I recently purchased a few bolts of printed denim from Art Gallery Fabrics for my shop. I needed to make a one hour basket class sample so I decided to try out the printed denim.
The verdict: I love it! This is not jeans weight denim. It is a light weight denim that is very nice to work with. It is a little heavier (just barely) than regular quilting cotton but not as heavy as home dec weight fabrics. It is 54"-60" wide. I didn't find that it needed a denim needle. I just used my usual 80/12 universal needle with no problems. There are several more prints in the denim line and as money allows I plan to get them all.
Click here to read part 1. I've been slowly making some progress on quilting my circles. At this point, all of the circles are quilted.
Now what should I quilt in the white parts? My first instinct was to pebble it, but now I'm not sure. However, I don't have an alternate plan either. So this will wait for inspiration.
I used a variegated Eleganza size 8 thread for the french knots. The texture is really nice in person. The pin cushion is about 4" square finished size and it is filled with crushed walnut shells. Thought for the week: There are no ugly colors, only good ones used badly. Do you agree? I think you could also substitute the word "fabric" for "colors."
I recently got in a bunch of Elizabeth Hartman patterns in my shop. I've had my eye on The Kittens pattern for some time. I couldn't wait to make up some kittens!
These little blocks are so darn cute! I just love the glasses. My plan was to put glasses on just one but there are two glasses patterns included. I couldn't decide which ones to use so I just used them both.
Last week I taught a class on the Sew Together Bag. There was only one student this time and she is a fairly experienced sewist. I knew she wouldn't need too much supervision so I decided to make one along with her.
Now I can leave this one at the store as a class sample and continue using mine which is packed with all my hand sewing supplies!
Before we get started I want to point out that I did put a Goose on the Loose Quilt Along tab at the top of my blog. Links to all of the posts for this quilt along will be collected there as they are published. This will make it easy for you to find them later (and me too). On this page I also added a link to a post that shows four ways to make flying geese units. You may use which ever technique you prefer for all of these blocks. My favorite method is to use the Wing Clipper Ruler. With this ruler you do the "fast & furious" method that is described in the four ways to make flying geese units link but you follow the cutting instructions that come with the ruler. The advantage of using the ruler is that you are cutting your pieces a little bit larger, sewing the units, then trim them to perfect size. This is my favorite way to make any of the trickier units such as flying geese. By using the ruler you can avoid having to cut any finicky 1/8" sized pieces. The designer of the ruler, Deb Tucker, has a nice video showing you how to use the Wing Clipper Ruler. Below is the video, I hope. If the video doesn't work for you, click here to go to Deb's online store listing for the Wing Clipper Ruler. A link to the video is on this page in the bottom of the green box along the right hand side of the page.
Now for the Block Two instructions.
You need four 4" squares of light (background) and four 4" squares of medium/dark. Draw line on the back of each light square on the diagonal. Layer these with the four medium/dark squares and sew on both sides of the line. Cut them apart on the line. Press, then trim them down to 3.5" square. Now you need to decide which method you will use for your flying geese. I used my Wing Clipper which meant that I needed four 4.5" squares of medium/dark prints for the geese and sixteen 2.5" squares of light (background). I followed the steps in the video and trimmed my flying geese units to 2" by 3.5". If you don't have a Wing Clipper Ruler then pick one of the other four techniques. For the traditional technique you will need four 4 1/4" medium/dark squares for your geese and sixteen 2 3/8" squares of light (background). For the Flip, Flip, Finish technique you will need sixteen 2" by 3.5" medium/dark rectangles for your geese and thirty-two 2" squares of light (background). For the Fast & Furious technique you will need four 4 1/4" medium/dark squares for your geese and sixteen 2 3/8" squares of light (background). If you want to paper piece them then you'll need to find a pattern for the finished size of 1.5" by 3". You can probably just google it or you can draw it yourself. Using the photograph of the block above, lay out your half square triangles and geese then sew them together when you are happy with the layout. I sewed the four half square triangles in the center together first. Then sewed the strips of four flying geese together that surround the center. Then I assembled the block like a nine-patch. Ask any questions in the comment section below. If I can, I will respond to you personally with an answer. If you are no-reply then I will leave the answer in the comments and you will need to check back.
One of my fabric reps. gave me a great idea recently. Use a panel to make a pillowcase. The very next day I took one of the two panels I currently have in my shop and made it up into a pillowcase. Here is the panel:
And this is the pillowcase:
The panel is the main body of the pillowcase and I used two companion prints for the accent strip and cuff. Panels are usually 24" wide but the pillowcase pattern I use calls for 27" for the main body. To compensate I cut my cuff fabric 12" wide instead of the usual 9". A regular size pillow still fits nicely inside. So there you go ... another way to use a panel besides in a quilt.
I'm on a roll! I've completed two blocks this week and printed all seven of the current block patterns out. Here is block six.
I think this one would make a great quilt. When you set four of these blocks together the secondary pattern will be a star. I have two more blocks in progress, blocks 4 and 7. One is applique and the other is embroidery. I'm doing both by hand so it might take me a little longer to get them done since I don't have much time to sew right now. If you haven't already you should check out The Splendid Sampler.
Earlier this week I showed you my first block from the Splendid Sampler. Today I'm showing you my progress on one of the Splendid Sampler bonus blocks.
This is the heart pin cushion bonus project. I'm using one of my Sue Spargo Eleganza variegated size 8 perle cottons for this.
These threads are just gorgeous. When you see them individually they are very pretty, but when you see them all together in the display they are just stunning. I'm so glad I didn't try to pick and choose. Waiting until I could afford the whole collection with the display was so worth it!
Yesterday I received this adorable little guy in the mail from Caroll.
She made him for my new shop. I hung him by the front door. The wall is curved which is why the bottom right corner looks a bit funky. It's the wall, not the quilt. Thank you so much Caroll! I LOVE it!
Have you heard about the Splendid Sampler? If not, click the link and go check it out! I've decided to participate. I'm using the fabric from my Frivols for the blocks since I really only bought the Frivols for the tins they come in. I'm a little late in starting so I decided to start with the current block and work my way back as time allows. When I started, block 5 was the most recently released block.
I also have block 6 mostly completed but no photo yet. Block 7 was released yesterday. These little blocks seem doable with just two blocks being released per week. That's my speed at the moment! In shop news I purchased the cute mugs.
They are good advertising and unique gifts! We had a daughter come in last week looking for a gift for her mom. She said that her mom is hard to buy for because she already has everything. I told her that I have the perfect thing . I can guarantee that she doesn't have this mug yet because they just arrived that morning. She bought the mug and some fat quarters to go inside. Makes a very nice gift for the quilter who has everything!
I've had a busy week. This week has been the Grand Opening Sale week in my shop. We've had a good turn out. I've been trying to carve out some sewing time each day after I've gotten my book work done and in between customers. Some days it is only a few minutes while others I can get in about an hour during the course of the afternoon. My latest project is a shop sample - big surprise.
I've been collecting Frivols. This is the pattern from the second one. The completed top measures about 26" by 26". Even though the fabric is not really my style, the pattern was fun to make and I love the project.
