And so the journey begins......................

Yesterday was a BUSY day to say the least. And all week I have been prepping for the BIG day.


The day started out at Marian's where our retreat group did our exchange. Now unfortunately I cannot reveal any pictures of that exchange. All I can say is that I am BLOWN out of the water by the creativity and talent in that group. Or else they are just DAMN competitive and trying to outdo each other!!!!!   We cannot see our own project, but we can see all the others. The person who owned the project that was to be revealed was banished to the front room to sit and chat with Jim and Kaylee!!!   Of course it was VERY hard to sit there when you could hear the others OOOOOOHHHHHHHing  and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHing  and saying things like "that's so cute" - "oh - I love it". Well I guess we will just have to wait until November, but I HATE waiting. And I DO NOT trust those girls. Remember my topic was "All about me" in words. Perhaps that was a tad too inviting to the rest of the group!!!!   Note to self - next time - DO NOT make the project personal. Pick a travel theme or something!!!!!


Carol had been in the US over Christmas and had found a couple of prezzies for Marian and me. OM MY GOD - they are just PERFECT.

This one is mine. The knitter who is the companion to the sewer that I picked up last year.

The knitter and the sewer

See - fits right in!!!!   Yes - the nutcrackers are STILL up. I leave them out until the end of January so they will disappear in the next day or so. 

But the next one is the BEST. It is for Marian - hey - IT IS MARIAN!!!!!!

The premise - Marian is MY personal shopper!!!!!  I swear - this makes me chuckle every time I look at the picture!!!!   It is PERFECT and WELL THOUGHT OUT!!!!!

THANKS CAROL - they are BOTH AWESOME. (See what I mean - Carol had my block first - what DID she do to me????????)



Then it was off to the Hobby Horse so I could teach the Ongoing classes for this year. Hmmmmm - got to come up with a better name than ONGOING. They are technically NOT Block of the Month. Got to find something catchy to call them.


Anyway - over the last couple of weeks, I have been collecting samples, making samples and putting stuff in bags to show the respective classes. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the stuff before I left or even when it was in the car, but this is what I UNLOADED when I got home.

That is a LOT of stuff and I had already been to Mary's and given her the box for the exchange since she was not able to attend. 

And I will have you know that the box that I gave to Mary was MINE. Oh - I was tempted, but NO - I did not even sneak a peek. The container is clear plastic and when I took it out of the bag to carry into her house, I was afraid that I would get a peek of what was in the box, but I did NOT!!!!!   Shoot - though  - I never got a picture of the second part of what I did for the box. Maybe I can zip to Mary's and get a picture of that - I think it is very neat.


So what did we do yesterday???????


Started off with Spring Has Sprung. A great folk art applique project.

Here is a better picture of the quilt. 

Homework for Month One (middle of bottom row on the quilt)

Close up of buttonhole stitching. I will be using the same colour (a warm brown on top and black lightweight bobbin thread on the bobbin) for the entire quilt. Sure makes the stitching go faster than having to choose and change threads for each piece. 

More close up of the stitching - note how the direction of the buttonhole changes in the deep part of the fingers. This requires a bit of thought process as you stitch. You will have to plan when you rotate of the piece. You need to know at what  part of the stitch to rotate. MAKE SAMPLES. 

Try when positioning the applique to avoid small sections  - like the end of the glove just peeking out from the left side of the trowel handle where it meets the top of the trowel. It is no big deal (especially when you use the same thread colour), but just means one more stop and start. 

When stitching - stitch the back most layers first - in this case - stitch the leaf BEFORE the purple flower. The center of the flower can be done whenever since it is essentially on top of everything else. 

Then we moved onto the next class which is Dear Jane - except we have a couple of people working on Farmer's Wife and Hobo Quilts as well. I know - why not go all out and kill myself with projects this year.


Anyway - these are the blocks for the Hobo Quilt..................

The HoboQuilt (not my image)

These are the FIVE blocks that we did for homework. One of them is applique - the rest are pieced. 

Since the applique is MUCH simpler on this project, I am using a matching (more or less) thread on the top and the lightweight thread on the bobbin. 

When cutting the background block for applique make sure you cut it at least 1/2" larger. No need to have a HUGE piece of fabric, but the applique process can shrink up the fabric slightly making it smaller than it is supposed to be. 

So now it needs to be trimmed (in this case - to 6 1/2"). Use a ruler that is appropriate to the size of block - I mostly use the 6 1/2" and a 12 1/2" for squaring blocks. Position the ruler so the ONE and the ONE (on the vertical and horizontal) are in the top right hand corner (top left for the lefties). You want to center the ruler (or using the lines depending on the size) so that you have an equal amount of background on both the outermost left and right hand side of the applique. Then center the ruler so you have an equal amount of background above and below the outermost top and bottom  edges of the applique. 

Once it is positioned correctly - trim off the right hand side AND the top  without moving the ruler.  Then life up the ruler and rotate the block 180  degrees and line up the edge of the ruler (or the lines depending on the size of your block) with the two fresh trimmed sides and trim off the last two sides. 

Here is the block trimmed to 6 1/2" with the applique centered left and right as well as top to bottom. 

