My Current Project-Heritage Sampler and Stack Pressing Tutorial

A few days ago I looked through a bin of UFO's and came across my Heritage Sampler blocks. This was block of the month project I coordinated at the shop a few years ago. All of the applique blocks were complete and I only had three blocks left to piece. Even these three blocks were cut so I don't know why I stopped working on this so near completion. I quickly pieced the remaining blocks, trimmed the applique blocks and sewed the top center together. This quilt has an outer border of nearly 300 half square triangles so I pulled out the border triangles that were cut and pieced them. I was 96 triangles short so I cut those. That's where I am now on this project. I hope to get another little burst of energy this evening so I can finish piecing the triangles. It shouldn't take too long to piece them into the border. I just love this project and now I can't wait to finish it. The pattern is by Lori Smith of From My Heart To Your Hands. All of her quilts are just wonderful and it's so rewarding to finish them! Here's a picture of the top so far.
While piecing all the half-square triangles I thought I'd make a little tutorial on stack pressing. When I teach classes I'm always surprised at how many people haven't heard of this. I think it's very efficient and your pieces end up well-pressed and FLAT. Give it a try next time you're piecing a bunch of blocks and see if you don't think it works well!

Stack Pressing Tutorial
1. Press seam closed. This helps relax the thread into the seam. Then open up the triangle and press the seam toward the darker fabric.

2. Place the closed seam along the open seam that you just pressed. Offset it a little bit, then press this seam closed. Open it up and press it open toward the darker fabric. You've just pressed your first piece again.

3. Continue placing the next piece along the piece you just pressed. First press it closed, then open it and press.

4. I usually stack eight pieces before starting a new stack. I let the stack sit and cool off before handling it.

5. Once the stack has cooled, I pick them up together and trim the "dog ears." It's very easy to slip the tip of the scissors between the blocks and snip.


I use this pressing technique for almost all my piecing. Just remember to offset your blocks a little bit from the previous piece and you'll have nice, flat blocks!

Whirlwind Weekend

Our son Bryan is applying to medical school and has interviews scheduled at a number of different schools. I’ve been traveling with him and it’s getting a little crazy because they’re close together and there hasn’t been much time to recover from one trip before it’s time for another. Needless to say I haven’t been doing much quilting. Before all this started I had been on a roll and finished a lot of stuff. It’s been kind of fun going with him but it will be nice when it’s over and I can get back to my sewing machine. I’m determined to work down a few UFO’s before the end of the year. There’s a laundry basket of projects under my sewing table and I’d at least like to finish those.

Last week, we were in Rochester, NY and stopped in at the High Falls Visitors Center (and Art Gallery). We met the curator, Sally, and after a delightful visit with her she revealed that she had spent many years earning a living as a quilter. I knew there was a reason we hit it off right away. It was a beautiful weekend in upstate New York and Rochester is a very nice city. There are so many hiking and biking trails and we really enjoyed seeing much of the city on foot. We also walked on a path along the Erie Canal, did a little wine tasting around the Finger Lakes and visited the US side of Niagara Falls (we hadn’t brought passports to go on the Canadian side). It was a fun trip and we did a lot in a short amount of time. Here are a few pictures from the trip: fall leaves along the Genesee River walking path, Seneca Lake and Niagara Falls.

Here are pictures of a couple of quilting projects I’ve finished lately. I made three of the Spicy Spiral Table Runners. They look difficult but are really easy. I think I’ll make some for Christmas gifts. It’s an unusual pattern and not many people have seen it. The other quilt is an old UFO from Patchwork Sampler called “Grandpa’s Best” from a pattern by Perkins Dry Goods. It will be a nice one for the holidays. It’s probably from around 2004 or 2005 and now that it’s finished I wonder why I didn’t get to it sooner!

An (Almost) Wasted Day

This week has been kind of a letdown after last weekend's marathon sewing session. Bryan and I made a quick trip to St. Louis on Monday and Tuesday. He had an medical school interview with St. Louis University. When we left home on Monday morning it was 44 degrees outside. By the time we got to St. Louis it was 94! It was hot and muggy both days we were there and I'd brought the wrong clothes for the weather. We survived, though, and the interview went well. While he was at the university I visited Forest Park. I had a nice walk and spent a little time at the zoo. I'd brought bindings to hand sew but it was just too hot to work on quilts so I didn't do any sewing while we were gone.

When we got back home I pieced a quick and easy quilt top from Westminster's Leanika fabric line. It turned out pretty well. I had a fat quarter collection of this fabric and only used half of them so I think I'll make another one using the same pattern. There was only one (okay, maybe two) fabrics in the collection that I really liked so I just want to use it up. I pieced another "Spicy Spiral Table Runner" and have another one cut and ready to stitch together. I ordered a layer cake of Moda's new line called "Bliss." Then I saw the Moda Bake Shop pattern called "Blissful Confection" so I pieced that on Thursday. Here's the link for "Blissful Confection" if you'd like to make one for yourself: http://www.modabakeshop.com/2010/09/blissful-confection.html. After all this piecing I needed to start quilting so I could get some things finished so on Friday I got up early and quilted an old UFO called Grandpa's Best. I'd had this quilt cut out since about 2003 so it was nice to make some progress on it.

