tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55141685935752606972024-03-13T05:06:20.844-07:00S is for stitchOT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-65115479603795034872012-12-31T15:58:00.001-08:002012-12-31T15:58:08.997-08:00Free Motion Challenge: The End of the BeginningWith the end of 2012 comes the end of the yearlong Free Motion Challenge by SewCalGal. It has been interesting, educational, fun and well, challenging. I was able to complete 11 of the monthly challenges and one of the bonus tutorials. Each of the experts has her/his own special approach to FMQ, so I felt as though I had private instruction on free motion quilting in all its variations.<br />
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The list of things I learned doing this Challenge would be quite long indeed, but several things stand out: how to let the sound of the sewing machine help me regulate my speed, how to follow a marked design, how to use different motifs in adjacent areas and most importantly, that frequent practice really makes a difference.<br />
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I enjoyed doing all of the challenges and will certainly return to the tutorials to improve and reinforce the skills I learned. This is not the end of my personal free motion challenge; it's the end of the beginning.<br />
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Thank you to all of the free motion experts who contributed to the challenge and especially to SewCalGal who organized this year-long adventure. It has been a wonderful experience!<br />
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Here's my album of samples, my free motion journey of 2012.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7HX6_pNS5jU/UOIEHYXesyI/AAAAAAAABcY/7naaFb9qCjY/s1600/January.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7HX6_pNS5jU/UOIEHYXesyI/AAAAAAAABcY/7naaFb9qCjY/s200/January.jpg" width="198" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">January</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T5Fiij0dMmc/UOIEK9bUBMI/AAAAAAAABdI/TyNMdypuZPc/s1600/Real+february.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="142" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T5Fiij0dMmc/UOIEK9bUBMI/AAAAAAAABdI/TyNMdypuZPc/s320/Real+february.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">February</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">March</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">April</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">May</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">June</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-85sgV7NjMaA/UOIEH2P8_fI/AAAAAAAABcg/6eSy-D6nI6A/s1600/July.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-85sgV7NjMaA/UOIEH2P8_fI/AAAAAAAABcg/6eSy-D6nI6A/s200/July.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">July</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZPoUsbm7XFw/UOIEFn09_BI/AAAAAAAABcA/YkHqwZoxiyM/s1600/August.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="175" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZPoUsbm7XFw/UOIEFn09_BI/AAAAAAAABcA/YkHqwZoxiyM/s200/August.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">August</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">October</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6ecBn2ZBaBA/UOIEJ3FxRpI/AAAAAAAABc4/VQZiYElNobI/s1600/November.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6ecBn2ZBaBA/UOIEJ3FxRpI/AAAAAAAABc4/VQZiYElNobI/s200/November.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">November</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rQQvoxj3ufg/UOIEGeG8uOI/AAAAAAAABcE/qlxl9ucSr8c/s1600/Bonus+lesson+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rQQvoxj3ufg/UOIEGeG8uOI/AAAAAAAABcE/qlxl9ucSr8c/s200/Bonus+lesson+3.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bonus #3</td></tr>
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Happy quilting! Happy New Year!<br />
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<br />OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-44762501387822678432012-12-31T13:06:00.000-08:002012-12-31T16:02:49.300-08:00December: A Gift and a Bonus Tutorial The <a href="http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/p/free-motion-quilt-challenge.html">Free Motion Challenge</a> teacher for December was <a href="http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/">Patsy Thompson</a> who provided a wonderful lesson on quilting borders in text, pictures and video. The lesson and challenge had several parts, and while I started the month with good intentions, I did not complete the challenge to my satisfaction. I'm going to spend some time in January doing the December challenge. Patsy is a wonderful teacher who has made lots of instructional DVDs that are now on my wish list. <br />
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I did, however, bake hundreds of cookies, decorate the house and the tree, make some Christmas gifts and do all other things Christmas-y. <br />
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And I completed one of the Bonus Tutorials that SewCalGal added to the Free Motion Challenge. The one I did was by <a href="http://www.dianeloomisquilts.com/">Diane Loomis</a> who taught us to do machine trapunto. This is something I have always wanted to try, and the tutorial was very clear and easy to follow. I am really pleased with the results and am certainly going to incorporate trapunto into some projects in the future. Diane suggested we use silk thread for our sample. The thread I used was a #50, so it is more obvious than the #100 she suggested. I used off-white fabric on the top and a pale gold and white rose print on the back. I followed her directions to the letter and marked the cross-hatching lines for the background.<br />
I am really happy with the top.<br />
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I'm even happier with the back because the gold thread works so well on the fabric. I have more of the backing fabric left and I'm going to try this again using it as the top. <br />
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Thank you, Diane Loomis! And thank you, SewCalGal!<br />
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One of the Christmas-y sewing projects was this little Christmas quilt I made for friends. I machine quilted garlands on the trees with metallic thread and hearts on the hearts with red thread. <br />
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I love how the red striped binding and the gifty backing.<br />
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We had a wonderful Christmas and hope you did too.<br />
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<br />OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-67408911403188039462012-11-30T14:37:00.000-08:002012-11-30T14:37:54.071-08:00November, Part 2Just under the deadline, here's my <a href="http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/p/free-motion-quilt-challenge.html">Free Motion Challenge</a> samples for November. Our teacher was <a href="http://www.sarahvedelerdesigns.com/">Sarah Vedeler</a> whose lesson was making rows of spirals. We started by tracing them on a pdf:<br />
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And then moved to the sewing machine. I started with thread that was already in the machine (white #50) and did a little echo quilting between the rows. <br />
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I moved on to one of my favorite quilting threads, Superior's King Tut, did some rows of spirals and then did some freehand. Obviously I need more practice, and I'm going to try something I learned from one of the other participants in the Challenge, Cheri of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5514168593575260697#editor/target=post;postID=6740891140318803946">Under Quilted Covers</a>, who wrote that each time she sat down to sew or changed thread in her machine, she quilted a row of spirals. What a great way to fit in daily practice!<br />
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My pile of practice squares is growing. This is a great way to use up some of my stash!<br />
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Two days before Thanksgiving, Emily announced she was attending a birthday party on Thanksgiving Saturday.<br />
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Whose birthday? A friend's daughter who was turning two.<br />
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Did I have any quilts lying around? Oh, yeah. Several. Ha.<br />
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But like the good quilter I am, I had a bunch of whirligig blocks left over from a previous baby gift. So I added a few more, sewed them together, backed it with some starry fabric from my stash and used this opportunity to practice some free motion quilting. <br />
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I quilted loops and hearts with some King Tut variegated thread. <br />
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I used some of the striped binding I blogged about <a href="http://sisforstitch.blogspot.com/2012/09/binding-and-bag.html">here.</a><br />
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Emily said it was a big hit! One of the guests was another friend whose daughter is celebrating her first birthday next month. Uh oh.<br />
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<br />OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-40981445284933752972012-11-30T06:09:00.002-08:002012-11-30T06:10:07.641-08:00November: Part 1We began the month of November in a darkened, cold house, thanks to Big Storm Sandy. But the month got better, day by day. Our power and heat returned after only 5 days and we felt so lucky that the only trees down on our property were nowhere near our house. <br />
