WINTER MYSTERY CLUE #2

Busy weekend here at The Quilt Company!  We are hosting Debby Brown, certified HandiQuilter Educator for 2 full days of classes.  How fun is THAT!  Therefore the mystery step had to be simple.  Sash the blocks with your accent color.  Now you know why I called it both accent AND sashing!

WINTER MYSTERY


STEP 2 OF 4
1. Collect the 112 rectangles measuring 1 1/2 by 3 1/2 and the 112 rectangles measuring 1 1/2 by 5 1/2 cut from the accent fabric. You will also need the Nine Patch blocks that you created in Step 1.
2. Stitch the 3 1/2 inch sashing strips to the top and bottom of each of the Nine Patch blocks. Press the seams toward the sashing strips.

3. Stitch the 5 1/2 inch sashing strips to the left and right side of each of the Nine Patch blocks. Press the seams toward the sashing strips. These blocks will measure 5 1/2 inches square including seam allowance when complete.
Make 56 blocks.

WINTER MYSTERY CLUE 1



These scraps should brighten up our grey winter days!

 Are you ready?

Have you collected your favorite scraps and done a little cutting? 

If you need the cutting instructions, scroll back a few posts or just work along with the steps each week.

Read all instructions before beginning!

WINTER MYSTERY

CLUE 1

1. Collect the 448 assorted 1 1/2 inch squares and the 56 accent squares that measure 1 1/2 inches.

2. Randomly stitch the squares together to form a Nine Patch block positioning the accent square in the center. These blocks will measure 3 1/2 inches including seam allowance when completed.

Ok, I'll fess up. I cut my scraps into 1 1/2 inch strips of a similar length. I stitched those strips together in sets of three before cross cutting them into the 1 1/2 inch segments needed for the block. For the strips with the accent fabric in the center, I cut the accent strip to fit my scraps. My quilt will have 5 or 6 identical units

Make 56 blocks

Tips:

• If you have selected a light color accent, press the seams away from the accent block.

• If you have selected a dark accent color, feel free to press the seams in any direction you like - but be consistent! You or your machine quilter will be grateful later.

• Because this is a scrappy quilt, there is no "planned" color arrangement for the 8 squares that surround the center accent block. For those of you that have a dominant anal retentive gene (you know who you are) feel free to organize your blocks with darks in the corner or a specific color you happen to own more than enough of in a consistent position. If you are using a rainbow of colors you might want to arrange the squares in red-orange-yellow-green-blue-purple order around the center square just for fun - but you don't have to!

This is scrappy!

Las Vegas in the Rear View Mirror

This time last week I was sewing like a crazy person with 53 others in a ballroom of a Las Vegas casino and loving every minute of it. I was attending the Kaye England Seminar for Shop Owners. This seminar is part fabulous creative retreat with a little expensive Boot Camp mixed in. Kaye is wonderful, gracious and hysterically funny. If ever you have the opportunity to enjoy her in person, jump at the chance. You will learn much and laugh lots. My customers will have that very special opportunity next December and I hope each and every one of them squeezes into the room so that nobody misses out on a really good time.

Although the schedule is casual, the chance to sew, get samples made and be the student instead of the teacher is rare in a shop owners world. Kaye fills us with fresh coffee and inspiration each morning and lets us do our thing. That might not sound to inspiring, unless you consider that the 53 others working around you are doing some pretty cool stuff - and you want to see and share what they are doing too.

These are my tablemates. Deb from New Jersey and Sue and Lori from Canada. Sue is chatting with one of the other Canadian dealers and one of the owners of Quiltique the shop in Henderson NV. The 5 of us managed to get away one evening for dinner on the strip but other than that, we sewed.... and laughed and tested our skills.

Others might not have considered it much of a test, but Kaye and I have polar opposite opinions on just about everything. Kaye is into reproductions. I'm not. Kaye never presses as she pieces. I press every seam as I sew - sometimes twice. Kaye loves scrappy everything. I plan. I design for Creative Grids, Kaye designs the Nifty Notions ruler line. Neither of us are wrong, we just do things differently.

When in Kaye's playground, I play by Kaye's rules..... for the most part. I work scrappier, I try-out her rulers. I learn from her color sense and I attempted to avoid pressing.  To be honest, I can't do it - the pressing thing. To quote Kaye "Quilting is like sex. If you aren't enjoying it, you are doing it wrong." If quilting is like sex then I see nothing wrong with making it hot and steamy.

Doing something differently, even something as simple as working outside your comfort zone is good for the soul. It expands your perspective and helps you confirm your beliefs. One of the things we laughed about last week were the comments on this photo I posted on the shops Facebook page. I wondered if I should add another border.  The pattern for this quilt is in Kaye's Hens and Chicks book.  In the book it is done in 30's green and reproduction style prints.  Several people that I know own the book wondered where the pattern was from.  Mine looks so entirely different, but we still found that amusing. 

