Once Upon a Time

My, oh my, does the time fly! It has been a busy year and I realized that I haven’t posted to my blog for a LONG while! So, today is the day!

I do a TON of stuff – videos, patterns, online classes, in-person classes, etc. – which is all quilting related and I do quilt on real quilts from time to time! The past few months I have been working on some AMAZING quilts and now I want to show you some of them.

This first quilt I am going to highlight is a quilt I made for my Granddaughter Maddie Tong. As with each quilt, there is a story!

This quilt was made from a kit that I found (on a great sale) while visiting with my sister in Illinois. We went “shop hopping” in her area and I found the kit.

Click on any image for a larger view.

I did a little research and this was offered in 2018 by Moda. I purchased the kit in late 2019, pieced it 2021 and finally quilted it earlier this year, 2022.

The quilt is WAY too cute, WAY too much fun to piece and WAY, WAY too much fun to quilt!

Here is the finished quilt! It is a larger twin size.

Here are some of the quilting details –

I quilted a feather cable in the outer borders and a combination of continuous curves, ribbon stipple, swirls and other fill in patterns to complete the quilting, The batting is Warm Company, Soft & Bright and I used an assortment of Signature 100% cotton, machine quilting threads.

For the center Castle block I did straight lines (free hand), wavy cross hatching, continuous curve, landscape stipple and swirls in the hearts.

Here is the back of the quilt and you can see a lot of the quilting detail even though the backing fabric is a fairly busy print

And of course, here is one HAPPY Granddaughter!!

I know she will use and enjoy this quilt for many, many years!

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New Year, New Quilts for 2022!

Oh my goodness! It has been a while since I last posted on my blog!!! Life has been busy and I finally have some time to catch up on things, including blog posts!

I actually have been working on some customer quilts and here are some photos of my most recent quilt.

This quilt was made by Cynthia H for her granddaughter. She did a great job with the piecing and we decided on free hand feathers and swirls for the quilting.

The quilt is 51 x 62 inches, it has Soft & Bright batting and I used Signature, Golden Harvest variegated cotton thread for the quilting. The backing is a very plush Minkee!

Click on the photos for a slideshow and a larger view.

Thank you Cynthia for letting me work on your quilt. I know your grand daughter will love it!

PS – I will be adding more quilt photos soon!

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Hawaiian Gnomes!

I just finished quilting this too stinkin’ cute, Hawaiian Gnome quilt for my customer. The pattern is based on the pattern, A Tale of Two Gnomes, by Cotton Street Commons. As you can see, my customer used Hawaiian prints for the Gnome hats and switched the pine trees from the original pattern to coconut trees to continue the island “vibe.”

Click on any photo for a larger view

The quilt is 59 x 70 inches. I used assorted high sheen poly threads and Warm & White batting.

My customer made this quilt for her nephew and his family who live in Hawaii. The quilt will be hand delivered when a friend of my customer visits Hawaii in a few weeks.

Here are some photos of the blocks. The blocks are a combination of piecing and hand applique.

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There was a fair amount of border area so I kept the quilting simple and did wavy lines to represent water. Where the block borders “overlapped” I also overlapped the horizontal and vertical wavy lines. These overlapping lines look like “fish nets” which, IMHO, enhances the island vibe!

My customer has picked up the quilt and LOVES it!!! She can’t wait for her nephew and his family to see it!

This quilt was WAY too much fun!!!

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One Thing Leads to Another!

For the last few days the weather here in the Seattle area has been BEYOND hot! Yesterday, an all time record was set at 104 degrees and today it is going to be even hotter! Usually, we have one, maybe two days above 90 degrees, and sometimes we don’t even reach 90 during the summer!

Because the summers are usually mild compared to other parts of the country, most people in the Northwest do NOT have air conditioning. And guess what, I don’t have it either!

I am sitting under a ceiling fan and I am having a standing fan blowing on me. It’s till warm in my house – 84 degrees at 10:30 am – but the air is moving and it doesn’t feel too bad.

As this heat wave started, I began making some more neck coolers for myself and my family. I wrote about making the neck coolers a few years ago. For the post on how to make them Click Here

I am also keeping myself hydrated / caffeinated by drinking liberal amounts of iced tea and iced coffee! For a post on how I make my iced coffee Click Here The “recipe” is towards the bottom of the post.

