Crunchy Numbers

Posted on January 17, 2016 by zippyquilts

The WordPress people send me two statistical reports a year regarding my blog, and of course I can look at statistics on my administrative page at any time. I don’t stress it or check very often, so I was quite surprised when the recent report from WordPress said people from 61 different countries viewed my blog in 2015!

Most of the countries were predictable: the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. But there were views from every continent except Antarctica! The place I got the biggest kick out of was Iceland 🙂

This improvised log cabin block, which was made into a pillow, appears to have been the most viewed picture on the site.

improvised log cabin block

Jo Glover

And my most popular post was about Jo Glover, who first developed Big Stitch quilting but doesn’t always get enough credit now that everybody does it. You can find that post HERE if you missed it.

Another popular topic was my ongoing modern sampler quilt, and there’ll be much more about that coming up soon. A few of those blocks are shown below.

This block was made with curves cut freehand

The stats show my readership growing steadily over the 2-1/2 years I’ve been blogging. The growth is slow, but I’m blogging for fun (and I’ve kept my day job!) so that’s just fine. I’ve made some new friends, which is even better.

As always, I’m amazed by the power of the internet. I’ll skip the chance to philosophize about that and just wish anyone who reads this a very happy 2016!

Little House Class at Studio Stitch

Posted on January 10, 2016 by zippyquilts

I’ll be teaching my fusible applique class, called Little House on the Wall (with no

Samples for the Little House workshop

apologies to Laura Ingles Wilder) at Studio Stitch in Greensboro (NC) on January 30.

I visited the shop recently to talk with the staff about materials for the class, and of course I HAD to look at EVERYTHING. Well, I needed to look so I could discuss what would be appropriate for the class, but it’s OK to just drool on the fabric a little, right?

They had landscape fabrics and plenty of batiks that will be great for the class.

There was even a bundle that seemed just made for creating my little houses!

I even found 28 weight thread for embellishment in a variety of yummy colors.

28 weight thread can be hard to find, but Studio Stitch has plenty!

Of course I wandered a little…they had gorgeous batiks made specifically for use with the Jacqueline De Jonge patterns. They even had one as a kit, with a more restful background fabric than this sample I took from Jacqueline’s site.

Yummy fabrics at Studio Stitch, where I sometimes teach

The ladies at the shop were all friendly and helpful, and I’m looking forward to teaching there. You can find out more about the shop and my class on the Studio Stitch website.

Cover for The Quilter’s Planner

Posted on January 3, 2016 by zippyquilts

I was pretty excited to get the newly-developed Quilter’s Planner (more info HERE if you’re interested) for Christmas. I decided it needed a fancy cover to protect all my

The Quilter’s Planner

plans! A quick Google search for “planner cover tutorial” found one HERE by Jodi Bonjour on her blog Sew Fearless.

Now, Jodi’s tutorial is for a planner of a DIFFERENT SIZE, You can follow her general directions, but here are my modifications to make it the right size for the Quilter’s Planner. As is often the case, it took 2 tries to get this right, so I’ve also made a few notes about what worked for me.

First, about cutting: I cut the pieces for the cover, lining, fusible fleece, and Peltex (stiffener) 20-1/2″ x 11″. The sleeves were cut 5-1/2″ x 11″. Here are pictures of the interior of the planner cover, showing what the sleeves are:

Interior of the planner cover, showing the sleeves and the closing tab

Interior with the planner in place, cover inserted in the sleeves

I pretty much followed Jodi’s instructions, BUT here are a few hints:

I spray basted the backing to the Peltex–that stuff is slippery.
It may be a good idea to cut these pieces 1″ larger than needed and trim to size after quilting the cover. As always, things shift a little during quilting.
Jodi used a big snap to close her cover, but I used hook-and-loop tape. It’s more adjustable, and who knows what all I may jam in with the book? (Plus, I couldn’t find my snap setter 🙂
Jodi’s directions just say to attach the tab closure. For the record, you do that by lining up the unfinished end of the tab with the unfinished edge of the planner cover, centering it along one side.
I cut my binding 2-1/4″ wide, attached it to the inside with a 1/4″ seam, and turned it to the outside. This made the seam attaching it to the outside almost 1/2″, which made the planner cover fit tightly into the pockets. It worked out fine, but check your seams so you don’t find the pockets have gotten a little too small!

I quilted my cover, which holds all the layers together really well. I’m not sure what would happen if you didn’t do that. Here’s a picture of the quilting:

Quilting on the exterior of the cover

And here is my planner cover, ready to start 2016!