Kaye appreciated my batik selection and helped me decide on the sashing fabric.  I really think it needs another border and I've decided it will be black, but I didn't have the fabric with me, so I moved on to another project. 99% of the Facebook comments were favorable until comment 31 which said:  "A black border would make side cornerstones not match. I would not have used that fabric for the sashing. Just my opinion, one out of 30 ain't bad !"  What made that comment funny?  It came from my Mother.

You can design fabrics and rulers, run a successful quilt shop, be the author of one of the top 20 best selling patterns and have your work featured on the cover of magazines and still not make your Mother happy.

Oh Those Frenchmen

Can you guess what this is?



It's a pattern in the snow made by a man walking in snowshoes.

No kidding!



He does this for exercise.

The finished designs are often the size of 3 soccer fields.

We still have plenty of winter left here in the north east.
Anyone want to go for a walk?

You can read more about him here:
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/simon-beck-snow-art

Need A Little Mystery In Your Life?

Are you ready for some winter fun?  How about a winter sewing project that will keep you guessing?

I know that you have plenty of fabric. I hear that from customers all the time. "I probably have as much fabric as you do" or "I can't buy another piece of fabric until I use some of it up". Well here is your chance.

I have designed a project we are calling WINTER MYSTERY. It measures 63" by 72" when finished, without borders. That makes it a comfy sized throw or twin comorter. You can feel free to add borders later if you would like a larger size.

This project is designed to help you use up your scraps! Before cutting, sort your fabrics into color groups. Arrange at least 6 different groups, think of them as red, yellow, green, blue, purple and brown. Your groups may actually be pink, teal, gold, green, blue and taupe (you get the idea). You may have as many different groups as you like as long as it is more than six. You may divide one or two colors into light, medium and darks. For example, if you choose to work with all blues and greens, you can separated into light blue, medium blue, dark blue, etc.

If you have an exceptionally large stash, you might want to use all of your fabrics from a certain "style" or category, like 30's Reproductions or Civil War prints. I've decided to use my Kaffe style prints. I might need to wear my sun glasses for this one!

• Select scraps that are large enough to cut a 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch rectangle and 2 1/2 inch square from the same piece of fabric.

• You may have several rectangle/square sets cut from the same fabric.

• If you prefer that all of your sets are different you will need 224 different fabrics.

• Set smaller scraps aside to cut the 448 smaller squares. (these can be 1 1/2 inch strips that are sub-cut later)

• You will also need an accent color that is NOT one of your color groups. Black, white or cream is an easy choice for this fabric. BUT if you prefer to use a color, like red, eliminate the red scraps from your color groups.

This Mystery is broken down into 4 parts. The plan is to upload one clue each Friday in February. That gives you the entire month of January to get your fabrics together and get everything cut out so that you are ready to sew starting February 1.

Here is the materials list and cutting instructions to get you started:


MATERIALS

2 yards accent fabric for blocks and binding. I'm using school bus yellow!

1 1/3 yards for blocks only

Assorted scraps, lots of them!

4 yard backing

twin batting, unless you are planning borders.



CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS

From the sashing fabric cut:

5 strips 5 1/2 inches by the width of the fabric

Cross cut these strips into 112 rectangles measuring 1 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches

5 strips 3 1/2 inches by the width of the fabric

Cross cut these strips into 112 rectangles measuring 1 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches

9 strips 2 1/2 by the width of the fabric

Cross cut these strips into 224 rectangles measuring 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches

2 strips 1 1/2 inches by the width of the fabric

*Cross cut these strips into 56 squares measuring 1 1/2 inches

From an assortment of scraps cut:

224 sets of 1 rectangle measuring 2 1/2 inches by 4 1/2 inches

AND

1 square measuring 2 1/2 inches from the same fabric

448* assorted squares measuring 1 1/2 inches


That's all you need, just those 1400 pieces!

.........Take a rest, we will cut the binding when we are finished
* If you prefer, cut 1 1/2 inch strips for these pieces. We will sew them together and then cross cut them into squares. The scrappy pieces can be any length - we will make it work!

Velcro

Between holiday celebrations and end of the year inventory I also managed to eliminate one of my pet peeves the other day. I treated myself to a gift-to-me this holiday season. You might asking yourself what it is that makes me almost as happy as the diamond necklace from my hubby? It is simple. I have tamed the wicked Velcro on my winter jacket!

I hate Velcro. I know it has fabulous uses. Everything from the now defunct space program to toddler tennis shoes. I am aware that the introduction of Velcro changed the way we live. I even know that the product was developed by a guy that was trying to figure out why those thorny, chigger type plants stuck to his socks. Maybe "hate" is too strong of a word. It isn't like I rank Velcro up at the top of the list with things like..... stinkbugs. Let me correct myself.  Having exposed Velcro on my winter jacket drives me CRAZY!

