Harder Than it Looks

    One of my favorite parts of working with Jaftex as a Brand Ambassador is the creative challenge.  They send a package of fabric about every 6 weeks and my job is to make it into something wonderful.  The last Jaftex project I completed was using Beachy Keen by Janelle Falk for Blank Quilting.  For that fabric line I created two projects.  This beach ball table runner will be featured on social media.  This is patterned after my Beach Ball Runner from the Scrap Crazy for More book using the 6" templates that I designed for Creative Grids.

    

    The second project is a larger quilt patterned after my single page pattern called Woven Rain.  That quilt project will be featured on the SIY website in May 2023.  SIY stands for Sew It Yourself.  That website is provided by Jaftex and has a host of free patterns using fabric lines from the six different companies that fall under the Jaftex brand.  

    Part of the Brand Ambassador job is taking progress shots as you make the quilt and then final style shots when the project is complete.  I live near the beach in Florida so style shots for the Beachy Keen project with sand, water and waves should not be a problem.... right?  

    I start with collection photos and then try to remember to take progress shots along the way.

        When I finish the quilt, the fun begins.  I look for interesting places all around the little town on our island to take the style shots.  I shop for props that match or coordinate and start planning the photos.

  

        For Beachy Keen, I had a crazy idea for a photo.  Wouldn't be awsome to toss the quilt at the waters edge and then take a video of the beautiful white water rolling over it?   Then I could reverse the video and run it in slow motion.  The result would look like the ocean was receding and revealing the quilt!  Totally cool eye-candy for social media!  I convinced my husband to be my quilt wrangler.  His job was to get the quilt in position, timing the waves and make sure that it didn't wash out to sea!  Off to the beach we went on a chilly and a what turned out to be a bit too windy of a day.

      As a precaution, we took several "dry" shots before getting the quilt wet.

We even took a short video of a classic quilt drop.  

(For some reason Blogger won't let me share it here.)

Then it was time for the money shot.  

We talked it through and made a plan so that we both knew exactly what we would be doing.

I would be dodging waves, handling the camera.  My husband tossing, spreading and quilt wrangling.  

We should have let Mother Nature in on the conversation.  

Obviously she didn't understand how to perform her part.

Instead of beautiful white water, we got a dirty looking sandy mess.  

Instead of washing over the quilt the waves scrunched it up like the ocean was rejecting it and

 pushing it out of the way.

The few hardy people on the beach were both amused and willing to lend a hand or at least share their opinions on what we were doing wrong.

The real problem was me, attempting photography WAY above my pay grade!

FYI

The quilt is safe and sound.  It was dried, and then the sand was brushed off. 

It has been through the washer and dryer so it is softer and a bit more crinkled 

than it was before it's run in with  Mother Nature.

  

    

It's the Little Things That Make My Day.

      Earlier this month I stopped into Cinnamons Quilt Shop in Jacksonville Florida and I picked up a copy of the All Florida Shop Hop magazine.  I absolutely love this idea!  From what I have seen, the two women that run the state wide program are doing a top-notch job of organization, promotion, marketing and making a difference in the quilting industry.  I have heard good things from consumers, participating shops and the vendors that support them. Their plan is to cover the entire US, state-by-state or by region.  If your state doesn't have a hop, there will be a hop coming to your area in the future.

    I'm not sure that I will be hopping to many stores during the event, but I did want a copy of the magazine so that I can check-out the quilt shops as my husband and I travel around the state.  You never know when a road trip might need a detour for a fabric fix ;).

    I was flipping through the magazine and came across this:

It made my day!

   In addition to the shop listings, the magazine features seven quilt patterns.  This particular quilt caught my eye.  Then I checked out the "recommended tools".  That's my Perfect Rectangle Ruler!  If you are a veteran of the Brown Bag Mystery, then you already know that the Perfect Rectangle Ruler is one of the rulers that we used for the 2022 Brown Bag Mystery quilt.  You probably already own one!  

