New Venue for Teaching!!!

I am super excited to announce that I will be teaching at the 2019 Utah Quilting and Sewing Marketplace (formerly known as HQMS)  This is a new venue for me, and that always means I get to meet lots of new friends and work with amazing people!!!   

UQSM is officialy live today, meaning you can go check out all the awesome classes, lectures, trunk shows, and quilting and sewing goodness!!!   I have been blessed to be asked to teach 4 classes!!!  I will be teaching My Corckscrew class, my Pave the Way class, my new Playground Picnic class, and finally my ever popular Petal Pop class.  It is going to be so much fun!!!  I love teaching my patterns and seeing all of the amazing quilts students create!!!

      

And I am super excited that I have also been asked to do a Trunk Show of my quilting journey!!!   These are always so much fun, and I just love getting to share my love of quilting through stacks and stacks of quilts ;)  

So if you are in the Salt Lake area come May 1, 2019, I would love to see ya there!!!!  It is going to be so much fun!!!

And just FYI, you can see all of my teaching schedule for 2019 by clicking on the teaching tab at the top of the page ;)    It would be so fun to see some of you in class!!!

Hope you all have a very Happy Quilting Day!!!

Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!!

It's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day so let's have some fun :)

But first, we need to announce the winner from last weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway!!  

The winner of the Oxford Wovens Layer Cake from  Fat Quarter Shop is . . .  Number #234 . . .   Congrats lalaluu!!!   I have emailed you :)      

 

       

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by Shabby Fabrics!!   Shabby Fabrics have added a bunch of great new Autumn and Halloween Themed projects!! And each one is just more festive than the next!!    And don't forget, Shabby Fabrics  also has an amazing  Clearance Section, you are sure to find some amazing deals, and have also just added a whole bunch of Quilt Kits on sale as well!!  Super fun!!!   

  

And for the Terrific Tuesday Giveaway  Shabby Fabrics is giving one lucky winner a $30.00 Gift Certificate!!!!!   Now the winner can get just what they have been wishing for, and maybe it will be a little something to tuck under the tree next month ;)

You have two entry chances, the second being optional, and please leave a separate comment for each.  All Entries are welcome, including International Entries.  Please just be sure to leave an email address if you are a no-reply blogger ;)  

ENTRY 1 - Simply leave a comment that tells me what color fabric you have the least amount of in your stash???

 ENTRY 2 - Show your Shabby Fabrics love. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Pinterest, or Instagram.  You can Sign up for the Shabby Fabrics Newsletter (top right hand corner) or Follow their Blog,  or you can Visit the Shop and then share a favorite item ;)   Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Shabby Fabric Love!!!

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, November 20th when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Jessica's Qube Sampler - Blocks 1, 2, & 3

Well, I said last week that I would share Jessica's progress on her new Qube Sampler Project, and she has made some significant profess . . . so, here it is.     You will recall last week, she had finished one block using my new AccuQuilt cutter and Go! Qube Dies and that was the Diamond Star.

She had cut out the Spinner block from the Go! Qube Book, and now it is all sewn together as well.    And look at that perfect point in the middle.   Eeek, I am just so proud of her.  She is really trying so hard to sew with precision, and really takes her time in the stitching and pressing, and boy does it show.

And she liked that block so much, she picked a variation of it, called Turnstile also from the GO! Qube Book.  And again, with the perfect point in the center.  She has that little pin trick for lining up points down!!!   And the pinning and pressing precisely is getting easier and easier with each block, and that makes me so happy.

She has her fourth block cut out, and this one is the most complex she has done so far, so I am excited to get her stitching it together.  I am sure she will nail it :)   And doesn't she just do a great job mixing and matching the fabrics!!!  I love watching her sifting through the charm packs and layer cake to find just the right fabric for each part of of the block :)  

We have made a set time when she gets home from school to sew, so hopefully, I can keep sharing more finished blocks.   And she is even talking about wanting to go to a retreat with me and take some classes . . . I am on cloud 9 over here ;)  More of Jessica's Qube Sampler blocks soon!!

I hope you all have a very Happy Quilting Day!!!

Finished BasiX Quilt Top and Ruler Tutorial!!

I am so excited to have finished my BasiX quilt top!!!   I have had one of these quilts on my to make list for so long and I am just thrilled to get to cross it off, although I suppose I should wait until I quilt and bind it before I cross it off.  But ya know, super close ;)      You might recall from back here,  that there was a BasiX Ruler in the October Sew Sampler box.   Well, here is is the first of November, and my quilt top is done.   Yippee!!!    Several of you emailed asking how the ruler worked, so I took a few pics along the way so I could share a little Ruler Tutorial. 