Last Saturday my clothes dryer quit heating up. I had a service appointment scheduled for Friday morning between 8 and 11. I didn't want to work downstairs in my studio because I didn't want to miss the doorbell so I decided to work in the dining room upstairs. I brought up a bunch of quilts that needed binding and got to work. Eleven o'clock came and went with no service technician, but I did have binding machine sewn onto two quilts. At 12:30 with another binding complete, I called and left a message to see if they were still coming. They didn't return my call and I called back at 2:00 (after another binding) and finally talked to someone. They said the technician had called here and got no answer so he didn't bother coming. WHAT?? In the first place, I hadn't made an appointment for a phone call, I'd made an appointment for a technician to come to my house and fix my dryer. Secondly, I had been sitting right by the phone all day and had received no call. My caller ID confirmed this so I was really angry that they hadn't followed up or made a reasonable effort to make this service call. I decided they really didn't need the business if they didn't try any harder than that so declined an offer to reschedule (also my laundry was piling up and I didn't want to go to the laundromat). I then called another service company and they had someone at my house an hour later. By the time he had it fixed I had finished by fifth binding of the day. It seemed like I had wasted my day sitting here waiting but I ended up accomplishing quite a bit so it turned out okay. Now I have lots of binding to hand sew while I watch football and movies!

This morning I got up and jumped right in with it and finished a binding I had started last week while I watched the movie "Whip It." It was an okay movie that didn't require a lot of focus to follow along--just the thing to watch while sewing. This quilt is "Crossed Rails." Basically you make rail fence blocks, cut them in half on the diagonal and sew them back together. I sewed it together with sashing and cornerstones and really like how it turned out. It was made completely from stash. Here is a picture of the finished quilt.

Stay At Home Retreat Weekend

I didn't finish nearly as many quilts this summer as I though I would. This was our first summer in over 12 years that we didn't travel for soccer so you would think that I would have had a lot more time for sewing. Not so! I only finished a few things and those were mostly for our Scrap Basket group that meets each month.

This weekend, though, I've been trying to make up for lost time. Jacqi at Keep Me In Stitches Quilt Shop asked me to make a "Spicy Spiral Table Runner" for a shop sample. I was a little unsure about the pattern so I picked eight fat quarters from my stash to make a prototype before using the shop fabric. I wouldn't say this is a beginner's project, but it was pretty easy and I LOVE the results. I'm sewing the strips sets on the second one and have a third cut out. This is going to look so pretty on my coffee table this fall. I haven't decided whether to use flannel or a very thin batting in the middle. I'll probably piece all three runners and then finish them all at one time. The assembly line method seems to work pretty well.
This morning I cut out three more quilts from new fabric I've been wanting to use. I also spent a little time organizing the sewing room. I may never get through all my cupboards to color coordinate my fabric, but I figure every little bit helps. Unfortunately I haven't been very good about keeping fabric for binding together with the quilt top fabric. I'm happy to say that I found binding fabric for two old UFOs in my stash. Neither one will take much time to finish. I'm hoping to get a few bindings machine sewn so I have hand work to do during car trips and football games.

Now to take a short break to run some errands. Tomorrow all the roads around here will be blocked and restricted for the Fox Cities Marathon. I've learned to avoid going out while that's going on!

Plugging Away On Yellow Brick Road

Before Patchwork Sampler closed in October 2008 my daughter decided that we should make quilts for her seven closest friends for their high school graduation. She picked out fabric for each of the seven quilts and I stored it away. Graduation was over a year and a half away so there was no pressure to get these quilts finished. Well, here it is June 2 and graduation is TOMORROW. Sadly ,the quilts are not quite finished. I still have binding to complete on three and the seventh one is on the quilting frame. With so much going on tomorrow with commencement we decided to either give each girl her quilt at her graduation party or have a big sleepover at our house and present them all at once. Anyway, I should have some time over the weekend to stitch bindings so they'll be finished very soon. I've found I almost always need a deadline to finish a project. If there's no deadline I'm always tempted to start a new project. That's how I've gotten in the mess I'm in with UFO's. Hopefully it doesn't rain tomorrow and I'll photograph some of the finished quilts and post them.

It's Time To Get Serious

Okay, I've gotten serious about finishing quilts, now I've got to get serious about blogging. I tend to daydream while quilting and I'll think about some subject and say to myself, "Oh, that would be a great blog topic." After my quilting session I get busy with housework, errands, etc., etc. and the blog post never happens. Lately I've gotten into more of a routine so my plan is to start regular posts.

I've been doing a lot of quilting this winter. It took nearly a year to organize my stash and UFO's but now things are pretty much in order (well, orderly for me!!) I still don't have all the UFO's listed but I do know where they all are. I try to finish two old projects for every new one I start. I really love starting new quilts but now most of my new ones are gifts and donation quilts. Occasionally I'll make a new quilt with no particular recipient in mind, but honestly how many quilts does a person need?

My first finish for the year was this flannel quilt. This was a UFO from several years ago. It started out as a shop sample from a line of Holly Taylor flannels from Moda. I pieced the top and even had it quilted but never sewed the binding on. Anyway, it only took a few hours and I had this beautiful flannel quilt completed. So one UFO finished, another 699 to go!