There Is Sunshine In My Heart Today

Here is a quick look at my Dresden Plate square.

My mom walked in while I was putting this together and fell in love with the pattern.  Guess who now wants a yellow/blue Dresden Plate quilt?  I wonder if I have it in me to sew one up by Mother's Day?

Here is the Christmas Tree quilt square that I did for myself.  I have contemplated starting over and putting two colors to make the tree.  It's why I haven't posted the pic until now.  I think I will wait until I get the other trees to make a final decision.

Quilt Conference for Feb. 2013

Hi Ladies,

Lovin all the posts on your projects!!!

I am wondering if anyone is interested in this quilt conference?  It is in Feb. 2013 so there is plenty of time to save up the $ to go.  I think it would be a lot of fun!!!

Quiltcon

You can also sign up for thier newsletter....

Keep quilting and posting!

Connie

It is Llewellyn again.....

Finally, I got my act together and did Jennifer S. dresden, right. Such a fun pattern, when you know how to do it. It is almost finish. I'm going to attempt to post some pics of other things I have done, with the help of Julie. She quilted two of my quilts and they are lovely.

Venting

I just need to VENT. I know why I'm not a seamstress. I have never made anything that I didn't do a really big screw up. Quilting has been no exception. Marnita your square is done and Jennifer I have cut out all the pieces and sewn them together and before putting the twenty together I realized that I had sewn them up wrong. Soooo, now I'll recut all twenty so that I don't have to pick out stitches. Well, I guess I feel better after the "true confessions" session.

I check everyday to see if anyone has posted pictures, words of wisdom or just chit chat about quilting. I miss the roll that we were on, where we were sharing what they were doing.

I actually have pictures I could post as soon as I figure out how to do it.

Happy Birthday, Marnita!

Happy Birthday to you, Marnita! Hope it is a fantastic one!

Cruise Control Sewing....

First off, I LOVE my new Janome sewing machine!!!   It has the best feature that I call "cruise control"!!!   Meaning, I don't have to use the pedal to sew.....I unplug the pedal and hit the "start/stop" button.....cruising along with my sewing...BEST. FEATURE. EVER.

Here are my Christmas trees for Marnita.....

And  my Dresden plate for Jennifer S.  I have to say that I have wanted to do a Dresden plate for a very long time now but I was very intimidated by this design.....this was so easy and fun!!!!!  Now, I want to make my own.   Jennifer, the picture isn't great since I have to use my iphone....but the flowers have the blue and a lot of white in them.  It doesn't look this dark in person.  I hope it works for you...if not I will  make you another one and keep this one  --- I am ready to get started on my own squares!!!

 Hope you both enjoy!

Connie

I LOVE YOUR POSTS!!!

I am loving all of the posts and comments, etc. It is like we are a real group! Keep it up!

Here are a few things I have FINISHED... nothing like being sick to get some "homey" things done! This is a quilt that I made for my daughter-in-law, Maria Mae. 

She is expecting twins next month!

Here is the back.
I used a Moda line, "Sophie" by Chez Moi. I love the line. I machine quilted it using a technique that I like to call "stitching in the vicinity of the ditch"!

Below is the binding. I tried it for the first time. It is one that Emily Sigler uses and is much better at. But, I'm happy with my first attempt. I love how it makes it's own "piping".

This small afghan is for Baby 'B", one of the twins. He or she is smaller than Baby "A". But it will be plenty big for him/her.





(anybody know how to put 2 pictures next to each other? This is wasted space is driving me crazy!)

I have made 4 of these. Finished 2. Given away 1. I made them for my 4 granddaughters (as of fall 2011). They each have the same center design and fabrics. But the borders and bindings are different, same fabrics, different order. The back looks like the picture below, with a different color (matching one the borders from the other side) and a yellow stripe.  They are all getting one for their birthday. Megan's was February 2nd, Ruby's is the 29th. Megan's was a real success. Hope they all like them. 

This is last year's FIRST "square". I liked it so much, I kept going, making row after row of zig zags! I made them into a quilt for my grandkids to snuggle under. I "quilted" it with a giant stitch using embroidery floss. 

I loved the robot fabric that Marnita used in her zig zag that I used it for the backing. What a fun project this was.



I'm sorry to post so much. I am just so excited that I actually FINISHED some projects, I wanted to share. Now I don't have so many "tops" in my basket. You know how it is, you have all this fabric... you make some really great "tops"... then they all sit in a basket waiting for finishing. (Thereby moving fabric from one pile to another!) Well, I got some finished! Yippee! (Not that I am glad I was sick. But there is this bright side!)

Spinning the Dresden Plate

Jen S.- I loved putting this block together. The yellow, white, and blue colors are such a delightful combination. Polka dots are my current fav!

Jennifer R's

Vanitta's

Here is a pic of my mom working on this block. She just started sewing the petals together when I stepped into the kitchen to do my dishes. When I came out, she had them assembled and was ready to sew her plate down.

quilters' anonymous

Hi.  My name is Emily and I'm addicted to quilting.

(I'll do a real intro soon)

here's my tree for Marnita.  

I still have to stitch down the snowflakes, but I don't have the right color of blue thread.

