My Year as an Ambassador for Henry Glass Fabric

Hello Everyone,

My year has come to a close, and this will be my last post as a fabric ambassador for Henry Glass Fabrics.  What an opportunity this has been!  I appreciate the faith that Henry Glass Fabrics had in me.

I went back through my photos to see my creations.  I have to admit I was surprised at the volume.  Every other a month, a package would arrive at my doorstep and I had a month to create something.  They didn't make any suggestions or put any conditions on what I needed to complete for them.  All I knew is that I had exactly one month to make a project.  No pressure!    Here is a recap from the past year.

First up is Buttons & Bows.  I have a tutorial for this quilt posted HERE.  This quilt was an easy one.

Also in January, I made Peek-A-Boo-Pumpkins.  

I love this little table topper! I will be writing a pattern for this one, and it is going to be one of the projects for my Sew'n Wild Oaks retreats in 2021. 

Last but not least is Seasonal Hexie table topper to finish off January's projects.  I also have a tutorial for this project HERE.

Next up for the month of March is my Spoken For pattern.  If I had an existing pattern that I thought would fit the fabric, I would use it.  I have a tutorial for this block HERE.  

 

Then I created Bountiful Blessings.  There isn't a pattern for this one.  I find when the fabric panel is gone, the shelf life of the pattern is non-existent.

The big success for me was Christmas Ribbons.  Several quilt shops kitted this quilt, and it was a good seller.  I burned the midnight oil on this one by designing the quilt, making and quilting the quilt, and writing the pattern in a month.  Whew.....that was exhausting.

Then I made Lovey Dovey.  I still have to quilt this wall hanging, and write the pattern.  I also want to remake this design in reproduction fabrics.

Mazey loves Leaf Peepers.  This was another successful design for me.

I liked this pattern so much, I made it twice.  Once in Kim Diehl fabrics, and once in batiks.

As a general rule, I do not quilt with panels.  But this fabric lent itself beautifully to my Heartfire pattern.  I have a tutorial for this block HERE.

This is one of my favorite pictures that I've taken on a photo shoot of one of my quilts.  This quilt is called Cabin Cozy.  The pattern is almost written, and I will be releasing it after the first of the year.

This is going to be a little table runner that will look good on my table at Easter.  The pattern is called Buttonwood.

So there you have it,  my Henry Glass year in review.  If my schedule of classes, lectures, workshops, retreats, and quilt shows hadn't been erased from my calendar, I never would have had this much time to devote to Henry Glass Fabrics.  

I have to admit, at times it was tough coming up with ideas every other month.  I wanted to do a good job, but I didn't want to make myself crazy.  There were times when I was stark raving looney tunes trying to come up with ideas and see them to fruition. 

Next year will be a year of new designs and new opportunities.  I look forward to the challenges and the process of designing and creating.   After re-reading my Henry Glass, year in review.....I think I need a nap.

Soon,

Madam Ambassador for the last time

Bountiful Blessings

Hello Everyone,

I've been very busy over the past few days machine quilting Bountiful Blessings. I will finish the binding and the pattern writing this week.  I had fun with this one.

I machine quilted a tight stipple around the leaves.  The pieced leaves are intricate, yet easy to make.

It's a little hard to see all of the stitching in the sunflower.  Trust me it's there.

I used a variegated thread for the crosshatching in the borders.

I was pleasantly surprised when a box arrived from Air Lite Manufacturing.  They kindly sent all of the Henry Glass Ambassadors a sample of their batting.  They sent me a 72" x 93" piece of cotton/polyester blend.  I normally use wool batting for my quilts, but I didn't want to use wool batting in a table topper.  I am very happy with the results.  My Handi Quilter long arm just breezed over the batting.  It has a nice weight and feel.  It drapes beautifully on the table, and has minimal shrinkage.   I would definitely use their product again.  Thank you so much for sending me a sample.

"Autumn is Calling" is the fabric I used for this project.  The fabric was designed by Color Principle for Henry Glass & Co.  I'm looking forward to seeing this table topper on display this Fall, with my family gathered around, sharing a meal together.  We can only hope life will be better in the Fall.

