New Projects

I got a little caught up with some things that were needing to get done so I had the pleasure of starting some new projects.  Doing one project at a time doesn't seem to be the way I roll so of course I had five different things going at the same time today.  

4 of the 5 projects I worked on today

I started the quilt using the ruler I picked up at In Between Stitches during our vacation in CA.  It is the block on the far right.  I am also making a pineapple quilt which is at the top.  I was chaining both of them and just plain got tired of watching the fabric go under the foot so I took a break and read my latest copy of  "The Quilt Life" and then cut out a purse for my niece Melody.  Had enough fabric left over to make a matching pillow case.  That was enough procrastinating so back to chaining and managed to get a big chunk of both quilts pieced.

Tomorrow is a work day at the Ann Arbor Sewing Center.  I am looking forward to that and after work dinner with some friends from the University.

I pray all of you are having a wonderful holiday weekend with family and friends.

Blessings,
Dee

Speeding and/or Speed Sewing

There is a bill being put before the state to increase the speed limit to 80 mph.  It is also known that freeways deaths are most often caused by speed.  The very interesting thing about this is the group of people who are wanting this law passed.  The group would be the highway patrol because this would lower the number of speeding tickets they would have to issue.  I will let you come to your own conclusion on that one.

A question was asked in one of my classes recently about speed quilting and a discussion ensued about what speed quilting was.  Some thought that it was piecing without pins and going as fast as you could to get done, others had no idea and then there were the experienced piecers who knew what speed sewing was all about.  There is that type of sewing where you just want to get things done and you do not take the care needed to cut, pin and press appropriately.  Most of the time that kind of sewing doesn't get us the results we hope for.

For me. I read the pattern completely through so that I understand how to put it together and then assess if there are some ways I can take some shortcuts to make the task go quicker.  Can I chain piece any sections of the blocks?  Will it help me to cut everything first?  Should I make a sample block first to know how the block goes together?  Once I've made those decisions I can get down to work and chain piece saving myself time and thread.  So, I'm not really speeding but I am moving the process along quicker and more efficiently or what some would call speed sewing.

I've been teaching quite a bit lately and working in the community gardens so the sewing has taken a back seat this week.  I am working on a pineapple quilt and am over 2/3 done with it.  (See the picture above of my chain piecing?.  Tomorrow I will start another store sample.    I'll post some pictures soon.

"In this crazy quilt of life

I'm glad each of you are in my block of friends."

Dee

Growing and Sewing

My melons are growing, albeit slowly.  It has been a cool summer and a late planting on my part kept them from ripening when they should have.  I still believe I will have some amazingly sweet and wonderful melons soon.  We have been enjoying the tomatoes that have ripened as well.  To me there is nothing quite like a warm ripe tomato right off the vine.

No sewing has happened yet today.  It has been a computer day.  I am not especially fond of these kind of days but they are necessary.  It does feel good to have the supply lists for upcoming classes done and sent, orders for patterns filled and shipped, emails sent, questions answered, etc. completed.  

I have wanted to undertake another scrappy block quilt and decided I would invite you along on this journey with me.  Starting in September I will post blocks and a picture tutorial on putting them together for each month until we complete enough for a quilt.  I am looking forward to using up some of my stash and scraps for this.  My scrap baskets that I had organized so neatly have now become scrap overflowing baskets and organization has gone out the window.  I hate when I let that happen.

I hope you choose to come "grow and sew" with me in September.

Loving the smell of falling rain,

Dee

Making this for dinner and thought you might like the recipe.  Posting this one for my knitting friends and our conversations about poke cakes.  :)

BANANA PUDDING POKE CAKE!!!

A new way to make it! 

