2 finishes

I have finally had a little uninterrupted (well, mostly) time in my sewing room to finish up some things for new classes at the store.  Right now is the back to school time of year, and that carries over to the store, too!  We have a long list of new classes opening up, for a full list go to the "Classes" tab on the website and choose the list of classes from the drop down menu.

I am really happy to finally get things pulled together for a new class I have wanted to get organized for quite awhile.  Since learning how to do English Paper Piecing a couple of years ago, I have wanted to do more with all of the different shapes.  Maybe it's the geometry thing, I always did like that class!  But stacking, moving, shifting, reversing and twisting those shapes fascinates me.  I know, dorky!

This new class will meet once a month or so (I plan to lay low during December!).  It's mostly a social and work time for anyone who wants to come, but each time I will have a new "featured shape" and a project that showcases that shape.

Our first class (in October) will feature the clamshell and this pillow project as an example of how to use them.

Then, in November, we will feature the tumbler shape, and the instructions for this little zipper tote.  It was fun to put together the tumblers using a little "Moda Candy" pack that I had picked up somewhere.  This pack is a bundle of 2 1/2" squares cut from a whole group of coordinating fabrics.  Makes it so easy to get a bunch of prints that go together.

I assembled all of the tumblers and then had to decide what they would be used for.  Not another pillow.  Maybe a little tote?  Make that a zippered tote!  I appliqued (by machine) the tumbler blocks onto the turquoise fabric, added some Soft and Stable, lining, zipper, and voila!

After I had it all together, it needed a really good steam press.  Which is hard to do on these 3-dimensional objects.  I was reaching for my pressing ham (which needed a dusting) and realized that my special little pressing mitt would be just right for this.  It actually is an oven glove or potholder for cooking, made of some of that heat resistant silicone stuff.  It's pretty firm, yet flexible.  It fits on my hand like a mitten, and I wear that on one hand inside the little tote while holding the iron in the other hand and moving the iron over the area that needs pressing.  It's a little clumsy, but it just dawned on me that it would work so much better to have a 3rd hand!  Look out, Bob!  Next time you will be wearing the mitt!

And now my next task is to write up the directions for these 2 projects!

Then, for my wool applique class, I really should get these 4 little guys quilted and bound.  They are part of my on-going wool applique group at the store.  It's been fun to see the combinations of wool and cotton, piecing and applique.  These patterns are all designed by Stacy West of Buttermilk Basin.

October

November

December

January

And speaking of Stacy, I am so excited to be a student of hers at a special event she is organizing.  It is just a few short weeks away!  She is using a barn in the Wisconsin countryside for what I hope will be an annual event.  Classes, shopping, food and fiber!  I might never leave!  You, too, can attend.  All the info is on her website.

quilts for the basin

A little while ago, I told you that I had been working on quilting several (10) small quilts for Stacy of Buttermilk Basin.  And by small, I mean less than 1 square yard.  They are part of a group of 12 patterns, designed to be done on your own or as part of a monthly sew-along.  It is called the Basin Quilt Club.  Pictured below are several of the quilts I did.  I can only find pictures of 7 of the 10.

Now for a piece of humble pie--on the last picture, upper right side, you might detect a lack of quilting. For some reason, I sewed the circle but not the feathers around it.  Didn't see it until Stacy brought it up, and now she won't let me take it back to fix it because she thinks it's good to not be perfect or some such malarky.  All I can say is I might just have to creep into her studio and sneak it back home to finish it up right!

Most of the fabrics used in these samples are reproductions of fabric that would have been in existence during the period of the Civil War.  They really complement the traditional blocks she is using.  So my quilting needed to also be somewhat along the traditional line, plus able to stay in the background so the photography for the patterns would look beautiful.

Thanks, Stacy, for the pleasure of being a little part of your creativity!

Working on...

Buttermilk Basin designs for my monthly wool project. Some appliqué paired with a traditionally pieced block. I am staying at my friend, Nancy's, house for a few days. Great view of the lake and no plans to go outside today which is good because it is maybe about -20 degrees!  Better go, soup is ready!

to market, to market

I'm down in the land of big beef steaks and BBQ and the outskirts of the land of Oz.  Yup, Kansas City!  Last Thursday I loaded up my stuff along with Laurel and Debbie (Bear Patch co-owners) and Patty (Fabric Town owner) and headed south.  So nice to have Laurel's trusty extra-large mini-van for the trip, and we will need that extra space for the drive back tomorrow with the stuff we have accumulated so far!

It was a pleasure to have the chance to just ride along in the back seat, chatting, snacking and knitting!  I have started a fun new scarf--

which carries the scrappy theme from fabric into yarn because it is made of random bits of leftover sock yarn skeins!  This is called the Mini Mania and is available as a free download on Ravelry.  I really like the texture that is developing, it fools the eye and looks a lot like a woven fabric.  And it is a very easy one to take on the road because the stitch pattern is super simple.  So we rolled merrily along, solving all the problems of the world.  We only made one quilt shop stop along the way, that was in Ames at Quilting Connection.  It's always interesting to see what other shops might have on display that we have not known about or could adapt to what the customers in our own area might like.  They were busy and friendly at the store, it's a good stop to put on your maps if you are traveling I-35.

Just a few days before leaving home I had some quick quilting to get done for Stacy of Buttermilk Basin.  She had designed 6 new tablemats that were wool mounted on a background of regular cotton fabric.  She wanted some quilting done in the cotton fabric area, which really is just a background to the  focal point of the project.  So I loaded up the little squares and stitched them up and got them back to Stacy and her stitch assistant, Kristina, to be bound in time for photography and pattern covers.  They are on display now in her booth here in KC, I hope my little bit of stitching makes all the shop owners fall in love with them and buy lots and lots of patterns!