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I have 3 cousins with whom we have celebrated Thanksgiving for many years. This year Linda hosted, and my assignment was dessert (read pies.) I love making pies, and despite the fact that I was going to make an apple pie and a pumpkin pie, both of which I have made many many times, as usual, I started the process with a little research into recipes old and new. (You can take the librarian out of the library......) I have lot of baking books, so I consult them all as well as the bakers in cyberspace.<br />
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And, as usual, I end up combining and tweaking recipes I've used before: <a href="http://www.nickmalgieri.com/">Nick Magieri's</a> pastry, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/classic-home-desserts-richard-sax/1102177638">Richard Sax'</a>s pumpkin pie (the filling) and <a href="http://susanbakes.brinkster.net/index.shtml">Susan Purdy's</a> apple pie filling.<br />
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We brought home about a fifth of the pumpkin pie which was all that was left. I guess they were a success!<br />
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My pies get transported in this beautiful basket that my Aunt Evelyn painted for my mother. <br />
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My aunt also made one of these for each of her siblings. This one hung in my mother's house.<br />
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We had a special reason to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. Emily was able to be with us, turning our duet back into a trio.<br />
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No sewing, you say? That's coming in the next post!<br />
<br />OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-89701376659127024022012-11-02T12:59:00.001-07:002012-11-02T13:00:12.366-07:00Powerless Finish for OctoberHurricane Sandy paid us a visit this week. Here in Northern New Jersey many people have been without power, telephone and cell phone service since Monday when the storm landed in New Jersey near Atlantic City. Although we have been powerless, we consider ourselves lucky. Everyone in our family is fine. We were especially worried about my sister and brother-in-law who live on their catamaran. They have been moored in Annapolis which was right in the predicted path of the storm. Fortunately, they are fine, their boat is fine, and all of their cruising friends are okay. Our friends and neighbors are okay, too; our house was not touched; and the only tree that came down was a pine in the back of our yard. It flattened our swing set, but our daughter is 25, so she doesn't use it any more!<br />
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I had worked on October's <a href="http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2012/10/2012-free-motion-quilting-challenge.html">Free Motion Challenge</a> sporadically throughout the month, but I had put off posting pictures until this week. But oops! No internet! No cell phone! Our public library opened on Thursday and provided Wifi and power strips, but there were too many people on the network and I was unable to upload my photos.<br />
Fortunately, our friend Marge got power back this morning (Friday) and called to invite us to
spend some time at her house getting warm and charging our devices. So
here, finally, are my samples from October's Challenge. Our teacher was
Teri Lucas; our challenge was to quilt our names and use echo quilting
and other motifs to fill a square. <br />
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I really liked this lesson. Teri suggested we change threads for each different quilting motif. I did that for one sample (upper right) and then decided to stick with my favorite quilting thread, Superior's King Tut. Thank you, Teri! And thank you, SewCalGal for providing your readers with this wonderful challenge!<br />
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<br />OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-16462243326593268032012-10-07T08:53:00.000-07:002012-10-07T08:53:05.662-07:00Baking with Uncle BobI subscribe to the <a href="http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/">Baker's Banter</a> blog from King Arthur Flour. It is a never-ending source of baking deliciousness and many of our favorite recipes are from the blog or the KA baking books I own. The King Arthur store in Norwich, Vermont is always our last stop on the way home whenever we are in the Upper Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont. The <a href="http://www.kingarthurflour.com/visit/">store</a> is a baker's paradise with every kind of ingredient or piece of equipment a baker could ever <strike>need</strike> want. They also have a bakery, so after we do our shopping for nonedibles, we load up with bread, sticky buns and cookies to take home and freeze. (Much of this booty never makes it home, let alone into the freezer.) We always say that if we lived nearby, we would each weigh considerably more than we do now!<br />
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The newest blog entry was a recipe for <a href="http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2012/10/05/1005-fresh-apple-cinnamon-scones-tis-the-season/">Fresh Appe Cinnamon Scones</a>, and since our trip last week to an orchard to get apples (and apple cider donuts!) I have several quarts of homemade applesauce and a bin of apples. This recipe arrived at the perfect time. The scones were delicious and this recipe is certainly a keeper.<br />
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But a great recipe wasn't the only thing I learned from the author and KA Baker Par Excellence PJ Hamel. Here's a quote:<br />
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"> Make and shape them the night before, stick in the freezer, bake early
the next morning, and Bob’s your uncle – by the time your house guests
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Bob's your uncle? I have never heard or read that expression before, but I love it! It's clear from the context that it means "there you are" or even--en Francais--"voila" but it is so much more colorful. I went so far as to look it up on Michael Quinion's wonderful site <a href="http://www.worldwidewords.org/index.htm">World Wide Words</a> where Mr. Quinion writes about the English language from a British perspective. I won't recount his research into the origin of "Bob's your uncle"--you can read it <a href="http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bob1.htm">here</a>--except to say that it may have come from an expression "all is bob" that is documented in the <i>Dicionary of the Vulgar Tongue</i> of 1785. What fun.<br />
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So forget "voila" and "there you have it," and all those other similar idioms. From now on, for me, Bob's (my) uncle!<br />
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Thanks, PJ, for your recipes and for your colorful writing!OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-1779392190638388862012-10-02T18:10:00.001-07:002012-10-02T18:10:46.020-07:00My Country, 'tis of TheeWhen I was in high school a friend's mother gave my friend and me each an embroidery kit. The kit was a map of the United States and even though this was a few years after Alaska and Hawaii had been admitted to the Union, neither was on the stamped linen. Anyway, my friend and I stitched away at home and on the beach in Avalon, NJ, but when we went off to college and our adult lives, the little project got packed away and forgotten.<br />I have been on a mission lately, to try and finish some projects that
have languished in my (figurative) workbasket. (I'm not organized
enough to have a real workbasket, so UFO's are in my sewing area, in
cabinets in the basement, really in nooks and crannies all over the
house. Don't tell Dave.) So recently, I dug out the USA map kit and took it with me to my Guild's Quilt As You Like afternoons.<br />
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Reader, I finished it! I was tempted to add Alaska and Hawaii in some way, but I decided to leave it just the way Bucilla manufactured it. (Whenever <i>that</i> was. There was no copyright date on the direction sheet.)<br />
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This was before the US Postal Service instituted the two-letter abbreviations for the states, so they appear the old fashioned way with a period. And each state has a little symbol of its industry or history, too: the Liberty Bell for my home state of Pennsylvania and Edison's light bulb for my adopted state of New Jersey. (Today, we'd call them icons!)</div>
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I'm going to get another embroidery project out and put it with my hand sewing. Who knows what other UFOs are just waiting for a few more stitches?<br />
<br />OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-88067586275690008522012-09-30T20:00:00.001-07:002012-09-30T20:00:37.445-07:00An Embarrassment of Stitches<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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September has been a busy month, so I haven't had a lot of time to devote to the <a href="http://www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2012/09/2012-free-motion-quilting-challenge.html">Free Motion Challenge</a>. I did a little practicing last week and today I spent a few hours working on the challenge from this month's teacher, <a href="http://battsintheattic.blogspot.com/">Paula Reid</a>.
