quilting links

I have been reading a couple blogs today and reading through all of the comments – someone got blasted for buying fabric at JoAnne Fabrics – evidential this quilter who left the comment thinks you have to support your local quilt shop and only buy from your  local quilt shop.  I hate it when quilters feel that way.  To begin with there are a lot of us who do not have a local quilt shop – for some of us – me included– you have to drive about 85 miles in any direction (or more – one way) to get to a “local quilt shop”.  I don’t know about you but to me that is not a local quilt shop!!

If you do have a local quilt shop they might not carry fabric that you like – they might not have enough incentive’s for you to spend your money in their shop – they might not be friendly (believe me I have stopped in plenty of quilt shops on our travels and I have run across shops who do not have a friendly person working in their shop!!).

If I do drive 85 miles one way for fabric at the shop that I like — Mama’s Log House near Fort Smith, AR I have occasionally found that I couldn’t find what I was looking for and she is only open two days a week – Wednesdays and Saturday.  My favorite quilt shop is 735 miles from me LOL Millhouse Quilts in Waunakee, Wisconsin and I only go there when I am visiting my daughter who lives about 10 miles from the shop – they have so much I love it – but you know if I lived there I would still shop for bargains on line.

That doesn’t leave a lot of options for us quilters that live in the country – and believe me there are a lot of us that do – do you want to spend a good part of a day running around adding up the cost of gas and lunch (minimum of $25 at least!) only to find that the shop doesn’t have what you want or do you sit back like I do in front of the computer and go shopping and have your package delivered to your door?

So this leads me to my list of on-line shops that I like – I wonder if generally most of us shop in the same places?  I know from shopping on line and from shopping at quilt fabric stores that the quality is the same whether you want to believe it or not – everything I have ordered from these shops feels exactly the same as what you get in a fabric store (other than Connecting Threads which is a lower in quality but still good stuff).

Fat Quarter Shop

Hancocks of Paducah

Canton Village Quilt Works

Twiddletails

Green Fairy

Fabric Worm

Pink Chalk

Connecting Threads

Fabric Shack

Keepsake Quilting  (I couldn’t get the page to come up for the address – sorry)

Sew Batik

Pacific Rim Quilt Co.

I know I must be leaving some off of this list but these are the main companies I have ordered from, yes occasionally I have had one or two that were slower than others and occasionally the order has been messed up – but over all of ordering off line for the past 8 years or so I have had very good luck.  I really do not remember a time that I could not use the fabric I ordered!

So do you have a favorite shop that I do not have listed?  I need to start a new side bar on my blog and list on-line quilt shops.    I will work on that this week.  Let me hear from you if you have a shop you want me to list to share.

I do have a couple photos to share.  I went around the circles on that first baby quilt block that I showed you this morning with brown embroidery thread and I like how it makes the circles show up better.  Can’t say it is the neatest blanket stitch – I’m not that much into embroidery – but it will do.

Overall standing back away from the quilt on the wall I think the circles show up better now.

Now it is time for me to get back to my laundry!

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It really does seem like Christmas has come early!  I got in on a lot of Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales and the goodies are coming in!  But first lets start with the fabric that I won from SewCalGirls Christmas Festival.  The fabric arrived!  The fabric that I won was from Fabric Worm – I received 22 fat quarters from the Innocent Crush line.

Twiddle Tails was having a sale after Thanksgiving and I got some of her fabric that was on clearance, I got 7 half yard cuts of some delightful fabric.

I believe I told you all that I had also ordered from Connecting Threads on Cyber Monday.  Overall I was pleased with what I got  but there was some that arrived a bit different than I thought it was going to be.  Also some of the fabric has really wide salvages but the usable area of the fat quarters were still the same as others 18 x 22.  What was mainly not what I expected is some colors were a bit different than they looked on screen.  Still very much usable but not what I expected.

This is the Antoinette Fat Quarter Sampler 20 pieces and they were about what I thought they would be – that piece off to the side is extra. I think when their machine cuts the fabric maybe it is stacked up and not all even? this was under the piece that it matches that is next to it folded in the photo below – this piece measured 8 x 22 so it was an extra piece included.  They might not even know the machine is doing this?  I had 20 fat quarters in this stack plus this piece.

I had expected these 8 fat quarters to be redder and thought the prints were tinier not so focused.  The fat quarters on the left are much browner than I expected.  I thought I would be able to use these in my Red/Green applique but only 2 or 3 will go for that project now.

This is the New England Fall collection, here I thought I would get more prints than I got but it turned out to be more solids.  I do like the colors though. Quite a few of these will be used in my nieces signature quilt – she wanted fall colors and while I have some fall colors I wanted more variety.  That will be one of next years projects.

