I LEARNED TO LOVE PAPER PIECING

You may think you have seen this one before, but I don’t think so.   I showed you Buffie's paper pieced focus square quilt.  I showed you Deb’s quilt.  And I may have shown you pieces of mine, but above is my finished quilt.  Got that…FINISHED! 

This quilt was so much fun to make and even more fun hunting for those special focus squares for the center of each block and then trading with others in the Happy Scrapper's Bee.  This is my prince charming. (Maybe he needs a kiss.)

I love the fabric I found for the back and bet my great grandchild will too.

This is a close up.  What child wouldn’t like to be wrapped up in this!  Buffie was so right - she has made a paper piecer out of me.  I want to make another one.

On Another Note:   Sew We Quilt has a tutorial for a darling table runner.  It would make a great gift.

Also: Yesterday when I put out a call for gift ideas, someone suggested pot holders.  I love this one because it is different, creative and uses scraps.  Check out Fairy Face Designs for the tutorial. 

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

WHAT WILL YOU DO THIS WEEKEND?

Remember these?  It seems like I’ve been making tea leaves forever, but I still have only 150 of the 260 that I need.  So, guess what I’ll be doing this weekend.  How about you?  What will you be doing this weekend?

I’ll also be cutting out the 4” background squares (maybe).  I couldn’t wait and decided to just see how things were going to look.  Ugh!  I don’t like this at all.

This is what Buffie’s sample quilt looks like.  I love her subtle colors.  However, I don’t think I’ll be getting that with my 30s fabrics. 

I thought about using grey fabrics for the backgrounds, so I tried placing some leaves on these fabrics.  I think I like it, but I’m just going to continue to make leaves and wait until the Happy Scrappers meet next Saturday.  Buffie said she would help me choose background fabrics. 

ATTENTION:  I know one other thing I will be doing this weekend - attending the West Michigan Quilt Guild's show.  Quilts On The Grand is this weekend (Oct. 5-7) at the Delta Plex Arena in Grand Rapids, MI.  There will be over 250 quilts on display, demonstrations, quilt raffles, special exhibits, and a vendor mall.  I can’t wait for those doors to open!

On another note:  Bee in My Bonnet has a nice tutorial for an Easy Square in Square.  Since I’m trying to improve my piecing skills, this might be a great one for me to try.  Check it out.

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

TEA (LEAVES) ANYONE?

This past Saturday was an awesome day.  I attended Buffie’s Tea Leaves class at the Attic Window Quilt Shop.  Buffie heads up the Happy Scrappers Bee and has a great eye for color and design.   Above she demonstrates as she talks about color and contrast and value and gradation.

Here,  Buffie shows us her quilt that drew all of us to the class.  Isn’t it beautiful!  I’m used to bright fabrics, but I love the subtle shades in this quilt and am anxious to understand her technique and thought process.

Buffie shows the group how to make the tea leaves using the starch and freezer paper method.  By the way, there is also a tutorial on my sidebar for the freezer paper method.  Just click on the witch’s feet and it will take you to all the steps involved.

Rosa shows us her first tea leaf.  Looks perfect to me!

These are Stephanie’s leaves.  She has a good start on the 260 leaves that she needs to make the quilt.

These are my leaves.  I’m not using all yellow in the quilt.  I started out using only 30s fabrics and Buffie suggested that I add other lines of fabric.  So I started with my pile of yellow fabrics.  It’s a wonder Stephanie and I got this much done as we spent a good part of the day laughing and socializing!  It was so good to see her again.

Adrienne is using these beautiful oriental fabrics that she got when she was in Japan.  She said it will be a small wallhanging with a single color background.  I can’t wait to see how this turns out.  It was so great to finally meet Adrienne.  We had been corresponding via email for some time, but had never actually met face to face.  What a joy she is.  I love her sense of humor.

 Above, Peggy, Buffie, and Adrienne enjoy a little chat.    

 Rosa looks serious!  Wonder what she's up to?

Stephanie (in pink), Lee Ann and Brenda (far right) get ready to make leaves.

This was such a fun day.  It was therapy for me.  It was so much fun talking and laughing with everyone. I was thrilled that Stephanie came up from Kalamazoo to spend the day with us.  She is such a dear and it had been a while since we actually got to sit down and talk.  She is a joy to be around.  Just talking to her and Adrienne and Rosa and all the others helped me get rid of my stress.  And that Buffie…well what can I say.  She made me a paper piecing addict and now she's making me a Tea Leaf addict!   I didn’t want to go home, but it was time for the shop to close so I got booted out!  It was a fun class and many thanks to Buffie for being such a great teacher!

