Peas In A Pod

Two's Company Quilt Bee

As you know, I've been participating in the Two's Company Quilt Bee.  It has been so much fun.  Each month, one of the 12 of us is in "charge."  When it's your month, your job is to (a) select a block you want everyone to make for you, (b) send instructions and fabrics to each participant, and (c) wait for the blocks to be returned to you so you can put them together for a quilt.  You have been seeing the blocks I've made for others.

Well, April is my month.  So, tomorrow, my packets are going out to everyone.  I just made a blog post over at the Two's Company Quilt Bee blog, telling the group what we are working on in April.  You can hop on over to see my post about it if you want.

Spoiler alert!  We are going to be making this Secret Garden block.   I wanted to do a Cathedral Window block, but I couldn't figure out how to make it in a bee, because you have to make four blocks that are joined together to make the Cathedral Window block.

(Image from Amazon.com)

But I bought this book from Amazon.com (Cathedral Window Quilts by Lynne Edwards) when I was thinking about the Cathedral Window block (LOVE this book, by the way!).  And in it were instructions on making a variation of the Cathedral Window called the Secret Garden (my block pictured above).  I tried making a few and LOVED  making  it.  So, I chose this as my block for the month.

This block combines some machine and hand sewing.  First, you have to prepare the "foundation," which is the white fabric in my case.  You do some machine seams, then some folding and pressing, as you see above.  Then, you insert the colored fabric inside the folds and do some hand sewing to form the block.  There is no batting, and the front and back of the block are the FINISHED blocks.  You whip stitch them together when done, and the quilt is finished.  No need for backing or binding. 

On the Two's Company Quilt Bee blog, I mentioned that I really love this as a travel project.  It is PERFECT for some take-along hand work.  It is very compact and fun to work on while traveling (which, as you know, I've done a lot of, lately).  I thought you might like to see my travel kit for this.  I pack a small, plastic zipper bag with all my supplies.  This fits very easily into my carry-on bag.  It's very easy to get out, work on, and put away.  Not too much stuff, and it doesn't take up too much space.

Here is what's in my bag.  I take along a little stack of foundations and a little stack of red squares.  (In this photo, I only have one.  I need to make more.  But I usually try to carry up to about 10 of these.  They stack and carry very nicely and neatly.)  I have a spool of Aurifil thread, my scissors (yes, you can carry them on a plane, as long as your blades are shorter than 4" from the hinge), and my needle case. 

Inside my needle case are my thimble, a needle threader, a little package of my favorite needles, two applique pins, and some other needles that are stuck to the magnet inside.  I also have a really neat needle minder I just got, but it's not in the bag yet.  I'm going to add it.  It's something you pin to your shirt and when you need to "park your needle" you can just adhere the needle to a magnet on it.

I absolutely love this little needle case.  My friend, Michelle, gave it to me.  Thank you, Michelle!  I use it all the time!

Anyway, this is such a nice, compact project to carry along.  Doesn't require too much "stuff."  Easy to get out, sew, and put away.

I'm traveling again in about another week.  So, I'm going to prepare another stack of foundations and reds to load up my kit again.  I'll also be taking some of my embroidery work.  (But, you see, that's not as compact, because I have to carry a bunch of skeins of floss, an embroidery hoop, etc.  So, this is by far my preferred travel project.)

I'm also going to start an English paper piecing project (see A Few Scraps blog for Christina's Sprocket quilt-along) that I think will be a great handwork project.  Yes, I know....I shouldn't be starting ANOTHER project.  But, I like to have a few handwork projects going at any given time so that I can just pick one up and work on it.  For example, if I don't have any foudnations made for this project, or I finish those on my trip, I like to have another project as back up.  God forbid my fingers should be idle.  Plus, I have always wanted to give English paper piecing a try.

Also, I'm excited.  On Saturday I'm going to take a class up in Grand Rapids to learn to make this bag that Caroll blogged about.  (C'mon.  You KNOW I'm running short on bags!)  Caroll's going to be taking a class at the same shop on the same day.  So, we get to see each other, hang out together, and have lunch together.  I'm really looking forward to it.

Hope you all have a great weekend!  I may not have another blog post before the weekend, so I thought I better wish you well now.

Until next time,

Mama Pea

 

Lackadaisical Sewing

The other day, one of our local sewing stores sent out a coupon for National Quilting Month.  At the bottom of their ad was this exerpt from a 1949 Singer Sewing Manual:

Can you read that okay?  Is this just a scream, or what?  It's a really good thing I was not born earlier.  I would have had major trouble with these kinds of cultural rules!

