All That Glitters :: A Finish

I've got another finish thanks to a local longarm quilter.

This one is called All That Glitters. I finished the top back in the summer of 2016. Below is a close-up of the quilting design she used.

It turned out so nice! The finished size is about 63" by 76". Click here to see what it looked like before quilting and for the pattern information.

Summer Bouquet :: A Finish

I finally got this one finished! The top was completed in September 2017. Click here to read that post and see the unquilted top.

Here it is all finished.

If you clicked to read my previous post you may notice that I didn't use a "scrappy binding made from the fat quarters used in piecing the top." Full disclosure: I can't find the pieces I cut for the binding! I knew exactly where they were before I moved the shop, but now, I have no idea. Oh well! I have an entire store full of fabric so I just picked something else so I could get this finished.

I quilted it myself on my domestic machine (BERNINA 380) using Westalee Templates. I used the Spinning Wheels 36 to quilt the center of each block, the Sashalee Stitch in the Ditch template to stitch in the ditch, and the 12" Arc for the quilting in the sashing. The quilting in the sashing created partial circles which I didn't realize would happen until I was halfway through quilting that part. Happy accident!

Goose on the Loose :: A Finish

Do you remember the Goose on the Loose quilt along I hosted here back in 2016? Click here to go to the page for the quilt along. The block patterns are still available.

I finally got my quilt finished!

New Pillowcases

I decided not to go to Fall Quilt Market this year. Moving the shop really took it out of me! Instead of traveling to Market I took a few days off last week/weekend to get some things done at home (pattern writing, business planning and a little "me" sewing time).

I took the opportunity to make myself some new pillowcases.

These fabrics are new in my shop and I couldn't resist buying some for myself. They look great on my bed!

Fly Away (version 1) :: A Finish

Last week I shared my finished version 2 of this pattern. Version 1 is now finished too!

And here is a shot that shows the backing fabric I chose for this one.

With these two finishes that clears out one of the two tubs of unfinished tops I had before I opened my shop in 2016. Unfortunately I now have more unfinished tops than before I opened up the shop because of the many shop samples, but I didn't make all of them so I'm not counting them as part of my personal UFO stash. ;)

Fly Away (version 2) :: A Finish

I'm getting some UFOs finished. I took two quilts to a local quilter recently. The top for this one was finished in December of 2013! Click here to read that post. The original post contains the pattern information.

Here is a detail shot of the gorgeous quilting.

For the back I picked a pretty pink wide back.

I have no plan for this quilt. It was made as a class sample for my old LQS that I used to work for. This one is called version 2 because it is the second quilt from this pattern that I made. The first one is the other quilt I took to the quilter. I got the binding attached to the front of it yesterday and hope to get it finished soon.

I know it has been quite a while since I have posted here. Honestly, I haven't had anything to share with you. Either I can't share it (Sue Spargo 2018 BOM) or I haven't been sewing. I moved my shop to a new location at the beginning of October. That has been my main focus for months. Hopefully now I can get back to doing some sewing. I've got a few things finished or almost finished that I will be able to share here.

Pinwheels & Sixteen Patches :: A Finish

I'm in a "finish it up" mood. I don't have enough time to get everything quilted myself so I'm using my local long arm quilters to help me out. 

Here is a detail shot that shows the quilting better.

This one turned out much larger than I originally planned. Once I got the center together I decided it really needed a border. It finished at 80" by 96". I put it on our queen size guest bed and it fits very nicely.

Originally this was going to be a charity quilt, but now it is too big for any of the charities I donate to. Which works out well since we still have some of this fabric in my shop. Now I plan for it to be a store sample for a little while then I will put a price on it and sell it.

Now to pull out the next completed top, pick a backing fabric, and send it off to be quilted!

Pineapple Pillow :: A Finish

I got it finished and in the mail.

I had a cute green and white chevron fabric in my stash that I used for the back of the pillow. The binding is one of the greens from the pineapple tops - the only one I had enough of to use for binding. I put a piece of the chevron fabric on the back of the pieced top and quilted it from the back so I could use the printed chevrons as my quilting lines.

Happy Birthday Faith!

Pineapple Pillow Cover

I have a niece with a birthday coming up who loves pineapples. Over the weekend I pieced her a pillow cover.

Now to get it quilted up, finished and in the mail this week.

Quilting with Templates

July seems to have flown by. I took some time off from the shop for a family vacation. We had a very large wildfire 30 miles away from us that closed major highways. As it happened, we were driving by just a few hours after it started and I took this photo from the car.

It eventually grew to over 108,000 acres in size, destroyed more than 200 homes and became the third largest wildfire in Colorado history. The fire was the main topic of conversation around here for most of July. It caused the closure of our main highway from the east for 8 days. While my home was never in any real danger, it disrupted business, internet and cell phone service and generally cut us off from the east for the first part of July. The name of the fire is the Spring Fire. You can google the name for all the details if you are interested.

In sewing news, I have completed a 6 week course in quilting with Westalee templates. I'm working on finishing up my class project so I can start teaching this in my shop. Here are 6 of the 9 blocks I have completed thus far.

These blocks will be put together with a Quilt as You Go method. Some of the blocks demonstrate border quilting ideas. A few of the blocks are very basic by design as this is a learning project for the students to get used to the technique.

Fresh Cut :: A Finish

The pattern books are now available so I can finally share with you my version of Sue Spargo's 2017 BOM, Fresh Cut.

I was in the last group to receive my kit each month so I started this at the end of January 2017 and finished it in April 2018. It is all hand applique, hand embroidery and hand quilted with a seed stitch. The finished size is 49" by 49".

