Here's my Hometown!

I picked up my Hometown Picnic quilt from Bonnie at the shop yesterday and boy am I super duper excited to show you my all done, completed, quilted, wonderful, beautiful, probably my new favorite quilt to veg out in front of a movie with quilt. Actually, it's not completely done, i still have the hand stitching on the binding left, but my thumb just wouldnt let me do that.

Also, thank you for the opinions, I did add a 5" border just to make a teensy bit larger for better snuggling and also to make the best use of the super cuddly Fireside (adult minky) back. Fireside is softer than minky but doesnt have the velvety, shiny look the minky does. With the border, it finished to approx. 58 x 78.

I tested it out last night and it is the perfect TV quilt.

Pattern: Picnic from the amazing book Scrapbasket Sensations by Kim Brackett
Fabric: Hometown by Sweetwater for MODA

This will become that one quilt that everyone fights over because it's so awesome!

~K

Have you Schnibbled lately?

This past weekend-before the kitchen injury-I got a lot of sewing done! Earlier in the year, I got a Schnibble all cut out and ready to sew and then found out that all the charms at the shop that were to be used in kits, were already sold. So, the pieces all got bagged up and stashed away.

Fast forward a little while and you land on last Friday when I was thinking about my sister's birthday coming up. Note: I don't have a sister and she's actually my sister-in-law but I like her a lot so I call her my sister because is just sounds so much better. She and my brother are in the process of moving to a new home closer to the rest of our family and she's really excited about her new kitchen. She's painting the cabinets and tweaking a little bit to have a more "retro" kitchen. For those of you who know her, this is right up her alley. She's also collected some depression glass plates which I think she also plans to hang on the wall.

Wouldn't ya know, this schnibble is a perfect match for her. So I dug it out, got all my ducks in a row, put my favorite color Aurifil thread in the machine and I was off to the races and before I knew it, I had this little cutie:

(Looking back, I probably shouldn't have taken the "folded" pics before this one!..Ahhh..wrinkles!!!)

~I think she's gonna love it!~

Pattern: Schnibble "Joy Luck" by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.
Fabrics: Dream On by Urban Chic for MODA

So, have you schnibbled as of late? If not, there are a ton of the patterns and charms at the store, you may need to take on a little project :) Just think how nice your table would look with one of the darlings adorning it!

Now all that's left is the quilting and binding!
~K

Note: I am not compensated or rewarded in any way shape or form for mentioning certain products in this post.

Autumn is just around the corner!

This morning I woke up to these words coming out of the radio:
"currently in Albert Lea, it is 48 degrees." However, it is now 71 so I'm not totally sure I heard that correctly.

So, if it really were only 48 degrees out this morning, that would cause me to believe that autumn is just around the corner and I really should get my rear in gear and finish my Autumn Glory table mat I started last year. Note: because this has been so popular in the shop, kits have continued to be cut and are available.

And I also have this little guy to work up too because I think he looks like he pairs up will with the above mentioned table mat:

The pumpkin mat has also been wildly popular and is still being kitted up too. Also, for those of you on a budget, this little guy is VERY affordable!

But then there is reality....I won't be doing much of anything creative in the near future and it really makes me sad. You see, yesterday afternoon I was using my kitchen slicer/mandolin and may or may not have sliced off a portion of my thumb....my RIGHT thumb...and I'm right handed. So, until this self inflicted wound heals, I'm sorta, kinda out of commission. As my friend Michelle from the 90's TV show Full House once said, "Bummer Dude".

Have a wonderful day and remember,

Autumn is coming soon!

~K

How can you not laugh?

Last night when I was sewing, I watched some Everybody Loves Raymond. I've discovered that people either love that show or hate it...me, I LOVE it! I actually personally own all 9 seasons. I can't imagine my life without Frank and Marie, Robert (and Amy) and of course, Ray and Debra. So, here's what had me rolling on the floor laughing last night.


I'll be back with some pictures but I'll give ya some time to recover from the laughter.
Enjoy!
~K

Hometown Picnic

I've been a busy girl...the top is all pieces and pressed.

I think I may add a border even though the pattern doesnt call for one.

a little close up...

So what do you think...border or no border....hmmmm

Border?
No Border?

~K

Going on vacation!

I will be gone for a few days. I'm headed east to the river to:
Fish

Eat

Work on wool projects

Antique

Eat

Fish

Boat

See some eagles

Eat

It will be fun

Oh yeah, I have half of the blocks done for the quilt from my last post and they're looking good!

(Scrap Basket Sensations "Picnic" using Hometown jelly roll)

Hope you have a wonderful next few days!

~K

Hometown by Sweetwater

A buch of Hometown jelly rolls came in the other day and boy am I excited!

I've had this book for a couple months now because I LOVE everything in it! I think the cover quilt will be what I make out of Hometown. I'm guessing there will be kits at the store-  

I'm retreating with some great friends on Sunday.....bet ya can't guess what I'll be working on ;)

~K

The corn is as high as an elephants eye....

On my little drive to ride horse the other evening, I noticed the corn. I saw if and I felt it...yes, seasonal allergies. Of course, with my fascination with musicals, this song has been stuck in my head ever since.
Don't ya just love mornings this time of year? Beautiful, sunny and starting to cool off.

Oklahoma! is one of the greats in my opinion. I especially love "the farmer and the cowman should be friends" which brings me to another post on barn raising scenes in musicals which I will save for later.

