Summertime!

 I am caught up with the BOM from one of my local quilt shops. The fabric is Lily Ashbury's High Street. I think the colors certainly represent Summertime. The blocks are from this book by Eleanor Burns.

 Summertime brings harvest from the garden. Flowers, carrots, and peas.

I pulled up the rest of the carrots today even though they are not as big as I want. See those gnawed carrots? No that is not from me. That is what voles do. Lots were missing. I don't like sharing with the voles so up the carrots came.

 I have been picking a few raspberries but this is the biggest batch so far. Today was the first day I picked some blueberries. I will have start checking them every day now. The perfect summertime breakfast.

With Passion,

Carrie P.

Applique Points Tutorial

I have finished appliqueing all the diamonds on my Soupon top. I participated in a Sew Along that Karen H. shared on her blog Faeries and Fibres. There is another round to this top.The next round is paper pieced points which many of the participants made but I think I am going to stop right where I am. I did not have enough of the background fabric I used in the center so I decided to use this darker fabric. I think it frames the center quite nicely.  

While I was in Florida Carin asked what technique I use for my points. You will see how my sidebar that I have a few tutorials explaining different techniques I use when appliqueing. I went back to the post where I had shared this technique and all the pictures are gone. So I thought I would share my technique again. Here we go.

When I am going to be making a lot of the same pattern I like to use Template plastic. Some plastics will melt when you just barely touch an iron to it. So if you are going to use plastic make sure it is the right kind for the technique. The package should read no melt on it or some similar wording.

I trace the pattern onto the plastic using a Pigma pen. Cut the shape out. After I cut it out I will rub my finger along the edges. If I feel any rough spots/points I will take an emery board/nail file to smooth the edges of the plastic. If there are any little points left over from cutting they will actually show up when you are trying to iron the fabric around the plastic. The edges will not be smooth. 

Next I will trace the pattern on the back side of the fabric. I will trace on the bias of the fabric especially when working with curves. I like to use a sandpaper board when I trace the shape onto the fabric.  It keeps the fabric from slipping around. Most times I just use a mechanical pencil.

Cut out the fabric pattern leaving 3/16" for the seam allowance.

I will then spray some Magic Sizing in a little cup. It will become liquid. Next take a small paint brush and paint the edges of the seam allowance with the Magic Sizing. 

You don't want to paint on this much Magic Sizing. If you do it will take longer to iron the edges dry. Try to keep it within the edge of the fabric and the pencil line.

Put the Templar pattern back onto the backside of fabric. I will use a Clover mini iron to press the edges of the fabric up around the Templar plastic pattern. 

Make sure each edge if dry before moving onto the next side.

I continue going around the piece with the iron.

Then I will flip it over, right side up, to iron the front side in case there is any wet fabric. You can see that the front is wet in the picture above.

See the little fabric flag? Here is the trick to get your nice sharp points.

Use the paint brush to wet the fabric flag. Holding the piece in your hand fold over the little flag, (much easier if you hold it in your hand)lay the piece bag on your ironing board and press with your iron. This is what it should look like. Sometimes if you have cut your seam allowance too wide the fabric flag will stick out real far from the edge. You can take your scissors and trim it some. Not to much. You still want a flag you can paint and fold over.

Nice sharp points. Let me know if you have any questions about this technique.

With Passion,

Carrie P.

Have you seen these?

Have you seen this new Quilting magazines? I love them. Each one comes with a little gift of sorts. I just picked up issue 8 at my local Barnes and Noble. They are a little pricey compared to other magazines but it is because they come from the UK.

I am doing a paper piecing BOM from Quiet Play this year. I was using regular paper to sew with but Have you seen this paper piecing paper? It will feed right through your printer. I found it at Joann's.

If you like doing paper piecing Quiet Play has a cute colored pencil pattern on her blog. And it is free.

Have you seen the new 10th Anniversary SAL by Lisa Bogean of Primitive Gatherings? The first block has been released here. 

Have you seen the Trifle Dish SAL on the MODA Bake Shop blog? The quilt is a row quilt and also a mystery. Three rows have been posted so far. I am collecting the patterns.

