Saturday, January 28, 2012

SOMETHING NEW FOR THE BLOG

Just to let you know a new feature has been added to the blog.  If you look down a bit on the right hand column on this blog, you will see a new feature...a Flickr Photo Stream.  Click on the Winter Wonderland Quilt Show and it will take you to 200 pictures of our last quilt show, as well as the fashion show.
I hope you all enjoy this feature and enjoy looking back at our past show.  It will inspire you no doubt, as there were so many beautiful quilts!
Laurie

Friday, January 27, 2012

Treats for the Weekend

Here are some fun places to visit over the weekend.  Cherry Blossoms Quilting has this really great owl pattern for you.  He is so cute and she is also featured at Sew We Quilt who is still doing tool reviews.  If you go down the page after reading all the other wonderful tool ideas, you will come to a tutorial about the layout of the owl with an applique sheet.  She tell just how she uses that sheet to make the owl.

Kerri of Lovely Little Handmades shows some pretty quilts made with a tool called Lil' Twister.  You can see the tool here and purchase it too.  I haven't bought a tool or ruler in a long time but this one looks fun!  You can see Kerri's Lil' Twister demo here.  It looks very scary to cut up that quilt but look how cute it turns out.  Too much fun.  Kerri's blog also has links to many really good tutorials, just go down the left side until you come to her Favorite Tutorial section and just make a choice.  Sew We Quilt has done a great job with the tools this month and I've enjoyed seeing many that I've not used before but would like to try.  The reviews and demos are good and informative.

Retro-mama has some tutorials that are nice.  Her Easter Eggs will be cute in a couple months but I've been intriqued by her houses that she makes and admit to sewing one already.  They could be addictive and of course, they use scraps(thats my excuse anyway.)  She has a lot of pictures of them all done up.  Wow!

Jabotquilt is mostly about art quilts but her art gallery with tutorials is full of information.  A ribbon flower, a very pretty quilt with lots of black and a neat scarf pattern are fun.

One Shabby Chick has a lot of colorful tutorials going on for cosmetic bags, guitar straps, scrappy pouches, ipad and ipod covers.  So check them out. 

Lily Pad Quilting is doing embellishments this month.  She also has some tutorials which are patterns for embroideries, the skate one is really nice.

I'm working on putting together an entry form for our show which will be in our Quilt Show Tab and then you can print out the entries.  Yes, its getting time to think about what you will enter in out fall show!  I hope this will be helpful, if I can make it work, and maybe more members will visit our blog.  The stats show that a limited amount of members visit and I think its the same ones all the time!  Thanks for those fans anyway.  If you're not visiting, you're missing out. I hope the blog becomes an important link to our show and will help us out in the setting up and getting ready.

I do thank our international visitors, its amazing to see where you come from and we appreciate you're showing up on our blog to check it out.

 Have a nice weekend from Diana.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Riley Blake Designs

I came across a wonderful website called Riley Blake Designs and this is the link to their free projects page.  There are very very many projects to choose from and if you go all the way to the bottom, there is a link to videos.  The videos look good with subjects like making zipper flowers, bibs, bias binding, hot pads and cosmetic bags and more.

They also have something called Cutting Corner's College which has just dozens of online classes.  They also have a pincushion club and will have a new pincushion every Friday for a year.  There's a lot to see here so please spend some time.  They also sell fabrics but I believe its wholesale.  The fabrics are lovely though and I'm sure we can find them somewhere!

Have fun here.  Diana

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

January Show and Tell

Not too many quilts this month for show and tell.  A lot of the snow bird ladies have "flown" to the South, or are on vacations it seems. 
Here are the lovelies that came in this month.


Here is a sampler quilt made by Joann (I see you hiding there behind!)  She has made this quilt for a soldier quilt.


Here Kris shows a king size beauty that she made for her sister.


Peg made this cute pink embroidered quilt.  She will be taking this quilt to a local hospital to be given away to a baby for National Quilting Day.


Peg also made this cute Valentine's wall hanging.

Keep stitching ladies!
Laurie

Monday, January 23, 2012

Totally Pinkie

Until I got my granddaughters, I didn't even think about the color pink!  Now I adore it and when you see this sewing machine, well, if you got some money left from a tax return, you could be tempted. The Old Sewing Machine Man has a parts for old sewing machines, fixes them and this could especially be handy for all you Featherweight devotees.  Go to Machines for Sale page and scroll down until you come to Pinky, the magenta Featherweight .  Now I'd like to carry that machine to sewing sessions!  Also, that red one right below it ain't too shabby.  What fun stuff with a Featherweight that probably was pretty banged up.

This pink machine got me thinking about quilts of course.  Leisure Arts is just a great publisher and has a Pretty In Pink book.  Pink is the color for anything related to breast cancer so I thought you might want to take a look at Bayside Quiltings contribution to the cause.  They know how to do it right and have a lot of fun too.

