Tuesday Archives #69: Ric Rac

Welcome to the linky party that rejuvenates your old quilting/sewing posts! 

Please click here to read more about this linky party.  

This week's theme is: Ric Rac!

(July themes are posted on the sidebar)

One of my favorite ways to add fun and dimension to a quilt is yes, with Ric Rac! I found this site called Burlap and Blue that shares 25 ways to use ric rac to accessorize, embellish and decorate along with uses for it on clothing and gifts. So many fun ideas there! 

Short and sweet today...but that's okay.,,it's summer!

I'm working on developing a "directory" of all our Tuesday Archives themes for quick reference...I'd say it's about 50 % done. I'm also working on getting a sponsor for our weekly linky...wouldn't that be fun! Keep your fingers crossed...in the meantime, I'm off to search my archives for some ric rac inspiration and look forward to visiting your links as well.

Attention Piggy Bank Challenge Participants!

 Mark your calendars as next Monday, July 6th, will find us emptying our "piggy banks" as the end of the 2nd Annual Piggy Bank Challenge will be upon us. We'll create a post exclaiming our totals, share what quilty purchase(s) we're going to make and link up here once again to share and celebrate! 

I still love to see all the different "piggy banks"we all shared as we linked up and commited to this  quilty challenge of sorts last year. (We had 35 people link up and about five more commit.)

I know at the mid-point check in ,  quite a few of you were making great coin savings progress...and I'm thinking I might beat my hubby for the first time this year. Which means, this year HE has to buy the ice-cream! LOL!! Okay, enough of me being silly, until next Monday, keep up the coin savings and be thinking about what your quilty "treat" is going to be!

Summer Sampler: Crazy Quilt Stitching

As I said last week, my summer handsewing project is this summer sampler wool project.

Having never done crazy stitching before, I found the preprinted, water-soluable stitch guides very helpful in learning new stitches. This week I enjoyed stitching all the seams as I watched some summer movies. (Ughhhh...I hate that the summer heat has arrived.)

Once the seams, borders and corners were stitched, I just had to soak my piece in room temperature water for 5 minutes. I made sure all the paper was dissolved.

Paper all gone. Cool huh!

Now I just need to lay it flat to dry. 

Meanwhile, I'll find myself another movie on TV and start preparing the applique pieces for the blocks. 

Linking up and visiting with everyone at Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching.

 I'll look forward to sharing the applique with ya next week.

Summer Tablecloth

Do you have a small quilt top that hasn't been quilted yet? 

Get it out and make yourself a quick summer tablecloth!

One of the things I enjoy about summer is eating breakfast and dinner outside. 

So being the quilty gal I am, I thought, what better way to make it more enjoyable than with a summer tablecloth. Especially one made from a pinwheel pattern and...

This measures 48"x48".

 ...sunflower fabric!

 I used NO batting and just put the pieced front and this checkered backing right sides together, sewed the perimeter and reversed pillowcase style. I then quilted it with a simple leaf pattern on the sashing and a fun sunflower on each pinwheel. I love it!

Hope your day is off to a wonderful start and that you are perhaps inspired 

to  finish a quilt top  into a summer tablecloth too. 

Tuesday Archives #68: Recipes!

Welcome to the linky party that rejuvenates your old quilting/sewing posts! 

Please click here to read more about this linky party.  

This week's theme is: Recipes! 

This week find's us "exchanging" recipes! Crock pot, BBQ, breakfast, dessert...any recipe your little heart desires. I mean we can all use something new, especially if it leaves us with more time to sew! A summertime favorite I found in my archives is our FAST yogurt pie:

Here's the recipe:

First, Mix together in a bowl:

2 cups of lowfat strawberry yogurt

1 8 oz.container of cool whip (thawed)

1/2 to 1 cup of chopped strawberries

Next, spoon mix into a premade Grahman Cracker Crust. (Add toppings if your want)
Then, freeze for about four hours.
Finally, remove the pie from the freezer and place in the refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving.

Store leftovers in the freezer.

*NOTE: If strawberries aren't your favorite, you can easily substitute the strawberries for your favorite yogurt/fruit combination. Maybe use blueberry yogurt with blueberries, vanilla yogurt with crushed pineapple, peach yogurt with diced peaches?? Whichever flavor you choose, this pie literally takes 5 minutes to mix together and get into the freezer! And everyone loves it...especially when it's HOT outside.

Studio Chairs Made-Over!

Aren't these fun!?

The pink, green and turqouise match my studio quilt perfectly!

Together they create a cozy place to stitch with my mom and watch TV.

So much fun seeing my studio gradually come together!

(Now to get that wallhanging quilted!)

Crazy for Wool Summer Sampler!

This is my summer project for hand stitching. 

I got the seasonal sets of these when I went the HMQS in May.

I've always wanted to try my hand at crazy quilting and these kits included preprinted, water soluable stitch guides. They will each finish 18"x18"...perfect for a seasonal wallhanging.

The kits are available at: SewCherished.com.

And now that I got my foundation all ready, I'll be using my perle cotton to stitch.

Please do feel free to comment and share your lessons learned as I am a newbie at this.

In the meantime, I'm off to find a Lifetime/Hallmark movie, sit down and give this a try.

