And the winner of the Quilter’s Newsletter subscription is: Collette!  Thank you everyone for entering, and congratulations to Collette. 

The AQS show at Paducah has the winners listed.  Go check out the list!  There are some beautiful quilts.

Would you like to win a $1000 Accuquilt shopping spree?  They are holding a contest.  Check out the details.

Have a listen to the show.

with framing…

without framing…

And Jane – I love that you have a pic of yourself labeled as the ‘quilt geek.’  I have long considered myself a quilt nerd/geek.

And Gretchen’s beautiful finish:

How do I enter the fabulous Quilter’s Newsletter subscription contest?

Enter the contest in up to three ways:

*leave a comment here on the blog

*leave feedback at itunes, then leave a comment about your feedback here (because I can’t be sure I’ll be able to contact the winner if it was an itunes entry otherwise)

*join the Pioneer Quilter group over at the Big Tent - it’s easy & free.  You will have to join the main Quiltcast Supergroup before you can join the Pioneer Quilter subgroup.  Come check it out – lots of other quilting podcasters are there, too!

Challenge: MAY MAYHEM!!!

What is May Mayhem?  That is the title of my May challenge for listeners.  I have decided to challenge myself to perform a quilting or sewing activity every day for at least 15 minutes for all of May.  Would you like to join the fun?  Head on over to the Pioneer Quilter group at the Big Tent.  All you have to do to join is leave a reply to the forum topic entitled ‘May Mayhem’. 

Then  once a week I will post a new forum message for you to log your progress at.  I will have mini podcasts each week to discuss the progress and whatnot of the challenge.  Consider joining up today!

Enjoy the show!

Thank you to the many listeners leaving comments!  The Husband especially likes your feedback

In March I had the opportunity to see Patricia Knoechel of Quilt-in-a-day fame speak and give sewing demonstrations.  It was well worth the $3.00 entrance fee and the 1/2 day of vacation!  She was promoting her sister Eleanor’s book, ‘Quilt Blocks on American Barns’. I bought a few things and had a great time.  I am glad I took the time to go.

Hurray!  I finished The Boy’s quilt.  Sorry, we are having technical difficulties with the camera so no photos yet but I wanted to share the awesomest finish on the binding I have seen: the ladder stitch!  I heard someone mention it on a podcast – I am thinking Annie Smith but honestly it was months and months ago so I am not sure who it was.  So I googled it to find a tutorial.  I found this super-clear and easy to follow tutorial at Turning Turning.  Check it out. 

Head on over to Big Tent to join the Pioneer Quilter group!  You will need to join the main Quiltcast Supergroup before you can join Pioneer Quilter.  Signing up will get you entered in a drawing to win a year of Quilter’s Newsletter!  You can also enter by leaving a comment here and by leaving feedback on iTunes (and then notifying me of your feedback here.)

Have a listen!

• The Modern Quilt Guild.  I’ve seen it mentioned on Sew Mama Sew several times and meant to bring it up.  Alert listener Carlyn reminded me about it.  Are there any Modern Quilt Guild members listening?  Send me an email or leave a comment if you are a member.  I’d love to hear what it is like.
• The Ladies’ Art Company Block Tool by Connie Chunn.   What an awesome reference!  It has a great variety of blocks and gives cutting sizes for up to 5 different block sizes. 
• The Quilter’s Newsletter had two patterns that I loved this month.

Have a listen!

Keepsake Quilting – I am still in love with that Halloween block of the month.

AQS – a contest!  Just fill in the form here.

The Alliance for American Quilts is holding a quilt contest.  Entries aren’t returned, but it is for a good cause and your work will be documented in the Quilt Index!

My sister Karri is participating in the three day Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure event in Cleveland this year.  If you can provide her some support it would be greatly appreciated!  Also she is hosting a children’s clothing swap & shop March 6th in Rootstown, Ohio.

Goals for this year:

• 18 episodes for a total of 34
• Back, quilt, & bind The Boy’s quilt
• Embellish, back, quilt, & bind the Round Robin quilt
• Back, quilt, & bind the Sunburst quilt
• start piecing something new!

What are your goals for the year?

Click to listen!

