DJ SS GIFT

My DJSS  March gift arrived yesterday.  Love all 3 FQs!   I've been working in the black/white/red palette.   The thread will come in handy as it's a Mettler 50 in a neutral (perfect for piecing), and the needles are self-threading.  What a nice pal I have this year.

FLIMSY FRIDAY

Here's my friend, Carol, working the frog stitch (rip-it, rip-it) on my Blue and Whtie quilt.  What a friend!  This was taken last Friday on my lanai.  I've decided to use solid blue where I had the stripe.  The stripe will likely become binding.

No working on flimsies for me today.  Our DGD, age 9, is here.  She is high energy!  We walked, did our fitness trail, and currently she's shooting hoops with Grandpa.  Whew!  After lunch, we head to the pool.  She is hard to keep up with!  Ali's on a swim team and practices 90 minutes, five days a week.  Her muscle strength and endurance sure show!  I know what I'll be doing this evening -- collapsing!

QUARTER-SQUARE-TRIANGLE QUILT

This brightly colored quilt is going to our Tuesday Princess (she spends Tuesdays with us), DGD for her 4th birthday.

Here's the other side.

It's reversible.  MJ showed us this easy last month at Stashbusters.  The quilt is made from two 42" squares of a symetrical stripe fabric (one that has a line of symetry -- you can fold the fabric on that line and all the stripes will line up on themself).  You put them RST and stitch on the diagonal to make two half-square-triangles.  Then you put those RST to make two quarter-square-triangles.  You do need to be careful to line up the stripes at all times.

I used a coordinating circle print for the thingies on the edge (sort of like prarie points, but not).  I lined them with fusible fleese, folded the circles in half and stitched. 

They were inserted before stitching around all edges with the batting too, and turning it right-side-out.  Some call it birthing or pillowcase method.  The quilting was done last. 

Now to figure out how to label it.  There is no wrong side to put that on.  Still thinking on that one.  Maybe I will quilt it in, or embroider it on.  Hmm...........

DH asked if we are giving her sun glasses too!  Geesh!

CLEANING YOUR CUTTING MAT

Who knew?  I sure didn't.  The subject came up at Stashbusters yesterday.  Piqued my interest so I googled and found this information:

Cleaning – To prolong the life of any cutting mat, keep it clean. We recommend using your favorite all-purpose household spray cleaner or warm water and mild detergent. Avoid abrasive cleansers and solvents that can damage the mat or remove the printed markings. Use a lint roller or a napped lint brush to remove surface lint and fabric crumbs. A nylon net scrubber can be used to loosen any stubborn dirt or debris on your cutting mat. Microfiber cleaning cloths/towels can also be used to remove tiny fibers from knife cuts on your cutting mats.
at http://www.cutting-mats.net/

Hmmm...............Having just finished cutting quilt batting on my mat, it was a mess.  And since I just bought this nifty new rotary cutter, I decided to clean it up using a nylon scrubber!

My new cutter works for both right and left hands (very handy), and has an easy change blade feature (always a dicey event - pun intended).

You only open the part you use -- like so for right handers:

And like this for lefties:

Or if you are like me and use either hand to cut (depending on the need, without moving the fabric), you can open both and just flip it over when changing hands.  This cutter is made by Olfa, and has a nice weight/feel.  There's nothing like a new toy to play with!

WELCOME SPRING!

This 'Welcome Spring' tree was spotted in Traverse City, Michigan.  Clearly this yarn artist has a great sense of humor!

SIGGIES ARRIVE

Three siggies have arrived recently.  One is from Donna from IL.  The other two are from Europe.  One from Germany and one from The Netherlands.  Both of those came with letters I can't read, but it's fun to try to make out some of the words.  Siggy is siggy in every language, so it's all good!

If you'd like to trade with me just email me.  This is my current siggy.  I'm using my stamp with both of my states and owl fabric right now.  There's a tutorial page at the top of my blog for making them.

