Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Whachadoing? April's projects and the WIP for the week.

April 2013

There is a mosaic of what I made in April - not that much sewing happened this month. Mostly pickle dish units, I am up to 106 of 200. A lot of my time in April was taken with the FAL, I so enjoyed reading about everyone's wonderful finishes (you can too, anytime you want some inspiration go here). And I have a new family project that is a 6 hour highway drive away so I spent several days there.

Oh, and there is a little mini quilt for my Four in Art group that I will show off tomorrow - which is why I am sharing this today.

My plan, the WIP, the #widrn ("what I am doing right now"), so to speak, the things I will post on Instagram when I do sew, with dark and often not great iphone pictures, what will that be this week? Oh, and I am @shecanquilt on Instagram (and Twitter too - although I find this one harder to embrace and seldom read it or tweet) if you want to find me there.

100 of 200 pickle dishes done.

Well, first and foremost are more pickle dish units and maybe I will cut some backgrounds and piece some blocks.

Pink, Saffron, Blood Orange and Crimson - Red inspired mini quilts

I need placemats. We have a new to us, but old to the world, fancy dining room table. It needs placemats to protect it from my family as I like the wood so much that I cannot bear to cover it with a table cloth all the time and we do actually eat in our dining room due to lack of room in the kitchen. I think I will use those mug rugs I made last year as inspiration and get out some linen and some Oakshotts.

Low volume top and EPP

Finally, this week I want to get back to my Q2 FAL list. That low volume quilt is on my mind - I want to be using it this summer at the beach. I am going to get out my EPP and finish off the circles, maybe a movie is in order so that I can sit and do that.

I am going to link this post to a bunch of places, as each of them opens this week. Lynne at Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing DayLee at Freshly Pieced and the Needle and Thread Network. You can link too or you can go to each of these link groups for inspiration, they never disappoint. Buttons are all over on the right sidebar.

It have been sitting here watching the morning snow come down while I write this. A heat wave (well for us, +18 - +24C) is predicted to start on Thursday. But today, snow. I best get off to work then.

Best,

Leanne

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

I am mired in work in progress

Pickle Dishes, some progress

I feel like I am always sewing the pickle dish quilt. I am using the pattern templates from the K. Fassett book Quilt Romance. You will recall that the brief for this quilt was brown and mint green, which now that I have a lot of fabrics that are minty green/aqua and brown, is working for me.

In that photo there are about 80 units laid out. I am trying to decide how to use the few dishes which have minty solids and brown prints - should they be random sets of two, or grouped as a set of 8; should they be placed in a pattern (line, diagonal, one corner, etc.) or just randomly placed? The photo shows them grouped as sets of 8 and randomly placed. What do you think?

100 of 200 pickle dishes done.

Last night I hit the 100 unit mark, which measures 5" high. I think I need 200 for a king size quilt. Half way done is good, but I appreciate all encouragement you can give for me to do the next 100. I am hoping for a late night or two, it takes about an hour to make 6 of these for me. It needs to be finished (quilted and bound) by the end of June.

Pickle Dish Quilt

This photo gives you an idea of the blocks. I see a "block" as those 8 units on the right that make a rounded square. Or a block could be the 8 units on the left that make a butterfly. Imagine each with the backgrounds pieced in. Which is a better "block" for laying out and piecing later?

I really need to make some of the "blocks" now to get over the dish unit boredom. I am pretty sure that the blocks will look rather amazing, either way that I piece them, and thus will make the unit making more fun too.

To Boston with Love - Friendship Star Flag, front

On Sunday I made a flag for the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild's To Boston with Love project. It is a friendship star on both sides. Most folks are making hearts but I think a friendship star also works.

To Boston with Love - Friendship Star Flag, back

If you want to make a flag too, the details of the project are here, and then read the newer posts as there have been updates and further information too. This project makes sense to me and I think it will be amazing if a lot of quilters around the globe participate - sort of a world hug to those who need it.

The rest of my WIP list is short this week (it is long for the quarter but I am not thinking about that today) - I need to finish my bee blocks for Sarah in the Modern Stitching Bee, I need to finish my Four-in-Art mini quilt and I have the very last of the FAL administration to sort out to put Q1 to bed. I am almost caught up on my internet homework too.

