Accurary in Quilting

I'm still here! :-)

I'm finishing up the last of my swoon blocks for beaquilter's swap. (button on sidebar) and it got me to thinking about accuracy. 

To me, accuracy in sewing and cutting counts. A lot.

It makes sewing the blocks together so much easier than having to 'fudge' a bit here and there.

You already know how much I love Triangulations!

I've sung their praises many times. ;-)

But how about flying geese?

Which method do you use?  There are several~ from specialty rulers, to using squares and rectangles, to cutting triangles, and even a no waste method.

No matter which I use, I find I need to trim them up...

(and no, I don't have the newest version of Triangulations with Flying Geese, mine is one of the first versions that came out.) ;-)

Even if it just a few threads~ it makes a difference in piecing your block.

So I'm curious~ have you discovered a great way to do flying geese?

Do you trim block components as you go? Am I being too OCD? :-)  LOL

Until next time~

Happy stitching!!

Swooning~~~

I've been busy making swoon blocks for Bea's swap (see right side button). ;-)

It is especially fun to know we have swappers from the UK and Australia! I love to see fabrics

from different parts of the country~ and world! :-)

I finished these two blocks last week, along with a few more.

Today I was working on a bunch of HST's for the next bunch of blocks.

I love to use Triangulations whenever making HST's because of the accuracy~ and no little trimming of small bits off of the sides~ they come out perfect every time!

I print them on Scribble pad pages, and cut them down to however many I need for each block. 

This time there was no waste~ as the smaller parts were used for another part of the block. :-)

I don't mind pulling off the papers in the evening while watching TV~

it makes me feel like I've really accomplished something. LOL

And once I have all the little parts for the blocks assembled, assembly line fashion~ the blocks go together really fast!

Thanks for stopping by~

I hope you are having some fun sewing too! :-)

Winter Solstice~~

I am sewing along with Paulette and other bloggers, making

the Winter Solstice quilt from 'Life in the Country' by Country Threads.

Our first 'assignment' was to do the 2 barns.....

I am going to do mine in a combination of cottons, homespuns, and wool~

all of which are in my stash! :-) A totally stash quilt... I love it!!

To see everyone else's blocks, go to Sweet P's blog and take a mug of your favorite morning drink along, because you will be there a while! ;-)

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!

Zippity Do Da!

Ok, so I couldn't think of a title for this post. :-) LOL

I have no idea how it can be the end of July already!

Life has been busy! We took full advantage of raspberry season, and I made jam,

froze some for smoothies, had them over ice cream~ yum!

And just kept myself busy in the kitchen!  :-)

I did manage to get behind my sewing machine a bit too.  I an in beaquilter's

Swoon block swap and got my first block made!

This participant requested Halloween~

We are making 2 blocks for each swapper since we have a small group.  I requested red with cheery colors and a low volume background~ I can't wait to see what my blocks will be like!! :-)

Wait! There's more.....

Blocks & More Fun~

I am part of a block exchange on the HGTV quilting message board this year. We call ourselves 'Mystery Sisters' as the coordinator gave each of us the name/address of a participant to make and send a block a month.

We don't know who our 'mystery sister' is and the reveal isn't until December. To keep ourselves a secret we send our blocks to someone else to mail for us, use someone else's return address, etc.

It's fun!

The only rules were that we should stretch ourselves, and we could only use 5 fabrics to make all the blocks for our sister for the year. At the beginning we got to say what season, colors etc we would like, without choosing fabrics or manufacturer's. I said 'autumn' and I love getting these little surprises in the mail every month!

Here are my blocks so far~ 

 I have one extra because my sister chose to send the 2 leaf blocks since one is the reverse of the other. I am already dreaming about how I will put my quilt together. LOL

doesn't it make you feel cooler to just look at it? :-)

Switching gears, I can now tell you about another little project I did with my Mom

while I was visiting.  She has a lot of fun purses, some I've made, one she won, others she has purchased.  They don't always have inside pockets~ or at least enough inside pockets. ;-)

And she wanted something she could easily move from one bag to another that would hold most of the necessary purse items.

So I played! :-)

Going by her purse sizes etc, I made a purse insert for her. And then tweaked it a bit.

These are two we made~

I also made a smaller version, but forgot to take a photo.. or Mom dashed it off too fast to her purse! ;-)  We had a lot of fun sewing together! :-)  Usually I cut and sew (since she has a machine just like mine) and she would do the pressing and occasional ripping. :-o Ok, ok, I ripped sometimes too! LOL

Now I need to decipher my notes and make one for myself since we didn't get that far. ;-)

Hope you are having a happy stitchin' day~

Until next time,

may all your stitches be straight! ;-)

A Little Gift~

Anna from Noodlehead created the cutest little manicure bag for Robert Kaufman fabrics.. 

its called the Snappy Mani Pouch and its  free on their site!  :-)

I knew I would be making one (or more) as soon as I saw the pattern and printed it right out.

Well, other projects got in the way and then vacation, and then finally! I made one!

DD's birthday is this week, so that was my 'kick-in-the-pants'! :-)

I did make one change in the placement of the velcro.

The nail polish bottles I purchased were taller, so I needed to make the bag a little bigger

to accommodate the polish and  buffer. It was easy~ just move the velcro on the bottom closer to the edge of the pouch. ;-)

I'm just tickled with it and have plans to make myself one... soon! LOL

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

A Quilt Show~

While I was gone in June, I was able to attend the Heartland Quilters Guild Show in Mitchell, SD. 

This may be a small guild~ but they blow me away with their talent!

Sara is a member, and so is my Mom. :-)

The funny thing is that I met Sara through blogging first. :-)

Now I look forward to seeing her when I visit my parents.

She made this very cool SD placemat for a door prize~~

and I won!!! :-) 

I still can't believe I won! :-)

The members made things for door prizes~ just look at all the prizes they gave away!

And that is just on the wall! My placemat and a lot of other things were on the table tops.

I didn't take photo's of all the quilts, but I wanted to show you a couple. This one won best of show, by A.

A close up~

Isn't is a beauty? She does her own longarm quilting too. :-)

And this cutie is by L~

And she made a mini to go with it! It is hand embroidered and I think hand quilted too.

There are a good number of hand quilters in their guild and it is a good thing most

of the quilts were hung up!~  They were all drool-worthy! ;-)

     I think this might be one of Sara's quilts (?). I love stars!

And P made a whole quilt of yo-yo's! :-o

Isn't it amazing?!!

The ladies in the guild are all so nice~ they made me a honorary member...

or maybe they just said that so I'd work a shift as a white glove lady. ;-)

I didn't mind a bit~ it was so much fun! 

That's all for today~

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!!