These Google Images for pink quilts will blow your mind.  Google Images is one of my favorite ways to look for ideas and it gathers them for you all in one spot.  I just did one for purple quilts now.  All of these quilts are amazing and this is a wonderful tool for you to look for color combinations and you can check out each quilt individually.  Sometimes its an original design, sometimes theres a pattern for sale.

This Starlings pattern by Quilt Dad is not pink but I just liked it.  Looks like a lot more fun than flying geese...

Have a safe day as the roads must be slippery today.  Diana

Friday, January 20, 2012

Cabin Fever

Wow, the quilts from Laurie's last post are just wonderful!  Who would think that a lot of scraps and orphan blocks and such would turn into such beauties!

The winter was going okay until this week and now suddenly, with this cold weather, cabin fever has set into my life.  Whats the cure?  I've been dragging out all my scraps and cutting them, pressing them, sewing them into odd quilt tops but now I just have more UFO's!  My granddaughter cleaned my sewing room for me.  She did a really good job and worked really diligently while I was at our community service day.  It was my birthday present from her, I admire her determination as it continually overwhelms me.  She even cleaned inside my desk drawer and found a lot of stuff I didn't know I had.  Sadly, a lot of the room looks messed up again as we spent the weekend sewing together.  She will be up in the morning before me and in there sewing.  Another quilt addict.

I have been spending some time on the computer to find inspiration and theres a lot out ideas out there.  I also went through out page called Fun Places to Visit and revised that and made it easier to understand I think.  With Valentine's Day coming up, I visited Judy Murrah's blog for her beautiful Valentine hearts pillows.  I see that she sews with her lovely granddaughters too.  Judy's pillows look nice and simple and would make gifts for our sweeties. 

Pleasant Home is a great scrap lovers blog.  She is having a scrap along project and you can take a look at their weekly progress.  You have to go to Week 2 and click on her scrappy Dresden plates.  Holy cow, I love them!  Also, she has a lot of tutorials all organized by season or holiday.  Wonderful place to visit.

If you want to feel ashamed, go to Stolen Moments.  Just scroll down to see all the projects she finished in 2011 which includes 13 quilts!  And all the other stuff.  Beyond impressed.  I really love the ambition of these younger quilters, the future of quilting is alive and well.

Wild Olive is fun.  Scroll down to see her really cute snowman but wait till you see her knitting with a fork!  I've not seen anything like it yet. 

Sew Sweetness is just full of information.  Scroll down a bit to her Frou Frou bag for a very detailed tutorial on it.  It is sweet.  Also, in her tutorial page, she offers numerous bags, a quilt called Farm Fresh (cute and summery) and also 30 Day of Sewing Back to School.  This has links to thirty different blogs where they give advise and sewing tips from basic to whatever on sewing and quilting.

Fresh Lemons is a wealth of quilting ideas.  Right now she has links to other wonderful quilt blocks and quilts posted.  She also has a series going called Solstice Stars.  If you check out her patterns, she has some for sale and some for free, they look great and very full of color.

Sew Hooked  just posted a group of Project Linus quilts.  She also has many paper pieced patterns in her free pattern section.  All kinds of animals and such and would be great fun for you paper piecers for sure.

Thats all I have for now but hey, I feel better already just looking at all the lovelies in these blogs.  Stay warm ladies and have a great weekend.  Diana

Community Service Quilts

We have been very busy this month finishing up a lot of our blocks and tops into community service quilts.  Quite a few of these lovely quilts came into our show and tell, and I know that 3 or 4 were already stored away.















Aren't they just all beautiful?!  Thanks to all who helped in anyway.  I am sure the quilts will bring comfort to someone in our community.  Oh, and there are still a couple more tops that need to be tied and bound.....just in case....just checkin'....just maybe...we can wind this up soon! 
Laurie

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Upcoming Quilt Shows



The Crazy Quilters’ Guild, Inc.

25th Annual Quilt Show
“Still Flying High After 25 Years”
April 14 & 15, 2012

Parkview Middle School  930 N. Rochester, Mukwonago, WI

Sat. 9-5     Sun. 11-4


       Admission $5.00

       Special Category:  “Flying Geese” (any technique)

       Over 200 Quilts and quilted items on display

       Bed Turning by Jonathan Riddle

       Jennifer Chiavarini presentation

       Merchants Mall featuring the area’s finest quilt shops

       Appraisals by appointment:  Call Kathy (262-662-3451)

       Judged Quilt Competition with cash awards

I also have a pdf form if you want to enter this competition.  Just email Diana.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

BOM's

Just to let you know that I ran accross a neat free block of the month that is offering a new "mini quilt" each month.  You can find this BOM at Country Junk'tion. Each pattern will be offered free during the month it is introduced, so there is still time for January!
I was starting to go through the BOM page on our blog, with the thought that I would remove some of the ones that were already past, but I kept running into the new BOM's that these great sites were offering.  So, with that in mind, don't forget about our BOM page if you want to snoop around in there, you never know where it might lead you!
Laurie

