A favorite designer comes to town.

I have liked Lynette Anderson's Designs for a while.  Since she's from Australia her fabrics and patterns are not widely available in my local stores but every now and then I see a pattern or fabric from her lines.  I love those quirky little reindeer her holiday patterns often include.  You can check out her website here.

I've seen her patterns in the Australian stitching and quilting magazines I used to be able to find and now she is starting to appear in our US quilt magazines. 

In recent weeks she traveled to the United States for quilt market and held classes in just 4 locations.  Imagine my delight when my favorite shop was asked if they'd like to host a class.  The class filled up immediately so the show gals asked Lynette if she'd be willing to teach two days in a row.  Happily she agreed. 

Our class projects were the little journal cover and the little zipper case. 

Below is a closer view of the pattern and the front cover of my signed journal.

We learned Lynette's trick to appliqueing so our work had that needle turn look. 

Here is my piece which still needs some work.

We also had lessons in yo-yo and hexagon making.  I can't say I liked making yo-yo's but can't wait to make more hexagons.    

Here we are in class.  Lynette is in the middle of the room bending over a table...sort of hidden behind the women in the red shirt.

I feel so lucky to have gotten a chance to take this rare class from a designer I've admired for some time.  If anyone follows her on Instagram she's taken some pictures of our class, the trunk show, and some of her favorite quilts by an old ramshackle barn.  Can't wait to pull out one of the patterns with the hand painted buttons I purchased at the shop. In keeping with my goal of finishing things I've started, though, I need to get that journal cover done. 

Pam

Four years already?

We've been celebrating graduations every year or two between high school and college but it still amazes me to watch one of the kids reach such an important milestone.

We've made the two hour drive to the Boy Wonder's campus more times than I can remember.  However, the first and last stand out the most.

Five years ago we took two high school juniors for a private tour of the lovely college campus a mere two hours away in central New York.  We knew right away it was the school for us.  

This past weekend we made the trip for what we assume will be the last time.

 

The Boy Wonder and his lovely girl friend.

Such an exciting time.  He has the world by its tail.  He graduated Magna Cum Laude.  Job prospects are appearing both far and near.  I am trying not to panic about just how far away he might move.  I want my children within easy driving distance but I guess I don't get to pick.  

In the mean time, I prepare meals and do laundry while wondering how the heck I kept up with three kids for all those years.  Thank goodness they can drive themselves now because I have adjusted quite nicely to the empty nest phase of life.

Pam

Repairs have been made.

I am happy to report that my long arm is back and in good operational order.  I am still a little nervous that something could so easily jam up and pull the machine out of whack like that.

I repaired the quilt and, while I can find the square right away and see the repair, I don't think anyone who didn't know where to look could find it. 

As for fixing it...this is what I did.

I pulled out a few tools to help with the job. 

There is a little triangle of heat'n'bond there, too.  I peeled the paper side off before starting. 

I worked the heat'n'bond into the hole. 

Then carefully pressed it.  

Since there was a second hole on the back I did the same thing on that side.

I think, if I had to do it again, I would trim the loose threads away more and used a bit of water soluble glue to hold the edge tightly together before ironing.  I am assuming I could make all that work in such a tiny space but I could see the edges more than I'd hoped.  I was just afraid to make the hole bigger or harder to close tight by trimming the frayed edge. 

The square is a mottled green so the repair mostly just looks like part of the coloring in the fabric.

The quilting goes through a little bit of the repair to help add to the stability.

I washed the quilt to give that old fashioned scrunched up look. 

Bet you can't find the square let alone the repair.

This is not the first time I've had to repair a quilt.  Look here and here to see what happened when I discovered the long arm quilter left a pin inside the quilt.

I am happy to be back to working my way through my line up of quilts.

Pam

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Things always seem to come in that combination.  

First...the bad and ugly go together....as they often do.  

What's wrong with this picture?  If you aren't familiar with a long arm I am sure it's not obvious but I had to take the quilt off the rollers, remove the roller bars and take the machine to the store for repairs....mid project.  I will be out of commission for a couple weeks.

This is the scrap quilt I took to Florida to finish.  It has been in the works for almost two years.  It is made from nothing but scraps.  Lucky for me it is 'just a scrap quilt' because this is what the machine did when it went all haywire. 

Yup..that's a tear.  All layers are torn and the machine's timing is messed up.  I will work a bit of heat'n'bond up under each flap and adhere it all together.  It won't show in the end but..man...I'd be beside myself if it was one of the projects I was really invested in.

On a happier note... The good!  It's finished!

