Home & Trying To Catch Up

Home.

 

Sleeping in my own bed.  Working from my usual spot.  Staring at the never ending To-Do list.  My world is back to it's normal level of chaos, just the way I like it.

Don't get me wrong, the cruise was absolutely wonderful.  The students were great, friendly and very enthusiastic.  Cat Nix and I had a delightful time both on and off duty.  Deb from Stitchin Heaven Travel did everything possible to make the trip enjoyable for all involved.  I would highly recommend traveling with them if you are ever in the mood for a sewing vacation.

We spent 8 nights on the ship, 3 days teaching, 4 days in various ports and one day on each end helping to set-up or tear-down sewing machines.  Not a bad work week.

I have some fabulous photos from the trip, but I wanted to share my snapshot of this artwork that was on the ship.  It is a huge mosaic style piece that was at least 8 by 10 feet mounted on the wall between decks 10 and 11.  I absolutely love it and I want one of my own.  Can you tell what it is?

 Maybe this will help.

It was really hard to zoom in and get a good photo, but those are spools of THREAD!  They are small spools of Dual Duty thread suspended on vertical wires.  Technically speaking it is a counted cross stitch pattern done with whole spools instead of tiny

X's.  I love that!  If any of you decide to make one yourself - I'll be happy to special order the thread for you!



After the cruise I returned home - an uneventful trip I might add - on Sunday evening.  Spent Monday through Thursday in the shop and Friday headed out to spend the weekend with a group of customers on a Sewing Retreat for another 3 days and 2 nights of sewing and eating. 

Spring had better arrive soon so that I can get back to running because by the end of the cruise trip I had taught everyone in our group to order their own dessert another one to share and a scoop of ice cream on the side.  There was no shortage of sugar energy in our group!   

Meanwhile  back at home the photos of the Winter Mystery are still rolling in.  Isn't this version beautiful!  I love the piano key border.  I'm also really impressed that the quilts are finished, quilted and have the binding - a scrappy binding in this case - completed.  I'm going to have to spend more time at home to catch up with all of you!

Red Letter Day

Today is an excellent day in my world.

I've got no reason to complain.  I'm sitting in Ft. Lauderdale Florida where I will board a cruise ship tomorrow morning with 40+ other quilters and spend the next 8 days floating in the Caribbean waters teaching and sharing what makes Creative Grids products special.  It's my job.  Is there any wonder why I love it?

If that isn't enough to make one love life, Creative Grids chose today to release my new SCRAP CRAZY template set.  I am nuts about these templates - and I hope you will be too!

The idea for the templates really came from my customers.  I hear them comment all the time that they have too much fabric (there is no such thing) and they need to use some of it up.  Bingo!  Scrap quilts are the answer.  I know you don't really want to use those big pieces.  You know, the ones you are saving for something "special".  I also know that you hate to throw away any usable piece of fabric.  Scrap Crazy templates are the answer.

The basic idea of a Crazy Quilt is that all of the pieces are just scrapped together to form a larger piece.  The problem with that is sooner or later you get "up the creek" with set-in pieces or the fabric pieces become too large.  The Scrap Crazy templates were designed to give you the look of traditional Crazy Patch without the frustration.  All of the pieces fit back together perfectly and form an 8 inch finished block. 

The table runner above is the most traditional sample I've made.  The fabrics are silk, batik, cotton and rayon with a velvet border.  The embroidery was done by machine and I am still in the process of adding beads and buttons by hand.

Next I used the templates to make a larger quilt.  All batiks and all from my scrap bin.  I started by sorting my stash.  This time I planned the color placement.  Using the exact same templates and the exact same blocks the Scrap Crazy templates allowed me to turn the batik scraps above into this 84" by 102" quilt below.  The templates are even used for the pieced border.

But wait..... there's more!  What about pre-cuts?  I know that many of you have a stash of 10 inch squares that you have no idea what to do with.  You just loved the fabric collection.  The Scrap Crazy template set works with those too!  I made this baby quilt out of one pack of 10" batik squares.

Now for the part that I LOVE the most!  I designed the templates to work with your scraps, but that doesn't mean you can't use them to create beautiful designs.  This chevron quilt - same templates, but it was created using partial blocks.

Partial blocks, mirror image blocks, pinwheels, diamonds..... the possibilities are endless and in the coming weeks you are going to see a whole variety of patterns that can be created using the template set.

The template sets have just been released.  They sell for $22.95.  We have plenty of them on order and they should arrive in the shop any day.  The patterns for the projects are printed and ready to go.  If you would love to own a set, call the shop to order at 412-487-9532 or ask for them at a quilt shop near you!

More Winter Mystery

Janet finished her Winter Mystery and added another narrow border to the outside edge to finish off the sashing.  It looks GREAT!

Keep those photos coming!