Charm packages – 24 to a pack and 97 cents for each pack – I got 3 packages of the same one.  They will be good for more baby quilts.

These are called “After Hours” their version of Jelly Rolls. Red/Blacks/Gray with some white in some of the prints.  I think it was about 19 strips per roll – they don’t come nicely rolled though as you get in the shops but folded in half and half again in a plastic bag – but for the price I think it is acceptable not to be nicely rolled I got 3 rolls for only $9.51  I forgot to take a photo of the Sweet Pea jelly rolls – I got 2 of them.

No I wouldn’t make heirloom quilts from their fabric but for every day quilts – couch size – baby size – this fabric is working out fine.

Yes I got a lot – but I do not plan on doing this every day – or even every other month.  And I really did not spend all that much – such good sales!!!   All of the above pictured is under $100.00 on sale – true value though is over $200.00    I think with the economy the way it is I need to plan on doing after Thanksgiving sales every year to replenish the shelves.  My shelves are over loaded right now and I will have to do some rearranging and get busy making quilts!!

Checking out the clearance & sales on the online quilt shops I do believe is the way to go unless you really, really have to get something that is not on sale.  You can really find a lot of good fabric at good deals in on line shops.

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Finished!!  I had finished my hand quilting yesterday morning and when I got home I decided to get right to it and sew my binding on.  I accomplished the machine sewing part and then sat down in the evening to watch some tv and do the hand stitching.  I use a tiny whip stitch with very closely matching thread for my binding.  I know a lot of you use a blind stitch but this works for me and when using thread color to match you really hardly see it unless you are inspecting it and this stitch goes much faster!

I am so pleased with the fabric that I got from Connecting Threads that I used for this quilt. No bleeding at all!!  Here are the two color catchers that I put in the washing machine with the quilt.  No pink dye, no blue ect.  The color came out looking the same color as it did when I tossed it in the machine.

Here is the quilt finished.  It is 40 1/2 inches square – what I refer to as a baby quilt, naptime quilt, play mat – a nice small size that gets done rather fast (I do believe it took me about a month of on and off again work on this quilt to machine piece and hand quilt).  I am calling this quilt “Crayon Box” as with the colors that is what it reminds me of.  I strayed from the Schnibbles pattern a little – I added the black sashing as I thought it would make the colors pop more and be the right thing to separate the border a little from the inside of the quilt. I added the appliqued circles in the corners as I didn’t like them plain (the pattern featured a fabric in pastel flowered prints with plain corners which suited that selection) and adding the black binding seemed the perfect way to finish it.  The binding is a little wider than I normally do – but again it seemed like what this quilt called for.

A close up:

And another:

I like the puckered up look that cotton batting has when it is washed.  Yes shrinkage – that is what gives it the used, soft feel.  I think it shrunk about 2 inches which is normal.  I love the look it gives quilts.  Nothing flat about it.

This is the back:

This was an experiment quilt in that I was using the low price fabric from Connecting Threads which I had not used before and I was using “heat press”tape using three pieces of left over Quilters Dream request loft batting.  My review:  the fabric had a very nice feel to it and pieced and quilted easily.  The heat press tape for the batting was ok, the needle went through it really well when I did a test on just the batting and tape but when you add the quilt top and the backing it didn’t needle through quite as easily.  My stitches were larger in those areas – so if you count your stitches it might bother you, if you don’t mind uneven stitches then you might like it.  I think it would work really well when machine quilting –you wouldn’t even notice it I bet.   After washing I was just as pleased with the fabric as I was when I was piecing it.

This is the heat press tape – I found it at Nancy’s Notions:

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It feels so good to be getting some of these quilts that I started last year finished.  I had at least 7 projects in the works at the end of last year and I am whittling away at the list.

Baltimore Bliss – crib size 44 x 66  this one is needle turn applique and hand quilted like all of mine are.

EDITED: at 9:45 PM  I forgot to mention that this pattern (actually 12 blocks – I used 6 of them – is from Fat Cat Patterns, it is a BOM so go to the index on the left of that page to find it if you are interested.    The pattern was designed by Sindy Rodenmayer

The center feather wreaths:

The corners have a corner set of feathers:

This is the fabric for the backing:

The thread that I used matched the fabric so much that you can’t see the designs as well.  I normally like to use enough of a contrast thread so that the quilting shows more.  I have no plans for this quilt so far but will put it aside until I decide.  I still need to make a hanging sleeve for the Christmas quilt and then that will be done – labels for both of these I still need to make also.

Need to finish:

Bow Tie Quilt – border and maybe some applique on it.

