Sneak Peek

I can't show you what I'm working on YET, but I can show you what I'm doing with my leftovers:

Aren't they pretty leftovers?

Of course I'm making postcards with them:

'Tis the season for Thank You notes, so I'll likely be sending some of these on their way soon.

These leftovers gave me the chance to use one of my favorite colors of FabuLux thread -- Mellow Yellows:

I promise to tell the rest of the story as soon as possible!

Cutie Quilt: Irresistible

This Irresistible Cute Quilt is on the way to its forever home:

 I washed it so it would have that crinkled look.  The bride's mother and I decided on a neutral throw-sized quilt so that it could be used in many places in the bride's home for years to come.

This one was fun to quilt.  I used my walking foot on my home machine and quilted chevrons:

FabuLux Giggle was the perfect thread for this quilt!

I have fallen in love with walking-foot quilting.  Have you tried it?  Would you like to see more?  Let me know in the comments.

Fa La La Postcard Tutorial

You asked for it, you got it!  I showed a postcard-in-progress last week and asked if I should scrap it or keep going.  The overwhelming response was "keep going... and WRITE A TUTORIAL!" so here it is!

Who doesn't love tangled Christmas lights?  OK, skip that question and simply join in the fun of making this postcard.

Materials:
5"x6" piece of white fabric for front of postcard
5"x6" piece of white fabric for back of postcard
5"x6" piece of Peltex
FabuLux Olive Trees thread
1/4" x 1/4" pieces of bright fabric fused to Steam a Seam 2

Carefully fuse the 1/4" fabric pieces:

To the front of the postcard:

Make a light crease where you want to write "fa la la la" and layer with stabilizer:

Using the open-toe free-motion quilting foot, begin stitching "fa la la la" on the crease:

Now comes the fun part -- SCRIBBLE!

Loop your lines being sure to stitch through each piece of fabric at least once.  Layer with Peltex and backing fabric:

Fuse layers together and trim using the Postcard Trimming Tool (or trim to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2")

Satin stitch over the edge of the postcard.

Write your holiday greetings on the back of the card, pop in a cellophane envelope, address, and mail!

I have more Christmas cards in my head, but I'm not sure how many more I'll get to make before this Christmas.

Stay tuned...

Bonnie Hunter Mystery -- On Ringo Lake Part 4

On Friday, Bonnie Hunter posted the fourth clue in her On Ringo Lake mystery quilt.

Today is check-in day, and I haven't sewn a single unit for part 4.  Here's the progress, such as it is:

I am half-way through part 3.  If you want to see folks who have more done than I, click HERE.

The End

Yesterday I taught a fun home machine quilting class at the Quilt Basket in Pawling NY.  We learned how to make chevrons using a walking foot

Triple chevrons, anyone?

One of my students took this photo while I was teaching this, my last class of 2017:

I took this "after" photo, because I collapsed on the sofa after class:

2017 has been a busy year.  My next class will be on January 6, 2018 (so weird writing that!) at the Quilt Basket in Pawling NY.  We will learn all about batting and basting.

Home Machine Quilting

I'm on my way to the Quilt Basket in Pawling, NY to teach Home Machine Quilting.

Today we are using the walking foot to stitch chevrons on my Irresistible Cutie Quilt using my Giggle FabuLux thread:

Here's a triple chevron using my Hush FabuLux thread:

This quilt isn't finished yet.  I was working on her last night:

when I noticed that there was a cough*pleat*cough on the back of the quilt at one edge of the quilt.  I put it there on purpose, just so I could show my students how to take it out and fix it.  There's nothing I won't do for my students.  Oh how I sacrifice for them.

Many thanks to my husband for packing my quilts, my beloved HQ Stitch710 (Hedwig!), and all of my other supplies into the car for me.  I'm nursing a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad knee and there was a flight of stairs between this pile of quilting loveliness and my car last night:

I hope your day is as full of quilting fun and quilting friends as mine is!

