Today in the mail, I received 2 books books that I ordered  on line.  Both books came with DVD's,  which, of course, I had to watch...I love my books..and especially when they have a DVD.  I am a visual person...show me ..and I learn it...if I read it ,ehhh,  not so much....but show me and I CAN do it....with a DVD, I can see over and over again...as much as I need.(  I think I am dyslectic..I always reverse stuff, get numbers wrong, even when I swear they are right) 

These are definitely a 'show me' book..
Karen McTavish...
.McTavishing...that's a type of quilting...machine or hand quilting....and she is great!  So down to earth..I think that I will have to order a couple more of her books.

I love anything that can help me learn about and  do my hobby and I don't really care about the cost of the books, or stuff that helps with my hobby..(to a point).....ooopps?..was that my BIG voice?..
YES.....
there ......
I said it....
I  wasn't always like this.  I am usually very careful about how I spend ...but lately I realize that time is running short..there is soooo much I want to learn and I might not have time for it all.  And I want to do most of it...not it all but most of it...lol

I've almost finished the book on paper piecing (The Experts Guide to Foundation Piecing)  and found that one of the methods that I learned in a previous workshop was there..I did find this method a very good one, but not great for a one off, which "The Farmer's Wife" is..so I will continue as I was...with tracing paper printed off the computer.  Although, I might adjust how I use my patterns...ie..fold it back so as to not sew through the paper....
I know from experience that some people have problems with copying paper piecing patterns....(we have to remember...no scaling on the printer.(..BIG ..BIG one).)...but they should stick with it because it can be quick and easy, once they get the hang of it. and oh so accurate..maybe this is a book that everyone should peruse .. I know that I did enjoy and learn some things from this book.  I picked up a couple of tips.
I wonder if the guild library has a copy of this book?

I can get really tired if I sew or sit at a table for too long.  I am very short, so I use a stool...often...and I have many. 

 I keep my sewing machine in a desk.  I can't really work with it on a table.  I am constantly straining to reach the machine or the pedal. 

So, I modify things to suit my needs.

raised pedal





where it should sit

 

I use an adjustable office chair (no arms) and have my pedal raised so that I don't have to stretch.

I cut my desk so that I could move my machine to the right.





 

 This is where my machine "SHOULD" sit..

I had my husband cut out part of the top of my desk so that it could be moved over..I gained 1 3/4 inches.





1 3/4 inches cut out











 I moved the machine to the right so that I can sit "centre of the needle"


new position in table

Yes, I have moved the machine that far.  I do my little prayer before I start to sew.
I close my eyes ...put my hands in the prayer position...right at my nose.....then lower my hands with my eyes closed..open up and see where my hands are..right in front of the needle??  Great...time to sew..if not ..I adjust my position until I am ...it front of the needle.   Now, my back doesn't cramp up from leaning over to the left.  I had to take some clear plastic and cover the hole in my plastic "adapter".  I really don't know what to call that 'surround".  I have more room to the left of the needle and more room for my thighs under the desk.
I am more comfortable and I can sew longer.  I still get up and bop
to the music when I start to get stiff..or need to press, or just too good of a song





So, now I should be away to the races, right?  Right!  I was able to work on the next 2 blocks and only screwed up  a little on Butterflies at the Crossroads.  I had to reverse sew.. or had a frog..ripit..ripit...hehe..just a little when I placed the wrong colours .  Messed up on the pink and fixed it.  I don't know how I did that because I wrote the colours on the back...just not paying attention, I guess. 



the back

Here is a look at the back! I keep all the paper and fabric trimmed, it's easier to match seams.  I match them with pins then pin and sew.

I did them same with all the blocks...keeping
the paper trimmed also trims the threads.
BONUS!

The next block was fairly quick and I have started using strips of fabric .  This block was in black and grey.   Buzzards Roost.  I used a blue centre. The one fabric is a directional print and it took a bit to keep it going in the same direction.

