Trimming the Flying Geese

I am away from home today, in St. Louis at Baby Lock's Corporate headquarters for Sewing Machine Training on their newest top of the line machine, the Destiny.  What an amazing machine! Today is the last of four days, and I just hope there is a little more room in my brain for today's lesson!

I tucked a little sewing machine in my suitcase so that I could sew in the hotel room at night. With a video shoot scheduled in the near future, I have little time to spare! So, I thought I'd share a little bit about the technique I'm using to make one of the units for the video project.

I love flying geese, but I hate trimming them because it can be an arduous task. It's so easy to trim away the tip of the goose, isn't it? And making sure the seams travel perfectly to each corner at the same time...it's enough to make you avoid them altogether. And this project requires almost 400! I think that's officially called a gaggle.

Last year, at International Quilt Market, I discovered the Bloc Loc ruler! It promised to help me trim the little fowls perfectly and effortlessly! It was true to it's promise!

This little ruler accommodates the 1.5" x 3" unit. See that little groove, placed where the flying goose seam will lie, cut into the back side of the unit? It's exactly 1/4" wide, which makes it lock in place over the seam allowance! It allows you to trim the unit without having to study the ruler to make sure you've lined up every corner and seam and goose beak!

Here is a close up view of the ruler placed on the unit, ready for trimming. Because the ruler actually locks onto the fabric, you can even spin the unit for easier trimming!

Here is a close up view of the trimmed unit! Perfect in every way!

Late night trimming in the hotel room did produced a gaggle! Bloc Loc rulers are available in a variety of sizes and styles, including half square triangles and more. You'll find this little flying goose ruler on my shopping page, with others to be added soon. And watch for a new video in the near future!

Thanks for visiting! Happy Sewing and God bless. Maxie

 

Corey Yoder: aka Little Miss Shabby!

Today I want to introduce you to an amazing quilter, designer and blogger. Meet Corey Yoder of Little Miss Shabby! You're most likely familiar with her work, and maybe you've seen her book, Playful Petals. When I saw her book cover, it was love at first sight. When I opened it, crush! So many beautiful projects, from pillows, quilts and more!

Her blog is as delightful as her book, and you'll find lots of tutorials for a wide variety of projects to suit just about any sewing mood, from quilts, pillows and even a cross stitched sampler!

The Rainbow Row Along is a row by row experience, complete with instructions for each individual row. Corey's instructions are clear and very easy to follow

Just a few patterns from her Quilty Stitches Sampler.

Beautiful pillows abound!

Corey made the quilt above from Bonnie Christine's very first fabric line, Reminisce for Art Gallery Fabrics.

This is going to be my version of her Petal Play quilt...Bonnie's Winged fabrics on a linen background!

Everyone at my quilt shop has caught the Petal Play bug! The quilt above is Andrea's version! To help her perfectly arrange the petals, her husband even made her a thingamajig to mark a grid for placement!

I see she's using my favorite iron off pen! I'll have to post pictures of this most perfect quilt when she's finished!

Thanks for visiting! Grab another cup of coffee and head over to Little Miss Shabby! Happy Sewing and God bless! Maxie


Lovely Ribbons...What Can You Do with Them?

Lovely ribbons. Renaissance Ribbons are the most beautiful in the world. Last week I mentioned that Bonnie is hosting a Ribbon Blog hop, currently underway. Since I'm one of the participating bloggers, I'm working on a fandangled project that I'll be sharing with you on April 1. But, in the mean time you can see one project per day from 18 different talented sewists! Simply visit Bonnie Christine's New Ribbon Blog Tour Post for a link to each blogger. And for a look at all of Bonnie's ribbons, click here.

In addition to this blog hop, let me share even more inspiration with you! At quilt market last fall, I had the opportunity to meet the talented author of Ribbon Embellishments, Elaine Schmidt. She has written several books featuring ribbons, and each publication is a beautiful work of art!

Look carefully at the title...How to make 100 Ribbon Embellishments! Where would you use such adornment? The obvious comes to mind: little girls dresses, home decor (curtain tiebacks, pillows), shoes, bags, etc. Even the most simple tote could be elevated to a much higher level with the addition of a beautiful Jacquard ribbon trimming. Or, you could put a bar pin back on the it and call it done! I love the cockades with a vintage button or broach in the center. (I made one for my Mrs. Clause, below.) Elaine wrote a free tutorial to show you how to make a cockade for Sew4Home! In fact, she has several tutorials that you'll enjoy! And to celebrate ribbons, I'm offering the book to you at a 20% savings!

Mrs. Santa (from the Tilda book series), is so festive with her cockade, nestled on a doily and trimmed with a sparkling snowflake brooch.

Make two of these and attach to a pair of summer sandals! Photo from Elaine's book.

What little girl wouldn't love this goldfish on a hairbow or dress? Photo from Elaine's book.

So, let's get the ribbon fever! Happy Sewing and God bless! Maxie

 

 

Making a Tied Quilt

I had hoarded this fabric long enough. A whole bolt of Bliss Bouquet by Amy Butler. One day, I'll make something beautiful with it, because anything at all made from it would have to be beautiful.

Then my niece sent me a picture of a baby quilt, made from this very fabric, asking if I had any instructions that I could send to her so that she could make one for her little girl, Charleigh. I asked her, "Is it the quilt you like, or is it the fabric?" Of course she answered that it was the fabric she loved. And she wanted a quilt for Charleigh's new toddler bed.

This is the quilt I made for her (above)! I think she'll like the soft plush backing and the very soft batting. You can see in the photo that this quilt is tied and not quilted! It made up fast and easy, and today I'm going to share the process with you and show you a trick or two that you might find helpful!

