Borders......Check

Hello Everyone,

I've been dragging my feet just waiting for a spark of inspiration for the borders on Country Charm.  First, I waited and looked at every new bolt of Christmas fabric that arrived at the shop.  I almost went with a green polka dot, but in the end I turned to my stash and was able to cobble a border together from my fabric cupboard.  I just have a few scraps remaining of the two reds.  It was touch and go trying to figure this one out.

I have so many different reds going on in this quilt, that I felt safe to stick with another shade of red.  Now, the next step is, how to quilt this quilt?  I'll have to study it for the next few days and wait for more inspiration....which I hope arrives soon!  I have deadlines to meet.

Have a great weekend! 

As always,

Lynn

My Flower Box is Full

Hello Everyone,

The flower box for my Party in the Garden design is ready for stitching. I usually stitch my applique pieces together in the evening while watching TV for two reasons.  #1 - I don't feel like I'm wasting time and #2 - it keeps me awake! 

The flower box will be next to the house.  I think they are going to look cute together.  There is still time to sign up for the BOM program at ThimbleCreek quilt shop. Click HERE for details.  The first month is going to be mailed out very soon.

I am experiencing intermittent Internet and phone access, so this could be an interesting next few days at the cabin.  I can understand phone and Internet disruption during the winter but not during the summer!  It is getting absolutely ridiculous. But, on a positive note, I get more quilting done since the phone doesn't ring and I'm not able to bloghop or respond to emails as often as I would like to.  In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't call in a work order.......I might just get more done!

As always,

Lynn

Almost Finished

Hello Everyone,

I love to post pictures of alternative colorways from some of my patterns.  Pat is almost finished with her version of Summer's Blush. She has her adorable little flange all attached and was ready to start appliqueing the flowers in place.

Pat just retired from a career in teaching.  When I assigned homework, she took me very seriously and had most of her quilt finished by the second class meeting!  All of her little hexagon flowers are finished too!  Pat's quilt is going to be a beautiful splash of summer to her home.

Remember "stinkin cute" Lisa?  Her version of The House on Edgewood Lane is finished and ready for the quilter.  Lisa has a definite sense of her own style and it comes out in every quilt she makes.  Both Lisa and Pat are what I call finishers.  They finish one quilt before they start another one.  I wish I could be that disciplined! 

Madeleine is almost finished with her Midnight Star quilt from the Comfort and Joy book by Mary Hickey.  She picked out a beautiful border from the French General fabric line and will love having this quilt on display year-round!

Some beautiful creations by some very talented quilters.  You make my job as a quilt instructor very easy!

Spend some time on your own creativity today even if it's only for a few minutes.  If you quilt everyday for just a few minutes, all the minutes will add up to a beautiful, finished project.  Let's all be finishers!

As always,

Lynn

Minglewood Monday - Month #1

Hello Everyone,

Those of you that signed up for the Minglewood BOM have received your first bundle of fat 1/8's  to make four blocks and can begin working on your Minglewood quilt.  Go HERE to view the .pdf of the swatch sheet so you know what fabric to put where.

ARROW CROWN A BLOCK

ARROW CROWN B BLOCK

CROW'S FOOT A BLOCK



CROW'S FOOT B BLOCK

MINGLEWOOD HINTS:

1)  MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE!  I found that in most cases, I began cutting my pieces along the 9" side of the fat 1/8th.  For me, this made the best use of the fabric.  If you make a cutting error, (which I did) most likely you will have some extra material.....but not much.  Since this is a scrappy quilt, it is easy to substitute from your stash. 

2)  When working with stripes or directional fabric making half-square triangles, mark the back of your blocks like this which will allow you to put directional fabrics going the same direction in your block.  If you don't care which way the directional fabric goes, then don't worry about this step.

3)  When making the flying geese, you can refer to my tutorial HERE.  But use the measurements that refer to YOUR block, not the block measurements in the tutorial! When you place the last square on your flying geese, flip it over and check to see if the directional material is all going the same direction.

