plastic bag make sure it is clear.
Think I will go check on my other quilts to see if they need a little TLC.  Have a great day.