After making my large glass(es) of iced beverage, the sweat running off the glass was awful (I forgot how much iced drinks sweat!) and leaving puddles of water where ever they were placed. Which is not good when you are trying to piece a quilt top under the ceiling fan!

I thought to myself, “I need a coaster for under my sweaty glass!” And, of course, could I FIND a coaster? No way!

Then I was looking around my work area and spied these two fabrics from a patriotic quilt top I am working on.

Click on any photo for a larger view

As I looked at those fabrics, I “saw” a four patch coaster! And guess what I did? I made one – or a few of them!!

Here is what I did – I started by cutting the two fabrics into 1 – 3 inch x width of fabric (wof) strip and stitching the two pieces together along the long edges. I pressed the seam to the darker side. Then I sub-cut the strip into 3 inch sections the full length of the strip. I got 13 – 3 inch pieces from the strip. This will make 6 – 5 inch (finished size) coasters.

Then I laid out the strips to form the pattern

Then I stitched them together to form a 5-1/2 inch, 4 Patch block

But what about the quilting? I could have put them on the longarm, but that was too much of a hassle. And, there is no fan in my quilting room! So I went “old school” and quilted them on my home sewing machine! Yes, I still know how to do that!!!

I found some scrap batting (Warm & White) and scrap fabric to use as the backing, layered everything together, put my walking foot on my sewing machine and had fun!!

I kept the quilting super simple. One coaster I did “modern” stitching straight lines with white thread and the others I did straight lines with blue thread in the stars and following the “waves” of the stripes with white thread in the wavy fabric.

Modern straight line quilting

Combination straight lines and wavy lines

Last, but not least, I trimmed the blocks and put some binding on – again fabric from my scrap bag and I had quilted, patriotic drink coasters!

Now it is time to make a iced beverage, I’m thinking iced tea for now, and put my patriotic quilted coasters to work!

PS – I had the red and white wavy fabric in my stash. If you don’t have fabric like this, you can make your own red and white stripe fabric by cutting strips of red and white fabric into 1 inch strips and then stitching them together to form a striped fabric.

Here is an illustration of how this block would look. Note the placement of the position of the stripes on each part of the 4-Patch. Or you can have all the stripes in the same position.

Remember, you are the Queen (or King) of your own quilting world, and, as Queen (or King) you can do what you want when making your quilts!

If you make some Patriotic quilted coasters, send me a photo and I can post them on this blog.

Say cool and keep quilting!

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Snowflakes and Feathers

It has been a wild last few weeks! It seems like the more I stay home, the busier I become! Of course, I’m not cleaning the house or anything like that. I have been sewing, quilting, knitting and creating many new things!

I just finished this quilt for a customer, and I can’t tell you how much fun I had quilting it!!

The pattern is Snowflake, by Modern Hand Crafts. (For details on the pattern Click Here) and it was perfectly pieced.

Click on any photo for a larger view

This quilt is 60 x 72 inches. I quilted swirls in the background with silver high sheen poly thread. The snowflake has a combination of feathered wreaths and feather.

Here is a close look of the snowflake.

And here is a closer view of the “middle” of the quilt.

We can’t forget the back of the quilt.

This is a spectacular quilt and I love the fabric that my customer used!

Here is one more quilt I recently finished. This is a quilt my sister pieced a while ago and she wanted to gift it to a friend. She sent it to me and I went a little crazy with feathers! Which was totally appropriate for this quilt. All the feathers are free hand and I did have to make some (many) registration lines for the outer feather borders.

Click on any photo for a larger view

I can’t remember the exact size of this quilt, but it was about a Queen Size. My sister did an excellent job with the piecing!

Here is a corner of the quilting. I used a cable feather in the outer borders, wavy lines in the inner borders and all over, free hand, feathes and swirls in the body of the quilt. I used Soft & Bright batting and Signature 100% cotton machine quilting thread in the color Linen.

Here is the other corner of this quilt. I LOVE the texture of the quilting!

And, of course, you got to see the back of the quilt!

My sister gave the quilt to her friend and her friend LOVED IT!!!!

Stay healthy, keep busy, keep quilting!!!

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Fabric Face Mask Pattern

My goodness how the world has changed in only one month!!!!

I don’t need to go into what is happening, you KNOW all the details! And, you know that as quilters and sewers we have been making fabric face masks for our families, for friends and to be donated to hospitals and other health care facilities.