I have not managed to do a WIP Wednesday post for a long while. Today I will link with Lee at Freshly Pieced and with the Needle and Thread Network where I know I can find a lot of other friends and inspiration, and so can you.

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced 


 Best,

Leanne

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Q1 FAL Winners!

she can quilt

Today is the the day I announce the winners of the prizes for Q1 of the FAL! I have looked at every single beautiful finish that was linked up for Q1 - it took me a while but was worth the time. I did my best to leave everyone at least one comment, and if I missed you it was likely due to the internet acting up and not letting me at that moment.

If you want inspiration and to read some lovely finishing up stories, I encourage you to check out some of the links. The finishes for Q1 were awesome. And if you do visit the links, try to leave a comment as they are so encouraging to get.

I am going to email all of the winners over the day, unless you email me first after reading this. I will need to hear back from the winners by Friday, April 26 so that I can arrange to get your prize to you, and if I do not hear by then I will pick an alternate.

Thank you again to our generous sponsors. Without further ado, the winners - each picked by the random number generator - of the Q1 FAL prizes are:


The winner of the Fat Quarter Shop gift certificate is Colleen who blogs at Colleenamareena - she finished this wonderful quilt:




The winner of the Green Fairy Quilts gift certificate is Nicky, who blogs at Mrs Sew and Soo - she finished this beautiful runner:





The winner of the Organic Stitch Co. gift certificate is Bari, who blogs at My Crazy Quilting Life,   - she finished this wonderful quilt:




The winner of the Avery Homestore gift certificate is Abby, who blogs at Quiltiverse - she finished this beautiful quilt:




The winner of the Simply Solids gift certificate is Lori who blogs at Lori H. Designs - she finished this beautiful quilt:




The winner of the Fabricspot fat quarter bundle is Elle, who blogs at elle in da coop - she finished this  lovely quilt: 



WhileBabyNaps

The winner of the Tea Time Clutch kit and pattern from While Baby Naps is Diane who blogs at  from blank pages - she finished this wonderful quilt:




The winner of the Fluffy Sheep Quilting gift certificate is Bee, who blogs at Buzzing Around - she finished this wonderful quilt:




The winner of the Knotted Threads gift certificate is Ella, who blogs at throw a wrench in the works - she finished this wonderful bag:




The winner of the Pink Chalk Fabrics gift certificate is Lisa, who is on flickr as Quilts by Lisa  -- she finished this beautiful table runner (I will see if I can get a better image of this for my blog, click here to see this lovely runner better):



Quilter in The Gap
Surprise Package from Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap

The winner of the surprise package from Rhonda from Quilter in the Gap, is Sheila, who blogs at bluepatchquilter - she finished this wonderful cushion:


I am having so much fun hosting the FAL, and it seems to be working well, we had a lot of finishes for Q1, I can't wait to see how everyone does in Q2.

I hope you enjoy or have enjoyed your Sunday!

Best,

Leanne

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Q2 FAL Sponsors, link your Q2 lists by Monday midnight


she can quilt

When Rhonda from Quilter in the Gap asked me to host the 2013 Finish - A - Long, I wondered if very many people would join in. Clearly that was not necessary - there were 357 finishes linked up! And as I am writing this post on Sunday morning, there are already 130 Q2 FAL lists linked.

In case you are still wondering if you should join us for Q2, today I am going to tell you about the generous sponsors that we have for the Q2 finishes. I hope that you will support our sponsors over the quarter and if you have a chance, thank them for supporting the FAL. It just makes finishing that little bit more fun knowing that at the end there will be an entry for each finish into the random draw to win all these wonderful prizes.











Quilter in The Gap
Surprise Package from Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap

 
£25 Gift Certificate from Tikki London

$25 Gift Certificate from Christa Quilts

By the way, I recommend each and every one of these wonderful sponsors to you for your fabric shopping. I have shopped at all of them but one - and I will be getting my order in there very soon - and each of their service and selection is excellent. And remember, I am in Canada, so all but one of our sponsors ships internationally to me without any difficulties. 

