What I Did for International Quilting Weekend

I binge watched a bunch of shows on The Quilt Show - every year they open up the prior years shows for free viewing...so I took advantage of that.. I think I watched 8 of them!

Learned a bunch of techniques...and once my 'creative juices' were revved up, I  turned my attention to the Embellishment Sampler that my quilting friend at work got me for Christmas...

It needed the mounting quilt - so that part is done!

I originally had a different blue floral for the outer border, but it just wasn't ringing any bells when I laid it out next to the partially embellished squares...so I rummaged around in my large florals bag and found a few other selections...this one won out...Originally, I had a bright green for the resting border, but my DH asked if I could find something to match the turquoise of the upper left flower..found just the right piece and I was good to go. The center is a vintage cotton hankie that I used Terial Magic on to make it board stiff...but since it is pretty thin, I backed it with a creamy muslin. Once the squares are finished being embellished, they will be attached to the mounting quilt with beads. 

I really like how this is turning out...DH keeps coming in to check the progress - I think he likes it too!

Hexie Daisy Done

Finito!

Wool batting, all scraps from my stash, border, backing and binding fabric from donations table at Retreat. Quilted with candlelight quilting thread.

Painless Binding Join on the Hexie Daisy Quilt

I am finished with hand quilting the Hexie Daisy quilt so I thought I would photograph how to do the Painless Binding Join I learned from Shannon Shirley at Road this year. This is the easiest way to do the final join in the binding..no measuring, no pins...

First, prepare your binding..for this piece, I am using single fold, non-bias binding, but it does not matter what kind of binding you are using.

Create a 45 degree angle on the end of the binding  by folding and trimming off the folded part - you may already have a 45 degree angle if you are using bias binding.

Fold up the edge by around 1/4 inch - wrong sides together. Press.

Place binding on the quilt with the longer edge along the outer edge of the quilt..You will need to figure out where you want the join and do a rough guess on where the other seams in the binding fall (seams in the corners are kinda problematic!)

Sew binding to quilt, mitering corners. If you are using double fold, start a couple of inches away from the end...single fold, start right at the end.

When you get close to the start point, cut off the remaining binding, leaving an inch or so overlap along the same angle as the folded part. For double fold, tuck the end into the pocket and smooth down.

Finish sewing the binding down.

Flip the binding to the back and pin or clip. You can either stitch the fold closed or not - just like the miters on the corners (some people stitch 'em, some don't)

Et voila'...almost done!

Patchlara

I never got around to blogging about making my Fairy Quilt Godmother last year. One of the gals on the forum pointed us to the Paper Panache website where, after answering a few questions, you were given your own personal Fairy Quilt Godmother pattern..Mine is named Patchlara.

The pattern  did not look TOO hard to do (HAHA!). I added a few extra pieces and changed a few things...made the hair a bit different...and eliminated the original locket on the necklace...and made the dress pieces solid instead of being cut in two ( I didn't want to cut up that gorgeous dress fabric!)...after piecing, her mouth looked way too severe...so I appliqued a more generous bottom lip onto her face. Oh...and she got rosy cheeks via some carefully applied rouge...

One of the gals on the forum took her pattern to Kinkos and had it blown up to double the size..which when paper piecing a Paper Panache pattern is a good thing! There were some parts that I ended up disparing of ever getting done..but I persevered...and she is done..When I quilted her, I added some gold netting to make her sparkle a bit...and added a cat charm to her necklace. She hangs from a wand on the wall in my office.


Meet Patchlara:

The scraps and scnibbles were collected into a pill bottle - Fairy Dust!

Gran Jam

I can hear you saying to yourself..Who or what the heck is Gran Jam? Well..she is a 'Shopkin' , My 9 year old granddaughter asked for Shopkins for her birthday. I took a look at the Shopkins website and hoooboy there are SOOOOO many of these little figurines - they are anthropomorphized things you can shop for (there are also Petkins..wee animal items) There are oranges and apricots and hair dryers and cookies and donuts and wheelbarrows..you get the picture...they are currently on series 4...

Gran Jam is a jam jar...with granny glasses and a gingham hat... 
"Gran Jam watches over all of Shopville. She spreads love and slathers affection on the Shopkins, sweetening their lives with her kind words."

I could not find a Gran Jam in the store...so..I made one! Drafted the pattern one day at lunch. She is made of two different green fleece materials, purple gingham and a white felt face with pink felt glasses..I think she turned out pretty cute!

DGD was pretty impressed with her new Shopkin...said she was going to take it to school and set it on her desk..not sure how that will work out, but it made me glad that she likes it!

I even made a tag...

I had DGD sew the arms on..which lead to more sewing and crafting...

She wanted me to make a blue bird with red wings...

while she finished off a beaded necklace

and a landscape

She learned a whole bunch of new skills - threading a self threading needle (the ones with just an eye will come later), how to knot off when done with stitching, how to sew on a button, how to do a running stitch and the applique stitch (not very invisible..but hey...gotta start somewhere!) She did everything on the landscape except the initial knots on the thread..