Along with many, many other quilters /sewers I too, have been making masks. Here are just a few that I have made. Click on any photo for a larger view.

I started making masks that had the elastic, but when I wore them, the elastic was too short and my ears hurt after only a few minutes. So I began making masks with ties on them. They are MUCH more comfortable and are adjustable too!

I came up with my own version of the fabric face mask which is easy to sew up.

It does take a bit of pressing, but that isn’t hard to do.

Here are the step by step instructions on how to make this fabric face mask. For a pdf version Click Here

Note – the following instructions have a lot of photos

Fabric Needed

Outer Fabric and Ties – 1/4 yard of cotton fabric. Any type of print / pattern will work.
Note – You will need the full 40 inch width of the fabric. You could use a Fat Quarter, but you will have to piece the fabric tie strips together.

Lining Fabric – 1 – 8 x 7 inch piece of lining fabric. I used a light color or light color print.
Note – 1/4 yard of lining fabric will make up to 5 pieces of lining for 5 face masks.

Cutting

Outer fabric and ties –

Cut 1—8 inch x width of fabric (wof) strip.

From this cut – 1 – 8 inch x 7 inch piece of fabric.

From the remaining strip of 8 inch wide fabric, cut into 4 – 2 inch strips. These strips will be about 32 – 33 inches long. You will need 2 of these strips for the ties for one face mask.

You can get creative and mix and match the extra fabric strips and use them to make more face masks. All you need are 2 – 8 x 7 inch pieces of fabric to go with the extra ties! Any strips that are left over will go into the quilting scrap bag.

To make one mask you will need –

1 – 8 x 7 inch piece of print (outside) fabric, 1 – 8 x 7 inch piece of light colored (lining) fabric,
2 strips of 2 inch x 32 – 33 +/- inches of fabric for the ties.

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Make the Pleats

Place the printed fabric and the lining fabric WRONG sides together on the ironing board and press them together.

Mark for the pleats – I prefer to do this on the lining fabric so I can see my marks.

The 8 inch edges are the top and bottom and the 7 inch edges are the sides.

Starting at the bottom (straight) edge, begin measuring UP and make marks on BOTH sides edges.

Make a mark at 1-1/2 inches, 2-1/2 inches, 4 inches and 5-1/2 inches. See photo below.

 

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Hold BOTH pieces of fabric together and treat them as one piece.

Fold right sides together along the 2-1/2 inch line and PRESS. HARD!! Hold the iron and steam that fold in place!!! Do the same thing on the 4 inch line and the 5-1/2 inch line.

You will have 3 pressed folds that go across the fabrics from side to side.

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Bring the fold at the 2-1/2 inch line down to the marked 1-1/2 inch lines. This will create a pleat. PRESS HARD along this pleat/ fold.

If your ironing board has a padded surface, you may want to put pins at the side edges to hold the pleat(s) in place.

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Bring the fold at the 4 inch line down to 1/2 inch ABOVE the first pleat. You should be able to feel the (back) edge of the fold that is under the first pleat. Have the pressed edge of the new fold against that fold. PRESS HARD along this pleat/ fold.

I know, this is as clear as mud! Don’t worry, when you feel it, you know what I am talking about!

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Bring the fold at the 5-1/2 inch line down to 1/2 inch ABOVE the second pleat. You should be able to feel the (back) edge of the fold that is under the first pleat. Have the pressed edge of the new fold against that fold. PRESS HARD along this pleat/ fold. You now have 3 pleats.

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Remove the pins from the ironing board and place them on the pleats you made.

The mask should measure 8 x 4 inches.

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Pressing the Ties

We need to press the 2 – 2 inch x 33 +/- inch strips of fabric as if they were bias tape.

Here is a link to a video that shows how you can do this with needles or long straight pins on your ironing board.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPrFfg9rtmM

If that isn’t working for you, you can press the strips as shown below.

Note – I am using a smaller strip of fabric so you can see things better. You will do this for the whole length of the tie fabric strips.

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Step 1 – fold the strip in half lengthwise, WRONG sides together and press.

Step 2 – Open the pressed strip and fold about 3/8 inch of the bottom edge up towards the center fold. Press in place.

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Step 3 – Turn the strip 180 degrees and press up about 3/8 inch on the other long edge. Leave a little space open along the center of the strip.

