March 12, 2010 by rosewillow
My daughter’s school celebrated Book Week this week in conjunction with World Book Day on March 4, and one day, the students were allowed to dress as characters from their favourite books instead of wearing their usual school uniforms.
My young daughter recently had an opportunity to meet the author John Malam, and she received an autographed copy of his book, 100 Things You Should Know About Mummies. She is fascinated with Ancient Egyptians and archaeology, so she was inspired by this book to dress up as a mummy.
I made her costume by sewing strips (and strips and strips!) of muslin onto a set of pyjamas. Her hat/mask was supposed to look like a pyramid, but it came out looking like a ghost instead! But she was happy, and that’s what counts. 
Next week I will be seriously sewing on my “Too Good to Cut” challenge quilt. I’m starting to feel left behind by the other Challenge participants, some of whom are practically finished with their quilt tops now! Well done, everyone, and thank you for the inspiration! To check on their progress, please visit them by following the links under “Challenge Participants” in my blog roll.
Happy Quilting!
Posted in "Too Good to Cut" Challenge, Family | Tagged "Too Good to Cut" Challenge, Egyptian mummy costume, muslin, quilting, Sewing | Leave a Comment »
March 5, 2010 by rosewillow
This week I spent every bit of my sewing time working on the birthday quilt, and I’m very pleased that it was done on time. But I was very tired when I finished it and needed to take a break from sewing today. I haven’t sewed on my “Too Good to Cut” Challenge quilt at all.
I did think about it, though, and decided on this green fabric for sashings. The close runner-up is a dark amethyst, but the green looks very calm and soothing to me, and it brings out all the different shades of green in the focus fabric. It just looks “more right” than the other fabric.
Next week I’ll have more progress to show! I hope everyone else is doing well and having fun with their projects.
Happy Quilting!
Posted in "Too Good to Cut" Challenge, quilting | Tagged "Too Good to Cut" Challenge, quilting, Sewing | 4 Comments »
March 4, 2010 by rosewillow
I finished quilting the Turquoise Scraps birthday quilt today, just in time to deliver it to our oldest daughter when she came over for dinner and cake to celebrate her birthday this evening.
Here’s the front…
and the back…
and our beautiful Birthday Girl. She likes her quilt. Happy 19th Birthday, Sweetheart!
Happy Quilting!
Posted in Family, Scrap quilting | Tagged birthday quilt, Design Wall Monday, quilting, Sewing, turquoise scraps quilt | 1 Comment »
March 1, 2010 by rosewillow
I was very excited to see batik fabrics on Judy’s blog earlier this week because I have a batik project of my own to show for Design Wall Monday.
This is one of the Easter quilts I am working to finish for our family visit next month. It’s a two-rail fence design, with 2.5 inch strips sewed together and then cut into 4.5 inch squares.
I remember buying some of this fabric, but I’m not sure where the rest of it came from — possibly from a Fat Quarter club about 10 years ago? Some of the colours are a bit dark and wouldn’t be my first choice to buy, but when they are paired with cheerful brights, I think they look very nice!
To see what other quilters have on their Design Walls today, please visit Judy’s blog, Patchwork Times.
Happy Quilting!
Posted in Design Wall Monday, quilting | Tagged batik fabrics, Design Wall Monday, quilting, Sewing, two-rail fence pattern | 11 Comments »
February 28, 2010 by rosewillow
This week I finished the Turquoise Scraps top for my stepdaughter’s new birthday quilt.
It’s a lap quilt and measures 55 inches square. The inspiration for this quilt came from several sources.
The basic block is the Stash Buster by Buttonberry, which I made half-size. The free pattern for the original size block is here.
I wanted to use crisp and neat white sashings because I love the look of this 9-patch quilt by Crazy Mom Quilts.
I also like to use cornerstones because they work like registration marks to keep the rows nice and straight. I learned this technique through making some of Judy Laquidara’s patterns, and the idea for this particular setting came from this photo at All People Quilt.
The backing is already finished, as well. I used Mary Johnson’s instructions for piecing an Off Center 4-Patch Backing, and happily I had some compatible fabrics in my stash! The only things I had to buy for this quilt were the batting and one light turquoise print for contrast.
Now I need to get to work quilting it. It has to be ready for Thursday!
My Stash Report totals for the week are:
Bought this week: 0
Bought year-to-date: 9.75 yards
Used this week: 6.5 yards
Used year-to-date: 17.25 yards
Used (net): 7.50 yards
Happy Quilting!
Posted in Scrap quilting, Stash Reports 2010 | Tagged pieced backing, quilting, Sewing, stash buster quilt, stash report, Turquoise fabrics, white sashing | 7 Comments »
February 25, 2010 by rosewillow
This week I started attaching the little claws onto the Bear Paws. Here are the first two:
The pattern I am using is “Bears in the Farmhouse” by Judy Laquidara. The focus fabric is the 1997 Hoffman Challenge Fabric, called “Kaleidoscope.”