And it was indeed a challenge! Following a pattern is not easy, and
this circular feather required a lot of backtracking too. I didn't even contemplate filling the center or the outside areas--I was too focused on the feather and the corners.<br />
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I really missed having arrows on the pattern to indicate the order of quilting, so I looked at some YouTube videos and searched for other similar motifs to see how to move from one area to the next. Quite frankly, I didn't find much help. The hardest part was moving from one corner to the next.<br />
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Finally I gave up on the corner motifs and concentrated on the feather circle. Better. Not perfect, but better. </div>
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But after nine months of challenges, I am much more comfortable free motion quilting; my stitches are getting more consistent, lines are getting smoother. And I have learned that frequent practice is important. </div>
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Tomorrow is Straighten Up the Sewing Room Day. And after that, more FMQ!</div>
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Thank you Paula Reid. And thank you, SewCalGal!</div>
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OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-27543754079424224972012-09-28T12:01:00.000-07:002012-09-28T12:01:00.017-07:00Hello and Goodbye and a Little Sewing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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During the last weeks of summer, Dave and I met my sister and brother-in-law on Block Island to spend a few days on their catamaran, Escape Velocity. We were at a mooring in the Great Salt Pond where each morning and evening we heard "Andiamo on your boat, " the signal that the Aldo's Bakery folks were selling their wares from a little outboard motorboat. We became steady customers and bought bread, cookies and morning buns most days. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of the motor which had printed on it, "I gotta no change!"<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Jack and Dave enjoyed sitting on the "back porch," solving the world's problems, no doubt.<br />
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Marce treated us to cucumbers with lime and sea salt, something she had in a local bar in Honduras while she was there with a film crew.<br />
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We biked to the Monhegan Bluffs and went down to the beach (140 steps, they say, plus some climbing on rocks.)<br />
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When you get down to the beach you are greeted with hundreds of cairns.<br />
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Marce collected rocks to build a cairn of her own.<br />
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Back on the boat, Dave got in some swimming time and used snorkle gear to go down and scrape barnacles off the propellers.<br />
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All too soon, it was time to leave. Cap'n Jack and First Mate Marce took Dave and me back to New London where we had left our car.<br />
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Dave enjoyed being aboard!<br />
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After dropping us off, the sailors set out in the dinghy to return home.<br />
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We had more time together in early September when Marce and Jack anchored in Nyack, NY for 2 weeks. We shopped, did errands, met almost daily at the <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/runcible-spoon-bakery-nyack">Runcible Spoon</a>, one of our favorite cafes.<br />
One day, Izzy can to play in our yard!<br />
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And when my nephew, Drew came for a quick visit, we managed to get almost all of our family together for a group picture. Missing? Our niece, Ericka<br />
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Marce and Jack headed south on Monday. We really miss them!</div>
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Despite all this busyness, I did manage to get some sewing in. I made this quilt for a little girl who is expected to make her appearance in November. It's a Chinese Coins quilt made with repro prints.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XC4KH15XdN8/UGXxDrTbY1I/AAAAAAAABPs/4oLX271mSZc/s1600/IMG_0976.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XC4KH15XdN8/UGXxDrTbY1I/AAAAAAAABPs/4oLX271mSZc/s400/IMG_0976.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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I machine quilted it with loops and hearts in the borders and sashings.<br />
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And backed it with polka dots. I'll add a label when the baby is born and I know her name.<br />
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Tomorrow is the baby shower, so I finished it in time!<br />
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<br />OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-26127196574243808092012-09-18T10:45:00.004-07:002012-09-18T10:45:47.896-07:00Binding and a BagSometimes I look at all the projects I have going and don't want to work on any of them. So I do some prep work that will save me time when I tackle UFOs or when I start a new project. I call these days "non-quilting days" even though whatever work I do often is for quilting projects.<br />
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One of my favorite things to do on a non-quilting day is make binding for future quilts. Most of the time I want to complete the top before I even contemplate what kind of binding will complement the quilt. But lately, I have been making lots of baby quilts for friends who are becoming grandparents for the first time, and I have found that I often use striped fabric, polka dot fabric or star fabric for bindings on quilts for babies and kids. So having a binding stash helps speed up the production of a new quilt.<br />
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Sometimes I make continuous bias binding, especially when the quilt top is complete and I know the exact length I will need. But when I'm making binding ahead, I starch and press the fabric and then just cut 2" bias strips from the yardage and sew the strips together on the diagonal to minimize bulk.<br />
Here's some binding that I made recently using bias strips.<br />
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I've already used the star binding on this quilt for a neighbor's grandson. (The pattern is Bonnie Hunter's Pineapple Star.) The white fabric has multicolored stars on it as do some of the other scraps, so the star binding was perfect. (This pattern is a great stash buster!)<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TLPlYg_rmRg/UFeZSdqCAkI/AAAAAAAABMY/7izPOxoVU1M/s1600/IMG_0968.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TLPlYg_rmRg/UFeZSdqCAkI/AAAAAAAABMY/7izPOxoVU1M/s400/IMG_0968.jpg" width="318" /> </a></div>
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I used a circle-polka dot fabric for the backing. I love the cheerful colors. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UMYod802f9A/UFeZRcUDqNI/AAAAAAAABMI/DagYvxmAZyM/s1600/IMG_0685.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-48frosi_G7s/UFeZR_kl2KI/AAAAAAAABMQ/lJ_j1UiTo4Y/s1600/IMG_0686.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UMYod802f9A/UFeZRcUDqNI/AAAAAAAABMI/DagYvxmAZyM/s1600/IMG_0685.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a>Another non-quilting project I made recently was a tote bag for my niece's birthday. I love these fabrics, too. The bag has external pockets and is lined with another navy fabric. </div>
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<span style="color: black;">So I am making small dents in my stash, doing prep work that streamlines the quilt making process, and getting the pleasure of giving handmade gifts to people I love. All good.</span></div>
OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-57115286673618209002012-08-28T09:54:00.001-07:002012-08-28T09:54:17.989-07:00Surely you jest(er)!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;">The <a href="http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/p/free-motion-quilt-challenge.html">Free Motion Challenge</a> teacher for August is <a href="http://wendysheppard.net/bio.php">Wendy Sheppard</a>, who blogs at <a href="http://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/">Ivory Spring.</a> In her lesson, she showed us a quilting motif modeled after a jester's hat, like this:</span><br />
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This was a real challenge for me, trying to wrap my head and muscle
memory around the motif, especially moving from one "hat" to the next.