Soon,
Lynn

The News From Wilder's Last Resort

Hello Everyone,

This is an update on a new project for Fall using Autumn is Calling by Color Principle for Henry Glass Fabrics.

I have limited fabric, so I'm trying to make the best use of what I have as I design.  In between other tasks, I'm making leaves.

Here is part of one potential layout.  I can just see this as a tablecloth during the entire Fall season.

 I'm going to incorporate this circular panel.

Mr. Joe has been baking sourdough again.  Here's his loaf of cinnamon/raisin sourdough. It was delicious, and makes wonderful toast with our morning bowl of oatmeal.

Not one to be outdone, I made two sourdough baguettes.  Here's a picture of the staples of our life.

This is day #31 of our SIP (shelter in place).  So far so good.  We keep busy each day with chores around the cabin, yard work, cleaning out cupboards, reading, quilting, walks in the woods, and watching TV.  When our self isolation is over, I don't want to wonder why I didn't do something while I had all the time in the world.

The only time we take the car out is a daily trip to the post office which is two miles away.  We also drive to the middle school, about five miles away to take Mazey for a walk at the track.  So it boils down to the car is getting three weeks to the gallon!

Now let's talk about my hair.  I've had short hair for decades. My last haircut was the end of February and I get it cut every 3-4 weeks.  I like to have my hair trimmed over my ears.....well the sides are starting to get long.  I'm afraid if I trim them myself, it's going to look like I'm going for that mullet look!

I actually love the idea that my heavy travel/lecture/workshop/class schedule has been wiped clean. I'm totally enjoying my time at home with Mr. Joe and Mazey.  One thing that I've learned during this time is that I will never fill up my life as much as I have in the past.  I was always getting ready for something.  I was always getting ready to leave home.  I always had a huge to-do list.  Now I have things I want to do, that I've been putting off for years. I'm also sleeping much better.

I've been planning good meals depending on the availability of food.  We are at the end of the supply chain in our little community, and it can be a real pot-luck at our little grocery store.  Now meat is hard to come by, along with TP, pasta, bread, and some canned foods.  When I was cleaning out the pantry yesterday, I found a 5-lb bag of flour.  I thought I'd struck the Motherlode!

Hang in there everyone.  This unprecedented time in our life will pass.  We just need to make the best of what each day brings our way.

Soon,
Lynn

Autumn is Calling

Hello Everyone,

I'm putting on my Madam Ambassador hat for Henry Glass & Co. for the next few weeks.  My fabric shipment arrived a month early. since life it a little upside down right now, and all shipping schedules have been thrown out of whack.

This gorgeous fabric, "Autumn is Calling" by Color Principle for Henry Glass & Co. was is the shipment.  Yesterday I sat down and designed and made a couple of leaf blocks.  I LOVE them!  They look a little bit lacey and are very leafy.

Feast your eyes on this fabric palette!  It is so rich and luscious.

The line comes with three panels too.

I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do, but I drew out one design already.  I know it's going to have leaves.....that's a given.

I'll be switching gears this week as I stop to make masks for our entire family.  They are going to be their Easter presents.

Mr. Joe has been baking again.  This time he made sourdough Babka.  It was delicious.  He made sourdough pancakes yesterday for breakfast.  I've had so much sourdough lately that I may turn into an old gold miner since sourdough bread was a staple during the 1849 California Gold Rush.

I hope you are all staying home and practice social distancing when you are outside.  We won't be going outside today since we are in the grip of a major winter storm.  It is supposed to rain all day and snow all night.  We've got our firewood at the ready on our front porch so we don't have to venture out too far.  However, Mazey still has to go out occasionally.  Friday night, during last potty call for the day, Mazey and Mr. Joe beat a hasty retreat back into the house when they both heard a bear growling.  That growl got both of their hearts pumping a little faster!  I didn't know Mr. Joe could move so fast.

Soon,
Madam Ambassador

The "Spoken For" Flimsy

 

Hello Everyone,

 

I officially have a flimsy!  "Spoken For" is a completed quilt top.

 



I put it on the snowbank in our driveway and took a picture between snow showers.  Yes, there is a double flange!  Flanges are like potato chips, you can't make just one.

I think this quilt is a beautiful showcase for the Far Horizons fabrics by Henry Glass Company.  I really enjoyed putting the combinations together.

