So the dress isn’t turning out as planned. I think it looks funny around the neckline and The Husband says it looks “poochie” around my middle. There isn’t enough time to fix it and I’m not sure I have the skills necessary to fix it anyway. Off to the dress shop for me! I love this dress from shopbop.com:
But I don’t think I have the toned & tan back necessary to pull it off.
Also – does anyone else think The Husband is saying I have a gut when he says it is “poochie”???
This was completed about the 12th of September so I am not super late–but late enough that I’m wondering if I’ll be able to make the December deadline for the final two quilts. It isn’t layered or quilted yet. I am trying to complete a dress for some upcoming occasions so it has been set aside. But it is fully pressed and once I finish the dress (which is being sewn from a lovely chocolate brown satin) I will climb back on the charity quilt train. At least until Halloween costumes derail it.
Once again I was inspired to use the pinwheel technique that I learned from a Missouri Star Quilt company youTube video. I also mixed in a more traditional method (though also a quickie two-fer technique) to make pinwheels that I have known forever so I’m not sure who to credit for it. I thought it would be fun if the pinwheels were varying in size. The entire quilt was made from one Moda ten inch layer cake from the Fresh Squeezed collection and some white muslin. I loved this fabric collection and it was hard to cut into it but I’m glad to have put it to good use.
Me! In 2 hours, 57 minutes and 32 seconds. This is a major milestone in my goal to complete a full marathon before turning 40. I am so stoked! Er, and a little sore.
I would post a pic for you but I don’t have one yet, and there are probably copyright issues with the pro photos that were taken. Besides I look craz-i-fied when I am running. You understand, right? 
This week I attended quilt judging for my guild’s quilt show. It was an enlightening experience – you can learn so much listening to the comments that the judge makes.
Unfortunately I did not get to see my own quilts undergo her scrutiny. I entered two quilts – the Pinwheels Aplenty quilt and also a challenge quilt I made for my other guild some time ago. (Sorry, I couldn’t find a picture of it.) They both ended up in the same category and I had to leave to meet the school bus right as my category was coming out for judging. Sigh. I’d say I wasted a vacation day except that her comments were useful reminders of the basics.
I did however get to see the quilt above judged. It was a round robin that I participated in, and I added the appliqued outer corners before handing it off to someone who created a pieced border. I was quite proud of how my addition to the quilt turned out because it was the first time I’d done so much applique. The quilt did not win a ribbon – darn! That was my best shot at being able to say I’d participated in an award-winning quilt this time. Oh well. Such is life. I didn’t make either of the quilts I entered with a show in mind and I know they have many of the flaws that the judge was not impressed with. I submitted them because I feel it is important for the guild members to participate and they were the quilts I had that were both finished and present.
Another great thing about going to the judging – I’m fired up to complete some quilts that have been languishing unfinished while I work on the charity challenge. I’m working on the top of the third quilt – it is taking rapid shape! Hopefully I’ll have an update and some pics of it for you soon .
Have you ever put a quilt in a show? What was your experience?
You might have noticed a slack-off in the podcast department. I’ve been quite wrapped up in my charity challenge and projects around the house. I’m not saying I won’t be podcasting again but it will probably be awhile before another episode comes along. So this leaves me wondering: what do you like reading here? Are you here for inspiration, tutorials, just the podcasts, jokes, …? What can I put in this space that will be helpful to you? Leave a comment and let me know!
The couch continues to hang around in our computer room in a state of disarray. I have the fabric almost completely removed. You would not believe the number of staples holding your couch together. It is kind of strange really how little sewing is actually done on the couch. All of the peeled-off pieces are sitting on the seat, and this is how it looks:
Scary, right? I am really fascinated and surprised by the construction. It is a lot of work, I’ll tell you that. But if I can get it to turn out halfway decent I might have found an additional hobby. I’ve already found myself eyeballing various furnishings as I drive by garage sales or on the side of the road. Yipes!
You might remember from this post way back last year in 2010 that I hosted a giveaway where the prize was a kit to make your very own Owl Quilt. The winner was Heather and she recently quite graciously sent me a photo of her finished work! Didn’t it turn out super-cute?