There were a lot of <strike>scribbles </strike>doodles like this.<br />
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I felt like I wasn't improving at all after pages and pages of doodling! <br />
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Finally, I printed out Wendy's drawings of the motif and darkened them with a Sharpie, then traced over them until I better understood the design.<br />
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The drawings started getting better, and I got brave enough to approach the sewing machine!<br />
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And actually, the quilting didn't turn out too badly. I had a few places where I boxed myself into a corner, and a few places where the quilting wasn't uniformly dense, but all in all, I and pretty happy with the results. <br />
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I felt like I really learned a lot this month. As I was doing
the quilting, I was able to keep my machine speed and hands consistent,
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process, especially being aware of where I am stitching and where I want
to go next. Perfect? Certainly not, but I am making progress!<br />
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Whenever I spoke to my mother on the phone, she would tell me she was a "happy camper." Well, this month, I'm a "happy quilter!" <br />
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<br />OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-32272123624587520452012-08-17T05:59:00.000-07:002012-08-17T16:52:17.159-07:00Quilts in the Mercer Museum (finally!)A few weeks ago, Dave and I drove down to Doylestown, PA to the Mercer Museum to see an exhibit of Mennonite quilts from the collection of Paul and Rita Flacks. We had never been to the Museum and were thrilled to find an enormous, wide-ranging collection of items from every day American life in the 18th and 19th century. (See previous post.)<br />
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But the real reason we were there was to see the quilts, and they did
not disappoint. Outside the gallery, two spectacular quilts served as
previews for what was inside:<br />
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This applique signature quilt is breathtaking!<br />
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Here is one corner to show the mix of traditional applique and broderie perse. Notice that lovely appliqued tulip border.<br />
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This broderie perse quilt is also just gorgeous!<br />
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A close-up of a motif..... <br />
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When we walked into the gallery space itself, we were immediate struck by the vibrant colors of the quilts.<br />
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This applique quilt was stunning. <br />
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While the blocks were beautiful, what made it stand out were the bias striped borders.<br />
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This school house quilt is different from the usual pattern: there is piping along the roof and wall seams of each school! It certainly makes the contours of the schoolhouses stand out!<br />
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I've been following a Postage Stamp Quilt challenge online (I'm not participating, just watching with interest) so I enjoyed seeing this example of an interesting way to use those tiny little pieces.<br />
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This beautiful applique quilt with its background of Lancaster Blue had so many interesting elements.<br />
Notice the borders are just cut off at the ends. No tricky corner construction for this quiltmaker!<br />
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What she did spend time on was lots of beautiful berries, and a reverse applique border to die for!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NKqNWWR23JU/UC5CHwzqM2I/AAAAAAAABIY/CZfeY4Kp4Ko/s1600/border.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NKqNWWR23JU/UC5CHwzqM2I/AAAAAAAABIY/CZfeY4Kp4Ko/s320/border.jpg" width="160" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fdKY5SCvQvA/UC5Bjplc1-I/AAAAAAAABIQ/sf5lj4JxBUA/s1600/berries.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fdKY5SCvQvA/UC5Bjplc1-I/AAAAAAAABIQ/sf5lj4JxBUA/s320/berries.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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My favorite quilts in the collection were from Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. They all had a very similar, controlled color palette and used that palette in different ways to create stunning quilts.<br />
Three of the quilts were pieced (except for the basket handles.<br />
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I just love the combination of the maroon, the bright yellow and the Lancaster blue in this basket quilt.<br />
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The Irish Chain is one of my favorite patterns, especially in this color palette.<br />
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And look at this quilting!<br />
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Again, the use of these colors just made this quilt stand out! Those Lebanon County women know what they were doing.<br />
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The last quilt in the show (at least it was closest to the door) was this appliqed beauty, again, in that Lebanon County palette, although with cheddar instead of a subtler yellow. And notice the chevron quilting. Just lovely. This made me want to go right home and make a pomegranate quilt!<br />
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These were my favorites from the Mercer Museum show. I especially enjoyed looking at the hand quilting on each one and returned home with new determination to practice, practice, practice!<br />
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To see more of the quilt from the Mercer, take a look at Inspiredbyantiquequilts.blogspot.com<br />
(And look at Kathie's beautiful quilts, too!)<br />
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Up next time, trading blocks and drawing jester's hats!<br />
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Enjoy your weekend. Find time to quilt!<br />
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<br />OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-14509922131099655502012-08-04T10:03:00.000-07:002012-08-04T16:01:43.794-07:00"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax— Of cabbages—and kings"—and quilts!<br />
A few weeks ago, when I read Kathie of <a href="http://inspiredbyantiquequilts.blogspot.com/2012/07/i-went-to-antique-quilt-exhibit-at.html">Inspired by Antique Quilts</a>' post about her trip to the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA to see a
collection of Mennonite quilts, I said to Dave, "Let's go!" Ever up for
a road trip, he agreed and that very day we drove down to Doylestown
and discovered the wonderful resource that is the <a href="http://www.mercermuseum.org/">Mercer Museum</a>.