I'll have to wait until it warms up outside so I can put this flimsy on my longarm.  The machine lives in my garage, and it was a balmy 32 degrees inside the garage yesterday.

My resistance to Mr. Joe's ailment finally caught up with me.  There was absolutely no social distancing in our house, and now I have what he has.  Stuffing nose, sore throat, cough, but no fever.  When I took a 4-hour nap on Tuesday, Mr. Joe knew I was sick.  Napping in the middle of the day is not something I do, since I have so much to do.

I was the vision of loveliness, and was over the top sexy last night when I went to bed.  I used my mom's old home remedy of applying hot Vicks on my chest, then pinned a piece of wool to my pajamas to help keep the Vicks warm.  Then I curled up in bed while clutching the heating pad on my chest. My new fragrance was "eau de Vicks", and acts as instant birth control. 

We are taking it easy, except for the snow shoveling yesterday.  We like to keep the driveway cleared just in case we need to get out in an emergency.  The snow plows have been coming by regularly, so the streets are nice and clear.

Remember......the longer we stay put, the sooner we will be out of our confinement. 

Soon,
Lynn

Dresden Tutorial - Spoken For Pattern

Hello Everyone,

 

While we are spending more time at home, quite possibly in our sewing rooms, let's learn a new technique to add to our quilting toolbox......the Dresden Plate block.  My blocks are a little different because I'm combining Fans and Blades.  The Blades are the "pointy" bits, and the fans are rounded.

 



 

This is the block I'm making using Far Horizons fabric by David Schulz for Henry Glass Fabrics.  Begin by selecting three fabrics that look gorgeous together.  With this fabric line, they all look gorgeous together!

 



According to my pattern called Spoken For, I made templates out of template plastic.  I LOVE the gridded template plastic.  I like to make my templates out of plastic so I can see the underlying design for fussy cutting. In this picture, you can see that I outlined four blades on the wrong side of the fabric. 

I fold them in half, right sides together and pin. 

Then stitch 1/4" from the wide, top of the blade.

Clip the inside corner off along the folded side.

Press the seam open.

Use a little pointy thingy and turn the blade inside out.  Press.

And then there were four.

Now we make eight fans.  Use your template made out of plastic, and fussy cut the fans.

With this template, make a freezer paper template.  This is where my method differs from the norm.  Mr. Joe always tells me I'm not normal!

Iron the freezer paper template to the wrong side of the fan.

Clip the fabric right to the paper template.

I used a Clover, fabric folding pen filled with Best Press, and applied a little bit of starch to the exposed fabric.  You could also use a small brush to apply the starch.

I used an iron, and pressed the fabric over the template.

Remove the template and it looks like this.  Do this procedure on all the fans.

The fans are going to be placed right next to the prepared blade.

 Pin the pieces together.

Start stitching at the skinny end.  Before I start stitching, I move my needle one notch to the left. I stitch about halfway, and move the needle back one notch.  This procedure helps gather the center area together.  You can see that my stiletto is pointing to where I moved my needle back to its normal position.

Another little tipsy is to apply a thin, line of Best Press directly on the thread.  This also helps in the final construction and makes the seams flat.

You can't tell my needle was moved over a notch the first half of the stitching. This will ease the center area down.

I think these fabrics look great together.

Now I do the same procedure with the fans.

I lay all of the parts and pieces together, and continue stitching the seams together.

I fold my background fabric into quarters, and lightly press.  This helps me line up the Dresden Plate onto my background.  Then make the center hexagon out of the same fabric used for the blade.  At this point, I hand applique the plate to the background.  You could also machine applique the block to the background fabric.

I find the application of the Best Press directly to the thread line, and moving the needle over a notch, make the block flat.  In the past when I made this block, the center area looked like a square dancers ruffly skirt! Do you know what I mean?  I used to starch the block into submission with heavy duty spray starch.  Now I don't need to do that.

 

I have a lot more blocks made now, but I don't have a picture to show.  I only have to make one more block.  I may be far enough along to get a good picture later on.

  

Stay safe and hunker down.  We are self isolating at the cabin.  We are already quite isolated, so this is nothing new for us. We couldn't get more isolated if we tried!

Soon,
Lynn