Last week we had quilt guild, and for our program we had a book dealer..Grantham Books, visit us.  It was quite the evening, with everyone catching up on everyone else's summer and browsing all the books. 

It sure was a fun evening and I bought 6 books. 

One of them is "The Expert's Guide To Foundation Piecing".  I had to buy it, after all, I am paper piecing one hundred and eleven blocks for the "Farmers Wife Quilt".  I hope that maybe after all of them it will be second nature for me. 

 

I took a workshop many years ago with  Shirley Stutz.

 We used freezer paper and sewed in such a way that you didn't have to remove the paper when you are done. 

I think that this book might cover that.
 This is the block that we made..

It was a one day workshop, but we had homework to complete first before we could work on the block.   The block was worked in 6 triangles, that came together quite nicely.



1/6  of block



 I also remember that it was Thanksgiving  and hot, really hot.  We were in a church with no air conditioning...just one lonely overworked fan.  Twenty or so sewing machines and at lest 5 irons going, and 21 menopausal women.   It was HOT..but I came home to a lovely Thanksgiving dinner cooked by my son and hubby.  I can't remember if I finished the block there or at home. 

So, now I am reading the book, working on the blocks, maybe learning some new techniques.  I am not going to share what is in the book,  if you want to know the different techniques, you will have to order the book.

One thing I did learn, the method I am using has a name..under pressed piecing..huh..did not know that..but that is why I bought the book.

I am all caught up to my printed out patterns.  It is a real pain to print out patterns one by one as I need them.  So I decided to print out all the rest of them.  It took me all day,  yes all day...first I had to cut down the tracing paper.



tracing paper



Bev told us at quilt guild about tracing paper at the dollar store and that she used it.

 40 sheets per pad  I needed 3 pads.  They are all cut down and I made sure that the little pieces went into the green bin.  That's recycling for those of you that didn't know.  I will get that back as dirt for my garden some day. 

Then, back to the 'puter and start printing.  I went through all the patterns and previewed them one by one.  Some, I had to move the pieces as they straddled the edge of the paper.  And feed each sheet one at a time.  I didn't trust that they wouldn't jam or wrap around the spindle again.   After an hour, I put a small stack in the printer and it was fine.   Got all the patterns printed out and one spare sheet.  Hah! what luck!



the pattern sheets

So now I can just sew...

I am making a huge mess in my sewing room..scraps begat scraps
While I was off topic I made up my BoM.



Block of the month

                                             
This would look nice as a whole quilt...and that I know because Dawne made one up already and it's gorgous!

Buckwheat

Buckwheat..lots of half square triangles and a few squares..nothing can go wrong...go wrong...go wrong..
I certainly wanted to do this one paper pieced..so I picked out my fabrics...and started sewing..

Before I started sewing I wrote light (L) medium(M) and dark (D) and the back or sewing side of the pattern so that I wouldn't screw up the colours.  Hehe...I still screwed it up.  not much..just on little tiny square.  I couldn't figure out which one.  I had to come back to the computer, open up EQ6 and check out the block...still couldn't spot the mistake.  I had to go to the pattern preview and check each square against my block and move it away until  I had checked each one.  I finally found it and only had to redo 2 pieces.  I found it was a challenge to figure out how it went together.  I had to return to the program again to see it...I just couldn't visualize it.




buckwheat



Looks great now. 

These were all fabrics I had cut previously into 2 1/2 inches  The colours went great ogether.                                                                                                         

                                        

    Now I have to get busy and print out more patterns.  I have used all that I had and it was nice to have a few ahead so that if I had trouble with the printer  I am not screwed....next comes an easy block .                                                                                                                                                                                        

Broken sugar bowl was a dilly...I took days with that one.  I just couldn't get at my sewing room, and I don't know why...I certainly didn't get any housework done.
 I did do laundry and and towels...all the towels for the pool.
 We closed the pool.  I really hate having the pool closed.  It means that summer is definitely over.  I watch that pool cover all season long, watching the birds play, drink and bath in the puddles on top of either the solar blanket or the winter cover.  Once the ice forms on the winter cover, the birds desert the yard... and only come back for the feeder. for which  they have competition .




