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My family decided to plant a garden this summer. The critters did not eat as many of the plants as they usually do so I have ended up with about 20 mutant zucchinis. Seriously, these things look like baby whales.
I have pretty much had it with dreaming up stuff to cook with them. Next year we are going back to flowers!
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Last year I wrote a post about how I found a portable easel to help me support my appliqué blocks while I worked on them. I still use this from time to time but recently I have found another trick that is very easy to set up, gives me a good angle for working at and isn’t too expensive. It involves yoga blocks which , since I live near Boulder Colorado, you can find on pretty much any street corner. If you don’t happen to live in a yoga crazed part of the world you can get them here.
Here is set my yoga blocks up with my handy dandy light right between them.
Next I balance this padded work surface on the blocks. I got mine here.Sometimes when I am working on a long project I NEED my Ipod loaded with audiobooks to get me through. My current book is North South by Elizabeth Gaskell read but Juliet Stevenson…so romantic…sigh…
Here I am stitching away on Tweet 9. You might notice that I also have a lint roller handy…I have a black and white dog and it takes constant vigilance to keep his fur off my pretty white backgrounds.
Kay Mackenzie wrote a really great article about this and you can find it here.
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Here is a shot of my design wall this fine morning. I finally finished these really fun blocks and now I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do for a border. I love it so far but it is bright, even for me...like I think I should wear sunscreen and glasses when I'm sitting next to it bright. I want to do an applique border but my original idea is way way too busy. I guess I'm just going to hang out and look at it a bit more until I get an idea. Better go find some sunscreen.
Go check out Judy's blog for all the loveliness other people are up to.
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I've re-stocked the Miss Kelly patterns in my shop...sorry I forgot to check how many were in there...must be menopause...
you can find them here:
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Happy Friday Everyone.
As promised here is block 9 of the 2011 Block of the Month My Tweets.
Since these blocks finish at 14” and many of the blocks are asymmetrical I want to talk about printing your patterns. Each pattern has four downloads. Print each of these and tape them together to make your full sized pattern. Here is a diagram for doing this.
We will do this the same way for all the patterns since it allows the patterns to be easily printed on a home printer.
Here is a full sized pattern for block 9:
Here are the 8.5" x 11" printouts:
For those who like to share please go to the FLCKR group at
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1604241@N21/
or the yahoo group at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/erinsquilters/
and join the fun.
Enjoy!
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As many of you know already, I’m getting a little impatient for Christmas. So when Michele from Quilting Gallery asked me to be a designer in the Celebrate Christmas Quilt-a-Long I nearly swooned. It started yesterday (oops!) and will run until December 1. She has an amazing group of 36 designers and we are all doing a 12” block for the Quilt-a-Long. There will be three each week, posted each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.In addition to that there will be loads of other fun stuff and super deals for quilters.
You can read all about it here. Also, there is a button on the left side of the blog that connects to her site.
Start your needles everyone!
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Sonja, who wrote
"Love your pattern as always! Thanks for the tutorial. Which superpower? That's a tough question. I would love to be able to fly somewhere and see places that I would not be able to travel to, but I'm afraid of heights. I've always had thoughts of wishing I could be a fly on the wall, but I wouldn't want to be intrusive either. So I guess I would have to choose flight as long as I could take someone with me!! Have a blessed weekend :)"
Sonja, your e-mail is on the way. Thanks for playing everyone...see you later with Tweet 9.
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OK, so I have to admit, I kinda got sucked in by the tennis this weekend. It was a nice offset to the Sept. 11th anniversary stuff which made me cry everytime it came on.
Here is a shot of Block 9's drawing. I am furiously working away on it and will have it up on Friday.
Until then I will be MIA...unless the applique speed fairy visits my house.
Head on over to Judy's blog to see what wonders other people are up to.
I'll be back later today with the Basicgrey winner, first I must drink coffee...then exercise.
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So now that everyone’s an expert at English paper piecing here are the directions for my little Curio Flower quilt.
p.s. I forgot this part in the handout but I did take the paper pieces out (from the back) after I appliqued it to the background.
And, if that weren’t fun enough I have a fat eighth bundle of Curio fabric from Basicgrey and Moda
And a set of these lovely buttons
To give-away this weekend. To enter just leave a comment telling us which super power you prefer…invisibility or flight. Can you tell I’m having a super power obsession?
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I made my little Curio flower using English paper piecing. This was my first try actually whip stitching the pieces together. I have basted plenty of hexagons but, alas, none of those are sewn together…yet.I found the whole process very relaxing...perfect for doing while you watch sports on TV as I am prone to do. Go Bronco's...sorry couldn't resist.
Here’s how I did this flower. First, it’s probably a good idea to lay out your pieces so you get them in the right order.
I’m using a neutral thread that goes pretty well with all my fabrics.
To start, I slipped the needle into the seam allowance and came out the corner.
Next, I lined up my next piece, right sides together.
I went from one corner to the next and pulled the thread snug.
From here I whip stitched all the way down these edges, keeping my stitches closer than 1/8” apart.
To finish, I slipped the thread into the seam allowance and trimmed.
Here are the pieces all done. To complete the flower keep doing this until all your pieces are joined.
Check back tomorrow for a chance to win a fat eighth bundle of Curio and some really pretty buttons. I used mine for the flower center.
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