Sew'n Wild Oaks Class was in Session

Hello Everyone,

 

Another wonderful day was had by all in the classroom at In Between Stitches.  We cover just about every topic you can imagine from politics to movies from the 1960's, and theme songs.  We love to talk about music so Susan will sing to us!

 

Cindy brought in her adorable, Jo Morton wall hanging. Precious.

 



 

Barbara brought in her completed Once Upon a Vine all quilted and bound! 

 

Lora Zmak worked her free motion quilting magic by adding grapes and grape leaves.

This beauty will be on display in the shop very soon for all to see.  Great job!

 

Suzanne is adding grapes and fruit to her cornucopia for Harvest of Hope.  Wonderful fabric selection.

 

Diana is determined to finish her Toyland Tree quilt.  I love displaying my Toyland during the Holidays.

Judy is making good progress on her hexies for Grammy Squares.

Cindy is working on her cute little hexie flowers for Winter's Warmth/Summer's Blush.  I always say it took me an hour per flower on this one.  There are something like 48 flowers......but who's counting?

Gail is putting beautiful combinations together for her Lil' Orphan Scrappy quilt.

 

Now we have the parade of blocks for a Walk in the Park by Kim Diehl.

 

 

The blocks go together very quickly.

Lynette decided to add a new little spark to some of her centers by adding a quarter square triangle instead of a plain square.  I love to see the girls add their own touch of creativity to the designs.

 

I saved another finish for the close of my post today.  Jeanne has her whole top completed for Lil' Orphan Scrappy.  She used her scraps from her Country Charmer quilt.  That is the reason Lil Orphan Scrappy got her name.  The largest scrap you need is 5-1/4" x 5-1/4".

 



Love the border.  Jeanne also found an omission on the pattern.  The HST around the border need to be trimmed to 4-3/4" x 4-3/4".  That measurement has now been added to page 7 of the pattern. Well done Jeanne!  You get extra credit for discovering my blunder.....I mean omission!

When customers pop their heads into the classroom, it is fun to see their expressions of joy and amazement when they see the different projects around the room.  It is magical.

Make some magic today.

Soon,
Lynn

A Two-fer Class

Hello Everyone,

 

Tomorrow I'm teaching a two-fer class at In Between Stitches.  The students will be learning how to make two quilts for the price of one in my Let's Make a Diehl class.

 

The first part of the class will focus on Welcome Wagon Yo-Yo designed by Kim Diehl and is in her Simple Graces book. I have always loved this quilt.  I loved making it, quilting it, and I've been enjoying it for years.

 



Most of the time, this quilt spends her days hanging from this old fabric holder in my entry hall.  My fabric choices have the Kim Diehl "look" to them.  I made this before Kim started designing fabric.

Several years ago when we were on a road trip in North Carolina, we bought this piece of equipment in an antique shop.  I don't know what it was called, but it was used to dispense cotton fabric.  The markings on the side represent "yards".  This was back in the day when shoppers had limited fabric selection.  I guess if you didn't like the blue calico you were out of luck.

The second part of the class I will teach Walk in the Park by Kim Diehl.  I got my blocks together yesterday and the first border is now on. 

 

There will be flowers, leaves, berries, and vines around each corner.  I haven't appliqued in so long, I had to dust off my applique supplies and teach myself the starch method all over again.

 



Hope you all have a great weekend.  I'm sure I will have lots of pictures to post from class.

 

Soon,

Lynn

Put on Your Sunday Best

Hello Everyone,

 

Just a quick post before I head out of the door to my Checkerberry class this morning.  I wanted to show you my progress on Walk in the Park by Kim Diehl.

 

I stitched more frames to the blocks after this picture was taken.  Now my design wall doesn't look quite so wonky.  If I had a brain in my head, I would stop making blocks right about now and call it a wrap in the block department.  But, the blocks are so easy and so much fun, I want to keep going.  Plus, this quilt would look wonderful in one of my guest rooms.