Enjoy the beautiful day!
~K

Civil War Tribute: Month 4

So, I do have something exciting to show you, I just have to figure out how to take a good picture! Instead of something really fascinating, I will show just a little of what goes in to making one months Tribute blocks.

Pin triangle paper to fabrics sandwiched right sides together.

Triangle paper is WONDERFUL and is also my new best friend. Talk about slick!

 Then sew on the sew lines....

...and cut on the cut lines.

Would ya look at that, a stack of 98 perfect half square triangles.

Then cut all the little corners on the cut lines and peel all the paper off. I've always shortened my stitch to make this easier, but this time I REALLY shortened my stitch as you can kind of see....wow...it made a HUGE difference! REALLY short stitches allowed the papers to peal off REALLY easily and cleanly.

Now that all the corners are snipped square and the papers are all removed, all that's left is the pressing.

I'll have to share with you my trick for perfect pressing sometime...

your life will never be the same, or maybe it will

And presto, just like that....98 PERFECT HST in under 2 hours.

It officially took me longer to pick my fabrics than stitch these cute little puppies!

Now on to the rest of the block tonight!
~K

Under layer 2

I've been working hard and have manged to peel off another layer of my design wall.

Last time you saw it my wall looked like this:

I spent about an hour searching for the missing bottom row blocks only to discover that they never existed because when I sewed the one row together so I could demonstrated positioning the applique blocks on the border when i taught the class I sewed too many blocks together making a row of 8 which should have been 7 and I had the 1 extra block because I always make an extra just in case something were to happen and I needed a spare and sometimes I even stitch this extra block into the back and use it as the label using a pigma / fabric pen to write all the important stuff on it so the new owner of the quilt knows all about it...wow...that was probably one of my all time best run on sentances.
Here are all the blocks sewn together and the one border appliqued.

...and I got a lot of pins back. all of these guys were holding the pieces up on the wall.

But, with a little help from their mama, they made it safely back home.

And after I peeled off that beautiful layer of pieced and appliqued goodness, I was left with this work of art: The first three months of my Civil War Tribute quilt pieced together. I even scooted around the edge with my walking foot (using a 1/8" seam) to hold all those little seams together.

As you can see, I'm one step closer to what I was  really excited to show you!

Hopefully I'll get things finished this weekend so I can make the big reveal on Monday.

Enjoy the weekend....I'll be at the fair doing horsey things :)

~K

I'm a 2800 kind of girl...you?

It's no secret, I love thread! You may even call me a "thread head". My personal favorite is Aurifil and I think all the employees at the shop feel the same about it. Simply put, it's good stuff. It runs through the machine nicely and doesn't tend to lint up. Here's my personal collection:

After much contemplation, I've some how managed to narrow it down to my top 4 used. I tried for top 3, but that didn't work to well. Here they are:

here they are again:

Out of those 4 pretty little ladies, this girl here is my all time #1 used thread.I go through spools and spools of this goodness...brace yourself, you may be shocked by what you're about to see!

It's a light tealish, greenish, bluish. Works wonderfully with 30's reproduction fabrics, pastelish things and of course my all time #1- Fig Tree fabrics. My basement lacks the goodness of natural sunlight so the picture doesn't do justice to it's stunning beauty. However, it's true color is a little more evident in the first picture.

Oh yeah, hey there little guy, I use you a lot too. Okay, I'll add and a fifth favorite just for you little "beaver" colored guy. Leave it to beaver!

So, if you haven't tried this good stuff yet, tread yourself to a spool next time you're in the store. If you're already an addict, pick up a couple new spools....maybe give 2800 a try. Careful though, 2800 tends to wiggle its way into your world and trust me, you just won't be able to let her go!!

So, what's your thread color of choice?

PS: Stop back tomorrow to see what was under the second layer of my design wall.

~K

I have recieved no benefit, pay or compensation from Aurifil thread for promoting their product. Ijust like their stuff :)

Pealing back the layers....

I really want to show you something.....but it's under here somewhere:

My design board (aka a piece of pink foam insulation which is to be covered with a piece of muslin) has been taken captive in the hostage situation in my sewing zone which has too many projects in action!
So, under here somewhere is something really cool....at least I think so. So in attempt to liberate this fascinating thing that I want to show you, I sewed and sewed and sewed....

This top part is the center section of a baby quilt for my friend...most of the X's are from the Fig Tree fabric line Wimsey we had in the store a couple years ago. The background is from a current baby line in the store that is really cute....I would have used the whole line however, it did't use the colors I wanted. The pattern is from Miss Rosie's Schibbles Times Two book, pattern "X Rated". I plan to add a wide outer border

 

Here are my bordering options....I think I like the one with the inner border....it adds a little pizzazz I think.

And then...I'm going to add a little machine applique owl in the wide border. The owl is from the pattern "Remember Whoooo Loves You" by Acorn Quilt Company.

For some reason, this picture won't upload in the correct direction....
You'll have to use those necks to turn your heads :)

I've now whittled my way down to this:

Remember this guy? I started him in the Spring to use as a teaching aid when I taught the class. There are still a couple of these jelly rolls left I think. Maison DeGrance by French General for Moda. You also can see  toward the bottom a sneak peek of one of the things I'm so excited for you to see :)

I'm still whittling away! Hopefully pealing off another layer soon!
Oh yeah, I now know where all my pins went!
~K