Step 4 – Fold wrong sides together and press again.

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You now have the ties for your face mask folded as if they were bias tape.

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Cut the Ties

Take one of the pressed ties and cut off a 5 inch piece. From the other pressed tie, cut off a 5 inch piece. 

DO NOT cut both of these pieces from only one tie. That will make the (longer) tie too short!

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Make the Mask

Mask Sides

Step 1—Take one 5 inch tie, open it up and place the right side of the tie on the WRONG side of the mask.

Stitch with a straight stitch, slightly inside of the first fold from the raw edge. Click on the photo to see the stitching.

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Step 2 – Turn the mask over and fold the tie up as shown in the photo below.

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Step 3 – Fold the tie OVER the raw edge of the mask. The folded edge should cover the previous stitching line.

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Step 4 – Stitch close to the folded edge. I prefer to use a 3 step zig zag stitch or serpentine stitch. You can straight stitch this line or use a decorative stitch. Trim the edges of the side ties even with the top and bottom edge of the mask. Click on the photo to see the stitching line.

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Repeat Steps 1 – 4 on the other side raw edge of the mask. Both side edges are now covered with the tie fabric.

Fold the side edges together and mark the top and bottom center of the mask with straight pins.

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Top and Bottom Ties

Step 1 – Take one long tie and open it up and find the middle and mark with a pin.

Step 2 – With the wrong side of the mask facing UP, match the (right side) middle of the tie to the middle of the mask. Pin in place. Pin again at the mask side edges. Click on the photo to see the pins.

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Step 3 – Stitch with a straight seam just above the first fold from the mask raw edge. Back stitch at the start and stop. Click on the photo to see the stitching line.

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Step 4 – Turn the mask over and fold the tie up and then over the mask raw edge, just like you did on the sides. When the tie is in position, begin stitching, back stitching at each end of the mask. Keep the tie folded and continue stitching with a straight, serpentine or other decorative stitch all the way to the end of the tie.

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Step 5 – Rotate the mask and go back to the start of your stitching line. Begin stitching where you started before and continue stitching until you are at the end of the tie. This tie is now completely attached to the mask.

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Repeat Steps 1 – 5 with the other tie on the remaining raw edge of the mask.

Your fabric face mask is now complete!

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Grandson Nathan and Son-in-Law Albert, wearing masks that I made for them!

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I hope you enjoy making fabric face masks from these instructions. Let’s hope we don’t have to wear the masks for a long time!

Please send any photos of masks you have made from my instructions.

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Washington State Quilt

I have been working on some amazing quilts lately, and this is one of them! This was a Block of the Month Quilt from a few years ago, from a local quilt shop which has recently closed. The quilt highlights all that is wonderful in Washington State! The piecer did an amazing job!

Click on any photo for a larger view.

The quilt is 62 x 72 inches and the batting is Warm & Natural. I used a variety of high sheen polyester threads in the quilting. I kept the quilting fairly simple and just added details to the piecing. The piecer wanted something “special” in the sashings and requested small circles. Which I did using a 1 inch diameter circle template. (For details on this template Click Here)

Here are some close ups of some of the blocks.

Washington State panel with pine trees on the side.

Mariner’s Compass (Mariner’s Baseball) and apples.

Washington State Ferry and more pine trees.

Mountains and farm lands.

Umbrella, (which real Washintonians don’t use!), more trees, and of course, COFFEE!!!!

And here are some photos of the back of the quilt. The backing was a light yellow solid cotton fabric. You can REALLY see all the quilting!

Quilt back, towards the bottom of the quilt

This quilt was fun to work on, but it did take a lot of my time to do it! The piecer was thrilled with the finished quilt and is going to hang it in her front room!

 

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Last Minute Quilted Gifts

I am hoping that as we approach the Christmas holiday, that you are calm, relaxed, and everything is under control.

If you are anything like me, that is all a dream and I am in almost panic mode because there is still way too MANY things to do!!

Do you have some orphan quilt blocks or other quilted fabric laying around? If so, you are half way done with making the gifts I have listed below

Click on any photo for a larger view

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Practically Painless Pillows – Who doesn’t love pillows? And, if you have some orphan quilt blocks, half of your work is done! You don’t even have to quilt the blocks! I have figured out how to make perfect pillows, every time, including an easy way to put a zipper in the back of the pillow!

