Cool Links to Follow

I added a new link to Cool Links to Follow. Sister Barb and I both are crazy about the website Craftsy.com. We both have taken classes on line. THe neat think about that is once you pay for a class, you always have access to it. I recently purchased "Machine Quilting" with Wendy Butler Burns. She makes machine quilting seem so much easier and has given priceless advice on how to assemble your quilt top with backing and batting. In the past I have always used spray adhesive but this time I'm going to do it her way and see which one I like best. I never did the stitch in the ditch because I just could not stay in the ditch. I practiced with the invisible thread like she suggested and even bought a stitch in the ditch foot for my machine. Now my stitch in the ditch looks great. She uses the stitch in the ditch to stabilize the quilt, then you remove the pins and do your special quilting. You take your quilt and divide it into 4 sections that you stitch in the ditch, the work on one section at a time for you quilting designs. There are so many thinks of interest on this sight, I just needed to share it with you. If you know of a cool link to add, please let me know so I can add it to our blog. Please feel free to sign into our blogspot and add your own post, pictures or cool link to follow. As always, happy quilting!

Birth of a Quilting Project

I recently was thinking about how I approach a quilting project. Some people look through their stash and create a design in their mind with the fabric they have before them. Others see a pattern they like and choose their fabric according to the ones used in the pattern. I think my sister and fellow quilting cousin Susan is the most creative person I know as far as having the ability to quickly match fabrics together and being able to envision what they will look like combined. She reminds me of a woman I took my first quilting class from. She was an artistic person and when we went out into the store to pick our fabrics for our quilts we were going to make, she kept saying, "Let the fabrics speak to you." I listened as hard as I could but they didn't make a sound. I really envy Susan's ability to look at a piece of fabric and envision it in a project. Picking the right fabrics for me is agonizing. My projects always start with a pattern or an idea. Then I choose a color scheme. It usually takes me forever to find that first main piece, the piece I will build my project around. At this time I have 3 projects I want to get started on. I'm trying to find those magic fabric pieces to get started. I really get frustrated when I first start out so if any of you have any tips for me, please send them to me. In the meantime I have posted some projects I recently completed. One are placemats I made for my daughter Allison as a housewarming gift. The other is Joanie's quilt and then I made my granddaughter Madison and her American girl doll matching raincoats and hats. The fabric I used for the raincoats is vinyl coated and sold and Walmart and the fabric stores. It's cheaper at Walmart. It's sold as for making baby bibs and diaper changing pads. It is great for raincoats for kids. It's easy to sew with and comes in a wide width so you don't need as much fabric. I used a cotton print for a contrast on the cuffs and brim of the hat. I hope you will all share your ideas with us on how you get started with your projects and maybe offer some hints for those of us who need help. Don't forget to click on our quilt icon to see my new projects.

Happy St Patrick's Day

March is always such a busy month for me. Lots of birthdays in March in my family and spring break. We take the grandkids camping every spring break. My sister Susan always has an annual St Patrick's Day Gathering at her place. I hate to miss it. Everyone always has such fun and she makes the best corned beef and cabbage. Don and I just got back from spring break camping. The weather is usually warm but this time it was chilly down here. Now that we are back, the weather is beautiful. My sister Joanie and her husband will be down next week for a visit. I just finished her quilt. It's my goal to make a quilt for each of my siblings( only 7 more to go). This time I practiced machine quilting other than straight lines. I am taking a great class on Craftsy.com on machine quilting. It really is more difficult that I thought it would be. I did my usual 1/4 in inside the block and then did a border of hearts on the outside border with some hearts inside the quilt. I'm not 100% happy with it but then I'm such a perfectionist I know I will always find fault somewhere in my quilting. I will put a picture of it on our blog as soon as I can find where I put my camera. I joined a quilting group this past month. The group is called "Quilts of Valor" and they have chapters all over the U.S. We meet twice a month for 4 hours and everyone is busy doing something whether its putting blocks together, cutting, sewing strips, etc. All the quilts get sent to VA hospitals here and abroad and to Afganistan. We actually have a married couple in our group. I tried to get hubby to go but sewing isnt' his thing. It did give me an idea of making him a military quilt with his military info on it. He is a Viet Nam vet. Sister Susan and Mimi, her granddaughter went to a quilting museum in Kentucky this past week. She said it was a wonderful trip and her mind was blown from all the ideas she got and quilts she saw. I'm hoping one of them will write us a blog on their visit. Susan and I have been talking about having a gathering of family members for a quilting bee sometimes maybe this summer. I am hoping all the quilting cousins will come. It should be alot of fun. She and Dick live out near Sullivan Mo and their farm is so relaxing and peaceful. We will keep you all posted on a date. In the meantime, keep sewing cousins and share with us your works of art.