I also want to again thank our tutorial writers for taking their time to create such inspiring and helpful tutorials for us. If you missed any or want to check them out again, you can find the tutorials by clicking the tutorial name:


So remember that you have until midnight MST, Monday April 15, 2013 to link up your Q2 list - you can link your blog post or flickr picture(s). You must link up your list to qualify for the prizes. And don't forget to join our flickr group and post your progress throughout the quarter.

Again!!, about 4". And I am in the south of  Alberta too. #notgoinghometoday

I have no new sewing pictures for you as I have been away from home for the last week and will be staying put until at least Monday as now a new snow storm has hit. That picture was the snow on my car as I cleared it to go to grab a coffee this morning. Now I am using the day today to catch up on my blogging homework - this post, checking off the Q1 finishes so I can award the prizes, and catching up with blog reading. 

If I have not commented on your blog recently, it is just because I have been very busy on a new project this week, please forgive me and I hope to be back to reading and commenting when I get home, which will be whenever this snow stops and the highways clear for my 6 hour road trip home.

Best,

Leanne

Friday, April 12, 2013

Girl Friday Sews - a tutorial for an improv coffee cozy and mug rug

Fabric Mutt

Welcome to my stop on the Girl Friday Sews Blog Hop, which is hosted by my friend Heidi from Fabric Mutt.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

I love to have a cup of coffee or tea at my desk, both at my office desk and my desk at home. So I am going to show you how to make an improv coffee cozy and mug rug. As this is an improv piece, the materials list is not that particular. You will need some strips of fabric, a scrap of batting, a bit of fabric for the backs, about 2" of wide elastic and thread to quilt with.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

First cut the fabric scraps in strips of about 22" (the length of a fat quarter is good). It is more interesting to cut them in different widths, I used 1" to 1.75" widths. Sew the strips together and press the seams open.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Cut the strip piece into strips, again varying the widths. Either cut off a small rectangle of about 2" length or cut one from your scraps.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Lay one of the pieced strips along the rectangle and sew them together with a 1/4" seam (all seams in this project are about 1/4").

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Trim off the excess and press the seam toward the rectangle.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Lay another strip or the remaining parts of the first strip alongside the pieced part as shown and sew together. We are basically making a log cabin, although you can add an extra log wherever you like as you go.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Trim and press. Keep the left over bits as you can sew them together later to make longer strips.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Continue laying out more logs and sewing them on.

Untitled

If the piece feels like it needs a more angles, trim off a bit. When the size of logs needed is larger than your cut pieces, sew two together or sew on the left over bits. If you run out of logs, piece another set of strips and cut some more.

Untitled

When your mug rug feels like it is the right size, square it up or cut it on an angle, as you wish. I made mine about 5" x 7". Then lay it on your back fabric and cut the back about 1" wider than the  top.

Untitled

Then use your back piece to measure and cut out a scrap of batting.

Untitled

Lay your back face down, batting and then pieced part face up, just like a quilt. Smooth out all the wrinkles and pin baste. If you love to spray baste, you can do that instead.

Untitled

Quilt as you like. I used my walking foot, set a longer stitch length - about 4 on my machine - and stitched very close together straight lines. The quilting on this little piece took 8 minutes - it looks much more difficult than it is.
improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Trim the excess batting and back fabric off. You can square it up at this point or cut it on an angle, as you like.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

On small pieces and mini quilts, I prefer a single thickness binding. I think it is just so much nicer, so I am going to show you how to do that. You can, instead, bind the mug rug as you like. To do a single thickness binding, cut strips of scraps 1.25" wide. I lay them around the edges of the mug rug to make sure I have a long enough piece.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Starting about 2/3 from one end, sew one edge to the front of the mug rug, with a 1/4" seam allowance.  I sew to 1/4" from the next edge and you can see how I mark the stopping point. I put a pin at 1/4" from the edge and stop when I get to it. Then back stitch a few stitches and cut the threads.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

This is how it will look.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Fold the binding at a 45 degree angle back off the mug rug as shown.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Keeping that fold in place, fold again parallel with the stitched edge. Then start stitching at the folded corner, back stitch a couple of stitches. Continue to the edge and repeat the corners.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

After sewing the last corner, sew about 1/3 of the last edge and stop. You can see in this picture that I realized that I had started too close to the middle of the mug rug and unpicked a few stitches  along the edge.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