Here's what you'll need to make this quilt:

1 3/4 yard for the quilt top, 1 1/4 yard for the ruffle, (was able to add one of Bonnie's fabrics from Sweet as Honey!), 1 1/4 yard of 60" wide plush type fabric for the backing, and one package of polyester batting. I love Soft High Loft from The Warm Company.

1. If you are using a polyester backing like the plush fabric shown above, I would advise pre-washing all fabrics, because the cotton will shrink, but the polyester won't. I just toss it all in the washer and dryer.

2. Trim up the top fabric to be nice and straight, so that it measures about 60" long and 44" wide. Trim away the selvages.

3. Make the ruffle. I tore strips, width of fabric, to be 4 1/2" wide. Press them well, and sew them all together to make one long strip as shown below (clicking on any of the images will enlarge them for more detail):

Join the strips, end to end, with a diagonal seam. The best way to do this is to layer two strips, both right side up, as shown in he first photograph. Place a ruler's 45º line on the long edge and make a cut. Then, flip the top strip over and place it on the bottom strip, right sides together now, with the cut edges even, and shifted slightly so that there are tiny triangles extending at each end (middle photo).  I've drawn the seam line with a pen, which begins and ends right at the corner of the triangles.  The seam allowance is decided by the size of those tiny triangles, because you'll drop your sewing machine needle right down at the corner of the overlap. The third photo shows the seam pressed open. Sew in pairs of two, then continue sewing together until you have one long strip. Now for the gathering!

You may use any method you like for gathering the strip into a ruffle, but my favorite way for working with very long strips is to use my Baby Lock serger! Setting the differential feed and stitch length up to their highest settings will gather quickly and evenly! Bonus: the edge of the ruffle is finished with a nice overcast stitch! It may have taken me 3 or 4 minutes to do this...

4. Attach the ruffle to the quilt top using a scant 1/4" seam allowance. Over lap the edges a bit at the beginning and end, tucking the raw edges into a fold.

5. Now it's time to layer the quilt top, backing, right sides together, as show below.

Next, add the batting on top of both layers. Smooth it out nicely, and make sure the batting covers the edges of the quilt top.

You can pin everything together, if you like, but my preferred technique here is to hand baste around the edges. Don't whine, it only took a few minutes, and it was worth the effort!

6. Next, take it to the sewing machine and stitch around the outside edges, using the quilt top as your guide. I used almost a 1/2" seam allowance to make sure I was catching both the ruffle and batting in the seam. Be sure to leave about 8" open for turning. Trim the backing and batting (where necessary) even with the quilt top around all four sides as shown below. My favorite scissors work wonders for all these layers! Clip the excess fabric in the corners away.

7. Turn your quilt right side out and press the edges at the ruffle well.  Stitch the opening left for turning closed (I used the machine to do so.)

8. The quilt is ready to be tied. Place it on a large flat surface and use safety pins to mark each tie point. I used a 6" x 24" ruler to help me place my pins in a 5" grid (recommended by the batting company). No need to close the safety pins, they will hold in place quite well leaving them open, and they will be easily removed at the sewing machine.

9. We're ready to tie!  Roll up the quilt as shown below and take it to the sewing machine. I use my Baby Lock machine for this. Not only is it a time saver, I know it's securely tied and will hold up under wear and tear and repeated washings! The little indentations on the quilt back in the photo are the safety pins.

The hardest part was choosing a stitch from the vast array available! I finally landed on a spiraling circle. Engaging the tie-off feature and the scissor cut made it even more effortless because all I had to do was move the quilt to line up a safety pin under the needle, slip the safety pin out and go!

That's it! I'm finished, and I think Bobbie-Leigh and Charleigh are going to love this!  I may even bring myself to part with an extra yard of that hoarded fabric so that she can make a valance or a pillow or two.

Thanks for visiting! Happy sewing and God bless. Maxie





Announcing the Bonnie Christine and Renaissance Ribbon Blog Tour!

I'm very excited to share with you today that I will be participating in the Ribbon Blog Hop by Bonnie Christine and Renaissance Ribbons!
 

If you know what a shop hop is, you have a general idea of what a blog hop is...except you can drink coffee and keep your slippers on for this one! A blog hop is a set time frame during which a group of bloggers post about a topic and share links to the previous day's blog post and the next day's blog post so that you can easily visit each one of them! We have 18 bloggers participating, so each day, for 18 days, you'll be able to see a new project using the wonderful Renaissance Ribbons designed by Bonnie Christine! It will be so much fun to see what each blogger will create and share with you. It begins on Monday, March 16, so mark your calendars and watch for the first post to be announced on Bonnie's blog on that day! Be sure to like my facebook page, too, as there will be regular announcements there. And by all means, please sign up for my emails (do that right here on the right sidebar) to receive all my announcements!

Bonnie Christine is a surface pattern designer, mother hen of the Roost Tribe and author of Going Home to Roost - a blog dedicated to living an extraordinarily creative life. She is inspired by the great outdoors and is passionate about sharing what she knows and creating community around creativity.

Bonnie Christine's ribbons were inspired by a love for nature and sunshine. They represent working in the garden, growing flowers and watching the bees, birds and butterflies take flight. Bonnie most enjoys using the ribbons to add cheer to everyday objects like notebooks, bags, key chains and clothing. Her goal has always been to create patterns that are organic and natural, joyful and lovely. She believes patterns are one of the ways we can express ourselves and make our spaces beautiful.

You can get started on ribbon projects now! Visit Renaissance Ribbon's beautiful free idea page!

Thanks for visiting! Happy Sewing and God bless! Maxie