For Pillows Class details Click Here

 

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Table Runners are always a great gift! Above is one I made a few years ago for my sister. She LOVES it!! I quilted this one with free hand feathers, but you can quilt ANY design you want!

For instructions on how to make this table runner Click Here

For instructions on how to make the same table runner, but quilted with Feathered Hearts Click Here

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Cup Cozies are another great gift idea. If you have some already quilted fabric – maybe from some practice pieces – you can make these Cup Cozies in a snap!!

Also included is a recipe for home made Peppermint Mocha!

For details Click Here

 

 

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One last quick gift!

Mug Rugs are great gifts for the coffee or tea drinker! You can make a TON of these really quickly.

I used free hand feathered hearts, but you can do any kind of quilt design. Or, if you have quilted fabric – maybe left over from the cup cozies above – you can make these!

For an even quicker finish, use a pinking shear and cut around the edges of the mug rug instead of binding them!

For step by step instructions on how to make the Mug Rugs Click Here

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I hope these last minute gift ideas will help you in your last minute holiday preparations!

PS – I still have to put the binding on a couple of quilts!

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and your family!

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9 Patch Plus

It has been a while since I have posted, but I have been keeping busy, busy, busy! It is hard to believe that November is right around the corner!!

I finished this quilt for Chris W and it is looking great! I went with a little different style of quilting, sort of modern-ish.

Here is the full view of the quilt – I love this pattern!!! Simple but yet so elegant!
click on any photo for a larger view.

It took me a while to figure out the quilting, but it was worth the wait. Here is a close up of the quilting –

The quilting was done all free hand! NO rulers were used!! The lines are about 1/4 inch -ish apart, using Madeira high sheen polyester thread. There is no quilting in the 9 patches and only a bit of quilting in the center of the Plus block. I used Warm Co, Soft & Bright batting.

Here is a photo of the back of the quilt. I love the texture and you can really see it. Some people call this style of quilting “match stick” quilting.

This was a fun quilt to work on! It did take a little extra time due to the density of the quilting, but it was well worth the effort!

I have more photos of other quilts I have been working on and hope to post them in the next few days.

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Flags, Stars and Sunflowers

When I was on a family visit to the Midwest earlier this year, I saw this Barn Quilt when my sister and I were on the Racine County, WI Barn Quilt Trail.

Click on any photo for a larger view

I LOVE this pattern and I re-created it into “real” quilts and then created an online class with my Flags & Stars quilt!

The quilt on the left is a Wall quilt, 39 x 57 inches and the other quilt is a Twin size, 72 x 90 inches.

I am proud to announce that the Flags & Stars Quilt Mystery Quilt-Along class is now OPEN for registration!!! For more information Click Here

How does a Mystery Quilt-Along work? You sign up for the class (there is a fee to attend the class) and you will receive the piecing instructions for the class project. Piece your quilt top and have it on your quilting machine, ready for quilting on Saturday, September 7, 2019. On September 7, about 8 am Pacific Time (possibly a little earlier) the first PART of the class video will be activated. You follow along with the quilting to learn how to quilt this quilt! During the day, about every two hours, another PART of the class will be activated. By the end of the day, ALL the class Parts will be activated and you will be able to see the completed quilt and all the quilting.

This is a FUN way to learn new quilting techniques and to finish a unique class project.

For more details on the Flags & Stars Mystery Quilt-Along Click Here

Register NOW and begin working on YOUR class project!

Each summer I plant Sunflowers in my small garden. I like to plant the GIANT sunflowers and this year, I also planted DWARF sunflowers. Unfortunately, I planted both of these sunflowers a little later and they are slightly behind in their growth.

My Grandaughter Maddie was over for a visit and I had her stand next to the sunflowers for comparison. Click on the photo for a larger view.

The dwarf sunflowers in the front are already blooming, and the giant sunflowers will grow up through the top of the arbor – the top of the arbor is about 7 feet above the ground – before they blossom!

Yes, there is an angel on Maddie’s shoulder! I have a metal garden sculpture angel in another small section of the garden and it is perfectly positioned! Maddie can be a bit of a “wild child”, as any almost five year old can be, and her guardian angel is on her shoulder a LOT!!!

I’ll post more photos of the sunflowers as they get taller and blossom!

 

 

 

 

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