Building Blocks Finish, Market and Blog Hop

Hi there.  I just wanted to show you my finished Building Blocks quilt.  I tried something new with the binding and bound the area around the blocks with colored fabric and used the background fabric as binding around the background area.  I like it.

I took the quilt to Market with me.  Marlene and I did a Schoolhouse presentation on You Can Quilt!  It went so well.  It was well attended (I was worried no one would show) and quilt shop owners seemed excited to see how they could use the book as a base for classes in their shop.  Yea!

I think it really helped that we had a wide variety of quilts to show.  The one above was made by a student in the Skill Builder Class that Marlene taught last year.  When Marlene talked about how she has used the You Can Quilt! manuscript to teach in her shop you could feel the shop owners in the audience connecting with her.

The You Can Quilt! blog hop sponsored by Island Batik is still going on.  Remember that you can leave a comment on each post to be entered to win a copy of the book and a bundle of fabric.  Details here.

In addition to the earlier post on basic skills the Half Square Triangle, Quarter Square Triangle and Flying Geese Chapters there are now post about Wonky Blocks, Improvisation, Applique, Curves, and Foundation Paper Piecing,  I just want to thank all of the Island Batik Ambassadors for taking the time to review the book and make the blocks from each chapter.  Check them out!

And have a great Halloween!

My New English Paper Piecing Project

Last December I cut up all of my small scraps and started making this hexagon quilt.  I had seen pictures of the La Passacaglia quilt and decided to make my own much simplified version with overlapping hexagons - partly because I didn't want to invest in the papers and templates.  Then last month I saw the papers and templates on sale on Massdrop and I totally caved.  A sale and almost a year of seeing the most gorgeous La Passacaglia blocks totally broke my resolve not to start another EPP project.

I have put away my hexagon quilt for now and am focusing on my La Passacaglia.  It is awesome!  I worked on it today and got even further than this.  It is going to take forever, but it is lots of fun choosing fabrics.  Fussy cutting the flowers did waste quite a bit of fabric, but I hope to use those little bits in a different block.  You are sure to see many more pictures of this project.  :)

In the You Can Quilt! Blog Hop there have been posts on the Half Square Triangle, Quarter Square Triangle and Flying Geese Chapters.  The posts are a great way to get a feel for the book and you can enter to win a copy of You Can Quilt! and a bundle of fabric at each of the posts.  Check them out!

Linking to Scraptastic Tuesday.

Hexagonal Christmas Tree Skirt

Tomorrow our Modern Quilt Group in Des Moines is having a meeting and the theme is "Christmas Ideas".  We are all suppose to bring something holiday/gift themed to share with the group so we can get in gear and have all of our sewn stuff ready for the holiday season.  (Yeah....we can dream.)

I decided that I would finish the Christmas Tree Skirt that I cut pieces for two years ago so I could have something to share - and use.  I used my Diamond Quilt tutorial (the first tutorial I ever wrote!)

(Funny side note about the tutorial.  My husband was talking to a co-worker a few months ago and quilting came up.  It turns out that the co-worker and his wife had commissioned a quilt for their niece.  The quilter gave them some quilt ideas and they ended choosing my Diamond Quilt!  It is a small world.  Anyway....)

It came together quickly (about 2 hours of sewing).  I had already laid out and pinned the fabric into "row bundles" so the sewing was pretty straight forward.  For the quilting I decided to do a scallop starting in the center and circling out.  I'm not sure that was the best design choice, but it doesn't matter because I have to pick it all out anyway.  (grrr)  I kept on having trouble with "eyelashing" on the back of the quilt.  I tried everything I could think of to fix the problem, but it only cleared up when I changed the machine needle.  At least it unpicks quickly because the tension is so loose.

Once it is re-quilted, I will cut out a hole in the center and a slit down the side and bind it.  It probably won't be done for tomorrow, but I'll have a bit of something to show.

It measures about 24" on a side and about 50" across the middle.  You can find the tutorial here.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

At the Fair BOM - October Blocks

Hi, I just wanted to share the October blocks for the At the Fair BOM with you.  On the left a flower block from Kossuth County and on the right a block designed by Sioux County (I love this one!).  These are the last of the large blocks in the quilt, finishing at 16" square.  I have really had a lot of fun making these large blocks, but from here on out it is all 12" and 8" blocks.  Which is actually a good thing.  I am starting to run out of some of the fabric colors.  Making 36" - 16" blocks eats up a lot of fabric!