   It might seem silly, but I get excited when other designers use my tools.

   If you are a Brown Bag Mystery veteran that is chomping at the bit for the next clue, why don't you order the magazine from a Florida shop and put that Perfect Rectangle to work on another project?  I would bet that Cinnamons in Jacksonville, or Boutique 4 Quilters in Melbourn, or Cotton Patch in University Park would be more than happy to help.

  

It's the Little Things

     These are my keys.  I use them every single day.  I transfer them from my pocket to my purse and from my purse to my tote bag depending on where the day takes me.  Those keys are in my hands daily.  

    

    Attached to my keys are two scan cards, one for the library and one for the "Y" where I take an aqua aerobics class 3 days a week.  That black strap came with an inexpensive purse I purchased several years ago.  The strap has outlived the purse because it is very convienient to have.  It lets me loop my key onto my tote handle or I can slide it over my wrist when I don't want to carry my purse.  Now that car keys only have to be "in" the car and not inserted into the ignition, having things dangling on the key ring is no longer an issue.  The black strap makes things convienient.  That strap is also in horrible shape, it is peeling, flaking and falling apart.  I am embarrassed to have people see it, but I haven't given it up!

     

     Today is the day things change.  That strap is basically a folded strip of fabric.  I posess tens of thousands of dollars of sewing equipment.  I have enough fabric in my sewing room to blanket a house.  I own threads in every color imaginable.  I simply had to make the decision to take the time to DO it.  

     Can you relate?  Is there something that you have been meaning to do, but you keep putting it off?  TODAY is the day to get that small job done.  Just DO IT.  I promise that it feels really good when you have it done.

     Having put off this simple task for so long, I should be embarrassed to tell you that when I looked for a fabric strip to use, I already had one in my scrap bin, cut to the right width and length.  The fabric is one of my favorite Tula Pink prints and it was just sitting there all ready to go.  I pressed it in half, opened it up and pressed both sides in, toward the center fold.  It took longer for the iron to warm up than it did to press the strip.  Then I chose matching thread.  I already had a bobbin to match, so after threading my machine, a whole 30 seconds later, I was ready to sew.  Stitching down one side and up the other took about a minute.  I cut the old strap off and folded the new one over the key ring.  My BERNINA has no problem handling the bulk of 16 - yes SIXTEEN layers - of fabric to secure the new strap in place.  Done.

        Now my keys are going to make me happy each time I pick them up.  I won't be embarrassed to hand them to someone or have them hanging on my tote.  5 minutes of sewing was well worth the investment!  Now I am off to sew something a little larger - time to start a new quilt!

    

 

     

By Annie, By Karen

     You are about to hear the tale of my very first By Annie bag.  It is hard to believe that with all of the samples I have made over the years, and the popularity of the By Annie patterns, this is my first attempt at making one of Annie's wonderful bags.  What was I waiting for?

    Evidently, I needed a push.  Jafex provided a gentle nudge in the Brand Ambassador program by way of a challenge.  We had the opportunity to select one of Annie's patterns and Jaftex provided the fabrics.  It doesn't get any easier than that! 

    The goodies from By Annie arrived before the fabrics, so I was guessing that mine would be bright and colorful.  I received both pink and green zippers and pink mesh for an interior pocket as well as the hardware and Soft and Stable for my bag.

    Then the Tropical Vibes fabric line by Emma Leach for Blank Quilting arrived and those colorful zippers made sense.  I immediately decided to "go green" with the toucan print, green zippers, ferns for trim and planned the larger toucan print for a fun lining.

    After skimming through the pattern, I had some second thoughts. (It is ALWAYS a good idea to read the entire pattern before starting your project). The toucan prints are directional.  As a By Annie beginner, I didn't want to risk having a directional print run sideways!  I opted to "test" the pattern using the multi directional flamingos instead. 

