special delivery!

 I feel like I can take a deep breath and relax after stressing for awhile about creating a new pattern for our Quilt MN event.  At Bear Patch, I am given the opportunity and freedom to create something new each year with this special edition fabric collection.  This year, I decided to think back a couple of years and re-invent a row quilt design I have used before.  This is the result:

Ten by Emmaline Design

 Here's a closeup of one of the sections, including portions of the great border print that I used.

I had a couple of challenges to put together the pieced blocks that I used.  The fish blocks, shown in the picture above, were derived from another block that I found when I was looking for something to create a frame.  It actually included diamond shapes where the orange pieces are, but I was pretty sure that few people would really want to tackle little set-in diamonds with Y-seams!  So I converted it over to triangles and flying geese blocks to get a similar look.  

I think they look like fish fins and tails!

I also had to do a bit of head scratching to create this chain link row!  I had seen something similar somewhere, but needed to make it fit into the dimensions of 8" x 48".  And find a way to end it neatly without a partial link chopped off!  I like the way it looks now!

If you are interested in making this quilt, we can send you a pattern through Bear Patch.  (I don't do any direct retail sales myself.)  Call 651-429-1039 if you would like to request one.

Also, I put together some of the tools and supplies that would be most helpful in making this quilt:

Starting at the upper left and moving clockwise:

a square ruler 8 1/2" or larger

a rotary cutter with a sharp blade

good scissors

Companion Angle ruler

Strip Stick

Clearly Perfect Angles

a cute pincushion with good (not bent) pins

a chacoliner for marking

mechanical pencil

frixion pen

an awl

seam ripper, get a good one like this one from Clover

good thread like Aurifil

a 4 1/2" square ruler

2 1/2" x 6 1/2" ruler

new needles

If you put those all together, you are much more likely to be successful!

I will be posting some other tutorial-like information over on the Bear Patch blog.

Simple Saturday

Isn't this one of the prettiest cups of coffee ever? Showing off my new coffee cup from the Liberty of London collection at Target. It doesn't take much to make me happy! This brings back fun memories of our trip to Europe a few years ago, not sure which year, maybe 2003? It ws the last big trip that our family of 4 made together, so very special. Dan was in college and Brita was working at Methodist Hospital, I think. Bob and I went to France (Paris and Avignon) for a week, then met up with the kiddos in London. We spent a week motoring along the English countryside on a longboat, it was absolutely one of the best things we have ever done together! While in London I went to Harrod's department store and drooled over their Liberty fabrics, choosing a couple little pieces for my mementos. I also was given a some of this great fabric for a gift from my sister, Jan, she shares the fabric-lover gene! Funny how that happens, I can trace it back to my mom and Grandma (mom's mom) but I don't know about the generation before that.

Thought I would share a couple more of my favorite things with you from my sewing room---

I try to never be far from my seam ripper, and this Clover brand is the best I have found. It has a perfect tiny point and sharp cutting surface along with a handle that feels nice in my hand. Once I tried this brand I threw out any other seam rippers, it's that good. I use my rippers plenty, and I figure I better make the best of the aspect of sewing that I like the least!

My humble little 1" x 6" acrylic ruler from Omnigrid, I also have multiples of these so they can be in whatever sewing bag or area that comes along.

Yesterday brought plenty o' time at the helm of my big machine, it was glorious! I finished up a customer quilt-Yay!- and then quilted 2 tops that are donations for Quilts For Kids resulting from Debbie's archeological dig in her sewing room. Thank you, Debbie, it is much appreciated! It is so nice to have the ability to mount up those small quilts and quilt them with ease. Just simple quilting designs, but one step closer to bringing some comfort to someone instead of languishing in a closet!

Last night I started working on a new sample of my MN Mixer pattern. First it was made in the 2009 MN fabrics,

then reincarnated in baby fabrics,

and now heading towards florals!

With the first 2 versions hanging side-by-side at Bear Patch, it is fun to get peoples' reactions when they realize it is the same pattern. I hope to get them to go outside the box a little more with this new version. This row is pinned out on my ironing board to benefit from a little re-shaping. It is probably the hardest row in the construction of this quilt to get to exactly the right size, this type of triangle is hard to get just right. This time it turned out to be about 1/2" shorter than I would like it to be and since I had actually done a good job at getting all the points correct with the requisite 1/4" seam allowance to be attached to the next row, I didn't want to use my trusty seam ripper to make any modifications. So I am putting to use the simple action of moisture on fiber to give me a little length. I pinned out the border straight on the ironing board, misted it with my spray bottle and let that soak in a little. Then I gently smoothed out the fabric, repinned, and gained what I needed to make this work. I guess the water helps the fibers relax a bit, easier to shape. Seems too simple, but it works! I think I have mentioned here before that I have learned to use my spray bottle to remove wrinkles in quilt backs instead of ironing, same principle.

Today I have decided is going to be a day of silence. I am spending the day at home alone (Bob is on a golf course somewhere in Missouri) and I realized last night that I had TV, radio, music and podcasts on most of the time throughout the day. Too much noise. Not nearly as bad as a day in TNICU, where the alarms sometimes drove me nuts, but still too much noise. So I will have a day of quiet for a change. It's nice!