Whimsicals Threads

:: summer fun ::

Thank you to everyone who left a comment about my pattern All Geared Up.  It was fun to hear everyone's preferences for applique..... and how many just stay clear of it.  My preference has always been to use freezer paper on the reverse side to turn the edges under, then hand stitch the piece, but I have to admit that I have recently been trying and researching other methods and found a couple that I really like.  Maybe someday I'll get around to doing a post about applique methods.  But not today..... 

First, I need to let Tami know that she is the winner of the All Geared Up pattern!  This is what she said about applique:

"I use both fusible web & the Karen Buckley method of applique depending on what kind of project I'm doing. I just have never gotten the knack of needle turning. I love your patterns and fabric. Just my style. :) "

Thanks Tami!  I will be getting in touch with you so that I can get your address and send you the pattern.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Now, I said that I would show you my new patterns, so here is another one.  After I finished All Geared Up, I had all these leftover pieces from the background.  (See a post on that pettern here)

And I thought..... Petals!

So I used all of them to make these flowers....

Because they were all the same fabric, I added a narrow piping around each petal.  A very simple technique which finishes the edge of the applique piece without having to apply fusible web or needle turn the edges under.  AND, it separates the petals!  There were enough to make three of these big flowers, which then became a bed runner.  This was made using the leftovers from the cover quilt of All Geared Up and the Around Town fabrics.

And of course, there were the same number of leftover pieces from the second version of the All Geared Up quilt, which became a table runner.  Same size flowers, but a bit smaller overall.

I love the gray fabrics in this, and the bike print is my favorite one from Around Town.  And no, the fabric used in the petals is not from that line of fabric, nor is it one that I designed, although I wish I had because it is an awesome newspaper style print!  


But I couldn't stop with just the runners.  Nope.  I had to make a single flower, which became a round table mat.  On this one, I did turn the edges under for the applique because I used two different fabrics and didn't feel that it needed the extra piping around each petal.

Eventually, I would like to get around to making three more of these so I could use them as placemats, although I seriously doubt they will ever get done!

So, all of these are in one pattern, called Summer Fun.  

I finally have all the new patterns on my website, which I have also be "freshening up", so let me know what you think!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Now, on to a personal note.....  

This definitely has been a roller coaster of a week.... Or has it been two?  I can't seem to keep track of the time anymore.  It just seems to be flying by.  But here is what has been going on in our household to cause such upheaval for me. 

At the beginning of August, my oldest son who recently graduated from Indiana university and has been living with us since December, was offered a job.  Woo hoo!  The big catch was that it was not in Indiana.  Not even in the U.S.  It is in South Korea.  Now, he had been looking into this since graduating in May, and I can honestly say that I did not think it would really happen.  But it did.  So for the past several weeks, we have been getting all the documents filled out, submitted, sent to the proper places, purchasing the necessities to live in a different country for a year and hoping to get it all taken care of and stuffed into two large suitcases and a backpack in order to arrive in South Korea on time. 

And he did.  He flew out this past Sunday, and after two long days of anxiously waiting to hear from him, he was finally able to gain internet access (what did we do without all this technology??) and let us know that everything was ok.  Granted, it was at 2 am, but it was definitely a huge relief.  Then, a day later, our youngest moved back to college.  

So, we are going through the whole "empty nest" adjustment for the second time.  I will admit that I am finding it difficult knowing that one of my kids is halfway around the world, but am so thankful for Skype, computers, and instant messaging.  All will be good in the end.  They are both on adventures of a lifetime and I would never dream of taking that away.  

It's just that the house is now so quiet.  And sometimes that silence can be so deafening.....

:: give-away winner ::

It has been a very busy, chaotic week, so I am sorry for letting the ball drop in posting a winner for the giveaway from my last post.  

The winner of the Big Blocks, Big Style book and the Nordic Visions fabric bundle is Angele.  I agree with her comment about GE Designs book and fabric....

"Wow, I do love that fabric. The big block book is just what I need to get going. Thanks for giving me the chance to participate in this giveaway."

