Monday, January 31, 2011

GO GIVEAWAY!

What a FANTASTIC day!  I'm shouting!  Can you hear me??    Sew Cal Gal blog is having a GO giveaway.








If you don't follow her blog, you are really missing out on lots of fun.  Just look at her new LOOK with the beach umbrella and all.....Whoo! Hoo!
Insights From SewCalGal


Quick, GO visit it, read the rules and you just might win a GO!  (or for those of us who already own AccuQuilt cutters, we could win a new die.)  mmmmh??   I've got several of them on my wish list. 

Have fun! (Nothing's more fun than cutting with a GO!)


Thanks for visiting. 



Friday, January 28, 2011

Meet Leah Day!

You know blogging everyday and finding interesting fun things to talk about sometimes presents a challenge to me; especially since I'm so totally focused on being a fabricholic, obsessive quilter, cat lover, and making it more Fun (SEW FUN QUILTS) for others.   So, I decided to share other blogs, Etsy stores, more Giveaways, and different people with you.  Isn't that what computers are for???  cyber-networking??  and information??

I would like to introduce you to Leah Day from Free Motion Quilting blog. If you are a quilter and haven't met her or heard about her blog, you are missing out BIG TIME!







Last year she challenged herself to do 365 days worth of free motion quilting designs and share them on her blog.  She uses 3 special tools for her free motion work; Supreme Slider, Little Genie Magic Bobbin Washers, and Machingers Quilting Gloves.




Boy, where was she when I started quilting? Oh my gosh, silly me......she wasn't even born yet, look how young she is in the picture.





I hope you enjoy meeting her and you  learn a little something new from her video.  

Have fun.........after all, that's  my name Sew Fun Quilts!   



Thanks  for visiting!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Time for Red and Hearts!

When I take down my Christmas decorations and the house looks all blah and bare, out come the bright reds and lots of hearts!    Ahhhh!  looks better now.  

Every time  the Heart Welcome ribbon thingie is displayed, I always promise  myself to make different ones for the different holidays.  AND, you know how those kind of promises never get on the "to do" list???.....maybe this year. 


Do all quilters have one or two favorite quilts they've made??
 
This is one of mine.  I love Sunbonnet Sue, and the blocks are hand embroidered using redwork.  At the time  they were finished, Moda Fabrics  had these wonderful red prints that worked perfect with them.  I've still got a bit of these same fabrics in my stash.  MODA is my absolute favorite too.


Here's close-up pics of a couple of the blocks.

















My goodness...makes me want to do some more hand embroidery work...so relaxing and enjoyable.    Somewhere, there's a pair of unfinished embroidered pillow cases...mmmmmm??  Wonder where they are??  Do you embroider??


Sue's outline was quilted in the borders along with some loopy loops.


OK....OK....enough Sue, let's get back to the heart thingies......


Another Valentine pillow; machine embroidery called The Love Bug.





Here's a small heart wall hanging with embroidery design....tweets, I hang by the front door. If you have an embroidery machine, the  Embroidery Library has lots of these tweet designs for the different holidays.




Close up of the love birds.


Here's Crooked Hearts table topper.


There's also two or three table runners too, but enough hearts for one day!  Now......if they were chocolate hearts that's a different story......


Thanks for visiting!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A BIG THANK YOU! and sharing other blogs.

A BIG Thank You to A Legacy of Stitches, Sandi Andersen, for the pattern I recently won on her blog  giveaway.  Sandi lives in Minnesota where there's always lots of snow in the winter and this is her own design called Snowman Quartet. 

  It's just too cute! 

As if that wasn't enough, she included an extra little surprise...a stitch by hand pattern for a Mother Pin.

Thanks, Sandi.


If you haven't visited her blog before, you're missing out.  Go visit her here.




There are just so many wonderful quilting/stitching/sewing/needlework/creative blogs on blogger now,  I thought I'd start sharing some new ones. 


Just look at these
socks

 Aren't they gorgeous??   and they look so warm & soft too!   From Stitchin' Bints blog; a group of knitters, sharing patterns, yarn, pictures.....how fun! 




I've never made a pair of socks, but these are sure tempting me to try it.  I find it very relaxing to knit or crochet and I'm one of those who has to do something like knitting while watching tv.


Have you ever made a pair of socks??




Thanks for visiting. 