I join the binding in a line. If you like to join it on an angle, you can use your normal method here. I fold the two pieces as shown so that they just touch. Finger press the folds.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Fold the mug rug in half and match the folds. I pin to keep this in place.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Bring the mug rug to the needle and stitch along the fold.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Lay the mug rug flat and make sure that the seam allows the binding to lay flat along the last edge of the mug rug. If it does not, stich again where you need the seam to be and then unpick the first seam. Trim the seam allowance to about 1/4". Then stitch the last bit of the binding in place.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

These next two steps are different from how I finish a double fold quilt binding. First press the binding away from the top of the mug rug.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Flip the mug rug over and pull the binding flat. fold it in to line up with the edge of the mug rug and press. I just leave the corners alone at this stage.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

I hand sew the binding on the back. To mitre the corners, fold them as shown and then fold over the outside binding.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

The corners should mitre as shown in this picture. Stitch around the mug rug. I use a hem or ladder stitch but a whip stitch also works - use the stitch you usually use to stitch a quilt binding.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Admire your mug rug.

improv mug rug and coffee cozy tutorial

Grab the bits of strips left over and stitch them into longer strips. I aimed for about 3.5" wide, but it can be wider if you like. If you need more strips, make another set and cut them as needed. Press.

Untitled

Measure the pieced strips around your favourite take out coffee mug. Aim for the pieces to overlap about 1/2". Trim as needed.

Untitled

Lay the pieced strip on top of another batting scrap and then quilt as desired. I did more close together lines.

Untitled

Lay the quilted pieced strip on your backing fabric right sides together, as shown. Cut the backing the same size as the quilted strip.

Untitled

Sew around the edge, using a 1/4" seam. Leave a long opening for turning, about 5" or so. Clip the corners - that is cut off the corners on an angle to remove the excess fabric.

Untitled

Turn it right side out and poke out the corners. Turn under the edge where there is no stitching and pin. Top stitch close to the edge of the strip all the way around. This will close the turning opening.

Untitled

Position a scrap of thicker elastic (I used a 1" width) on the back of one edge of the piece and pin, as shown.

Untitled

Stitch the elastic close to the edge and back stitch.

Untitled

Bring the strip around and pin it to the end of the elastic so it just touches the other side.

Untitled

Gently lay this under your presser foot as shown and stitch the elastic on the other side as shown. I did not bother to trim the elastic on the inside after but you can if you like.

Untitled

Try your cup cozy out for size. It should fit snugly as you move it higher on the cup. If by chance it is just too big, take it off, remove the elastic and instead just stitch the two sides together, one on top of the other. For the cup cozy to work well, it needs to be snug on the cup or you might drop your coffee.

DSC_0648

I hope you enjoyed making these improv pieces. They look sophisticated enough for both the outside and home office and people will think that they were far harder to make than they were.

The last stop on the Girl Friday Sews Blog Hop is Monday with Heidi from Fabric Mutt. If you missed any of the wonderful tutorials, you can go back to see them. The whole blog hop list is:

Mon., April 1 -- Heidi Staples @ Fabric Mutt
Tue., April 2 -- Kristy @ Quiet Play (Pink Chalk Fabrics giveaway: $25 certificate)
Wed., April 3 -- Becca Bryan @ Bryan House Quilts
Thur., April 4 -- Amanda Woodruff @ A Crafty Fox (Westwood Acres giveaway)
Fri., April 5 -- Lee Heinrich @ Freshly Pieced
Mon., April 8 -- Svetlana Sotak @ SOTAK Handmade
Tue., April 9 -- Beth @ Plum and June (Sew Me a Song giveaway: fabric bundle)
Wed., April 10 -- Taryn @ From Pixels to Patchwork
Thur., April 11 -- Lori Hartman @ Lori H. Designs (Fabricworm giveaway: Robotic fabric bundle)
Fri., April 12 -- Leanne @ She Can Quilt
Mon., April 15 -- Blog Hop Recap at Fabric Mutt

Tomorrow I will be telling you about the Q2 FAL sponsors. If you have not yet posted your list, you are going to want to that - the link up is here - you don't miss out on the wonderful prizes our fabulous sponsors are going to be sharing.

Best,

Leanne