Friday's Feature

Today is Friday. My objective for this space is to share a new technique and a featured item each week with you. Modeled after a fun weekly event that I offered at my Quilt Shop for several years, Tuesday will be for Tuesday's Technique. Fridays will be for Friday's Feature...so today I want to share one of my favorite products with you! When applicable, the item will be added to my shopping page for your convenience. Sign up for email updates (right) and you'll always be up-to-date!

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Ah...Aurifil Threads! A favorite of quilters everywhere, this Italian thread is smooth as butter and always consistent. Although the company makes several different  weights and types of thread, my personal favorite is the 50wt cotton. This weight is marketed for both hand and machine work, and comes in a full spectrum of colors. It's wonderful for piecing, quilting, applique´, embroidery and more! Aurifil collaborates with fabric designers and quilters to create color collections. Pictured above is my daughter's collection, Sweet as Honey, which Aurifil released last year. My suggestion is that you consider picking a collection that appeals to you and you'll find yourself using every color in it! I've added a 4 spool collection of basic colors by Edyta Sitar to my shopping page.

Thanks for visiting today!

The Alation Quilt Video

Hello! Today I'm writing about another quilt that my daughter, Bonnie Christine, and I designed. This quilt was another brainchild of Bonnie's. Now, I have to tell you how Bonnie and I usually work together when we're designing quilts, or any sewing project, for that matter. First, Bonnie says, "Mom, here's what I have in mind for this fabric!". I respond, "Bonnie, I don't think that's even possible!" Then, with both of us determined to prevail for quilters everywhere, we triumph. Ok, maybe it's not all that glorious, but it sure feels good to work together and see a project come to fruition! Such was the case with Alation, a beautiful butterfly quilt designed for her fabrics, Winged, which centers around things with wings. (You can see more projects made from these fabrics here.) The foolproof technique for making this quilt is super easy and great for beginners. In fact, I encourage you to enlist the help of your children and grandchildren as you begin to build the butterfly wings. As always, you'll find related notions and kits in both colorways for sale on my shopping page. I hope you enjoy this video tutorial! If you like it, please share and leave me a comment!

Maxie Makes the Sentimentalities Quilt!

Hello! I have a fun quilt to share with you today. This is a quilt that my daughter, Bonnie Christine, and I designed for her fabric line, Reminisce, for Art Gallery Fabrics. The original concept was Bonnie's, and I have to admit that I was a wee bit daunted at the idea of drafting the pattern. I turned, dubiously, to my EQ7 software for help. The result made me love EQ7 more deeply than ever! Another great tool that made this quilt a breeze to make is Marilyn Doheny's 24" 9º ruler. I'll show you just how easy it is to use in the video below, and you'll find the ruler, along with several other featured favorite products on my shopping page. You'll see the quilt made in Bonnie's Sweet as Honey fabrics as well, and, I have kits available in both fabric lines shown! You'll also  find lots of tips and techniques that will help you in many other quilting and sewing applications, so grab a cut of tea and enjoy! Be sure to share if you like it, and leave me a comment; I'd love to hear from you!

Here are a few photos of both versions used in the video. While Reminisce is a softer, pastel palette of florals, Sweet as Honey offers more intensity and whimsey with beehives, bees and deer. I had so much fun quilting it on my Handi Quilter Avante´, and I was so blessed to win 1st place for machine quilting!

Thanks for visiting today! Happy sewing, and God bless!

These are a Few of My Favorite Things...

I know the Christmas Holidays are past, but I'm still in the "Favorite Things" mode, so I thought I'd share some of my very favorite products and why I love them! I've used all of these things in my video tutorials, and (heads up!) next week I will be releasing a new video that will splash a few more nifty notions your way! By the way, I've linked each product description below to my shopping page where you can read more information about each one.

First up...Clover's Straight Awl. An awl is typically used for piercing holes in things like leather, paper, etc., but I use it at the sewing machine to help keep my fabric edges held together and to guide the fabric under the presser foot. The point is so sharp that it acts as well as a pin to hold things together. I keep it in my hand most of the time when I'm stitching!

2. Olfa's 28mm rotary cutter. This is the one to go to for precise trimming and cutting. Great for paper piecing or trimming quilt block units to size.

3. The Frixion's Iron-off Marker! I use this pen for all sewing applications from garments to quilts to accessories (bags, etc.) I even use it at the long arm quilting machine and keep my iron handy to remove the lines after I have quilted them!

4. Fons and Porter's Glue Stick. Keep your fabric where you want it until you stitch it in place. Enough said.

5.  Applique´ Scissors by Havels help so much when I'm trimming the fabric away from applique´ pieces, or any time I need to trim layers.

6. One of my oldest and most useful notions in my sewing room is the Dritz Ezy Hem. See how I use it in the Sentimentalities video! (Posting first week of January.)

7. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love Monopoly thread! This versatile product shows up (well, not really, because it's invisible!) in so many of my quilting projects! I use it for applique´ and quilting. Because it becomes the color of the fabric it's stitched on, it lets your fabric be the star of the show! (Added advantage: mistakes don't show!) My machines love it so much, not like the old nylon threads we used to use.

8. The Point 2 Point turner by Clover is relatively new to the sewing scene, but it's a new love! Touted as the Swiss Army Knife of point turners, I still haven't discovered its many uses!

9. A wonderful addition to my ruler stash, the 9º Wedge Ruler by Marilyn Doheny has so many uses! I have made several quilts with this ruler and, again, I'll show you how easy it is to use in the upcoming Sentimentalities video!

10. Last, (for today) is the beautiful Hexagon Ruler from Marti Michell. Marti is a master of rulers, and this one is no exception.

Thanks for stopping by, and may God bless you in the new year! I'll be posting a new video tutorial for you right after New Year's Day! Don't want to miss a thing?? Sign up for my RSS feeds (email updates) at right and receive notices of each post! If you like this post, please share!

Love,

Maxie

A Shortcut for Adding Borders to Quilts

I usually add borders to my quilts.  I don't know about you, but by the time I have the interior finished, I'm mentally ready to be finished and on to the next project! The proper way to measure for a border strip is to measure the quilts center to find the length needed for the strip. Measuring this way will ensure that the quilt is brought back into 'square' if the sides are slightly different in lengths. Even a very small difference on each side will prevent the quilt from laying flat and square, and give your long arm quilter a few intense moments.

If I'm adding two borders, this means a lot of measuring and cutting at the cutting table. I measure the quilt's center with a tape measure top to bottom...move to the cutting table and cut the borders for the sides. Sew them on and repeat the measuring and cutting, etc. I've discovered a little bit of a shortcut that cuts at a couple of steps out of the process!

First of all, let me show you a really great shortcut for the initial cutting of the borders!

Enter my Accuquilt Go! Cutter and the 2 1/2" strip die (oh yeah, this will cut my binding, too)! I've just added Accuquilt products to my quilt shop, A Stitch in Time, and I'm in love! There are tons of different dies available and the basic strip cutters are must haves!

So, on to applying the borders. After I've sewn the strips together as needed for a ball park length, I simply lay the quilt on the floor (if it's too big for my work table), and lay the first two border strips across the center of the quilt. Next, I slip a rotary mat underneath the edge of the quilt so that I can cut my borders at the perfect length right there! Skip the measuring tape, skip moving to the cutting table to cut the strips, skip forgetting what the measurement was and re-measuring...twice...just cut them and sew them on! Press them and lay the quilt back down and place border strips across the opposite center for the next two borders. I'm cutting the first two strips in the picture below.

Voila! Borders made easy! Thanks for visiting! God bless.