Tag Archives: Houston

Mar10

Scrap Quilting is an Experience! / Bonnie Hunter is Fantastic!

Posted on by
Standard

bonnie hunter tulip time block

Had a really great time last week at Bonnie Hunter’s workshop in Cypress, Texas. She is the most down to earth, friendly teacher!! What an experience. She will be speaking at the Coastal Prairie Guild in Missouri City, Texas next February. Yeah, I know, way to long to wait. Bonnie is an avid collector of vintage machines as well as a scrap quilt gal. She has a great scrap saving system and you can read about it on her website, http://www.quiltville.com Lots and lots of free patterns as well.

I am not a scrap person and was really unsure about “scraping”. I did her Easy Street mystery over the holidays and had such fun with it that I have attempted to get into scrap mode. Wow, that’s harder than you would think for a non “scraper”. You would not believe the pieces she was confiscating from the trash bin at the workshop! Look on her site for her little bitty “ruler” that has tiny holes in it so that you can check any machine you are sewing on to make sure you have an accurate 1/4 inch seam. I bought one, but it is so tiny I’m not sure I got home with it. I may have to buy another ($3). I highly recommend getting yourself one. So Cool!  The block is my first of many for Bonnie’s Tulip Time quilt.  It is in her new book “String Fling”.

Until Later
BE HAPPY…Karen

Advertisement
Mar9

Mug Rugs are sooooo cute!

Posted on by
Standard

bird mug rug Owl mug rug

Well, here are my swap Mug Rugs for the Quilting Gallery.com swap. They are so much fun and so quick to do. I did the owl with hand applique, the Scharon Schamber way with foundation paper; and, the bird with fusible and a small machine blanket stitch. I love them both. I made the blanket stitch super small to reflect the overall size of the design and love the way it came out. These patterns, along with several other really cute designs are available on the Craftsy site. I will spend some time this weekend trying to learn how to upload buttons to make it easier for you to find things.

Wouldn’t this be a really fun guild exchange?

Meanwhile, I found a great thought today and it really fits me…. “if I were more organized I’d be able to keep up with my organizational list!” Trying to catch up this weekend after a great week of quilting with friends, two workshops, and a guild meeting! (not to mentions allergy issues-sigh-got to love Houston!).

BE HAPPY….Karen

Feb28

Hints for a great binding and Sandy Quilt donation project

Posted on by
Standard

Great little quilts from this weeks quilting schedule. The fourth picture is not QUITE a quilt yet but is on my list for the upcoming weekend. These are blocks from all over the place. There are 42 total blocks donated by Mary Kay from Arizona, Evelyn from Canada, Jaynie from Texas, Mary Pat from Wisconsin, Rebecca from Utah, and Lisa from New Zealand. I will build these into a wonky quilt pattern and they will be sent to E-Quilter to be distributed to the people who went thru Sandy, the horrible storm on the East coast. So many are still without homes! It really feels good to give back to people in trouble. I hope to piece, quilt and bind this quilt and get it into the mail next week. Watch for a finished picture.

I had a wonderful time at my David Taylor class last weekend. One of the tips I learned, which I think is fantastic, is how David keeps his quilts perfectly square. Get twill tape (1/4″) from your local fabric store. Measure your quilt carefully and pin a piece of twill tape from exact corner to other corner. Do opposing sides as step 1 and 2. Be sure to pin the twill take carefully, ends, then middle, then split the difference as many times as you need to. Sew with a straight line stitch making sure the tape is right along the edge and does not extend into your quilt where the binding will not cover it. Then, measure the other two sides, excluding the first tape, pin as you did the others and stitch. THOSE EDGES AREN’T GOING ANYWHERE ANYMORE AND WILL ALWAYS BE EXACTLY THE SAME! No more uneven edges to bug you or quilt judges!

BE HAPPY…..Karen

Jan29

EVERY QUILT IS “SEW” DIFFERENT AND SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FUN!

Posted on by
Standard

Well, I have one more quilt to go and I will be caught up with my schedule of quilting customer quilts. These last few have been fun and I think their owners will like them. One has a minkie back. I really love the way quilting shows up on Minkie. I have worked on quilting these the past few days and when I finish one more T-shirt quilt I will be on schedule again. The costumes were worth the effort though, my daughter and her team loved them and they went on to win a banner for top team in the contest. Their next contest is this Saturday and then one in mid-February. Hope the rest of the season goes as well for them.

Jan15

Tuesday’s quilting friends

Posted on by
Standard

TODAYS QUILTING  PROJECT.  These are pics of the front and back of  Barbara R’s small quilt I quilted this morning.  I love the floral edge to edge design.  It looks fantastic on the back and despite my inability to take very good pics, the front is great-quilted with a Sew Fine variegated thread.  It was fun to quilt

THE GREATEST APPLIQUE LADIES I KNOW.  My usual Tuesday morning is spent with a group of quilters, mostly from Sugar Land, Tx.  It was a quiet day today – we just haven’t gotten into the swing since the holidays – too much rain.  Usually there are some absolutely beautiful quilts and blocks to see.  These ladies excel at applique! The pics below show some hard at work.  Val, the lady holding the bunny has gotten into felting.  The bunny is great but don’t you love the felted owl?Vals felted owl Val felting bunny bee 2 bee 1

 

 

 

 

BO’S PLACE – A GREAT PLACE HELPING GRIEF WITH QUILTS.  Last stop for the day was a place called Bo’s Place.  Our quilters guild has been piecing and quilting quilts for them or over 5 years.  Bo’s Place is a non-profit that works to help as many children and their parent(s ) as they can face and handle the grief of loosing a sibling or parent.  No charge to those participants.  Part of their therapy is makin a memorial square for their loved one.  We take the squares and sash and quilt and bind them.  Quilts are hung all over the facility in memory of all of those lost and those that remember.  Because of privacy I could not take great pic of the quilts-a good excuse for blurred images.  The group of ladies standing in front of some of the quilts are the guild members that helped to put the quilts together.  What a fantastic place!Bo's Place Quilts Group pic from Bos Place 

Untll tomorrow – BE HAPPY!

Jan5

Rain, rain go away!

Posted on by
Standard

Gosh I am so tired of the rain.  It has drizzled for days and been gray and miserable.  Oh well, it has kept me busy working inside and I am getting lots done for a change.  Even so, it snowed about three hours from Houston.  That, my friends, is a very exciting thing in South Texas!  TV is showing kids sledding in laundry baskets.

Meanwhile I finished the top to my Bonnie Hunter Quiltville Mystery quilt, Easy Street.  I love the way it came out.  It is currently on my longarm table very close to being finished.  The pattern and fabrics are very busy so I am just doing some circles to give the quilt texture. I have already prepared my grey binding and will be ready to go with that when I finish quilting it.  This is my first mystery quilt with Bonnie and I really enjoyed the process and love the quilt.  Everything went together like bread and butter. Here is a picture of the top before I put it on the longarm to quilt it.  No more quilting tomorrow.  Have to get busy making drill team costumes for my daughters high school drill team.  😦   Until tomorrow…BE HAPPY!

Easy Street Top Before Borders

Easy Street Top