Never too late to teach an old dog new tricks

When I started quilting I thought since I had been sewing since about 12 or 13, that I knew all there was to know and quilting would be a cinch. Little did I realize that sewing clothes and such was a whole different story from quilt making. Believe it or not one of the most difficult things for me to learn was rotary cutting. The fabric kept shifting and I couldn't get the fabric to cut just right or lined up just right. I recently figured out that one thing I was doing wrong was I would line the fabric on the side without looking to see if I had lined it up also on the bottom so my fabric would be off the line on the bottom but straight on the side, still making it uneven. I was looking on line today for a book about borders. I always seem to do the same old boring borders, and found there is a place called about.com and when you go there, you can pick your subject, like I picked arts and crafts and then quilting and found a video on rotary cutting. I actually learned something about cutting that will help me. They also have othere topics on quilting. I love the on line videos. Also try Pinterest which I have heard is really interesting. It is a web site that is like a giant board of topics. Pick the topic you want and within that topic are thousands of ideas for you craft. .I am attempting to add a link to that video. If I dont suceed, I figure it out later. As always, keep quilting ladies and don't forget to send in pictures of your projects.

Back in the Groove

I've been out of the groove to sew for awhile with surgery and the holidays but now with Christmas packed up and put away, the house all clean and tidy, I'm in the mood again. I'm working on a quilt for one of my sisters. I am determined to create a quilt for each of my siblings. So far I have done 2 and am almost finished with the 3rd, and already know what the 4th one will be. That makes 5 more to go! I recently stumbled across a quaint quilting shop close to where I live. They have an open house tomorrow and offer a large assortment of classes to take. I am signing up for the hand quilting class. I really have a fasination with hand quilting for some reason. I have arthritis in my hands so I don't know how long I will be able to do hand quilting but want to give it my best shot. If you have shopped for fabric lately, you will have noticed how expensive the quilt fabric has become. Some of the less expensive fabric at JoAnn's and Hancock's is not as nice as the fabrics in the quilt shops. I have decided though, since quilting takes so much work and time, you don't want to use inferior material. I also have used just a sheet for a backing on my quilts but have decided not to do that. When Susan and I were making a quilt for our sister Barbara's 70 th birthday, she made the back out of the leftover fabric we used on the front. With the quilt I"m making now, I'm going to do the same thing. I'm thinking of sewing strips of the fabrics I used on the front to make a backing. Barbara, who was the first in our family to start quilting once told me that when you make a quilt, you want the back side to look nice and compliment the front of the quilt and she is so right. If you live in MIssouri, Susan and Barb can direct you to a fantastic quilt shop in Caladonia. Yes it's way out there in the boon docks but her fabric is high quality and low priced. Well worth the trip out there. Until next time ladies, happy quilting! Debbie

Pieces of the Past

In my last blog I talked about this quilt top created by my maternal grandmother, Dora Winkler Schott, and possibly my Aunt Dorothy Schott. What amazes me the most about this top is how all the pieces line up perfectly and the tiny hand stitches that hold them together. I use a rotary cutter and have difficulty getting each piece exactly the size of the one before it. Not to mention I have a fancy sewing machine to join them together and a 1/4 inch foot attachment to make sure my seams are exactly the same width. Not to mention the hours spent trying to choose the perfect fabrics and paying a pretty penny for them also. Grandma's pieces were made up of old clothing no longer wearable, probably tableclothes, etc., cut with a pair of scissors and sewed together with an array of threads which I think are embroidery threads because of the thickness and the different colors used. I can picture in my mind her living room and the exact spot where the old radio sat. I can see her sitting with papa and Aunt Dorothy by the radio in her rocker, sewing her quilt together. I can't think of any antique past down to me that belonged to her that would mean as much as this quilt top does. Quilting has definitely come a long way since Grandma's day but remains a labor of love to all of us quilters.