NATIONAL QUILTING DAY GIFT

Marianne, my sweet secret sister for this swap, sent me some super things for our National Quilting Day Swap.  For the 'made item' she made me selvage coasters.  Too cute!  She also partially made the zipper pin.  Love it!  She included two FQs, a rotary blade, fork pins, thread, and a note on a cool Frank Lloyd Wright post card.  What a fun way to celebrate the day.

SNAP BAG

Yesterday I made my first 'snap bag', you know, those bags where you use a metal tape measure for the snap together top.  I used selvages for the outer fabric and a selvege strip folded and sewn for the pulls (where you often see prairie points).  This bag is about 5" x 9", perfect for sewing notions, I think.  You can make them any size, even as cases for I-pads.  I have fabric and liners cut for a few more.  It's quick, easy, and creative.

I didn't have a pattern, but you can find tutorials on line, or buy a pattern.  There're many ways of doing this.  You need an outer fabric, interfacing or fleece for the middle layer, and lining fabric which turns to the front to make a casing for the tape measure.  I have seen them quilted or not.  When using selveges stitching them down becomes the quilting.  I have several gifts to give this spring, where I can see this working.

HAPPY NATIONAL QUILT DAY and ST. PATRICK'S DAY

This picture sums up the double day nicely!

Whether you're taking time to stitch, or having a green beer, enjoy!

The photo is of a celtic knot table topper I received from a swap on the Quilted Table group two years ago.

2012 ROW SWAP

My little swap group is again doing a row swap this year.  Remember?  Last year I made the Dino Quilt from this swap.  This time I'm aiming for a tropical beach themed wall hanging for my guest room.  My starter row of beach cabanas and palm trees is displayed on the bedspread in that room.  The walls are aqua and light green.  I think this will make a nice Florida retreat for our guests.

You won't be seeing this one again for a while.  It's all hush-hush secret until the owner gets all the rows back which is scheduled for December (although last year the rows flew around way ahead of schedule).  This year's themes include Northwoods, Owls, Patriotic, and my Tropical Beach so far.  There's three others too, who haven't shared yet what their theme will be.  Fun!  Makes you think out of your box for sure, working on someone else's theme and palette!

FLIMSY FRIDAY AND A FOUND QUILT

It's Flimsy Friday and I'm working on the same quilt top (flimsy) as last week.  I decided to switch the stripe sashing to a solid Kona navy.  So today I have a long date with Mr. Seam Ripper.  Joy.

On another note, here's a link to a found quilt.  Yes a found quilt, not a lost or stolen one.  This one was found in a field weeks after a tornado.  The label says it was mde by "Grammie". Maybe if we all post about it, someone will recognize this beauty from 1999, and help reunite it with its owner.

CARD MAKING

This month we made a birthday card, with a cupcake, and a cute Easter bunny card too.  Very fun!

BLOG GIVE AWAY CONTEST!

My friend, Carol, is having a give-away on her blog, honoring her newest dear grand baby.  Carol's daughter, Tracey, is having her ultra sound and hoping to learn the sex soon.

Vote pink if you think it's a girl.

Blue, if you think the baby will be a boy.

Or green, if you think they won't be able to find out.

Carol will draw a winner from those leaving a comment with the correct choice.

Visit her blog, Snippets of Carol, here.

BUTTON NECKLACE

I made this button necklace at my first ever jewelry making class last Saturday.  We brought our own buttons and the rest was provided.  It was a bit fiddly to make, but fun too.  I don't think I'll get heavy into jewelry making, but I do have plenty of buttons, and might try another one or two.

While not a high-end fashion statement, with the right outfit at the right event, I think it would be cute.

WONKY HOUSES ARRIVE

My mailbox rocked with wonky house blocks yesterday!  Aren't they super?  Theses swappers know how to wonk!  The swap group is currently harvesting wonky trees, so these blocks will indeed be a BOB (bag of blocks) for a while.  Thanks to all our participants and our hostess with the mostess!

FLIMSY FRIDAY - AKA FINISH IT UP FRIDAY

Today I'm working on this flimsy.  It still needs the bottom row.  I'm working on that now.

Then the question will be to end it there, using the stripe fabric for binding, or add an outer border, somewhat like piano keys, but from the same stripe fabric.  Opinions?