I own a very nice ski jacket from L.L.Bean. It has a double zipper, tons of pockets, is light weight and warm. The strange material tabs that were used to Velcro the sleeves so that the air doesn't blow up your arm cracked and split shortly after buying it, so I cut those off. But that isn't the point. It is a nice jacket. It also has four strips of Velcro that close a flap over the zipper. The soft side of the Velcro, the kind that is left unused on my sleeves, isn't a problem. It is the gripper side that has caused me hours of frustration. When the jacket is worn open, which is more often than not, those Velcro strips grab on to anything they pass, including the remaining sleeve Velcro. I've spent a lot of time in that jacket stuck to myself - or the items that I was shopping for. If you have ever witnessed a battle between Velcro grip and a fine knit sweater, you know the bittersweet feeling as that sweater is scarred for life.

Enough of this daily aggravation! I have a kajillion dollars worth of sewing equipment at my disposal. I should be able to fix this.

I started by finding a scrap of black Ultra Suede in my stash. For all of you nay-sayers out there, this proves that saving things dating from the 1980's is not a total waste of space! The scrap was large enough to embroider and it matched the black accents on my coat.

Using the BERNINA software I quickly digitized a simple design and selected a spool of thread to match my odd shade of blue coat. Having the entire line of Isacord thread at your disposal comes in handy. I never have to worry about making a trip to the store for the right color, because nine times out of ten I'm working on these projects AT the store. Being in the store also came in handy when Brandon recommended that I use a #90 needle. Having a top-notch Tech at your disposal is pretty convienient too.

The process was simple, stitch out the design and an outline that was digitized the same size as the Velcro patches on my coat. Flip the hoop over and position soft Velcro strips in each of the outline areas. (I cut these longer than necessary and held them in place with tape) Put the hoop back on the machine and stitch the outline again. That stitched the Velcro to the back of the designs. I took them out of the hoop and trimmed them to size. Using the Ultra Suede meant that the edges were finished and will never fray. I chose a water soluble stabilizer for the project, so that was easy to remove.

 

TA-DA! Problem solved! I simply placed the decorative Velcro strips over the offending gripper strips and snag-no-more! If I ever have the desire to close the zipper flap I can simply peel off the decorative tabs and store them in one of the 17 assorted pockets.

Scrap of Ultra Suede - Free

Velcro - .70 cents

Thread to match jacket - $5.89

Software to digitize the design - $1999.00

Embroidery Machine - $10,000

Eliminating the aggravation - Priceless

Satisfaction - worth a million bucks!

I think L.L. Bean should include these with your coat!

Help Newtown Begin To Heal

The following is a re-post from Joan Fords blog.  Joan is the owner of the Hummingbird Highway pattern company.  Joan is a friend and she has a wonderful idea.  I'm sending some quilts to help her attain her goal and even if only one of you joins in, it was worth passing this along.  I know there are people everywhere that could use a quilt hug and the people of Newtown, Conneticut aren't the only ones hurting at this time of year, but we have all been struck by this tragedy.  Joan is right, Quilters understand the magic that happens when fabric, batting and stitches come together with love and good thoughts.  It is almost impossible for Quilters to not help when a something like this happens.  Let's send a Newtown some hugs.

You may know that The Taunton Press, the publisher of many wonderful books and magazines, including my own, is located in beautiful Newtown, Connecticut, just down the street from Sandy Hook Elementary School. The Taunton employees were fortunate not to be directly impacted by the events of December 14. But as I write that last sentence, I know in my heart that we have all been affected, but most especially those who live, play, work, and connect in Newtown.
Anyone who has ever made or received a hand-made quilt knows what power is created when fabric, batting, and stitches combine in a quilt. And so, I'm asking you to send a hug and a prayer to the folks in Newtown.
I have said that a quilt is a reusable hug. Specifically, I'm asking for quilts. Not because of the devastating loss caused by a natural disaster, but to help heal a broken community who may just need a reusable hug right now.
I need your help. Here's what you can do.
- Go to your stash. Find a quilt that is almost done - it only needs a binding or some last quilting stitches, or maybe a border to finish it off. And finish it up.
- You'll be sending a bit of yourself along, so think kind thoughts while you make those last few stitches. Those good thoughts will translate to healing and hope for the recipient.

-Don't worry about whether the quilt is kid-friendly or themed for any one person or another. These will be distributed to folks of all ages. Quilts in all sizes will be accepted. Child and lap sized quilts are especially welcome.
- Spread the word. I realize it's horrible timing. And the turnaround seems dreadful. But I also suspect that you might have one or two quilts that are nearly complete, a few stitches and away it goes. There's nothing like a deadline to get things done. . . . am I right?

I'm planning to deliver quilts personally on January 3, 2013 - so there isn't much time. If you are in the Syracuse, NY area, Calico Gals, Mission Rose Quiltery, and Patchwork Plus Quilt Shop have agreed to be collection points for Newtown quilts. I'll be leaving early on the 3rd, so quilts must arrive at the shops before January 2, 2013.
- If you are not in the Syracuse area, please send quilts to:


The Taunton Press

Attention: Renee Neiger

63 South Main Street, PO Box 5506

Newtown, CT 06470-5506

If you want to help stuff the CRV, you can send quilts to me directly:

Joan Ford

Hummingbird Highway

3795 Gray Ledge Terrace

Syracuse, NY 13215


My friends at The Taunton Press will make sure the quilts reach their new homes.