 

This is a picture of the download for this FREE pattern by Kim Diehl HERE.  I'm using Sunday Best fabric for my quilt.  The original quilt uses an older line which is very similar in color.  At night I've been working on the applique portion.  The pieces are large and it goes quickly except for all of the little berries!

 





On another note, Gail's husband is leaving the hospital today under Hospice Care.  He will be much more comfortable at home with Gail and the kitties.  She has been so devoted sitting by his bedside in the hospital day after day for weeks.  You couldn't have a better friend, sister or wife. 

Soon,
Lynn

Walking in the Park

Hello Everyone,

 

Along with the end of the year accounting, I've been walking in the park....literally since I'm working on Walk in the Park, a free pattern by Kim Diehl.

 

As the date for my Let's Make a Diehl class at In Between Stitches gets closer, I'll post a tutorial on how I make the blocks. They go together so quickly especially since I make my half-square triangles 8 at a time.  My tutorial is located HERE.

I make 8 HST, then make two blocks.  I rotate the HST to change up the look of the blocks.

Then I put a frame around the blocks.

The frames really change the look of the blocks.

I have six more blocks waiting in the wings on my design wall.  The fabric that I'm using is called Sunday Best by Kim Diehl.  Working with the combinations of color has been lots of fun.  The fabric will be available at In Between Stitches soon.  I'm loving it.

We are finally getting some REAL rain in California.  We haven't seen winter storms like this in four years.  When we see a patch of blue sky in the distance, we grab Mazey's leash and head outside so she can run.  If she can't run outside, she runs inside and drives us crazy with her high activity level. I have discovered that I can't hold the flashlight, umbrella and the leash at the same time.  I need a coal miner's hat to light our way!  Maybe I need to train her to sleep in until the sun comes up.....what a concept.

For those of you who follow my blog, know that my sister Gail is my right hand helper with everything.  She is Thelma to my Louise. She would appreciates good thoughts sent her way as her husband has been in and out of the hospital since December 9th.  It has been a tough month for both of them.

Soon,
Lynn
 

Happy New Year

Hello Everyone,

 

What a whirlwind the Holidays have been!  So much activity at the Wilder house. Big dinners with many gathered around the table, and much laughter with friends and family. Good times!  More good times will continue as we look forward to 2016! 

 

It's a time for new beginnings.....of which I'll show you a little bit of what I've been up to.  You will be seeing much more of this later.  This is a practice block only pinned together.  Easy, fun and cute.  I'll nail this one down while I'm watching the football games tomorrow.

 

I'm starting a new, quarterly class at In Between Stitches called, "Let's Make a Diehl" as in Kim Diehl.  Kim's Sunday Best fabric will be arriving soon as the shop.  I've had my fabrics for about a week now and I've been busy designing a new table topper.

I'll let you know when this becomes available at the shop.  You are going to LOVE IT! 

 

Here is one of the projects we are going to work on called Walk in the Park.  This pattern is available as a free download HERE at Henry Glass Fabrics.  It is an older pattern, but the fabrics used are very similar to Kim's new line.  This is an easy block and I'm zipping right along on this one.  I will be kitting this quilt up just as soon as our fabrics arrives at the shop.

 



 

 

On another note, I've been working on a new project for RJR Fabrics.  Just as soon as I'm allowed to show it to you I WILL!!!!  As you probably know, Lynette Jensen from Thimbleberries fame came out of retirement.  I was contacted by the Vice President of sales at RJR to see if I was interested in working with them, and with a new line of fabric from Lynette called Autumn Landscape.  They thought my design style was very much in keeping with the Thimbleberries style. I don't have the fabric yet, but I have all of the digital images of the line.  After a crash course in EQ7, I'm almost ready for the big reveal.  2016 is going to start out with a bang! 

 

Today, I'm going to finish getting all of Christmas put away, and get my house back together, neat and pristine to begin the New Year.  My mother always said, "The way your house looks on New Year's Eve, is the way it will be all year."  Yikes......I hope this old wives tale doesn't apply to sewing rooms too! 

 

Happy New Year!  

 

Soon,

Lynn