     Because I was convinced I was making a "test" bag, I decided to use the panel print from the fabric line on the back of the quilted fabric that you create for the bag.  I pinned everything into my longarm and quilted away.  Annie suggest a grid quilting, but I don't own a computerized long arm to do straight lines, so I chose one of my favorite designs.  It was my first time quilting with Soft and Stable, the foam type of batting, on my longarm.  It quilted like butter!  I was impressed!

    I cut out my pieces and "sealed" the edges as instructed.  Then I made the carrying strap with the shoulder pad.  That piece is made with several layers of quilted foam and has binding around the edge.  I decided if I could be happy with my workmanship on that piece, the rest of the bag would be easy.  Cheating, just a little, I made the entire piece out of the accent fabric.  My thought was if the binding was a bit wonky, it would be harder to see those issues with matching rather than contrasting fabrics.  The shoulder pad came out PERFECT - with the help of one of Annie's free videos.  I was so pleased - make that amazed - that I decide the flamingos would be "the bag" and no longer a "test".

    Following the pattern instructions I made interior and exterior pockets, and then installed zippers and binding as instructed.  I'm not going to lie, there were more than a few do-overs and several conversation with my seam ripper to make sure everything was straight and even.

    I could have made the whole process easier on myself if I would have taken the time to watch the instructional videos on the Tutorials (byannie.com) website before I started this project.  I also chose a pattern that includes two bags.  The instructions are written as if you have made the first bag before starting the second.  Naturally I chose to start with the second bag.  That required a lot of flipping back and forth to read previous instructions.  Once again, had I taken the time to READ the instructions and not just skim through the pattern, I may have made different decisions on how to approach this project and saved myself some aggravation.

    I am happy to report that all is well that ends well.  I finished the flamingo bag and I am thrilled with the results!  These photos show the front of the bag with the zippered pocket and the back of the bag with the open pocket. The top of the bag zips closed with double zipper pulls.  The mesh zipper pocket in inside the bag. I know that the giant flamingo from the panel print will make me smile everytime I open this bag.  Choosing the panel for the lining makes this bag really fun!  I may add something funky to every By Annie bag I make in the future, because I am sure this one will not be my last!

Anybody Gnome?

     I just made the easiest quilt ever!  It all started when FedEx dropped the latest package from Jaftex on my porch.  I wasn't expecting a package, but I am always excited when a bundle of fabric shows up at my doorstep!

    As soon as I opened it, without even checking the selvedge, I knew exactly who had designed it.  I have been a fan of Leanne of The Whole Country Caboodle for years... probably decades.  Her designs were the first fusible applique designs that I offered in my store.  I never missed the opportunity to stop by her booth at International Quilt Market to see what was new.  

    Leanne's latest fabric line, along with her daughter Kaytlyn, is called "Gnome Town Heros" for Henry Glass Fabrics.  The prints feature a variety of gnomes in the rolls of nurse, police officer, teacher, engineer, even artist (who isn't afraid to color outside the lines) and quilter!  The gnomes are in multiple sizes.  There is even one fabric panel that is large enough to make into stuffed dolls.  Another is printed so that it can be stitched into a soft book.  I chose to use the book panel as feature squares in a toddler size quilt.

    With an idea, but no real plan, I started by trimming each of the fabric book pages to a square. (Those printed squares are never really square so you have to play around to find the size that works).  It turned out that 6 1/4" was the best choice.  A bit of an odd size, but that wouldn't be a problem.  I planned to use a few of the coordinates from the line to tilt the blocks using the Perfect Rectangle Ruler.  Once that was done, I could trim them to a more standard size.  After adding a half rectangle to each side, I found I could trim the blocks to 10 inches.  Using the Perfect Rectangle Ruler, tilts the blocks rather than putting them on point.  It looks a little more casual and adding the companion fabrics makes the featured blocks stand out.