Henry Mercer was a collector of Americana, particularly every-day
objects and handmade tools that were used in daily life before the
Industrial Revolution. His collection reached 30,000 objects, so to
house them, he build a concrete museum that was completed in 1916.<br />
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What a treasure trove! The museum has six floors that surround a center space (you could call it an atrium, but it's crammed with stuff hanging from the ceiling and the columns, things like buggies and wagons and whaling boats (complete with harpoons!)<br />
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Each of the floors has niches or rooms in which are displayed tools and equipment for every part of 18th and 19th century life in America.<br />
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Although Mercer found objects at flea markets and auctions, one of his big purchases was the entire contents of the Feasterville, PA country store. In this corner of the store are all the sewing and clothing items.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nAvoSSSfwg8/UB0hG6Z7-yI/AAAAAAAAA_M/niAhW-ULgxs/s1600/IMG_0544.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nAvoSSSfwg8/UB0hG6Z7-yI/AAAAAAAAA_M/niAhW-ULgxs/s400/IMG_0544.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sewing items</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Match your needle to your machine!</td></tr>
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I have a young friend who is starting a business teaching canning and preserving. This room holds everything she would ever need if she wanted to do it the old fashioned way! That big kettle in the back is for apple butter. <br />
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The baking equipment hasn't changed much!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Madeleines, anyone?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uzuGfhsf92Y/UB07VWK16vI/AAAAAAAABCE/5ek6T9PPtX4/s1600/oven+view.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uzuGfhsf92Y/UB07VWK16vI/AAAAAAAABCE/5ek6T9PPtX4/s400/oven+view.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bowls, baskets and molds</td></tr>
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But sewing certainly has! I'm glad I don't have to heat my iron on the stove or wash my clothes with a washboard (although we certainly had a washboard when I was a child and I remember using it for stubborn dirt!)<br />
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This little beauty is only one of several sewing machines in the tailor's room.<br />
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This is only a small selection of the rooms in the museum!<br />
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Mercer also collected painted Pennsylvania chests. Here are two beautiful examples.<br />
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And cast iron stove fronts!<br />
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Mercer was a ceramicist and made painted tiles. This is a wall of tiles telling Bible stories.<br />
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My favorite is Adam and Eve.<br />
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If you are at all interested in American History, I'm sure you would enjoy at trip to Doylestown and the Museum. On the same campus is Mercer's home which is open to the public and the Michener Museum, and art museum named for the author. We are definitely going to return to see what we missed!<br />
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In my next post, I'll show you the gorgeous Mennonite quilts that led us to the Mercer Museum in the first place.<br />
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<br />OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-72917105389830960592012-07-25T12:11:00.003-07:002012-07-25T12:11:50.208-07:00July's Free Motion Quilting Challenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This month our teacher for the <a href="http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/p/free-motion-quilt-challenge.html">Free Motion Quilting Challenge</a> is <a href="http://www.quiltingismytherapy.com/">Angela Walters</a>,
a young modern quilter whose lesson was a design she calls "Tiles" in
which you divide the quilting space into smaller units and quilt each
one before moving on to the next.<br />
I had fun practicing this style
until my machine began to act a little like it is in need of some TLC.
So although I wanted to do more practicing before coming up with a
"final" piece, my machine is packed up and ready to visit the sewing
machine spa for a little R&R.<br />
So here are my samples for
July. I started by using the back of a plaid fabric that I thought
would help me keep my lines straight. Not so much.<br />
And instead of using the same pattern in every "tile" as Angela did, I mixed it up and tried different ones, including some of the motifs taught by previous teachers in this challenge.<br />
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I did quilt in the month and a heart in hand. Okay, for a first attempt, not too bad. For this sample I used regular 60 weight thread in the needle and bobbin.<br />
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Then
I switched to Superior Rainbows thread in the needle with The Bottom Line in the
bobbin. I like this look much better. I used a 90/14 quilting needle
and did not have any problems, although I did have to decrease the top
tension. I didn't follow Angela's tile directions, just divided the space with random lines. <br />
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For the last two samples, I did attempt Angela's swirl motif, using the Rainbows thread again. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Final Four</span></td></tr>
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I think that if my machine hadn't gotten tired, I would have done a
few more samples and improved on my spacing and the straightness of the
tile lines (or maybe not.)<br />
This lesson was fun to do and helped me to learn a little about dividing the quilting space into manageable sized areas.<br />
Thanks, Angela, for sharing your expertise and ideas.<br />
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<br />OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-77576225841658381762012-07-22T07:16:00.001-07:002012-07-22T07:16:34.524-07:00The (Post)man Cometh<br />
(Disclaimer: The following opinions are mine alone. I have no connection to Superior Threads except that I am a satisfied customer.) <br />
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In these days of email, evite and <a href="https://www.catalogchoice.org/" target="_blank">Catalog Choice</a>, not much comes in the mail except flimsy ads for home improvement companies and (thank goodness) the occasional print magazine and print birthday cards. But those of us who like to shop online also get packages!<br />
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Here's a recent delivery to my house....thread from <a href="http://www.superiorthreads.com/" target="_blank">Superior threads and needles</a>!<br />
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I treated myself to some silk thread for applique, some King Tut thread for machine quilting and some of Superior's highly touted titanium sewing machine needles. I also bought a selection of 5 pre-wound bobbins of Masterpiece 50 weight 2 ply thread. I thought this might be a good way to acquire different colors for applique without buying whole spools.<br />
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The Superior company also has a superior website! You can learn a lot about threads, tension, needle-thread compatibility and more from their <a href="http://www.superiorthreads.com/reference-guides/" target="_blank">Reference Guides</a>. And there are many ways to try their threads: Deal of the Day, Thread of the Month, clubs and collections. I've signed up for their newsletter and have enjoyed the issues I've read so far.<br />
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Superior has also begun selling fabric and you can use tools on the site to design blocks and match threads to fabrics and fabrics to fabrics.<br />