My friend, Cheryl, sent me this...she's the one who sets up our Friday Night Sew Ins (which I have not been able to go to for the last two or three, due to my commitments).  She said she has upped the ante, and we girls need to show up for the next Friday Night Sew In dressed accordingly.

It's a good thing I'll be out of town.

Until next time,

(You can get your lackidaisical rear in gear if you want; I'm going to keep schlepping along...)

Mama Pea

Kinda Random: Spring, Flea Market Fancy, Verona, Russian Rubix, Frixion

One of my blogging friends (Cindy of Live a Colorful Life) has a habit of making blog posts she calls "Really Random."  On those days, her posts are a conglomeration of photos and thoughts that sort of fit together in a stream-of-consciousness sort of way.  I always love her Really Random posts.

Sometimes I feel like I need to borrow her idea, because I just have a few little odds and ends to share.  So as to not completely plagiarize her idea, I thought I'd call this post "Kinda Random."  Hope you don't mind, Cindy!

Spring has definitely sprung in Michigan.  On Tuesday, when I was driving Sweet Pea home from school, we noticed our tree was in full flower.  I have been so busy, I didn't even notice.  Can you believe that?!  I said to her, "How long has that tree been in flower?"  She said, "I don't know, Mom."  We looked at each other and agreed it was crazy that such beauty was going on around us and we didn't even notice.  For shame!  And look at our apple tree in the background.  It's already got leaves on it.  It's not even April yet!  Last year, we had such a cold spring (well, we never really got spring...winter lasted forever), I swear the trees did not get buds on them until almost June.  People here are worried we'll get a hard frost sometime between now and May and kill a lot of things.  I hope not.

I love this tree when it flowers.  I went to a meeting with someone today; someone I haven't seen in about 6 months.  The first thing he said to me was, "Boy, you look relaxed."  I had to laugh.  If only he knew how stressed out I've been lately.  He was the second person today who told me I looked rested and relaxed.  I guess my weekend last weekend really did me a lot of good.  Spring does me a lot of good.

Another thing that did me a lot of good lately was getting my order of Flea Market Fancy from the Intrepid Thread.  I love these fabrics.  I just love them.  When I get up the gumption to cut into them, I'm going to make some Urban Deco blocks out of them.  Urban Deco blocks are another version of the Urban Nine Patch blocks I'm working on.  I love them equally.  You can see the tutorial for them here.  Jenny is also using some Flea Market Fancy in hers.  Yep.  I think I need to do some of those.

And since Julie (Intrepid Thread) was sending me a package anyway, and she just mentioned that she was having a sale on these Verona fabrics, I had her throw some of those in the package as well. (I'm so bad. That fabric diet is so out the window.  Pleas don't tell Papa Pea.)  Why not?  I love them.  I was really proud of myself, though.  I didn't buy all the fabrics in the line.  Just my favorites.

But I do confess to buying a full yard of this one instead of just a fat quarter.  I love this print.

And while we're on the subject of confessions, remember a while back when I finished my Lincoln's Watch quilt I said I started cutting out two more?  Well, here is one I started cutting out.  I love these fabrics.  I got them last year at my retreat at Gruber's.

Here is what it's going to become.  I love it.  I was going to make it to give away.  But I decided I'm going to keep it.  I think it will be the quilt I take to sleep under when I go on retreats.  I wonder if I can get it done in time to take with me to Gruber's this summer (in July).  Haha!  That would be a record for me!

Remember a while back, I made a blog post about these Frixion pens?  Well, Barbara commented that she had read a blog post where someone had tested these pens under a variety of conditions and wasn't sold on them.  She found the blog post and emailed me the URL.  I thought I should post a follow up to that for your information.  It was blogged by The Quilting Climber, and you can see the post here.  It has given me pause, but I still use these pens a lot and probaby will continue to.  I use them to mark cutting lines on half square triangles, which are on the back of the quilt anyway.  I will have to consider whether I want to use them for embroidery designs.  But I thought I better share this information with you, too. Thank you, Barbara!

Well, that's all the randomness I have for you today.  Maybe I'll do more of these to catch up on a few things.  Hope you enjoyed.  :-)

Until next time,

Mama Pea

 

Urban Nine Patch--a brief pattern/tutorial review

A while back, I made a blog post about a new project I was going to start, the Urban Nine Patch.  You can read that post here, and you can see my inspiration for the colors, etc.  I finally got a chance to start it this weekend!