    I chose to use 9 of the 12 pages to make tilted squares, but I wanted to end up with a rectangular quilt.  That's when the fun began!  I decided on 3 vertical columns for this quilt.  All I had to do was add rectangles of the other prints that were 10" wide and any height.  As long as I added identical size rectangles in each of the three columns, everything would fit together.  How easy is that!  No pattern needed.

    Each column would have 3 tilted blocks, alternating the direction of the tilt. (To change the direction, cut the triangles with the fabric face down.)  Then I added a strip of the border stripe to each column.  I cut the strip, including seam allowance on the top and bottom.  The height didn't matter, as long as all three segments were trimmed to 10" long.  

    Next I added the tossed print with the vehicles to each row. That is a super cute print, so I added two pieces! Then I decided it needed a little more red, so I cut narrower strips of that print.  All of this happened on my design wall, where I could rearrange the pieces, shifting them to keep the color moving around the quilt.  The grey prints were beginning to blend together.  I decided on some narrow black Jot Dot strips to break those areas up.  Column 2 needed those black strips, but that meant they had to be added to columns 1 and 3 as well.  A little rearranging and I the columns were ready to be stitched together.  How long is each column?  It doesn't matter.  I simply added pieces until it "looked about right".

    The three columns were each 10" wide and would finish at 9 1/2".  That would make this toddler size quilt only 28 1/2" wide.  Time to add some vertical sashing.  I decided on 2" finished sashing between the pieces columns and 3" finished border around the outside edge.

    The quilt top went together so quickly, that I decided to finish the project right away.  By making sure that the width of the quilt stayed below 40", I could use one width of fabric for backing.  (That works ONLY because I do my own quilting.  Most longarm quilters want a minimum of 4+" of extra backing on each side of your quilt top.  Nothing wrong with that.... but it is possible to squeek by with less width.  I never reccomend skimping on length.)  I had random widths of fabric left, so I stitched them together to form a striped backing.  I popped it on the longarm and let the ProStitcher do its thing.  I love that machine. #HandiQuilterAmara.

    Two piece machine binding was sewn together, and pressed while my HandiQuilter was working hard.  The quilt came off the machine and I trimmed it using my 20.5" Creative Grids square.  Once again, having the right tools makes any job so much easier.  First I pinned and then stitched the binding to the back of the quilt.  Then I folded it around to the front and stitched the binding in place by machine on the tiny grey flange.  

    This was such a fun project, no rules, the right tools, fun fabrics and everything fell into place.  Give it a try!  Now that it is complete, I know the perfect little person to give it some love.  It's all yours Jack!

Wilderness Trail

     My latest Jaftex Challenge definitely qualifies as a challenge.  As a Brand Ambassador, I was convinced that the next bundle of fabric goodness from Jaftex would contain Christmas fabric.  The style might be traditional, or it might be novelty, but it would most assuredly be red and green.  The calendar might say spring, but this is the height of the holiday season in the fabric world.  I was so confident in my prediction that I believe I was even humming Jingle Bells when I opened the package.  Wrong.

    My new fabric challenge is Wilderness Trail by Ed Wargo for Blank Quilting.  I have to admit that it threw me for a loop.  I was prepared for out-of-season Christmas sewing.  I was not expecting a different out of season and north woods prints!  Moose, bear, log cabins, campers, fish and wolves howling at the moon are not my normal go-to style of fabric. This is also the fabric bundle that I am to use for the Brand Ambassador Summer Challenge.  We have been asked to choose a pattern from the Home Decor section of the Jaftex sponsored, Sew it Yourself website for our next project.  

    The Sew It Yourself website https://siysewityourself.com/ is packed with fun projects that are FREE for you to download.  You should check it out!  