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Good products, good information and excellent service. I know I'll be ordering again. Check them out!OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-5557829097094511212012-07-21T19:43:00.000-07:002012-07-21T19:43:09.805-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Dave and I recently spent a week in Lubec, Maine, with our friends Marge, Bob and Monica, a reprise of our trip in 2011. We took advantage of the long ride north to stop on the way up to visit with my college roommate Peg in New Gloucester, and on the way south to visit with my cousin Carole in Camden and with friends and former neighbors Mary and Xavier in Boothbay Harbor. We had perfect weather, lots of lobster and lots of laughter. Here are some highlights:<br /><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vTj_QS9ndts/UAtfxFHPbeI/AAAAAAAAA40/c_ZX2G4wGAw/s1600/IMG_0473.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vTj_QS9ndts/UAtfxFHPbeI/AAAAAAAAA40/c_ZX2G4wGAw/s400/IMG_0473.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Roomies!</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M1jMLySyAZ0/UAthDoZiRJI/AAAAAAAAA7E/R7kGXJgo_d0/s1600/IMG_0481.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M1jMLySyAZ0/UAthDoZiRJI/AAAAAAAAA7E/R7kGXJgo_d0/s400/IMG_0481.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The view from our window</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yC8N8TiHvtQ/UAthHVMeTUI/AAAAAAAAA7s/pCPzA-8rbHM/s1600/IMG_0502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yC8N8TiHvtQ/UAthHVMeTUI/AAAAAAAAA7s/pCPzA-8rbHM/s400/IMG_0502.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>A toast to morning in Maine!</b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gE4AoSw1Pf4/UAthGp2mZwI/AAAAAAAAA7k/dnhT8RVB_Ao/s1600/IMG_0501.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gE4AoSw1Pf4/UAthGp2mZwI/AAAAAAAAA7k/dnhT8RVB_Ao/s400/IMG_0501.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>On the ferry to Eastport</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8zd9HqYhNV0/UAtfz_9ydKI/AAAAAAAAA5U/Wj8iR2yP-j4/s1600/IMG_0512.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8zd9HqYhNV0/UAtfz_9ydKI/AAAAAAAAA5U/Wj8iR2yP-j4/s400/IMG_0512.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>At the New Friendly Restaurant in Perry</b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pTgbZlZ5tKA/UAtfzCja3XI/AAAAAAAAA5M/2OXDzlLDZxI/s1600/IMG_0510.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pTgbZlZ5tKA/UAtfzCja3XI/AAAAAAAAA5M/2OXDzlLDZxI/s400/IMG_0510.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Nobody does lobster rolls like the New Friendly!</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V-I7CxWopLI/UAtf0l3rcnI/AAAAAAAAA5c/27Bnuo6TaW8/s1600/IMG_0515.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V-I7CxWopLI/UAtf0l3rcnI/AAAAAAAAA5c/27Bnuo6TaW8/s400/IMG_0515.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Now this is how vegetable keepers should look!</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sU1WWf3WEZU/UAthNOsmqxI/AAAAAAAAA8M/Djv6DX5GCp4/s1600/IMG_0518.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sU1WWf3WEZU/UAthNOsmqxI/AAAAAAAAA8M/Djv6DX5GCp4/s400/IMG_0518.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Cigars on the last evening</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8P10D6K8lRM/UAthNgs9n1I/AAAAAAAAA8U/eT5nQ8KlHd4/s1600/IMG_0529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8P10D6K8lRM/UAthNgs9n1I/AAAAAAAAA8U/eT5nQ8KlHd4/s400/IMG_0529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>"We happy few"</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Blueberry Land!</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Cousins!</b></td></tr>
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Dave and I hadn't seen Mary and Xavier for years, and I FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURES! Oh, well. there's always next year!<br />
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<br />OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-36482578112165871332012-06-23T08:51:00.002-07:002012-06-23T08:51:06.149-07:00June: Celebrations and (of course) THE CHALLENGE!The
month of June is a busy one for our family. Emily's birthday is on the
16th, Dave's is on the 20th, Father's Day always falls around then, and
Dave's and my wedding anniversary is on the 22nd. Whew! We buy a lot
of cards and eat out much more often than usual. All of these dates
remind us of how quickly our lives spin past and how important it is to
appreciate each and every day. <br />
This year was one of those significant birthdays for Dave. Here's one of my favorite pictures of him, taken when he taught at the Edinburgh Academy. Except for gray hair and beard, he still looks the same (minus the kilt!) <br />
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Thirty-eight years ago, this was the scene...... <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FoX8VLScFag/T-XcyZgFwZI/AAAAAAAAA3g/UYJzkpz4hqc/s1600/IMG_0464.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FoX8VLScFag/T-XcyZgFwZI/AAAAAAAAA3g/UYJzkpz4hqc/s320/IMG_0464.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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And twenty-five years ago, our sweet girl arrived.....<br />
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Here she is being greeted by her grandmother, her Aunt Marce, and her cousin Drew.</div>
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Despite all this celebrating, I did manage to complete my <a href="http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/p/free-motion-quilting-challenge.html" target="_blank">Free Motion Challenge</a> for June. The teacher for this month was <a href="http://www.cindyneedham.com/" target="_blank">Cindy Needham </a>who does exquisite machine quilting on whole cloth quilts. Her tutorial included several parts in which she explained her choices of tools, her method of beginning and ending and burying threads, and her method of dividing the quilting space and quilting differently in each section, much like the Zentagle doodle method.</div>
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For some of my practice pieces I used quilt sandwiches I had used to try some decorative threads for bobbin quilting. Since those threads were white, I used YLI Rainbows thread so I could see the difference between the two.</div>
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After several practice sessions, my final attempt is here. I have a Bernina and I have done some of the challenges using the BSR, but I did all of this month's quilting without it, and I am happy with the result. My stitches are more even than I had expected them to be, and I think Cindy's suggestion about letting the rhythm of your machine help you to keep your foot and hands in sync really worked for me. This is one lesson I think I shall be trying again and again.</div>
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I quilted the name of the month and a heart in hand, too, and I think I will do this on all the challenges for the rest of the year. </div>
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I hope that those of you who are celebrating this month and quilting this month have as much fun as I did!OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-62602837437663077482012-05-29T08:28:00.000-07:002012-05-29T08:28:01.726-07:00May's Free Motion Challenge<a href="http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/p/free-motion-quilt-challenge.html" target="_blank">Sew Cal Gal</a>'s Free Motion Challenge continues, this month with a pair of video lessons from <a href="http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Leah Day</a>. I have followed Leah's blog and her personal challenge of creating 365 filler designs for free motion quilting. She is very talented and I was really looking forward to her lesson. She did not disappoint. She showed two "foundational" designs, designs which start with a foundation line that becomes the basis of your quilting. <br />
I got myself organized this month by making lots of 9" blocks of muslin and batting so that I would be ready to practice whenever I had a little time. That strategy worked well for me and I'm going to do the same thing for the rest of the challenge. <br />
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Here are a few of the practice blocks. <br />
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So here is the big reveal. First up, the stipple-like curvy quilting:<br />
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And the second pattern with angular sewing around the foundation line: (Leah calls this railroad ties)<br />