4) Feel free to change up your colors.  This is YOUR quilt and if you don't like a particular fabric in a block, you will most likely be able to use it somewhere else in your quilt.

5)  Start a binder to keep the scraps and .pdf files organized.  It will make your life easier.

6)  If you have questions, send me an email.  patched55@comcast.net and I will respond unless I'm out hiking in the woods, my response time is a little longer!

You will find your accuracy will improve along the way....I know mine did.  I used the Bloc Loc rulers for all trimming of flying geese and half-square triangles.  The blocks become addicting and enjoyable.  You will be using all of the same piecing techniques throughout the whole quilt, and you will become a pro! 

So there you go.  Let the sewing begin!!

As always,

Lynn

Pick Four by Sue Abrey

Hello Everyone,

This wonderful book arrived at my house the other day. Pick Four by Sue Abrey. You can check it out HERE.  The author, Sue Abrey and I have become virtual friends through our love of quilting and our blogs. Here is Sue's blog.  Sue started the Christmas Quilt Along and has been instrumental in getting me started months ago making Christmas projects.

Sue asked me to review the book in a blog hop in August, so I can't spoil the fun and say too many good things about it yet.....but I will in August!!!

Yesterday, I picked my four fabrics and started in on one of Sue's designs.  I can't show you what I've done yet, this is just a tease for things to come.  I decided to use La Petite Ecole by French General.  This fabric collection is going to be perfect in my family room and I can't wait to get my project completed!

Gotta run, I have quilting to work on!

As always,

Lynn

Tag Sale by Miss Rosie

Hello Friends,

Just wanted to let you know that I'm still here. I've been busy working at In Between Stitches, or teaching at Thimblecreek, and we are finishing up the painting in the remodeled kitchen.  I haven't touched my sewing machine in days.

I looked through my photo archives and found a picture of a quilt that I haven't posted before. I made it for my Granddaughter's 7th birthday and it called Tag Sale by Miss Rosie.

It is quick and fun to make and a nice size for a little girl to wrap herself in.

Hopefully I will have more to post soon......there are deadline looming in the future.  Quilt show season is on the horizon.

As always,

Lynn

Hello Everyone,

Summer brings lots of summer company to the cabin. Summer also brings wonderful food and feasts on the deck. Just a quick post today to show you the best recipe for Crab Cakes that we've tasted.  I used an ice cream scoop to form these delectable bites of heaven.  Your company will be raving about this recipe and will request it every time they come for a visit. I posted this recipe some time ago, but now I have pictures to go with it as proof!  Enjoy.

Cape Fear Crab Cakes with Lemon Dill Sauce

1 pound fresh lump crab meat
1 tablespoon butter
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 scallion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper
3 tablespoons whipping cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Cayenne pepper to taste
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon each minced fresh basil and parsley
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs (I use Panko)
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons each butter and vegetable oil

- Flake the crab meat and remove bits of shell and cartilage.
- Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet. Add the garlic, scallion and red pepper.
- Sauté for 2 minutes or until tender. Stir in the whipping cream, mustard and cayenne, ½ cup of the bread crumbs and the crab meat and mix lightly.
- Shape into 16 patties - 2 inches in diameter.
- Mix the remaining ½ cup bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese in a shallow dish.
- Dredge the patties in the crumb mixture until coated. Place on a platter and chill, covered for 1 hour or longer.
- Melt 2 tablespoons butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the patties and fry for 3 minutes on each side.
- Drain on paper towels. Serve with Lemon Dill Sauce. Yield: 16 servings

Lemon Dill Sauce
¾ cup mayonnaise
½ cup buttermilk
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dillweed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

-Blend the mayonnaise and buttermilk in a bowl until smooth. Add the garlic, dillweed, parsley, lemon peel and lemon juice and mix well.
- Chill, covered, in the refrigerator until the mixture thickens.