In other news, I bought a new sewing machine!  I am still figuring it out, but I am loving it.  It was a splurge investment (that is what I keep telling myself) but should serve me well for some time to come.  I'll let you know the details after I have figured it all out.  You know, it is really sad/weird/funny when you look forward to reading an instruction manual.  :)

You Can Quilt! Building Skills For Beginners Blog Hop

Welcome to the blog hop for You Can Quilt! Building Skills for Beginners.  Marlene is an ambassador for Island Batik and has organized a blog hop with the other Island Batik Ambassadors.   Island Batik has provided the Ambassadors (and me!) with fabrics from their New Fall/Winter lines of fabric debuting at Fall Quilt Market.  Over the next four weeks we will each highlight one Skill Builder Set in the book and make the three quilt blocks in that set with our Island Batik fabric.  It will be a great opportunity to get a really good look at the book (and the new fabric lines).  I hope you will follow along and check out all of the posts.

I am kicking it off with Skill Builder Set 1: Learning the Basics.
This Skill Builder Set covers all of the basics: cutting, tips on sewing accurate 1/4" seams and pressing.  The three blocks in this set are all very basic, but give beginning quilters the chance to practice those basic skills before moving on to more complicated blocks.  The blocks were also chosen because they introduce chain piecing, sub-cutting and experimenting with value.

I was given a choice of fabrics from Island Batik's new lines and I choose the Jersey Shore line.  I love the bright colors!  To be honest, I have never really worked with batiks, so this was a new experience for me.  I wanted to make my blocks into a finished product (I don't need any more orphan blocks floating around!) and decided to make a table runner for my friend who just moved.  She loves batiks (perfect) and is decorating her kitchen and dining room in blues and green (perfect).

I edited the fabrics to blues and greens and got cutting.  These blocks come together quickly.  The batik fabric had a different feel than "normal" quilting cottons and I loved the way it pressed - nice and crisp.  

In no time I had the blocks finished and was ready to join them.  I like how you can see the different blocks, but the table runner is still cohesive.

I used some of the leftover fabric for the backing so the table runner would be reversible.

I quilted it with a small leaf and swirl - it seemed like the right motif with all the blues and greens.  Now it is all ready to go to it's new home.  A quick project, perfect for a beginner, that could be made with any of the blocks in the book.

We would love to give you the chance to win some fabric and a copy of You Can Quilt! Building Skills for Beginners.  For a chance to win you can enter with the Rafflecopter below.  You can also enter to win on each of the Ambassador's blogs throughout the blog hop. 

At the end of the blog hop we will randomly choose 4 winners.  Each winner will receive a copy of You Can Quilt! and a bundle of fabric.  There are two fat-eight bundles of Island Batik's Sweet Georgia Peach and two fat-eight bundles of a variety of Cotton and Steel prints that I used to make this Skill Builder quilt.  When we email the winners they will be able to indicate which bundle they would prefer on a first come, first serve basis.  Good luck!

Unfortunately, this giveaway is only open to US residents.
If you would like to purchase a copy of You Can Quilt! you can get a signed copy from Marlene or myself.  It is also available through AQS (as a hard copy or e-book) and Amazon.

I hope you have fun visiting the other posts during the next few weeks!  It will be great to get to see all of the blocks made up in Island Batik fabric.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Oct. 9  -  1, Learning the Basics - Leila Gardunia  sewnbyleila.blogspot.com

Oct. 12 - 2, Half Square Triangles - Tammy Silvers  .tamarinis.typepad.com/

Oct 14 -  3, Quarter Square Triangles - Connie Kresin Campbell conniekresin.com

Oct. 16 - 4. Flying Geese - Maryellen McAuliffe teachpany.blogspot.com

Oct 19 -  5. Wonky Blocks - Christine McCrann Martinez madeinscraps.blogspot.com

Oct. 21 - 6. Improvisation - Connie Kauffman  kauffmandesigns.blogspot.com

Oct. 23 - 7. Foundation Paper Piecing - Joan Kawano moosestashquilting.blogspot.com

Oct. 26 - 8. Curves - Marlene Oddie  kissedquilts.blogspot.com

Oct. 28 - 9. One-Patch Blocks - Bea Lee beaquilter.com

Oct. 30 - 10. Applique - Barbara Gaddy bejeweledquilts.blogspot.com

Nov. 2  - 11. Inset Seams - Pamela Boatright  pamelaquilts.blogspot.com/

Nov. 4 – 12. Challenge Blocks - Linda Stewart Pearl onequiltingcircle.com

Nov. 6 – 13. Finishing – Marlene   kissedquilts.blogspot.com

Warning: No Quilts

Sunday night I caught up on reading Humans of New York (available as a website or on Facebook).  The author broke away from New York and has been interviewing refugees from the Middle East.  It was heart breaking.  (If you haven't already read the interviews please take a moment to do so - it is life changing.)