So to start, you need to cut your 2 1/2" strips.  You need 3 strips in each strip set and you can cut 7 units, that each measure 5" unfinished, from each strip set.   So for my quilt top, where I wanted my blocks laid out 6 x 7 or 42 blocks and 4 units per block, that equals 168 units divided by 7 per strip is 24 strip sets.   So for a 3 color quilt like mine,  1 3/4 yard of fabric from each of your 3 fabrics.   The center strip is what makes the outline, and the two outside strips are what make the stars ;)   So sew your strips together and I pressed mine towards the center.  And remember, it is helpful to use a slightly smaller stitch length when strip piecing ;)

Then, it's time to start cutting your units.  Place the BasiX ruler on the strip set taking care that the BasiX logo is facing up.  There are some patterns where you flip, flop the ruler, but this BasiX one you always want the logo facing up.   Then align the horizontal markings on the ruler with the seams of your strip set.   There can be a little overhang on the top and bottom, no worries, it will be in the seam allowance ;)    Then cut around all 4 sides of the ruler to cut out your first unit. 

Now, we are going to continue across the Strip Set.   Again, align your BasiX ruler with the logo facing up, and the horizontal markings aligned with the seams, and the raw edge of the previous cut, aligned with the edge of the ruler.  After a few cuts, I found the following little trick to be very helpful.  When you make the first cut (yellow line),  cut a little past the ruler, making sure to cut straight in a line.  You don't need a lot, just start your cut a little below the edge of the ruler. 

Then you can fold the rest of the strip set back and out of the way.  Then cut the remaining 3 sides around the ruler.  By folding the strip set out of the way, it makes it so that that bottom cut doesn't cut into the next unit.  You just have to keep that first cut straight, as you will be aligning the ruler along that cut.  Keep doing this until you have cut across the strip which will give you 7 units.  Then repeat for all 24 strip sets ;) 

Then, once you have all 168 units cut, you can sew them together.   I used two layouts for my blocks, making 21 blocks of each layout.  This just adds a lot of visual interest and some fun secondary designs when the blocks are sewn together.

The blocks are sewn just like a 4 patch.  Sew the top two units together and the bottom two units together. I pressed my seams open.   Then just sew the top row onto the bottom row, aligning the center seam, and again pressing open.   And just like that, fun BasiX Blocks.  They will measure 9 1/2" unifinished and finish at 9" square. 

Lay the blocks out in 7 rows with 6 blocks per row, alternating the 2 blocks as shown below.  Then it is just sewing the blocks into rows and the rows into the quilt top.   The quilt top measured 54 1/2" x 63 1/2" when all the blocks were sewn together.  I wanted it a bit larger and wanted to provide a little resting point for the eyes, so I added a 3 1/2" border.     I hope that helps you all on using a BasiX ruler and hopefully making some of your own BasiX Quilts ;)

And now I can't wait to get it quilted up and bound.   Isn't it just so fun!!!  I love all of those sparkling stars, and I especially love the black and white ones that were created in the secondary design.  So cool!!!   I can see myself making lots more of these BasiX quilts going forward.  They really are super fun and super fast!!!  My two favorites ;)

I hope you all have a very Happy Quilting Weekend!!!!

Linking up this quilt top finish to Sarah's and Myra's ;)

My New Toy - The AccuQuilt GO!

Over the last two weeks I have been having a whole lot of fun playing with my new little quilting "toy", the  Ready. Set. GO! Ultimate Fabric Cutting System from AccuQuilt!!!    And I am super excited to share what all has been "Making the Cut" these last two weeks ;)

The Ready. Set. GO! Ultimate Fabric Cutting System comes all boxed up like a nice little Christmas present (which it would be awesome for anyone to find under the tree :)  And you really do have everything you need to get started cutting with AccuQuilt.

The first Die that comes with the system is the 2 1/2" strip die.   And I have to be honest, I skipped right over this.   Because of the way I like to cut my fabrics using the mat to measure (I know, its frowned upon, but I love it!!)  and subcutting all of my strips horizontally without moving them, I just don't know how often I will find this die useful.   But after skipping over it, I have since found that there are guides for 90 degree, 30 degree, 45 degree, and 60 degree angles on the die, which would make it easier to make a Lone Star or Tumbling Blocks quilt.   So now I can see myself opening up this die up and trying it out for blocks like that ;)

But what really got me excited when I was un-boxing, was the GO! Qube and the accompanying Quilt in a Day GO! Qube Book by Elanor Burns.   And here's why.   I have been wanting to start working with Jessica on some precision piecing now that she has basic patchwork pretty much down, and I can't think of a better way to start learning precision piecing than with absolutely perfect cuts!!!