Have you seen this technique for making half square triangles? Jane shared it on her blog and you can find this cool technique here.

Have you seen this cute little pillow you could make in time for the 4th of July? Check it out on here.

Have you seen the two Stitch Alongs? One is embroidery over on Jenny's blog. The other is cross stitch on Blackbird Designs. 

One more thing. Have you seen this ironing board at Target? It is much wider than a standard ironing board and it raises up to 39". Since I am tall and I am having neck issues this is really nice for me.

Now to the winner of the giveaway. (the sewing kit pattern)

Cissa K. you are the winner! Congratulations! 

If you are interested in the sewing kit pattern you can buy it from Lee's Craftsy page.

With Passion,

Carrie P.

How about a Giveaway?

Before I was consumed by the busyness of May I made these sewing kits. I won the pattern a while back and finally got around to making the pattern. It was created by Lee at MayChappell.com.

I made three.  I made the pink one for my mom for Mother's Day. The one in the center I made for my friend Judy. The blue one I made for myself.

I waited to show these off to you because I was waiting on my friend, Judy, to finish weaving a new rug for me. I got the rug the other day. It is done in browns to go with my new braided rug in my morning room. She now has her sewing kit.

She has two kitties and she loves pumpkins so this fabric was perfect for her kit. I really wanted to use it on the outside of the kit but because it is a directional fabric it wouldn't work. I only had a fat quarter to work with too.

Keep on reading to find out about the giveaway.

And speaking of giveaways. I won these wonderful charms packs from Fort Worth Fabric Studio. So pretty.

This past weekend I harvest some onions. I probably pulled them up a little too soon but I wanted to make room to plant some more seeds. I also harvested some garlic which is hanging to dry.

Here is a new photo of this cute little guy, my grandson. Adorable, right?

Now for the giveaway. You have a chance to win the sewing kit pattern, a fat quarter, and enough quilter's vinyl to make the zippered pocket. You can't see it but it has the purple tab on it. It will be inside the pattern. I will pick a winner for the giveaway on Saturday. No need to jump through hoops for a chance. Just leave any old comment. Maybe you could tell me if you were to win would you make more than one sewing kit.

With Passion,

Carrie P.

Sharing

Whew! May was a busy month. First I would like to thank you all for voting for my daughter's block during the Accuquilt competition. If you read their site you probably saw the grand prize winner's block which was really neat. 

So the month of May was spent with family. The first two weeks I was down in Florida helping my mom out who had surgery. She is doing okay but it will take her time to heal. One of her sisters is helping her out now. While I was at my mom's I did work on a few projects.

While I was gone my guild had a quilt show. I hated to miss it. My friend Laura, who does my machine quilting, took my quilts I entered in the show. I won some ribbons. Best Hand Applique and a first place ribbon for this little quilt. This pattern was a free BOM by Bunny Hill Designs.

I think all quilters who enter a show are pleasantly surprised when they win this ribbon. I certainly was. This was another free BOM by Crabapple Hill.

You might remember seeing this quilt from a previous post. I won a second place ribbon. Laura did the machine quilting. She won the best machine quilting category. I gave her the ribbon to keep. Way to go Laura. You can see more winning quilts over at KBQuilts. This pattern was from Dawn Heese.

While I was away two giveaways I had won arrived in my mailbox. The stack of solid fabrics on the left was from Just Arting Around during the Quiltmaker 100 blocks magazine tour. The other stack was from Grammie Q's when she reached 300 posts. Thanks to them both for their generosity.

The third week of May was spent in the garden when I got home from Florida. I had to weed every bed before I could plant veggies. What a job. I did go to my applique bee. Susan and Marlene had some show and tell for us.

So the fourth week of May was spent with my in-laws who came to see their new great grandbaby. He is two months old. He is now smiling which is so sweet. I will be taking care of him during the day for a while. Looks like sewing will be done while he is napping.

So that is how the past month was spent. Now for a new routine while watching my grandson.

With Passion,
Carrie P.