Design Wall Monday

Once again, not yet up on ‘the wall’ but a project that will begin this week:

JoAnn, over at Pieceful Afternoon, and I are going to make this ‘together’.  The panels are Pumpkins and Spice, from Red Rooster fabrics – and these are some of the go-with’s that I’ve chosen.  We’ll be ‘chatting’ each week as we put the blocks together.
So watch for our progress – I’m sure Jo will be posting pictures as well.
Happy togetherness!     Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s Words

Monika over at My Sweet Prairie does weekly quilting tips, inviting others to join her and add to the topic of the week in the comments section.  Take a look – her tips are great!

This week, the subject is Labels – and she tells us why, and where to apply labels, and what information to put on the label.  In the comments, I added some thoughts on where to get labels – and am following up the topic today with an expansion on my comment.

The labels in Monika’s pictures were very simple – a piece of fabric, printed with the required information.  I’d suggest ironing the fabric onto freezer paper to make it more stable while printing.

If you want something a little more elaborate, there are several options:

1. Purchase a pre-made panel of labels – like one of these:

Simply cut out, print the information, and add to your quilt.

2. There are also pre-made labels, like clothing tags  These don’t have all of the information that typically is found on a quilt label, but can be useful in some situations.

3. Search on-line for label templates, print onto fabric and voila!  These are some that I found a number of years ago at www.victorianaquiltdesigns.com – and I checked today, they’re still there:

Next week, I’ll do a tutorial on how to print on fabric, without the cost of buying pre-treated fabric sheets.

Happy labelling!                  Blessings, Peg

An Award

A blog award has come my way – actually twice in the last few days first from Arley and then from Elsie.  The award comes with the request that it be passed on to other bloggers, the idea being that blogs are promoted and get more readers. 

I’ve had my own difficulties with passing on awards in the past, as did Arley.  So I respectfully declined the first nomination, so that it could be forwarded to another blogger.  Unfortunately, Arley was unable to find enough bloggers to accept her nomination, and decided to decline the award herself.  That made me wish that I’d accepted the award – for her sake.

When Elsie nominated me also, I thought ‘there’s a message here somewhere.’  But, because of the aforementioned difficulties with forwarding awards, I’m reluctant to take that step – not wanting to offend or inconvenience any other bloggers.

Thus my response to these very gracious, and much appreciated nominations:

Thank you ladies for your kind thoughts and the compliment.

As for the award itself – I’d like to manage it this way – please everybody who reads this, do visit Arley and Elsie’s blogs, they’re both fabulous quilters and great folks with lots to share and  wonderful inspiration.  And for forwarding, check out my side-bar, I can’t possibly pick out just a few from that list of wonderful bloggers – maybe you’ll make a new friend there yourself!

Happy  sharing.          Blessings, Peg

Design Wall Monday

Well, it’s back on the wall

When I sewed in the strips of the sashing fabric – it looked awful!!!  The sashing just screamed at me!  So out it came – I then tried with the light background fabric – but that just ‘hid’ the individuality of the blocks. 
I did change the 7 Sisters block (in the center) and put a light border on it – looks much better. 
So the next step is to find a darker fabric and maybe do a ‘rail fence’ sashing like the one on this quilt:
Cross fingers I can find such.
On Friday, I got itchy fingers (something like restless feet) but wanted to do something different, so I pulled out a Joan’s Own pattern from my stash, and put this together:
It’s all appliqued, and ready for sandwiching and quilting.
Happy designing!             Blessings, Peg

A PhD finish

Having joined Myra’s PhD challenge (see my sidebar), I’ve been watching the finishes of other quilters pile up.  At last it’s my turn!

Finish # 1, project #3/8.  This table runner wasn’t even started, actually I didn’t even have all of the fabrics yet for it – but it’s now done!  Reversible – quilt-as-you-go – it sewed up very quickly once I got going!  Fruit and veggies on one side – coffee on the other.

		Quilt-as-you- go Table Runner VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

Happy finishes!         Blessings, Peg

I Believe She's Amazing Flash Mob - Toronto Eaton Centre

Got this video via email - and thought of all you amazing women out there in bloggerland.

Kim McGregor organized this flash mob dance as a tribute to her friend Erika Heller who died of colon cancer last year. Each and every telephone converstaion they ever had, Erike would end by telling Kim 'You're an amazing woman!' Well, Kim wanted to do something special to honor her frind - and this is the result

Pass it on to all the amazing women in your life!

