Norman

We have a new baby in the house!  A Flame Point Siamese that we rescued from the local humane society.  He’s just 15 weeks old and a little sweetheart.  You can read more about it here as well as see more photos here.

Fall Stitching

I have this small, round side table that I decided needs a round, quilted table topper for the fall.  I decorated the other day for fall/Halloween and it looks a little barren in that spot.  So I found a great stitchery at The Floss Box (thanks to Amanda H. for the link) and have started stitching when I have a few minutes.  I figure this will be the center and I’ll scrappy piece around the sides to make it the right diameter.  I’m looking forward to completing this one and sharing it.  I love having a vision in my head of something and seeing it through. 

When I was gathering the thread colors I wanted to use onto a ring, I realized I wanted to have a few needles to hold multiple threads, rather than constantly changing thread when I still had usable amounts left on the needle.  Which of course led to me needing a needle “card” to hold them all.  So I grabbed a piece of fall fabric, some batting and some wool felt and cut them all out into circles.  Then I stitched them together and used pinking shears around the edge.  Finally, I put a small grommet on there so it could fit on my ring and always be with the threads.  It’s proved very useful, and quite cute, too!  And of course I have it all stashed in my Hoop Travel Bag that I made from the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery pattern.

UMARO Throw Progress

It’s coming along.  I haven’t been able to work on it much in the last couple weeks, but I sure enjoy knitting it when I can.  This is such a great throw and I look forward to finishing it and using it on cold winter evenings on the couch.  UMARO Throw found here.

Sunny Spread Block

I saw a post on Pinterest for a quilt made from these blocks and loved it!  I’d really like to do it in a mustard yellow (like shown) but had this big thing of blue sitting around, so I thought I’d give it a whirl.  It’s been fun working on one a day.  They go pretty fast, and now that I’ve done a few I don’t need to look at the pattern.  The full blanket calls for 80, so I figure if I can just get one a day done, I should have an afghan in about 3 months (because of course there will be days I miss).  Although, this yarn is cheap yarn and I kind of want to do it out of a nicer yarn.  So I may be abandoning this yarn and going for another soon.

Thanks so much for the enthusiastic response to the Retro Flowers quilt!  I was so nervous about this one, but you all had such positive things to say.  I am looking forward to seeing some more of these quilts pop-up around Flickr/Blogs.  I’ve been busy over here working on canning, quilting and other small projects so I have been awful about responding to comments, but please know that everyone’s comments make a world of difference and I hope to get to email soon. 

Liz wanted me to be sure and say that she pieced her flower block without a Curve Master foot.  She did find that the use of spray starch (as the pattern suggests) helped immensely in matching up her curves.  Although, Amanda, who also tested the pattern, found that she had no trouble without spray starch.  Amanda did not use a Curve Master foot either, and it went just fine for her.  So don’t be worried if you don’t have one, but still want to make the quilt, it’s definitely not required, it just made the job go by a little faster. 

Bernina Owners: If you do buy one, and have a new style Bernina, you just need the (unnumbered) shank that comes with the #1 foot on it.  This was a standard foot on my (very basic) machine, so I would assume most of the Bernina’s come with it.  The Curve Master foot just snapped right in, no problem.  So if you have that shank, don’t worry about buying the extra adapter, just be sure to get the foot that will work with a Bernina (and a 1/4” foot for this pattern).  …although I just went and checked my packaging and it did come with a shank adapter, but it’s plastic so not sure how long that would really last.  Here is a low priced one on Amazon. 

Retro Flowers Quilt Pattern

Here it is!  The Retro Flowers Quilt!  I have been busy working away over here these last few weeks.  I was finishing up this quilt that had been sitting on the table and design wall for several months.  I had shown this pattern in the drafting phases to a few friends, and it got high marks from everyone, so I thought I should probably get making it.  I am so glad that I did!  I LOVE this quilt!  It is probably one of the only quilts that I knew would be mine.  Most times I make quilts with the idea of selling them or gifting them, but not this one.  I’m keeping it!

I feel such a sense of accomplishment having finished this.  To see something I designed, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, with all of those curved pieces matching up so beautifully, it just feels like a huge accomplishment.  I felt something with the making of this quilt that I’ve never felt before.  Even picking out the fabrics to all match up was a big achievement for me. 

I can already tell that half of your are going – oh it’s beautiful, but I could never sew that many curves…I couldn’t get my pieces to match up like that.  But I’m here to tell you: Yes you can!  I’ve written this pattern so that even a beginning sewer with just a few quilts under their belt, and no curve experience, could still make this quilt with just as much precision.  I’ve included lots of illustrated diagrams and given you all of my tips to have those curves matching up every time.  I even had the pattern tested, and the testers had the same results.

Here is a pillow Liz made from a single flower block.  LOVE it!  She agreed with me on the huge feeling of accomplishment with this block.  It’s such a great feeling.  (I’ll share the project of the second tester here once it’s completed.)

I’ll tell you two things that made a HUGE difference in this quilt, neither of them is required, but on my did they make the job so much easier: 

1.) The Curve Master 1/4” Presser Foot.  Have you seen this foot in action yet?  OMG!  Every bit as wonderful as they appear to be.  Now, I’m not saying fresh out of the box it’s as easy as the video makes it out to be, but I did a few practice curves to get a feel for the mechanics of it before starting this quilt and then I went for it.  (And seriously, it is pretty simple.)  I just took my time and went slow and it was fantastic!  After completing a flower block I felt like a pro.  I can’t recommend this foot enough for any curved piecing you might be doing.

2.) Acrylic templates from Tabslot.  I happen to know Jill of Tabslot personally thanks to our Modern Quilt Guild.  She is such a great person (oh! and she was the winner of round two of the Project Modern Quilt Challenge!  She has some awesome quilt designs – her blog is here) and I am so excited to know someone that could make me acrylic templates for my projects.  Again, while not necessary, these helped so much in the cutting process.  I know when I’m going to be cutting a lot of one shape, if I’m using a cardstock template, I’m going to cut into that cardstock pretty quickly and have to go print a new one.  So I really loved having these templates. 

I have held this pattern so close to me for so long that I find it hard to release it.  Sharing something that means so much to me is a little hard, but I hope that everyone finds it as fantastic as I do!  You can purchase the pattern with direct (high quality/resolution) download on my website or via Etsy with the pattern emailed within 24 hours.