Friday, January 21, 2011

My "Easy Peasy" Machine Binding Tutorial

Love to quilt, but hate to stich the binding by hand?  Maybe this Easy Peasy Machine Binding Tutorial will help.   I hope so. 

This is not my original idea, and I can't remember where I saw it, but I've been using this method ever since and thought I'd share it here.   This way,  makes it look like one continuous piece of binding.   The stitching by hand to the back of the quilt is best for your entries to a Quilt Show and items for judging, but when you need an Easy Peasy faster way, this might just be your answer.  It is definitely my answer for my dolly quilts for sale in my Etsy Store.

Let's get started, shall we?

Naturally, we do our quilting first.  I'm going to be using one of my small dolly quilts for the pictures.




When the quilting is finished, use your ruler & rotary cutter to trim the batting/backing edges even with your quilt top.



Cut strips from your binding fabric 2 1/4" wide. (You can cut them 2 1/2" wide if you prefer, but for my small quilts, I like it narrower.)  I use my AccuQuilt GO cutter when I cut 2 1/2" strips.




Pin two strips of your binding together at the ends (right sides together) perpendicular. Stitch diagonally across.


Trim seam to approximately 1/4", and press.


Press binding strips in half lengthwise, wrong sides together, matching raw edges.



Leaving a tail of approximately 6-8 inches loose and using a 1/4" seam,  stitch  binding to the quilt's right side starting half way down on the long side, raw edges of binding matching quilt edge.


To make a perfect mitered corner, place a pin 1/4" from end and stitch up to the pin, back tack, stitch forward to the pin again, needle down.  Raise presser foot, shift quilt slightly so the corner is facing towards you; needle down and continue stitching diagonally to the corner.


Lift presser foot, flip up binding perpendicular to edge you just finished, making sure right edge of binding lines up even with right side edge of quilt.



Fold down binding, lining up outside edge even with quilt, and make sure fold of binding is exactly at the side edge you just stitched.  (Take another look at the picture....pictures are worth a 1000 words, as the saying goes.)




Using 1/4" seam, stitch binding to edges of quilt; making  mitered corners as before.


End stitching approximately 6-8 inches from beginning and leave tail of binding free.



This next part is a bit tricky, but you can do it. (Take your time and look at the pictures.)  

Trim off end tail of binding so you have approximately 4 inches or so beyond the stitching you just finished. (see picture)
Using ruler, mark on the beginning tail of binding 2 1/4" (the width of the binding) marks as illustrated in picture, and then trim the beginning section of binding to that measurement.




Pin binding ends perpendicular to each other with two pins.


Stitch diagonally from corner to corner.



Trim seam and press open. 


Lay quilt on ironing board, fold joined binding in place, press.   Finish stitching binding to quilt.  (Please notice when joining your binding this way at the end, you can hardly see the seam....sneaky, aren't we?)



With back side of quilt facing up, press binding away from quilt.


Turn quilt  right side up and again press binding outward, away from quilt.



Turn binding to back of quilt with folded edge covering past the stitching approximately 1/16".  Pin in place.


See close up picture for placement of pins for miter corner.



Turn quilt to right side up.  Starting in the middle of one side, needle down, pull up bobbin thread to top.  Holding both threads in your left hand, start stitching in the ditch, slowly.  Stop; clip threads.  Stitch in the ditch to finish stitching binding to quilt.



Stitching completed.


Stitching in the ditch, as seen on the front.


Stitching completed, as seen from the back.



Here's my small quilt, with the Easy Peasy Machine Binding completed.





I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and learned a trick or two.  I would appreciate your comments, and/or suggestions so I can make  improvements to my future tutorials.


Thanks for visiting.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

My Quilt PRINCESS!

I told you I'd be sharing more of my Valentine quilts and home decor.  I just didn't know that my pictures would always include one of my furry four legged kids.    It's interesting how everytime I put a different quilt out somewhere, one of them will "claim" it as MINE!  

This is Princess and she is the litter mate sister to the "KING" (Braveheart).  Her favorite napping place is the sofa.  It is difficult to take pictures of her that shows how pretty her eyes are 'cause she always looks away or squints or turns her head, whenever she sees  me and the camera coming near her.  She has real big round eyes, but I never seem able to get a picture of her when they are wide open.  This is about as close as I can get. 