The finished planner cover

What are your plans for the new year?

Final Finishes!

Posted on December 27, 2015 by zippyquilts

I got these two quilts back from the quilter last week, so I put the binding on and have my final 2 finishes for the year!

Improvisational quilt, orange and blue quilt

Red Pepper is made from a pattern entitled “Yellow Pepper”

This binding was made from the remaining black and white chevron fabric

I finally finished the eternal paper piecing for this quilt and I’m having fun arranging the blocks.

The pattern is Lombard Street, by Sassafras Lane Designs

Here are a few of the other projects I’ve done this year. You can click on any of them for more detail.

Sew Together Bag, pattern by Sew Demented

Another runner for my “Try Improv” class

Divided basket made from pattern by Noodlehead

I designed and made this runner for a guild challenge

Happy Squares, designed and made by me, 2015

Here is one of the samples for my improvised table runner class

Karla Made Me Do It

Cat Circus, my quilt for the 2015 Quilt Alliance challenge

Tote bag made with Kraft-Tex for the bottom section

Toddler Quilt, designed by me

This was made using the Quick Curve ruler

And finally, here are a couple of things I had published in Modern Quilts Unlimited:

This little quilt was publishsed, along with an article I wrote

Can’t wait to start next year’s projects! Woo!

Regarding the Quilts I Didn’t Finish…

Posted on December 20, 2015 by zippyquilts

‘Twas the week before Christmas
And all through the house
Enough chores to be done
To make nice women grouse.

A few unfinished quilts!

The mantle to dust
With its inch of cat hair
For the people with allergies
Soon will be there.

Mantle is empty of stockings, but not of dust!

The mice are not nestled
All snug in their beds
They’ve invaded my car
Where they soon will be dead.

[This may seem a little harsh. But we live in the woods, and mice can destroy a car if allowed to run free there.]

We go to the attic
To get out a trunk
Where we’ve stored generations
Of bright Christmas junk.

The stockings don’t seem
To be anywhere here!
I’ll have to make new ones
If they don’t appear!

My studio is nice and warm!

We’ve sent Christmas cards
To our friends far and near
Even though we won’t write them
Again for a year.

And what of the quilts
That I meant to have done?
I’ve done a potholder!
(But only this one.)

One lonely potholder

There’s one Christmas quilt
In the living room here
Where we may take a nap
After having a beer.

Christmas quilt

At last off to bed
With a smile on my face:
Merry Christmas to all—
And next year at YOUR place!

May you all have a wonderful holdiay! The grousing is just in jest–I’m having a great time baking lots of treats 🙂

2015 Finishes: Part I

Posted on December 13, 2015 by zippyquilts

Ronald McDonald House is the chosen recipient of donation quilts from one of my groups, and EACH of us made 12 quilts for that cause this year. I finished the last 2 this month (yes, a LITTLE behind!).

These are a good illustration of why a dark border is a good idea to make a quilt feel “finished”. I’ll try to remember that next year!

And here are the other 10 donation quilt finishes for the year. I love how different they are! I got to try lots of new things 🙂

Design by Cindy Williams

Pseudo Random arrangement starting with Kaffe fabric

This is a leaders-and-enders project

February donation quilt. This started out entirely different, but I failed to take Before and After pictures.

The “New! Improved!” quilt

Flower Fairies

Donation quilt made from orphan star blocks

February finish and January donation quilt

More finishes coming soon!

Winner! Online Quilt Retreat

Posted on December 6, 2015 by zippyquilts

I won a year-long online quilt retreat! What the heck is that?

Lora Douglas of Dragonfly Quiltworks

Here’s Lora Douglas, one of the teachers from the retreat, to explain.

This year-long on-line, quilt retreat is sponsored by “Adventure Art Retreats”, which was started by Ilysa Ginsburg and Kira Slye. They launched “Polymer Clay Adventure” as an online experience in 2015 and got about 1000 subscribers! They’re adding a quilt adventure for 2016.

There are 12 projects, one each month of the retreat. There will be classes for quilts, placemats, totes, hexies, fabric dyeing, laminating fabric and polymer clay buttons

Roxie bags made by Lora for her Quilt Adventure class

.I designed the Roxie Bag as one of the monthly projects for the retreat, and I’ll be teaching it by online video. When I couldn’t find a pattern using flex frame hardware that was easy to make and looked great, I designed my own. It is perfect as a cross-body bag for carrying a cell phone and other small items.

