Delivered some quilts to their owners yesterday. Always a fun time.
This one is destined for a wedding in a couple of weeks. Great color choices by the bride. I love the addition of the brown narrow border.
. These two quilts are headed to a new home…Jeannie’s use of color is fantastic!
. This super cute baby quilt hasn’t reached its owner, Barbara, yet, but it is oh so cute! Quilted with Pom trees and monkeys joining the other jungle animals.
Great day, bee happy
Karen
To own a recliner
10. Always comfy!
9. Room for me and my sewing!
8. Nice big armrest to support embroidery hoops.
7. Perfect place to stitch binding!
6. Place to kick up my feet.
5. Scissors and pin cushion fit on the extra wide armrest.
4. Mine has a drink holder.
3. Lots of room for chocolate.
2. Really easy on my “quilter” back.
1. Perfect place and size for my very large fur baby, Champ
k
It is so much fun to spend time on quilts for our service men and women. Some really good feel good minutes! Here are two that I was privileged to quilt today.
These are for a group returning to Texas from a tour in Afghanistan in mid May. There is just no way to thank them enough!
Be Happy, Karen
Well I’ve been playing with using up my stash and found some wonderful charm squares. Somewhere I saw a quilter making half square triangles from these. I wish I could remember where so I could give her credit. Here is how I remember it though.
Take 2 charms and place them right sides together. Sew a scant 1/4 inch seam all around all four sides of the charms
Carefully use your rotary cutter and ruler to cut these from corner to corner across the charms diagonally. Press each HST open, pressing the seams to the dark side. I advise using starch to stabilize the bias edges.
Once you have your pieces ironed, place them so that you can sew two HST together to form half of your pinwheel. Sew both halves. These will each nest easily. Now you will sew both halves together to form the final pinwheel. This is the tricky part. I pin them because of the thickness of the intersection. Note the pins in my pictures. I first pin one pin vertically thru the layers at where the center seams meet. You can peak between the layers to see that these seams match. THEN, I put a pin into the project on both sides of center, very close to the first pin. You can then remove the center pin and sew your seam. Only one center pin allows the fabric to “roll” and can offset your perfectly matched seam.
Once you have your perfectly matched seam you are ready to press your pinwheel. Make sure your seams are all pressed the same direction as they spin around your pinwheel. Then, by gently manipulating the center (you may have to loosen one or two stitches) you can make a beautiful tiny pinwheel in the center back of your block. Press this and you will have a perfect pinwheel!
Congratulations. Sew easy!
Bee Happy, Karen
I have just finished blocking my quilt that will be headed to Wichita in a couple of weeks. Yes, I am actually ahead of schedule. This is a small quilt and was a little easier to block than my usual large quilts, but the technique is still the same. I use a sheet of insulation board covered with some flannel for my base for blocking. If I have a larger quilt I would lay two sheets of board side by side. Insulation board can be purchased at your nearby home improvement store for a very little bit of money. In my case, my quilt should finish at 27″ x 30″. I did go thru this process before adding my binding but found that it still needed tweeking after the binding and initial blocking. The first procedure was exactly the same as this one I am showing you.
Here is a picture of my flannel covered board. I have used the large rulers to assure 90 degree corners and the correct size. I have marked my square with the friXion pens (by Pilot) that will disappear with heat (I use my hair dryer), hence the markings are not permanent. The extra line you see on the right was an initial error in marking the correct size. In future pics I am ignoring this line.
These are used to make sure all sides and corners are the right size.
Board marked and ready to size quilt
Now I will completely wet the quilt, removing excess water, and carefully stretch and pin the quilt to the board,starting with the corners and middle positions and filling in closely on all sides. I am making sure that the quilt sides follow precisely along my marks. At the same time I am making sure that all inner straight lines are parallel to their respective side.
I will leave the quilt securely pinned to the insulation board until it is totally dry – very important. This quilt will travel well and hang squarely when it is displayed. This blocking process will leave the quilt with a newly made look. The technique can be used to restore the “new” look to any quilt you wash and should not be limited to show quilts.
Happy Blocking….BE HAPPY
Karen
Well, everyone who knows me is very aware of my “love” for hand sewing…NOT! I think it is just a lack of patience for me. I really have a very hard time even binding my quilts and putting a sleeve on. Yes, I do know how but just seem to have a hard time sitting still long enough to do hand work, even when I’m forced to sit still in a doctor’s office or where ever…Oh well, I have accepted it.
I have a box of hexies sitting next to my chair in front of the TV, even have a few done, but it just sits there looking at me. AH HA…just found hexies that are more my speed.
Check out http://www.ladyharvatine.com/2010/03/hexagonia.html for a tutorial on Hexies by Machine! I may even try these just for kicks.
Off to quilt guild for a lecture by Mickie Mowery on Tiny Pieces…hmmm, we shall see! I hear her quilts are fantastic and will take some pics to share for those whose mental capacity allows them to sew teeny-tiny pieces.
Meanwhile, BE HAPPY! Karen
Karen The Quilter 