See, this is one reason why I don't have too much to share with you here. I am not able to share my progress on Sue's BOM projects online until after the patterns come out. Sue has had problems with other designers stealing her designs in the past so she instituted a "no online sharing" rule until the pattern is released.

I estimate that it took me about 600 hours to complete this project! It was so much fun that I signed up for this year's BOM too, Homegrown. Unfortunately, I won't be able to share anything about that project until this time next year but I am working on it every chance I get.

Here are a few close-ups of Fresh Cut:

I had so much fun working on this one! It was even more fun since I had four local friends making it too. We met a couple times a month at my shop to work on our blocks together. We all signed up for Homegrown this year and managed to wrangle a few more friends for Homegrown too. 

Row by Row 2018

'Tis the season where all of the shops who are participating in Row by Row are showing off their rows. Here is the row for my shop. It can be put together in two ways:

18" by 18" square with borders it finishes at 25" by 25"

Main design traced and colored only

or the traditional 9" by 36" 

Main design traced, colored and embroidered

The trees are paper pieced while the main design is embroidered or simply traced and colored. 

The patterns and kits will be available on June 21, 2018. As the Row by Row rules state, you must come into the shop between June 21 and September 4, 2018 to get your free copy of the pattern. You can purchase the kit over the phone (719) 937-2555 beginning June 21st, but we are not allowed to mail it to you until November 1, 2018. These are the Row by Row rules that all shops must follow or risk being expelled from the program. Full details are available on the Row by Row website. Click here to go to the Row by Row website.

Basic details: 

The only way to get a free copy of the pattern is to come into the shop between June 21 and September 4, 2018. 

You can purchase as many kits as you want but you can only get one free copy of the pattern per person who walks in the door.

If you are planning to purchase a lot of kits at once in person, a courtesy call ahead of time would be appreciated to make sure we have enough kits made up for you. The shop phone number is (719) 937-2555.

If you can't come into the shop you can still purchase a kit. Call the shop (719) 937-2555 and have your credit card information, mailing address and phone number information handy. We'll need all of them to place your order. You can call any time to reserve and pay for your kit, BUT it can't be mailed to you until November 1, 2018. It is a good idea to go ahead and reserve your kit though as we only make so many and might not have any left after November 1st. Our Row by Row pre-order procedure is to put a kit into a USPS priority mailer and address the mailer as soon as you place your order. These go into a plastic tub in the office to wait until November 1st when they can go into the mail. So if you call and pay for your kit I guarantee that you will get a kit!

If you are going to be passing through Alamosa later in the summer but want to be sure you to get a kit, you can call and pay for your kit at any time then ask us to hold it for you. We will put your name in the kit and a note to "hold for pick-up." We have another "pick-up" tub for these kits. It doesn't have to be picked up by you, but if you are sending a friend or relative please tell us their name too so we can make sure that we are giving your kit to an authorized person.

Embroidered Pillow

This was a fun, quick project to show off some of the linen fabrics and a book I carry in my shop along with one of my favorite techniques - embroidery.

The pattern is from the book Modern Folk Embroidery by Nancy Nicholson.

To make my version I copied the design onto Transfer-Ez and stuck it to the front of my linen. I did the embroidery right through the Transfer-Ez and linen, then soaked the square in water to dissolve the Transfer-Ez. I must say that I absolutely love Transfer-Ez! I've used it a couple times now and it works great. No more tracing for me!

For the first circle I did, I followed Nancy's pattern exactly. For the rest, I used her pattern as a base but changed up some of the stitches. I used 6 Eleganza size 8 threads for my version.

There are several more projects in the book I'd like to do. This one went quickly. I started it on Saturday and finished the following Wednesday. Using the Transfer-Ez allowed me to go from cutting my squares to starting the embroidery in just a few minutes.

Curvy Log Cabin

I've been playing with my new Curvy Log Cabin Trim Tool ruler and came up with this fun quilt.

I'll be teaching this as a class at my shop. It measures 48" by 64" without borders. I haven't decided if I'm going to border it or not yet.

To make one you need one jelly roll, 2 1/2 yards of background fabric and the 8" Curvy Log Cabin Trim Tool from Creative Grids. I opted for a single background fabric but you can also just use scraps. 

This is a really fun block with so many setting options. There are quite a few patterns available. I just played with my blocks to come up with this one.

P.S. I've gotten some questions about why I don't post much any more. The truth is that since I opened my shop I don't have as much time to sew and even less time to document it here. I still read blogs when I can, and try to leave brief comments when I do. I don't see this changing for as long as I have a quilt shop to run!

Daphne Bag

I tried a new-to-me bag pattern. It's called the Daphne Handbag by Sallie Tomato.

It has two interior pockets, a zipper pocket and a slip pocket.

The bottom has a rectangle of Peltex between the layers for added stability as well as metal feet.

The hardware kit came with a metal zipper tab although the pattern also includes instructions for how to make and attach a fabric zipper tab if you prefer. I couldn't resist trying out the metal one.

I also splurged and purchased separately these metal fabric covered strap connectors to try them out too.

I was a bit frustrated that they didn't come with any installation instructions. However, Sallie Tomato has the instructions posted for free on her website. Once I located the proper instructions they were very easy to follow with lots of photos (which is probably why there aren't instructions in the package - it would cost too much to add them).

The pattern is well-written with good diagrams. However, if you are not an experienced bag maker I don't recommend attempting this one. I haven't even decided if I want to teach this pattern as a class in my shop or not because of it's difficulty level. There are also a lot of layers to sew through in several places. You need a really good quality sewing machine to tackle all those layers.