Heather's owl quilt
And here is her owl being shy:
That echo quilting is awesome. It really makes the owl stand out!
And check out her back. Wow!
She also sent a few pics of another quilt she made called “Diamonds”:
I loooove the blue. I can’t get enough of that color! In fact, even though I painted my kitchen a sort of robin’s egg blue (real robin’s egg, not the shade you might think of as robin’s eggs from Easter candy) I am thinking of adding a touch of icy blue to our foyer. Hmm. Can it be done tastefully? Not sure…
At last! I bring to you a tutorial for charity quilt number two: Pinwheels Aplenty! I would like to start out by giving credit where credit is due. I did not make up the technique I used to make the pinwheels. I first saw it in the below youtube video from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. If you are not aware, they have a number of tutorials available on youtube that you can find just by searching for “Missouri Star Quilt Company”.
This quilt is quilted in an all-over meander with white thread and finishes about 36 inches x 42 inches. I can officially call my version a frugal quilt since I spent about $18 for the fat quarters and $1 for the backing. I had the rest of the supplies from previous projects. Ok, I guess I did buy a couple spools of thread. So I spent maybe $25 to make this.
Supplies required:
Step 1) Cut 40 6 inch x 6 inch squares from your fat quarters. Also cut 30 2.5 inch x 2.5 inch squares from the fat quarters. Obviously 40 does not divide into 6 fat quarters evenly, so I made sure to cut the most pieces from my favorite quarters.
Step 2) Following the video tutorial, take 2 6×6 inch squares of two different fabrics and place them right sides together. Then sew a 1/4 inch seam all the way around the edge of the square. Using your ruler and rotary cutter, cut across the square in an “X” (two cuts, corner to corner…be careful not to shift the square during the second cut.) This produces 4 triangles. Open the triangles and gently press them towards the darker fabric creating a square. There are now exposed bias edges so you need to be careful not to distort the fabric. Trim the dog ears off of each square and arrange them into a pinwheel. Sew two squares together, then the other set. Press one pair towards the left and the other towards the right. Then when you sew the two sets together to form the entire pinwheel the seams should nestle together. If not then you might have pressed one of them the wrong way; just press in the opposite direction. The last seam can be pressed whichever direction you think creates the least amount of bulk.
Step 3) It is trimming time! Here is the ruler I used to trim mine:
You can find one at Quilt in A Day’s site. There are many sizes to choose from but mine is 9.5 inches. There are also many brands of square up rulers; consult the instructions for yours if it is different.
To trim your block: Lay the ruler over the block. The writing “Quilt in a Day” should be visible and readable (not upside down!) Line the diagonal line up with the diagonal of the block. Like so:
Then look for the 6.5 inch lines on the left and bottom of the ruler. Keeping the diagonal lined up, line the left and bottom edges up with the 6.5 inch line. Cut on the right side of the ruler. (note – these instructions assume you are a righty.) In my picture below you can see that my lines don’t match up totally along the left of the block. If you can’t get it to line up because the edge isn’t straight then err on the conservative side as I did in the pic. Don’t sweat it; we’ll fix it as we move around the block.
Pick up your ruler and rotate your block to the right so that the freshly cut side is closest to you. Place your ruler back on the block, line up the diagonal, line up the left and right edges with the 6.5 inch lines, then cut the right edge with your rotary cutter. Continue this way on the remaining two sides. Good work! A nice square 6.5 inch block.
Step 4) Take one of your white sashing strips and lay it flat. Pin your blocks to one edge of the strip with the right side of the pinwheel facing down. Leave a small margin between each block. It doesn’t have to be exact but about a 1/4 inch is enough. I have 5 blocks pinned to the strip in the picture below. (Sorry, the picture washed out a bit so it is a little hard to see the strip. Especially since the strip is on the bottom. Ya, good planning there, Kel!) Pin all 20 blocks to strips in this manner.
