Playing with eggs....

I'm drawing again, and I'm having fun. . .soon will be on a quilt.

Schnibbles---great way to use scraps!

Carrie Nelson is the author of a book called "Schnibbles times two". The book gives two versions of each quilt, a large and a small. This quilt is named "Short Story" and it is the small quilt. It measures 33 inches square finished. My daughter Becky did all the cutting and I pieced it together. I have to admit it was a challenge because I knew I had to be precise or else the intersections would never come together. It was easier than I thought.

Now on to quilting. . .

A comfort quilt that shines. . .

This is another one of those quick quilts . It is for a friend who just had surgery and needed the comfort of a bright and cheery lap quilt. Done in three days amongst the other projects on the slate. It measures approx 63x74 before quilting and washing. I prefer to not prewash my fabrics so that after that first wash, they "blossom" into lovely cozy shrinkles. The sun face center is my own design but the rest of the motifs are called Sun Spirit by Kim Diamond at Sweet Dreams Quilt Studio. For the sun face I stitched the design four times with red, orange, variegated yellows, and neon yellow. That made the face "shine" above the rest of the quilting. I could have used the multiple thread method, but this way it stitched off track and made a wider path.

I began with a grid of nine-inch squares, six across and seven down. I wanted the sun to shine in the center so the middle column is a bit different than the checkerboard in the two outer columns. Since it was a rush project, I finished the binding on my DSM with a loopy stitch that took forever but really nailed down the binding. It's much more durable than a hand finished binding too.

More pictures in my Picasa album. Thanks for looking.

Carlton Walk in the Park Raffle Quilt

This will be a raffle quilt at Carlton's Walk in the Park the last weekend in July. It measures 66x67 with Quilter's Dream cotton batting. The quilting is done and now it goes to the binder to finish. It will be at the quilt booth at the entrance to the Walk. Tickets are available at Ken Wright Cellars in Carlton even though the quilt isn't there yet. The tickets are $10 and the proceeds go to assist several local organizations including Carlton police, fire, YC school, food bank, and more. Check out the website for more information about the whole weekend. I will have other quilts for sale in the exhibit if you're interested. Thank you for looking.

Rule Number ONE: Keep blade covered at all times

Keep that blade covered when you are not cutting with it. It should become a reflex action that when you are done cutting, the thumb pushes the cover closed. There are many cutters on the market, some that have a squeeze handle that exposes the blade and retracts when not in use.

Here is the link to my Picasa album with new pictures of Quilts for KIDS.

Children and Rotary Cutting

Let's have a frank discussion about the appropriate age to teach a child to use a rotary cutter. Observe: a rotary cutter is a razor blade with a handle. My opinion is that NO child should ever be allowed to be near a rotary cutter. Period, end of discussion.

But how do you begin teaching a child to quilt without the rotary lesson? YOU do the cutting and let them watch----until they are 40 years old! No kidding. There are plenty of other tasks to be learned in the quilt world besides the risks of a razor blade in the hand of a child. Running with scissors comes close, but that's another lesson.

I will begin by cutting 3 1/2 inch squares, and 9 1/2 inch squares. We'll see that in the next post.

Happy trails to you. . .

Coming Soon. . .beginning quilting for children

I'm hoping to begin a short tutorial lesson on how to teach children to quilt. I've had a couple of requests and would like to try out a few things on my blog. Be patient and check back in a couple of weeks. . .Meanwhile, browse the books in previous posts. The list will ebb and flow as more books are listed and sold.

Thanks for reading!

BOOKS FOR SALE

I've been cleaning out my quilting library and getting rid of books I no longer use. Actually, most of these are UFO ideas and I know I will never get to them in my lifetime. I'm glad to share them with anyone willing to pay the price---cheap---and $5 for shipping anywhere in the states; if international, whatever the shipping rate. These books are in very good condition, no marks, no torn pages, and most are like-new. I am selling at 50% off retail price. If you're interested, please email me at bonniesews@gmail.com Be patient and I'll work things out with you. I can take payment by PayPal, or send a check and wait for it to clear my bank. The only other way would be if we met in person or through a middle man. First, let me know if you are interested and which one(s).

Singer, The Quilting Bible, 0865732000, $11
Wells, Through the Garden Gate, 1571200657, $12sold
Wells, Stitch 'n Flip, 1571201114, $12sold
Gaudynski, Quilt Savvy, 1574329006, $11
Jensen, Oh Sew Cozy Flannel Quilts, 1932533044, $12.50sold
Leone, The New Sampler Quilt, 1571200118, $9.00
Alexander, Stack the Deck, 1564774341, $12.50sold
Nickels, Machine Quilting, 1574328301, $12.50
Thelen, Professional Machine Quilting, 1564775097, $11.50
Thelen, Long-Arm Machine Quilting, 1564774333, $14.00
Taylor, The Ultimate Guide to LA Machine Quilting, 157120184X, $15.00
Hornung, Traditional Japanese Stencil Designs, 0486247910, $6.50sold
Hargrave, The Art of Classic Quiltmaking, 1571200703, $17.50
Leisure Arts, Encyclopedia of Classic Quilt Patterns, 0848724747, $12.50
Durbin, Mosaic Picture Quilts, 9781564777355, $12.50
Collins, Mastering Precision Piecing, 9781571203632, $15.00

I listed the authors/publishers name, the title, ISBN number and price. You should be able to Google using that information to find a picture of the book and maybe even a look inside on some websites.

Happy Hunting. . .

S.U.G.A.R. Statler Users Group and Representatives

I just returned from S.U.G.A.R., a conference for Statler owners and representatives. I spent a total of 18 hours in classes learning many different things such as how to adjust tension on my Gammill, a bit of history about Amish and Welsh quilts, ergonomic quilting, the latest and greatest features of Creative Studio 3 and some new things to come, a new gadget that allows us to quilt with multiple threads, some new tricks with Auto Sketch, and more or less fine tuning my knowledge of Creative Studio and the Gammill head it operates. I will be posting some pictures and little stories of my new knowledge and hope you enjoy the show.

Ron Parker gave us a great class in how to adjust tension. With a hands-on demonstration of the "tug of war" between top and bottom threads, it became easier to understand the correct look and feel of tension. I've been wanting to use the trilobal polyester slick and shiney threads out but I've failed at adjusting my machine to handle it. I tried all the tricks, needle size, acrobatics with thread path, adding batting and tape to hang on to the slippery threads, and to no avail. Just look at the pictures to see that finally, I conquered the beast! Finally, beautiful stitching and just look at the colors! How would these look on your next quilt?




Penny Roberts taught us how to pull thread from the top to make couching thread, and then stitch with the longarm around appliques and other applications. This is just a sample I did to help me remember the process. I used a neon yellow in the bobbin and pulled it up to include with the Rainbow thread on top. Couching around the applique helps hide the starts and stops of the background stitching. More to come from this author/teacher. . .