One Piece at a Time

Ooops! Miss Kelly is now re-loaded in the shop

Miss Kelly is now re-loaded in the shop

An Alternative Appliqué Template

Sometimes, when I am working on a repetitive take-along type project, I’m not too enthusiastic about sitting at my ironing table pressing the same shape over and over again.  I do really like stitching an already turned edge however. Pumpkin seed blocks are a perfect example of this so I thought up a more portable way to make these “seeds” without having to press. As many of you know, I have been experimenting with Floriani Stitch and Wash. It turns out this makes a good template for these types of shapes. Here’s how I did it:

First, I traced my shape onto the non-fusible side of the Floriani.

After cutting this out I ironed it to the wrong side of my seed fabric.

Then I cut a scant ¼” seam allowance.

To turn the edge I just used a nice neutral thread and, starting from the front, basted the seam allowance to the back.

To deal with the point I stitched up to point and started to turn the next side over. Then I took a stitch to secure this.

Here I have bent the point to the back and secured it with another stitch.

When it’s all done I had a nice “seed” to appliqué. The Floriani is fused to the back but that’s fine because it will puff up when I wash it and give the “seed” a little poof.

Don’t forget to check in with today’s Sullivan’s Cutting Edge bloggers at:

http://springwaterdesigns.blogspot.com

http://carolinapatchworks.com/blog

Check back Monday for the ruler winner!

Quilts for Small Spaces

If you ever visited my house, you would know right away that I am a quilt lover because I have a quilt hung right by my front door. Although I have always loved decorating the house for various seasons, I am not a big fan of store bought decorations because they are hard to store and get really dusty here in hot dry Colorado. SO…quilts are perfect. Plus, I love these small quilts because you can finish them quickly. Here’s what I have up now (notice the stem-less pumpkin from my garden?)

I can hardly wait to put this one up in a couple months.

This is what I had up all summer.

Here are some of my other patterns that are just perfect for this space.

Don’t forget to visit today’s Sullivan’s Cutting Edge bloggers :

http://dreamlaughcreate.blogspot.com

http://www.thelastpiece.net

My New Favorite Ruler

I have been trying out the Sullivan’s cutting edge rulers for the last few weeks and I am just going to have to go buy myself some more (don’t tell my husband). They come in pretty much every size you could possibly want and they have this really great no-slip coating on the back so your fabric doesn’t take a little trip in the middle of cutting. The side that you cut with has a diamond carbide edge that actually sharpens your blade as you cut.

My favorite of these is the super long one. Unlike any other “yard stick” quilting rulers this one is 4.5” x 37” so you can trim the edges of your finished quilts. Here I am trimming my setting triangles from my new Pop-Up Posies quilt. Very very handy don’t you think?

When Pat asked me to do this hop she had some really fun ideas about what to share. First off is a recipe. I’m sharing my Arroz Con Pollo recipe with you guys because basically if I was left alone I would eat this EVERY DAY…except, of course, when I was eating chocolate. So here it is:

Download Arroz con Pollo

Pat also asked us to share the answers to three questions:

If you took a look inside my refrigerator what would you see?

Well, pretty much the big batch of Arroz con Pollo I just made and beer (my favorite drink next to coffee). I haven’t been to the grocery store yet this week.

 

What is your favorite TV show of all time and why?

Yikes…this really depends on my mood…but if I had to pick right now today, my favorite girl TV show (notice how I cheated?) would be Larkrise to Candelford . I cannot really tell you why except that I sometimes think I was born in the wrong century.

 

My favorite TV show to watch when we have the menfolk around is Firefly . I just love all the characters in this but most of all I love the language and the music. I want to be the character Zoe because I figure nobody would ever mess with me, EVER.

  

This last questions caused a tad of a controversy here. If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you? Well, I asked Himself (husband) this question and he immediately said Meryl Streep. I was flattered, really I was, but when I said “what about Julia Roberts?” he started laughing…really hard. When I posed this same question to my daughter and my best friend Amy, they both said Meryl Streep as well AND they both laughed at the idea of Julia Roberts. So, I guess I would have to say Meryl Streep, although I want all the laughing to be done by Julia Roberts.