I was aiming for April 30th but then a funny thing happened.  I forgot about it and spent a few days working on something else.  I kept packing it up and moving it between stitching chairs.  It was in a project bag...out of sight out of mind.  I only lost a few days and got back at it once I discovered it.  

Now I can put this mess away...

I am going to do something quick and fun before getting back to a Year in Chalk.

Pam

Want some salad with that quilt?

This past winter I did a trunk show and spoke about preparing your quilt for long arm quilting.  The main point was...you get back what you give.  If you give your quilter a wonky quilt...you will get back a wonky quilt. 

I was talking about how to put on borders to prevent that lettuce leaf look.  People didn't seem to understand.  Adding borders is where you should try your best to square up an un-square quilt. 

I am not going to explain how-to....but I am going to show you what a 'lettuce leaf border' looks like. 

I made this quilt over the winter....and even included a few pictures as I went.

As I was making it I think I wrote about all the trouble I was having making the blocks square.  I couldn't, for the life of me, get a good measure of the edges for the borders so I put it away.  Then after buying a longer tape measure I pulled it back out.  Still, I just couldn't get a good measure but had run out of projects in Florida so went ahead and added borders. 

I knew they were not square and would have NEVER taken that poor quilt top to someone else to quilt. 

However, since I do my own quilting, on the frame it went. 

I managed to work out almost all of the problems except for this one area. (Plus a couple tucks quilted in that I couldn't get a good picture of.  Hopefully that's a sign that they really don't show.)

This is what a 'lettuce leaf' border looks like. 

The over-all quilt is not bad...but that one edge just couldn't be flattened. 

Back when I was making it I wrote about how the center square was too large.  I couldn't figure out where the problem was since I thought I was using the Square in a Square ruler and pattern correctly.  

Over all....I love the quilt.  It just isn't going to hang in a show any time soon! 

Also, this is the quilt that used the same line of fabric as the 1600 quilt I showed in my last post.  Beautiful soft Fig Tree fabrics I bought quite a few years ago.  I don't remember the line, though.  If anyone really wanted to know I could go see if I have a salvage in my bin. 

Pam

A whirlwind of projects.

I suffer from ADD in my sewing room when there are so many projects either on my 'to-do' list or left in limbo.  I pick up one thing and put it down as soon as something else catches my eye.

The end result is that I finally finish things all at once.

The latest batch includes a quilt, a candle mat, and a table runner.

This seriously is not as wonky as it looks!  

I can't even tell you how long ago I made this candle mat.  It is made using the triangles cut away while making a table runner from border fabric.  Jinny Beyer has a free pattern here.  I have the table runner hanging with my to-be-quilted projects. I could quilt the candle mat on my sewing machine so I quickly finished it up and stitched down the binding while watching evening tv. 

I made this quilt in Florida from a jelly roll.  I can't remember the line but it is Fig Tree fabrics.
It is the simple 1600 quilt that has been buzzing around the Internet for a couple years.

It was the perfect match for this pillow I stitched years ago.

The final project (for this post, anyway) is a long forgotten table runner.  Several years ago I took a class using the book One Block Wonder.  It was one of the first things I quilted on my long arm.  It only needed a binding so I put that on this week.  It is a bit bright and crazy for me but you just never know when I'll need a bright flowery table runner.

Currently I am working on another quilt.  The blocks were finished and in a box plus I have another on my long arm.  Sewing blocks into rows then sewing rows is my least favorite phase.  So far I've assembled (or almost assembled) 3 such tops from blocks all finished and tucked away.  I quilt a little then sew a little then quilt a little....eventually I finish both a new quilt and a floppy to add to my to-be-quilted collection. 

Today is gray and rainy so I will probably finish the fore-mentioned quilts. Then tomorrow is a shop hop/bus trip organized by my quilt guild.  Woot.  'Need' has nothing to do with the fun of a day of fabric shopping. 

Pam

A little finish and a not so little project.

I finished a small Little House Needleworks piece the other day.  While I started it several weeks ago, it has mainly been the piece I pick up when I want to work on a quick simple project so it didn't really need over a month to finish.  

While I am still working away at outlining the snowman piece it is time to pull out a project that took a backseat back around Christmas time.

Uncle Sam's Parade by Sue Hillis.

I think I have the most complicated part done so maybe, knock on wood, the rest will work up quickly.

I think, next to Christmas stitching, patriotic patterns are my favorite.

My sewing room has been a very busy place.  The next post will include pictures of some of those projects quickly coming together.  

Until then, happy stitching.

Pam