Edit by Pat:

Hmmm...........I'm starting to think those stripes are fighting with the blocks.  How about a really dark navy there instead?  And would you then use the stripes for binding?  Or maybe a navy 'stop border' (narrow around the whole thing) and then the stripe border?  Decisions, decisions................

FUSSY CUTS

Raewyn, over at Love To Stitch blog is collecting 1.75" squares for the windows of her Little Houses From Scraps everyone's making this year.  I was able to find 12 for her, without doing much digging.  What a good idea to swap them to get greater variety!

The dino heads are a tad close to the top, so I did cut her an extra strip of them, in case these end up being headless dinos after seam allowance.

SWAPPING OUT BLOCKS

It's very fun to swap quilt blocks when you are the hostess.  But it can be a challenge too.  First you have to find enough flat spaces to lay them all out.

I started with my cutting table for the Blue and White D4Ps.  I try to keep one person's blocks in a row or two.  That makes it easier to be sure she doesn't get her own back, and also that each receives from a good variety of the swappers.  These are stacks made from the same fabric.  There's anywhere from 1 to 5 blocks in a stack.

Next I covered my dining table.



And then I put the rest on my large desk.

You also have to have a spot for each gal's envelope to stack her blocks on once you've gathered them.  I didn't get pictures of those, but the were mainly on chairs, some on my desk, and some on the floor (dangerous because my two little dogs love helping!).

There were 14 swappers in this swap.  Each made up to 40 blocks, not more than 5 alike.  In all I received 395 blocks to switch out.  Amazingly I don't think anyone used the same fabrics! 

Only a couple trying moments in this swap, like when I knew one gal sent me stamps and I couldn't find them (they were still in her sending envelope, heading to recycling!), and when I counted and counted and counted again my envelopes to send out.  I was short one and I just couldn't find it nor a stray stack of blocks!  All was well when I realized I'm sending to two gals (mon and daughter) in Australia in one envelope, but they sent separately to me.  Geesh!

Here's my basket, all ready to head to the post office.  Whew!

This has been very fun, but I'm glad to check it off my list of to-do's too.

BLUE AND WHITE DISAPPEARING 4-PATCHES

Shown are my blocks for the Blue and White D4P Swap I'm hostessing on my Friendship Group.  We made sets of 5 alike, but I had fabrics where I only got 3 or 4 blocks so this actually is stacks of same fabric, 8 sests, 40 blocks in all.

With 14 swappers making a total of 79 sets, that's 395 blocks to sort through and swap out, trying to make sure everyone gets all unique fabrics.  Busy day ahead for me!

There's a tutorial on how to make these blocks (easy-peasy, much simpler than it looks).  You can link to it from my tutorial page at the top.

PERIODIC TABLE OF SEWING ELEMENTS

This is so funny!  If you are like me and have trouble reading the fine print, click here to go to the blog post containing the table.  First you scroll down thru the sewing room  lab, and when you come to the table you can click to save/print it if you want.  It's a geek freebie.,   Clicking  here  will show a larger view.

You have to love a quilter with a sense of humor, and a geek who loves design.

FLIMSY FRIDAY aka FINISH IT UP FRIDAY

Many of us in blogland are participating in Flimsy Friday (aka: Finish it up Fridays), a day to get those quilt tops made into quilts.  I have a stack of completed quilt tops that aren't quilted and bound, so this is really good for me.

However, today I'm sorting blocks for a swap I'm hostessing.  They are lovely blue and white Disappearing 4-Patches.  Pretty, pretty!  Just one more set to arrive before I can swap them out.  More on that later.

FORGET ME NOT LAUNCHES

Esther has launched her new mystery BOM, Forget Me Not.  This will run for 12 months, and includes lots of choices, as well as room for unique embellishments as this quilt is a wall hanging.  Oh, my kind of quilt!  I have so much going already, but for sure I will at minimum dowload the patterns (free for one month), and follow along on her blog and group.

By the way, did you notice some changes on my blog.  The tutorials are all in one place, easy to find now, in a tab at the top.  The labels (of which there are many, but if you're looking for a certain thing, that's the place to go) are at the bottom.