“Quilted Adventure” is the online equivalent of a traditional quilt retreat where you meet other quilters while learning new things. “Retreaters” can take a new class each month; participate in live-stream events with our host, Vanessa Vargas Wilson of The Crafty Gemini; receive monthly clues for a mystery quilt; and take part in swaps. There will be a newsletter to keep participants informed of upcoming events. The instructors will be available to answer questions throughout the retreat. It’s going to be fun!

Another Roxie bag–how many samples did she make???

I’m gathering my supplies, and I’m sure you’ll be seeing some of my projects here as I participate in the retreat. For now, If you want to know more about Lora or the Quilt Adventure online retreat, here’s the link for her site. There’s a button there to click for finding out more about the retreat. (Or, if you just want to buy a Roxie bag after seeing it here, her site has a link to her Etsy shop as well. I won’t tell if you want to buy it instead of making it yourself 😉

Kaleidoscope Design and More

Posted on November 29, 2015 by zippyquilts

The November UFO project was to design a quilt to use these beautiful Jane Sassaman fabrics. Here’s my “final” decision on the layout. (“Final” in quotes because It isn’t over til it’s over).

My notebook wasn’t big enough for the whole layout, but you get the idea!

You can see paper mock-ups of my blocks showing the fabric HERE, but here are a couple of examples. Of course, the one with 4 wedges would have 6 if this were the real blocks instead of a paper mock-up.

I think I have enough fabric to make 4 central patches with 6 wedges each, though I’ll check before I cut (one of my husband’s favorites is, “measure twice, cut once”). Then I’ll fit in as many of the 4-patch kaleidoscopes as seems reasonable while leaving adequate negative space.

The Back-up Plan (must have one!) is all 4-patch kaleidoscopes if it turns out I don’t have enough fabric for both the 6-wedge and the 4-patch designs. That would be fine, too, though I like the variety of sizes in the design I’ve chosen. (Will I like it as much when I’m trying to sash those varied shapes and sizes?)

I’m thinking I’ll use soft green fabric for the background; this seems to want to be a green quilt with pink and blue accents. The background probably will be a solid fabric, since these blocks have a lot going on.

I’ve made two more projects this month, but they aren’t quilts. One is a crib sheet from this fun arrow fabric by Maureen Cracknell. The other is a changing pad cover in this “Indian Summer” fabric by Sarah Watson.

There are several places on the internet to get free patterns for crib sheets and changing pad covers, and they were easy to make.

And now, ON TO THE CHRISTMAS SEWING!!!

November’s UFO

Posted on November 22, 2015 by zippyquilts

As you probably know, I’m playing along with Aunt Marti’s UFO Challenge for 2015. This month’s UFO is a group of gorgeous Jane Sassaman fabrics I’ve had for several years. I want to make a queen sized quilt, but I’ve been debating the design for a long time, since I want to make the most of these fabrics.

Need to design a quilt for this wonderful fabric

Luckily, a quilter who is a better designer than I came to visit this fall, and she helped me look at ways to make kaleidoscope blocks from these fabrics. So November’s challenge is to come up with a design for the quilt. I’m not even requiring myself to CUT any fabric, just decide on a design.

Jane Sassaman’s book suggests making paper copies of the fabrics to cut up in order to try designs. I scanned the fabrics to my printer and made many copies, then cut them up to make either 4-part or 6-part kaleidoscope blocks. Of course, that limits my trials to typing paper size pieces.

I printed at low resolution to save ink and still used up my color cartridge! Here are a few of the trial blocks cut from paper and taped together:

Here are some blocks made from 4 squares

And here are some partial blocks made from 60 degree triangles:

Finally, here are all my trial blocks made of paper so far:

Any suggestions for making the most of these prints, either with or without kaleidoscope blocks?

New Quilts from Old

Posted on November 15, 2015 by zippyquilts

This is a quilt I made a few years ago to practice cutting curves freehand. It never looked as good as I thought it should, for various reasons.

This one had to be cut up and made into placemats!

I loved the quilted leaves, but I thought the golds should have been more similar in value; the light ones stood out too much. It always bothered by husband that the curves didn’t line up from block to block. Anyway, it never got much use.

Then I decided I needed more placemats, and hit on the idea of cutting up this quilt into placemat size pieces (18″ x 12″). So I trimmed off the binding…

And used my extra-big square to cut pieces 12″ x 18″.

Then it was time to search for binding. Of course, I had no more of the fabrics that are in the quilt, since it was made several years ago. Eventually, I decided on the second combination: