One Piece at a Time

Episode 5 of Make It Your Way

 

Watch my friends Sherri and Valerie make this super fun sampler quilt!

Downloadable materials can be found here:

www.mccallsquilting.com/MakeItYourWay

A New Trick for Dresden Plates

So, you might have noticed I have caught the Dresden Plate bug again. A few years ago I did a tutorial on how I use the EZ Dresden Ruler that you can find here:

erinrussek.typepad.com/one-piece-at-a-time/2012/03/dresden-platesoh-yum.html

I found a new little tool that really helps with the pressing that I am going to show you today. Susan Cleveland, of Pieces be With You, has this fun tool called the Prairie Pointer.

When I saw Susan at Market she was demonstrating that this tool also works for pressing Dresden Plates.

I just made my Dresden blades just like I normally do.

Before I turned the blade right side out I opened the seam allowance, insert the prairie pointer and pressed.

Then after I turned the blade right side out I pressed it again with the tool.

And, ta da, a perfect point.

(after I took all those pictures I found a video of Susan doing her points and she is much smarter than me and doesn’t trim or press the first time...either way I’m sure you will love this tool!)

Design Wall Monday

Here is a sneal peak of my design wall this Monday. I'm making a quilt for my neice and am having loads of fun making Dresden Plates!

Be sure to visit Judy's blog for some more Monday morning inspiration.

I'm a Cover Fish

I just got back in the office yesterday and this was in my inbox. My quilt, Go Fish, is on the cover....yipee! I can't really say it's a cover girl...because it's a cover fish.

This is the April/May edition of McCall's Quick Quilts.

My new friend Coco

Here was my little treat to myself on the cruise. I had a total Flipper thing when I was a kid so I just had to do the dolphin swim. It was wonderful, swoon.

Quilting away in the middle of the ocean

 

I just had to sneak on to the internet and share this picture with you guys. We are having loads of fun on the McCall's Quilting cruise. Today we were in St. Thomas and I went snorkeling with sea turtles...swoon.

Simplicity...

 

“Am I operating at the level of simplicity I want?” Gay Hendricks

For some reason every time I sit down to do the write up for my basket Block of the Month all hell breaks loose. I’ve been reading Gay Hendricks A Year of Living Consciously and that question above was in one of the daily meditations. I just hit me like a ton of bricks. No was my answer, I am not at the level of simplicity I want right now. When I really looked at it I realized that I have been on high creative output for the past 5 years. Really. High. Output. And I am tired. And I am wanting to explore some new things. And sometimes I feel like I cannot breathe I have so much to do. So, and I am really really sorry about this, I have decided to not do the basket BOM this year. I just don’t have it in me.

I know many of you were looking forward to this, which makes it hard. But if I am going to continue to do this work (designing and writing) I need to re-charge my creative batteries for a bit. I sincerely hope to have another BOM next year if I can get it sewn this year. I am not going to stop blogging. I am just going to finish up some projects in waiting so I can bring those to you as well. I am still going to share fun techniques and small projects and my Eat More Plants posts. Just no BOM until 2015. Once again, sorry.

Baskets and Blooms and Favorite Things

Gerri's fabric, Favorite Things, is in stock and ready to ship. The Baskets and Blooms kits are due at Planted Seed Designs 2/17 so you can start pre-ordering. Everything you need to know is here:

www.plantedseeddesigns.com/blog/2014/02/02/favorite-things-here-and-ready-ship/

Be sure to check out Judy's Blog for more Monday morning inspiration!