Step 5) Sew a continuous seam on a strip, attaching all of the blocks to the strip. Do this with all of the blocks.
Step 6) Cut the strips at the margins between the blocks. Trim back any excess strip to be in line with the top and bottom of the block. Press the seam towards the sashing. This is the left side of the sashing.
Step 7) Cut your remaining white strips into 6.5 inch x 2.5 inch rectangles. Sew a 2.5 x 2.5 inch square to the end of 20 of the rectangles. Press towards the white strip.
Step 
Now we’ll make the bottom side of the sashing for each block. Take a block from step 6 and lay it face up with the sashing that is already applied to the left. Now lay a unit from step 7 on it face down and pin as shown. Sew the two pieces together along the bottom. Repeat for the remaining blocks.
Step 9) Arrange your blocks into five rows of four blocks each. Sew each row together, alternating the direction of your press for each row. (So, for row one press the seams to the left; row two press to the right, etc.) Sew your five rows together.
Step 10) Almost done! Now sew four 2.5 inch blocks and rectangles together and then sew those together to form the top row of the quilt. Press towards the rectangles and sew it to the top, matching up the seams. Then sew another row of 2.5 inch blocks and rectangles to form the right edge of the quilt top. Attach the right edge and press towards the sashing. Congratulations! Your top is complete!
Step 11) Press & starch your backing, then lay it on a flat surface with the right side down. Smooth your batting over that, then lay your top over the batting. Center the top (doesn’t have to be exact, a good eye-balling will do) over the batting and smooth out the wrinkles. Working from the center out, pin baste your quilt sandwich. I pinned in the center of each pinwheel and also in the center of each of the 2 x 2 inch cornerstones.
Step 12) Quilt as desired, removing pins from the area to be quilted as you go. I quilted mine in an all-over meander. However there are lots of options that would be cute here…be creative! A good place to find machine quilting ideas is Leah Day’s site, the Free Motion Quilting Project.
Step 13) Apply your binding. I don’t have a tutorial for doing that but there are tons of them out there.
Label your quilt (if desired) and you are done!
Disclaimer: at the time of this posting, I have received no compensation of any sort from the brands, shops, and/or blogs mentioned. They are referenced in this tutorial because they are the materials and inspirations that I used while making this quilt and I think they are worth checking out. Enjoy!
The pinwheel quilt - complete!
So I finished it! Actually I finished it three or four weeks ago. I’ve been slow in getting pictures posted. I have the tutorial mostly written up as well but I haven’t found the time yet to finish. This quilt actually turned out very frugal for me – I spent less than $25 on new supplies and everything else used was left over from other projects. Woot! You can’t beat that. It is Kaffe Fasset fabric and I love the colors.
Here are a few more pics:
We also just got back from the beach. Here is The Husband and me living it up in the Outer Banks:
The children were there too, of course. We had a blast…even when The Husband got the camera wet in the ocean. Oops. And when I lost the replacement camera. Double oops. But all ended well – the card from the first camera survived and we later found the new camera in the sand near a hamburger stand we went to. Whew!
Jane over at Want it, Need it, Quilt it is hosting a quilt-along and she asked for volunteers to write up instructions for a block. So here I am, unable to resist the opportunity to talk about my favorite subject: hand-piecing.
My scrappy sugar loaf
The block I chose is called Sugar Loaf. I’m not the originator; it is a very old traditional pattern. However it is one of those patterns that really isn’t in favor at the moment and instructions for making it in a specific size can be difficult to find. This version of the Sugar Loaf will finish 8 inches by 8 inches (8.5 x 8.5) and it is a terrific opportunity to showcase some snappy modern fabric. It has tons of variations. You can see just a few here at the Quilt Index.