Made with Kona Snow, Kona Amethyst, Kona Aqua, and linen.

I pulled some of the fabrics from the lucious stack of Kona solids I had purchased and got to it.  I am using linen where Jenny, of Sew Kind of Wonderful (who created this block and the curved ruler to make it), is using a dark gray.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  Doesn't this block remind you of the beach?  I was scared of the curves.  I am not very skilled in sewing curves.  However, it was not that bad.  The curves are fairly gentle, and Jenny has great tutorials on her website.  If you click on her name above, you will go to her blog.  On the left-hand side-bar of her blog is a link to her video tutorials, as well as the tutorial for this block.  Here is a direct link to the block tutorial, if you want it.

Made with Kona Snow, Kona Cadet, Kona Lime, and linen.

I had so much fun, I said to myself, "I wanna make another!"  So, I pulled out two more fabrics and made this block.  It went together even faster than the first.  I also like this one.  At first I thought it was going to be too dark, compared to the first one.  But when I added the linen to it, I thought it lightened it up just right.  I'm very happy with it.  What do you think of the linen? 

Perhaps most surprisingly, both blocks measure 12.5" (like they are supposed to!) and are perfectly square!  That blew me a way with all the curved piecing.  But Jenny has great directions for squaring everything up so stuff fits together pretty well.

I am really looking forward to making more of these.  Because I joined her quilt along late, I wasn't sure what the "big picture" of this quilt was.  So, Jenny sent me a couple of links.  You might enjoy seeing the "big picture," too.

http://sewkindofwonderful.blogspot.com/2012/01/urban-nine-patch-quilt-along-design.html

http://sewkindofwonderful.blogspot.com/2012/03/urban-nine-patch-qal-week-6-border.html

I am thinking a nice, wide linen border to the finished quilt will be awesome.  A nice space for some fun quilting.  We'll see.

I would recommend this tutorial and pattern to anyone.  It's very clear and easy to follow.  Jenny has great photos to help you along the way, the the video tutorials add even further support.  I was successful on my very first block.  It would not be fair to say this was my first curved seam ever.  I've tried them a couple of times before with a lot less success.  I would say these are my most successful curved seams.  And the pattern is fairly forgiving, with the triming, etc.  So, that helps a lot.  If you like this block (and I LOVE this block), give it a try!

I'll be blogging about another version of this block soon!

Jenny has just been great in giving me tips and feedback when I need it.  She is really wonderful.  I have enjoyed getting to know her through this quilt along.  And I want to thank Lynn, Alamosa Quilter for introducing me to this block and to Jenny!  Fun!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

P.S.  I am having some trouble with formatting today.  I keep inserting extra returns to separate these paragraphs at the bottom, but every time I save, Typepad deletes them.  Sorry!  I don't know how to fix it today!  Something about pasting in those URLs messed up the formatting.  HMMMM.....

Bear's Paw Block for Mary B

Hope you all had a great weekend!  I did.  Got some rest (much needed), got the house cleaned (sort of, much needed also), and got some quilting done (much needed).

One thing I accomplished this weekend was to make my block for the March Two's Company Quilting Bee that I'm in.  Mary B gave us this block to make.  She sent us the background fabric and asked us to contribute some blue fabric for the Bear's Paws.  Mary B gave us lots of options...go scrappy, use the same fabric throughout...whatever!  See her samples here, if you'd like.  She said she wasn't worried about the "directionality" of the background fabric, which was good.  As you know, I am the same way about stuff like that.

I had a hard time finding a blue fabric in my stash that looked good with this background fabric.  Everything seemed too busy for this background fabric.  So, I chose this solid navy blue fabric.  I thought since the block was fairly traditional, it might be good to go with a solid.  But it has this wonderful texture, which I thought would add a nice element of surprise to the block.

I had a lot of fun making this block.  I have never made a Bear's Paw block before, but I've always wanted to.  I would make more of these.  But I would use my paper piecing to make all the little half-square triangles if I made a bunch more of these.  I do better with those for accuracy on the half-square triangles.

If you want to see what others are doing in the bee, go check out the Two's Company Quilt Bee blog.  I have been having a great time with this bee.  Next month is my month.  I'm nervous about putting it all together!  I'll show you soon what I'll be doing for my month.

Hope you had a great weekend, too.  The weather sure has been beautiful here.  Just unbelievable.  I hope you have been enjoying some great weather, too!

Until next time,

Mama Pea