A Happy Story

I am working (very slowly) on clearing out my sewing space.  I've given away lots of fabric and have been re-homing some of my sewing machines.

I've already found new homes for my:

• Bernina Bernette*
• Juki 2010Q*
• Janome Gem Gold*

Yesterday, I re-homed my beloved Janome 6600.*

She and I had many, Many, MANY happy years together.  I thought I would never part with her, but then Handi Quilter brought out home sewing machines and I fell over-the-moon in love with them and happy sewing with them.  Their names are Hedwig, Errol, and Pigwidgeon, but I digress.  Even though I no longer used my Janome 6600, I wanted her to go to a good home.

She found one and will be loved and well used.  I'm happy.  The new owner is happy.  And I'm certain my Janome 6600 is happy.

The end.
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Meh? or OK?

I'm undecided again.

Is this "ready for prime time"?  Or does it need work before I write the tutorial?

Ho- Ho-Ho! A Santa Postcard Tutorial

I'm full of the holiday spirit and having fun making Christmas postcards like this Santa postcard:

If you want to make one yourself, here are the details:

Cut two pieces of red fabric 2 1/2" x 4" each and one white piece of fabric 2" x 4".

Stitch together.

Cut into two 2" segments.

Cut a piece of black fabric 2" x 6".

Stitch in between the red and white segments.

Cut two 3"x3" pieces of Steam a Seam 2* and a 3"x3" piece of yellow fabric and a 3"x3" piece of white fabric.

Using one piece of Steam a Seam 2*, fuse the white and yellow fabrics together.

Fuse the second piece of Steam a Seam 2* to the back of the white fabric.  Cut into a 2 1/2" square  with a 1"x1 1/4" rectangle cut from the center.  Set in place over the center of Santa's belt.

Using a pressing sheet, fuse the buckle to the postcard.

Place stabilizer behind the belt buckle.

Thread your machine with FabuLux Mellow Yellows thread and set the zigzag stitch to 4mm wide and .3mm long.

Zigzag around the outside of the belt buckle.

Zigzag around the inside of the belt buckle and remove stabilizer.

Fuse together 5"x6" white fabric, 5"x6" Peltex, and postcard front.  Cover Santa with a pressing sheet before pressing.

Trim to 4 1/4"x5 1/2" or use my Postcard Trimming Tool.

Still using FabuLux Mellow Yellows, set your machine to zigzag at 4.5mm wide and .4mm long

Zigzag around the postcard edges.

Set your machine to zigzag at 5.0mm wide and .2mm long.

Zigzag around the postcard edges a second time.

Ta-Da!

Write your Christmas greetings, address, and place in a cellophane envelope.

Ho Ho Ho!  Merry Christmas!
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On Ringo Lake -- part 3

It's week three of Bonnie Hunter's Free mystery quilt, On Ringo Lake.  I'm still working on last week's clue, but I hope to get caught up before Friday's clue.

Maybe when I finish all of these flying geese and diamonds, I'll finally be able to see my cutting table surface?

Check out everyone else's progress HERE.

Expert Help

Confession:  Even though I am an extremely confident machine quilter, I am scared to death of my embroidery machine.  Scared. To. Death.

Lisa Archer reached out to help me overcome my fears.  I have a copy of her new book Modern Machine Embroidery*

and now I have no excuse to not start using my embroidery machine.

Look forward to seeing my baby steps toward machine embroidery mastery!

Ho-Ho-So-So

I'm working on another Christmas postcard.  It's not ready for a tutorial yet, but I wanted your opinion.  Is this close?  Should I keep working on this until it's just right?  Or should I scrap it?

I need to line the buckle so the belt doesn't show through and I want to shrink the belt and buckle to show more of Santa's suit.

Today's outgoing mail makes me smile:

I hope these spread those smiles around.

This blog post is part of the 31 Day Blog Challenge from Muppin.Com.

Read what others are writing HERE.