A simple gift bag made from a hand dyed vintage linen napkin. Make this bag and tuck in that special gift, two gifts in one! Especially nice for handing down a family heirloom whether a tea cup or a piece of Grandma’s jewelry. Try a …
Tyvek Play Day After some dutiful sewing on a landscape quilt I needed to play so tried some ideas with Tyvek. In my mind the butterfly was going to be beautifully iridescent with the outline left after pressing/melting away the stitched on Tyvek applique. …
July Block of the Month
Patriot’s Star
The July block is my design and could easily be repeated for a four block quilt for the Honor Flight quilts. With multiple repeats of this 16” block a patriotic throw for 4th of July picnics would be possible. The block goes together quickly with the table mat being made in about four hours, quilting included.
What are your memories of the July holiday celebrating our nation’s birth? Living on a farm I remember that our celebration often included handcranked ice cream made with the cream from our cows. There were sometimes fireworks like sparklers and some kind of black snake thing that curled on the sidewalk. I love to watch fireworks and as an adult I was most awed by the fireworks at the Amelia Earhart celebration in Atchison, Kansas a few years ago. They were computer timed to a wide variety of patriotic music and were spectacular along with the rest of the air show held each year.
Patriot’s Star
Blue (1/3 yd)- cut two 3 ½” x 18 ½” and two 3 ½” x 24 ½” strips for border; cut twelve 2 ½” squares;
Red (1/8 yd)- cut two 1 ½” x 16 ½” and two 1 ½” x 18 ½” strips for inner border;
Asst’d red, white and blue prints (use your scraps)- cut 24 2 ½” squares
Light blue-cut eight 3” x 7” rectangles;
Gold- cut a 4 ½” square and four 5” x 7” rectangles.
Make 4 nine patch blocks with the blue and asst’d rwb squares. Make your own paper foundation pattern by drawing a 4” x 6” rectangle and add ¼” seam allowance on all sides. From the center point at the top of rectangle draw a line to either corner at the bottom of the rectangle. Make 4 copies of this pattern and use foundation piecing techniques to make the star points. Assemble the block in horizontal rows as shown in the photo. Add red inner border strips to sides and then top and bottom. Do the same with the blue outer border strips. Layer backing batting and top and quilt. I quilted fireworks in the star using metallic thread for a fun finish.
Everyone is creative but sometimes we need an igniting of the spirit. Join us July 9 from 6-8 pm at the Inspirations Building in Hannibal, Missouri to explore artistic techniques for quilting. I will share an artistic technique that can be used in our …
My apologies for being so late with the June BOM. Just as we need to clean our sewing machines we need to also “clean” our computers and mine was apparently overdue. The block this month is called the Farmer’s Daughter. Depending on how the …
I am working on an entry for the Rieman Gardens Quilt Show in Ames, Iowa in September. Actually, I am working on several entries for that show. Gardens is the key but this year is their 20th anniversary so the overall theme is Celebration. The pic is one of the 10 inch blocks with applied “flower petals” (abstracted) that were paper pieced to meet my need for sharp points. Not all flower petals have sharp points so I have an idea for yet another version that is even more improvisational.
Today was a play day with the needle felting machine. I used wool felt, cotton velveteen, silk and wool roving. The first try—top- was too much as I was trying to pull the orange color to the front. The middle one was too little as …
I tried using an opaque water soluble stabilizer and it worked fine. Those taking the class June 11 in Hannibal, MO may choose to use that rather than the clear if that is what you have on hand. The important point is the water soluble …
At the end of April, barely returned from our winter home in Texas and not yet unpacked I turned around and headed for Quilt City with four quilting friends. After four days of stimulation from beautiful quilts, quilt fabrics, quilt classes and all other things related to quilts in Paducah, Kentucky I am still trying to recoup. The quilts were, as usual, spectacular. The first night back I was exhausted and slept without dreaming. By the second night I had had time to begin processing all that I saw, all that I bought and some of what I wanted to create. I had been asleep less than three hours when I awoke with a start. I had to get up and make some notes. I had been dreaming in silk dupioni—literally. Everything I was dreaming about was either a color I had seen in a quilt or was a quilt that I had designed and made (in my dreams) and all were hand quilted beautifully out of silk dupioni. So, up and out of bed, bleary eyed but excited, get those thoughts recorded. Wouldn’t you know, by the time I found the writing utensil and some paper I couldn’t remember anything but a gigantic star of the softest olive green. It was not pieced. It was all one color and hand stitched with the tiniest of stitches. When I awoke I was sure I had a prize winning quilt design. Now, days later, I look at the notes and am wondering why on earth I thought it was worth getting out of bed at 2 a.m. and recording. Will there be a soft, olive green prize winning star quilt of silk dupioni with tiny hand stitches in my future? Most likely not, but I will continue to fondle the silk dupioni that I did purchase and dream on, in silk.
April’s “T” block is a popular alphabet block. I especially like the versions that are arranged as tessellations so chose the block called “tea time”. I am not fond of tea but do remember my first drink of the beverage at a very young age. …