What you’ll need:
At least 2 different fabrics for the diamonds. You could make stripes like I did and use four fabrics or make it totally scrappy with ten different fabrics
A larger piece of fabric for the background; a 9 x 9 piece should do just fine
Neutral thread for piecing
A needle for piecing (I like a size 11 sharp – but whatever you are comfy with)
Clear or frosted template plastic
A printed copy of the template
Ruler, scissors, pencil, Sharpie, sand paper (optional but very helpful)
Step 1) Print out the templates. Cut them out of the paper (don’t use your good fabric scissors, though!) Tape your templates to one side of the template plastic. Use your ruler and Sharpie to carefully trace the templates on the other side of the plastic. You should be able to see the template through the plastic to guide your ruler placement. Transfer the single line from the template onto the plastic as well. It marks the direction of the grain in the fabric when you cut your fabric. Cut the plastic templates out – again, don’t use your good scissors.
Step 2) Sharpen your pencil up nice and pointy. Place your fabric right side down on the sand paper. Place your template on the fabric. Observe the direction of the fabric grain – you will want the single line drawn on your template to be parallel to the grain in the fabric. Adjust it until you have it parallel. If you want to fussy cut it now is also the time to think about your template placement. Once you’ve got it placed, carefully hold the template down and trace all the way around it with your pencil. This is the seam line.
Step 3) Now we’ll add the seam allowance. If you aren’t picky about the edges of your fabric pieces lining up you can just eyeball a quarter inch around the drawn line and cut it out. If you want precision use your ruler to add a quarter inch to each side. Just line up the quarter inch mark over the drawn lines and draw a new second line (on the outside!) of the piece a quarter inch away then cut on the outside line. Repeat this for the remaining nine diamonds and for the two background pieces.
Step 4) We’re going to start at the top of the triangle and work down one leg. Take the topmost triangle fabric and orient it like so, right side up:
Now place a second row diamond below it, right side up:
You are going to carefully flip the bottom piece over as if the edge where they are touching is a hinge. You’ll get something like this:
Notice that the blue piece is now wrong side up. In other words, the two diamonds are right-sides together. The seam lines are not quite matched up yet, though. We are going to match up the seam lines using pins. Push a pin through the marked (the inner line, not the line where you cut) corner seam line of the blue piece. Flip the pieces over so that you are looking at the back of the red piece and pierce the corner seam line of the red piece. Secure your pin and do the same with the other corner. You’ll notice that you now have a slight “dog ear” at the corners and that is normal. If it helps you can add more pins along the seam line, pushing a pin through the line of the top piece, then flipping it over to get the pin to emerge through the seam line on the other piece, then secure.
Step 5) Thread your needle and tie a little knot at one end of the thread. Starting in one pinned corner (remove the pin) sew on the seam line from corner to corner with a small running stitch. Take a back stitch now and then to help secure your stitches. At the corner take an extra back stitch and when the thread is almost pulled tight, run your needle and thread through the loop to make a little ending knot. Pull it tight and snip the thread leaving a quarter inch tail.
Step 6) Repeat this process for the rest of the leg. You should have 4 diamonds sewn in a diagonal line when you are done. Make another one for the next diagonal of the triangle, this one with three diamonds. Then a third with two diamonds. Now sew the four diagonals together. You should match where four corners come together with pins as you did with two pieces. When you get to a corner do not sew the seam allowances. Only sew on the marked lines – the seam allowances should be free-flappin’.
See the flapping seam allowances? They are not sewn down as in machine piecing.
Step 7) Matching the corners and seam lines, pin one background piece to the unit from step 6. Sew in place and repeat on the other side.
Step Press your block. In the picture below you can see that I alternated the directions that I pressed. I also “fanned” the seams in the spots where four corners came together. It looks a bit like a pinwheel. This is one of the benefits of not sewing down the seam allowance – you can experiment a little with pressing to get the flattest possible piece.
Step 9) Use your ruler and a rotary cutter to cut off the tails of the diamonds hanging below the edge of the block.
Line the quarter inch mark of your ruler with the tips of the corner seams...
...then cut along the edge of the ruler to get rid of the tails
If your block does not quite measure 8.5 x 8.5, don’t despair. The bias edges can cause a bit of distortion. To fix it, spritz your block with water then pin it out on a carpet or your ironing board, gently stretched to the size you want.
That’s it! You should now have an awesome hand-pieced block. Congratulations 
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