To follow the progress of other quilters sewing along on this Challenge, please visit their links listed under “Challenge Participants” in my blogroll.
Happy Quilting!
Posted in "Too Good to Cut" Challenge, quilting | Tagged "Too Good to Cut" Challenge, bear paws, Bears in the Farmhouse, Hoffman Challenge Fabric, Judy Laquidara, Kaleidoscope fabric, quilting, Sewing | 6 Comments »
February 19, 2010 by rosewillow
Just wanted to let my “Too Good to Cut” Challenge participants know that I haven’t forgotten about them. School has been out this week for half-term break, and we have been on holiday.
I’ll be back to sewing on my Challenge quilt next week!
Have fun, everyone, and Happy Quilting!
Posted in "Too Good to Cut" Challenge | Tagged "Too Good to Cut" Challenge, quilting, Sewing | Leave a Comment »
February 15, 2010 by rosewillow
For the February Quiltathon at Judy’s blog, I am working on a UFO quilt top from about 2001. It’s all the same fabric that I used for a TV quilt for my father-in-law, and for some reason, I had about a zillion yards of each colour. It’s a good thing we all really like blue and green together! 
On Saturday morning, I started out with this:
And now on Sunday evening, I have this. It’s not finished yet, but I have made a lot of progress.
This is an easy block and very quick to make. I’ve written a little tutorial to share the instructions if anyone else would like to make this quilt.
I have a little bit of this flamestitch (bargello) print to use in the backing. It reminds me of statistical graphs, which I love.
This is another backing that will have to be pieced from squares. It will also be a great place to use the King’s X block that I made in the wrong size.
Happy Quilting!
Posted in Quiltathons, quilting | Tagged February Quiltathon, King's X block, quilting, Sewing, UFO quilt | 5 Comments »
February 14, 2010 by rosewillow
This pattern is known as King’s X or King’s Cross, and it’s very easy to make. It can be foundation pieced over either fabric or paper, and the big block is composed of four equally-sized identical squares.
Decide on the size block desired and cut out four squares of muslin or paper. Mark a line down the centre of each square to make two halves. Then mark a line down the centre of each half to end up with four equal width strips. The corners will be triangles. I am using paper foundations, and I like to draw the 1/4-inch seam allowance on the pattern at this point. When using muslin, just cut the square larger to include seam allowances.
Number the pattern pieces to keep the strips in the same order for each square.
Sew fabric strips onto the foundations and make 4 squares.
Trim squares to size. If using paper foundations, the papers can be removed now (very carefully), or removed when the block is completely assembled.
Rotate the squares to make the pattern appear…
and sew the squares together into the big blocks.
Join the big blocks together to make a quilt in the size desired.
My quilt will be 6 big blocks by 8 big blocks and will measure 60×80 inches without borders. The small squares are 6.5 inches unfinished and will make a 12.5 inch block (unfinished) when assembled in groups of four.
When my quilt is completed, I will add a photo here.
Happy Quilting!
Posted in Tutorials, quilting | Tagged drawing paper pieced pattern, foundation piecing, King's Cross pattern, King's X pattern, quilting, Sewing, Tutorials | Leave a Comment »
February 14, 2010 by rosewillow
I didn’t make any positive progress on my pink and purple Flying Geese quilt at all this week. But, if mistakes are educational, then I have learned a lot!
First, I thought I had the perfect backing for the quilt — a beautiful shade of pink in 100% cotton. Got it all basted and started the machine quilting. However, it’s a bed sheet, and now I know why quilting on bed sheets is not such a good idea — the threads are so close together, it’s difficult to quilt through. Even with a small needle (10 or 11), it still leaves a big hole in the fabric.
I was so unhappy with the results that I unpicked two hours’ worth of free motion quilting and undid the basting.
Then I found another length of regular quilting fabric in my stash that was a good match for the colours, but I didn’t have enough. There were two others that I thought would make a good pieced backing using the instructions Mary Johnson wrote for HeartStrings, but I didn’t have enough of those, either. Aaarrrggghhh!
Finally the light dawned on me to cut the quilting fabrics into 10.5 inch squares and piece them together patchwork fashion to make a backing by one of the methods used by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville. That will give a good variety of prints and use up even more stash. I’ll probably start that tomorrow.
Haven’t finished any other projects to count in my totals this week, but I did start working on a UFO for Judy’s February Quiltathon and hope to finish that today.
Totals for Week 7 are:
- Bought this week: 0
- Bought year-to-date: 9.75 yards
- Used this week: 0
- Used year-to-date: 10.75
- Used (net): 1 yard
To see how others are doing in their Stashbusting this week, please visit Judy Laquidara’s blog, Patchwork Times.
Happy Quilting!
Posted in Stash Reports 2010, quilting | Tagged Bonnie Hunter, flying geese quilt, HeartStrings, Judy Laquidara, Mary Johnson, pink and purple quilt, quilting, quilting with bedsheets, Sewing, stash report, stashbusting | 14 Comments »
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