The Geese Are Flying.....

Hello Everyone,

I planned on finishing the four corner blocks on Friday and I did, thanks to the Quilt in a Day flying geese ruler by Eleanor Burns.  There are several flying geese rulers on the market and this is the one I use.

I needed to make (16) 2-1/2" x 4-1/4" flying geese so I started out with two squares.  Two squares will make 4 flying geese at a time.  The smallest square was 5-1/2" and the larger one was 7"

I placed the light square, right sides together over the dark square.  Using a 1/4" ruler, I marked both sides of the ruler, then stitched on the marked lines.

Then I cut on the marked line.  (I did this step four times since I needed 16 geese.)

....and I had this!

Then press the seam allowance toward the larger triangle.

Place squares right sides together with opposite fabrics facing.  Again, mark on each side of the line diagonally from corner to corner.

The sides of the squares all match up, but it looks like this on the inside.

Stitch on each line, then cut between them.

Clip to the stitching line on the "dark" side.

Press open toward the dark side.

It will look like this on the back.

Then using your handy dandy ruler, line up the green lines and start trimming.

First cut them apart.

Then trim up the sides.

.....and before you can say, "Bob's your uncle," there are 16 perfect geese flying around your sewing room.

The geese are absolutely "spot on" which makes it much easier to construct a perfect block....well almost perfect!

Have a great rest of the weekend. 

As always,

Lynn

Busy, Busy Week....

Hello Everyone,

All I want to do is quilt, but that gets pushed aside for daily chores, errands, walking Zinny (and Joe), accounting for our little business and yard work.  But I have managed to quilt a little every single day.  It all adds up by the end of the week and I could actually see some progress.  Month #3 for Enchanted Autumn is coming together.  Notice that I managed to get some plaid into my pumpkin!  Now if I could just figure out how to grown plaid pumpkins in the yard!  I'll have to talk with Candace at Squash House Quilts about growing plaid pumpkins.

I'm excited about finishing up this UFO.  These sections are going to look so good together.  I still ask myself why I put this quilt away and didn't finish it years ago.  I love this quilt!  I also still love the color palette that I chose eons ago.

I have just three more flowers to finish on Summer's Blush.  That name just isn't going to work on this version.  I've been auditioning borders and decided on the red and black.  My to-do list today includes making the four corner blocks.  Then I'm just down to the borders!  I'm working on the final draft of the pattern directions.  This is on my to-do list also today. 

Time to get off this computer and start tackling "THE LIST".

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend full of fun things to do and see.

As always,

Lynn

An Idea for Your Quilting Group

Hello Everyone,

My friend Barbara brought this fun quilt to the shop for us to see.  It was made by the Adobe Art Center Quilter's from Hayward, CA.  The pattern is from an Amy Bradley Design called Quilter's Yearbook.

Each of the group's members fashioned a likeness of themselves to present to Colleen, the leader of the group as a thank you gift....and it was a surprise!  This is Colleen.



There was so much creativity and thought that went into each and every block.  This looks like a fun-loving group to me!

Not only does it look like they are having a good time, they also are very talented quilters.

Here is my friend Barbara who put all of the blocks together, selected the great backing, and did the binding. 

I love the jewelry!

Sadly, Mere passed away before the quilt was presented to Colleen. The block Mere made of herself with pearl earrings and wire-rimmed glasses will always be a gentle reminder that Mere will always be a valued member of the quilting group.

What a gift!

As always,

Lynn

Show and Tell

Hello Everyone,

Let's start the day with a little "bling" from Evelynne.  If you click on the image it will magnify it so you can see it much better.  I love what Evelynne did with the mailbox block from Party in the Garden. From the bling to the pretty embroidery stitch to the special flowers that Paula taught us how to make, Evelynne made a very special little block!  See the tutorial from December here. 

Barbara brought in her Chelsea Cottage quilt for all of us to see last Monday. She took the Chelsea Cottage class from me a couple of months ago.  Her quilt is 'Christmassy' without being too 'Christmassy', so she will be enjoying it the whole year through.  Barbara is relatively new to applique but you would never know that when you looked at her work.

The cottage is so inviting with the warm glow coming from the windows.  Look at the flange!  Barbara added a flange to the applique center!