   I had originally chosen the Emblem Pillows as my project.  After the fabric arrived it was obvious that the large-scale prints were not suited for pillows.  I opted for the Symone Quilt instead.  Choosing the quilt made perfect sense.  It uses the triangle in a square shape and the half rectangle.  I happen to design those rulers for Creative Grids.  The pattern provides templates or suggests using the Wonder Triangles or Tri Rec tools.  Obviously, I would be using the Creative Grids tools that are the same shape, only larger.

    The pattern is written for fat quarters, so I cut my bundle into fat quarters and decided to make the pattern exactly as written, except for the change in ruler brands.  Super easy.  Just follow the instructions.  Except....

    The triangles in the pattern are 6" finished.  Some of the fabric prints are LARGE in the Wilderness Trail fabric line.  It isn't easy fitting a moose in a 6" triangle.  No problem.  Luckily, I have larger size rulers, so I decided to make my triangles 8".  I will make the quilt exactly the same as the pattern, except the triangles will be larger.

    After cutting all of the fabrics into triangles and fussy cutting the larger shapes from both the panel and the pillow panel squares, I separated the triangles into lights and darks.  I chose to start the layout with all of the light triangles pointing down and the darker ones pointing up.  

   It quickly became obvious that the Wilderness Trail prints could use some "breathing room".  I went to my scrap basket and cut some neutral triangles that read more solid to give your eye someplace to rest.  Then I filled in with the triangles that featured an image.  All of those were inserted so the image was right side up.  That helped me in the assembly process.  If I became confused as to where I was in a row, it was easy to figure out because none of the animals should be standing on their heads!  I was making the quilt exactly like the pattern, except for the size of the triangles and the addition of many more fabrics.

    One of the Wilderness Trail fabrics is orange.  Having only a few large orange triangles really made them stand out.  Back to the scrap basket I went, where I chose another orange print to help move the color around the quilt top.  That really helped, but it still needed something.  It needed more orange, but not large areas.  I wanted it sprinkled around the quilt.  The only way to achieve that was to make large triangles out of smaller triangles.  Super easy!  Four smaller triangles make one large triangle.  My triangles finished at 8" so I would need smaller ones that finished at 4".  I cut the 4.5" triangles from scraps.  A slight modification to the pattern that I was following exactly, except for the size difference, the number of fabrics used and the additional piecing.

    I was ready to sew everything together when I realized that the printed pattern had seven rows.  That means that unlike the top row, the triangles in the bottom row have seams that begin/end at the very corner of the quilt top.  This quilt does not have a border, and I would rather not add bulk to the corner for binding.  I did have some extra triangles..... I added another row to the bottom of my quilt.  Very easy to do and just a small change to the instructions that I was following exactly. 

    Here it is!  My Wilderness Trail version of the Symone Quilt, only slightly larger (48" by 64" instead of 36" by 42") with slightly more fabrics (13 prints + scraps instead of the suggested 10) with a bit of extra piecing tossed in.  Hmmm.... do you think I should add a border?

Unplanned Renovation

    My husband and I are in the middle of an unplanned renovation. There was no disaster that needed repaired.  We did this to ourselves.  Once the ball started rolling, there was no stopping it.  We are not strangers to do-it-yourself projects.  We also knew when we bought this place that it would take plenty of work to make it the house we wanted to live in.  The latest project is one that fell squarely into the category of "wouldn't it be nice... someday"?  Not something that had to be done.  To be honest, although I thought of it as something that should be done, I didn't think we would be the ones to do it. "Someday" arrived last month when the contractor we were working with to replace our roof said he could do the structural part of the job at a reasonable price.  Starting in 4 days!  I normally ponder a new paint color for at least a month.  This meant I had to decide on type of flooring, closet size, choose stone and purchase a fireplace, mantel and lighting almost overnight!

    Building, much like quilting, should follow a specific order.  Obviously, you can't sew your blocks together until you have made the individual units that make up the blocks.  Those blocks become rows and the rows become your quilt top.  You just follow the plan.  Building from scratch is very similar.  Renovation is more like mending or repair.  There are certain limits to the changes you can make, depending on the existing conditions.  