Winter Mystery DONE!

Jolene finished assembling her Winter Mystery and sent this note:

"I made my top one row longer so it will fit a twin bed. Each of the scrap fabrics is used only once in the large patches. I used a really eclectic mix of fabrics. I decided anything goes! The 11/2" squares were leftovers from a postage stamp quilt I recently made. I may add a border but I have to set it aside for now while I make a baby quilt.


I enjoyed taking a break with some simple piecing as I have been doing more complicated projects lately. I love how it turned out, so bright and cheerful!"

I love it!  It looks great with "anything goes".  Adding another row, and possibly a border to fit a bed is a great idea.  This looks like something that is going to be used and loved for many years to come.

Winter Mystery Step 4

I'm sure by now you have figured it out! 

Janet Aradine was able to guess the next step correctly.  She sent several photos of her progress along the way.

Follow the steps below and the mystery will be solved.  EASY!  Now I only wish that converting photos from my email to my blogger account so that I can share them with you was as simple.  It seems that if you send them as an attachment I can grab them and share.  If you imbed them in the message it seems impossible to transfer them to Blogger.  I'm enjoying seeing Tracey, Jill, Ann, Lisa, Cathy, Donna and Carly's photos.  I will see if I can get some technical help to share them with you.

Terry Faust sent me not only this very organized photo of step 3, she also included a photo of another quilt that is absolutely beautiful!  Great job Terry!

Time for everyone to catch up!

STEP 4 OF 4

1. Collect the remaining 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch accent strips and the scrap fabric rectangles.

2. Working with each individual block create a unit of two rectangles and one accent strip between them, matching the rectangle fabrics to the squares that are already assembled in the block. You will need to create each unit according to the fabrics in the individual blocks. No chain piecing here! Press the seams toward the scrap fabrics.

3. Stitch the units to the sides of the blocks matching the fabric scraps. Press the seams toward the outside edge of the block. These blocks will measure 9 1/2 inches including seam allowance.

4. Arrange the blocks in 8 rows of 7 block each. Alternate the direction of every other block so that the only the sashing seams align. If you pressed correctly these seams will nest.

5. Stitch the blocks together in rows. Pressing the seams in opposite directions in each row. Stitch the rows together to form the completed top.

6. Take a photo and send it - as an attachment to me at karen@thequiltcompany.com!

7. Layer the quilt top with the batting and backing and quilt as desired. Trim the batting and backing even with the top.

8. Cut 7 strips 2 1/4 inches by the width of the fabric. Stitch the strips together end-to-end on a 45 degree angle. Fold and press. Pin the binding to the edge of the quilt with the raw edges even, mitering the corners. Stitch in place by machine. Fold the binding over the edge to the back of the quilt and stitch in place by hand.

 
Enjoy!

Now that the mystery is over, it is time for me to get packing.  I'm on the "road" again, teaching on a quilting cruise for Stitchin Heaven for the first 10 days in March.  I know, I know, tough job, but someone has to do it - why not me?

I expect all of those Winter Mystery projects to be finished when I get home!

Winter Mystery Step 3

Are you keeping up?

Have you adding your sashing to the 9 patch blocks?

A few people have mentioned that they thought the pieces were a bit small (I warned you) so they have decided to double them in size.  Pam one of our employees that hates to follow instructions is one of those "biggeer is better" people. Hopefully those that have decided to make things larger are making fewer blocks as well or they are going to have a REALLY, REALLY big quilt!

I will post photos of Pam's variation when she finishes hers.  If you have photos you would like to share of the piece you are working on, email them to karen@thequiltcompany.com and I will share them with everyone.

STEP 3 of 4

1. Collect all 224 squares of scrap fabric measuring 2 1/2 inches and 112 of the accent strips measuring 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches.

2. Stitch one accent strip between 2 random color squares. Any two random color squares can be stitch in the same unit with an accent strip between them. Avoid having 2 of the same color squares stitched to the same accent strip. Press the seams toward the accent fabric. These units will measure 2 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches including seam allowance. Make 112 units.

3. Stitch a completed unit to opposite sides of each Nine Patch center. Stitch the units to the same sides that have the smaller sashing pieces (that is the side with 2 seams). Each Nine Patch center will have 2 units added to it. Avoid putting the same scrap color on the same side of the same block. Two corners of the same color are ok as long as they are opposite each other and not on the same side of the block. Press the seams toward the outer edge of the block. The blocks will measure 5 1/2 inches by 9 1/2 inches including seam allowance when completed.

Make 56 blocks.

In this arrangement notice that the new units are being added to the top and bottom of the center unit.  Those are the sides with the smaller sashing pieces.    I am also adding pink blocks to 2 of the corners, but one is on the top left and the other is on the bottom right.  That works! (the bottom left might look pink, but it is mostly gold and orange!)

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.