Looking forward to sharing my progress with ya over the summer at Kathy's linky.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Sunday Stitiching!

Ironing Board Make-Over

Sometime last year my darling husband created a custom ironing board for me so it would be easier to iron out quilt tops. He replaced the top of my ironing board with a piece of 20"x56" OSB Board. (It looks like a piece of wood to me...but he said if you told your husband OSB Board he'd know what you are talking about...men! LOL!)

So here's what the little handy dandy board looked like yesterday...not so good.

(Sorry for the blurry picture...I was laughing too much, as  my DH acted more like he was getting his  mugshot taken instead being the "star" of my post!)

 So after a little research and a visit to JoAnn's he stapled two layers of natural/cotton batting down. Then finished it off with two more layers of natural muslin. 

One lady swore by this method for a "OSB" made ironing board.

 Here it is renewed!

I thought of using a decorative cover, but often find myself using this as a mini design "wall" too...so went with the clean, simple look. Interested to see if the new layers will change the heat in my ironing? Interested to know if you have ever made an iroining board cover? If so, what you used...as if this doesn't improve my control of heat, I'll be looking for a plan B.

Today will find my busy repainting and recovering my studio chairs. Fun colors to come.

Hexi/Gnome Quilt Finish

Nothing says summer better than a fun picnic quilt!  Especially one made of big hexis', fun polka-dots mixed together with some little gnome men and cute cruiser bikes!

Measuring finished at 35"x49", it's small enough to roll up into a bike basket and take a cruise to the nearest park or beach. (Not that I even live near a beach...but it sounds fun doesn't it!?).

I was delighted to have had a bike pantograph and used black thread on the front and back.

Jackson was busy playing with "cousin" Taylor...but of course, kept a close eye on my picture taking!

Hope your weekend has some outdoor fun in store for you as well.

Jackson...Um, Excuse Me.

Time to get this one back on the quilting frame...

as it came off when I had all that tension trouble on Monday. 

I hate to disturb him...

...especially when I do and he then looks at me like this:

 I promised him a long morning walk after I get it set up on the frame. I'll let him rest a little bit longer as I take some time to visit  blogs to see what you are all up to, then he has to get up! LOL!

Tuesday Archives #67: Ruler Work

Welcome to the linky party that rejuvenates your old quilting/sewing posts! 

Please click here to read more about this linky party.  

This week's theme is: Ruler Work

You may have remembered reading that I ended up in a ruler class with Barb, who blogs at Mountain Quiltworks, last month at the HMQS in Salt Lake City! It was fun to finally meet a blogging buddy in person and I'm a little jealous she already put our class to work. Here is her quilt finished using the Quick Curve ruler (for quilters) which tracks fairly closely to the curves in Helen and Jenny's patterns. Barb admits having a lot of fun echoing and quilting the rings! (Stop by Sew Kind of Wonderful for more about these patterns and rulers.)

Personally, ruler work is on my goal list. I feel I have pantographs under my belt and look forward to gradually expanding my skill set. This week, I'm looking forward to seeing ruler work you've done. Whether on your home sewing machine, short-arm, long-arm...all ruler work inspires! Also, feel welcome to create a new post to share your ruler quilting, your favorite ruler "tools", and/or lessons learned.

Bad Tension =Tension!

YES! I'm showing you the underside of my quilt, which quite honestly feels like I just showed everyone my underwear drawer! LOL!  But I'd thought I'd be brave and put it out there....as THIS is how I just spent the last three hours! (Three hours!) Yes, loops on the back of my quilt. Ugh!

 This always seems to happen when I haven't quilted for awhile. Geuss you can say ol'Lizzie and I are out of sinc? I don't know....but it takes every bit of patience I can muster to get back on track. I sometimes just want to sell everything and quit! LOL!! (not really) But then I tell myself this is all part of the learning process too. So I stopped. I walked away. I watched some instructional videos. 

I breathed. I prayed for more patience. I ate some ice-cream.

I have so much respect for those of you that quilt for a living! You are amazing in my book!! 

Thank you for inspiring with your long-arming skills. Everybody hug their long-arm quilter the next 

time you see them...it'a whole different craft in itself. And those of you that quilt on your home machines...seriously...my hats off to all!

I will close and get back on "the horse" as they say....

as I'm certainly not afraid of this tension knob anymore! YAH!

 And I really want to have some fun quilting today...

Yes...I'm still smiling.

PS: Thanks for listening to my rant...I have a feeling I'm not alone...but Jackson just doesn't understand me when I say to him: "Seriously, I just don't get this blank, blank, machine!"

Hexi/Gnome Flimsy

Off the design wall and made into a flimsy in only a few hours!

This will make a perfect summer quilt measuring in at 35"x49". I think whether it's to play a game of checkers or just sit and read a book outside, it's going to be enjoyed a ton.

I can't wait for the bike fabric to arrive for the backing and get this one quilted!

Thanks for stopping by...more tomorrow.

Christmas Charm Swap!

I couldn't resist joining Michele's charm swap this morning:

I think these are going to make a fun, scrappy Christmas quilt!

This swap is open to 56 participants...and I know of one spot that is already taken.

I'm busy in the sewing studio...so much more to come!

Just wanted to share real quick that the sign-ups started today and go fast.