    This building project was to correct what we saw as a major design flaw in our homes floorplan.  Our living room had a soaring cathedral ceiling.  Both the first and second floor have extra high ceilings.  That gave the living room a THIRTY TWO foot high cathedral ceiling.  I am sure it looked good on the original plan, but in reality, that wall that reached three stories high, was impossible to paint.  Those second story windows were impossible to clean.  The batteries in the smoke detector at the ceiling peak were impossible to change as were the lightbulbs in the wall fixtures.  The room practically begged for a second floor to be installed.  It is just my husband and I living here, so we don't really need the space.  That put the project on the "wouldn't it be nice" list until last month when Edwin the contractor and his team offered to do the structural work.

     First came the plastic.  It was everywhere.  The purpose of the plastic was to control the dirt.  It doesn't.  It certainly makes it much better than if there were no plastic, but nothing stays clean.  Nothing.  My commute to work, which is as simple as walking from the kitchen, to an upstairs bedroom, involved making my way through four zippered doorways.  We draped all of the furniture that we squeezed into other rooms with sheets.  It was like living in a haunted house.

    I am thankful that Edwin and his team made short work of cutting our house apart and putting it back together.  Considering that he fit our small job in between others he was working on at the same time, it could have taken much longer.  Then again, he was only contracted to do the structural and drywall work.  Cary and I are on the hook for the finishing this project.

    Finishing means everything from painting to adding the wood ceiling and installing the stone on the fireplace.  I married a do-it-yourself guy, so I was well aware that I would be holding the other end of a board, or handing tools up to him on a ladder until the project is officially finished.  What I didn't consider is that neither of us are as young as we use to be!

    Meanwhile, my dining room looks like this, because we also had to reprint several of my patterns and books.  The storage area where we keep those items is behind some of that plastic drape.

    My guest bedroom looks like this.  Those quilts are normally on shelves in what was previously a loft area.  They are sealed into the guestroom for now to keep them free of drywall dust!

    You might be thinking that amount of chaos is enough for any one person to deal with.  You would be wrong.  About the same time that the contractor finished his part of the job, the landscaper we have been waiting on for months showed up to scrape and re-sod our front lawn!  Between the new paint job, the new roof, the new lawn and the dozen changes inside the house, I am sure the neighbors are wondering why we didn't buy a house that we liked!

    One thing I learned about myself in this process is that I can have total chaos in my sewing room OR in my house, but not both of them at the same time.  With the house in total disarray, I had trouble concentrating on projects.  My only choice was to use the little time I had in my sewing room to clean up and organize.  

    

    Pat Sloan is crazy efficient when it comes to being an organized quilter.  In one of her videos she talks about being neat and keeping her fabrics folded because they take up less room.  I love Pat, but I work messy.  I have the room to work messy.  With the desire to put some order in my life, I decided to sort and press one small laundry size basket of scraps and test Pat's theory.  I have proved Pat's point.  Here are the before and after photos of the same basket!

    That basket is lovely.  I didn't remove any fabrics unless the fabric was in the wrong basket (I have one for each color).  I have been convinced that neat definitely saves space.  I also know for a fact that when I have the chance to use those fabrics, the aftermath will look a lot more like the before photo when I am finished.  The process did give me the opportunity to look through those pieces and make plans for future projects. 

      Those optional sewing projects will have to wait a little while longer.  I'm busy adding "stone mason" to my resume.  The new flick-a-switch fireplace is installed, and I am in charge of arranging the stone face.  After the fireplace is complete my husband gets to finish the trim and touch up all the painting.  Carpet will be installed in the new room sometime in the next 2 weeks.  Then we get to shift furniture.  We will move my husband's things out of the old loft and move my Handi Quilter into its new home.  That will create more room in my sewing room and more space for the equipment I need to film video lessons.  

    There is hope on the horizon that I will get back to sewing sometime soon!