HAVE YOU MADE A NEW YORK BEAUTY?

Not much accomplished around here today.  I’ve been working on hand stitching my New York Beauties.  Above is another block.

And this is another one. (Sorry.  I think I should have ironed this before I took the picture.)  I love playing with my fabrics and sitting on the deck and stitching while I enjoy this beautiful weather.

Above is a look at four of them together.  This is not necessarily how they will end up in the finished quilt.  I just like to see how they look and watch the circle appear.

And here are the five blocks together.  I don’t have a plan or a pattern, but I’m having fun!  Hope you are having a great stitching day too.

DON’T FORGET:

• Happy Scrappers meets Saturday at the Attic Window Quilt Shop. 
• AQS Quilt Week is the week of August 14-17 at DeVos Place Convention Center.  The Attic Window will have a vendor booth, so be sure and stop by.

ON ANOTHER NOTE:  iPatch has a multiple part Cloud Nine Tutorial.  Part 1 is here.  Click on the Tutorial tab for the rest of the instructions.

Until next time,
♥
Stay Calm! Stay Kind! Stay Positive!
Caroll

HOW WOULD YOU MAKE THESE BLOCKS?

Remember this block?  I first posted about it here.   Look at each block carefully and I will tell you the decision I have made and why.

We are going to focus in on the center of each square.  This is the first block I made.  It was all hand pieced.  I’m not too fond of how the center turned out so I decided to try something else, a different method of making this block.

This block was sewn on the machine.  Yikes!  The center looks worse! No surprise there.  I've wined to anyone who will listen about my lack of piecing skills. 

Determined to find a way to create this block with centers that looked half way decent, I drafted a paper pieced pattern and made this block.  It looks by far the best of the three.  So, if I decide to continue with these blocks I will probably make more patterns for paper piecing or foundation piecing since that seems to create a nice center.   I think Buffie is right…she has made a paper piecer out of me.

DON’T FORGET:

• Happy Scrappers meets Saturday at the Attic Window Quilt Shop.  Chris will be giving a demo on how a way to paper piece that will save on fabric.
• AQS Quilt Week is the week of August 14-17 at DeVos Place Convention Center.  The Attic Window will have a vendor booth, so be sure and stop by.

ON ANOTHER NOTE:  Heads up all your scrappy quilters.  Crazy Mom Quilts has a nice tutorial for a scrappy quilt.  You  have got to take a look at this one!

Until next time,
♥
Stay Calm! Stay Kind! Stay Positive!
Caroll

HELP PLEASE! I THINK I HAVE STOOGECRAFT

I was reading Seth Godin’s blog today and he talked about Stoogecraft.  He likened it to the Three Stooges and said that they had impulse control problems…."they do whatever comes to their minds immediately."   I became uncomfortable.  That sounded a bit like me.

Seth went on to say that Stoogecraft people don’t think of the alternatives or the consequences.  I cringed.  Yep, that’s me.  For example this morning there was very little on my To-Do list.  After doing some blog hopping and answering e-mails, I decided I HAD to make just one block of this beautiful Kaleidoscope quilt that I saw on Ahhh Quilting. 

It took me most of the day because I sewed it by hand.  I love hand sewing while sitting on the deck and enjoying this beautiful summer weather.  However, I did not like how the center came together.  I have questions:

• Is there a secret to doing this? 
• How do you make all the points meet perfectly in the center? 
• Should I start sewing from the point? 
• I did that on some of them but there has to be a secret to doing this.  Anyone care to share?  I know it can be done because the points on the blocks on Cynthia’s blog are perfect!

Also in his post, Seth said that this short term thinking leads to “success avoided.”  Well, I think this block above is proof of his point.  It sure wasn’t a success and I avoided doing housework all day!  Help Please!

ON ANOTHER NOTE:  Did you see on the sidebar that Barb David has a new twilling book out?  You could make those darling Nutcrackers in redwork or twilling.  Check it out.  

AND ON ANOTHER NOTE:  Crafty Staci has a tutorial for a Rocking Chair Organizer.