I have more customer quilts to post this week that will also brighten your day.  I'm off to work this morning at the shop.  I'm sure some of you will be stopping by so we can chat for a bit and ooohh and aaahhh over quilts!  I know, I know, it's a tough job seeing all of these beautiful creations....such fun!

As always,

Lynn

Summer's Blush or ?????

Hello Everyone,

I've been busy making hexagon flowers, blocks, flanges and directions for the new Summer's Blush. My friend Bev, suggested that I name this one Autumn Blast as opposed to Summer's Blush.  I wanted the flowers to be more prominent in this version and they are. The jewel tones really pop out when you see this quilt in person.

This version is much brighter than the first version.

I worked some plaid into the flower center.  This is the sum of my effort from last night while watching TV.  I was tired on sitting in front of the computer writing and calculating pattern directions.

This version is a bit smaller than the first version.  While making each block, I wrote down exactly how I put the blocks together.  Measured and re-measured, calculated and re-calculated fabric requirements...and still, I'm not finished.

Busy day and weekend ahead full of fun things to do...even pattern writing.

As always,

Lynn

.....and the winner is.......

Hello Everyone,

I know you've been waiting on pins and quilting needles to find out the lucky winner of The Wilder Family Cookbook.  Let me set the stage.  Twenty-nine Milk Bone doggie treats were selected from the doggie cookie jar and numbered 1 thru 29.

Our highly intelligent, well-trained, almost 2-year-old Golden Retriever, Zinny, posed for her modeling moment on camera.  She thought she had died and gone to doggie heaven when she saw so many treats before her. She is showing marvelous restraint here people!

She thoughtfully contemplated who the lucky winner would be.

She even meditated a bit to determine who the lucky winner should be.

After much prompting to get up and get a cookie, she ambled over and selected........drum roll......

#23!!  JULIE....who said,   "I'd love to win the cookbook - the recipes you've offered us on the blog all read so tasty! I admit that I purchased all the ingredients to make the raspberry cookies (can't recall the name just now) but ran out of time. Besides my sewing room, I guess my kitchen is my next favorite place in the house! Thanks for your generosity! Julie

Some of you tried to bribe Zinny with Kibble and I'm actually surprised it didn't work.  She's a real pushover.  So Julie, send me an email to patched55@comcast.net  with your address and I'll get the cookbook in the mail to you this week. 

There are no losers here!  If anyone is interested in receiving the recipes in a .pdf format, send me an email and I'll email them to you.  I'm sorry that you all can't receive the Recipe Keeper, but there will be another giveaway later on this year.  Thank you all for commenting.  It was great fun.

As always,

Lynn

P.S. Julie, Zinny's 2nd birthday is this Monday....is the party going to be at your house and is everyone invited?

Heartfire Class is in Session

Hello Everyone,

I've said it before and I'll say it again, spending the day in the classroom at the shop is pure pleasure!  Yesterday, five very talented quilters brought their machines, tools, tons of fabric and their creativity to the classroom.

Kathy had all of her center hexagons and strips cut and prepared.  She was ready to let the fun begin using her wonderful roses for the centers with a fabulous collection of coordinating fabrics.

The good old pasta dryer was called into service yesterday to display all of the strips for ease of use.



From this......

......to this!

Nancy started right in cutting her strips.

She found a wonderful piece of fabric with eight different designs that look like Mexican tiles.

So vibrant and colorful!

It was so much fun to see the blocks come alive.

Ann started cutting up her Fig Tree Designs fabric, the same fabric line I used in my pastel version of Heartfire.

From this.....

....to this.  Ann was auditioning fabric for the inner and outer borders.

Julie and Jean both started with kits, mainly comprised of fabric from French General.  The new French General line of fabric is now available, so the ladies added polka dots and stripes to their blocks.  Julie followed my original design by very precisely fussy cutting her hexagons from the gorgeous design.

Jean changed up her centers and fussy cut flowers, pinwheels......

.....to peacocks for her centers.  Don't you love the polka dots!

You can see it was a very productive and fun day in the classroom.  I love to see what others do with my patterns.  I'm so anxious to see the finished quilts from this class.

Now today is my day to quilt!  I'm looking forward to spending the whole day in my little nook upstairs quilting and pattern writing!  

Enjoy your day too.

As always,

Lynn