Visit Jackie’s website (of the Quilting Chronicles podcast) to visit her new online fabric shop.

Check out the latest quilting podcast to go live – the Scientific Quilter with Darla.

If you are a knitter or crocheter, or enjoy other yarnish arts visit Ravelry.

I also mentioned Sew, Mama, Sew and Pattern Review – both sites are resources for sewers.

Listen to the show here

Weeee!  Here it is.  We’re very excited

Visit Barbara Brackman’s site for info about her newsletter.

Jane’s quilt class pics:

Jane made this by hand! Can you believe how lovely it is?

There is a new addition to my wishlist:  a tile quilt!  See an example at Barbara Brackman’s website.  If you don’t follow Barbara’s blog and you are in to historical quilting facts…get with it and subscribe to her blog!

On to frugal quilt projects – piecing a potholder!  In episode 8 I talked about all of the pieces you would need to cut out.  I am sure you have them at the ready!  Here are the steps we will take now:

1) Take a light square and a dark square and place them right sides together.   Point a pin right at the upper left hand dot that you marked on the piece facing you.  Now push the pin through, and flip to the other side.  You are looking for the pin to exit from the upper right hand dot on the back piece.  If they don’t line up, adjust the placement of the pieces until you can get the pin to pierce both dots.  Then slide the pin into place.

Pin two pieces corner dot to corner dot

2) Now thread your needle.  Tie a small knot at the end of the thread.  Then, like with the pin, insert your needle in the upper right hand corner dot of the piece facing you, and get the end of the needle to puncture the dot on the back piece.  Then you will rock the needle to the side and take a small stitch.  Pull the thread through.

Make a small stitch right on the upper right hand dot

3) Re-insert the needle in between where the thread originally went in and came out – you are taking a backstitch.  Then work the needle in and out to load several stitches onto the needle and pull it through.  You want the stitches to be small…no larger than an 1/8th of an inch.  Whenever you pull the needle through, start again by taking a small back stitch.

4) When  you get to the pin, pull it out.  Don’t sew past the dot.  Your last stitch should go through the dot.  I do a small backstitch and pass the needle through the loop and pull it tight.  Then snip off the excess thread, leaving a small 1/4 inch tail.  I then finger pressed my seams toward the dark color.

5) Now add a third square to create a row.  You will create three rows – two with your first fabric at the ends, and one with your first fabric in the middle.

A whole row sewn together

6) To pin two rows together (make sure you pin the right two rows together…remember a nine patch has a checkerboard effect) lay the two rows right sides together.  Pin the upper left dot as we did for sewing two squares, then also pin the dots that are where the pieces meet.  If you finger pressed the pieces all correctly the seams should lock into place against each other.  Then sew across, just like for the single squares.  When you get to a seam allowance, don’t sew it down.  You are going to push the needle through to the other side of the seam allowance right on the dot and continue sewing.  Take back stitches on either side of the seam allowance.

Pinning two rows together

 7) End it just like a single piece – on the dot, with a loop knot.  Then open out the pieces.  To reduce bulk at corners you’ll want to flare out the seam allowance, as below:

Flare the corners out to reduce bulk

Now sew the other row in the appropriate place.  Look for the checkerboard!

Congratulations! You've got a nine patch.

Next time we’ll talk about quilting it!

Guest shot of Krypto the dog:

Krypto!

I took a break from the frugal quilting series because I wanted to release something.  We’ve been super busy trying to get our house ready to put up for sale.  I know – it’s not a great time to sell but our circumstances don’t care about the timing!  The Husband makes a (surprise) guest appearance.  

I mentioned 4 books in this episode:

• The Civil War Love Letter Quilt by Rosemary Youngs
• The Quilter’s Catalog – a comprehensive resource guide by Meg Cox
• Material Obsession – Modern quilts with traditional roots by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke
• American Quilts and Coverlets in the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Amelia Peck

I finished a Round Robin round – applique!  I do have a picture of it but of course I haven’t downloaded it from the camera which is AWOL somewhere in the bowels of or house.  (update: found the camera!)

Me & the latest addition to someone else's robin

I’ll be at the NQA show June 19th.  Stop me and say hello if you go!