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

10- Minute Block Book Review

Last night at our meeting I, (with the assistance of Deb..thank you!) did a book review on 10-Minute Block by Suzanne McNeill.  If you are looking for a block that is fast and fun, but looks like you spent a lot of time sewing it, this would be for you!  The 10 minute block is made of 5 squares, but only takes 3 seams to assemble!  When you sew your 3rd seam, and then open your block to reveal, you will see that a little "magic" happened, and the center block is all of a sudden on point!  Just a little top stitching, and you can achieve the look of a cathedral window.  The book has various setting options, and each option has yardage and cutting instructions for various quilt sizes, which is nice.
Suzanne has a nice  tutorial here on the 10 minute block if you would like to check that out.  Suzanne is a very creative lady and has other books available.  One being 10- Minute Block 2, that Deb had used to make her soldier quilt from.  If you would like to check out Suzanne's blog, and all of the fun things she is doing do click here.  I would recommend this book to any quilter.

Here is the basic 10 minute block, made into a table topper.

Deb made a soldier quilt using the 10 minute block book.

Laurie also made a solier quilt.  A fast, easy and fun way!

Laurie made a table runner, using a larger center block in the design.

Deb made this soldier quilt using half square triangles, as shown in the 10-Minute Block 2 book.

Thanks again to Deb for her help with this book review.  It is always nice to have more samples to show you.  I hope you are inspired to give this book a try!
Also, Diana had put a post on the blog this morning as well, so if you missed that, you can check that out below.  (I think my post kind of burried hers a bit!)
Laurie

Great Meeting and Great Tools

We had such a great meeting last night!  Laurie did such a good job with her 10-Minute Blocks demo and Deb did a wonderful job with her additions to demo. I know more than one person left last night with the ideas flowing.

I found a couple tools for sewing and quilting that look interesting.  Forence at Flossie Teacakes has a review of Frixion marking pens which appear to be great for embroidery especially.  I really like the potential of these.  Florence also has some wonderful patterns and tutorials for you to see.

Today, Sew We Quilt, is featuring VeryKerryBerry who is doing reviews of many Clover Products which include seam pressers, needles, etc.  The Black Gold Eye Needles sound interesting to try.

Stay warm. Diana

Monday, January 16, 2012

Meeting Reminders

Just a reminder that today, January 16, is our regular meeting. Also, if you are involved in the planning of our quilt show, or would like to be, please remember that there is a Quilt Show Planning meeting at 5:00 today as well.  There are still "positions" available if you would like to help with the planning, so feel free to attend. 
Tonights meeting will feature Laurie doing a book review on "The 10 Minute Block".  It is a fast and fun block that would sew up nice into a soldier quilt, or easy gift for someone.
Laurie

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Free Tiffany Bluebird Quilt Pattern

Who doesn't love Bluebirds and the look of stained glass? Here is a lovely free bluebird pattern for you to check out. It just looked so much like spring to me!
The pattern designer, Laura C. Martin used silk in her design, but I think the project could be adapted to use other fabrics if you wished, perhaps some glowing batiks?
Enjoy,
Laurie

Free Tiffany Bluebird Quilt Pattern

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Community Service Sewing Day

What a bunch of busy ladies we had at the community service sewing day today!  Fourteen members came to help assemble some of our quilt tops into quilts!  If you are able to come help with this project, we will resume work on finishing up more of our quilts on Monday, January 9th.  We will be meeting at Noon, and going to ????....whenever we poop out I guess. Below you will see everyone hard at work.  Thank you to everyone who came to help, or helped to sew all of these blocks or tops together in the first place! 




Wednesday, January 4, 2012

See How We Sew

Good morning:
I found a really nice blog that is done by four quilters, Darra Williamson, Jennifer Rounds, Christie Batterman, and Laura Nownes.  These ladies have presented their four ideas in one blog and it represents a lot of inspirational ideas, lovely photos,  video how to's and patterns that I think you will have fun with.  Its called See How We Sew.

Saturday is our community service day for sewing at the Breed Town Hall.  Hope you guys can make it.   Diana

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year

Can't believe a whole year is gone!  Did you get all your UFO's done?  Did you meet your goals? No matter what you answered, I bet you still love to quilt!  Maybe this is the year to give away some of those UFOs and start fresh.

I found a nice tutorial by Little House by the Sea for mushroom pincushions.  They are absolutely darling.  Remember the mushroom craze from years ago and the owl craze.  My husband's grandmother had flocks of owls in her kitchen and now they're back.  Little House by the Sea also has a nice tutorial for crocheted hats which might be a nice project for this time of year and also very cute slippers.  Get those hooks going!

To start out the New Year and get a new set of skills, why not check out Leah at Free Motion Quilting Project for her outline on learning to free motion quilt.  She always has some great ideas and you can spend hours at her blog.

Sentimental Stitches is starting a It Just Takes 2 Block  BOM. You will love the red and white that she used. I love the addition of embroidery too.
Have a great week.   Diana