I was really close ...maybe a foot away



I was able to get within a couple of feet of this baby possum.  This little opossum visited the bird feeder for a few nights.  Climbed up the pole and helped himself.  One night it was baby raccoons climbing the pole and the screen on the door....the raccoons are around for my neighbours cherry trees.  They get drunk on some of the fermented berries.  The neighbour has trapped 2 possums and 5 raccoons so far this month....yes!!!this month!



this is a small feeder ..6 x8 "

  










broken sugar bowl completed

 I finally got back to my sewing room and finished Broken sugar bowl..don't know why it took so long. Here is a pic of the finished block.  It looks pretty good and I really didn't have any issues with it.

Broken dishes...hmm..the easy blocks are paying me back..

I thought that this one would be easy, after all, it's just half square triangles..  What could go wrong?  Well I tried to take shortcuts, and didn't think it through.  I did say I didn't want to think or do math.  So, I thought easy way to make half square triangles is to print out the pattern layer 2 pieces of fabric right sides together, pin my pattern on top and sew on the diagonal lines.....no..a quarter inch on either side of the diagonal lines ..which I had to redo..cut them all apart, took off the paper, pressed them and of course ...they are too small

pattern pinned in place

So, I started again...back to the printer and added 7/8" for each square...ended up as 3.5 inches added to the pattern.

When I previewed the pattern, it is too large for the paper ...so I used legal paper,(which is HEAVY), print it out twice and then I have my complete block..I can tape the pieces together and place it on my layered fabric.  Now I will sew all the diagonal lines and cut it all apart

sewn on either side of diagonal lines

                                   

PERFECT!...But I forgot..I would get double the amount of squares this way..I removed all the paper, gave them all a press and sewed them together

So I have enough for 2 blocks

waiting to be sewn

I have to bake for quilt guild today ...and go to the next town and pick up stuff for the meeting ..plus tonight my gkids and their Mom stay for dinner, so I have to cook also...going to be a crazy day.   I never bake anymore,  so I will have to look up a good recipe for squares. Quilter love to share snacks.   I have almonds, pecans, currants and craisins..

Last Wednesday was what would have been my mother's 84th birthday.. I dreamt of her every night it seems.  She was a quilter and a sewer, a painter, cake decorator, musician and artist, she knitted and crocheted. She did some out of necessity, some for pleasure; she was good at whatever she turned her hand to.

  She started sewing  as a young woman.  

 Dad bought her a Singer Sewing Machine with his money from the army and she had that machine right up to a few months before she died. On that machine  she  sewed for my sister and I, (I don't remember her sewing for my brothers), she sewed for her home and she sewed for herself.

  She made almost everything from dresses to coats and jackets and even her "unmentionables".  Anything that she could for her home.

She started quilting  in her sixties and jumped in with both feet.  She even  dabbled with painting and dyeing fabric ..she made herself and Dad a quilt and one for each of my 3 brothers and their wives.  When Dad died she gave their quilt to a granddaughter and made herself another quilt for a single bed and started making cuddle quilts for charity.

This last year I started making her quilts...she could no longer remember how to work her machine.

  When she went into a nursing home I wanted to make her a wall hanging for her room.

She never got to see it...

The quilt is a Rose Window from the book ROSE WINDOW QUILTS

by Angela Besley.

I call it

"A ROSE FOR MOM."

I had barely started when she passed away...I had a very hard time finishing it.  Then one day I decided to finish it in her honour.

this wall hanging was machine appliqued and  machine quilted.

It took me HOURS to square it up..I worked until the wee hours in the morning trying to square it and couldn't....finally I went to bed and came back to it the next day..

I keep it on my dining room table so that I am reminded of her every day.

Number 9 Box

The ninth block is called BOX .  Eight half square triangles and one square.  I printed out a pp pattern for this block.  Instead of using small pieces for it all I used larger pieces and joined squares that were the same colour.  I went for a blue center.  Larger pieces meant less sewing as three seams were eliminated.


Gee, am I only at nine..well 10 is
 Bowtie.

I didn't paperpiece this one either.


corners pinned



I cut the larger squares, cut the smaller ones...put the small square on one corner of the large marked a line and sewed across,chain sewing them all,then flipped the corner over, pressed, flipped it back trimmed off the back and sewed the 4 together..



finished block



It's has been cold since the long weekend...dark and rainy....low 60's and one day in the 50's...brrrr...I've started taking out warmer clothes and putting away summer clothes. Then is got really hot again and now it is cool.  No matter what the weather  it is always a.... Good time to sew.
I had a major bump with the printer.  I was printing off a pattern that was two pages, the first printed fine, the second crinkled up.   I went back and moved the pieces around so that I only printed out the second page and.....the paper wrapped it's self around the spindle in the printer....not just a little, but really tight  and completely..I couldn't grab it anywhere..    I tried tweezers... turning it off and on, the sensor didn't pick up there was a jam.  I ended up cutting the paper off with a craft knife, grabbing the ends with tweezers and turning it off and on until I had all the paper pulled out..Then I had to do some maintenance  to make sure I hadn't screwed up anything...I was finally able to print out the second page.

The next block I did was  #  Bouquet.  A pretty easy block when paper pieced.  I need to use larger pieces of fabric so that my seam allowances are covered.   That finicky "Y" seam is not a problem when paper pieced.

I have finally finished my granddaughters quilt ..It's called Floating star .  I made two of them at a time,  one for each granddaughter.  I still have to quilt the second one..  BUT...it's all set to go!

birds in the air



one quarter block



complete block

Birds in the Air..this is a difficult one.  The triangles are small..and there are lots of them....but paperpiecing helps.  I've used a dark blue and this printed beige fabric for the background..I've used this background often.
I saw this block made up as a large quilt at guild the other day and it was stunning.  I thought I heard the owner say that she took a month to make it, but someone else heard a year...her quilt was made with all the blocks a different colour.  She didn't say whether not she paper peiced her 12 inch blocks..I really should have taken a pic and posted her quilt, but hindsight is 20/20.
In a larger block this would be easy to do without paper piecing, being that it is all half square triangles.  Amazing how difficult it looks when it really isn't.  It's dealling with the really small triangles that makes paper piecing the way to go on a 6 inch block.

Autumn is coming...schools are back in session and Quilt Guilds are back to their meeting schedules...Block of the month seems very interesting this year.  Maybe I will participate.

Hallowe'en decorations are  out in the stores and with them BATS!  I don't like bats, even if they do eat mosquitos and other bugs...

bat wing

 Bat wing is block #5.  I didn't want to use the black and grey as in the book.  Paper pieced of course.  


I started using some of my other notions.

My little iron and iron stand and my cutting and pressing "book".  It folds up like one..is the size of one..just perfect for on the desk next to my sewing machine.  Perfect for taking to workshops. I accidentally pulled the little temperature knob off the iron the first time I used it.  hmmm.I was able to put it back on.  I now have 3 little irons.  I bought a bigger one before I realized I could fix the first one, then inherited my mother's irons.



Block #6 Big Dipper
Don't know why this one is called big dipper...I see a pinwheel.
 This is one  that I pieced also.  I measured the pattern to see what size of square I needed, then
  I took my squares of fabric, layered them,
marked with another ruler called Quick Quarter .

quick quarter ruler



big dipper

   Sewed on the outer lines and cut down the center.  Pressed them open, layered them again, marked, cut and pressed and my block was almost done.  This block worked up quite quickly...but I still hadn't realized that I could get cutting direction from EQ6...




my finished block

 

Block #3 is a basket.  Again I stuck with the colours in the book.  Paper pieced with tracing paper. I made an inch wide tube for the handle  and machine appliqued it down.

I really HAVE to remember to trim!..lol



 bias bar 

  I used my Bias Bar to help press the tube.  To hold it in place while I stitched, I used ELMER's School Glue.  I added a fine flow tip so that I didn't saturate the fabric with glue. It washes out, but I used just a little so the fabric is not stiff.  I marked a placement line with a wash out marker., placed my tube, gave it a quick press to help dry the glue.   Set my machine to a zigzag stitch set at 1.0 long and 1.0 wide, matched the colour thread with the fabric and sewed it in place



block #4

 Block #4 was also paper pieced.  I could have been easily sewn with strips.  This is one of the easiest blocks to make.  A whole quilt of this block is quite striking.  Our Guild used this pattern often for cuddle quilts because it works up fast and easy.  Basket weave or rail fence.


Happy 8th Birthday to my beautiful grand daughter...
for a surprise ..her parents and her grandparents (us)
bought her a loft bed..it included a bed, stairs (drawers) a cupboard and a desk.  We kept her busy for the day while mommy and daddy cleaned out and assembled her new room..she was so surprised that she was speechless!  Talk about a very happy little girl.  Apparently she couldn't sleep, she was so excited..

Quilters use a lot of different stuff ...sometimes they are made for quilting , sometimes not.   Rotary cutters were not developed for quilting..we adapted them.   I have many things in my sewing room that came from my hubby's tool chest. I have hammers, screw drivers ( we all need those for our machine) pliers..just to name some common ones.

Notions that I use, I will share with you..any tips that I have, I will also share.  I am not promoting the notions that I am using ....I just have them and find them useful.  I have to remember I have them and find them and use them.
 If I have a tip from someone else, I will give that person credit for it.  Sometimes (often) I won't remember who gave me the tip or where I saw it. 

Here is a ruler than I find helpful.  It's called 'Add A Quarter'. It comes in 6 or 12 inch
After you sew the seam, use it to trim the extra fabric .  Fold back the paper and the fabric, snug the ruler up to the fold and trim off the fabric...your 1/4" seam allowance is added.  There is a tiny lip on it that keeps the ruler in place. A regular ruler would work  too, because on some of the smaller pieces the seam allowance needs to be smaller than 1/4 ". 


sew seam and press

  

                                                              

trim the seam allowance

I have so many rulers...6 inch, 12 inch, 18, 24inch, rectangles and square.

no I didn't buy them all...some came from my mother.  I have a six  inche square up ruler that I should find very useful on this quilt.



 





Hard to imagine that Autumn is just 2 weeks away.  I will be sad to see the leaves turn and fall.
A few years ago I travelled to New England in October to visit my sister.  We went out shopping...we were "leaf peepers"....that is what they call the tourists that visit for the fall colour... we also hit quite a few quilt stores in our travels.  One fabulous place that we visited twice was Quilted Threads on Main St. Henniker NH..but first we visited a local restaurant and had some really fabulous clam chowder.  Then we toured the store, bought some fabric and viewed their quilt show.  What a fabulous day we had!

Many of the colours in this quilt are fall colours.

block 1

 I've printed out the first block and made it up.  I was able to pull fabrics from my stash to follow the same colours as in the book.
Tracing paper worked well.   If I use freezer paper I could iron the pieces down and they would stick..I might try freezer paper for some of the blocks. 

Block Two..didn't need paper piecing..
I think that I will be using all sorts of methods on these
blocks and many notions that I have.
As I said before, I am using EQ6 for my patterns..there are so many things I have forgotten about it.....like ...it would give me cutting directions for a pieced block like this one.  Did I use the feature...NO...I measured the paper pieced pattern to find out the sizes, then cut and sewed them...lol
I certainly don't know what I am doing....

Tomorrow I will show a notion that I used and find very helpful