Star Crazy BOM – 3 months of blocks to do and then put all together

Red & Green Traditional Applique – 6 more 16 1/2 inch blocks and the 32 x 32 center

Insanity Revisited – Dear Jane #2 – the border triangles and cornerstones

Pineapple Blocks – I have 7 -  6 inch blocks made, I am thinking of continuing to make these into a queen size – this is another scrap quilt if I make it I will need about 250 more blocks – we will see.

What was Little Brown Bird – now? I have two of these fancy applique blocks made, I decided I do not like this quit enough to make it but I do like 5 of the blocks in the book.  I am going to make those and maybe make each two times but change the flower layout so each looks different.  I have found a pattern that I like the center  and corner borders of but not the whole quilt.  I need to think of a new name for it and will continue on that one later next year.

Quilting:

Going In Circles will be on the frame for at least 4 to 8 months I imagine.

So in a way this is not much progress – I started out the year with at least 7 projects and now I have 7 again!! What is going on here   Oh well by the end of this year I should have 3 of these tops listed above finished or close to it and they will be folded and put in a zip bag until I can quilt them – that will be some progress.

No more will be started unless it is baby quilts with the intention of selling or gifts.

I must admit I have ordered some fabric – I know I said I wasn’t going to order anymore this year unless it was backing and backgrounds and I have stuck pretty much with that – but I needed to blend more red and greens in to the applique blocks so I have ordered some fat quarter Kona Cotton Bundles from Jackie of those color schemes.   What I don’t use in this quilt will just enlarge the stash for all the applique I do.  Plus I have the charm blocks ordered from Connecting Threads to see what their fabric line is like – charms can be made into simple patchworks.

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Two more examples of small block sampler quilts – only difference between these and Dear Jane is the size of the blocks are a little larger and also they use more traditional blocks that most all have heard of.  The Dear Jane blocks seem very unusual almost like Jane wanted to make the blocks as difficult at moments to make as possible – maybe to distract her from the war news going on around her?

I had heard of the Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler patterns – by Jennifer Chiaverini for some time and have meant to pick up the book for ages and never got around to it.  The Farmers Wife by Laurie Aaron Hird is newer and has only been out for about six months I think.  Astrid from Grandma’s Red Needle had mentioned the other day that she has both books and is intending on starting to make them soon.  We send e mails back and forth from time to time and discussed me making one of these sometime in the future after my second Dear Jane is finished and I thought no time better to track down copies of the books and start looking them over.  More sampler books that I have are “Nearly Insane” and “Just Plain Nuts” by Liz Lois (I just love the names of these books!).  Maybe instead of doing each quilt from each book I should pick out patterns from all four books and combine into one large quilt?  All of the blocks from these books are six inch blocks I believe so that would make it easy to mix and match.  If or when I get around to starting this new venture it would be a scrap quilt with a white/cream background like the first Dear Jane quilt but the difference would be that I would make this one much larger so it would fit on a queen or king size bed.

Whatever I decide it certainly will not be until I am finished with the second Dear Jane quilt “Insanity Revisited.”

The new books:

I buy most of my books from Amazon.com. I have no local quilt shop to support so it doesn't really matter where I buy from. I have noticed in recent months that Amazon quite often has prices for new quilt books priced lower than the used copies!! You might want to check them out. I saved on both and got the two combined for the price of one. I also buy books from the American Quilters Society but I admit to saving money when I can and buy where I can save some dollars.

I visited my mother yesterday for the day and have Lifeline in place for her and all the paperwork done.  While I was visiting one of my brothers – David – stopped by for a quick visit with mom as he was in her town for business from work.  I missed seeing him last time I was there so that was a nice surprise as I hadn’t seen him since Christmas, he was surprised I was there as well as I had intended to contact all siblings once again after I had things set up to let them know their share on the price, the appointment was set up much faster than I had anticipated.  David  lives a bit further from my mom then quite a few of the siblings do that live in Arkansas.  It was a nice surprise for mom too.  I had talked to one of my sisters a couple days before so Mary had stopped by for a short visit also.  After all left and it was just mom and I we went out and got a little shopping done, got something icy to drink it being such a hot day and then went back to her apartment for a short while before I took off for the 2 hour drive back home.  I think she will be pleased with Lifeline and feel more secure knowing that if she falls or is very sick and can’t reach a phone that they are within a button’s reach away.  I recommend all of you with elderly parents look in to this product  – I have no affiliation with the company – just pleased with all I had heard about it and the person who came out to install and talk was very nice.

I hope everyone has a nice Memorial Day Weekend here in the states.  Sunday we are going to Little Rock to visit with our daughter and son-in-law for part of the day and to deliver “Insanity” (Dear Jane) to them.  Melanie has been waiting for its arrival for some time now.  When I finished it in November I told her I needed to enjoy it for awhile before it left my house for her house – I thought six months of agony on her part was plenty

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