Ingredients

1 box yellow cake mix (& ingredients to make cake)
2 box (small) instant banana pudding
4 c milk
8 oz whipped topping
20 vanilla wafers, crushed
sliced bananas - use your own judgment

Directions

1 Follow the direction on the cake mix box to prepare the actual cake. Prepare it in a 9 x 13" pan. When golden, remove from over and let cool for a few minutes.
2 When just slightly cooled, use the end of a wooden spoon (the handle end) to poke holes into the baked cake. Don't be shy; make the holes big enough for the pudding to seep into and go deep enough with the spoon that you hit the bottom of the pan.
3 Next, prepare your pudding mixture. Combine your 4 cups of milk and the instant pudding mix; whisk until fully combined and there are no lumps.
4 Now it's time to fill those holes! Pour the pudding mixture over the entire cake, taking care to get it into all your holes. Use the spoon to help really get it into the cake and spread evenly.
5 Refrigerate for about two hours... or until set. Top with whipped topping, crushed vanilla wafers and sliced banana! Serve and enjoy. (Refrigerate any leftovers.)
(From Betty Crocker and Just a pinch)

Quilt Gazing!

Saturday my neighbor and another friend and I went to the AQS quilt show in Grand Rapids.  It was a beautiful ride through countryside I have not been through before.  The best part was being with people who make me laugh and who themselves enjoy life with laughter, smiles and positive attitudes about everything.  I didn't know quilting could be so funny.  The show was good.  It is always amazing to see the talent that is out there and what women can do with needle and thread.  The Tentmakers of Cairo display was especially inspiring.

Sunday we helped our church pack 10,000 meals for hungry children.  Fun and rewarding!!!!

Today Steve and I celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary.  It has been an incredible journey.  Still crazy in love after all these years.  Just wish the years would stop flying by so fast.

My "to do" list is getting done.  Of course after the quilt show on Saturday I added to it with some new projects.  I'll start quilting on the quilt this afternoon as soon as I finish the Christmas stockings for the kids class.  We'll see how it goes!

May your day be filled with people and things you love.

Dee

Get it Done!!

I am on a mission to get my "to do" list "to done"!  I have also gotten the itch to try and improve my machine quilting again.  With that in mind, I finished my so called "modern" sampler so that I could practice my machine quilting. (see picture)  Would that be called transferring a "to done" back to a
"to do"?

It's hard to believe that I am getting fall projects completed for upcoming classes.  I feel like summer should just be starting and not ending.  School is back in session around here and the melon festivals are coming up.  

Yesterday I turned on the Christmas music and finished the Christmas quilt and quilted garland for the Ann Arbor Sewing Center store sample.  Glad that one is off my plate.  I am so not ready to think about Christmas.  Then I got distracted thinking about my son's upcoming wedding.  (No date is set yet)  What kind of quilt should I make them?  What fabrics and colors should I use?  The answer:  I don't know.

May you find joy and satisfaction in your "projects" today.

Dee

Trip Around Tutorial

As promised here is the tutorial for the scrappy Trip Around the World.  A great way to use up scraps and diminish that stash.  I chose all fabrics that had that soft romantic feel to it in primarily greens, pinks, reds and blues.  I am calling it my romance and roses quilts.

Choose six fabrics and cut into 2 1/2 x 16 inch strips.  Lay them out in any order you wish to sew them  together
I chose to use all dark green fabrics on the outside to distinguish the pattern when you put the quilt together and I
also used a light fabric on the other side while randomly putting the others between.  Sew the strips together in the order you want them.

Here are the six strips sewn together and turned around so that you can see how  to press them.  Press every other seam going in the opposite direction so that your seams will butt up against each other when you sew them back together.

Fold your sewn strips right sides together and sew the dark and light strip lengthwise to form a tube.

Once you have sewn the tube lay it flat and square up the left side and then cut six 2 1/2 inch strips  from that.  They will still be in a tube.

Now you will unsew each 2 1/2 inch tube to get six strips again with your dark square starting at  the left side and going up to the right.  See picture below.  Start with your dark fabric to the top and unsew.  The next one you will unsew will be the one that was on top of the first row that will now go to the bottom of the second row so make sure it is to the top of your tube before you unsew.   Hope that is clear.