Until next time,
♥
Stay Calm! Stay Kind! Stay Positive!
Caroll

JUDI IS CRAZY ABOUT STITCHING

Today I’d like to introduce you to Judi A.  You’ve seen her before as she attends events and classes at the Attic Window Quilt Shop.  She is our “go-to” gal when we at the Knotty Girls Stitching Bee want to learn a new stitch.  This past Saturday Judi brought some crazy quilt blocks to the Happy Scrapper’s Quilt Bee and I want to share them with you. 

Judy does such excellent work that I’m just going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

 How do you like that spider?

 Look at those gossamer wings on the dragon fly.

Judi is an awesome quilter and does fantastic stitching, and I thank her so much for sharing these with us.  It sure has me inspired and I’m thinking and planning and wondering how would these stitches look on solid fabrics?  Do you think it would look more modern?

DON’T FORGET the monthly weekend STITCH-IN.  The first one is this coming weekend.  You can come and finish those UFO’s or pick a special project at the shop.  Times are Friday, 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.; and if you want you can also come on Sunday from 1 – 5 p.m.  Seating is limited so reserve your space now!

On Another Note:  Speaking of modern, check out Pink Please for a wonky improve Circle Block tutorial.

Until next time,
♥
Stay Calm! Stay Kind! Stay Positive!
Caroll

TRYING SOME HAND QUILTING

I haven’t been able to get much quilting done between spending time with my DIL at the hospital and spending time on the couch because I’m still tired from my cold.  However, I did see something over on Lynn’s blog that I wanted to try and could do while sitting in the waiting room.  Above is a wonky 12” block that I made last week on the sewing machine.  This week I tried some hand quilting on it.

 This is a close up of my work.  Wow, that black thread sure shows up the need to work on and improve those stitches.  However, I love this block and will make it into a wallhanging or hot mat.  I haven’t decided yet.  Thanks Lynn for giving me the idea.  You can see how Lynn’s finished block looks here.

Knotty Girls meets Wednesday evening and I hope to get up to the Attic Window Quilt Shop and get some pictures for you.  It’s been over a month since I last attended, so I bet there are lots of new projects in the works

Have you seen this blog?  Stop Starting and Start Sewing has an interesting post/tutorial on how to turn one fat quarter into five yards of binding!  Check it out.

♥

Stay Calm! Stay Kind! Stay Positive!

Caroll

HAVE YOU TRIED HAND STITCHING?

Some of you may have read that I’m trying to improve my piecing skills.  The book 130 Mini Quilt Blocks is by Susan Briscoe, seemed like just the thing to help me do that.  This book includes blocks from traditional as well as new designs.  One of the sections included the Thrifty Thirties.  I have lots of thirties fabrics in my stash so decided to give these blocks a try.  This is the first block I made.

My printer was out of ink so I couldn’t copy the templates from the book.  Undaunted, I hand-copied them onto freezer paper, drawing on the inside (dotted) lines.  Then I ironed the templates to the wrong side of the fabric.  

I then drew the stitching line onto the fabric and cut out the design one-fourth inch away from the paper template. The drawing line helps me to know that my pieces match and that I'm stitching a straight line.

How do I sew this?  I didn’t want to sew it on the machine, as I wanted something to do when I sat with Mother.  I decided to hand stitch the entire block of this Sunburst pattern.  Years ago, I took a class from Maria Jaffas at the Attic Window Quilt Shop.  Maria showed us how to make a complete table topper by hand.  To this day, it is my favorite table topper.  As I look at the block I made yesterday, I think I got more precise piecing by using this meth.  The book cautions you not to stretch the bias edges.  I think that stitching by hand kept me from pulling and stretching the fabrics.  

The book has several other blocks in the Thrifty Thirties section that I want to try.  It shows you how to make a darling table topper or wall hanging using all the blocks.  I hope to get another one done today.  

Rosie, I hope you are reading this and can give me an “atta girl” for my piecing.

Don’t forget, the Attic Window Quilt Shop will be a vendor at the Grand Haven Quilt Shop this Friday and Saturday, July 29 and 30, from 10 – 5 at St. Patrick’s Center.  More than 150 quilts will be displayed.  Admission is $5.

Mark your calendar now for the Fall Shop Hop in Sept. 22-24 and Oct. 1.  Call the shop for further details.

Check out Alamosa Quilter for a great tutorial.  After trying the disappearing nine patch, I have to try this disappearing four patch. 

♥

Stay Positive!

Caroll