As always,

Lynn

Flying Geese Four at a Time

Hello Everyone,

I told the girls the other day in class that I would post a tutorial for flying geese using the 1.5" x 3" Bloc Loc ruler. If you are going to invest in any new quilting toys, a set of Bloc Loc flying geese rulers should be on your "gotta have it" list.

The following directions make (4) 2" x 3.5" unfinished flying geese using the 1.5" x 3" Bloc Loc flying geese ruler.

Start by cutting (1) 4-3/8" x 4-3/8" light square and (4) 2-5/8" x 2-5/8" dark squares.

Using a quarter inch ruler, draw 2 lines on the back of each of the squares and place two squares on top of the light square with right sides together.  The blocks will overlap in the middle.

Stitch precisely on each line.

Cut between your stitching lines.

Press toward the smaller squares and you will get this.

Take your remaining two squares and place on top of the unit, draw two lines, and stitch on each line.



Cut between the two lines and you get this.

Again, press toward the smaller square and you will have four flying geese ready for trimming with the Bloc Loc ruler.

The ruler locks into the seam and there is absolutely no slipping.  Using a rotary cutter, trim around all four sides of the geese.

Before you can say, "Bob's your Uncle."  You have four perfect geese!

Now remember, if you are working with directional fabric, lay the geese out correctly so you won't have some flying one way and some flying another.  Or if you don't care which way the wind blows, then it just doesn't matter!

My quilting is more accurate now than it ever was once I started using these rulers.  Put them on your Christmas wish list.....you'll be glad you did!

As always,

Lynn

Midnight Star Class is in Session

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday, Christmas arrived in the classroom at In Between Stitches with the Midnight Star class. The quilt is from the Comfort and Joy book by Mary Hickey. 

The girls started to arrive early with bins of precut squares for snowball blocks, nine patches and flying geese.

The fabric selections were so bright and cheerful.

Gotta love the plaids!  I'm starting to notice more and more plaids, checks, polka dots and stripes are appearing in the classroom when I'm teaching.  Everyone knows that I'm Plaid to the Bone!

After a little bit of instruction, blocks started appearing on the design walls.

Very precise marking and cutting for "the snowballs".

Toward the end of the afternoon, we started auditioning border fabrics.

The end results are going to be a great addition to any home for Christmas. 

Start your Christmas projects now before time runs out.  You know, we say every year that we are going to start earlier.....well folks, let this be the year to get those Christmas projects finished.  How many of us have unfinished projects from last year, or the year before, that we can pull out of the closet and finish.  I remember the year I made two quilts to give away at Christmas.  One was for my mom and the other was for my sister.  I couldn't wait for them to open up their presents.  That was a gift to myself.....the anticipation of watching them open their presents. 

Let the festivites begin!

As always,

Lynn

Christmas Quilt Along - Post #3

Hello Everyone,

It is still daylight out, but this is my last post of the day.  Country Charm is now together, except for the border fabric which is sitting at home in my quilting room.....right where it belongs.

It's official, today I've overdosed on quilting!

As always,

Lynn

Christmas Quilt Along - Post #2

Hello Everyone,

It has been a frustrating day trying to post to Blogger and also trying to make comments on other sites. Blogger just isn't cooperating at all!  So here goes for post #2 of the day. After I finished the two blocks for the Scatty Christmas Star,  I pulled out a wonderful batch of fat quarters to make some blocks for my new design called Country Charm. 

It is red and green, yet I feel I can keep it on display in my red kitchen for most of the year.  Again, all of my required elements of polka dots, stripes and a plaid.

I started sewing some of the blocks together.  I decided to keep this to only 20 blocks.  I had a fantasy of making this into a queen-sized quilt, but I would like to finish it in this lifetime!

Back to making more sashings and nine-patch posts and maybe I can get a couple more rows together.  I would much, MUCH rather make the blocks than stitch the quilt together.  Of course my border fabric is sitting at home too!  Oh well, the afternoon is winding down and I probably won't get to that point anyway.

As always,

Lynn