I will be sending you an email to get all your info so we can ship it all out to you.

Now for a fun bit of exciting news.... 

I finally have my new patterns finished and hope to get them from the printer this week. So I thought I would take the next few days and share them with you.  

All Geared Up Quilt - Version 1

Out of the hundreds of quilts I've made, this one is WAY up at the top of the list.  In fact, I like it so much that I made it twice, which is something that I rarely do!  With the fabric line Around Town, I really wanted to concentrate on designs that were circular, or gave the feeling of being round, and this one really does that.  

I fussy cut the large scale house print from Around Town into circles and appliqued them in the center of all the gear blocks for the quilt on the cover of the pattern.  There are several different shops on this fabric, but my favorite is the Chocolate Shop, for obvious reasons!

For another version, I wanted to use gray, red and black for the men in my house.  I find it very difficult to find fabric suitable for guys, so when I saw the mustaches and geometric prints I had to use them.  This quilt is now hanging in our family room and I love it.

All Geared Up Quilt - Version 2

The blocks may look difficult, but they really are not that hard with the techniques that I used.  You have to trust me on this one. No paper piecing, no tricky seams, just accurate cutting and pressing.  Yes, there are curved seams, and if you have never made a block with curved seams, don't be afraid.  They are not hard.  Once you try it, you will wonder what you were afraid of!  

I will say, however, that with this pattern, it is especially helpful if you have a few specialty rulers as well.  I used a 15 degree wedge ruler, the Spider Web ruler and the Swirly Girls Circle Savvy ruler, which made cutting the pieces easy and quick.  You can also make your own templates if you choose to, but it goes faster with the rulers and I found that I was more accurate with them, which is important with these blocks.  I included instructions for making the blocks either with the rulers or with templates, so you can try both methods to see which works best for you.  

So this pattern, called All Geared Up, should be ready to ship later this week.  I will get them up on my website in the next few days, so if you check there and don't see them, just keep checking back.

AND, if you leave me a comment before midnight tomorrow, you will have a chance to get one of the patterns for free!  Just tell me if you prefer to applique with fusible web, if you turn the edges under, or if you simply stay clear of any quilt with applique on it.

Enjoy!

:: a hopping we will go ::

Several months ago I was one of 12 designers asked to be a part of a special project, and I have been meaning to do a little post about it for a while, but just haven't gotten around to it.  So, you can imagine my surprise when I opened up my latest Quilters Newsletter magazine and saw an ad for it.  Sheesh.  I can't believe how behind I am.  So anyway, here goes....

Helen Subbings (of Hugs & Kisses) has coordinated QuiltAid USA, an online Block of the Month featuring 6 designers and shops from Australia and 6 designers and shops from the United States, with all profits made going to a special charity, the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. 

I was so excited to receive my pack of fabric (Collections for a Cause - Hope, by Moda) and threads (several balls of Presencia pearl cotton that I LOVE!) and create a special block for this cause.  

The theme for this Block of the Month is From Heart to Home and each of the designers created a block using these fabrics and threads.  Here is a sneak peek at my block....

 

I was in good company with some "big" names like Kathy Schmitz, Robyn Pandolph, Lynette Anderson and Annie Downs, and I can't wait to see how the participating shops did the finishing designs for all of the blocks.  I'll give more details when I have them, but be on the lookout for the ads and more info to come!

AND, if that wasn't enough......

After Quilt Market in May, I hinted that there might be another Blog Hop, and guess what?  It's set to start soon, so be looking for this....

All of this while trying to get projects and things finished for Quilt Market in October.  What was I thinking?!! Looks like I'd better get to work and come up with something fast!   

a nice surprise...

I got a big surprise last week.....

As many of you know, I've been slowly going through my stash of fabrics and quilts, trying to find extra space in my overflowing studio, and in doing so, I came across a few quilts that I had pieced together but never layered and quilted for one reason or another.  One of them was an exchange quilt that I had stuffed away because I wasn't really happy with the way it all turned out.... it's a bit chaotic, with not much pulling it all together.  I love some of the blocks but wanted to change a few things and actually had set it aside with the idea that I would rip it apart and redo it. 