Happiness is knowing amazing women. Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s Words–on Thursday

I just realized that Wednesday passed right by me this week – not sure why, so my ‘words’ are a day late.

I just read another blogger, who does ‘Tuesday’s Tips’, and encourages others to join in with tips of his/her own.  This week’s tips are all to do with thread.  So I added the following:

When hand-sewing, thread the needle so that the thread is running in the same direction as it comes off of the spool.  If you get confused by this, as I do, pull a length of thread off the spool, thread the needle, then cut off the length that you want.  Easy peasy!

But why do this?  It minimizes, and may even eliminate the twisting and tangling and knotting of the thread – so you won’t have to stop and undo that little tiny knot, or find that big loop of thread on the back of your project.  

Happy knotless sewing!     Blessings, Peg

New Blogger - and a Give-Away

Laura, over at J&S Creationz is brand new to blogging.  And she's ready to share her love for quilting with a give-away - already!   Go on over and check it out - great  prizes!

Design Wall Monday, and some progress

It’s been a fairly busy week, with lots of stuff done – but of course much more to do.  On THE WALL this morning:
These are some of the sampler blocks that I’ve been doing for a table cover.  The blocks are the titles of some of Earlene Fowler’s books (if you like mysteries and quilts, these are great reads!).  Seven Sisters is in the center – I’ll be changing that block a little bit and putting a lighter border around it.  I chose to put that one in the center as it’s the darkest, and because I have 7 sisters (3 natural sisters and 4 sisters-in-law who are truly all sisters to me).  Starting at the top left and going clock-wise, the other blocks are:  Broken Dishes,Kansas Trouble, Tumbling Blocks,Arkansas Traveler, Steps to the Altar, Sunlight and Shadows, Fool’s Puzzle/Drunkard’s Path, Dove in the Window.  This project has been a real learning curve, with different techniques and adjusting sizes of blocks!
The fabric on the right-hand side is what I found for sashing and borders.  I hope to get this together this week
The other blocks that I did:

Wild Goose Chase (instead of the title Goose in the Pond), a simple 9-Patch (because I was having trouble getting Irish Chain worked out in the right size), Mariner’s Compass, and State Fair.  These will probably be incorporated into other table mats – or something!
Progress has also been made on other projects.  I finished these thread catchers:

A camera bag:


A table runner – reversible with fruits and veggies on one side, coffee-theme on the other.  The binding is sewn on, just needs to be finished:


You can see that Tobin thought it was just for her – and she can be immovable when she wants to be!  I’ll get more, and better, pics when it’s finished completely.
Last but not least – February block for the Canadian Quilter’s BOM – North Winds:

Happy quilting!                Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s Words

Do you do a lot of quilting of small pieces, or paper piecing, where you have to use the iron every few minutes in the process?  Do you find it annoying to get up and down, move back and forth?
This tip I actually got from my sister-in-law, not sure if she thought of it herself, or got it from somewhere else.
Set you ironing board beside your sewing table, at table height – so you can just swivel your chair and iron!
Here’s a picture of my ironing board set up and ready to go:

I find this works really well for paper-piecing – with my cutting table on the other side, not so much up-and-down.  Although up-and-down is good exercise!
I actually don’t recommend sitting for long, long stretches without getting up and moving around some – have to prevent those varicose veins from setting in after all!  But do try this for those quilting sessions with lots of ironing.
The words for today:  make it easy!
Happy ironing!             Blessings, Peg

Design Wall Monday–and a little finish

With an overnight trip to visit my parents this past week, quilting time was cut!   But a couple of projects saw progress:
This is my attempt at a Mariner’s Compass – not very happy with it.

It’s meant to go with my sampler blocks – will have to see if it will be used or not!
And mug rugs for a swap – will keep the details of the recipient to myself for the time being just in case she’s reading here, but these will go in the mail this week:


This was my first swap, am so looking forward to receiving my ‘rugs’ and certainly hopeful that these will suit my partner to a ‘t’.
Happy swapping!                Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s Words

Is there such a thing as ‘Mid-Winter’.  We all know about Mid-Summer in early August, but what do we call the beginning of February?  The sun has been shining the last couple of days, and we’ve enjoyed the relief from the rain and gloom that is normal at this time of year.  We must be about half-way through winter and Spring must be just around the corner – mustn’t it!?!
A friend brought these beauties round the other day – a sure sign of Spring if I’ve ever seen one!


So my words today:             Happy Mid-Winter!
Blessings, Peg