Stephanie took more pictures than I did.  Hop over to her blog, Peas In A Pod,  and see what she has to say about our “therapy” day and about the Modern Quilt Guild we hope to get started on this side of the state.  I agree with Stephanie, the day filled my soul! 

On another note:

I think most quilters love cats!  I know I do, and was excited when I visited the Crazy Creek Quilts site and saw all the free cat quilt patterns. 

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

DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE THIS?

I have no idea what this is, but it reminded me of me trying to keep about a million balls in the air at once.  My great grandson left it here on his last visit.  I think of him every time I look at it. 

And one of those balls that I’ve been trying to keep in the air is my paper pieced “I spy” quilt that I hope to give to my grandson.  I have finally completed all my paper pieced blocks and have them ready to sew together with the sashing.   It was so much fun looking for special fabrics to use in the center of each block.  I’m still collecting them as I’ll probably make one or two more quilts.  As Buffie promised, I've become a paper piecing addict.   I have lots of great grandchildren who I bet would enjoy this quilt. Following are some of my more recent blocks and probably my favorites.

Above is my pile of blocks all marked for sewing.  I hope to show you the finished quilt soon.

In the mean time I have a couple of links you might be interested in.  Check out Quiltyvisionusa.  Click on your state, or the state you will be visiting, and find quilts shops you would like to visit.

Quilt Story has a Monkey ladders Quilt tutorial for you. 

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

WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH SCRAPS

The Happy Scrappers Quilting Bee met Saturday at the Attic Window Quilt Shop.  Above, Buffie shows us the result of a Pandora’s Box.  Long ago she place the pieces in a basket and forgot about it.  She moved and later found it again.  Determined not to move that basket one more time, she got busy and finished it.  Buffie has a great eye for color.  I love how she used the pink to pull together all those various scrappy blocks.

Terri is that rare kind of person who doesn’t have unfinished projects.  This is a close-up of her Spider Web quilt.  She used scraps and made the pieces wonky.  I think that’s why I love this quilt so…scraps and wonky.  She’s my kind of gal!

This is Lee Ann’s latest project.  It is only half finished but she is still working on it.  I think the pattern is Trip Around the World.  I love her choice of fabrics.  She said I might like the way this quilt is made, and suggested I take Chris’s class and learn her easy method for making this quilt. 

 And last but not least, check these out.  These are goodies that the quilters brought to share!  We all love it when Rosa’s husband cooks.  He made these wonderful blueberry cakes for us. In the front left and right are a Blueberry Cream Cake and a Blueberry Cheese Cake.  In the middle is my Crunchy Fudge Bars.  I didn’t get a picture of it, but Buffie also brought a cucumber salad that was to die for!  Needless to say, no one keeled over from lack of food while they were quilting.  I figured I had to keep my stamina up because of all this heat!  How's that for rationalization.

Here’s a quick fun summer project for you.  Do you have a puppy or know someone who does?  Check out Riley Blake Designs for a cute puppy placemat.
♥
Stay Calm! Stay Kind! Stay Positive!
Caroll

YOU'RE NEVER TO YOUNG TO START QUILTING

Last Saturday the Happy Scrappers met at the Attic Window Quilt Shop.  I’d like to introduce you to our newest and youngest member.  Elsa is also known as Little Pea on the Peas In A Pod blog (also on sidebar).  She is 7 ½ years old and came up from Kalamazoo to spend the day with us.  Don't you just love the eager smile. 

Of course Mama Pea (Stephanie) helped her with a few things.

Elsa has been sewing for a while and got this beautiful sewing machine last Christmas.  I wonder if she’s named it yet?  I forgot to ask.  Sure is a pretty sewing machine.

Elsa made this paper pieced block during the morning.  Didn’t she do a fantastic job for her first try at paper piecing! 

This is a close-up of her block.  Check out that fussy cut center.  Elsa shared some of those cute little centers with me and I can’t wait to make my own blocks with them.  Thank you Elsa (and Mama Pea) for driving all that way to spend time with us.  It was a fun and we hope you will come again.  I was sorry I had to leave in the afternoon to go to my granddaughter’s open house.  However, I did take lots more pictures of the Happy Scrappers and will share them with you tomorrow.  Until then,

That’s all for today folks!

Mama Love Quilts has a wonderful Dresden tutorial table runner.  Check it out.