These are your six tubes unsewn and laid out ready to sew back together.  Once they are sewn your now have a block.  Keep making these blocks until you have the size of quilt you desire.

Here are eight of my blocks put together to form the trip around the world.  I think I will go with  6 blocks across and 8 down.  Who knows, it may grow bigger than that.  I have been having fun putting them together.  As you can see the dark green always on the left side of the strips gives a very distinct pattern for the trip around.  You can see it without doing that but I think this just adds a lot.  You could also choose one fabric to use in all of your blocks to get a great look as well.  For example, using black with all brights would be stunning.

Have fun busting your stash.  Please send pictures of your quilt when it is done.  We would all love to see them.

Dee

Where did the week go?

What a busy week this has been.  The kids did a beautiful job on their camp quilts.  Below you will see a couple examples.  They finished them completely with the quilting and binding done.  

I finished with the kids and started a beginning adult class.  Yes, there is contrast with the two age groups.  Kids jump in with little or no fear and adults are more cautious and afraid of mistakes.  When do we start to let those fears creep in to our lives?  I try to remind my students to relax, remember to breathe and enjoy the process of learning.  Quilting has been a time of relaxation and renewal from the stresses of life for me and I'd like my students to experience that same calming effect in their lives.

Spending time catching up with an old friend was so delightful this week.  Amazed at the places and journeys life has taken her.  Learned a lot about parts of Africa and its people and saw some amazing fabric from there as well.   The car had to go in for some repairs - ugh!  I was able to complete a couple of quilt tops and two nights of open sewing with co-workers and friends topped off my week.

Tomorrow I will put up the scrappy trip around the world tutorial that I shared on my retreat last month so watch for that.

Enjoy these waning days of summer and find times to celebrate each day with family and friends.

Dee

Kid's Quilting!

Today started the week of kid's camp at a local quilt shop.  I am very excited about the week.  The girls are lovely and have such delightful personalities.  As always, the instructor needs to lay down a good foundation to get started.

Nine years of age is the youngest I like to work with and even then their attention span doesn't last a long time.  If you have a child in your life you want to get started on this journey called quilting here are a few tips to remember as you get started.

1.  Kids are capable of a lot more than we as adults think they are.
2.  Do your best to let the child do their own work even if it has mistakes.  That is the only way they really learn the techniques and they take such pride in their accomplishments.
3.  As you get started - thoroughly acquaint them with all the tools and how they are used.  Pay special attention to using the rotary cutter safely.  I like to have them wear "klutz gloves" when they are cutting.
4.  Use the proper words for the techniques and tools.  If you need to explain what the words mean it only helps them learn and grow in this sport.
5.  Practice cutting and piecing on scraps before you work with the good fabric.
6.  Have fun and be an encourager.  The quilt may not be perfect when complete but it will be theirs.

I'll share some pictures at the end of the week.

I am finishing up the T-shirt quilt finally.  It is a long way around that quilt to bind it.

My big news this week is that my son, Brett, proposed to his girlfriend and she said "yes".  We are very excited about this upcoming wedding and can't wait for the plans for it to get underway.  The bride to be is an event planner and has great style so it should be an absolutely gorgeous wedding.

May every day give you something to celebrate!

Blessings,
Dee

I'm Back!

Vacation was a wonderful time.  After spending time in Sacramento we headed to Bakersfield to the wedding  of a very good friends son.  What an exquisite day it was.  From there we headed back to the Bay Area and was busy teaching a class at "In Between Stitches" Quilt store in Livermore, CA and taking care of last minute preparations for my annual quilt retreat in San Juan Bautista.  This year, inspired by Yvonne Porcella's self portrait quilts, a good portion of the group created their own self portraits.  They turned out fabulous!!!!  They will take them home to finish with borders and quilting but look and see if you don't agree they are all special, whimsical and so much fun to create.

I truly love these women and the friendship I share with them.  I am blessed.

May each day be filled with moments of joy, laughter and love,

Dee