The heart quilt that she is on is one of my old favorites and I enjoy getting it out this time of year.  It is from our first block exchange  in our Tied Together Bee many years ago.  It's raw edge appliqued hearts and we cut the blocks in fourths and exchanged the fourths.  Our only rules were we had to use neutral background fabric and pinks/reds/lavenders for the hearts.

The redwork pillow with the 3 bonnet girls was given to me from one of our Tied Together Bee founding members.  I have two older sisters and the design was so appropriate.  It says "I'll wash, you dry and little sister can pick up the pieces".  The other pillow peeking in the picture, is a machine embroidered one I made and the design is called "LoveBug".

Today, I'm going to be working on doing a picture tutorial for a special binding technique I'm now using.  I plan on posting it tomorrow afternoon, so come back to take a peek at it...won't you?

Thanks for visiting.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

What a Life!

What a life!..................just hanging around.


I like to change my quilts and home decor items for the different holidays, so I have my Valentine - Heart ones out right now.  

Roxie's (she's the cat that the Mama dropped at my feet when she was 4 days old, and I bottle fed her) place of honor is always on the back of my recliner chair, so I keep a small quilt there for her to claim as her own.  It has to be one that I can wash frequently.  







I'll share some better/prettier Valentine quilts than this one in the next couple days, so hope you come back again.

What are your special home decor items you use for the different holidays?






Thanks for visiting.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Jeez! Will It Ever Be Finished??

I hope those of you who don't have to work today on this day honoring Martin Luther King, are enjoying yourselves and doing something fun!



Gosh, I've been working on and off on this raggy quilt for a week now, and it's still not finished.   Clipping the edges of the seams to make a soft and fluffy raggy quilt takes a long time for me.  Due to a bad hand/wrist/arm I can only clip about one row, two at the most in one sitting.  Then I have to wait a day until I can do it again. 




All the rows are sewn together now  and I have 3 rows of it clipped and the outside edges.  I double sew all of my seams on my raggy quilts, and I  used a decorative wavy stitch on the "X" of the squares for this one.  It takes a little longer to make it, but I really like the effect. 

AND........I love the feel of the minky!   Where was this minky stuff when I was a little kid and sucked my thumb while dragging around my special blankie?? 


I might have to wait a couple more days to clip again..........Sigh!!!    I WANT IT FINISHED so I can put it in my ETSY store.



What about you?  Are there projects you are working on ....then you have to put them aside for some reason or other???



Thanks for visiting.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

What Do Noodles Have to Do With Quilting?

Seems like all my blog posts are always about sewing, and everyone probably thinks I don't do anything else.  Well, sewing/quilting is what makes me happy and I love it, so who says I have to do anything else???    Sometimes I actually cook...really I do.  (My 3 furry critters still prefer their Fancy Feast over my cooking.  What do they know?)

Even though I don't live in a snowy state anymore since retiring to Texas, when the days are cold, I always want to put a pot of something simmering on the stove.   It has been cold here for a couple days 20's to 30's, so no better time to make some homemade noodles. 

There's really not a recipe, as I learned to cook by watching my Mama, growing up in a restaurant my folks owned, and nothing like "just doing it"...kinda like learning to sew or quilt.


Maybe seeing the pictures will help......let me know.

6 large free range chicken egg yolks, (save the egg whites for an omelet) a couple spoonfuls  of cold water, salt.  Beat with fork, add plenty of flour and keep stirring, adding flour....until you can handle the dough and it's not sticky anymore.  Roll out fairly thin on a floured surface.


Roll up into one long tube...like making cinnamon rolls.  Cut with sharp knife...plenty of flour on counter, unroll each noodle...shake 'em around a bit with plenty of flour.


Spread them out on a clean muslin flour sack towel (again plenty of flour so they don't stick together) and let them dry until time to cook.  I try to make them in the morning and let them dry out all day long.  I do loosen them up and scatter them around a couple times during the day...they dry out better.  I also froze a big bag of them for Chicken 'n Noodles next time.


You can cook chicken or beef stew chunks.  This time it was beef chunks.  I flour mine, and brown in a little hot oil, lower heat and cook until tender, salt and pepper, and then add  water or Swanson broth, bring to boil....add noodles, cover and cook until tender. 

Yummy!!    and sure did enjoy my big bowlful last night.
Ok..now I can eat for a couple days and not have to cook.  It's back to the sewing room for me.


Thanks for stopping by and if you make my noodles, be sure to let me know.