And my half-baked square for Jennifer S. 

looking forward to trading pieces with you all!

Sweet Trees, Is it Christmas? =)

We have a couple of blocks ready for you. I hope you like them. The first one is mine. With the exception of the stars, I appliquéd these with translucent thread. The trees were embroidered with a Clear Polyester thread that I found at Hobby Lobby. It gives the opportunity to focus on the fabric print.

Another View- These ornaments were appliquéd with a Mettler (Metallic Silver) thread. It is also translucent but, has a tendency to reflect a little more light. I though it was a nice effect on the ornaments.

Another view. This tree has JOY. Can you see it. The word JOY is embroidered in thin burgundy at the base of the small green tree.

This is my Mom's (aka Vanitta or Vee) tree block. Her inspiration tree required a bit more effort. I think it looks very festive. I think it will be a nice addition. The lighting was very bad. It is hard to see the true colors in this photo.

My favorite part of her block are the gifts under the tree. She appliquéd with a zigzag across the ribbon of the presents. Again, the colors are not reflected to be true due to the lighting. I should probably pull out a real camera instead of my phone for shooting block pics.

Marnita, I hope you like them! We enjoyed doing them very much!

Month to Month Updates

I have updated the monthly list of assignments to include Sallie and Emily. Just go to the post to see what month you are assigned. If you have any questions just let me know.

Goodie Bags update:  OK, Sherrie D and Julie, tomorrow I'll mail yours!  Just need to get them to:  Connie, Mardie, Martina and Sally.  I could bring them to the church Wed if that helps!  So glad everyone is liking them so far.

I have included a template for all but Jennifer R. and Emily, because they have the real deal.  Again any yellow, white, some blue, have fun with it and later I'll post the options for the center.

Dresden Plate, you are my my sunshine!

 Some mouth watering inspiration!

This is Jennifer Schwartz, Julie and I are switching months!  For February, we will be learning the Dresden Plate!  Here is some Dresden history of this versatile design.

Lately I'm a big fan of blue and yellow. Mostly because of this painting my mother-in-law did for me.  My sister was just here from Idaho and helped me paint my kitchen this cheery yellow!

Now down to business.  I have packages for each of you!  They each include a 12 1/2" blue base, Dresden template...thanks Jennifer R and Emily S.,  Some destructions, (yes I know I spelled it wrong...that's what my parents always called them growing up.) and a few zero calorie goodies.  (I keep trying to loose weight but it keeps finding me.)

First a Retractable Reel from Julie!  My most favorite tool!  Snap this puppy to one of the finger rings of your little scissors and hook it on your shirt and you always have your skissorz handy.

The other treat is a mini pin cushion I picked up at a craft fair and this sweet little old lady makes these using the "plug" from her coffee creamer container.  (That stuff is AMAZING in hot chocolate too...but not so zero calorie.)

Your mission, is to use charms or regular fabric in soft yellows and whites and blue if you feel the need.  The plate calls for 20 wedges total and you can repeat fabrics as much or little as you desire.    Have fun!

OK, now for some online destructions.  Use 4" strips or cut 1" off of a charm and you can get two wedges in each charm square.  Now play around arranging your 20 darlings any way you choose.

 NEXT...make SURE you are sewing a 1/4" seam!

 Start Chaining them threw.  My DS helped me push these puppies through with the fancy screw driver.  Make SURE to use a smaller stitch leingth 2 mm is GREAT...just don't make a mistake and have to unpick.  Cut some extra wedges just in case.

They sell a special tool for this but a bamboo skewer or screw driver do just fine to help push these tiny pieces through.

 Now nip the corners of the FOLDED corner, snip apart, and use this fancy shmancy turning device called a medicine syringe to help you make a nice point when you turn the self facings.

This is a young Dresden Jedi in training.  He is using "the force."

 Finger pressed and ready to go to the big bad IRON

 Make sure to use DRY heat, NO STEAM  or your pieces might stretch and warp and end up aligned with the "dark side."

Now pair them up right sides together.   The  destructions say to start 1/4' down (blue dot), back stitch up to the top and continue with the seam to the bottom.  This works great for the first one, however I am lazy and like to chain them all together.   I sew down about 1/4", backstitch to the top and go forward again.  If double reinforcement works Tripple is better right?

Jenn's famous tipple reinforcement.

 ALWAYS have the light material down, so you can press the seam to "The Dark Side" dun, dun, dun.  No really Julie taught me that.  Some destructions say to press the seams open (One seam allowance going right, the other left.)  You do what you think is best for you and your situation.    I just think it looks better not having underwear lines showing.

The Dresdens go marching two by two....

 Match up your pattern to sew foursies.

 I thought it kind'a looked like a butterfly.

 Now Make eightsies, twelvsies, and twentiesies.

Use the force to iron to the dark side.

Now for perfectly centered placement.   Carefully fold your 12 1/2" piece in quarters and iron just in the middle...use this for lining up your Dresden plate perfectly in the center.

Look at you go!  Now to decide what to use for the center and stitching it all on to make the finished block.  You are more than welcome to hand stitch this on by I guarantee I will be using the machine and a blanket stitch or something.  You do what works for you.

Just finished putting my 20 wedges together with the help of my 4 y/o!