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I liked this exercise because it focused on filling the allotted space evenly. I was not entirely successful, but I learned a lot from practicing. I used Superior Threads Rainbow in the top and Superior's Bottom Line in the bobbin.<br />
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This was not the only quilty sewing that was done this month. I made a small patchwork teddy bear and a matching quilt for a friend's baby shower. (And forgot to take a picture!) And I am finishing a little quilt for my guild's challenge. That one is a secret until our June luncheon, so I'll post about that later.<br />
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</div>OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-78916200034172224592012-05-05T20:04:00.000-07:002012-05-05T20:04:59.677-07:00Escape Velocity Achieved (Almost)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My trip to Florida was short and sweet and busy! It was thrilling to see Marce and my brother-in-law, Jack so happy and excited to have begun to fulfill their long held dream of sailing around the world. They have named the boat Escape Velocity and are blogging about their experiences <a href="http://escapevelocity.mobi/" target="_blank">here.</a><br />
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The boat is beautiful and much more comfortable and roomy than I (the landlubber in the family) had expected. The berths and heads are in the two hulls, and the living space is in the bridge deck that connects the two hulls. <br />
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Before my trip, I did a little crafty business and made t-shirts with the boat name and picture for each of us. I think they were a hit.<br /><br />
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When they sold their house, Marce and Jack pared down their possessions to things they thought they would want or need on the boat. The moving truck arrived on Tuesday. We sorted through the boxes to decide what could wait in the rented storage locker and what should go right onto the boat. Things for the boat included pantry and kitchen and bath items, along with the all-important cases of wine. We packed the rest into the storage locker without an inch of space to spare. Marce is the all-time champion packer!<br />
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Back on board, we had lots of "stuff" to put away into not very much space.<br />
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The previous owners left lots of food that they had acquired during their cruising trip of almost 4 years. We had fun "reading" labels from different countries.<br />
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During all this commotion, Izzy, the "Adventure Kitty," always found a spot for watching or napping.<br />
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We did take time out for some fun. We even took a ride up to <a href="http://archiesseabreeze.com/" target="_blank">Archie's Seabreeze</a> in Ft. Pierce for dinner one night.<br />
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When I left there was still lots of work to do to prepare for sailing away, but I came home knowing that Marce and Jack are beginning a wonderful new chapter of their life together, and that there's a berth with my name on it so that Dave, Emily and I can achieve Escape Velocity, too.<br />
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<br />OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-58431612746996400392012-04-27T15:22:00.000-07:002012-04-27T15:22:48.749-07:00FMQ Challenge, and a Trip to Florida<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm flying to Florida tomorrow to help my sister and brother-in-law move onto their new home, a Manta 40 catamarran. (I wrote about the last visit to their house in Pittsburgh <a href="http://sisforstitch.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-01-06T13:08:00-08:00&max-results=7" target="_blank">here.</a>) We'll be busy cleaning and organizing and, I hope, hanging out together over coffee or wine. Jack already posted a picture of their first dinner aboard, with Izzy the cat keeping watch.<br />
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But before departure, I quickly did the <a href="http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/p/free-motion-quilt-challenge.html" target="_blank">Free Motion Challenge</a> lesson for April. Don Linn is the teacher for April, and he demonstrated his method for marking quilting designs. He uses tulle to make a "template" of a quilting design that you then trace onto fabric using your favorite marker. Here are the supplies used to make the template. You stretch the tulle in a quilting or embroidery hoop, place it over a paper copy of the design and trace the design using a permanent marker. Then you place the tulle over your fabric and trace with your favorite temporary marking tool. I use an air erasable marker.<br /><br />
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Here is my completed quilting sample. I used Superior Threads Rainbow with The Bottom Line in the bobbin. Although the quilting isn't first rate, I really liked the marking procedure and will certainly try it again.</div>
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I know I promised a post about one of the projects I took on our quilt retreat in March. It's coming....after my trip!</div>
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<br /></div>OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-5708615772555539482012-04-02T18:23:00.002-07:002012-04-21T14:53:35.841-07:00Retreat: Sew. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last weekend, my quilt guild held its annual retreat in Stroudsburg, PA, at the <a href="http://shawneeinn.com/" target="_blank">Shawnee Inn</a>. This was my first retreat, and I had a wonderful time and am ready to go again! It was bliss to be able to sew and talk quilting and share quilting tips and get to know other members without having to worry about meals, laundry, cleaning and all the other daily responsibilities that impinge on sewing time.<br />
The Shawnee is an old, venerable, classic hotel; when you walk down the halls, you see photographs of visitors like President Eisenhower, Mickey Mantle, Dizzy Gillespie and even the Lone Ranger! (I don't know whether Tonto was there or not; I didn't see a picture.) The Inn sits right on the Delaware River north of the Delaware River Gap; we were lucky to have unseasonably warm weather on Friday and Saturday, so two friends and I had a lovely walk on Saturday morning before we began our sewing marathon.<br />
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We also took some time out to visit <a href="http://www.poconosewandvac.com/newindex.cfm?" target="_blank">Pocono Sew and Vac</a> in Stroudsburg, too. What a wonderful store! It is family owned, and they sell just about every make of sewing machine as well as fabric and thread and notions. I scored a <a href="http://www.bendablebrightlight.com/" target="_blank">Bendable Bright Light</a>, and pair of Machingers Quilting Gloves and a few yards of fabric on sale. (I did not even go to the part of the store where they sell vacuum cleaners! This was a quilting retreat, after all. If I ever go on a housecleaning retreat, I'll look at vacuums.)<br />
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The Inn provided us with a big meeting room where we could set up our machines and irons. The room was available to us from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon. Throughout the weekend, there was the hum of sewing machines punctuated with the voices of quilters complimenting, questioning, advising, reassuring, exclaiming about each others' projects. <br />
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I spent a lot of time before the retreat prepping for the projects I took with me. Like some travelers, I over-packed projects because I wanted to be sure that I could choose what to work on depending on my mood. One of the projects I worked on was my interpretation of a house block inspired by Jeanneke"s <a href="http://buildinghousesfromscraps.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Building Houses from Scraps</a>.<br />