While we are here at Quilt Market, our main focus is on finding items and ideas for the store.  But there's often something that pops up that fits into our personal plans and this is one of them--

Debbie found these little baby ties and bought them for me to take home to Ian.  He will be looking just like his Daddy!  I love them!  They are made by Basic Grey.  Basic Grey is a company that has moved from scrapbook and crafting design into fabric design.

I have been posting several updates with lots of pictures over on the Bear Patch Blog all about our days here looking for great new things for the store, so hop on over there and see the fun new stuff!

brush with fame

I had a really different experience recently that I just have to tell you about. It's about the Keepsake Quilting catalog. I used to get this in the mail regularly. All you quilterly people out there probably are familiar with the name, it is kind of a staple among the quilt community. This company has a store in New Hampshire and has run a huge mail order business for a long time. So there was one of these new catalogs laying on a desk in the back room at the store, not sure why, but I was asked a question about something that a customer had seen in the catalog. So I was leafing through the booklet, and stopped in my tracks on page 44.

Appearing on that page is a quilt designed by Stacy West (Buttermilk Basin) that I quilted for her! And my quilting even shows up in the picture! It was just a little thrill for me, personally, to see something that I had worked on in the pages of this catalog. Just had to share my excitement with you! You can sorta' see my quilting design in the picture on the website, but the print picture in the catalog is much better. So that's my claim to fame!

Uff Da!

If you don't talk Minnesotan, that means OMG! Four full (very full) days of walking, talking, learning, listening, planning, dreaming about quilts at International Quilt Market are finished! Plus a day leading up to that of 100+ bus people visiting Bear Patch combined with many who brought themselves to the store prior to the start of Market. And a fun day tomorrow at Bear Patch with our guest designer, Bari Sue Gaudet, of Bareroots pattern company. Debbie, Laurel and I spent much of this time together, trying to be discerning shoppers for new store merchandise. Here you see me with Debbie, and our colors might clash but we really do well with picking and choosing.

Debbie has been doing a good job with taking pictures that she is posting up on the Bear Patch blog so you might want to hop over there to take a look.

A treat for me was viewing some of my own quilting on display in Stacy West's Buttermilk Basin booth. She has a terrific sense for design and display, and her whole booth was a Halloween theme this year. Complete with spiderwebs! The pinwheel quilt behind us is her pattern which I had the privilege of quilting. Her embroidery and wool applique designs were very popular, I'm sure you will be seeing them soon in a quilt shop near you!

Also had a very special day yesterday as we celebrated Dan's 27th birthday--another uff da! It's hard not to have him nearby to celebrate, but we will do that next month when he is here for a visit. Instead, he got to ski! Still lots of snow at Mammoth Mountain, and fresh again yesterday.

So now, it's time for a few moments of R&R and then continue with some quilting...

What I'm working on...

I have had several very fun days filled with quilting. Some sewing, too. Here's a shared project.

Shared because I designed the pattern (Chill Pill), Debbie and I picked out the fabric (designed by Linda Hohag), she put all the blocks together, I added the borders, am halfway through the quilting and will teach it on the summer class schedule at Bear Patch. Debbie had intended to do the borders and binding, but ran into a time crunch since it needs to be done by Tuesday for display at the store along with a whole bunch of other class samples. So sharing is a good thing!

OK, all you quilters out there, I am trying out something that I heard about here to help stabilize the rulers that I use when quilting. These are not the same as the rulers used for cutting, but the same thing might work. It is called Grip Tape, and you will find it at your friendly neighborhood skateboard shop. In my neighborhood, that's Pinewski's in Anoka. I got just a little bit nostalgic when I walked in there, since it was the destination of choice for Dan many times when he was younger, and needed a ride. They are very nice people there, and that hasn't changed over the years. The young man gave me a large sheet of Grip Tape, normally used on the bed of a skateboard. It's kind of like black sandpaper with an adhesive back. I put a couple little squares of it on the ruler I was using and it made a noticeable difference in stay-put-edness. I think you know what I mean. Just a little bit about these rulers--they come in many shapes and sizes and are helpful to guide the machine foot as I am sewing along, so one hand has to hold the ruler with some degree of pressure to be stable on the fabric surface but not too much pressure to interfere with the movement of the machine. Kind of touchy, and something I am still learning. They are thicker than the other acrylic rulers that I use for cutting so there is not danger that the machine foot will go on top of the ruler, thus leading to something bad happening between needle and ruler. I have only a few in my collection.

Compared to my regular ruler collection--

Some girls collect shoes. I collect fabric, thread and rulers.

I've finished quilting another project for a new pattern designed by Stacy West for Buttermilk Basin and it is soooo great! If you like Halloween, you will be wanting this pattern! I would like to show you a picture, but will hold off until Stacy gets it published in time for Spring International Quilt Market in May. Lucky us, it is here in Minneapolis this year, so we can have the luxury of staying close to home while still enjoying all the fun that is Market. This is a trade show for the quilting industry, all the fabric manufacturers, pattern designers and notions distributors gather to show their latest and greatest to shop owners and take orders. You will be hearing more about this from me, to be sure.

I'm running into more than one deadline in the next few days, so this will be it for now, gotta focus on completing some tasks!

Haunting quilting

Been working on a couple Halloween quilts just recently--

fun colors to work with, the thread shows up a lot better on the backing--

Close-up of some of the stitching detail--

These will be available as patterns from Buttermilk Basin at Quilt Market next month. I have a couple more to do that are awesome embroidery blocks!