Yes, I know, most people would never dream of doing that.  But I've been know to take an entire quilt apart and redo it just because I wasn't happy with it.  Sad, but true.  Just ask my friends... 

But in my quest to finish some things, I decided to just have it quilted the way that it was.  So, I gave it to my friend who has a long-arm machine and asked her to quilt it whenever she had the time.  And what a surprise it was to get a call from her a few weeks later to let me know that it was done!

It's quite chaotic, right?!  But take a look at some of the blocks and the quilting that Kathy did.

What can I say?  I find it so fun to work with stripes.  And with this one, I made it look like it had those old photo corners on it by adding the half squares on the corners.  Kathy just added to that with her little "snail trial" quilting.

This shows how old this quilt is.  Kindred Spirits did a fabric line many, many years ago, and that's what I used on the corner squares.  And can you believe that I still have some of the fabric?  It's just waiting on the shelf for the perfect project....

Yep.  Another one that I used a stripe on. 

Okay, so I had to show you one that I wanted to rip out.  How many of you know that I really don't like to use blue in my quilts?  Gray, yes.  Gray-blue, well that's okay too.  But not blue.  I think this may stem from my early years of quilting when many of my quilts were ** gasp ** mauve and country blue.  But, look at the great quilting the Kathy added! 

Another one slipped in that has blue in it.  And the funny thing is that I made both this block and the one before it, so I have no one to blame but myself.  But this one shows how different a block looks when you start adding borders and corners triangles.  And more of Kathy's fun quilting on the brown strips.

I think this may be one of the few ones that I did not make, (I can't remember) but I love the green stripe broken up with the gold triangles.

I just like this block.  A traditional flower with a little applique.

The quilt is a whopping 112" long, so now the big question is how long will this quilt sit before I can get the binding on it?! 

I just have to share!

I was flipping through the Feb/Mar 2010 issue of Quilters Newsletter last week and spied a plug for Jo Morton's new fabric line, Stafford County, and in it there was a picture of this really cool block.  Can you see the picture of it up there in the corner?  You may need to get out your magnifying glass... 

(Ok, so I should have angled the camera to get less of my block and more of the magazine, but the camera is already put away and I have to work with what I have.....)

I don't know if it is a block from one of Jo's quilts, or if it was "Photoshop'd" together for Quilters Newsletter, but I feel the need to give the credit to someone other than myself.  Anyway, I saw this block and just had to try making one. It was a fun and much needed diversion for a few days.... so much so that I ended up making four of them!

I spent a little time last night going through some books, trying to find the block and what it is called, but * sigh * no luck.  If anyone happens to know, please pass it along to me! 

I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with the blocks now, though.  It's not like I needed any more stray blocks floating around my sewing room.  (I've got plenty, believe me!)  But I just couldn't help myself.  And being the ever prepared designer that I am, I even wrote instructions and took pictures as I went, because who knows?  Maybe I can work them into a quilt for that book I should be working on.    Hmmm...... I need to think on that one and keep you posted.

Something else I wanted to share......

Yep, it's an apple pie.  Or at least what remains of one.  Actually, it is an Upside Down Apple Pie (and yes, that's what the recipe says it is too!) that I made last night and oh man was it good!  And that means a lot coming from me, because given a choice between cake or pie, cake wins, hands down, every time in my book.  But this recipe may change my mind.  I may even make it again, which is an even bigger feat because I really don't enjoy cooking,  and it took me a while to make, which means time away from "creating".  (You can tell by looking at the picture that I don't put as much effort into creating a work of art out of food, because mine looks nothing like the photo in the magazine.  But it sure tastes good enough!!)

So, on that note, I'm going to go have myself a piece of pie before it's all gone, then sit down and see if I can come up with something to do with my blocks!