♥
Stay Calm! Stay Kind! Stay Positive!
Caroll

HAPPY SCRAPPERS MEET

The Happy Scrappers Bee met last Saturday at the Attic Window Quilt Shop.  Looks like Tari came ready to sew.  Remember her pile of scraps at the end of this post?  Tari took Buffie’s words to heart and got organized!  We now call her Miss Organization.

During Show N Tell Judi showed us her toy soldiers.  She is participating in Barb’s Christmas Toy Soldiers Redwork Club.  Isn’t this darling.

Here is a closer look at Judi’s block.  Notice how she is growing eggs instead of flowers!   I love it.

Peggy shows us how she is using her scraps.  She says these are not her colors but she decided to use those scraps and make a quilt.

 Buffie generously shared her thoughts on scrap quilting.  She said the quilts reflect your soul.  Buffie says everyone sews quilts for a different reason.  She said that she sews for color.  Buffie believes that every quilt has a story.  She said that every quilt is beautiful because it says who you are.

 Buffie shares one of her scrap quilts.  I fell in love with it and got her to promise she would show us how to do a scrap quilt like this.

Rosa has been busy making pillow cases for the One Million Pillow Case Challenge.  I love the bright colors.

Colleen shared her large scrap quilt with us.  She said that she just pulled reds, greens, whites and blacks from her stash and created this quilt.  It is amazing to see what one can do with scraps.  This quilt is stunning!

Brenda showed us this bucket that she made and explained that as she was sewing on the binding she sewed all the pockets closed.  We got a big giggle out of that because we all could relate.  Who hasn’t done something like that!

I’m going to end with Judi who is looking a little perplexed at her pile of scraps.  Her goal is to get them organized like Tari and Buffie do.  We expect to see Miss Organization II at the next meeting Judi!

Squares And Triangles has a nice tutorial for a scrappy staircase quilt.

Remember, a while back I told you how you could convert these tutorials easily into a pdf file to be printed off or filed on your computer.  Well, some people have said they have trouble with that link so I have another link for you.  Maybe this one will work better.  Try Web2PDF here.

♥
Stay Calm! Stay Kind! Stay Positive!
Caroll

ANOTHER SCRAPPY LOOK YOU WILL WANT

Hello again!  I wanted to show you this beautiful scrappy quilt that Buffie made.  She calls it her cabin quilt.  It is a nice size and a wonderful way to use up those scraps.

This is a closer view of the blocks.  I’m hoping she’ll show us at the next Scrap Happy Bee how she did this one.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to use this pattern to make a Quilt of Valor that Barb talked about here?  I’m sure I have plenty of red, white and blue scraps.

This is the back.  Buffie even used scraps on it.  I love a back with this scrappy look to it.

Announcement:  Have you noticed the new blog header?  I love it and want to thank Sue Christafferson for making it for us.  Sue is a new teacher at the Attic Window Quilt Shop and has graciously volunteered her talents to help with the newsletter, ads, and the blog.  Sue did the post yesterday and also created the cute little Reindeer Games button on the side bar.  What talent that gal has!  Sue, I can’t thank you enough for all your work and help.

Farbstoff blogspot had a quilt along and has a nice tutorial for making the blocks.
♥
Stay calm! Stay kind! Stay Positive!
Caroll

WHAT WE LEARNED AT SCRAP HAPPY BE

Let’s talk organization.  When I went to the Bee on Saturday my project box looked neat and orderly like this.  I tried to imitate Buffie’s organizing skills.  I showed you a picture of her project box here.  (See second picture.)

However, after a day of sewing, my box looked like this.  It took me an hour while watching TV to get it back in order.

 I wish I could be like Brenda who manages to make these nice neat blocks and still maintain organization.  Brenda said something I thought important.  Not about organization, but about buying fabric.  Someone asked, “How do you know how much fabric to buy?”  This is Brenda’s rule:  If I like it, 1 yard.  If I really like it, 2 yards.  If I R-E-A-L-L-Y like it, 3 yards.  Great advice, Brenda!

During Bee, we talked about organization and Terri came prepared to take action.

Terri spent the afternoon organizing her scraps.  Looks like she's doing a good job.  Buffie shared her ideas and suggestions for storing our scraps and keeping them organized.  Next month we might have some ideas and patterns for using them.

Handmade By Alissa has a nice baby quilt pattern and instructions for you.

♥
Stay calm! Stay kind! Stay Positive!
Caroll