Time for an Ark?

I feel for all the folks in California suffering from lack of rain...if there was a way for me to send you a bit of our weather, I would! We have had soooo much rain! Hardly a dry day and many days with drenching, soaking rains! 

You would think all this rain means lots of sewing time. But for me it just means I have to find creative ways to keep a dog busy! But I have had time to do a bit of sewing...

 

I have been working on a little fun swap....

And I have been playing with a few of the new fabrics we received in the shop....

 

 I love this Yuwa 50's Tape Measure print. Not only is the print fun with great pops of color, but the hand of this fabric is yummy! 

Also, we got a few of the new Suzy Ultman Message In A Bottle prints. Suzy is a local designer and I adore her whimsical designs.

Again...I felt the need to just stitch...no pattern just a little improvisational stitching!

    

Plus,  how fun are these Jelly Clips!

It seems so appropriate to be working with nautical prints given our wet weather! 

Have a great weekend!

mary

A Year of Finishes....Part One

As my first full year of blogging is coming to an end...I thought I would recap the finishes and some beginnings of 2011....

In the Quilt Category.....

We have one of my favorite quilts of all time and certainly my favorite quilt design. 

Gypsy Kisses is a pickledish design from Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession fame.

This is a multiple techniques quilt....paper foundation piecing, patchwork piecing, hand applique, and hand quilted.

A popular theme this year was the Union Jack....

 

 

And Molly helped with the label.



Another Material Obsession quilt started and finished....although not completely quilted yet....

Strawberry Fields - which I call Tea Party

I love the sweet feminine nature of this quilt, but for some reason quilting it seems like such a chore for me....does this ever happen to you?  Here is the best thing about this quilt....it was while making this quilt that I emailed Susan {I didn't know her at all but I knew she had made this quilt}.  My copy of the book had errors and I wasn't sure why things weren't working out properly.  Enter....Susan to the rescue!!!  What a lucky girl I am :)  Good reason to finish this one, right????  

  

I was so fortunate to be able to do a couple of quilt samples for the shoppe using Suzy Ultman's fabric lines.....Appleville and Critter Community...

  

In May I was in a New York state of mind....a New York Beauty that is....

A whole cloth quilt...

made from flannel on the front and linen on the back....

  

A baby version of my Coin Quilt made from Birch organic....

I love this quilt....with the straight line quilting and then pick stitching...

   

Molly {my oldest daughter} decided to try her hand at quilting.  She does fabulous embroidery and loves crazy quilts.  So I thought she would enjoy a little hand applique and then to quilt in crazy quilt style!!!  Well, she did a marvelous job....

   

Then Lark {from Amy Butler} arrived in the shoppe....

  

Most recently, I have finished the Wonky Little Houses Quilt...again a sample for the shoppe...

It has been a fun year of quilting and making good friends!  I have a few more finishes to share later in the week....

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend :)

mary

Critter Community Complete....Friday Finish!

This project started with a selection of fabulous fabrics designed by our own {Ohio} fabric designer....Suzy Ultman.  Our little shoppe {Sew To Speak} was fortunate enough to receive a preview bundle of fabric... and then I was fortunate enough to be allowed to take a bit to weave into a project!  So, at the risk of being labeled a One Trick Pony....I made a quilt!

I have blogged about this quilt for the past week or so...my inspiration was an antique quilt - a log cabin on point - made in the 1890's!  Although, I am sure the quilter of the 1890's would be totally perplexed by the term wonky or liberated to describe to her quilt, but that is exactly what she accomplished!!! 

  

Suzy's fabric is so bright and cheerful, I had to pull out my bright spots and ginghams! 

By placing the block on point, I ended up with a pieced square in between the blocks where the four points meet....I love this little square!

For the back I stitched a few cast off corners together and squared them up....just enough to give it a little pop on the back!

It is pick stitched with perle cotton....

And for the binding I used a Riley Blake stripe with dashed lines...love those dashed lines!

This is a small quilt...just about 45" X 45"...perfect size for a wee one!!!

I love it!  But it began with a fantastic inspiration fabric....thanks Suzy Ultman!  We adore you!!!

For today the plan is to do a little hand piecing on my hexagons....

    

And try to stay cool!!!

TGIF!!!

mary

Corner Triangles and Setting Triangles....

My Log Cabin On Point - Critter Community Quilt is pieced and I am hand quilting....but I thought {in case you want to make a log cabin on point of your own} I should post the formula for figuring up those pesky corner triangles and setting triangles....

For the Corner Triangles...I needed to cut a square in half once on the diagonal.  This way my stretchy bias would be on the long edge which was sewn to the 4 corners of my quilt...

to figure out what size you should make the parent square {which will be cut once on the diagonal} follow this formula:

  

1. Take your finished block size X 1.41

2. Divide that answer by 2....and ADD 0.875".....then round up to the nearest 1/8th. inch to find the parent block size

3.  Take the parent square and cut it in half once diagonally to yield two corner triangles.  You will need two parent squares cut once on the diagonal to yield four corner triangles.

I had a 10" finished block size.....so my parent square was 8"

   

Now, along the sides I needed to add Setting Triangles.  For Setting Triangles I needed to take a square and cut it twice diagonally.  This gave me four triangles with the straight of grain along the long edge {which would be my outside edge}. 

To figure the size for the parent square in the Setting Triangles....follow this formula:

1. Take the finished block size X 1.41 and round this answer up to the nearest 1/8"

2. To the  answer in step 1....ADD  1.25 inches....this is the size of your parent square for Setting Triangles

3. Cut a square this size and then cut the square in half twice diagonally.

So for my 10" finished block size....I needed a parent square for my Setting Triangles that was 15 3/8 inches.

Hope this helps if you decide to do a quilt on point!

For today...I am going to try to finish quilting this baby and maybe **fingers crossed** get it bound!

Here is a little peek at the back....I am lovin' the back!!!

Have a great Wednesday!

mary 

Works In Progress....

Hit a bit of a rough spell here with a child under the weather :(  Booo!

But plugging away at the Garden....#9 and #10.....

And still getting to a little of the log cabin on point featuring Suzy Ultman's Critter Community...

Happy Wednesday....nearly Thursday!!!

mary :)

Some New Critters!

Lady Luck was smiling on our little shoppe {Sew To Speak} when a preview of Suzy Ultman's Critter Community arrived..... then the Lady turned her attention on me....when I was allowed to have a bit to make samples for the shoppe....LUCKY ME!!!

So I began cutting some yummy polka dots and gingham.....

a little Critter....

For this project I was inspired by a Log Cabin quilt made in the late 1800's....turned on point...

The Critters will be the fire in the cabin....

This will give you an idea of where I am going....
It is just such a pleasure to work with Suzy's fabrics....so bright and cheery!!!
Happy Monday Everyone!
mary

The Secret is Revealed!

I had to keep mum about the project I was involved with for the shoppe....Sew To Speak....but the previews are being revealed!  You can read all about it on the Sew To Speak blog.

Robert Kaufman sent the shoppe samples of fabric designed by local fabric designer Suzy Ultman....our challenge was to make items using the fabric!!! Yee-haw!!! The line is called Appleville and is full of bright, bright colors with adorable little houses, apples, and sweet friends who look like they live in Appleville!!!  Very happily, I might add :)

I felt the panel samples should be framed in bright youthful fabrics, with lots of colorful stitching!

This fabric was well suited to playful shapes dancing around the blocks....

And a little fussy cutting sets the scene for a bright summer day!

It was a fun challenge!  Although I don't think we had a single sunny day the entire time I was working on this....so sorry for the less than stellar photos!

mary