The GO! Qube has 8 dies that can be mixed and matched to make 8" blocks.   Each die comes with a pattern, so those are just more bonus patterns.   And having the clipped corners on all of the triangle dies, really helps in lining things up, especially for a beginner like Jessica ;)

So Jessi and I started planning and she decided she wanted to make a Sampler Quilt using the blocks from the patterns and book.  She had so much fun deciding which fabrics to use! (don't we all :)  The great thing about the  Go! Qube is that several of the dies are charm pack friendly and leave next to no waste. So after a lot of fabric surfing, Jessi decided on 2 Charms of The Good Life and 1 Layer Cake of Miss Kate and it is going to make the cutest  sampler!!!    She choose a star block pattern, grabbed the dies, picked where she wanted her selected prints . . .

And it was time to cut!!!  This is as easy as stacking and rolling.   You just place the fabric on the die, place the cutting mat on top, and then roll it all through the cutter.   The cutter can cut up to 6 layers at a time, so several of the pieces that were the same size could all be cut at once.   Awesome!!!

And in no time at all, all the pieces were cut, and Jessi had her star block all laid out and ready to be sewn!!  And again,  those clipped corners on the triangles . . they really came in handy when she started to sew things together!!!

So ya, time to sew.   And wow, we learned, laughed, got a little frustrated, and then laughed some more!!  It was so great!!!!  I got to teach Jessica the basics on how to pin precisely, she is left handed, so it took me a minute to figure out how to explain things backwards, hence the frustration :).   Also, she learned best ways to press, chain stitching, and even the little Pin Trick for lining up points.   Yippee, she really did learn a whole lot sewing this little block together.

And I have to say, she did an amazing job with it!!!  Look how perfect all of her points are!!! What a great way to learn precision piecing!!   She was thrilled with the finish, and asked if she could start another block as soon as the last seam was pressed ;)  To which of course, I said "absolutely!!!"

So she choose a block from the Quilt in a Day GO! Qube Book and starting cutting.   And this block, every die was charm pack friendly and you can see how little waste there was.   Pinked edges and a few 1" strips, gotta love that.  Jessica got her new block all laid out and then said, I'll sew it tomorrow, tee hee hee.   I think she has quickly realized the cutting is the fun part now ;) 

But I am so happy that she enjoyed the experience and really wants to make up this quilt.  It will be awesome getting to make it one block at a time and see her confidence grow.  I will keep sharing her blocks here.   I told her if she can get it done , we can enter it into a quilt show, so here is hoping that keeps her motivated!!!

So, that is the Ready. Set. GO! Ultimate Fabric Cutting System and I am just so happy with how wonderful it has been to teach Jessica!!    But now, I wanted a project too!!!    And why not start by cutting all the curves.   So for myself, I choose the Flowering Snowball die ;)   And you know how I love to make Red, White and Black quilts!!!

So grab my bolts of solids and start cutting!!!  The die has great instructions telling you what width of strips to cut, and then you just fan fold them and place them on the die, so you can cut out lots of layers at 1 time.   (And I cut one of the red dies first, and then cut out scraps from the die to layer on the little center square ;)

A quick roll, and I had beautiful curved pieces!!!  And I have to say, the curved piecing is what I am so super excited about for this cutter.   Curved piecing cutting is just more finicky than straight cutting, obviously ;)   It is the one thing that I cut, where I have to take a break because my wrists get sore trying to cut in and out of the curves.    So now, no break needed, and perfectly cut pieces every time.

But of course, with curved piecing, you are going to have some fabric waste.   And I worried about how much fabric would be left over from these die cuts.  But I was happy to find, that because of the way you fan fold the fabric strips, the "waste" could actually be cut into usable scrap pieces that I have added to my scrap drawers.  And that's nice ;)

I cut out all the pieces for my Flowering Snowball quilt, which will be 20 blocks, in just under a half an hour.     Wow!!!  I am going to love cutting out all the curves going forward!!!!

I used the 3 pin method to pin these together,  just like I use for drunkard path blocks we have done in quilt alongs.  (I think it would be so awesome if AccuQuilt made a "modern" drunkards path die :)  And I have to say, it is so, so, so, nice to have those little notches in the center to know where to line the pieces up!!!  A bit of chain stitching goodness . . .

And my blocks are just about all done, only 2 seams left!!!   I can't wait to get this project all done.  It is going to be incredible.   And it has been so easy.   I just love that ;)

So that is what I have been up to with my Ready. Set. GO! Ultimate Fabric Cutting System and Flowering Snowball die and it has been so much fun!!   Not only am I working on a classic quilt that has been on my "to make" list for way to long, but I got to teach Jessi so much and to have it be a great first experience with precision piecing, well,  I couldn't be more happy ;)   I will be back with my finished quilt soon,  more on Jessica's blocks, and I am sure, lots more of playing with my new "toy" ;)