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If you have seen the <a href="http://buildinghousesfromscraps.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Building Houses from Scraps</a> blog, you know that Jeanneke started a project to make 366 3" house blocks in 2012, one for each day of the year. I decided that 3" blocks were way too small for me, and although I enjoy hand-piecing, finding the time and motivation to make one block a day for a year is not a commitment I could fulfill, so I drafted my own 6" house block and cut up lots of scraps to take on the retreat.<br />
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Here's the first house block that I used as a guide: <br />
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I cut up some charm squares and lots of scraps and a few jelly roll strips. Except for choosing appropriate fabrics for the sky pieces, matching the pieces on either side of the door and window, I cut all the other fabrics into pieces without regard to color or scale. After making a few blocks, I also decided to fussy cut some of the windows.<br />
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Here's a tip for organizing pieces for blocks that require lots of little pieces: use a cutlery tray!<br />
Here's what my tray looked like before I started piecing:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qwB4ikN3LE4/T3pERBm67NI/AAAAAAAAAzI/MxNAWEA0V3Q/s1600/tray.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qwB4ikN3LE4/T3pERBm67NI/AAAAAAAAAzI/MxNAWEA0V3Q/s320/tray.jpg" title="" width="242" /></a></div>
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And here are the blocks I made during the retreat.<br />
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Now that I am home and doing some other sewing, I'm using the house project as leaders and enders, much less pressure than making a house every day! (Oops! I just realized that two of the blocks are not pieced correctly....too many distractions, I guess.)<br />
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Next up, another project that was in my retreat baggage, one of my favorite patterns and one of my bucket list quilts.OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-3600213089736117382012-03-31T19:21:00.000-07:002012-04-21T14:53:55.255-07:00March FMQ: Doodling with Ann FahlAnn Fahl is the featured teacher for this month's <a href="http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/p/free-motion-quilt-challenge.html" target="_blank">Free Motion Quilting Challenge</a> organized by <a href="http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Sew Cal Gal</a>. I really enjoyed the "assignment!" Ms. Fahl contributed a very comprehensive lesson with lots of information and advice about threads, needles, blocking and basting. When I was at the AQS show in Lancaster I treated myself to some colorful threads at the Superior and Aurifil booths, and this month I had fun trying some of them out. <br />
So here's my final product for March. I tried some of Ms. Fahl's suggested designs and added some doodles of my own. The threads I used for this sample were Superior's Rainbows and The Bottom Line in the bobbin. I was a little skeptical when I saw how fine these threads are, but I am really happy with the results! I started in the upper right doing loops, moved down the right side adding stars and hearts. Then in the lower right I tried some spirals and morphed them into daisies on the left, a few flower doodles, two heart-in-hands that look like clown hands, and finally loops again at the top left.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ATYM-oy9O-U/T3e3Mxk5ACI/AAAAAAAAAyw/dLmKdelI4nE/s1600/FMQ+March.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ATYM-oy9O-U/T3e3Mxk5ACI/AAAAAAAAAyw/dLmKdelI4nE/s320/FMQ+March.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I took this photo with my iPhone using a camera app that I read about in the NY Times on Thursday. It's called Camera Awesome and it has lots of cool features that help you take better pictures and edit them on the spot! You can read about it <a href="http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/an-deservedly-smug-iphone-photo-app/?src=me&ref=technology" target="_blank">here.</a><br />
In my next post, I'll tell you about my guild's recent retreat and show you my secret to staying organized when piecing quilt blocks. <br />
<span id="goog_483803124"></span><span id="goog_483803125"></span>OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-82765441314508877972012-02-29T20:07:00.001-08:002012-03-08T09:50:14.787-08:00February Free Motion Quilting<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VG6x7gEny0I/T07y_Zjv1tI/AAAAAAAAAxg/fuw_057LGw4/s1600/Good+heart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>With only two hours to go in the month, I have to post less than stellar attempts at Diane Gaudynski's echoed plumes. February has whizzed by, even though there is an extra day this year. So here are my feeble plumes. I made a promise to myself that I'll do a lot more practicing on the March lesson. (And of course, there are two more days in March, so that will help.)<br />
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But that's not the only sewing I did in February. I made this whirligig quilt for a friend's new grandson, using the tutorial from <a href="http://turtlehillquilter.blogspot.com/2010/01/charmed-whirlgigs-tutorial.html">Turtle Hill Quilter</a>. I had to take the photos in less than optimum conditions, so you'll have to excuse the shadows. The fabrics are all children's and novelty fabrics, so the wee one can play a little I Spy.</div>
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Here's the front: </div>
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and the back:</div>
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And finally, I made this quilt top to for my daughter. I used a charm pack of Kaffe Fassett fabrics for the background and some hand-dyed fabrics for the hearts and hands. I traced my husband's and my hands and we each drew our own hearts; I appliqued them by machine using decorative stitches on my Bernina. The feature that allows you to make one stitch at a time came in handy on all those tight corners and curves. I'm planning to hand quilt this and have it ready when DD finishes redecorating her room. </div>
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We did a little shopping recently at the mall, and stopped for lunch where I snapped DD and her dad. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AP5K2eCxPDc/T07wGBT4nMI/AAAAAAAAAw4/J1ACk3qO4l4/s1600/Dave+and+Emily.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AP5K2eCxPDc/T07wGBT4nMI/AAAAAAAAAw4/J1ACk3qO4l4/s320/Dave+and+Emily.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-79312074209091771442012-01-30T08:22:00.001-08:002012-01-30T08:37:11.102-08:00Free Motion Quilting Challenge #1I signed up for the Free Motion Quilting Challenge lead by <a href="http://ewcalgal.blogspot.com/p/free-motion-quilt-challenge.html">SewCalGal. </a><br />Because we spent the middle two weeks of January in Florida, and I traveled sans sewing machine, So I watched the <a href="http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2012/01/welcome-to-2012-free-motion-quilting.html">video</a> by Fances Moore, and did as much practicing as I could before we left.<br />I'm pretty pleased with my final attempt. I have a few tension issues and I need to make my spacing more consistent, but otherwise, with only half the month work on this, I'm pretty happy.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1Ak0d9YQ1R4/TybGcPUF36I/AAAAAAAAAws/Zpd59oyrlTU/s1600/IMG_0236.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 318px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1Ak0d9YQ1R4/TybGcPUF36I/AAAAAAAAAws/Zpd59oyrlTU/s320/IMG_0236.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703464166560751522" border="0" /></a>I'm looking forward to February's challenge by Diane Gaudynski!<br /><a href="http://ewcalgal.blogspot.com/p/free-motion-quilt-challenge.html"></a>OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514168593575260697.post-41867919478285606302012-01-15T16:47:00.000-08:002012-01-15T16:47:24.328-08:00Quilty techies....this one's for you!While watching the Giants-Packers game, my sister and I have been on our computers creating our own QR codes. If you search for "create QR code," you'll find lots of sites that you can use to create a QR code for your blog or other site, and some allow you to customize the code. So here's my very own QR code that links right here to S is for Stitch! Try it, you'll like it!<br />
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<br />OT Quilterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10816512255136804934noreply@blogger.com0