Store the blocks in a safe place. If you are using homespun, you may not want to trim until you are ready to sew on the sashing. But if you keep them protected in a bag, the trimmed blocks will not fray. 

Then we went on to The Farmer's Wife.

Farmer's Wife -(not my image)

The blocks for homework - I am using Kansas Troubles Favourites fabric line

Yes - I spin the seams on the back wherever possible 

And if you use Marti Michelle templates - you can eliminate some seams. It is weird  because we are so used to having a seam there. I am not sure that I like taking the seam out as it is harder to match up, but WAY faster to prep and sew.

See there is NO seam on those weird shapes (in gold). A breeze to cut with the Marti Michelle templates. I can't believe how lucky I was to stumble across that little treasure. Saved me TONS of time. 

Now I know - you are saying - I don't have Marti Michelle templates. Then the basis of the blocks this month are on a 3 by 3 grid. Since this block is a 6" finished square - each of the units needs to be 2 1/2" UNFINISHED. That is easy - make half square triangles and make plain squares. There are a couple that are tricky, but you have the paper templates on the CD.


Now - how do you spin the seams - well have a look at the following.................

The arrow is pointing to those stitches in the VERTICAL seam allowance that are ABOVE the horizontal seam. Take your seam ripper and pop them out. NO NEED to cut them - just pop them out - it is very easy. 

Here the stitches are released and that little piece of thread is just hanging there

Then put fingers on left hand on the left hand seams, fingers on the right hand on the  right hand seams and push in OPPOSITE directions - away from the center. The seam (if the threads are properly released) will fall open. 

The back after it is pressed (this is one of the exception where I press a bit on the back before I turn it over and press properly from the front). Note also that the little spin thing in the center 

Looks JUST LIKE THE REAL BLOCK from the front. 

And all the seams are going either counter clockwise or clockwise. It really helps to reduce bulk. Make sure you stitch length is NOT TOO BIG. I use 2 on my Designer I.




And last but not least - Dear Jane.

Dear Jane

I have wanted to make a Dear Jane quilt for a LONG LONG time. Since this is a big project and one that you will only make ONCE - make sure you are happy with your fabric choices. I couldn't make up my mind about the background.

First I was going to use shirtings (and bought this specifically for Dear Jane)

Then I decided that shirtings were too busy and decided muslin would be best

Well THREE days before the class - I decided to go with a neutral but better quality than muslin. I choose a Northcott fabric from their Colourworks line - I choose Ivory - Number 12

Then it was the main colours

Should I do 30s?

All one colour? Like reds??????

I even made some sample blocks years ago to help me decide

But then Marian said I could use her reproduction (Civil War) era fabrics and that was it!!!!  

So  I have made my decision and I am COMMITTED. Now I have to turn that bolt of fabric and that basket of fabric (oooops - when she gave it to me - it was all folded nice and pretty) into a beautiful  Dear Jane quilt. I do NOT have blocks of the homework to show (yet) as I have to lay out this fabric and decide what colour is going to go where. I am going to follow the pattern and made the colouring Trip Around the World, but not the same colours as the books - well you never know - I haven't decided that part yet.



Now I promised to show you what my big errand was on Friday. Well I had to drive to pick up a REAL DEAR JANE quilt - well NOT THE Dear Jane quilt, but one that is complete. I have run out of time to take pictures at this moment and will do so this afternoon before I return it. It is gorgeous and I am MOTIVATED to have one for ME.

And the little project - well I ran out of time this morning on that as well. I was busy running around getting pictures for you to enjoy!!!!!


Wait - there are a couple more to add.


One thing I forgot to mention yesterday - when you make the blocks - attach a small label to the back or front so you know which block is which.

Add a label to the back of each block

I was running out of my good pins, so I had a box of these NOT GOOD for quilting pins. 

Got another binding/backing and border project done this morning. I now have a LOT of these small ones ready for quilting - I had better get a move on. BUT the priority is the 12 for 12 and I MUST get that done. 

Have you seen how HUGE the new XL size at Tim's is??   It is HUGE!!!!!! Not sure I could drink that if is was full of tea. 

My LARGE enders and leaders - I'm working on these when I need something to run through the sewing machine between pieces. I will be making quarter square triangle with them. 

This is for Bonnie!!   I asked Linda about the wreath - no specific pattern. But this book by Marti Michelle has the wreath log cabin in it. It is basically an off center log cabin. Let me know if you need more info. 

Hmmmm - and I see I have a rebuttal from Marian about the driving on Friday. Oh - so it wasn't the snow storm - it was the freezing rain and the fact that I have NO SNOW TIRES.  OK - DO NOT e-mail about the virtues of snow tires. I am NOT buying them.


Well started to read a new (to me) author. Tess Gerritsen. This one is called Harvest - an older book. I've read two chapters and it is disturbing. Not bad disturbing, but it is a medical drama about heart transplants and who gets what and why there is a heart to be harvested in the first place. Yikes - a bit heavy.



Anyway - I must run. Someone is coming over so we can chat about applique and she will be here any minute.



Have a GREAT DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Ciao!!!!