 

Now on to the juicy part. Sullivan’s has a ruler for me to give away to one lucky lucky blog reader. You even get to pick the size! Just leave a comment telling us who you would pick to play you in a movie. I will pick a winner this coming Monday.

 

Please go visit the other blogger for today:

http://bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com

for ANOTHER chance to win!!!

These rulers are available from here:

http://patsloan.typepad.com/pat_sloans_corner/sullivans-cutting-edge-ruler-shop.html

Rulers, Recipes and Freebies…what could be better?

Today is day one of Sullivan’s Ruler Blog Hop, brought to you by the talented Pat Sloan. Today’s bloggers are:

http://blog.patsloan.com

http://www.psiquilt.com

http://www.cluckclucksew.com

Everyone has fun recipes and these AMAZING rulers to give away.Watch Pat give a demo..

 

The WINNER is.....

Michele, who wrote...

"Looks like I am with the majority. A cleaning lady. The main reason....because it would definitely give me more time to devote to the things I love to create..especially quilting. Then I wouldn't feel guilty thinking I should be cleaning things around the house instead of spending so much time with my fabrics!"

Yep, I'm preeety sure cleaning lady won that poll.

Design Wall Monday

Well “Fall Fever” has officially struck here in Colorado. Our first ever pumpkin is now sitting on my kitchen counter. It was a pleasant break from the massive zucchini monsters we’ve been picking lately. My husband was so excited that he ran out and picked it the second it turned orange. Unfortunately he was a little enthusiastic and the nice little stem/hat part is still in the garden. Just looking at it made me think of one of my favorite quilt blocks…”Pumpkin Seed”   so…of course…I started making one…as if I needed more things to appliqué. Luckily it’s football season and I have to sew while I watch football. At this rate I’m going to have to sign up for some special football channel.

Head on over to Judy's blog to see what everyone else is up to.

Don't forget to visit Pat Sloan tomorrow for the first stops on the Cutting Edge Blog Hop.

Pat Sloan is Brilliant

My online buddy Pat Sloan is brilliant I tell you...brilliant. She has worked with Sullivan's to develope some of the best rulers I have ever used....AND they sharpen your rotary blade while you cut. She's having a fun little blog hop this Tuesday (Sept 27) thru' Friday (Sept 30) with her posse of blogging friends (including yours truly...eeep!) Make sure you check in all week for your chance to win your ruler of choice!

Quilt Album GIVE-AWAY

Today I have a copy of Quilt Album to give away. Just leave a comment telling us what you would pick if you had to choose one: cleaning lady or cook.

Quilt Album…What a good idea!

Has this ever happened to you… Let’s say you are answering questions about a quilt and you get asked:

What size is your quilt?

Me: I have no idea

Wow that quilting is lovely what batting did you use?

Me: Um, I kinda think it was Hobb’s wool but I’m not too sure and dang that would be good to know

What blocks did you use?

Me: Um the ones with the eight pointed starts…sort of… I think

You would think that I would know enough to document this but I ALWAYS find myself scrambling around to get this information when I am asked. It’s crazy I know.

Luckily for me, and one of you (wink), Pat Sloan has turned me on to Quilt Album. This is a really really easy to use program that lets you put all this information in one place.

Each page has very easy to fill in information tabs.

Pictures can just be dragged and dropped or uploaded. It’s super easy.

The best part for me is the printing options. You can print album pages with ALL the pertinent information like this.

Plus there are loads of other printing formats for printing labels, greeting cards, return address labels and business cards. Here I just loaded these into my printer.

And now I have these great business cards.

This is a really easy and convenient way to document all the work that goes into your quilts. You can go to:

http://www.quiltalbum.com

And check out the really great video.

Check back tomorrow for a chance to win you very own copy.