I couldn't sleep that night.  I kept on trying to figure out what I - way over in the States - could do to help.  I already donate on a monthly basis to organizations that are helping there, but it didn't seem like enough.

After sleeping on it, I came up with a plan.  Here it is.  I hope you will join me.  (Some of the links are more applicable to those in the United States, but the same ideas could be implemented anywhere.)

1. Let the US Government Know I Want to Help -  A few weeks ago Senator Grassley, from Iowa had a telephone "town hall meeting".  Basically a huge conference call that anyone could listen in on.  He was taking questions and my husband indicated he had one.

The screener asked what his question was and Brian said that he would like to ask the Senator how we could increase the number of refugees the US was accepting from Syria.

The woman paused and said, "You mean how can we decrease the number of refugees?"
"No, how can we increase the number?"
"Oh...ok"  He didn't get to ask his question, but it illustrates a point.  If the assumption is that we do not want refugees in the country, that is what our elected officials will do.  We have to make it Overwhelming Clear that we want to help!  So step one was to contact my congressmen/women.

You can click here to find your US Senator and Representative.  You just have to enter your zip code and the site will give you their contact information.  To expedite the process, I sent each congressman/woman the same message.  It took a total of 7 minutes to email all of them.

2.  Stand Up and Speak Up - I recognize everyone's right and privilege to have and express an opinion.  Freedom of speech is one of the most important rights we have.  I also have a right and a responsibility to speak out.  I am very concerned about the rhetoric that is floating around America and the world right now.  It seems like we are just steps from going down the same road with Muslim Americans that we took with Japanese and German Americans during WWII.  I really thought we had learned from our past, but I am not sure we have.

So, another prong of my plan is to speak up respectfully, but very clearly if I hear racist, disparaging, violent or  prejudges remarks about Muslims.  I am going to use my freedom of speech to defend. Yes, there are Islamic terrorists - but a very, very small number compared with the millions of wonderful Muslims in the world.  We cannot turn our backs on or stereotype a whole group of people because of what a few do.  We are better than that.

3.  Donate - There are soooo many organizations that are helping refugees and we can help them!  The UNHRC (the UN Refugee Agency) is on the front lines of refugee relief programs, but they are running out of money.  You can donate to them directly or take part in a Kickstarter campaign in their behalf.

4.  Fund Raise - I can only contribute so much, but I am going to help organize a fund raiser at church.  The wheels are already in motion!  This is a way that one person can make a difference.  There are so many people who want to help - we just have to give them a way.

5.  Donate a Quilt - I was planning on giving my siblings quilts for Christmas, but the quilts may end up being set to refugees instead.  There are a number of places that will accept quilts.  You can send twin sized quilts to Lutheran World Relief (details here), any size quilt to LDS Humanitarian Aid (details here) and children sized quilts to Quilts Beyond Borders (details here).  You might also consider making a monetary donation to help cover the cost of transport.

I am also reaching out to some quilting publications to see if I could do a series on charity quilts.

6.  Volunteer to Help Refugees Already in the Country - An online search of "Refugee Services" in Iowa showed that the department needs people to help refugees learn the ropes in the city (transport etc) and just to talk to them so they can start to learn English and have a friend in their new home.  Every state has "Refugee Services".   See what their needs are.

7.  Blog About It and Post a Link to the Post on Facebook - Check!  :)

So, that is my plan of attack.  Will you join me?  In searching for ways to help, I found this great article.   10 Things You Can Do From [Anywhere] to Help Refugees.  Maybe it will help you think of things tailored to you.

I would just like to ask everyone to do something.  I know there are so many people in need - at home and in so many places around the world.  It is overwhelming, but if each of us could do something to help maybe it could get better a bit at a time.  If you have anymore ideas on how to help please leave them in the comments.  I would love to hear them.

Thanks for reading through all this text!  I promise we will go back to quilting.  :)  In fact, Marlene and I are having a blog hop starting Friday for You Can Quilt!  I hope you will check back in and join us for that.